A Retro Gamer’s 12 Days Of Christmas: The Fifth Day, Sonic CD

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me, five golden rings.

Believe it or not, the fifth day topic was hard to decide upon. While I am not the biggest fan of Tolkien’s books or the movies based on them, there are several good Lord of the Rings games that span several eras of video gaming. And yes, I am counting the SNES version released in 1994.

On the fifth day of Christmas, it is not Lord of the Rings.

I further pondered the concept of a ring and thought, what about a wrestling ring? For a moment, I considered consulting Carl about which wrestling game he thought had the best ring action since he is a huge WWE fan but then I remembered he believes the NES game catalog peaked at Robowarrior so, no.

On the fifth day of Christmas, it is not WWF King of the Ring.

After way too much thought, I decided to go with the obvious choice of Sonic CD. The Sega CD doesn’t get enough love which I believe can be blamed on the bias of either you love it or hate it when it comes to FMV. Personally, I love FMV but you have to keep it in the context of it being purely cheese and not to be taken seriously as a legitimate theatrical medium. Thankfully, Sonic CD does not contain any FMV but what it does contain is the perfect example of a video game franchise at the peak of its powers. Sonic CD has everything a great Sonic game should have, bright graphics, fast and smooth gameplay, and a soundtrack that not only fits the vibe of each level but also keeps the player aware and engaged at such a level that two hours will be gone before you know it and you really won’t care.

Keep chasing those rings you little blue bastard.

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