The Sonic franchise was born out of the necessity to compete with Nintendo’s Mario because, frankly, Alex Kidd wasn’t cutting it. Luckily Sega hit it big, and the rest is history. With such success it was inevitable that they would release a sequel, but what was surprising is that it was released only a year after the original. I’m assuming this was because Sega was faced with heavy pressure following the launch of the competing Super Nintendo console. I was lucky enough to get a Genesis after having already asked for and received a SNES for Christmas, but Sonic was a huge name at my elementary school and I had a few opportunities at friends’ houses as well as at kiosks in different electronic stores. With that said I never found Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as impressive as something like Super Mario World, but it was good fun. The game doesn’t hold up to the huge reputation it has even today, but it’s still well worth playing by any standards.
The story is much the same as it was last time. Dr. Robotnik is once again kidnapping and enslaving innocent animals while collecting the magical Chaos Emeralds to power his latest weapon. It’s up to Sonic the Hedgehog to foil his plan, but this time he has help from his newly introduced side kick Tails. This game plays nearly identical to the last one; it’s a side scrolling platform game with a focus on speed. By default Sonic and Tails will zoom through each stage, but outside of the first few areas you will need to move slowly because the game throws a lot of moving platforms that require precision jumping. Your primary means of attack is still by jumping on the heads of enemies, but your characters come equipped with a big new ability. This is the spin dash which allows them to curl into a ball and then unleash a burst of speed which can also be used as an attack. Aside from that gameplay is largely the same implementing the same ring collection system (wherein being hit without any will lose you a life) as well a few stages that feature loop-de-loops and multiple tiers. Not much has changed, but everything has been refined.
One of the biggest new additions is that you can select which character you would like to play as. You can pick between Sonic and Tails. By default you’re in control of Sonic with Tails following along guided by the A.I. Unfortunately there are a few issues here. There are virtually no gameplay differences when playing as either of them. This is really disappointing considering the fact that Tail’s ability to fly was often advertised when it was first released, but he can’t even do that when you’re in control. The other problem is the fact that, when you’re playing as Sonic with Tails in tow, the A.I. just doesn’t do a whole lot to contribute. He can collect rings as well as well as defeat enemies and even cause damage to boss characters, but this all happens entirely by accident. He simply follows you around and jumps when you do, but he often gets stuck at on elements in the environment and disappears for long periods of time after not being able to catch up. Tails is useless as a companion, and having the option between both he and Sonic is pointless. The fact that there is a simultaneous multiplayer mode however (with super stretched split screen action) is commendable even if it is just a time attack of sorts through smaller versions of the stages.
The first few stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ease you into the mechanics with simple platforming and a focus on speed, but later areas become significantly more complicated thus requiring more precision. Unfortunately both Sonic and Tails are a little slippery in the controls department. This causes some serious issues because the game is very fairly demanding where precision is concerned in the later areas. The momentum just seems off when moving in short bursts, and I had a difficult time landing even some of the shorter leaps. Sega should have focused more on Sonic’s strengths here rather than trying to compete with Mario, because the mechanics hold him back from matching up. The level design has seen some improvements with interesting twists and great new ideas. Casino Zone in particular with it’s bumpers and pinball-like mechanics introduces some really cool elements to the series. The Emerald Hill Zone is, in my opinion, the most iconic stage in the entire series. Others such as Oil Ocean and Chemical Plant zones are interesting thematically, but oddly executed. For the most part it’s awesome though.
Graphically there haven’t been a lot of improvements in this sequel, but the original was always a pretty good looking game so it isn’t a big problem. His sprite has been brought over with only a few added frames for his new special moves. The zones are all new, and the designers didn’t port over any previous assets for the background which is really cool. It all looks pretty good to be honest, but some of the themes such as “Oil Ocean” are odd and look pretty weird to be honest, but what can you do? The soundtrack is an improvement from the original title. In generally all of the music is even more upbeat and bouncy, and I was really impressed with the use of the sound hardware to re-create some really clean sounding drum effects. Emerald Hill is one of my favorite themes across the entire franchise and conveys the even more upbeat approach the developers took. The sound effects have however been almost entirely ported over, but they’re iconic and memorable so I have no issue with this. The audio is pretty good overall and fits the game well.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is easily one of the best games in the franchise, but it just doesn’t hold up as well as most installments in the Mario franchise in my opinion. Still, it’s an absolutely iconic platformer that’s a necessity for the few who haven’t played it and it’s many ports to virtually every console released in the last fifteen years. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is incredible and is truly a Sega Genesis classic.
