Sonic CD Opening Animation

Sonic CD Opening Animation

Original Release Date: September 23rd, 1993

What, to you, is the most iconic piece of "Sonic" animation?

It's a good question to ask. The character has almost as long-lived a history in animation as he does video games. From the beginning, Sega and Sonic Team looked to classic cartoons like Mickey Mouse and AstroBoy as inspiration for the hedgehog. That Sonic debuted on TV only a few years after his first game dropped is a testament to how well-suited he is to the realm of animation. How determined his creators were to make him, not merely a video game star, but a cultural icon that could dominate multiple sectors. Maybe it didn't quite work out that way but the fact that "Sonic" animation is still such a pivotal part of the brand is another indicator that Sonic was made to be a cartoon character as much as a gaming mascot. 

Which brings me back to my opening question: What is the most iconic piece of "Sonic" animation? For fans of a certain age, it might be the "SatAM" opening. Lord knows that intro entranced me as a kid, drawing me totally into this world and the effortless sense of cool its hero showed. For others, the highly cinematic opening to "Sonic Adventure" probably hooked them in a similar way. It promises a world of limitless adventure, high stakes, epic fantasy, with a cocksure little speedster at the center. I'm sure, in the future, we'll hear new generations of "Sonic" devotees describing the "Mania" trailer, "Frontiers" gameplay, that bitchin' "Knuckles" short, or the movies in similarly awed tones. 

And these are all good choices. They are also all wrong. No, no, no, listen. I know these things are subjective. Everyone is going to have a different favorite, a personal opinion. Nobody is going to define "iconic" the same way. Especially when it comes to this fandom, when different eras are measured by different games and shows, it's likely that any "Sonic" fan will have a unique, highly personal answer to that question. But I'm telling you they are all wrong. There is, in fact, a correct answer to the question of "What is the most iconic piece of "Sonic" animation?" It is, without a doubt, the "Sonic CD" intro. 

I never had a Sega CD, which I imagine is the case for most "Sonic" fans who lived through the nineties. The Genesis peripheral sold notoriously poorly over here, owing to its high price point and lack of popular games. These days, the console is most remembered for its library of extremely cheesy full-motion video titles, notorious for their choppy visuals, unconvincing acting, and lack of compelling gameplay. (Despite all that, one of these games somehow still managed to be a focus of congressional controversy here in the States.) The Sega CD's most critically acclaimed titles remain utterly obscure in North America. How many people do you know that played "Popful Mail" in 1994? Where was the die-hard American following for the "Lunar" duology at the time? Do such human beings exist?

No, I never had a Sega CD. I did have a family friend who had one. One of those kids who had all the latest gaming contraptions. Naturally, he had to show me "Sonic CD," which was agreed upon at the time as the one bona fide killer app the console had. And the minute I laid eyes on the opening animation, my mind was blown. Years later, I came into possession of the Windows-95 port of the game. I honestly don't have many memories of actually playing "Sonic CD" but I do remember watching that introduction incessantly, letting it loop for a while. 

What was it about the "Sonic CD" Intro that captivated me so? The entire thing runs less than two minutes. It can't be described as having much of a plot, consisting mostly of Sonic simply running through the forest and towards the chained Little Planet up in the sky. And somehow it sums up everything that was cool and cutting edge about this series at the time. I've written before about how exotic anime was to American dweebs in the middle nineties. How it was seen as the more artistic, edgier counterpart to our strictly-for-kids cartoons, that used the endless boundaries of the art of animation for mature storytelling and expressive imagination. This wasn't quite true but that was the perception. The "CD" intro was the closest thing we had to a "Sonic" anime in 1993. And it was fucking cool. In the parlance of the day, it was phat. Hesh. Sick. Bitchin'. At least that's how my little autistic ass remembers it. 

What is true is that Japanese animation was often smoother and more stylized than its English language counterparts. I was utterly obsessed with "SatAM" as a kid but I must have realized, at the time with my little baby brain, that it didn't look this good. Despite its brief runtime, this animation sneaks in so much personality for Sonic. When finding a look-out on a rocky outcropping, he suspends himself on one hand while spreading his legs out. He corkscrews up a narrow peak at the animation's climax. Everything the hedgehog does, every minor pose and movement, is designed to project coolness and attitude. Not to mention the amount of detail in the animation in general. The sparks leaping off the massive chain, the water splashing up around Sonic as he leaps across a river. The dust and rainbows he kicks up. Everything about this animation conveys not simply speed but an effortless speed. Sonic changes the physical properties of things around him when he runs and without breaking a sweat! How fucking cool is that?

There's a reason the "Sonic Mania" animation would so closely emulate this opening. In many ways, this is the definitive look for what would eventually become known as "Classic Sonic." The spindly limbs, the overly round fist, the way his face expresses so much determination and focus despite never saying a word: All of these elements show Sonic's primary attributes. He has such a definitive sense of attitude that words are not necessary to express it. He's aerodynamic but still composed of simple shapes. When the force that speed creates is applied to a big ass rock, the impact of the blow is emphasized by a repeating frame of animation. These are the kind of tricks that make the action scenes in Japanese animation so thrilling to watch, that American animators wouldn't pick up on for years. 

He runs through a wide, open, natural world... With that enormous chain and mountain carved into Eggman's shape being the major exceptions. These are unnatural intrusions in a world otherwise defined by smooth lines and mountainous peaks. Without any spoken dialogue or extensive narrative, the animation tells you so much about this world, this character, and the themes it communicates with. "Sonic CD" is a game very much concerned with ecological ideas. The time travel gimmick shows us a world that is untouched by industry, in the process of being changed, and a grim destination of a totally corrupted, ruined natural landscape. These same concepts are subtly present in this little two minute opening too. It's neat looking and it's thematic! What more could you want? 

How about a bitchin' soundtrack too? The North American release of "Sonic CD" scores the animation to a song called "Sonic Boom," arranged by a fella called Spencer Nilsen and sung by the group Pastiche. To some ears, this song may sound cheesy. The lyrics are certainly goofy nonsense. What exactly does it mean to "reach the other side of the rainbow?" The singers also repeatedly conflate Sonic's speed with flying, which is odd. But when that chorus kicks in! The repetition of the title has an undeniable rhythm to it. When "Save the planet from disaster!" kicks in, it's impossible for me not to feel pumped. The instrumentation combines orchestral synth with wailing guitars, providing a soundtrack that is both epic in scope and contains a rock 'n' roll attitude. The perfect music to suggest smirking bad-ass Sonic is about to go on a planet spanning adventure here. It's awesome, you guys. I'm sorry, I won't be taking any questions on this subject. The defense rests. 

The combination of "Sonic Boom" and the specific motions of this animation are so ingrained in my memory that it's impossible for me to separate them. Which makes acknowledging that this wasn't the original soundtrack difficult to recognize. Whenever I watch the Japanese opening of "Sonic CD," I'm always taken aback when I hear "Sonic – You Can Do Anything." It's not that I dislike this song. This one also has a propulsive, bitchin' chorus you can shout along to. I think the rapping is silly sounding but the instrumental backing is probably more sophisticated than "Sonic Boom's" music. Simply put, this isn't the "Sonic CD" opening that imprinted on my brain as a kid. Hearing a different song over this animation feels intrinsically wrong because the U.S. version is so iconic to me. Any other song playing over it would feel weird to me. (Though this fan dub is pretty cool. I'm one of maybe only three people in the world who think Sonic and Bad Religion are a perfect match though...)

Having rambled on about this brief animation for twelve paragraphs, I've probably made my case that "Sonic CD's" intro is, in my eyes at least, at the tippy-top of all "Sonic" animation. It says a lot about how important this short little cartoon is to me that I could probably go on longer about it – did I mention that shot of the shadows of clouds moving across the ground while the synth pumps up at the very beginning? Arrrrgh, man, it's so fuckin' good! – but I'll wrap it up. Would a "Sonic" series or movie in this style of animation make me die of happiness? Yes. Hell, do it like that Daft Punk movie and score the entire story to pop songs, without any dialogue. Pure cinema. Alright, I'm visualizing fake movies now, time to pack it in. Unless the third "Sonic" film ends with Princess Sally popping out of the theater screen to tell me I'm a good man, this will be the only perfect score I ever hand out in this blog's history. [10/10]