Sonic CD takes a turn as the Xbox Red Stripe Deal this Thursday

By Paul Acevedo
last updated

As deal-savvy gamers might have noticed by now, the Xbox Windows Phone Deal of the Week is now technically a part of Microsoft’s Red Stripe Deals, which roll out every Thursday. Basically three Windows Phone apps or games go on Thor’s Day, one of which will be an Xbox Live title. Well, a rose by another name smells just as sweet, and we’ll continue reporting on the Xbox sale game prior to Thursday as we’ve always done.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk games! The last two Xbox Deal games had both been on sale before returning to Deal of the Week status. This Thursday, a quality game goes on sale for the first time ever: Sonic CD from SEGA! Okay, technically there was that weird glitch in which Nokia gave out a non-Xbox Live version of Sonic CD for a short time last year, but that doesn’t count. Sonic CD will soon be available at a discount for everybody – with sparkly Xbox Live Achievements intact.

Rolling around at the speed of sound

Sonic CD for Windows Phone

Sonic CD is a remake of the classic 16-bit Sega CD game. It plays much like other Sega Genesis Sonic games, though the focus on exploration has increased thanks to much larger levels and new gameplay mechanics. Sonic can now travel forward and backward in time by touching special sign posts and then reaching super high speeds. Doing so takes him to unique versions of each level, with altered layouts, graphics, and music. It’s a unique and fun spin on the classic series.

The story comes to life via fully animated cartoon segments at the beginning and end of the game. Sonic’s nemesis Dr. Eggman has traveled back in time to change the history of the mysterious Little Planet and gain its power.

Sonic can take on the game’s seven zones by simply heading for the goal posts and beating all the bosses, but that’s like playing only half the game. To fully restore Little Planet and get the happy ending, the blue blur will need to travel into the past version of each zone in order to destroy Eggman’s robot teleporters and holograms. Eventually he’ll also do battle with fan-favorite enemy Metal Sonic.

The Windows Phone version of Sonic CD features a ton of improvements over the classic game, including true widescreen visuals, two selectable soundtracks, and the newly-playable sidekick Tails. All told, we consider this one of the very best games of 2012. Check out our full review for lots more details, and don’t forget to use our exclusive Achievement Guide when you play.

Bargain price

Sonic CD for Windows Phone

Sonic CD regularly sells for $4.99, the same price as the XBLA version. Considering the scope of the game, five bucks isn’t bad. But less is better! Starting Thursday, April 18th Sonic CD goes on sale for just $1.99. If you’ve been craving a serious platformer on the go, don’t miss it.

Sonic CD runs great on Windows Phone 7 and 8 and is a 163 MB download. Once the sale starts, grab it here at the Windows Phone Store.

QR: Sonic CD

Paul Acevedo
Paul Acevedo

Paul Acevedo is the Games Editor at Windows Central. A lifelong gamer, he has written about videogames for over 15 years and reviewed over 350 games for our site. Follow him on Twitter @PaulRAcevedo. Don’t hate. Appreciate!

60 Comments
  • Odd I downloaded this when it was free for my Lumia 900 but when I tried to download it on my 920 I had to pay....
  • My guess is that the phone 7 version was not integrated with Xbox but the phone 8 version is. This happened to me once when I had to pay for angry birds twice.
  • It's a native WP7 game either way. Nokia just briefly made a non-Live test version available for some reason, and refused to explain it when we asked them about it.
  • Yeah, I've got the free one on my 920, but will get this when it goes on red stripe tomorrow. Need the 'chievements, lol!
  • Just bought and gaming all morning, as and when work break permits. The game is tweaked for touch gameplay and the Xbox integration is awesome. Loving this deal thing and the game
  • Thanks but no thanks.
  • Good price
  • I always wanted this game. Will grab it tomorrow.
  • Love this game.
  • I already own it :)
  • Hooray beer!
  • Haha I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks of the beer!  Red Stripe is such an odd name for them to choose, it's not sponsored by the beer brand, is it?
  • I had the free version on my Lumia 920 but when I replaced it under Warranty I lost the game! What a joke where if you have bought apps in the past (free or not) you can't reinstall them if changes are made on the store. My wife still has it on her 920 so no recall was done...
  • It was a temporary glitch, not intended for the public. They just fixed the glitch.
  • In this case, you didn't really own the game. The 'free' version was a glitch as opposed to an actual promotion.
  • No thanks, I had fun playing Sonic games back in about 1992. Don't need to play the same game in 2013.
  • Too bad. Not only has the game's quality not diminished a jot, but the re-release is actually better than the original thanks to its many improvements.
  • I'd rather see new IP comes to Windows Phone. Not game that are 20 years old. Windows Phone isn't moving forward with releases like this and Cut the Rope, they are getting scraps that the rest of the market has long ago thrown out.
  • It's not a scrap at all. We got it relatively quickly(ish) after the iOS, XBLA, and Android versions, which launched at the end of 2011. Classic games continue to be remade for newer systems, and Sonic CD remains the best non-casual platformer available for WP.
  • Experiments was released on iOS in August of 2011. That's 1 year and 8 months. That isn't the defintion of quick in any dictionary.
  • We're talking about Sonic CD here, which has been out for months. There you go conflating issues again. Rather than arbitrarily pushing an agenda, let's try staying on topic. :P
  • I'm sorry, please inform me what "agenda" I'm pushing? Let's try not to be rude to people when you disagree with them. How about that?
  • "Whoops, sorry I got mixed up about what game we were talking about. Sorry I keep going on about off-topic issues in this article about Sonic CD going on sale. I totally see why you'd become annoyed with me, EastX." I forgive you, dude. :-D
  • Lol. Holy cookie crack. People are in rare form today. And to think I took a break from work to get away from individuals pushing their agendas to read more. :/
  • Neither you nor the author know what the word agenda means. I was simply voicing my opinion on why I think these games are indicative of how much Microsoft cares about the platform. I don't care if you agree with me, but learn the definition of words.
  • Don't care if you forgive me, I wasn't pushing an agenda, and I'm not mixing anything up. I was just simply voicing my opinion. If you want to (continue) to ignore the piss poor state of Windows Phone, it's apps selection, and the level of care that Microsoft is (not) showing their platform be my guest. I'll take it to the forums next time.
  • agenda:
    an underlying often ideological plan or program
    Now, I don't know how much more clear I can make this. In an article about Sonic CD going on sale, which any logical gamer would find to be good news, you repeatedly discussed a separate agenda - that Microsoft needs to bring more exclusives to Windows Phone in order to sell the platform to new customers. That's the ideology that you came in here with and felt like discussing (regardless of its relevance to the article). These are facts; I can't see how you could debate any of what I just said. I can tell you that any author will be annoyed by off-topic discussion within the comments of the article. I am not unique in this way. We put our hearts, time, and energy into writing these articles and for someone to subvert the subject is annoying, especially if they go on and on about it. Saying something off-topic briefly of course is no big deal, but like I said you repeatedly and flagrantly stuck to your agenda. You did this in such a way as to cause argument since of course respondents had to struggle to prove or disprove the relevance of your ideas. At times, you didn't even remember what game we were discussing. It was weird, it was a bit rude, and I told you so. Heck, I even did it with good humor just a few comments above this. Now, the normal, not strange thing to do would be to show some humility and realize you'd gone off-course with your comments. Instead, you densely refused to get the idea, refuting that you had an agenda and ignoring that your comments were largely off-topic. That's bad. When someone explains that you've done something wrong or strange, the proper thing to do is learn from it and try to emulate the expected behavior. Normal is not to continue being obtuse and argumentative. I'm telling you this to help you out, not to be mean. Please try to keep my advice in mind in the future. Or don't, but that's all the energy I can expend on this. ~ ~
  • Only authors of Windows Phone articles seem to get into a pissing match with itheir readers.
  • There's nothing wrong with taking readers seriously and engaging in debates with them. ~ ~
  • You're right, I was commenting on the Experiments article and thought it was in the correct window since they were both about game releases. That still doesn't mean that my comment was completely irrelevant. Well over a year between release on iOS, XBLA and Android is not quick(ish) by any reasonable persons measurement. That's a dead title, especially when it's based on IP over 20 years old, even with a price drop.
  • Really? Well, that's sad.
    I still have a lot of fun playing these old games. Actually, some of them are way more enjoyable than modern games. Heck, I've been hooked again on Pokémon thanks to the VGBC8 emulator. But to each their own.
  • I'm not saying it's a bad game, or that it shouldn't be on this platform. But releasing an updated game from 20 years ago isn't going to push the OS into the hands of new customers. They need new IP. I do like playing old games, I have a SNES emulator installed on my 920, but I wouldn't begin to think that Sonic CD would sway a customer from getting an iPhone or an Android phone. They get the new apps first, and Windows Phone gets them 18 months later. With all the pitchfork mobs running around bellowing about something as simple as Instagram, not having it does actually turn people away. It's time for Microsoft to stop picking up the leftovers and agressively seek out these developers and drop serious cash in their lap to develop exclusively for Windows Phone, or the very least release alongside new IP on other platforms.
  • It's not SEGA's job to sell the platform. They just make and sell whatever games they want to make. In this case, they revamped Sonic CD for all mobile platforms, so we get it on WP too. It's Microsoft's responsibility to grow the platform by producing or funding exclusive games, but they're largely uninterested in doing so. Point is, it's pointless to complain about third-party devs giving us the games they want to give us. SEGA and friends have no interest in selling WP to new customers; they just want to sell their games to as many customers as possible.
  • "It's Microsoft's respoinsibility to grow the platform by producing or funding exclusive games, but they're largely uninterested in doing so. " That's the problem, not SEGA. I never said SEGA did anything wrong, I said Microsoft is being lazy/inept at getting fresh new IP released here first. They are never going to gain market share or new customers with that attitude.
  • Yeah, but you're saying that over and over in a comment thread about Sonic CD. If you think WP desperately needs exclusives, that's a subject for the forums as opposed to the comments section of a largely unrelated article.
  • Then we disagree on what Microsoft is doing for the platform, but don't put words in my mouth.
  • Seriously, someone is actually whining that a game is available and got a cut on its price ?
  • You really think his complaint is that the game is being discounted?
  • True, but unfortunately that's not the only problem behind the inability of Microsoft to promote WP. For example, why the hell do they give things like Xbox SmartGlass to iOS and Android users instead of making it WP exclusive like Sony does with Playstation?
    If they won't commit to more constant improvements on a new and still underdeveloped platform, why do they deny their partners (Nokia etc) and 3rd party devs to do that for them?
  • Because as much as the writers and commenters here ignore reality, Microsoft shows absolutely no intention of actually caring that Windows Phone survives, much less thrives. They've done nothing to make the platform relevant to anyone looking to get a new phone, or switch. It's as bad a cult atmosphere around here as the Android an Apple websites. They don't want to hear anything contrary to what they want to see. Microsoft is making damn sure this is a dead platform and it's a shame.
  • Grrr why is my L920 still at the factory!
    Well, seems like I'll have to blow up what's left on my L620 memory with this.
  • Yeah, as long as you purchase the game, you'll still own it and be able to redownload it when your 920 comes back.
  • Indeed. That's why I'll go ahead and just fill up my 620. That's a nice policy. And even when there's a glitch, Microsoft's support assistance is unbelievably fast and eficient. Just yesterday I had a problem with another App whose developers tried to rip me off by republishing the App and denying those who paid to redownload, and Microsoft was very efficient in solving the problem and refunding me. So as of yesterday, I'm totally relaxed when it comes to this. =) 
  • The free version from Nokia and super monkey ball is still downloadable from China WP store. They are not in the Nokia collection, you have to search for it, either the app name or Nokia corporation.
  • How do you connect to China WP store without vpn?
  • Thanks a lot for the heads up!
  • It ain't on sale in the UK. Its almost as expensive as buying it on the Sega master system
  • Not sure if it's already Thursday there, but it won't show up on sale in your store until it's also on sale in the US (i.e. tomorrow).
  • Actually this game was a Sega CD (or Sega Nomad if that was your preference) title which most people never played due to the limited quantities of this excellent title due to limited sales of Sega's CD hardware. It was very expensive! Anyhow, this game use to cost hundreds of dollars if one actually wanted the actual CD (its about 15 now) and people begged for it to be released. Around 15 years later, they did that due to some non Sega project dude doing an amazing emulation on the title. I believe that guy is now a Sega employee. Point I am trying to say is for the $5 to $10 they charge on this title is a great price after all these years. Look up Panzer Dragoon Saga. Another title people keep asking to rerelease. Guaranty people would complain if Sega charged $10.
  • I got it for free in the short time it was free for Lumia phones.
  • I have a thread in the Windows Phone Apps Forum that I am going to keep updated each week with the Red Stripe Deals. I am on the West Coast so it may not be updated right away, but it will be as soon as I can. I would have posted the link here, but I keep getting the "This post has been automatically been marked as spam" error!
  • Awesome deal, this'll be my 100th WP7 game !!
  • Gravity guy, fragger and istunt2 all free right now. Follow this link http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/search?q=miniclip
  • Not a big Sonic guy, but I'll try out the demo.  I think I already have it on PSN though, so I'm not sure if there's any need to buy it again.
  • Well for 1.99 I am in. I was waiting for a sale on sonic. I think I still have my Sega cd and sonic cd in the attic. I should break it out.
  • Seriously if you change your phones marketplace setting to China you can get it for free! Downloading at the moment and I live in Finland.
     
    edit: Just realized it has no achievements :(
  • ...and only for Finnish phones, I mean, Nokia :-)
  • I'm going to pass on this one. I don't like Sonic cd.
  • The promotion just went live ;)
  • Loved this game back on the Sega CD, but I tried playing the trial of this and  I just can't play it right with a touchscreen controller.  It was a chore.  Great game, great price, awful interface.