I genuinely don’t care man replaying this for the billionth time now that I got the Steam Deck, aka playing it PORTABLY was magical. It’s got jank but I fucking adore it. I think it’s one of the most enduring games ever. Booting it up, getting a few emblems, raising a chao, improving ranks, it’s soul. You don’t have to agree with Shadow but the mob can’t make me love him. He is my brother. We are both dragon energy. I don’t agree with everything anyone says. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to free thought.

I feel like you can tell who was a kid when they owned a Gamecube if their eyes light up upon hearing one of the following phrases: Chao Garden, Rogueport, City Trial, Delfino Plaza. I am one of those, so there is a significant tinge of joy to seeing this game. Upon revisiting it, it's rather incredible just how sloppy the entire affair is. Multiple lines seem mistranslated, story scenes plod along almost incoherently at times, direct translation is taken to an extreme so the characters seem to be having three different, stilted conversations between each other that somehow reach a conclusion, the homing attack requires very specific timing to work and hit the right target, there are a LOT more bottomless pits than in SA1 so it messing up is a lot more time-destroying, the gravity-based sections feel like a struggle to get your character to walk in the right direction at times and sometimes we'll just leave the gravitational field entirely, the final boss has voice lines that clearly reference cut Super content for how and when to transform that are just tossed in there, the emerald radar system of SA2 is just kinda frustrating when you're actually trying to A-rank the hunting stages, I still have no idea how you're supposed to properly fight Sonic 2 or Shadow 2, but they're not HARD by any means, I just seem to incidentally win. It's a near incoherent mess of a game that me summarizing the whole game's plot to you at Age 10 would probably give you a better understanding of what goes on in it than actually playing the game.

... anyway once you stop playing story mode and just keep going for missions it gets really good. SA2 has an almost hypnotic feedback loop of learn level, find secrets, chao garden, rinse repeat. On replaying, I was VERY pleased to find the mech levels were a lot better than I gave them credit for, figuring out targeting timing and just how long I could hold a lock in order to maximize score. They're very neatly designed for second playthroughs of each level to smash through. Speed stages take a ton of time to get the proper feel for, but once you get them, they feel GREAT! Treasure hunting stages... are actually worse than I remember, I won't mince words there!

There is something to be said about the sheer level of freedom SA2 gives you to break and exploit it. It's a bit of a mess, but it knows it and wants to provide every opportunity it can for you to have fun with and play around with the seemingly endless ideas it wants to throw out. I am sure mods would create a significantly better experience that smooths out the... I wouldn't say "rough edges" because the same's so slippery that roughness would actually help keep you on track, but I wanted the core experience, to learn the jank of the game's systems. And I'm willing to forgive its failures because it's ultimately probably the best of Sonic's 3D offerings at asking you to replay stages again and again at just its base level. SA2 is a pain of a game to beat. SA2 is a joy of a game to memorize.

Story is an upgrade over adventure 1, being much more complex and eventful. It even has a few twists here and there. Those twists aren't very good, but hey, it's a start. Shadow is a fan favorite character for a reason although I do wish that they hadn't retconned the ending. Rouge and Knuckles are both pretty unlikable in this game, Amy still has no reason to be here and is insufferable, Eggman is uncharacteristically threatening and serious (which is both a good and bad thing tbh), and Tails is a dumbass. Overall I don't like the cast aside from Shadow, who is really good, and I don't like the story aside from the ARK lore.
Sonic/Shadow: Universally considered the best part of the game and it's obvious why. While some stages can be a little too linear for my liking, most speed stages in the game make decent use of the physics, feature plenty of speed and platforming in equal parts, and a few different possible routes to take that generally follow sonic level design philosophy. Towards the end of the game though I feel as if they become a little too ambitious. The gravity gimmicks of Crazy Gadget and Final Chase are very intrusive and in the latter case, janky. Pyramid Cave is very boring, and Final Rush's grind rails aren't too fun to navigate for various reasons. Sometimes the camera won't give you a good view of the rail ending, sometimes trying to switch rails will fling you off into oblivion, and some rails just outright lead to your death. Before those levels though, these are a great time, and a massive improvement over the SA1 formula.
Tails/Eggman: Slower and clunkier version of SA1's Gamma. One of the things that made Gamma relatively fun for me was that I enjoyed shooting things while moving, trying to target as much as I could without stopping. SA2's version abandons this philosophy and requires frequent waiting, particularly in Tails' stages. Even though the two control the same, I swear that Eggman and Tails had different level designers because Tails' stages are PACKED with bullshit that Eggman just doesn't really have to deal with. Overall, most of these levels range from bad to mediocre, with the only ones that really stand out to me as good being Iron Gate and Cosmic Wall (both Eggman levels, go figure).
Knuckles/Rouge: While these two are as nimble as they should be physics wise, I have always hated the way they animate in this game. Level design wise, their stages are surprisingly challenging and built around their gliding moveset, which makes them more fun and interactive than their SA1 counterpart... on paper. But yeah, I'm gonna have to echo what everyone else has bashed about this game and say that the radar only tracking one item at a time is really stupid, and particularly annoying in the later, larger levels. Aquatic Mine and Death Chamber are disjointed, nightmarish mazes, and Mad Space... Mad... Space...
Lastly bosses in this game are pretty terrible. Fights against other playable characters are pathetic as always, and the other fights are pretty similar to each other. Only exceptions being Biolizard and Finalhazard. Biolizard is a Sonic Superstars tier disaster of a boss that is shockingly difficult to evade and relies on the unreliable homing attack to work. Every time I died to Biolizard it didn't feel like my fault.
The Finalhazard is even worse. The swapping between Sonic and Shadow idea is kinda cool on paper but functionally just takes away the balancing act that super forms have always presented: dealing damage but collecting enough rings to stay alive. Instead, your ring count is just a flat time limit. Furthermore, you're supposed to charge into the pink swelling spots on the Finalhazard to deal damage, but I SWEAR it only works when it wants to. Sometimes it just doesn't do damage and knocks me back instead. Again, it never feels like my fault when I die to this boss, which sucks cuz Perfect Chaos was a pretty fun final boss in SA1.
So yeah overall it's an upgrade over its prequel but still a heavily flawed and overrated game.

Can you feeeeeeel lifeeeee movin through your miiiiiind
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
looks like it came back for moreeeeeeeeeee
yeaaaaaaah
Can you feeeeeeel timeeeee slippin down your spine
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
you try and try to ignoreeeee

Sonic Adventure 2 is one of my favorite games ever made and the gem that made me a die hard Sonic fan for the rest of my life. Is it buggy? absolutely. Can the Treasure Hunt stages be really bad? mad space. Are the Mech stages good? not that much but they're really overhated. But the sheer radical energy this game holds makes it an eternal classic in my eyes, and I always enjoy replaying it.

"... Huh."

That was my first thought after finishing the last story segment. I've been away from the Sonic series since 2013, but I've always had fond memories of Adventure 2. Fun stages, cute graphics, and one hell of a soundtrack. When starting this recent marathon, I was really excited to revisit it and get all achievements for the first time. Oddly enough, the end result this time was the complete opposite of my experience with SA1. Going for 100% actually brought the game down a bit for me.

Before that though, I'll just get this out there: This story is awful. Yeah, Sonic games aren't particularly known for their deep narrative or anything like that, but the very premise of people mixing up Sonic and Shadow(including characters like Amy and Eggman, who would NEVER make that mistake in a million years) is INSANELY stupid. It boggles my mind to think that the story team genuinely took that approach here. But even if we push that aside, there are a lot of little things that drag down the story when put together. Why is the Master Emerald so tiny now? Can Knuckles stash it away and take it out when needed? If Rouge works for the president, why does she need to sneak into the Security Hall at all? Wouldn't she have clearance to snoop around? Eggman is fine with firing the Eclipse Cannon, but the ARK falling is an issue? The Cannon was Gerald's creation, not his. There's no way Eggman knew the Cannon wouldn't just split the earth in half without researching it first.

... Sure, it's a game for kids, but if they wanted to bring more attention to the story, they could at least give an actual shit about what's going on and be consistent. Otherwise, just stick to the Sonic vs Eggman dynamic.

The game's called Sonic Adventure 2, but the "Adventure" part is conveyed only through the aforementioned story. Compared to its predecessor, SA2 is very straightforward in terms of gameplay. Stage-to-stage, no frills, no bullshit. I used to think this was an improvement back in 2012, but revisiting it after 100%'ing SA1 for the first time recently, I'm actually disappointed? It would've been really cool to see the exploration bits fleshed out, with new places to move around in. Maybe even revisit some areas from the first game, who knows. Would've made the Missions a lot better, because man...

The journey to 100% was very exhausting here. In SA1, you had Trials and Missions. Trials were re-runs of the Action Stages from the story mode with new objectives, and each character had unique challenges thanks to the differences in their gameplay styles. On the other hand, Missions took full advantage of the exploration areas, leading you to really check out every nook and cranny in the 3 hubs.
SA2 obviously doesn't have hub worlds, so the really cool and varied Mission mode from SA1 is gone, meaning we only have Trials here. And they're not as good.
Each stage has 5 objectives: Clearing it to progress in the story, collecting 100 rings, finding a lost chao, clearing it under a time limit, and clearing a hard version of the stage. This is repeated for every single stage in the game, for every character, regardless of their abilities.

Why not spread the objectives around? Instead of doing the same 5 Missions with all characters, give the time limit Missions to Sonic and Shadow, the 100 rings Missions to Knuckles and Rouge, and the Hard stage Missions to Tails and Eggman, while keeping the lost chao Missions available for everyone. This keeps things fresh, unique and consistent. Sadly, that's not the route they took, meaning a LOT of bloat when digging through the emblem list. And speaking of chao...

Good lord, did they really have to add SO many races here???? Nothing changes! Once your chao is leveled enough, it's all the same shit! I fed my chao after every Mission with every character, so once I had all stage emblems, my boy was pretty damn buff. After spending a little bit of extra time getting his stats up there, every single race went the same, no variety, no input from me, nada. Maybe the pet simulator stuff just isn't for me. (I still love you アホ☆ヤロウ, don't worry.)

With all that said, the soundtrack is just as good as I remember, era-defining stuff all around. The weakest tracks are definitely on Tails and Eggman's stages, but there are a ton of gems in Sonic and Shadow's levels. God, I don't think there's a single bad track in Knuckles and Rouge's stages, they're all great.

It's not a bad game at all, it's really fun. But if I ever come back to it... I'll do a story playthrough and leave it at that. The 100% journey just isn't worth it, not for this one.

I am deeply, deeply infatuated with this game and have been for about 21 years. So deep is my love for it that it actually exposes my biggest flaw as a reviewer:

I am preternaturally dogshit at writing about games I truly adore, compared to games I loathe. I scrapped a shorter review of this earlier in the week because it just fell kinda flat, meanwhile there's a Baldur's Gate 3 re-review in my google docs folder that's hit 8k words without even touching on the story. Really, you can tell I like a game when my review is just me dictating parts of it to you like someone ordering McDonald's.

I think what I really do love about SA2 though is that it's sort of just... Incredibly self-indulgent, in a way that I can't help but admire. Doubly so since it feels the franchise has been trying to 'make amends' for this game since 2001. It has three entirely fleshed out gameplay modes, vocal tracks as stage things, a straightforward example of 'Dark Sonic', goofy product placement, corny one liners, Rouge the Bat's tits, hilariously bad audio mixing, a story that veers off the rails and gets super dark at the last minute.

It's insane. I love it. That it feels great to play and has a great gameplay loop perpetuated by the Chao Garden is only a plus. Despite the jank (which is, imo, overblown even by people who like the game), to me this will always be the most cohesive and consistently enjoyable mainline Sonic game besides Shadow. Especially considering that its followups all have a billion asterisks attached or just some absolute dealbreakers, like Heroes feeling like a representation of what it must be like to do a marathon in a world made of expired handwash.

I always come back to this over the other games because it's one of the few Sonic games that isn't either awful to play, or prostrating itself to the fans who want a Sonic game that makes them feel as warm as they did before their parents divorced. Or whatever the flying fuck Frontiers is supposed to be. I would play Shadow, but the True End is a ballache to get, and I don't ever feel like pulling my 3DS out to play Rush.

There's an interview for Frontiers I always go back to, where an interviewer asks the producer "What do Sonic fans want the most?" and he answers "Chao Garden". The interviwer then asks "Will Frontiers have Chao Garden?" and he says "No" with a grim, knowing look on his face. As if he realizes that Sonic was supplanted as Sega's mascot by Kiryu Kazuma years ago, and that 'Sonic is for kids!' doesn't appease investors who're wondering why their games review like shit. "Maybe Chao Garden will be in the next game" is Sonic Team's "I promise I'll quit drinking, honey".

Sorry for this goofy pun, but: It's both sad and funny that the game which introduced Shadow to the series also cast a shadow over the entire IP for about 22 years and counting.

P.S Mad Space is great!

One of the best Sonic games of all time (even though I like Sonic Battle and SADX more). PC version is almost not enjoyable without mods. Great music and art direction, but kind of outdated level design. Story is also quite good, especially for a Sonic game (Sonic Battle still has better story). The best thing in this game is Chao Garden, where you can take care of adorable little creatures called Chao. They can grow into different types, depending on how you raised them. SA2B has the most complete Chao Garden experience. This is the reason to play this game.

So, Sonic Team were high as balls when they made these games, right? The first Sonic Adventure was a trip and a half and Sonic Adventure 2 is almost equally as wild. I mean, the game opens with an armed militia working for the US president attempting to arrest Sonic the Hedgehog - you know, the iconic, arrogant, blue anthropomorphic alien rodent with monstrous feet and hands the size of average human toddlers - and transport him back to their base via an attack chopper. That alone is staggering, but then Sonic escapes, somehow finds a surfboard and outsurfs a giant military truck down the streets of San Fransisco.

And the best part? None of this has ANY context until the second half of the game. No cutscene that really explains when Sonic was arrested, why the military are out in force or really who the hell these geezers with straight-up machine guns and advanced military technology are. That's just the first mission and the game's like, oh, I'm sorry. Is that too much for your little baby brain to handle? BUCKLE UP, SMALL FRY. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG DOESN'T DEAL IN COHESIVE STORYTELLING; HE DEALS IN ROCK MUSIC, SEX AND UNPAID SPEEDING TICKETS.