Which Is Better - Sonic Mania Or Sonic CD? Iretrogamer's Power Team Debates It Out

Do people have nothing better to do with their lives than compare original bonus stages to remix bonus stages?

Sonic Boom trumps all.

I'm not touching this

Having never played Sonic CD at the time of it's release, after Mania I tried it and really wanted to like it, but IMO Sonic CD is one of the worst 2D Sonic games I've ever played. The music might be good, but the levels are horribly designed and confusing. In fact, the whole future/past thing is confusing unless you read about it or someone explains it to you.

"but did you much" good try dude

Sonic CD has always been overrated IMO but it's still great and Sonic Mania is great for a new release. Personally I think the original trilogy can't be beat.

CD is good but Mania is the best.

Sonic CD is not bad but its mechanics are too complex and makes it too convoluted compared to other Sonic games. Some of the later stages also have a disappointing and cheap design. Sonic CD is good but not the best and is very unbalanced. Sonic Mania is a great game, better than Sonic CD, but Sonic 1 is the best one

Sonic Mania!

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Nothing says Sonic more than horrible glitches, bad framerate and bad voice acting.

@LuckyLand totally agree, sonic 1 is the best sonic game. It’s got a punchyness the sequels smoothed over

CD's bonus stages are awful and the perspective going on makes it hard to play. Mania is obviously much more better and much more fun

Personally as much as I like sonic CD I liked Sonic 3 way way more. Probably because I didn't have a sega CD as a kid so I don't get that much nostalgia from it. So for me because sonic mania has influences from lots of sonic games (mostly 2 and cd IMO) I prefer it to cd.

Mania.

It has to be Sonic Mania but we are more enlightened now then we were then, there’s also A LOT more technical wizardry in Sonic Mania so it’s not really a fair comparison is it? 😉

Sonic Mania easily. The level design in Sonic Cd has to be one of the worst in 2D sonic, atleast Sonic 1 has a excuse

MANIA, BROTHUUURRR!!!

(Sonic CD is sooooo overrated)

Sonic CD is not even a good Sonic game. Bought the game back in the day on Mega CD and it never felt right to me compared to Sonic1-3&Knucles.
So Mania without a shadow of a doubt. It's pretty much a perfect Sonic game.

Sorry if this may annoy some people but i found sonic cd not as good and very frustrating at times ( metal sonic level especially ) i enjoyed all the megadrive games though and mania was a blast loved every minute of it.

They're both okay but I like Sonic CD better. Sonic Mania is good too but it mix too much of the old stuff and it had a crappy ending that could had been better if it wasn't connected to the disappointment that was Sonic Forces.

As a huge sonic fan I can't say I've ever liked Sonic CD, but I still haven't played Mania so I can't really say.

I played the GC version (only sound reason to buy Gems Collection).
I think the only things that made it worth it were the awesome op/ed video, and that it introduced Amy and Metal Sonic.

sonic cd>sonic mania i cant believe how many sonic cd haters are on here sonic mania is good but sonic cd and sonic 3 are the top imo

Sonic CD is my favourite old Sonic Game. I've sunk more hours into it than Sonic Mania, and I judge all more recent Sonic experiences by that high bar.

Partly had to do with that I had it on CD-Rom and didn't have a Sega console, so the only time I could play the other old Sonic titles was at the dentist's office (until I got a Sonic collector's edition on a later console, I think it was Gamecube or maybe Xbox 360).

Sonic Mania is also really good though. I think I still prefer CD, but Mania's pretty darn good.

I love Tylers channel and how you guys keep referencing it. My Retro Life is my favorite show on Youtube and in my opinion he has the best channel on Youtube. I watched this and commented. Keep it up! He deserves a million subs and will get them with awareness of what he's doing. Metal Jesus, CGR, Game Chasers, Happy Console Gamer, Mike Mattei, Reggie, Kelsey, Kinzilla, John Riggs, John Hancock, NintenDrew! Everyone needs to be aware of the gaming revolution taking place over there!

@Matthew010 Do you have nothing better to do with your life than complain about such trivial things? We all die one day, do what you love! Don't mean this negatively!

@darkvortex idk im playing right now on my psp over the others i still think its the best 16 bit sonic ihave access to all of them and still play cd diffrent strokes i guess and the sega cd was a big part of my childhood

Is this even a question? Sonic CD is easily the worst of the classic games.

Now, you pit Mania against S3&K, and then you might have an interesting debate.

@Prof_Yoshtonics I do do what I love, thank you very much. I enjoy my life a lot if that is what you're asking.

neither.. Sonic 3 and Knuckles is still the best.

When is that remaster coming Christen whitehead/SEGA?!

And if we talking about the best special stages, it's Sonic 3D Blast on the Sega Saturn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghnIrjdAq7U&t=59s still wish they just made a full game of this. ^^

Let's eat grandma.

@Matthew010 Sorry. I guess all I meant was different strokes for different folks. You're completely entitled to your opinion and it's not my place to imply otherwise. I would just like to hear much more about what you and anybody, for that matter, enjoys instead of what you disdain. Remember what Thumper said, "If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all." 😁

There are two typos in the first sentence, three in my opinion. Obviously the writer has a lot on what with starting a new role, and I don’t mean to sound nasty, but it’s a bit amateurish.

Sonic mania could only be better if they used the visual designs of Sonic Boom.

I can only imagine who thought it was a great idea to hire a team made up of sacked Naughty Dog employees for Sonic Boom - there was a reason why they were sacked. Lol.

Am I the only one who liked Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast?

I like the look of Sonic Mania, but I’m stuck on one of the Chemical Zone levels, and so have given up before seeing the bulk of the content. I wished there was a way to skip a level.

@Bondi_Surfer Look it up on youtube. See how to beat the level.

Sonic Mania is by far the best 2D Sonic,it takes everything right about the classic games and throw away almost all the best,so yeah

@Prof_Yoshtonics Ok! 😀

@Prof_Yoshtonics Ok! 😀

@Prof_Yoshtonics Ok! 😀

@Bondi_Surfer I’m with you.

The soundtrack of Sonic CD has always been it's main claim to fame. (With the US tracks being better in some places like Quartz Quadrant, and the EU/JP tracks better in others like the final levels.) The level design, however, was categorically more bland or more cramped than Sonic 2 and 3&Knuckles. The 8-spin dash was too speedy for the levels to accomodate it in many cases, for example. Enemies were also more bland, and not placed strategically. So the overall win would go to Mania here.

@WaveBoy I'm the author of the video. I'm sorry you didn't like the content or our discussion, but to go as far as to assume we are pretentious hipsters is maybe a bit much. That's very judgmental. We're just a bunch of guys passionate about retro gaming. I would suggest you watch more of the videos on the channel before you jump to conclusions and labels.

@Bondi_Surfer how can you be stuck on a sonic game? you run straight forward and jump, thats about it.

I Loved Mania but i still think S3&K is the best