Call me Vee....Captain Vee.....

It's been about thirty years give or take since I had encountered that ghastly damn fiddler crab. I trudged and shuffled my way through hill tops, chemical plants, casinos, and even oil spills to find all those sparkly gemstones competing in those half pipe challenges. The challenges themselves were quite a treat back in those days. They're a tad fumbly bumbly visiting them now, and the bombs are quite dastardly placed. I wouldn't expect any less from that egg-ish bastard, but that crab took everything from me. My time, my money, my gems, as well as my leg. That crabominable nincompoop took it off when I tried to jump on him, I don't know how he hit me, but he did. Underhanded he was, that's why as of this paragraph I have gone off on my expedition to track down that bloody wanker. I'm gonna get him back for what he did, I will have my revenge...

Been about a weeks worth of travel on the range, we stopped at the casino as a resting stop after my fox companion nearly got tetanus from a Grounder jumping out of the wall in those ruins earlier. Crafty bunch they are, constantly talking about buckets of chicken for some reason too. After I lost all of my rings diving headfirst into an oversized slot machine, we continued onward through the caves dodging those damn lightning bugs. We were getting closer though, closer to his habitat. I could smell the fumes of discarded fossil fuel, past this ocean, we will be within his lair. It's a shame no one has yet to do something about all this oil, I wonder if it's the seahorses keeping the cleaning crews at bay...their cheesy poof spitball can knock an echidna on their arse.

After a couple hours we finally made it, the fabled Metropolis Zone, often mistakenly known as "Genocide City" by some goers. Sounds like something owned by a blonde arms dealing supervillain living in a Nimitz-class supercarrier. My foxy companion was nearly knocked off the lug nut elevator that we were using by an exploding starfish, that's how I knew we were even closer. The music was awfully catchy for such a dangerous area, no idea where it was coming from. I can only assume that crab was behind it. We searched high and low for what seemed like hours.......perhaps even days....but then, it happened. I spotted him. Perched up on the ledge like he was last time, the crustaceous criminal.

Shellcracker. Shellcracker.....

There's no mistaking it, I could never forget such a smarmy little fucker. You could get an entire team of astrophysicists and mathematicians to construct a diagram of when and how this damn crab's hitboxes function, but they still wouldn't be able to figure it out. Baffled beyond recognition at the thievery of which this arthropod operates, science couldn't possibly understand it. I couldn't either, but I had to get it. My revenge. I cannot allow him to continue his antics, who knows how many countless others he has stolen from. How many lives ruined. All by this fiddling fiddler's debauchery and scandalous behavior. I ushered my kitsune cohort to hand me my spear...and I could see Shellcracker's eyes narrow, he knew it was me....I have come for him....only one will leave this area alive. The hunt is on....

My heart was racing, the adrenaline was pumping, the memories of our last encounter rushed back to haunt me. I took my trusty spear and clutched it in my dominant hand, I readied my aim at my arch nemesis. Shellcracker did nothing but sneer at me in confidence, his gigantic claw was ready to lunge at me any second now. I was at a disadvantage, but I was determined, determined to crack his shell. We glared at each other for eons, waiting for one of us to make the first move. Birds flew out of the trees that had somehow grown in this factory, and I suddenly saw his pincer rush toward me. My life flashed before my eyes, and I jumped skywards out of the way for my dear life. In the air, it felt like time had frozen. I could see him below me, now was my chance. I threw my damned spear as hard as I could, straight for his mug. I couldn't even see straight, after only a second I heard a loud "POOF" afterwards. After landing, I took a quick glance back at the enemy, a thick cloud of smoke where he once was. It was done, my revenge is complete. Shellcracker....has been cracked.....

After the smoke cleared however, a rabbit hobbled out of the wreckage of what was once a sinister shellfish. They looked at me for a few seconds, with an odd look that unsettled me. They seemed thankful, thankful that I had defeated them... something I was unprepared for. The rabbit ran off without a care, leaving me there with an almost empty feel. I got my revenge...a selfish act for sure, one that I knew made me no better than the crab, but... was it truly as selfish as that shellfish? I wonder how I would've felt if I had not seen that rabbit afterwards. I took a ponder to this during our return trip home. Riding the gondola down the skies of Hill Top, I remembered all those moments from our last adventure. The journey through the Chemical Plant outracing that vile blue jelly, exploring those aquatic ruins nearly getting my face taken off by an arrow... it's quite odd. My eyes became heavy as I stared off into the sunset, tears were felt running down my cheeks as I looked again at my new keepsake that was his claw. I spoke to him.

"Thank you for the memories, old chum."

Yeah, that's right, I played this on the Sega Genesis Classics emulator on steam, I nabbed it when they gave it away for free some years ago. Sega thought it was being clever when it removed the Sonic games so we would buy Origins, well, who is laughing now, SEGA?!... Now please let me buy Rocket Knight Adventure pleasepleasepleaseplease pretty please.

Ah, Sonic, the one and only! I really liked him when I was younger, and I mean, look at the guy: it's blue, has legs, what's there not to love? I remember being really fixated over this guy for a while, even more than Mario... and then I played the games. I honestly couldn't even tell you if they were even bad, mainly 'cause I never got far 'cause man do I SUCK at those games. No matter if it's 3D or 2D, then or now, I'm extremely bad at them and I really couldn't tell you why, guess it's one of my two curses, the other one being bad grammar. To this day the only Sonic games I've played till the end are Generations and Mania, but even tho I really liked the latter it didn't really made me better at them at all; after beating it I tried time and time again getting into the classic ones, but I just kept dropping them 'cause, again, I just felt I wasn't good enough, that something wasn't clicking. Finally beating Sonic 2 so long after my first attempt was an eye-opener, 'cause while I still consider myself really bad at this games, I also noticed the core design issues that make this experience sometimes a chore to go through.

And it's a shame, because Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has so many good elements that the first impression it leaves is always good! The game is beautiful from start to finish, everything looks incredibly well and far more interesting and stylized than many other 16-bit games. The colors pop out, the enemy and zone design are extremely creative and iconic, and the music... is a bit mixed actually, there are some themes here and there that are noticeable worse than others and don't sound that good, but believe me, when Sonic 2's music is good, IT'S FUCKING FANTASTIC. When it comes to presentation, the game doesn't shy away from going all out, even if that does mean that sometimes there can be a bit of slow-down when you have a lot of rings a get hit, but aside from that, and some graphical glitches that I don't know if they are a problem with the emulator or the game itself, in what respects looks, Sonic 2 absolutely shines.

And at a first contact, it looks like it shines in the gameplay department too! The first zone, Emerald Hill is amazing, it teaches you everything you need to know about the game's dependance on momentum and going as fast as possible, the multiple secrets and ways you can traverse the level, introducing some basic enemies from which future ones will expand upon and be more aggressive, etc. And all of this is... fun! It's really fun! I found myself really enjoying both of the acts of the first zone, and when arriving at Chemical Plant Zone, the first act was even more fun, introducing brand new elements that made the level far more interesting and most importantly: helped you go fast and overcome challenges in a far more agile and interesting way... and then Act 2 happened.


I... what the hell happened here? Don't get me wrong, it's far from being horrible, but many of the design decisions I simply don't understand that the game will carry onwards are present here: It simply won't let you go fast ... WHICH IS THE MECHANICN THE ENTIRE GAME IS SUPOSSED TO BE BASED AROUND. From here onwards, there are a ton of sections where the games into a precision-oriented platformer and... it just doesn't work. Sonic feels slippery, as it should! The idea is that he is supposed to go fast, and what slipperiness and imprecision when it goes slow, becomes a crucial key when it achieves incredible speed. So, when the game start to ask to take things more calmly and jump in a more precise way I say: ''OK! No problem, I get it, you got to break up the fast-paced levels with some down time. At least you will compensate the fact that Sonic wasn't designed for this kind of platforming with not so punishing level design, right?... right...?''

The game not only loves to keep slowing you down, but it also FUCKING ADORES to throw random shit at your direction that you just cannot react or recover from. Endless pits, random enemies or spikes, water from which you have no idea where to get out of, you name it! And this makes me specially mad because the game does have some extremely cool ideas and mechanics, and it’s not like it becomes unbearable from this point onwards, zones like the casino , Hill Top or Mystic Cave do have some fun moments and ideas throwed into them, but it just keeps tripping time and time again, not letting you do what's actually fun and unique about thus game and it seems hellbent on it. I don't want to see the final three zones of this game in my life, Metropolis Zone was boring and repetitive and drown out, Wing Fortress Zone was atrocious, and Death Egg Zone are just two bosses that aren’t that fun, and they don't give you any rings...You have to beat both battles without getting hit... YOU CAN'T EVEN USE SUPER SONIC IF YOU GET ALL THE EMERALDS IN THE FUCKING FINAL BOSS UNLESS YOU USE THE DEBUG MODE!

...ok... things got a bit heated there...

Listen, this game, as a sequel, is incredible: it's a huge upgrade in most regards, it introduces Tails and multiplayer, it introduced an incredible reward for getting the emeralds (tho getting them is absolute hell), it had actual little cinematics and it was all and all far more original and creative. And again, I did have fun, even if doesn't seem like it, but really, this game has some really good meat over its bones... but it's also full of rot. I cannot bring myself to really dislike it 'cause it isn't ''bad'' by any means, but I also didn't find myself actively enjoying it.

If you love or like this one, I'm so, so fucking happy for you and I'm so sorry I couldn't see what makes this game so special. I might be bad at Sonic, but sometimes Sonic is bad at design, and I can't look past that...

Tho I'll say I still really want to play Sonic 3, I might take a little break from Sonic before trying it, but I'll get there...

I'll get that hedgehog!

>Level starts
>Go fast
>Get punished for going fast
>Go slow
>Finish the level
>Repeat the first point again and again

This game is bullshit, again.

Veredito: A cada passo pra trás, dois pra frente.

Muito difícil não comparar com Sonic 1. É basicamente a mesma ideia só que muito maior e com muito mais gás. Velocidade, loopings, piruetas e saltos enormes em rampas? Bota mais que tava pouco. Fases bônus? Faz em 3D agora. Aproveita e coloca aí um 2º personagem pra te seguir, com direito a coop e versus. Põe também uma técnica nova que te permite ganhar velocidade a qualquer instante! E a recompensa por passar de todas as fases bônus vai ser a estreia do famoso Super Sonic!!! Mais músicas fodas, mais chefes bem feitos, mais fases incríveis. ❤️

Infelizmente nem tudo é flores. Com o escopo maior veio também a famosa falta de polimento da Sega, que era bem mais sutil no 1º jogo. As novas fases bônus trazem ideias legais, mas a dificuldade injusta delas foi feita sob medida pra te foder, especialmente se a máquina estiver controlando o Tails. Inclusive, essa dificuldade injusta já aparece bem cedo nas fases normais, papo de na 2ª ou 3ª zona, enquanto no Sonic 1 era só na última ou penúltima. O jogo tem mais fases e com isso mais chefes, mas certos chefes também são difíceis de um jeito bem escroto - principalmente o chefão final.

No geral Sonic 1 é um jogo bem mais redondo e com bem menos tropeços, mas acho que ainda prefiro Sonic 2. Ele trouxe TANTA coisa nova INCRÍVEL que em retrospecto acaba fazendo o 1 parecer menor do que realmente é. Super Sonic, Tails, modos multi, mais fases legais, spindash... É até difícil ficar zangado com ele por muito tempo.

Sonic 2 é basicamente como se Sonic 1 batesse o pau na mesa e falasse 'mas esta ainda nem é minha forma final, mwahaha!'

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is one of gaming’s best achievements, a game that managed to improve on everything it’s predecessor has done while also being so great, it’s no secret that I prefer this game to the first one but like, Sonic 1 was already very good and a solid start to the series, but this game is pure Sonic Euphoria, the pinnacle of the series, and while it has some flaws, it has some of the best stuff in the history of the series and what better time to look at this great game at it’s 30th Anniversary.


It’s no secret that the original Sonic The Hedgehog was a huge success, so to capitalise on that, a sequel was in order to be made right? Well not immediately as Sega thought it was “too soon” for a sequel though probably after seeing the money that the first game made, they were probably quickly persuaded to make a sequel, however while the original game was handled by Japan, Sonic 2 was handled by the United States from the team dubbed the Sega Technical Institute which was lead by Sony’s Mark Cerny, some developers from Japan did help however, namely recent Convict Yujii Naka who left Sega of Japan after pay disputes. The goal of Sonic 2 was to go all out with everything, Story, characters, gameplay, levels, music, everything and Sonic 2 succeeded with that but not what many people have thought, this game was hell to develop for. Sonic 2 would have been thrice as larger if the team had enough time, but cutbacks had to be done to get the game for that November 92 release, Stages such as the Hidden Palace Zone which would have big story beat for the New Chaos Emeralds was cut due to time and hardware limitations despite it being in a lot of marketing and a multitude of other zones including Dust Hill, Genocide/Cyber City Zone and Wood Zone.

Sonic 2 was such hell to develop with as multiple team members left during the development due to language and cultural barriers, while with the crunch and crumbling expectations at the time set by Sega and the Team themselves, (so much so the game was borderline unplayable 48 Hours before release). Sonic 2 sounded like a disaster, a game that would be ridiculed and mocked for trying something new. But by all miracles, it succeeded. Sonic 2 despite not having as many zones they planned and the insane amount of crunch, was considered a great game both then and now and is arguably the best in the series and kept Sega afloat with 6 Million copies sold and made them a worthy rival to Nintendo. In a series inFamous for its disasters, who knew the best game in series would be subject to the things that caused the eventual downfall of Sonic, but that’s neither here nor there so the question is, what do I think? Sonic 2 is pretty good, like really good not my favourites in the series, but a mighty fine good Sonic game.

Sonic 2 happens a good while after Sonic 1 and other miscellaneous misadventures, Sonic at this point has meet with his 2 tailed protege/best friend, Miles Prower (who was subject to a similar competition that Sonic had) who’s nickname is Tails (he doesn’t do much in this game, he has some half assed flying gimmicks in the remeaster but that’s about it, his AI is funny though so i play as the duo), the 2 investigate Westside Island after Dr Robotnik has set his eyes in finding all 6 Emeralds with a mysterious 7th Emerald on the Island, from there Sonic & Tails are quickly thrusted into an new high octane adventure as the endless Battle against Nature vs Machines are strengthened.

Sonic 2 obviously doesn’t have the best or most in-depth story, but the 3rd Act of the game is surprisingly strong, there’s a neat little progression that shows us the Industrial side of Eggman’s tricks, which eventually leads us to Sky Chase and Wing Fortress as Sonic’s new friend, Tails is shoot down leaving Sonic alone to face of against Egggman, leading to a fight in the Death Egg Zone with Silver Sonic and Eggman’s new invention, the Death Egg Robot. Both endings are really strong, while the canon/good ending isn’t as good as the “bad” ending both endings still are great, it shows that even at this point early on that Sonic inspires the people in his life positively which changes the world for the better around them, even with all 7 Emeralds collected and how Sonic is still fine, the fact that he still went to see Sonic, strengthens their brotherly relationship. It’s overall a good story that is still simple while adding that complexity that games after this will improve upon.

But it’s no secret that in terms of gameplay, Sonic 2 is just outstanding, a fast furious, 2D Platformer that prioritises speed above all else, while i like Sonic 1’s more slower pace and emphasis on keeping your flow and naturally gaining your speed, i can’t deny that this more high octane gameplay form is way more fun, this is partly due to the Spin-Dash, when you hold down and spam one of the buttons, you get a big burst of speed but as a trade of, you have to be still. This gives a good little tradeoff and strategy to how, like the original game you collect Rings as health or as extra lives which act as a 2 hit mechanism, one hit you lose all of them and then the next hit you're dead unless you collect more rings, there’s also more Enemies or "Badniks" than the first game which while taking one hit there's a good amount of variety and strategy to them about the way you approach them and how they behave, there’s also a few power ups that return from Sonic 1 that spruce up the Gameplay such as a Shield which acts as an additionally with no extra ring costs, speed shoes which increase Sonic's acceleration and speed and finally, the invincibility which makes Sonic invulnerable for a short period.

All of this is complemented by the biggest improvement, the Zones and Bosses, they downsized the majority of Zones to 2 Acts, which i’m honestly not a fan of, i prefer having longer zones though i do understand why some may like it the changes, the Zone roster this time includes:

-Emerald Hill Zone: A pretty fun zone, while not as graphical as strong as Green Hill, i find more fun speedrunning and exploring the stage due to more loop de loops and fun gimmicks, the boss is laughably piss easy though
-Chemical Plant: Such an iconic and great Zone, especially with Act 2 where you run down a long tube and then gain a ton of momentum when rolling down it, perfectly balances speed, platforming and fun and interesting gimmicks with the Mega Mack and Cubes, the boss however is slightly janky because of the way it works, i don’t it should have had falling platforms, otherwise it would be a pretty fine boss fight, chemical plant itself is the shining example of why Sonic is so great and why i’m still a fan, this stage is the pinnacle of Sonic designs and showcases why i love the series so much, high speed antics, great music, the prevalent themes of Nature Vs Machines through the environments, etc, Chemical Plant is the complete package
-Aquatic Ruins: A Great Stage in my opinion, better than Emerald Hill but not quite as good as Chemical Plant, the parts on land are fun but the arrows are bit overpowered in my opinion, i actually prefer going into the water since it feels a lot better designed and more fairly challenged than the parts on land due to that constant fear of drowning bring back that risk reward system of stopping to get bubbles or speeding ahead to get a higher score/mitigation of a Time over, the falling pillars are a bit janky and the boss is once again too easy but this overall another great Zone
-Casino Night Zone: This is like they saw what Spring Yard Zone was and overdosed it on Crack, more pinball gimmicks along with a pretty fun new Slot Machine gimmick that sure started many gambling addictions in 1992, some abrupt pacing moments but this and chemical plant is pure Sonic euphoria
-Hilltop Zone: This is the where i put the controller down for Sonic 2, not really a bad zone i like i think it’s decent overall, Great Aesthetics (despite it being literally and music as always but it’s sorta forgettable barring the parts where you escape the lava, i don’t like the seesaw gimmicks, the badniks really get on my nerves and the boss borders a weird line between easy and frustrating, still it’s a good zone just overall forgettable
-Mystic Cave Zone/Hidden Palace Zone: This middle part of Sonic 2 isn’t very strong in my opinion, while not bad this is more forgettable part and Mystic Cave Zone strengthens this belief, it’s a very slow zone, the aesthetics while look great, it’s gimmicks are inherently frustrating, resulting in some unfair deaths. I honestly don’t have much to say about this zone, the boss is fine albeit a bit too easy and the music gets on my nerves but other than that, the weakest zone in the game, However this is where i would move onto Oil Ocean but since i also played the Whitehead version i got to play Hidden Palace Zone, it’s a great stage, very colourful and full of life with the best Badnik roster of the game, The Boss however is just awful, it’s attacks and movement are way too unpredictable and it throws way too much on you, despite this, i feel this Zone managed to pick up Sonic 2 to it’s admittedly mediocre slump
-Oil Ocean Zone: I like this one, doesn’t hold a candle to the Mania counterpart or even the first half of Sonic 2, i think this one is mostly fun aesthetically and in its 2nd Act with the Oil gimmick, there’s a lot of doing nothing in this stage especially with a lot of automation with the cannons and propeller gimmick, The Boss is also probably my favourite in the game, while being basic there’s a good layer of strategy and challenge to the boss that most in this game haven’t seen
-Metropolis Zone: I don’t know if this is a hot take but Metropolis slaps and is the best Zone since Casino Night Zone, it balances speed, platforming and exploration with multiple roots with a good sense of challenge while giving us the hardest Badniks to fight so far, the gimmicks are also fresh and interesting throughout the Acts, The biggest issue is that it’s 3rd Act, i get why it needed a 3rd Act, it’s the final main zone and it needed to go on a bang, plus it sorta feels like from a possible time when Sonic 2 was planned witn 3 Acts but this Zone is insanely frustrating and unfair, the platforming feels sorta half baked and the enemies are probably at its worst here but despite this i was sorta surprised by Metropolis Zone, maybe i was expecting the worst, but not a half bad Zone.
-Sky Chase/Wing Fortress: Worst part of the game, Sky Chase is fine just insanely slow and boring and Wing Fortress, this Zone is horrendous, not only is there a cheap start to the zone where you’re forced to jump but the level design here is just Metropolis Act 3 but even worse, so many times i got softlocked with the start as i was stuck on the big propeller as i bounced off the Shield power up, Platformingg feels incredibly unnatural anc way too tight and it’s overall a confusing zone to navigate through, Boss is decent though
-Death Egg Zone: Does this count as a Zone? It’s not really one seeing as it’s just 2 Bosses, My guess was that this would have been a full 2 Act Zone, using Silver Sonic and the Death Egg Robot as Bosses but due to time constraints was rushed, reusing Chemical Plants assets but whatever sorta anticlimactic, I think Silver Sonic is a good boss, maybe to easy but it’s a fun boss, it feels like you have think for it’s gonna do next and then act fast before he attacks again, The Death Egg Robot is not as good, i feel it would be a decent boss if the hitbox wasn’t as janky or his attacks were slightly more predictable or varied, i don’t think the Lack of Rings is too unfair since Sonic 1 also had no Rings though possibly that Boss being in a different context may have had something to do with it

Sonic 2 Zones are a huge step up from Sonic 1, though you can tell there’s a huge drop-off in quality in the later act, nothing bad (Apart from Wing Fortress) but certainly not as bad as Sonic 1’s worst, it feels like Sonic 2’s development may have had a part in this game dropping in quality, which i can now somewhat appreciate the game being like this, since i was more mixed on this game before. But like the biggest issue just like Sonic 1 is the Special Stages, the original version was possibly even worse due to not being able to properly see the rings but the Remaster fixes this, however they’re still bad, the ring requirements are way too strict in most cases however it may be due to the fact that entering the Special Stages are different, instead of a Giant Ring at the end of the stage, you have to get 50 Rings to the Checkpoint then entering a small portal, Tails is also another issue, he has this long delay which i wouldn’t mind and got used to, but in later stages you have to be near laser focused on your reaction time and you just can’t do that with Tails, you may ask why play the game with him if he’s such a hindrance but even without him the stages would still be bad, especially if he’s not getting extra rings you missed, i just feel these Special Stages were more for spectacle rather than practicality because i’d say Sonic 1’s special stages are better due them being more varied and slightly more fun in them (i stress the word slightly be it is a slight difference). The reward for getting them is Super Sonic, which is just having infinite invincibility along with a broken yellow Sonic Sprite, not too much of a great reward in my opinion.

However like Sonic 2, it’s presentation is steller, it probably has my favourite Classic Sonic art style in the series, great character and badnik designs that fit right into Sonic 1’s pre established artstyle and world, Environments look even more lush & colourful with that serialised storytelling of progressing through a natural world that turns more industrialised. Plus the music is great as always, Dream Comes True returned to headline the ost and it’s as great as ever, a vocal song at the band made is present in ending at fits right in with the rest of the great soundtrack with the only stage theme i don’t really like is Mystic Cave, each of them also have a wider themes of emotions and really connect to the stages aesthetics much better than Sonic 1’s Soundtrack, I think my favourite track is probably the ending melody, something about that really feels like a great reflective story and adventure that we went through.

But just reflecting on Sonic 2, Sonic 2 (for the most part) is what a sequel should strive for, bigger, better, bolder and faster, it’s a game that’s just perfect for newcomers, not too hard or easy, not too long though not insulting short either, it’s definitely not a perfect game but it’s essentially a perfect sequel, it feels the Crisp company had really listened to the feedback and made a great packet of them, while not perfect is a great improvement of the last bag of crisps that while good, left a lot to be desired, however while the Crisp company go Beyond and above next time delivering an even better packet, or take a detour and try a new but familiar flavour?

Three myths I believed about Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that I know now are false: Tails is a girl, running back and forth over bubbles makes a large one spawn faster, Sonic 2 is the best game in the series.

This is the first Sonic game I actually owned. I still remember visiting my father one Summer and going with him to the Toys R' Us to pick out a game and debating with myself whether I wanted Sonic 2 more than Sonic 3. Well, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has more levels, I reasoned, and who am I to argue with the immutable law of More = Better Than?

You better believe I played all 10 of those levels to death. After all, I owned very few Genesis carts, most of the games I played were on weekend rentals. In fact, until my teenage years the only two Sonic games I owned for the system was this and Sonic & Knuckles. Every pixel of those games is tattooed on my brain, I could draw the layout of Mystic Cave Act 2 blindfolded and with my off-hand by this point. I suppose then that there's an argument to be made that I'm mostly just burnt out on Sonic 2, and that may play a bigger factor in why it's my lowest ranked of the Genesis games than any real grievance with its design.

Whereas Sonic the Hedgehog's levels were designed around tricky platforming, often requiring the player to slow down and carefully maneuver moving blocks, conveyors, and crumbling pathways, Sonic 2 favors pure speed, with levels that are designed more like raceways. Springs and bumpers send Sonic rushing forward just as much as they help him reach new heights, loops and declines are in abundance to help the player maintain their momentum, and levels tone down the more vertical nature of Sonic 1 and CD's stage design for more horizontal pathways that keep the player moving. This new emphasis on speed over platforming redefined what people's perception of Sonic was very early on, and arguably has become the basis for what they define as "classic Sonic."

It makes for a pretty good time, at least until the last third of the game where everything just kinda falls apart. I think Oil Ocean might be the last "good" level even if I personally don't care that much for it (frankly I think it's gimmicks are underwhelming and too much of the level's structure repeats, just a boring zone all around), but I suspect I won't get any argument when I say Metropolis is a low point not just for Sonic 2 but perhaps the entire Genesis era of Sonic level design. Three overly long braindead acts filled with enemies that have forward facing attacks you're prone to running directly into both due to the way the level funnels you into them and as a consequence of screen crunch. I tend to find Sonic games more fun when not playing as Super Sonic, but I always go Super for Metropolis just to get it over with more quickly.

Sky Chase is an iconic Zone, one that I think is fairly popular, but I sure as hell don't like it. I don't think there's much room for auto-scrollers in Sonic games give how they're antithetical to the series design ethos, at least for that era. For it to be a particularly sluggish auto-scroller with uninspired enemy patterns and a theme that has an almost lullaby-esque quality to it, well, I think it really ruins the pacing that Sonic 2 has otherwise maintained to that point. Wing Fortress is at least fun, albeit short and perhaps too straight-forward for a final Zone, but Death Egg can just eat me. It's not so much the lack of rings that's the issue, more that the Death Egg robot has exactly two attack patterns it repeats on loop with few open windows to retaliate, some of which will just cause you to clip right through and die. It is at least a more engaging final battle than Robotnik's weird crusher machine from the last game, but good god it's a lousy note to go out on. The series thankfully got better final boss battles, and even the Death Egg robot was redeemed in later games, for what that's worth.

The special stages are another point of contention, and I think probably a more commonly shared complaint of this game. The half-pipe Sonic and Tails race down is technically impressive, but hindered by the choppy way rings and hazards appear down the track. These stages become more about memorization than they do skill, and god help you if you have Tails with you, losing rings due to the slight delay he has in mimicking your movement. It may be helpful to know that resetting the console will preserve your emerald progress while resetting all the star posts used to enter the special stages, allowing you to game the system and collect all the emeralds in Emerald Hill. If you'd prefer not to cheat, the method of entering these special stages is more numerous, making a botched run much more forgiving than Sonic 1 or CD.

All this negativity aside, I do think Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a great game. It's hard to dismiss how much it pushed the series and the Genesis forward. Graphically it's far more impressive than Sonic 1, more vibrantly colored and much more packed with detail and character. Badniks no longer repeat between levels, which each zone having its own tailored set built not only around the zone's theming but its layout, creating hazards that (to a point) never feel cheap but provide enough of a challenge as to be a threat. Bosses are more inventive, aggressive, and visually interesting. The addition of Super Sonic and Tails add in even more replayability as well. It's a bit surprising to know that Sonic 2 is massively scaled down from Sonic Team's original 18 zone vision, which we've only learned more and more about in decades following its release. The betas of this game that ended up on the net in the early 2000s no doubt helped kickstart the current fascination so many game enthusiasts have with cut content. Hell, one of the leading sites for such content, Hidden Palace, directly lifts their name from an axed Sonic 2 level.

The point is, Sonic 2 is important for many reasons, and it's still a damn good game to play today. I have my issues with it, most of which are loaded in the last act of the game, but it's also hard for me to deny that burn out plays a factor in me preferring the other Genesis Sonics over it. Maybe it's true that you can have too much of a good thing. One thing's for sure, though: when I'm old and decaying in a nursing home, mind addled by dementia that has robbed me of my agency and relationships, the one piece of me that will remain is my memories of Sonic 2. Played too much of it. It's ruined me.

I'll preface this by saying I've played a total of like three 2D sonic games. (more of a 3D sonic girly myself) HOWEVER this game was rad, and I genuinely think it improved quite a bit from the first Sonic. (I drowned far less, yay!) Some of the levels were a bit redundant, but the killer music and fun bosses made up for it.

The game isn't too hard until the final stages, and overall the pacing felt super reasonable. Looking forward to trying to find some of the hidden chaos emeralds in the future!

Sonic 2, huh? The big one, the game-changer, the supposed "last good Sonic game" to clinically insane people. There was a while ago where I actually did like this game a lot, but after replaying it recently.. I don't think I do anymore. Let me explain.

If there's one thing I can absolutely give this game credit for, it's what it introduces. Zones are shortened down to longer acts of two rather than shorter acts of three, which becomes a staple for the series (but not Sonic 4 or Colors because fuck you), which I prefer. Secondly, Tails the little scrunkly is someone who despite the shit I give him nowadays, I can't stay mad at the little guy, he's cute. Just a shame he isn't very useful in this game, he can't fly and he actively hinders you in the special stages. He'll get better though, just you wait. And obviously, the spindash is an excellent addition for this game's different approach to level design, which future Sonic games would build off of. Not most Sonic games after Adventure 2, though, because again, fuck you.

My main issue with Sonic 2, however, comes with its level design. Sonic 1 had its problems with how it didn't take good enough advantage of Sonic's titular speed; Sonic 2 on the other hand, feels like it doubles down too hard on it. Stages feel way too easy, and a lot of them seem to end before they ever really start to get good. S3&K places a heavier emphasis on platforming that I feel is combined with speed far better than either this game or its predecessor, with CD being its only competition. The mid-game is when it starts to pick up, because I think it's then that the game starts to do exactly what I just praised S3&K for; Mystic Cave especially is my favorite zone in the whole game for this reason.

Unfortunately, after the mid-game, Sonic 2 starts to shit the bed, and badly at that. Metropolis Zone is frustrating; it has decent level design that's unfortunately ruined by terrible enemy placement; at times enemies will attack before you've even a chance to process what's happening. Sky Chase is so fucking boring, and they brought it back in Mania for some godforsaken reason. Wing Fortress certainly is a zone, I guess. The final boss kind of sucks; not only does it take way too long to defeat, but there's only one definite chance to hit him during every attack pattern, and it's the same attack pattern over and over again. You can't get creative with hitting him either, because you have no rings, meaning all it takes is one hit before you're hedgehog stew.

Sonic 2 is a game that I desperately want to enjoy, but unfortunately, I'm just not seeing what made people fall in love with this game, and that really is a shame. I wouldn't even call Sonic 2 bad; it's just painfully mediocre. I can't deny its impact on this franchise, but unfortunately, I also can't deny that I wanted more from this game.

So…sonic got off to a pretty decent start, in terms of sales, and now there could only be one thing: a sequel. So whilst in Japan they were making sonic cd, over in America they were making, what would be, sonic 2…it’s a slight improvement.

Now we have miles ‘tails’ prower as our sidekick of sorts and a more consistent game. Compared to sonic 1, the levels in sonic 2 are a lot more consistent and do focus a lot more on speed…for a bit. The first few levels are legendary and extremely memorable…and then we hit mystic cave zone. And that’s when, for me at least, the game’s problems begin to appear. There’s then ridiculous enemy placement, tight hallways, and pits…PITS (this issue is kinda fixed in the iOS port as we get hidden palace zone which is a neat bonus). We then go to oil ocean zone and…the enemy placement is still bad…hopefully the next zone can fix it…metropolis? That sounds like a cool level (no). Terrible enemy placement, even tighter hallways, and those crabs can go to hell. And we have to go through 3 acts…not 2…3…why. Then the final parts of the game are ok ig…it’s just you on the tornado with tails and it’s not massively interesting. And then the final boss is pretty hard but beatable after a while. Yeah this game has aged a bit better then sonic 1 but not by much really…

Aged a bit better, has a great start, gave us tails, and I hate robotic crabs.

I take every chance I get to complain about reviews that break a game down into pieces, like “Story: 3 stars, Gameplay: 5 stars, Music: 5 stars”, and so on. The reason why is because of situations like this. From a technical standpoint, Sonic 2 is nothing short of a masterpiece. Compare it to something like Altered Beast which came out three years prior, and was considered a good enough representation of the Genesis to be a pack-in title. Sonic is so far ahead you would think it’s on a different console, the visual design pops so much more beautifully, even without making stages hard to parse. The music avoids the sort of tinny blarp noises that plagued its contemporaries (for the most part), and there’s a reason why it keeps getting remixed even all these years later. It feels good to control, it has a lot of unique content... but I didn’t end up appreciating it much at all. The reason why is because of the level design, which was an unending source of frustration. I’m not the guy who reduces Sonic to just being about going fast, since that would be like asking why Mario has to run so much when he’s all about jumping, but there are so many obstacles in Sonic 2 designed to punish your movement for seemingly no reason. Launch pads throw you into the abyss, half-pipes have spikes at the top to slap you for going too fast, enemies will be placed in areas that require prescience to avoid, the little frustrations just pile up. If gaining lives was easy, that would be one thing, but when getting hit makes all your rings fly out, this unpredictable damage is equivalent to losing a life through opportunity cost. The process of learning efficient routes through each stage wasn’t exhilarating, it was exhausting, trying to be careful enough to where I could build up enough of a bank to make it just a bit further, before restarting the game yet again, since you have to do the final fight with zero rings.

So, in spite of Sonic 2’s top-notch music and visual design, some great stages, satisfying moments, and all that… its random frustrations were so pervasive that I didn’t really have fun. It’s a game I could see myself enjoying once I knew every little trick, but that process takes a lot of time. That’s why it makes sense that this is a lot of people’s favorite game, since its critical flaw is one which can be smoothed over just by playing more and memorizing the hazards. Once that’s done, you’re left with a five-star masterpiece, but until then all I have is three stars and zero rings. Again.

I’m a huge Metropolis Zone defender in this game, and it might actually be my favorite part of Sonic 2. Every enemy feels like a real threat, placed exactly to test your reflexes and planning. Their fast attacks might toe the line of being cheap, but they all have patterns to efficiently take them out. Just barely brushing past a mechanical starfish’s needle is one of the most satisfying moments of the game. From an aesthetic angle, a completely industrialized theme is always a perfect contrast with Sonic. Everything under Robotnik’s design gives a great deal of urgency to complete your mission. With the best song in the game pushing you on, Metropolis Zone is one of the most challenging but rewarding trials in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Sonic the hedgehog 2 improves upon the first game to the point where this is a perfect game. All of levels are fun and memorable, the music is even better in this game than the first somehow, and the bosses are absolutely perfect.

On top of this, the level design is much better than sonic 1, there so many more routes to take and the world's just feel SO much bigger. Also, every boss in sonic 2 was very fun to beat, especially the death egg robot. I was stuck on this boss for an hour at least, you need to fight two very hard bosses back to back with ZERO rings, so it's a little hard.

Although despite it being extremely challenging I would be lying if I said that this boss wasn't one of the best in all of gaming history. I highly recommend this game to anyone and everyone, I hope sonic 3 continues this trend of being better than your predecessor but after playing this I highly doubt anything can top this.

Even if it doesn’t come quite near the quality of future titles in the series, the original Sonic the Hedgehog was still a pretty good game, and it was extremely successful, selling over 2 million copies by the end of 1991, selling over 23 million to this day, and giving Sega a leg to stand on to compete directly with Nintendo on who was the king of the console market. This lead to Sonic soon becoming Sega’s new official mascot, throwing Alex Kidd right into the trash for the foreseeable future (thank god), and to them creating plenty more titles for the blue hedgehog shortly afterwards. While the world was given a companion game and a spin-off or two (including one where Sonic became a cop, for some reason) to hold them over, the true next big Sonic installment would come just a year later, on a day officially dubbed as… Sonic 2sday. You know what, maybe the haters are right, Sonic was always bad. But anyway, on this day, the world was then gifted the true follow-up to the original game, Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Similarly to the original, Sonic 2 was also a massive success, selling over 6 million copies, becoming the second best-selling Genesis game of all time, and receiving critical acclaim all across the board. When you play the game yourself, you can definitely see why, because not only is it a significant improvement over the original game in just about every way, but it is also a fantastic game all on its own. It is an almost perfect sequel, adding plenty of new elements while keeping things very similar to the original, and it is clear why Sonic fans consider it one of the best games in the series, even if there are one or two elements holding it back from me giving it a perfect score.

The story is practically identical to that of the original, but this time involving a possible lawsuit from Disney in the sky, but hey, if Mario can get away with reusing the same plot for multiple games, then I see no reason why Sonic can’t do the same, the graphics are fantastic, being a significant step up from the original, while still retaining the same feel as the original as well, the music is, of course, fucking incredible, with a lot of banger tracks to be found all throughout, such as Emerald Hill Zone, Mystic Cave Zone, Chemical Plant Zone, Metropolis Zone, and many more, the control is about the same as the original, feeling similar enough, but you can feel a slight improvement when you do play, and the gameplay is consistent with the previous title, but more fast, more chaotic, and more fun.

The game is still a 2D platformer, where you take control of Sonic, blast your way through many different zones of varying environments and themes, defeat as many badnicks as you can to free the terrified animals inside, gather plenty of rings, shields, and power-ups to help assist you along the way, and take on the evil Dr. Robotnik and his never-ending stash of machines and contraptions in plenty of boss encounters throughout your journey. Like any good sequel should, it retains all of the same basic gameplay the original introduces, but makes it better in every way, with much more memorable levels, better design all throughout, a better sense of progression, and of course, several new additions that have become staples of the Sonic franchise ever since.

The first of several staple new additions is the Spin Dash, a new move Sonic has where while still, he can rev up and blast forward in a much faster speed, not only allowing you to keep the speed alive throughout plenty of levels, but also helping you get through several sections where it may be too difficult to get through without a boost in speed. This is a FANTASTIC addition to Sonic’s moveset, because it helped solve one of the biggest problems of the original game, where your speed and progress would get halted at several instances where you will need to go back, find a steady incline, and then run far enough to where you can make it onto a ledge and keep continuing, which breaks a lot of the pace that the game needs to be fun. Thankfully, that is no longer an issue where you can just roll into a ball and take off, which is much appreciated overall.

The second new addition would be in the form of Sonic’s new sidekick, Miles Prower (groan), or as most people know him as, Tails. In terms of the game itself, Tales acts as the 2nd player, where someone else can join in on the fun and run around, collect rings, and defeat enemies alongside Sonic… or at least, you can TRY to do that, as most of the time, you’ll probably not be able to keep up with Player 1, and just keep respawning in only to see that the game is already over. So yeah, he may not do that much in game, but over the years, Tails has become one of the quintessential Sonic characters, and it is hard to imagine any of the games other related Sonic media without him showing up in some form or fashion. And not to mention, he is very likable, having a great design and endearing personality, despite some issues that his character still carries with him to this day. Not to mention, with the addition of Tails comes a new multiplayer mode, where you and a friend can race through several levels of the game with a pretty terrible split-screen perspective, but it can still be fun with the right person. So all in all, Tails is a pretty great addition to the game and the series as a whole.

The third major new addition is now, instead of there being just six Chaos Emeralds, there are seven!..... because…. seven is better then six, I guess? And not only do we get a new Chaos Emerald, but we also get a new type of Special Stages, where this time around, you would gather 50 rings and jump into a ring above a checkpoint pole, where you then enter a 3D-like cylinder obstacle course, where you have to collect enough rings to progress forward to the emerald while avoiding all of the bombs along the path.

So, while this is all cool and all, having a different type of special stage, I’m just gonna go ahead and just get this out of the way… gets close to the imaginary microphone... FUCK THESE SPECIAL STAGES. Seriously, out of all the special stages in Sonic history (or at least the ones that I have played), this is without a doubt the worst special stage type in the entire series. Sure, by themselves, they are fine, and they can be fun at points, but more often then not, they are designed to where you will always, ALWAYS, hit a set of bombs at some point, and more likely then not, it will come from offscreen and you will smack right into them. So, you have to know exactly when are where the bombs will come from, and honestly, it is not fun to deal with whatsoever. Thankfully, this type of special stage isn’t reused too often after this… even if I would rather it not be at all.

But, if you can get past all of these hardships, you can then gain access to the fourth and final new major addition to this game, Super Sonic, which may or may not be a rip-off of something else (wow, AMAZING joke, Mega. Never been done before). With all of the Chaos Emeralds in hand, and after collecting 50 rings, you can jump into the air and transform into the golden man himself, now being able to run much faster and take out anything that stand in your way. Like with Tails, Super Sonic has become a quintessential element of the series, which will show up with almost any iteration of the character at some point, and you can be sure that, whenever he does transform into this form, you will witness some of the best high-speed action and adrenaline the series has to offer, with it often being a highlight of many Sonic products. And in terms of this game, Super Sonic is pretty great, although… he is just a glorified invincibility mode that just lasts longer. That’s really all he is. That may not be worth it for some people, but for me, it is a pretty satisfying reward when you get access to it, and it is very fun to use.

Now, I may have been singing the praises of this game to the high heavens, but again, it isn’t perfect. I’ve already mentioned how much I disliked the Special Stages, even if they are optional, but one thing that cannot be denied is that there are still plenty of instances where poor level design and gimmicks can limit my enjoyment of the game. There are small instances of it, such as this one inescapable pit at the end of Mystic Cave Zone, and how you get no rings for the final bosses (because Sega hates you), and then there are much bigger instances of this such as with the ENTIRETY of Metropolis Zone. For the most part, this zone isn’t really all that bad, and it is appropriately difficult enough, but there are three enemies that will constantly be a burden to you throughout this zone: Asterons, Shellcrackers, and Slicers. Of course, you can just avoid and kill them like any regular enemy, but there are plenty of points in the stage where, I swear, it is almost impossible to get by without getting hit by them, especially with the Slicers. And not to mention, this is the only zone in the game that has 3 acts rather than 2, so you better get used to this and have fun constantly losing your rings.

Overall though, despite the annoying-ass Special Stages and some poor level design at points, this is an overall fantastic sequel to the original Sonic the Hedgehog, and a fantastic game all on its own, with it being one of the best titles to get on the Sega Genesis. I would definitely recommend it for Sonic fans if they somehow haven’t played it already, or for those who are fans of the Sega Genesis, because it is very fun and enjoyable almost all the way through. Before I go though, if you are wondering why I never mentioned anything about the updated ports or Knuckles in the game, don’t worry, I will talk about those things. Eventually…

Game #326

Sonic 2 is wonderful, it's a game that takes the best elements from its first entry and spends the vast majority of the runtime simply expanding upon those ideas and transforming them into the dominant experience rather than balancing them out with some more messy ones. Above all it feels as if the designers, having had the experience from the first game in terms of understanding how to build a game around the incredible speed and momentum that the player was able to craft, were able to make something that was a much more consistently engaging time where there were less harsh pacebreakers and far greater heights that could be reached as well. While a big part of this comes from the much tighter level design, the changes to Sonic's own movement are just as significant as well, feeling a bit less slippery while still playing into a strong sense of momentum, along with no longer having a speed cap and being able to spin dash. This all not only allows for far more control to make it a bit easier to maintain your speed, but it also leads to those moments to feel far more rewarding due to how absurdly quick you can get. This culminates in an experience that feels inherently more engaging from the beginning due to basically all the changes made being ones that play into the more unique qualities of how you play as Sonic and make it a less cumbersome, frustrating experience in the process.

This is of course all heightened further by the level design being as good as it is, with stages often being sprawling, mazelike settings that never quite make you feel lost, but certainly make it hard to exactly pinpoint where you are. While this initially sounds like a bad thing, it ends up contributing to the game in a largely positive way thanks to how it essentially tells the player to just pick a direction that feels right and roll with it, with stages very rarely looping back in on themselves in a way that would cause things to become confusing. The way that so many of the branching paths can also act as rewards for good play is an interesting dynamic as well, with the reward for being able to make certain tricky jumps often being an opportunity to more easily maintain what momentum you have with punishment for failure on these sections more often than not simply being taking a slower path that requires more methodical play. This not only contributes to the insane scope of many of these levels, but also provides a more compelling punishment for a mistake than just killing the player, and while that does happen from time to time, it's forgiving enough in most cases to not become a point of frustration.

The visuals have also taken quite a jump in quality from the first, still often depicting these bleak, industrial hellscapes to signify Eggman's attempts at conquering the world, but adding far more detail and colour to the world as well to make it an absolute treat for the eyes in places. The seemingly endless cityscape background of Casino Night zone is especially a highlight in this regard, adding a sense of pure majesty to contrast the damage that's already been done by Eggman, while also being a deeply evocative experience. Even most of the slower pacebreaker stages are great here, often utilising ideas and gimmicks that still allow for bursts of speed in between these calmer moments, often messing around with the physics in one way or another to further add a sense of depth to what you're doing so you very rarely get the sensation that you're just waiting around for something to happen.

Once again, Casino Night is a highlight in this regard for the way that the various pinball machine mechanics are used to cause you to go darting around the screen while not actually making all too much forward progress for the most part. It gives off the feeling of moving at a slower pace through the stage while still messing about and having you be sent flying in all sorts of directions. The aquatic ruin is another zone that does this pretty well by having the slower elements being confined almost exclusively to the lower paths that you'll only fall into if you fail to make the above jumps, once again playing back into this idea of punishment not being death, but rather making you have to play more methodically. While rather easy for the most part, I also quite enjoy most of the boss fights in the game with the way that they more often than not don't really go for being a big test of skill or anything like that but instead show off a variety of cool, clever little ideas that almost always require a slightly different approach to break through and win. I definitely prefer this method of boss design in a game like this for the way that they'll often feel more like extensions of the platforming gameplay than anything else, requiring you to better understand the fundamentals of your moveset and apply them in slightly more involved or time sensitive ways to succeed, such as with the drill boss that alternates its weak spot between places you need to spin dash into and those that you need to jump on.

In the end though, I'd love this game way more if not for a couple of frustrating issues that get in the way. The biggest problem is simply the fact that from oil ocean onward, the game takes a bit of a dip in quality and makes those last couple of zones feel a bit tedious. Oil ocean isn't really bad but none of the big unique points of it really appeal to me in any way beyond the dreary aesthetic setting up these late game areas really nicely. The oil itself weirdly just doesn't feel like a particularly big punishment unless you decide to completely stand still, with the way to escape it being a bit more finicky than it is actually difficult thanks to the weirdly telegraphed fan blades basically causing falling back down to be a bit of an inevitability, even if the only punishment is just wasting more time. The cannons appear to want to achieve a spectacle to the pipes in chemical plant zone, being this big scripted moment that takes you a really far distance, but it ends up falling a bit short due to the more predictable nature of where you're shot combined with the far slower speed of it all, feeling way more dull and being yet another thing that just takes time without a lot of payoff. Metropolis zone is definitely the worst of the lot however, feeling as if it took some serious inspiration from the bad bits of Sonic 1, with the stages having a multitude of gimmicks that either completely halt your momentum or blindside you entirely. Every enemy here sucks, especially with how many of them are place on the edges of platforms you need to reach, and the single block spear platforms and the nuts you need to run on for a reaaaallllyyy long time to get them all the way to the top are further examples of rather questionable level design, especially how once again they're often placed directly after somewhere that seems to suggest to the player that it's a good time to try going fast yet again, leading to further moments of frustration.

Sky chase is mostly just a bit too slow and too long but is a neat enough spectacle, and the flying fortress has similar issues with frustration as Metropolis but to a lesser extent at the cost of more bottomless pits, neither quite as bad as the area directly beforehand, but not especially great either to me. The final boss is also the one fight in the game that I just do not like in any capacity thanks to how little clarity there feels in terms of when it's safe to actually attack, leading to a fight that feels very trial and error at first (which is a big problem when there's another fight directly beforehand that you have to deal with every single time) and then far too simplistic afterwards while still almost always carrying the risk of you just getting hit because the game decided that it'd be a cool and funny idea.

It all makes for a less enjoyable time than I'd have liked when all of the lesser areas are basically back to back, even though it by no means ruins the game entirely given how much wonderful creativity is on display for a lot of the playthrough. Also, while I definitely prefer the way that accessing the special stages is handled here, not only rewarding exploration to a small extent, but also providing a much greater number of chances to succeed and collect all chaos emeralds this time around, the special stages themselves are only marginally better in my eyes. I like the idea of the halfpipes quite a bit and think that the janky, pseudo-3D effects are charming as hell, but actually playing them is where things get frustrating with how little time you're given to react to everything, making it an irritating game of trial and error that you'll lose more often than not, only to be booted back to the checkpoint but now without any rings or shields you might have had. It basically makes it another game where the effort to actually unlock Super Sonic is too much for me to want to bother with whatsoever, which is a shame since I really do want to go for completion on one of these at some point, it's just that it always seems like a miserable experience.

Even with all this said, Sonic 2 is basically a perfect sequel that understands the variety of ways to fully utilise the unique mobility of a character like Sonic to make for a fast paced, reasonably unique platformer filled to the brim with creativity. It's got its rough edges for sure, but I do have to appreciate the ambition for sure and also cannot deny how well crafted everything is up until the last couple of areas. Interested to see where the 3rd game takes all this stuff as well considering that's considered the best of the trilogy by a ton of people by a pretty decent margin. With this I am now one step closer to becoming a Sonic fan, was only a matter of time...

I hope whoever designed Wing Fortress Zone has had a horrible life. Between this and some of the other bullshit in the final third of the game, like the terrible enemy placement in Metropolis and being forced to beat the final 2 bosses without any rings, I ended up feeling a bit conflicted on what to rate this one. Overall, this is definitely a huge improvement over the first game. Gone is the slow and tedious platforming that was often required. This is the beginning of the faster-paced gameplay we have grown accustomed to with the 2D series. Also, there's a spin-dash now!

There are also more zones here, most of which are pretty darn good, but despite what many people say about this being peak Sonic, I can't help but feel it's just a tad overrated. My heart may already belong to CD's level design, but I was hoping I'd be blown away with this one, and the final few acts didn't help. But you know what? The soundtrack kicks so much ass that I'm willing to partially forgive it. Very rarely does a game's soundtrack greatly enhance the experience for me, but this one did, and it's not even a JRPG! Color me surprised.

P.S. I heard the special stages are worse here than in the first game... Well, I can't comment on that because I didn't find a single special stage on my first playthrough. Not like I ever really cared about them anyway.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has a sweet spot to its length that makes it the most played classic Sonic game for me, regardless of all the amount of times I decided to replay Sonic 3 & Knuckles as well. Huge emphasis on speed, yet retains Sonic 1's more trap-filled slow-paced platforming that was present in zones like Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone with Metropolis Zone. Metropolis Zone literally being the only zone in the game with Sonic 1's three act structure. Piling on the pop culture references with Super Sonic's clear Dragon Ball inspiration, retconning the six Chaos Emeralds for seven and Dr. Eggman's very own Death Star. You get a glimpse of Sonic's aviator influence with the aviator badge inspired design of the first game's logo as well as this game's, so Sky Chase Zone actually having you fly on Sonic's Tornado is a cool thing to flesh out Sonic's world. In fleshing out Sonic's world, Tails "Miles" Prower is introduced, who's the iconic and cute friend for Sonic's character to bounce off of. While I was the player 2 when playing the game with my brother as a kid, Tails was never my go-to character in the classics, heck nowadays I barely play with Sonic & Tails together since he usually gets in the way during Special Stages, but occasionally I do allow the little guy to tag along and at this point Tails is just such a lovable and frequently recurring character that I couldn't imagine him not being in the franchise. The Spin Dash also makes its first appearance, being such a thrill, with the ability to maintain speed and keep the momentum going.

I think I'm fine with the game ending with the nearly impossible boss gauntlet in Death Egg Zone at this point, but with how little you hear that twisted Death Egg Zone theme if you run straight to the boss, I kind of get this weird feeling like it was meant to be a longer zone. The theme stands out to me in displaying Dr. Eggman's goofy, yet legitimately terrifying nature, but I do love that, you have to at least get caught off guard by it when you arrive. Considering all the cut content, the death pit of spikes in Mystic Cave Zone Act 2 being an infamous indicator of the Hidden Palace Zone, I wouldn't be surprised that they had more planned for Death Egg Zone. Even though the original game had a story to tell with the progression of the environments and the true ending's outcome, Sonic 2 has this emotional climax, that signalfies Tails' admiration and friendship with Sonic, Masato Nakamura's chiptune rendition of Dreams Come True's "Sweet Sweet Sweet" that plays during the ending gives the game an emotional weight, distinctive from the rest of the classic Sonics. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 does everything you'd want from a sequel, improving from the original, introducing new elements and soaring ever higher in scope.

It's quite interesting how the changing landscape of gaming has had such a negative influence on the classic sonic games. With all of the convenience and expected features of newer games, people tend to think of games like Sonic 2 in a negative light for not having them, despite the lack of saves and limited lives being core to the design of Sonic 2 (and sonic 1 but I don't like that game as much). I really do think that save states and unlimited lives make the game worse, as it is essentially an arcade game that is meant to be replayed many times. And just like most arcade game, the core design isn't going to click as much when you try one section as many times as you like without having to worry about pumping quarters into the machine, or running out of lives.

What happens often these days is that people will brute force their way through Sonic 2 with infinite lives, beat it in an hour or two, and ask what the big deal was. People will run into hazards and call it a flaw in the game design for "punishing you for going fast" (literally the two most liked reviews of this game are about exactly that). Before I get to the real part of the review, I want to ask. Do you think the game should just let you hold forward to win the whole time. It's still a platformer. Some zones (metropolis) definitely have bullshit enemy placement but every other zone is fine imo. Also getting hit is really not that big of a deal if you have infinite lives and aren't going for special stages, what's the difference between having one ring and one hundred rings at that point. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Me personally, I almost never play sonic 2 with saves. The game is like an hour long, I really don't need it. But aside from that, the core of the game comes from replaying it to get better, so that you CAN go fast without being punished because you get better at the game each playthrough, and you understand where the hazards are, and how to avoid this. It's been said by every annoying classic sonic fan since 2001, but it bears repeating: speed is a reward for understanding the physics and momentum systems of the game.
Two easy examples of this are chemical plant act 2 and aquatic ruin zone. Chemical plant act 2 is infamous for the scary purple water that stone walled 6 year olds around the world (source: I was a 6 year old who got stonewalled). What makes this part cool to me is that it can be skipped entirely. There's a speed bumper right before the section, and the path it send you along is very curvy, for what seems like no reason. Yet, of course, there's a great reason for this seemingly unnecessary bumper and curvy path. Using the speed from the bumper, you can jump off of the incline of the curves and gain a massive amount of height, enough to skip the purple water section entirely. There are so many trick like this throughout the game, but this is the most iconic one so that's why I'm highlighting it. I'm pretty sure that there's also a secret path to skip the water as well.
As for aquatic ruin zone, it's the obligatory water stage, yet it's such a genius way of doing a water level. Rather than what was done with labyrinth zone, which was a pretty by the books water level, the same way it's done in something like Mario (but worse), aquatic ruin's challenge is avoiding the water. The upper path of the zone contains zero (0) water hazards at all, making it the most alluring path to take. The thing is, it's not so simple as choosing to take the easier route, as the challenge is staying on top, as it's much more difficult platforming wise compared to the bottom path. If you're good enough to stay on top, however, you can clear the entire zone without getting a drop of water on Sonic. It's awesome.

Sadly, because people try to play this game the same way they would play, say, a Mario game, a lot of the nuance in the level designs go unnoticed. I did not discover these tricks on my first playthrough, I found them because I've replayed sonic 2 many, many times (and some stuff I saw on youtube from people who are much better at this game than I am but ignore that lol). Getting a game over doesn't sting so much because the game is short, and next time you replay all of those levels, you'll be better at them, allowing you to beat them faster and with more grace, which gets you back to the part of the game you died at faster, and probably with more lives and continues. The game's very essence is built upon its arcade roots.
Even the exploration is built with this philosophy. If you play the game with save states and infinite lives, rings become pretty much superfluous. The exploration in the game doesn't matter because the rewards no longer mean anything. When you play the game as intended, with finite lives, keeping your rings means something again. Exploration becomes rewarding because it's a chance to up your score and get extra lives. More rings and better times give a huge score bonus at the end of levels, which can yield continues, which will give you more chances to beat the game. Do you see what I'm getting at?

Sonic games always get a bad rep because people hold them to modern game design philosophy, and thinking the games are "badly designed" because they were made differently than other platformers, where lives and continues were just kind of there to be bullshit. Going fast in, say, Castlevania is not part of the core design, and lives aren't really that intrinsic to the design either because in that game you have infinite continues. The only thing lives matter for is checkpoints (won't pass up checkpoints, but playing the game with and without saving felt pretty much the same in that game's case).
If you played Sonic 2 and thought it was even just ok, I implore you to give it another shot without infinite lives or save states. Experiment with the game's systems, look for power ups, don't get discouraged by game overs. Again, the game is an hour long, you don't have much to lose. You might find that you'll appreciate the game's design a lot more when you meet the game at it's own level.

Here is the 2nd Sonic (but not actually)! Sonic can finally go fast! But there's a catch: sadistic meanie developers! :( now you can enjoy the sound of Sonic and Tails getting they ass beat ad repetam because gotta go fast... But at what cost? It was necessary for the game to last a good amount, right? It let kids retry and hone their skills, so I guess it doesnt matter, you have all the time in the world as a kid.

What a weird point to focus on. So anyways, there's Tails. He cute. Including him was the natural evolution for the series, plus Sonic isn't an emo loner no mo'. He'll tag along in levels but won't really have a... purpose I suppose. Emotional support. Yeah.

The bosses in sheer contrast, are a breeze. How considerate! To conclude, Mania completely revamped Oil Ocean for a reason. The best zone is Casino Night ofc, worse zone is Metropolis fym you take damage out of nowhere, seriously i still havent pinpointed the source of those random ahh spike projectiles.

"Welcome to Metropolis Zone 3!" Atleast now i know who's behind the random spike projectiles.