Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Name: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - All three nations

Other Names (Nicknames): Sonic 2, Sonic & Tails

Release Dates:
November 21st, 1992 - Japan
November 24th, 1992 - North America
November, 1992 - Europe

Quality: 16-Bit, Side-Scrolling Platformer

Game System(s): Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Also released on:
Sega Arcade Systems - Mega Tech, and Mega Play
Sega Saturn - Sonic Jam Collection
PC - RealPlayer Arcade, Sega Smashpack #2, and B-Club
Macintosh - GameX #6
Gamecube/Playstation/X-Box - Sonic Mega Collection (Plus)

Developer(s): Sonic Team, and Sega Technical Institute

Character Introductions: Miles "Tails" Prower, Silver Sonic (AKA Mecha Sonic) and the animals: Becky, Locky, Wocky, and an unconfirmed mouse/rat animal that is only seen in the Mystic Cave Zone.

Region Game Takes Place On: Westside Island.

Concept Indroductions: The 7th Chaos Emerald is introduced in Sonic 2 along with Super Sonic, where once all 7 Chaos Emeralds are obtained, along with an additional 50 rings, Sonic transforms into a yellow version of himself with spiked hair, doubled speed and invulnerability. The Spin Dash was also introduced in Sonic 2, which is a maneuver that allows Sonic to rev up along the ground and boost forward in an acceleration roll of high speed. It is meant for offensive purposes or for travel.

Concept Deductions: There is no longer a Special Stage entrance via ring portal at the end of each zone act. In Sonic 2, you enter the Special Stages by having 50 rings at the 3 to 4 checkpoint markers in each zone act. This makes getting the Chaos Emeralds rather easy, since all of the rings return once you finish the Special Stage and return to the zone. An experienced player can usually obtain all 7 before getting out of Emerald Hill Act 2. Checkpoint markers also change appearance.

Storyline:

           Sonic was seen high up in the skies, manning his very own biplane, the Tornado, searching for adventure. That is until he notices a beautiful island with lush greenery far ahead that looked pleasing to the senses. With white smoke coming from the plane, Sonic flew a long arch in the sky before he immediately landed the Tornado on none other than Westside Island, the Island of Illusion! This Island, according to legend, once had a civilization that based their strength off of seven mythical gems, some even decided to channel the energy for their own selfish greed. But these attempts, however, came to naught.

           Days had passed since Sonic landed onto the island and during his casual exploration, he found he was being followed by a young, two-tailed fox. After spotting this admirer, Sonic noticed the little fox immediately hid behind a palm tree. Sonic shrugged it off, speeding forward into the horizon as his follower did not at all hesitate to run after the hedgehog. Instead of leaving his new follower in the dust, Sonic eventually ended up letting this fox follow him everywhere, thus starting a friendship with Miles Prower, who on the island was referred to as Tails because of his two tails that he uses as rotary blades to fly.

           Our heroes were chilling on the beach, Tails was seen walking around, inspecting Sonic's plane in sheer awe. He fell in love with its curved outline and proportions, walking towards the front he then saw Sonic sleeping in the cockpit. The fox scampered towards the rear once again in hopes not to wake him. Alas, an explosion boomed throughout the nearby woods, followed by columns of flames and smaller rumbling explosions, scattered trees, rocks and sediments allover. Then, a dismal army of marching robots came forth, cluttering the Earth.

           Miles watched, shocked, yet still not realizing the full scope of the situation. Sonic watched with anger in his eyes. "Eggman...," the hedgehog muttered. In no time, Sonic sped off into the nearby wood to nail the scientist once more. After recovering from a brief faint, Tails kicked up and followed after his hero.

"DA-HAHAHAHA!!!" The loud laugh echoed throughout the woods, Eggman was nearby.

"Finally, my plan is underway! The CHAOS EMERALDS sleep somewhere on Westside Island, the Island of Illusion, so it will be easy to expel my adversary Sonic! Soon, my supreme weapon, The Death Egg, will be launched into space. Just you wait, Sonic! This time, THIS time I will gather the Chaos Emeralds, and with their power I will defeat you! Thus, I, Dr. Eggman, shall become master of this world! Daa-HA HA HA!!"

Personal Criticism/Opinion:

           Sonic The Hedgehog 2, undoubtedly my most favorite Sonic game of all time. Y'see, most Sonic fans base their judgment of a Sonic game on how much of a Sonic feel it gives them. The Sonic feel gives you that adventurous, outgoing, "escape out into the far frontiers and discover things beyond comprehension" kind of feeling. Most would say that the older Sonic games gave you that feeling much more than the new ones and in my opinion, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 does the best job at it. Sonic The Hedgehog 2, in fact, is arguably the best Sonic game of all time in terms of sales and popularity. For many fans, it is a stiff number #1, or somewhere in their top 5 favorites.

           Sonic 2's environment is tad different from its predecessor, however. The zones of Sonic 2 are just a bit more realistic than Sonic 1's. No checkered hillsides or bizarre floating lights in Sonic 2. In my opinion, this is a downer, I won't deny it. Adding a realistic tinge to Sonic is a big mistake, but luckily for Sonic 2, it wasn't so dramatic that it caused the game to suck. Instead, all of the redeeming qualities of Sonic 2 pass its one con and make it better than the original.

          Gameplay is also longer than Sonic 1's. There are 9 zones in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to Sonic 1's 6 zones. However, unlike the 3 acts in each zone in Sonic 1, there are only 2 acts for each zone in Sonic 2 (save the Metropolis Zone, which has 3). Although, the acts don't really last that long. Sonic 2's zones were tiled and constructed primarily for raw speed unlike Sonic 1's platform-hopping, loop-running goodness. So if you consider all of the cons of Sonic 2's gameplay, then if you were to get two expert Sonic gamers to play Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 in a race, they'd both beat the games in the same time.

           Tails' gameplay is pretty much the exact same as Sonic's. Even though Tails can fly, you cannot use that function in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. He has the same techniques as Sonic's, and essentially, the same speed. You can play as Sonic with Tails (who serves no other purpose than decoration, or random ring-grabbing unless you grab a buddy to control Tails in 2-P cooperative gameplay), or you can go solo with either one. My suggestion is to just pick Sonic and shrug off Tails because Tails makes it difficult to finish the Special Stages since he moves like… 2 seconds after Sonic does, causing him to get hit by the mines.

           Sonic 2 is also the first Sonic game to utilize 2-P capability, where the objective is to race your opponent through mini versions of either the Emerald Hill Zone, Casino Night Zone, Mystic Cave Zone, or the Special Stage. Crappy, yes, but still effective for when we were all whipper snappers. We didn't care about the incredibly half-assed split screen.

Let's see some GAMER'S PERSPECTIVE:

Replay value of Sonic The Hedgehog 2? Awesome. Just like all of the older Sonic games, I can play them and beat them over and over again without ever getting tired.

Graphics? The sprites are well drawn and quite accurate when it comes to a 3D perspective in Sonic the Hedgehog. The animation is awesome and the level design is spectacular. Sonic's sprite is changed in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The running animation is slightly more erratic and fluent, and Sonic looks a tad slimmer. Other than that, the graphics are generally similar to Sonic 1's.

Music & Sound Effects? The music of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is a lot more fast-paced than its predecessor, but like Sonic 1, the entire sound track was composed by the Japanese Pop Band, Dreams Come True, so the general style of the music is one and the same. With a steady compilation of 16-bit drumbeats and steady solos for each song, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, in my opinion, has the best soundtrack of the Mega Drive games. The sound effects of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 are hand-me-downed from Sonic The Hedgehog, with, of course, the exception of the new sound effects created for the new events and objects in the game.

Storyline? Sonic 2's storyline is a lot more epic and indepth than Sonic 1's. At least here, the reasoning for the storyline was explained. Then again, this is not a first-release game, so doors can be opened for explaining things, such as how Sonic met Tails, which I definitely appreciate. It's a good storyline, but they should know better than to spoof off of Star Wars.

OVERALL RATING? I rate Sonic The Hedgehog 2 as a 10/10