Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Is What a Video Game Sequel Should Be.
After the success of the original Sonic The Hedgehog, there was a split between SEGA of Japan and SEGA of America as to what to do for a sequel to their new cool blue and with attitude video game mascot. Japan wanted to focus on using one of the SEGA Genesis (or MegaDrive if you’re outside the US) with the SEGA CD hardware add-on. However there was concern that having an official sequel exclusive on a hardware add-on would alienate players and would make gamers feel left out if they did not want to fork over the high price of a SEGA CD. So in a sense the sequel of Sonic The Hedgehog was kind of split into two different timelines. Japan ended up making Sonic The Hedgehog CD, a game that ended up being my very first review on here.
The other game that was made in the US was of course, Sonic The Hedgehog 2. Released in 1992, would be the official sequel to one of the biggest games in the early 90s. Now being faster, stronger, tougher, and of course, better. The Blue Blur was back and better than ever, and this time he’s not alone. I’ll get to that in a bit.
Sonic 2 was in fact one of the very first video games I played. The first system I remember playing on was the Nintendo Entertainment System, but at home we had a SEGA Genesis and the game we got backs with it was in fact Sonic The Hedgehog 2. So yeah 2 was my first experience with a franchise I would grow to love. Back then I was more of a Sonic guy than a Mario guy, and Sonic 2 is a big part of that.
SEGA had big hopes that Sonic was not just a one and done franchise and then brings the question, would Sonic 2 be the big sequel for SEGA’s video game ace? Spoiler: Yes… Yes it would, because Sonic 2 rules!
Let’s get to the game at hand. Sonic 2 changes so much with the game from Sonic 1. It’s easy to see that they learned from some mistakes from the first game and fixed them along with adding tons of new things to the series. The two biggest things is this time Sonic is not alone on his adventure, Introducing Miles “Tails” Prowler. A 2 tailed fox that’s not as fast as Sonic but can spin his tails to fly around and help Sonic get into places no possible before. I think Tails is a great addition to the game as Sonic has a focus on horizonal exploration, Tails is better for more vertical exploration. You can play the game with just Sonic if you want, or just tails for a different kind of adventure. Most players will play as both Sonic and Tails, with an AI controlling and mimicking Sonic’s movements to an extent. This could be a catch 22 of sorts. Sometimes he can maybe get an extra bonus hit on that boss you hate, but he can also get in the way and take an item you wanted. I believe the optimal way to play is with both, but if you wanted to play the game with just Sonic or just Tails, then that’s valid. You can also grab a 2nd player and have them play as tails as you play as Sonic, so yeah this game in a sense has co-op gameplay.
The next big thing you’ll know is Sonic has a new trick in his arsenal, introducing the spin dash. Yes the spin dash was a new thing that was not in Sonic 1. It was also in Sonic CD along with a sprint, but Sonic 2 only has the spin dash. With the spin dash (done by holding down and hitting the jump button, Sonic can charge up for speed and get a running start, this is perfect for Sonic 2 as I feel as Sonic 1 is more about platforming, sonic 2 has more of a focus on one of the best things Sonic The Hedgehog has going for it, SPEED! However, Sonic 2 is longer and harder than Sonic 1, so it’s going to take more than speed to beat this game.
The story is quite simple, Dr. Robotnik (or Dr. Eggman in some locations) is up to his evil ways again and it’s up for Sonic and his new friend Tails to stop him, going past level to level full of bad guys, all while using the abilities of Sonic’s super speed or the now flight abilities of Tails.
The upgrades between Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 are night and day. As I said the game has more of a focus on speed, but the later levels do get tougher and have more of a position platform focus and near the end the game gets very hard with little to no room for error.
Level structures are also changed a bit. Now most levels have only 2 acts instead of 2 acts and a boss like in Sonic 1. One level in Sonic 2 in Metropolis has 3 acts. The final 2 levels in Wing Fortress and Death Egg are only one act, but are very hard. In fact Death Egg is two bosses, but no rings. This means one hit and you’re dead.
The game starts easy with Emerald Coast, but then picks up the difficulty somewhat quickly after that in Chemical Plant. There’s one specificity spot in this level that is quite the gear check for new players, and if you played this game, you likely know what I’m talking about.
Sonic 2 also has tons of other cool levels such as Hill Top Zone, that’s got some fun puzzles, and Mystic Cave that has an amazing song track to go with it. There’s also the legendary Casino Night Zone, that has Sonic in a giant casino where you can even play casino machines but don’t get 3 Robotniks and lose all your rings!!!
Sonic 2 also has a revamped special stage that’s a pseudo 3D tunnel that you have to collect rings. A massive improvement from Sonic 1’s special stage. Collect enough rings and you can keep going, if you don’t meet the required ring count at a checkpoint, then you are kicked out of the stage. There are also mines in the special stage that make you lose some rings if you hit them. Your reflexes will be tested here in order to reach the end of the special stage to gain a chaos emerald, think you can get all seven? You can access specials stages via having enough rings in the main game in continue gates instead of the end of the act like in Sonic 1. This means you can knock out multiple special stages in one level.
There is also more of an incentive to go after all seven chaos emeralds as getting them will allow you to become Super Sonic. You can transform into Super Sonic by getting 50 rings and then hitting jump again while in the air. This makes Sonic turn gold, doubles his jumping and speed, and makes him invincible, but at a price. Your ring count will start to count down and if you hit zero, you are no longer Super Sonic. You have to keep collecting rings to feed this Super Sonic size hunger. Super Sonic can also be somewhat of a disadvantage in the later levels as there’s so much precision platforming and needing to be careful. With the double speed, it makes levels like Wing Fortress way harder to the point it’s kind of unfair, and that’s what brings me to the biggest gripe I have with Sonic 2.
It’s not too noticeable in the early levels but there’s no doubt some very mean enemy placements and parts that are aggravating with Sonic having not enough reaction time to avoid it, resulting in first time “how was I to know that” placement of enemies. I understand enemies are part of the game but there’s points that just feel flat out mean and unfair where they are located and how they can hurt Sonic. The later levels feel more like trial and error. Some of the level design again, just feels rude without much of a warning if you are jumping down to where you need to go or just blindly jumping into your own demise. Metropolis and Wing Fortress near the end of the game are really bad at this. The final level in Death Egg zone has you with no rings, meaning no room for error. Just feels like these last two boss fights have artificial difficulty but I guess it IS the final boss so I can somewhat let it slide here. Again, it’s not too noticeable in the early stages, but in the later levels, the unfair placement off enemies gets to be a bit much. I get it’s part of the game but it does leave you with a few “oh come on!” moments, especially if it’s the first time playing the level with no prior knowledge knowing what’s coming, but I guess that’s partly the point. To make you keep playing it over and over until you get it right. It’s not bad enough that it kills the game but does leave you with a few moments of frustration.
Sonic 2 even has a two-player mode where you and a friend can race head to head on abridges versions of levels in the game, along with extra items to help mess your rival up such as warps. A pretty cool mode to add in as there is much more of an idea of two-player gameplay in Sonic 2 with this mode and having player 2 being able to control Tails in the single player mode. As massive improvement from Sonic 1 that had a non-existent two player… anything. There are a few framerate issues at times in 2-player mode, but this is asking the Genesis a lot. Still a cool mode to have with friends.
In the end, Sonic 2 is an amazing sequel, even if I have my flaws with it, it’s a must play for any Sonic fan and is easy to see that for many that this is the peak of 2D sonic. I’m personally more of a Sonic 3 fan and I’ll get to that one another day, but it’s easy to see with its focus on high speed fun and extra modes, that Sonic 2 makes Sonic 1 seem obsolete in some aspects. No doubt still play Sonic 1 for more as a historical piece, but honestly Sonic 2 is where Sonic really starts getting good. I learned the mistakes from the first game and fixed them along with adding new and exciting things in Sonic 2. It feel like such an upgrade from the first game, and to me is what a great sequel should be.
