Sonic CD is quite a unique entry in the Sonic the hedgehog series. It’s got everything players loved about the Sega Genesis Sonic games, such as fast movement, deep backgrounds, great music, and plenty of personality. But it also adds new time travelling mechanics to learn, a strong focus on exploration and side goals, and another unique set of Bonus Stages. Check out our review for an in-depth discussion of these features.
Getting all of the Achievements could be hard for players new to the game, but we’re here to help! Head past the break for our Achievement Guide, complete with maps that actually label important locations. You’ll have the full 200 GamerScore in no time!
Learning to time travel
Before we get to the guide, let’s go over time traveling basics. Sonic starts each non-boss zone in the present, not the past or future. Scattered throughout the act will be signs marked ‘Past’ and ‘Future.’ Touch a sign and you’ll see the word it carries appear at the top-right corner of the screen. That sign no longer be used again, and touching any new sign before you’ve time jumped will overwrite the one you’re carrying.
You’ll need to decide which time period you want to visit before changing periods. In almost every case, this will be the past. You only need to visit the future once to get the ‘Paradise Found’ Achievement, but you can also head there for kicks after you’ve accomplished your goals in the past.
Once you’ve touched a sign and are ready to travel, find a suitable location where you can move at a high speed continuously (by either running or bouncing from springs) for three seconds without touching a wall or obstacle. Get the speed up and go for it! The first time you travel, you’ll get the ’88 miles per hour Achievement.’ If your time travel attempt fails, you can either seek out a new sign or restart the zone – usually the quicker method
Restart or Exit to Main Menu?
Unlike Sonic 4: Episode I, pausing and choosing to Restart a level will cost Sonic a life. But there is a workaround for when you mess up and need another chance. Just pause and choose Exit (Main Menu on XBLA). This takes you back to the main menu, where you can choose to resume the level you were on. The Exit method is vital for completing the Bonus Stages. If your time gets low, don’t take risks. Just exit and give the Bonus Stage another shot. Also note that if you fail a Bonus Stage, you'll have to wait until you've attempted all the other Bonus Stages to repeat the one you failed.
Maps
Our maps are borrowed from Sonic Zone: 0. I highly recommend reading their Sonic CD Guide you need additional guidance on a stage or boss battle, or even just to learn more background information on the game. Now, I found the original maps difficult to use from my phone’s screen. You’d need to scan around forever to find the Robot Teleporter or Metal Sonic Hologram you were looking for. So I’ve marked these locations on our versions of the maps with large yellow arrows. Much quicker!
Also, we’re only including the Past versions of each zone, because those are the ones Achievement hunters will use for guidance. But finding a time travel spot in the Present can take a little doing too, so I marked the locations in the past that correspond to good time travel locations in the present. Head to those spots first, zip back to the past, and then you’ll be ready to hunt the Robot Teleporters and Metal Sonic Holograms needed for Achievements. To skip straight to our map page, go here. You'll want to select 'Full' size in order to see all of the maps' detail.
One playthrough or two
Metal Sonic Hologram and Robot Teleporter
Before we start our walkthrough, you should decide whether you want to go for ‘Treasure Hunter’ (collect all 7 Time Stones) and ‘Saviour of the Planet’ (Destroy all Metal Sonic Holograms) in a single playthrough. It is possible to do both, but only if you abstain from collecting the final Time Stone until Metal Madness Zone 2. Getting all of the Stones first makes the Holograms disappear, so waiting for that zone is vital. Also, if you miss a Hologram, Teleporter, or Time Stone, you'll have to start a new playthrough since there is no going back to previous zones in the main game.
Reaching the end of Metal Madness 2 with 50 rings is pretty tough to do, especially if you’re not familiar with all the traps near the end. You’ll also need to make sure you don’t fail Bonus Stage 7 at that point, because there will be no second chances. As such, I recommend going for one Achievement or the other and then doing a second playthrough, perhaps switching to whichever soundtrack you haven’t heard yet. But the guide will account for both single- and double-playthroughs.
On with the guide!
Palmtree Panic
Zone 1: Map
This is a good place to go for three Achievements, but you can only get two in a single run:
King of the Rings: Try to collect 200 rings across the past, present, and future. I suggest getting all the rings you can from the present while clearing most of the enemies out, then heading to the past to get the Robot Teleporter and Metal Sonic Hologram. Once you have most of the rings, switch to Present and then Future to get the remaining rings. If you don’t get 200 now, this can easily be done in Wacky Workbench 1.
Paradise Found: Follow the instructions for King of the Rings, destroying both the Teleporter (required) and Hologram (optional). Return to the Good Future and clear the Zone for the Achievement.
Just One Hug is Enough: If you finish the Zone in the present, let Amy hug you for this Achievement. You can always start a new save and quickly grab this, or just wait for the second opportunity to get it later in the game.
Zone 2: Map
Boss: Egg-Walker
Take the top route and note the two invincibility powerups. Grab one and reach the boss before it runs out. Stand all the way on the right and hit him from the back three times when he lands for a cheap win!
Collision Chaos
Zone 1: Map
Zone 2: Map
Take the High Road: At the end of the Zone, don’t proceed to the first goal post. Instead, head left and get up to the second post (marked on the map) for the Achievement. You’ll need to run in place (hold up and jump) to get high enough.
Boss: Egg-Pinball
Tidal Tempest
Zone 1: Map
Zone 2: Map
Treasure Hunter: Should you have collected every possible Time Stone from the Bonus Stages so far, this should be your sixth. Now then, if you’re also going for ‘Saviour of the Planet,’ make sure you stop going to the Bonus Stage after the sixth. Don’t resume until the last regular zone, Metallic Madness 2.
Boss: Egg-Bubbles
Quartz Quadrant
Zone 1: Map
Zone 2: Map
Boss: Egg-Treadmill
Yes, I hate this boss. Sonic just needs to run along the bottom long enough for Eggman’s machine to break down, all while avoiding Eggman’s attacks and the spikes on the left.
Wacky Workbench
Zone 1: Map
Statue Saviour: After reaching the past, head down to the statue near the bottom-left corner (marked on the map). Spin-dash up and left to reach the statue.
King of the Rings: If you don’t have this already, you can easily get it from the statue. Just visit her repeatedly and she’ll drop rings every time.
Zone 2: Map
Boss: Egg-Digger
Stardust Speedway
Zone 1: Map
Zone 2: Map
Boss: Metal Sonic
Heavy Metal: Beating Metal Sonic without taking a hit will probably take a few tries, but it’s far from impossible. If you do somehow miss it, you can try again in Time Trial mode.
First, make sure you reach the Good Future version of the boss zone by achieving good futures in zones 1 and 2. Then you’ll see an extra life just above the starting point at the boss zone. Walk over to the slope on the right, turn around, run in place (up plus jump) and jump from the slope to reach the life. This item appears every time you start the stage, so you can simply pause and choose Retry (after having grabbed it) rather than Exit if you take a hit during the fight. You’ll never run out of lives this way - what a time saver!
Now, the trick is to stay near Metal Sonic for most of the fight without getting hit by either of his attacks, the spikes, or Eggman. Just play carefully and without slowing down too much. Near the end of the area there will be some floating platforms that Sonic can easily jump to. Get on those and use them to get ahead of Metal Sonic. Then jump down and reach the exit before him to win.
Just One Hug is Enough: After beating Metal Sonic, let Amy hug Sonic and you’ll get the Achievement if you haven’t already.
Metallic Madness
Zone 1: Map
Zone 2: Map
Saviour of the Planet: There are no Metal Sonic Holograms to worry about in Metallic Madness, so you just need to destroy the Robot Teleporter. Head to the top, travel back to the past, enter the tube marked on the map, and then go left when you reach the tube’s intersection. The Teleporter lies just above and right of the tube’s exit. Knock it out (having destroyed every other Teleporter and Hologram) for the Achievement.
Treasure Hunter: Assuming you’ve cleared the first six Bonus Stages and held off on the seventh, now is the time to go for it! Use the map, Sonic: Zone 0’s walkthrough, or this YouTube video to reach the end with 50 rings to your name so you can hit the Bonus Stage.
Boss: Egg-Blades
Make sure to take the top path and grab the extra life in the top-left corner (Good or Bad Future) every time you play this. The hardest part will be crossing the chasm and slipping under the crusher without getting killed. Just learn where the spring is located (below and slightly to the left of the crusher) and bounce on it until you can get under the crusher and proceed to the next challenge.
Next you’ll reach a room with lightning bugs that shoot lasers at you. Just jump through them during the brief moment when they stop being transparent to kill them.
When the actual boss fight starts, stand in the left corner to avoid his first rolling attack. Then just wait for good times to hit him, such as whenever he turns his blades sideways and extends them away from his body. Four hits and you win! This nets you ‘Eggman Got Served’ and ‘All Stages Clear.’
Time Trial Mode
Just in Time: Possibly the game’s hardest Achievement will be getting a total Time Trial score under 25 minutes. According to JaxTH’s Achievement Guide, these are the completion times you’ll want to go for:
- Palmtree Panic: 1’40”00
- Collision Chaos: 2’30”00
- Tidal Tempest: 3’00”00
- Quartz Quadrant: 2’30”00
- Wacky Workbench: 3’40”00
- Stardust Speedway: 3’30”00
- Metallic Madness: 6’40”00
That leaves you almost two minutes of wiggle room. Don’t worry about time traveling; just head for the exit!
Thankfully you don’t have to do them all in order. Just select the zone you want and work on it until the time looks good. On Windows Phone, first select the main zone, and then press Next to switch between Zones 1-3. Press Go to start playing the selected Zone.
Head to JaxTH’s Time Attack page for speedrun videos from each zone.
That’s the end of our guide – hope you found it useful! Remember to check out our Sonic CD review if you haven’t already. If you still need to buy Sonic CD, it costs $4.99 here on the Windows Phone Store.
