Ports of Sonic CD and Marathon 2 Make Their Way to iOS

Sonic CD and Marathon 2: Durandal have made their way to the iPhone and the iPad, more than 15 years after their original release.

Sonic CD was originally released in 1993 as a game for the Sega CD, Sega's CD-ROM add-on for the Genesis console. Unfortunately, the Sega CD was a complete flop, and, according to our sister-site TouchArcade, never got the attention it deserved.

I'd still say Sonic CD is the best Sonic game ever released. It was a particularly great Sega CD game, as it played to the strengths of the Genesis with familiar Sonic-style gameplay enhanced through a few tasteful full motion video scenes and some fantastic CD audio.

TouchArcade has the full story of how Sonic CD came to the iPhone, and it's fascinating. The short version is that in 2009, a fan of the game created an unauthorized, ground up rewrite for iOS. That version suddenly disappeared without a trace, presumably under the order of Sega's legal team.

But today, that port has come to iOS with the approval of Sega, and to rave reviews.

Here we have the best installment of one of the greatest gaming franchises, which received both flawless review scores and game of the year awards when it was originally released ported with complete perfection to iOS. This is a game you flat out need to buy if you even vaguely consider yourself an iOS gamer. Not only because it's such an impeccable port of an important piece of gaming history, but because we need to vote with our wallets to tell Sega (and anyone else who might be watching) that this is the quality we demand out of retro games brought to the App Store.

Sonic CD is available as a universal iPad and iPhone app, for $1.99 on the App Store [Direct Link].


Marathon 2: Durandal was originally released in 1995 for the Mac and Windows 95 -- and was even ported to the Apple Pippen -- as a sequel to Bungie's first Marathon game. Marathon 1 was released on iPad earlier this year by the same developer.

As with Marathon 1, the game is a free download offering 28 levels divided into 9 chapters. The interface has been modified to accommodate touch screen interaction of the iPad. It also includes Joypad support, allowing players to play the game on the iPad, whilst controlling it with the iPhone.

Marathon 2 is a free download for the iPhone and iPad from the App Store [Direct Link]