-Estimated achievement difficulty: 6/10
-Offline: 12 (200)
-Online: 0
-Approximate amount of time to 200: 10 hours
-Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2
-Number of missable achievements: Treasure Hunter + Saviour of the Planet
-Do cheat codes disable achievements?: Yes
-Does difficulty affect achievements?: No Difficulty Setting
-Glitchy achievements: None
-Unobtainable achievements: None
-Extra equipment needed?: None
Introduction
Sonic CD is an arcade game that is a remake of a classic Sonic game that has been enhanced by a Sonic Community member named Christian Whitehead. It features both the original spindash and the updated peel out maneuver. To do the spindash, you hold down +. To perform the peel out you hold down +. You will need to be standing still to perform both of these. I would also recommend using the level maps here to help out with finding all the robot generators, Metal Sonic holograms, coin locations, and enemy locations.
Step 1
This step will consist of preparing for the main game. You will be able to get every single achievement in a single playthrough in the main game except for Just in Time! if you want to. Some people choose to save Treasure Hunter and Saviour of the Planet for two different playthroughs because if you get all seven Time Stones (the objects needed for Treasure Hunter) before Metallic Madness Zone 2, you will have destroyed all the robot generators and will no longer be able to get Saviour of the Planet. My recommendation will be to play through the game until you have one Time Stone left. Once you finish the Zone 1 or Zone 2 and travel to the Special Stage, back out to the dashboard and copy your file to a second storage device. Go back to the game, finish the Special Stage, and you should now have unlocked Treasure Hunter. Back out once again, and copy the file from your second storage device to your main storage. Play through the Special Stage again, and fail it. That, or you could hold off the Time Stones until Metallic Madness Zone 2. I personally did not do that because I did not know if I would be able to finish Metallic Madness Zone 2 with 50 coins because it is a challenging level and I am not a Sonic veteran.
Step 2 - Palmtree Panic Zone 1 (+Special Stage)
Once you decide what you're going to do about Treasure Hunter and Saviour of the Planet, it's time to move onto the actual game. Once you start the game, you'll find yourself in a place called Palmtree Panic Zone 1. Using the level map located in the introduction, find the Past sign that you think you will be able to get to the easiest. After you have passed by the Past sign and it has spun, you should notice that there is a Past sign emblem next to your life count, now. As long as that is there, you will be able to travel to the past. If you begin running as fast as possible you will notice a flickering spark develop around Sonic. This is the time travel mechanism attempting to activate. In order to successfuly travel through time, that flickering spark will need to be there for several seconds, and it only stays as long as you are moving nonstop. If you move for several seconds with the flickering spark active, you will notice that the Past sign next to your life count will begin flickering. When it begins flickering, if you stop moving, the past sign will vanish. When it does, you will no longer be able to travel to the past/future with the sign that you used before. You will have to find a new sign.
Once you pass by the Past sign, I would recommend finding a vertical yellow/red spring that if you were to jump on it and put down your controller, Sonic will continue to bounce up and down on it. When you find this spring, stand off to the side, and activate the spindash by holding +. Spindash onto the spring. You should now have the flickering spark active while bouncing up and down. You will now be able to travel to the past. I would recommend using this technique for all levels where you wish to travel through time because it is by far the easiest way to travel through time. As you are traveling through time. You will unlock the 88 Miles per Hour achievement.
Now that you have traveled through time, take a look at the past level map for the same level (once again, using the link in the introduction) to find the locations of the robot generators and Metal Sonic hologram. The first thing I would do is destroy the robot generator because it will kill every single enemy on the stage. After the robot generator is destroyed, attempt to collect every single coin that you can get your hands on in order to obtain the King of the Rings achievement. Be sure to look over the level map to know the locations of spikes on the level so that you do not lose all your coins and throw your hard work down the drain.
In the process of collecting all these coins, you should seek out the Metal Sonic hologram and destroy it. After that is destroyed and you have either collected all the coins in the past, or have already unlocked the King of the Rings achievement, it is now time to travel to the future. Find a future sign, and use the same technique mentioned above to travel to the future.
Once you are in the future, it's time to make your way to the goal sign and finish the level. Take note, even if you do not want to go after King of the Rings on this level, you should finish the level with at least 50 rings in your inventory. If you have 50 rings in your inventory, stop before you get to the sign of Dr. Eggman giving a thumbs down. You will notice a giant floating ring behind it. Jump through that ring. You have now finished the first level. You should unlock Paradise Found because you finished the level in the good future. The game will now take you to a Special Stage.
At this point, I would recommend backing out to the dashboard and copying your file to a second storage device. Once you are done with that, head back into the game using your main storage device. You'll now be on a 3D stage with a timer set at 100 seconds and a UFO counter in the left hand corner of the screen. The objective of this level is to destroy all the UFOs on the stage. Once you have done that, you will finish the level and get a Time Stone. There are some things to remember:
- If you jump into the water, your timer will deplete at an alarmingly quick rate.
- If your timer falls below 20 seconds, a new UFO will pop up with red lights. Destroy that UFO, and it will increase your time by 30 seconds. That UFO does not add to the amount of UFOs you need to destroy, and it does not count as a destroyed UFO on your counter. You can ignore it completely, if you wish.
- If your timer falls below 15 seconds, I would recommend backing out to the main menu and starting the level over again.
- If your timer depletes completely, the game instantly saves and kicks you to the next stage
Step 3 - Finishing the Main Game
You will now move onto Palmtree Panic Zone 2. Travel to the past, destroy the robot generators and Metal Sonic holograms, get 50 coins, finish the level by jumping through the giant coin . Complete the Special Stage. You will now be on Zone 3. All of the third zones in the game are boss fights. They're all pretty simple in nature. Repeat this process until Collision Chaos Zone 2.
Here you will notice there are two different goal signs at the end of the level. You will need to pass by the one on the higher platform in order to unlock the Take the High Road achievement. Once you get to the end of the level, you will see a half pipe with a yellow spring in the middle. The way I got to the higher platform was to roll up into a ball, have the spring punch me. When the spring hits you, you will need to jump before you leave the ramp in order to have Sonic jump onto the wall on the left side of the half pipe. The spring will go back into the ground. Roll down the wall on the left side, and when you get to the same place where you jumped last time on the right side of the ramp, do so again. You will now land on a higher place on the wall on the left side. Keep doing this until you think you have enough momentum to carry yourself to the second platform. When you think you have gained enough momentum, instead of jumping on the right side of the ramp, just go straight up (making sure to avoid the red spring on your way up). You should be able to land on the second platform and run through the goal post netting you the Take the High Road achievement.
Once you're done with that, finish up both the Tidal Tempest levels by destroying the generators and holograms and finishing the special stages. Going into Quartz Quadrant Zone 1, you will now have six Time Stones. At the end of this stage if you finish up the correlating special stage, you will unlock the Treasure Hunter achievement for gaining all seven Time Stones. If you do so and continue on the main story all of the robot generators and Metal Sonic holograms will be destroyed and you will no longer be able to get the Saviour of the Planet achievement on this playthrough.
If you want to, you can save your file onto a second storage device before you play through the special stage and finish the special stage and unlock the achievement. You can then go into your second storage device, copy your file over your main game, play through the special stage, and lose. Either that, or save your final Time Stone for Metallic Madness Zone 2. Anyhow, after that, beat Quartz Quandrant Zone 2, remembering to destroy the robot generators and Metal Sonic hologram. After you finish Zone 3, you will move onto Wacky Workbench.
While doing Wacky Workbench Zone 1, travel to the past as you would do anyway, but look over the level map. On the left-center side of the map down near the bottom you will notice a room with a green woman bending forward in it. Travel to that part of the map and stand next to orange and black striped ramp to the right of the room. Running from the right side of the ramp toward the room, jump over the orange and black striped ramp in order to jump into a tunnel. Travel through the tunnel and you will find yourself in the room with the green woman. You will now have unlocked the Statue Saviour achievement. Finish up Wacky Workbench and don't forget to destroy the generators and holograms.
The next set of levels are the Stardust Speedway levels. Finish up Zone 1 and Zone 2 destroying the generators and holograms. The boss battle for Zone 3 is a bit different this time around. You will be racing Metal Sonic. This is the level where you will need to beat Metal Sonic in a race without being hurt once in order to unlock Heavy Metal. Refer to the guide below for the best strategy there. Free Amy and she'll hug you, earning you Just one hug is enough.
The two Metallic Madness levels do not have Metal Sonic holograms. Destroy the generators on both of themand you will unlock Saviour of the Planet. Move onto the final Zone of the game. Finish the Zone and you will unlock Dr. Eggman Got Served and All Stages Clear!
Step 4 - Time Attack Mode
Go into the Time Attack Mode from the main menu. You will notice that you will be able to finish every single zone individually. You will also notice a total timer. In order to unlock the achievement for Just in Time! you will need to get that total timer below 25 minutes. Check out the Time Attack videos here to get an idea of the fastest routes through each zone. Note that you don't need to get times anywhere close to those to complete the game under 25 minutes.
Conclusion
Sonic CD is not an easy 200, but not a difficult one, either. If you're not a Sonic veteran (like myself), it will take some time to get used to the game mechanics and to be able to speed through the levels, but it will happen. Once you understand the game and know the levels, you will be able to speed through them at a decent clip. Good luck, and congratulations on your 200 if you're already done.
[x360a would like to thank AvengingCactus7 for this roadmap]