Sonic is back, now more spinny and dashy then before.
From the same publisher comes the sequel to the critically acclaimed “Sonic 1,” comes “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” also known as “Sonic 2,” released in 1992. This time developed by SEGA’s Technical Institute, but still SEGA nonetheless.
I'll be playing the Steam Version since I got it while it was available for free in 2020. I originally played the game on the "Sonic Classic Collection," and a demo on the Xbox 360.
While I never beat the game, I have enough of an attachment to "Sonic 2" to call this a Retrospective Review.
Story (C)
Dr. Robotnik is back again to try to take over the world by finishing his new weapon, “The Death Egg,” and that’s no good.
This time Sonic is joined with his new friend Miles “Tails” Prower, or just Tails for short. The "barebones but works" plot strikes again.
Presentation (S)
“Sonic 1” was amazing visually but suffered a few hiccups. “Sonic 2” is almost perfect in terms of its presentation. The areas all look lovely and have more creative themes. Ranging from a chemical plant, to an oil facility in the ocean.
All the same praises from “Sonic 1” involving the sound effects, animations and more apply here, but with more of it. It all looks amazing.
Same goes for the music, there’s not only more music, but it’s better too. Special mentions to the Chemical Plant Zone theme and the Mystic Cave Zone theme for being especially great.
My only nitpick is dark sky in Emerald Hill Zone, how did this come back from Green Hill Zone?
Gameplay (A-)
“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” is the same in terms of mechanics for the most part.
One big addition is the iconic spin dash. If Sonic stands still, by crouching and pressing jump, he can curl up into a ball. When the jump button is released in this state, he launches forward.
It’s a great way to gain momentum quickly, being both fun and useful to use.
There is also Tails, who can either be Sonic’s partner or solo the adventure by himself. As Sonic’s partner, Tails can collect rings and defeat enemies. He can also fly but only as a partner. As a playable character, Tails has all the same abilities as Sonic.
Tails is a good addition but could’ve been more. He’s a helpful partner, but can be a bit buggy, sometimes getting stuck for entire acts. It’s also a shame his flying abilities can’t be used when he’s played as, he just ends up being a yellow Sonic. It could have to do with making multiplayer/versus mode fair though.
Continues are now earned by getting 10,000 points at the end of an act, which is a change I’m neutral on.
The final change is the special stages. Instead of 50 rings at the end of the stage, now it’s 50 rings when reaching a checkpoint. Jump towards the sparkles at the top of a checkpoint post to enter it.
Special stages now take place in a halfpipe with the goal being to collect the required number of rings. Sonic can move left, right and jump. There are turns on the halfpipe, and even bombs that can make Sonic/Tails lose some of their rings.
The name of the game this time around is memorization. Given the replayability of levels, this isn’t too bad, There are more chances to try special stages.
The special stages themselves are a good challenge.
The reward is worth a lot more too as Sonic gains the ability to become Super Sonic with all seven Chaos Emeralds. With 50 rings and a jump (in some versions pressing jump in mid-air activates Super Sonic), Sonic becomes Super Sonic, immune to enemy attacks and faster, but hard to control. It's very easy to get carried away.
The very definition of suffering from success.
Also, some general problems have been fixed. Underwater sections are used more sparingly, invincibility frame problems have been fixed, and the no spin ball jump never happens.
As for the zones, they are massively improved from “Sonic 1,” having a more consistently fun pace to them. My favourites are Ocean Oil Zone and Emerald Hill Zone. The former has a great gimmick while the latter is a great tutorial level.
The only bad zones are Casino Night Zone, which is just okay but annoying; and Metropolis Zone with its good platforming but horrible and unfair enemies that either can’t be seen coming, have homing projectiles, or are invincible but can attack Sonic.
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Most zones only have two acts, so they don’t overstay their welcome, which is an amazing change. Likely because Sega’s Technical Institute enjoys pain, Metropolis Zone is an exception to this with three acts. Yay…
Some other, less torturous, zones are excepted to this though, like Sky Chase Zone and Wing Fortress Zone only have one act, while they’re good, but would’ve been better with two acts.
Finally, bosses are again, alright. Some of them can be far too easy, or even drag on. However, Aquatic Ruin Zone’s boss and Mecha Sonic (also known as Silver Sonic or Robo Sonic) are great challenges.
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Casino Night’s boss can get a gambling addiction though, the pinball mechanics are finicky and don’t mesh well with the boss fight at all. I broke and used the rewind function on the Steam version to beat this boss.
I never was good at pinball. Then again, pinballs don't have a floating man trying to electrocute the ball.
Overall (A)
“Sonic 2” is a massive improvement from “Sonic 1” in every regard. The presentation is better, the music is amazing, the level design has more highs than lows, the bosses are neater, and its difficulty is more balanced without feeling cheap, for the most part.
It’s a shame that Metropolis Zone and some other things bring down the game, because it’s close to being a masterpiece. Surely, the next Sega Genesis Sonic game will-
-Oh yeah, the Sega CD is a thing, and it had its own Sonic platformer game on it. Sonic CD time next time then.
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