Sonic the Hedgehog really needs no introduction, after all he is one of the most famous video game characters. The blue racer conquered gamers' hearts at the beginning of the 90ies and is still one of the all-time favorites.

The game Sonic CD was released in 1993 for the das Mega CD system. The game has had a hard standing since the beginning because it does not really fit into the series both by story and game mechanics. Sega also changed the whole soundtrack for the US version, which resulted in another controversy.

In Sonic CD, our hero does not want to miss a rare spectacle: the celestial body Little Planet is supposed to appear over the Lake of Ages, which happens seldomly. When he arrives, however, a bad surprise is waiting for him: his nemesis Dr. Robotnik obviously knew about it and chained Little Planet down while also putting it in a metal shell. Looks like it is up Sonic again...

The original and all portings to other systems are identical for everything except the intro.

Comparison between the original Mega CD version and the PC version from 1996, which also stands for all the other portings.

The differences concerning the soundtrack will not be covered here.

Sonic CD was the first game of the series to feature an animated intro (by Toei Animation). However, the video was cropped at the top and the bottom on the Mega CD and also has a worse definition, less colors and a lower framerate. However, the fact that is is more ugly is not the reason for this comparison. Unfortunately, it is also cut. The original video was a lot longer, the following portings used it in a better quality and almost uncut.

There is a weird alteration resulting in the fact that none of the intros shows the whole video.

Cuts in the Mega CD intro

[00:12] - [00:16]
[-4 sec.]

Sonic can be seen running around longer, he crosses a river and creates a rainbow. The beginning of the following part in which he leaves the forest is missing as well.

[00:18] - [00:20]
[-2 sec.]

Sonic is doing a looping in a ravine before jumping.

[00:22] - [00:24]
[-2 sec.]

Sonic is rolling around using his spin dash and then runs through a tunnel.

[00:36] - [00:40]
[-4 sec.]

He crosses a river while jumping before ascending the rock face.

[00:45] - [00:48]
[-3 sec.]

Sonic is running around a bit more before stopping (which can be seen in the Mega CD intro).

[01:02] - [01:05]
[-3 sec.]

The ascension to the spire was shortened.

All in all, 18 seconds are missing of the 1:35 min long original intro, which was covered by reducing the frame rate.

Alterations in the new intros

Now it is getting complicated. Due to unknown reasons, the scene order was changed and cut a bit in all newer intros.

The Mega CD version shows the mecha Little Planet first before the camera pans down the massive chain to the anchorage at the wall with Robotnik's face.

In all newer intros, however, the scene starts with the view of the lower end of the chain and goes up afterwards, the cloud movement reveals that the scene was just reversed. The wall with the engraved face cannot be seen here, therefore 2 seconds are missing in all newer intros.

Mega CD Version	PC Version