Review of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for XBLA by Protomario
18Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (or sometimes as Sonic 2) is a platform game that was developed in the United States by members of Sonic Team working at Sega Technical Institute, and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis. It was released in Japan on November 21, 1992 and in North America and Europe three days later on November 24, 1992 (Sega nicknamed the American and European release date, a Tuesday, "Sonic 2sday"). It is the sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog and was followed by Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in 1994. The game introduces Tails as a new playable character.[3]
The story follows Sonic the Hedgehog and his new partner, Tails, on their mission to stop the evil Dr. Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power the Death Egg. Sonic and Tails must defeat Robotnik's army and free their friends.
As of June 2006, it has sold six million copies, making it the best-selling Sonic game of all time, and the best selling game on the Mega Drive. The game was compatible with Sonic & Knuckles lock-on feature which allowed the player to play as Knuckles in Sonic 2. It has been included in a number of compilations on many platforms; on June 11, 2007, the game was made available on the Wii's Virtual Console,[4] and released for Xbox Live Arcade on September 12, 2007.[5] It has also been featured on Sonic Classic Collection for the Nintendo DS, and appeared as a release for the iPhone OS on April 20, 2010.
The gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 builds upon the basic set-up of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game. The player finishes each level, generally moving from left to right, within a time limit of 10 minutes (Sonic dies a split second after the timer reaches 9:59, though it does not actually reach 10:00).[7] Along the way, rings are collected and Badniks are defeated. Star posts serve as checkpoints, where if the player was to lose a life then he or she would return to one.[3] When the player has collected at least 50 rings, star posts can be run past for an optional Special Stage.[3] At the end of the last act of each zone (with the exception of Sky Chase Zone which does not have a boss), Sonic confronts Dr. Robotnik. In addition, Sky Chase Zone, Wing Fortress Zone, and Death Egg Zone each have only one act, and Death Egg Zone only has two short walkways to two bosses.[3] The game contains a total of eleven zones; four of which were announced in pressed releases and shown in alpha & beta footage but were removed from the final product:
Although zones have grown significantly in size since Sonic the Hedgehog, most zones (with the exception of Metropolis Zone which has three acts) now contain two or one acts instead of three, and there is greater emphasis on variety between levels. The gameplay has also become even faster; additionally, Sonic is now able to perform a new special and unique move referred to as the "Super Spin Dash".[3] This attack allows Sonic crawl in a ball and spin while staying stationary, only charging forward along the ground when the player releases Down on the directional pad. Mashing A, B, or C will increase the velocity of the Super Spin Dash while charging; the faster the player revs up Sonic, the faster Sonic will travel.
From the options menu, players can select to either play as Sonic alone or Tails alone.[3] By default, players control Sonic while Tails runs along beside him. However, a second player can join in at any time and control Tails separately. He can collect rings and attack badniks, but can't break open item boxes. Every time Tails dies, falls off screen, gets crushed or is out of bounds (except when playing as just Tails alone), he returns to the player by flying back down to the ground.
[edit] Super Sonic
Getting all seven Chaos Emeralds by winning all of the special stages will unlock a new feature; Sonic's ability to change into Super Sonic. Sonic changes into his Super Form when he has collected at least 50 rings and jumps into the air. At this point, he turns yellow and speeds up and becomes invincible. His speed, acceleration, and jump height are all increased as well. This means that it is much easier to complete the level with Sonic in this form. Super Sonic subtracts one ring per second and when he reaches the end of the act, he reverts to his normal state, however trying to transform into Super Sonic after passing the signpost may result in a game crash. This severely cripples the player if the former happens as they are left with no rings; if the latter happens the player's level bonus is reduced due to not having as many rings as they could have had.