- For the final boss battle in Sonic Heroes, see Metal Madness. For the Zone in Sonic Mania, see Metallic Madness Zone.
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Metallic Madness (金属の狂気[2] Kinzoku no kyōki?) is the seventh and final round in Sonic the Hedgehog CD. The boss of Metallic Madness is Dr. Robotnik in a floating machine protected by large rotating blades.
Description
Present
Practically everything is metal in this green-tinted, technologically-ruled base owned by Dr. Robotnik. The floor has built-in turbines, so Sonic must watch out for death traps such as moving buzz-saws, cages with spinning bars, and spinning blades on wheels. There are also springs on moving wheels, which can make it tricky to reach higher places. Towards the end of Act 2, Sonic gets shrunk down to 25% of his original size when passing through a laser, allowing him to fit into smaller passages and jump higher. At the end of the shrinking mini-maze, Sonic returns to his normal size.
Past
The Past shows the base in semi-construction, though many of the machines and computers appear intact and functional with a lavender hue. Building girders are strewn about the ceilings and floors in many areas, construction cones can be seen on the ground and the metal shines with a soft, light purple hue.
Bad Future
The Bad Future shows the complex dark, foreboding and in a state of great decay, as if abandoned for years. The machinery and surrounding walls and flooring have a rusted brownish-green hue to them, with a pitch black background illuminated with multicolored mechanical pillars and countless computer consoles. Though functional, many of the surrounding mechanisms, if not the entire place itself, appears cracked, broken, and desperately holding on to whatever electrical power it can get, as if in danger of shutting down.
Good Future
The Good Future shows the complex in a brighter light, with the metal walls and floors looking sleek and clean and with a bright blue hue. Mechanical plants and fountains adorn specific areas. Miles of forestry have sprung up all around it, as if nature is successfully reclaiming this particular area from its earlier metallic rule, and mechanized, palace-like structures sit in the far distance. The place looks almost like a sprightly, futuristic shopping mall where animals dance freely and victoriously amidst the corridors. Despite the lighter feel, though, many dangerous traps are still present.
In other media
Sonic the Comic
The cyber-formed appearance of the Miracle Planet from "The Sonic Terminator" story arc (Sonic the Comic #24 to #28) was based on Metallic Madness, as revealed in the script for issue #26 (here). In particular, the concept of Sonic being shrunk in size to fit through a small hole is based on an obstacle from Zone 2 of this level. Writer Nigel Kitching provided a video reference of the level for artist Richard Elson to work on.
Trivia
- Metallic Madness' music had appeared several other times, being referenced or remixed.
- In Man of the Year, the Present theme of this level from the Japanese version is used for when Robotnik wreaks havoc.
- The Present theme is also Metal Sonic's All-Star move theme; Maximum Overdrive.
- The Present theme also was remixed as the music for the Zoah Colony in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
- The Past theme was used in the trailer for the 2013 mobile re-release of the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
- Metallic Madness Zone itself appears as one of the last Zones in Sonic Mania and its music got two remixes, one for Act 1 in which remixes mostly the Past theme and for Act 2 which remixes mostly the Present theme, but also with some Bad Future elements.
- Metallic Madness’s music itself is also sampled in a few of the other tracks in the game (Mainly the Act 2 music for Chemical Plant Zone and part of Metal Sonic’s boss theme).
- In the Japanese version of the Bad Future theme, phrases like "Sonic, dead or alive, is mine," "You can't do anything, so don't even try it. Get some help," and "Don't do what Sonic does," can be heard in speech synthesis, which sounds like the "speech" synthesis program included in the OS for Amiga computers which were commonly used to develop Genesis/Mega Drive games.
- "You can't do anything, so don't even try" is presumably a twisted version of the lyrics of "Sonic - You Can Do Anything", the Japanese theme song.
- The theme for Metallic Madness is a remix of the boss theme from the Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This music was also arranged for the final boss theme in Sonic Chaos.
- Metallic Madness Zone 2's past is apparently almost but not impossible to complete, as a pathway later in the act seems barricaded to the actual/reachable exit. However, the start of Zone 2 is topless, making passing it easy. This issue is only present in the original Mega CD version of the game.
- All of the three Zones have different backgrounds, Zone 3 is a zoomed version of Zone 2.
- Metallic Madness Zone 3 is the only Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog CD that contains a bottomless pit.
- Stardust Speedway also contains bottomless pits, but the player cannot fall into them unless they time travel in a spot that would put them outside of the map in the time period they travel to.
- It's impossible to see Mini Sonic traveling in time, if one turns debug on and travels in time, the screen will show the normal Sonic traveling.
- In the 2011 re-release of Sonic the Hedgehog CD, there is a glitch where the player can end up in the Bad Future version of Zone 3, even after collecting all of the Time Stones.
- Metallic Madness is the only Round in the game that does not contain any Metal Sonic Projectors
Gallery
| Gallery |
|---|
 Past  Present  Bad Future  Good Future  Boss |
Music
| Name | Artist(s) | Length | Music Track |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metallic Madness "P" mix | Naofumi Hataya | 2:31 | |
| N/A (US) | N/A | 2:49 | |
| Metallic Madness (US) | Sterling w/Armando Peraza, Bobby Vega | 2:08 | |
| N/A (US) | N/A | 2:11 | |
| Metallic Madness (JP) | Naofumi Hataya | 3:14 | |
| Metallic Madness "B" mix | Naofumi Hataya | 2:52 | |
| Metallic Madness "G" mix | Naofumi Hataya | 2:42 |
Video
References
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Sega CD) United States instruction manual, p. 14.
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Sega CD) Japanese instruction booklet, pg. 28.