Mega-CD / Sega CD1993Sonic TeamPlatformer

Sonic CD (1993)

Sonic’s creator takes him through time: a planet in chains, Past and Future signposts, an anime opening, CD-quality music, and the first appearances of Amy Rose and Metal Sonic.

Released23 September 1993 (JP) · 23 November 1993 (US/UK)

DirectorNaoto Ohshima

IntroducesAmy Rose and Metal Sonic

RoundsSeven, three zones each

Players1

MusicTwo soundtracks: Japan/Europe and US

Overview

While Yuji Naka and Hirokazu Yasuhara were in California making Sonic 2, Sonic’s designer Naoto Ohshima stayed in Japan and was handed a different job: a brand-new Sonic game to show off Sega’s CD add-on. The result is the odd one out of the classic games.

Sonic CD sends Sonic to Little Planet, a tiny world that appears over Never Lake for one month a year, now chained to a mountain carved with Eggman’s face. Its gimmick is time travel: run past a Past or Future sign and the level around you changes era, and what you do in the past decides whether the future is a garden or a scrapyard. It also introduced Amy Rose and Metal Sonic, two characters who have been part of the series ever since.

Being on CD, it came with an animated opening by Toei Animation, vocal theme songs and CD-quality music, though which music depends on where you bought it: North America got a completely different soundtrack from Japan and Europe. Few Mega Drive owners had the add-on, which helped make Sonic CD a cult classic; it reached far more people through later PC, console and mobile versions.

Quick Answers

Quick answers, with links to the full story.

Plot / Story

Sonic CD has a kidnapping at its centre. Somewhere on the edge of Collision Chaos, a robot built in Sonic’s image swoops down, grabs Amy Rose and is gone. That robot is Metal Sonic, Eggman’s newest and proudest invention, made to answer every move Sonic can make.

How everyone got there begins with Little Planet. For one month each year this tiny world floats above Never Lake, and on it time is unreliable: whole landscapes can change in a moment, because of the seven Time Stones hidden there, gems said to let their owner travel through time. Eggman arrived first. He has chained the planet to a mountainside carved into his own grinning face, covered it in machinery, and built an army that runs on the energy of its flowers rather than on trapped animals, all to dig out the Time Stones.

Sonic had come to sightsee. From the shore of Never Lake he sees the planet smothered in metal and tethered to the ground, recognises the face on the mountain, and runs straight up the chain. Waiting in Palmtree Panic is Amy, who calls herself his girlfriend: her tarot cards had promised a “destined encounter” at Never Lake, so here she is. Sonic is not thrilled, until Metal Sonic takes her and the trip becomes a rescue as well as a race for the Time Stones.

Past, Present and two Futures

Each Round has three zones. The first two can be played in four eras: you always start in the Present, and running across a sign marked “Past” or “Future” sends Sonic hurtling through time, into a version of the zone with new scenery and a slightly different layout. The third zone is a short one set in the future, with Eggman waiting at the end.

Hidden in each Past is one of Eggman’s robot transporters, the machine that turns the planet’s flower seeds into Badniks. Destroy it and the robots fall apart, flowers bloom, and the zone’s future becomes a bright Good Future instead of a polluted, mechanical Bad one. Destroy both machines in a Round and the boss fight happens in a Good Future too. The Pasts also hide projectors showing Metal Sonic bullying the animals; smash all twelve for a special message after the credits.

There are two ways to the good ending: create a Good Future in all seven Rounds by destroying all fourteen machines, or collect the seven Time Stones. Finish a zone with 50 rings and jump into the giant ring by the signpost to reach the Special Stage, a flat world with a pseudo-3D floor, where the job is to destroy every UFO before time runs out; with 20 seconds left, a blue UFO appears that gives you extra time.

Sonic has two ways to build up speed from a standstill. His Spin Dash works differently here: you press the button once and hold Down until it is ready. The new Super Peel-Out has him hold Up instead, legs spinning in a figure of eight, then rocket off faster than his normal top speed. There are five kinds of monitor, as in Sonic 1: Super Ring, Shield, Invincibility, Power Sneakers and an extra life.

Rounds in Sonic CD

Sonic CD calls its levels Rounds rather than Zones. Each Round has two zones that can be visited in every era and a third, set in the future, with the boss. The game numbers them 1 and 3 to 8: Round 2 was cut during development (see below).

1. 
   Palmtree PanicRound 1A tropical island of palm trees, waterfalls and many routes, with a pseudo-3D loop at the start. Anton, Mosqui, Pata-Bata, Taga-Taga and Tamabboh.
2. Collision ChaosRound 3Amy catches up with Sonic here, until Metal Sonic bursts in and carries her off. Ga, Kama-Kama and Tentou.
3. Tidal TempestRound 4A water Round with time-coloured water. Amenbo, Taga-Taga, Tonbo and Yago.
4. 
   Quartz QuadrantRound 5A mine full of quartz and machinery, ending with a boss fought on a treadmill. Kemusi, Kumo-Kumo, Noro-Noro and Sasori.
5. Wacky WorkbenchRound 6Known early on as “Crazy Toy Box”; electrical conduits and a secret statue room. Bata-pyon, Minomusi, Poh-Bee and Semi.
6. Stardust SpeedwayRound 7The famous race against Metal Sonic. Dango, Hotaru, Kabasira and Kanabun.
7. Metallic MadnessRound 8The final Round and Eggman’s last stand. Bigbom, Mecha-Bu, Poh-Bee, Scarab, Dango and Hotaru.

In comics, TV & other media

Amy and Metal Sonic soon crossed over into the comics. More in Sonic in other movies and media.

Characters

Sonic CD added two characters who have been with the series ever since.

Character	Who they are	In this game	Stats & abilities
Sonic the HedgehogThe hero	Sonic as Naoto Ohshima, his designer, wanted to show him, between his first adventure and the second.	Visits Little Planet, finds it in chains and sets off to stop Eggman, find the Time Stones and rescue Amy.	New: the Super Peel-Out (hold Up, press a button) Spin Dash: press once, hold Down Time travel via Past and Future signs Five monitor types, as in Sonic 1
Amy RoseDebut	A fan of fortune-telling who has decided Sonic is her destiny; Sonic is far less keen. Kazuyuki Hoshino redesigned her for the game from a Sonic manga of 1992. The team wanted to turn the usual romance plot around, so it is Amy who is besotted while Sonic treats rescuing her as one more job. The Japanese manual played down her real name in favour of the nickname “Rosy the Rascal”.	Follows a tarot reading to Little Planet, meets Sonic in Palmtree Panic and is kidnapped by Metal Sonic in Collision Chaos.	Not playable in the original Clings to Sonic if she catches him Playable in Sonic Origins Plus (2023) Renamed Sally in the US manual
Metal SonicDebut	Eggman’s robot double of Sonic, built to counter his every move. Hoshino gave him a streamlined look, nothing like the boxy Mecha Sonic concept from Sonic 2, and Sega’s advertising made him a villain to rival Eggman himself.	Kidnaps Amy at Collision Chaos and races Sonic through Stardust Speedway; his image torments the animals on holographic projectors in the Past.	Built to match Sonic move for move Called Metallix in Sonic the Comic
Dr. EggmanDr. Robotnik in the West	Wants the Time Stones and the power to move through time. He chains Little Planet to a mountain carved with his face and covers it in machines.	His robot transporters turn the planet’s flower seeds into Badniks. He fights Sonic at the end of every Round in a different machine.	Machines include the EGG-HVC-001 Quartz Quadrant boss: a treadmill race Boss machines look different in Good and Bad Futures
The BadniksFlower-powered robots	Run on flower energy rather than captured animals, and different in every era: shiny and new in the Past, worn out in the Present, broken down in the Bad Future, and gone entirely from a Good Future.	Twenty-six kinds across the seven Rounds, listed below.	Destroy a Round’s robot transporter in the Past and its Badniks fall apart.

The Badniks

Every Badnik in Sonic CD and the Round it lives in. Many have no official name; these are the names used in the game’s code. Pictures are Sega’s artwork from Sonic Scene’s gallery or game sprites.

• AntonPalmtree PanicAn ant on a unicycle, rolling back and forth.
• MosquiPalmtree PanicA mosquito that dives on you as you pass underneath.
• Pata-BataPalmtree PanicA fluttering butterfly.
• Taga-TagaPalmtree Panic · Tidal TempestA hopping water robot.
• TamabbohPalmtree PanicA stink bug.
• GaCollision ChaosA sparkling moth.
• Kama-KamaCollision ChaosA mantis that rolls along and fires its claws.
• TentouCollision ChaosA ladybird that drops bombs.
• AmenboTidal TempestA water strider that walks on the surface and fires missiles.
• TonboTidal TempestA dragonfly that zigzags about and never attacks.
• YagoTidal TempestA dragonfly larva that swims along the bottom.
• KemusiQuartz QuadrantA Caterkiller-style caterpillar.
• Kumo-KumoQuartz QuadrantA springy spider that leaps high.
• Noro-NoroQuartz QuadrantA slow, squirming snail.
• SasoriQuartz QuadrantA scorpion with a gun in its tail.
• Bata-pyonWacky WorkbenchA grasshopper that springs about.
• MinomusiWacky WorkbenchA bagworm that lowers itself from the ceiling.
• Poh-BeeWacky Workbench · Metallic MadnessA chunky bee that fires flashing shots; swings maces in Metallic Madness.
• SemiWacky WorkbenchA cicada.
• DangoStardust Speedway · Metallic MadnessA rolling pill bug.
• HotaruStardust Speedway · Metallic MadnessFireflies that hunt in pairs.
• KabasiraStardust SpeedwayA mosquito that leaves a trail of smoke.
• KanabunStardust SpeedwayA propeller beetle that zigzags widely.
• BigbomMetallic MadnessA giant version of Sonic 1’s Bomb.
• Mecha-BuMetallic MadnessA beetle with razor-wheel horns.
• ScarabMetallic MadnessCrawls along and can trap you in its rear claws.

The people who made it

Names and roles from the credits of the Japanese and European release.

How it was made

Sonic CD was made in Japan, in parallel with Sonic 2, by the man who drew Sonic in the first place, and it went its own way.

From port to new game

The Mega-CD needed a showcase, and the obvious candidate was Sega’s mascot. While Yuji Naka was in California making Sonic 2 with STI, a team in Japan led by Sonic’s designer, Naoto Ohshima, with veterans of Streets of Rage, Golden Axe II and The Revenge of Shinobi, started from the original game’s code. It began as an enhanced Sonic 1 for the add-on, provisionally called “CD Sonic the Hedgehog”, and drifted into a game of its own, at a time when upgraded ports were becoming the Mega-CD’s staple. Naka was not on the team, though he swapped design ideas with Ohshima.

Where STI pushed Sonic 2 towards speed, Ohshima wanted a bigger world with more to explore and more reason to replay. Art director Hiroyuki Kawaguchi set out to make each Round look unlike the series so far, and artist Kazuyuki Hoshino wanted a CG-like finish: the title-screen Sonic is based on a photographed and scanned figurine made by Taku Makino. Ohshima has never treated the result as a sequel to either Mega Drive game.

Time travel without the wait

Time travel was the hook, and Ohshima made no secret of the inspiration: Back to the Future. Every stage was drawn in several versions, one for each era. What he really wanted was a switch with no pause at all, the scenery changing around Sonic in a flash, but chief programmer Matsuhide Mizoguchi told him the hardware could not manage it, and the compromise is the short warp of Sonic flying through stars. Ohshima never quite let it go, and years later still believed Naka would have found a way. He also felt Sega leaned on his team less than on the Sonic 2 crew, because Sonic CD was not a numbered sequel.

Amy and Metal Sonic

Both newcomers came from Hoshino. Metal Sonic answered Ohshima’s request for a rival with real menace; Hoshino said he could picture the robot from the moment he was briefed, and the design was settled within a few sketches, a streamlined machine nothing like the boxy Mecha Sonic concept from Sonic 2. Sega’s advertising then put him front and centre, one reason he has outlasted every other robot Sonic.

Amy was not entirely new: she had already appeared in a 1992 Sonic manga. Her headband and trainers reflected Ohshima’s taste, and her story turns the usual rescue round. She is the one with the crush, and Sonic saves her mainly because doing so wrecks Eggman’s plans.

The missing Round

Collision Chaos is Round 3 because Round 2 does not exist. The stage, which fans long called “R2” and which now goes by Dubious Depths, was dropped before any prototype that has surfaced, so the stage select goes straight from Palmtree Panic to Collision Chaos. Concept art for it was eventually shared by the Taxman, who made the 2011 remake; one sketch shows an antlion enemy that also appears in an uncut version of the ending animation.

Two soundtracks

Sonic CD was the first Sonic game to play music straight from the disc. Naofumi Hataya and Masafumi Ogata wrote a theme for each Round’s Present and remixed it for the Past, the Good Future and the Bad Future, drawing on house and dance samples; the Past tracks are played by the PCM sound chip rather than streamed from the disc. Keiko Utoku sang the opening, “Sonic – You Can Do Anything”, and the ending, “Cosmic Eternity”.

Sega of America decided to replace it. Spencer Nilsen and his team wrote a new score in about a month, with “Sonic Boom” as both opening and ending theme. The Past tracks, built into the game data, could not be swapped so easily and stayed. Europe kept the Japanese music, and the two scores still divide fans. The US manual made changes too, placing Little Planet in orbit around Mobius and turning Amy into Sally Acorn.

Release

Sonic CD went on sale in Japan on 23 September 1993, and in North America and the UK on 23 November. It is now remembered as the best reason to have owned a Mega-CD, but it could not turn the add-on into the hit Sega needed.

Firsts: what this game introduced

A lot started on Little Planet:

Cheats & secrets

Most of Sonic CD’s secrets are on the title screen and in the sound test.

Stage Select

On the title screen, press Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, B. (There is no Round 2: the menu jumps from Palmtree Panic to Round 3, Collision Chaos. Clearing a level or time-travelling takes you back to the title screen.)

Sound Test

On the title screen, press Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, A.

Tails’ picture

In the sound test, set FM to 40, PCM to 12 and DA to 11, then press Start for a picture of Tails by his creator, Yasushi Yamaguchi, posing with his favourite car, a Lotus Super Seven.

Batman parody

In the sound test, set FM 42, PCM 04 and DA 21, then press Start for a picture drawn by Takumi Miyake.

Edit Mode (European version)

While the demo is playing, press Start on the second controller. B toggles object placement, A picks the next object and C places it.

Time Attack unlocks

Get your total Time Attack time under 37′27″57 to unlock D.A. Garden, a sound test with animations; under 30′21″05 for Special Stage Time Attack; and under 25′46″12 for Visual Mode, which plays the opening, both endings and a pencil test.

Checked against Sonic Retro’s hidden content and main pages, November 2026.

Glitches, exploits and oddities

Sonic CD’s quirks, several of which survived until the 2011 remake.

Stuck in time

Because layouts change between eras, time travel can leave Sonic inside a wall. Sometimes he can jump out; sometimes you have to restart, and in Stardust Speedway he can even land over a bottomless pit.

“I’m outta here!”

Leave the controller alone for three minutes and Sonic jumps off the screen, ending the game. On the way down he can still hit objects such as speed tunnels, and occasionally the game carries on as if nothing happened.

Hovering hedgehog

Sonic’s running frames sit two pixels too high, so he never quite touches the ground. It is easiest to see from Tidal Tempest onwards.

Escaping Amy

Press jump on the exact frame Amy grabs Sonic and he shoots out of her arms, still standing upright; the 2011 remake fixed it.

The 3D loop

In Palmtree Panic’s first zone, jump into the cross-shaped booster of the pseudo-3D loop too slowly and Sonic zigzags upwards; let go of jump early and the background breaks. Fixed in 2011.

Blue arms

Squeezing Toei’s animation on to the Mega-CD meant dropping frames and recolouring, and a few frames of the opening show Sonic with blue arms.

Videos & media

Two official trailers: SEGA Europe’s for the 2011 remake, and the one for Sonic Origins Plus, which made Knuckles and Amy playable in Sonic CD.

SEGA Europe’s second trailer for the 2011 Sonic CD remake.

The announcement trailer for Sonic Origins Plus (2023), from the official Sonic the Hedgehog channel.

Trivia & facts

• Sonic CD is set between Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, according to Yasushi Yamaguchi, as Sonic Origins and the Encyclo-speed-ia book later confirmed.
• Little Planet only appears over Never Lake for one month each year.
• Wacky Workbench was called “Crazy Toy Box” during development, and a vocoded sample a few seconds into its Japanese Present theme still says “crazy toy box”.

• 

  Kazuyuki Hoshino said Metal Sonic’s design came together after only a few sketches.
• Amy’s Japanese manual favoured the nickname “Rosy the Rascal”; Europe used Amy Rose from the start.
• The US score was written in about a month, and its music later appeared on Sonic the Hedgehog Boom, a CD given to people who pre-ordered Sonic 3.
• Destroy all twelve Metal Sonic projectors and a message after the credits hails you as a super player.

Media & artwork

Box art, artwork and screenshots, mostly from Sonic Scene’s own galleries. Select any image to view it larger.

• Box art from Sonic CD
• Screenshots from Sonic CD
• Official artwork from Sonic CD

Legacy

A niche release in 1993, Sonic CD has been brought back again and again, and Amy and Metal Sonic became series regulars.

From Mega-CD to Sonic Origins

• Mega-CD / Sega CD 1993 – Japan 23 September; North America and UK 23 November.
• Windows PC 1996 – Japan in August, North America in September, Europe in October; an OEM edition, the “Dino” release, had already been bundled in the US from October 1995.
• Sonic Gems Collection 2005 – GameCube and PlayStation 2, based on the PC version.
• Sonic CD (2011) 2011 – A rebuilt remake for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Android and iOS, then Steam in 2012: choose either soundtrack or Spin Dash, and unlock Tails.
• Sonic Origins 23 June 2022 – Based on the 2011 version; Sonic Origins Plus (2023) adds Knuckles and Amy.
• Mega Drive Mini 2 2022 – The original Mega-CD game, emulated.

Where to play it today

Sonic Origins on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC has the 2011 version, with both soundtracks. For the original Mega-CD release, the Mega Drive Mini 2 includes the Mega-CD game.

Sales & reviews

Reception and review scores

Period reviews from Sega Retro’s index of magazine scans; scores not out of 100 are shown as Sega Retro converts them.

GamePro gave it a perfect score, but opinion was more divided than for the Mega Drive games: British magazines mostly scored it in the 80s, and Japan’s Beep! MegaDrive gave the equivalent of 73%. No sales figures for the original release could be confirmed for this page.

Honours

Reader reviews

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Further reading

More from Sonic Scene:

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against the sources below. Sonic Retro and Sega Retro are linked through the Wayback Machine copies we read (the live sites sit behind a bot check). Magazine scores come from Sega Retro’s review index, which links each score to a scan of the original page.

• Overview: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (story, gameplay, time travel, music, later versions, adaptations); Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Development (Ohshima, time warp, Amy and Metal Sonic, Dubious Depths, localisation); Sega Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (release dates, prices, product codes, PC releases, magazine scores with scans); Sonic Scene, “Sonic the Hedgehog CD” (original page, 2017: cover image)
• Quick Answers: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (story, gameplay, time travel, music, later versions, adaptations); Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Development (Ohshima, time warp, Amy and Metal Sonic, Dubious Depths, localisation); Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Hidden content; Sega Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (release dates, prices, product codes, PC releases, magazine scores with scans)
• Plot / Story: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (story, gameplay, time travel, music, later versions, adaptations); Sonic Retro Round pages: Palmtree Panic, Collision Chaos, Tidal Tempest, Quartz Quadrant, Wacky Workbench, Stardust Speedway, Metallic Madness; Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Development (Ohshima, time warp, Amy and Metal Sonic, Dubious Depths, localisation)
• In comics, TV & other media: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (story, gameplay, time travel, music, later versions, adaptations); Sonic Retro Round pages: Palmtree Panic, Collision Chaos, Tidal Tempest, Quartz Quadrant, Wacky Workbench, Stardust Speedway, Metallic Madness; Sonic Retro, Amy Rose
• Characters: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (story, gameplay, time travel, music, later versions, adaptations); Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Development (Ohshima, time warp, Amy and Metal Sonic, Dubious Depths, localisation); Sonic Retro Round pages: Palmtree Panic, Collision Chaos, Tidal Tempest, Quartz Quadrant, Wacky Workbench, Stardust Speedway, Metallic Madness; Sonic Retro Badnik pages: Anton, Mosqui, Pata-Bata, Taga-Taga, Tamabboh, Ga, Kama-Kama, Tentou, Amenbo, Tonbo, Yago, Kemusi, Kumo-Kumo, Noro-Noro, Sasori, Bata-pyon, Minomusi, Poh-Bee, Semi, Dango, Hotaru, Kabasira, Kanabun, Bigbom, Mecha-Bu, Scarab; Sonic Retro, Amy Rose; Sonic Retro, Metal Sonic; Sega Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Production credits
• How it was made: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Development (Ohshima, time warp, Amy and Metal Sonic, Dubious Depths, localisation); Wikipedia, “Sonic CD” (Development: the team, the port that became a new game, Naka’s design ideas, time travel, Amy and Metal Sonic); Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (story, gameplay, time travel, music, later versions, adaptations); Sonic Retro, Amy Rose; Sonic Retro, Metal Sonic; Sega Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (release dates, prices, product codes, PC releases, magazine scores with scans)
• Firsts: what this game introduced: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (story, gameplay, time travel, music, later versions, adaptations); Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Development (Ohshima, time warp, Amy and Metal Sonic, Dubious Depths, localisation)
• Cheats & secrets: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Hidden content; Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (story, gameplay, time travel, music, later versions, adaptations)
• Glitches, exploits and oddities: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Bugs
• Videos & media: YouTube, SEGA Europe (official channel), video 24tjOBMEFCs (checked with oEmbed, 5 Nov 2026); YouTube, Sonic the Hedgehog (official channel), video FoyoWlOJILc (checked with oEmbed, 5 Nov 2026); Gematsu, “Sonic Origins Plus announced” (March 2023)
• Trivia & facts: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (story, gameplay, time travel, music, later versions, adaptations); Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Development (Ohshima, time warp, Amy and Metal Sonic, Dubious Depths, localisation); Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Hidden content; Sonic Retro Round pages: Palmtree Panic, Collision Chaos, Tidal Tempest, Quartz Quadrant, Wacky Workbench, Stardust Speedway, Metallic Madness; Sonic Retro, Amy Rose; Wikipedia, “Sonic CD” (Development: the team, the port that became a new game, Naka’s design ideas, time travel, Amy and Metal Sonic)
• Legacy: Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (story, gameplay, time travel, music, later versions, adaptations); Sega Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (release dates, prices, product codes, PC releases, magazine scores with scans); GamesBeat, “Sonic Origins gets a June 23 release date” (2022); Gematsu, “Sonic Origins Plus announced” (March 2023)
• Sales & reviews: Sega Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (release dates, prices, product codes, PC releases, magazine scores with scans); Sonic Retro, Sonic the Hedgehog CD/Development (Ohshima, time warp, Amy and Metal Sonic, Dubious Depths, localisation)