Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - Sega Genesis Review
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2021
- You knew it was coming. The sequel to one of Sega's most successful 16-Bit games.
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Opening 3D Logo By:
Jan Neves
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Opening 2D Animation By:
Kevin Bhall
Facebook - / kevin.bhall.14
Episode Notes:
1. Captured on the Mega SG.
2. The 2 gentlemen pictured towards the end are Yuji Naka and Mark Cerny. Naka was the lead of Sonic Team while Cerny was the lead of Sega Technical Institute. Cerny left Sega at the end of Sonic 2's development.
3. The term "blast processing" appeared right around the time this game was released. It was used in commercials for it in NA.
4. Few of Sega's 16-bit titles rated as high as Sonic 2. I don't recall a single magazine not raving about it. Even the Japanese based Famitsu gave it a solid score.
5. I still have my original version of this game. - เกม
In my opinion Sonic 2 is a masterpiece... except for the final fight. Sucked to get to the end and have to beat the boss with no rings. It was tricky
best game in the series
I still can't get those emeralds! Need to rely on the Super Sonic code!
I kinda liked the final fight. It took you all the skill in precise Sonic movements you developed throughout the whole game.
It was the really challenging boss battle we were looking for in the previous levels. And, of course, a final boss MUST be difficult.
Me and my friends at the time thought that we needed to hit the knee to damage the egg robot. After a while, we became so skilled in it that it became second nature.
@Prophet Muhammad Easy, where there are no spikes. :)
@Prophet Muhammad
rings are way too forgiving. one ring and you can already bruteforce the entire fight - there shouldn't be any rings even given in most clasisc sonic bossfights.
This is my original video game and system! Still remember being a kid and unwrapping the sonic as young child.
My first console. I think it was the first game I beat myself. I could also get all 7 Chaos Emeralds in Emerald Hill.
But the hardest thing of all is to beat Robo-Robotnik with Knuckles and his pitiful "jump".
*t* *h* *e* sonic
Learning the super sonic cheat was like having an extra Christmas that year.
I miss the genesis days, school yard fights over what’s better snes or sega, renting games at the video store, buying the latest egm/game pro magazine. Such a wonderful time.
I wouldn't trade being a grade school 90s video game kid for nothing. It was just magic. So many epic IPs starting off with a bang, one after another.
Yeah I remember arguing with some girl over it. She was more into Genesis and I was more into SNES. I remember her saying "yeah well Sonic has Knuckles in it, which makes it better than Mario".
The two systems were so good I liked both, even though I had a preference. Back then just about anything that wasn't an Atari Jaguar or 3DO was fun to play. Neo Geo, Genesis, SNES, Turbo Grafx 16, all great systems. Both Sonic and Mario were the kings of that genre. Imo, still the kings of vidya alongside Tetris.
Yeah and I really don't know how in the heck video stores became obsolete. I mean how the heck did all of us people settle for small red boxes that have very few movies in them to take the place of a badass video store that you could walk around in and look around in for hours?
Metropolis act 2 is to hard because the ramp and the brown things are to hard to land on
Y sin internet..bmx , pepsi y amigos..
Still hoping Data Disc releases this soundtrack.
I'll never forget spending the night at my cousins. Renting this around the time it came out. The bonus stage blew our minds. I remember we were all forced to go to bed as we snuck in hours of gaming after the original bedtime. The second night we beat it. That rental was epic for an 11 year old.
If everyone played the genesis sonic games it would bring joy to the world.
Sonic mania is good.
@@crosstie417 Definitely. My 8-year-old loves it.
@@AHighlander Just in case anybody is unaware, Sonic Mania is one of the 2 current FREE games on Epic Games Store, so if anybody wants Sonic Mania for free, that's where to get it from. Free from 24th June - 1st July.
Hope he does a Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles soon!
Definitely has to lead onto at least sonic 3 if he hasn't covered it before👍
Sonic 2 was epic. This & Streets of Rage/2 was literally in every household I been too that owned a Sega Genesis as a lil kid. I really wish sega had better business practices within themselves. I'd love to see a new Sega console with Sonic 2 & Rocket Knight Adventures Remake as Flagship Titles.
Yup. I think that Sonic 2, Streets of Rage 2 and Rocked Knights Adventures were the top games everybody were looking forward to play even after years.
The music… close my eyes and i’m 13 years old again. Amazing.
IKR?
Iconic OST
Me and my bro used to cheese all the bosses using tails.
It was even more fun Once we discovered debug mode .
Good times
Hilltop Zone boss, sit on the side while tails goes down and multibounces robotniks lava machine in one go. You love to see it!
"Getting all 7 emeralds gives you the golden Sonic power". Come on man, its 2021. You know damn well its called Super Sonic.
Came looking for this comment lmao
I have a compulsion to call things what I did when I was a kid. This includes mispronunciations of words at times. I feel it keeps the retro vibe going. Did you know the "spin dash" wasn't originally called that? In the manual of Sonic 2 it's called the Super Dash Attack.
I wonder if making Sonic super saiyin was the Japanese teams influence.
@@kri249 probably
Its like how people don't realize that the sms was called the Sega System for the first year.
One of the games I played the most as a kid, still to this day it’s a masterpiece and probably the best Sonic game.
Oh Boy I love this game.
And because my name is "Tales"... some friends started calling me "Tails" lol
That's awesome, bro. :D
Crazy how we can play Sonic 2 on nearly any console... but how are we supposed to play Sonic 3 and Knuckles these days?
It's going to be re-edited in the Sonic Origins compilation next year with a new soundtrack to fix that "pesky" license problem.
@@PoshuMokona what does that mean, they taking out Jackson's sound production team?
I really liked the original Sonic 3 soundtrack, better than the add on.
@@bloomerb4162
If i had to make an educated guess, Sega is probably going to use the unused music from the beta before the Jackson sound team signed on to the project. I love the Jackson tracks but the beta tracks are also fine so I wouldn't be too upset. Carnival Night is probably the one set of tracks I like better from the beta to be completely honest:
th-cam.com/video/BsMbaNoWTVc/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/A_HaUBkUDVU/w-d-xo.html
I have both cartridges and a working megadrive, so I can play them whenever I want. And .. Emulation of course.
CRT, Genesis, Cartridge.
I was just a little kid when my grandma got me a sega genesis bundled with sonic 2 for Xmas and i then became a gamer. Almost 30 years later now I’m still one!
.those first 3 sonic games have my favorite music of the era
This game is my personal, "Greatest of All Time." Being a kid and playing this at launch was magical.
I agree. Better than 3 also
@@GisherJohn24 Going to disagree. Sonic 3 does a lot of things right that Sonic 2 doesn't. 1st off it has a save file, then you can beat the game with Super Sonic or they give you rings at the last boss. If you miss the eneralds the 1st playthrough they let you get them when you beat the game. Also at that point you can retry as many times as you want you get said emeralds.
Metropolis is the stuff of nightmares
First Sonic game I ever played. On a rad Xmas morning as Knuckles.
So 90e 😊
Was there Doritos and Mountain Dew ?
So you got sonic and Knuckles and sonic 2 then connected them for your first game? Interesting
@@loryhell6982 lol my older brother and his best friend used to hold me down , eat Doritos and Mountain Dew and then burp in my face in the 90s 🤮
There’s no reason for you to have played it with Knuckles before trying it out as Sonic first. You’re lying.
@@Rountree1985 Don't under estimate a 6 year old lol.
I remember a few years before my Dad passed away he bought me my Genesis and sega cd. This was my first gaming system. I remember him calling me from the other room. "Junior, I have a gift for you." As he smiles! I opened it and it's the Genesis sonic 2 edition. I gave him the biggest hug and said thank you daddy! He died a few years later and I miss him. Thanks dad for everything and starting my gaming journey. Great Review Sega!
Your dad gave you a beautiful gift.
@@FilBack thank you!
Yuji Naka is notorious for being a perfectionist slave-master.
He must of broke out of that after sonic 2.
anyways Balan Wonderwold...
I could get all 7 Chaos Emeralds in Emerald Hill.
But the hardest thing of all is to beat Robo-Robotnik with Knuckles and his pitiful "jump".
Same
Took so long waiting for him to land and get low enough for knuckles to hit
What a difference Nintendo and Sega were. Dysfunction between Sega of Japan and America persisted until it nearly destroyed the company after failed launches of 32X and Saturn, to the point where even Dreamcast couldn't save them. Contrast that with the story of Super Mario Bros. 2 where Nintendo of Japan, rather that ignoring Nintendo of America, took it to heart that the game wouldn't work, and retooled Doki Doki Panic instead. Or how Yamauchi purchased the Seattle Mariners out of gratitude to the Seattle area to keep the Mariners from moving.
In Nintendo only Nintendo of Japan is in charge of making games, hardware and other products, Nintendo of America responsibilities are localization, distribution marketing, and QA for Nintendo products in North America, they are Nintendo's publishing branch in that region, nothing else.
There was never rivalry between both branches, one was subordinate to the other.
Umm... the whole reason that Nintendo didn't have such issues was because Yamauchi ran the company like a fascist dictator and didn't give any say to Westerners (when it came to actual games) whatsoever. Are you saying that rebranding a totally different game as SMB2 was a GOOD decision? That vegetable throwing game was awful and I felt cheated as hell when I got it thinking that I would be getting a real Mario game! It spoiled Nintendo for me for the first time. I would've been WAY more happier with "The Lost Levels", even though it was "more of the same". Zelda 2 is another example where "more of the same" would be way more preferable to what we got and another game that soured my taste for Nintendo and prepared me for my exodus to Sega via the Genesis.
@@Prizrak-hv6qk Where did I say anything about Super Mario Bros 2?
But yes, I think that it was a good decission, it is funnier than Lost Levels. I don't think the same about Zelda 2.
@Prizrak2084 You say that like it's a bad thing. Look at how the western game industry is, and look at how it was during the crash of '83. We've pretty much proven to be inept at making video games for decades. Everything is either an interactive movie, a bunch of BR derivatives or CoD derivatives. There's practically no quality control for releases. Look at how buggy Jedi Fallen Order is. EA is lazy, and they crunch development to rush products out as quickly as they can to make a quick buck.
You may hate him, but Yamauchi knew he needed to keep third party devs on a short leash, especially after the crash they helped produce in North America. American devs more than anybody as these hucksters tried to grift consumers with thousands of E.T clones.
@@AltairEgo1 It was a good thing! He was right for keeping a tight leash on Americans. Wish that Sega did the same. The Japanese generally were better at developing 16-bit games, especially early on and Sega's record with publishing Western-developed games was spotty (at best). A lot of those games soiled the Sega brand. Talking about the likes of Batman Returns, Greendog, Chakan, X-Perts, Fantasia, Spider-Man and many others that you'd feel ripped off after paying $50 for, despite that Sega logo on the box.
I hate Yamauchi for other stuff, such as trying to stifle the competition using shady (and illegal) monopolizing practices. As far as Japanese vs Western devs, while I do give the edge to the Japanese ones in the 8-bit and 16-bit days, IMO, Western devs overtook them by the mid-00s. Most of my favorite games and series made since then are Western-developed. Probably doesn't help that jRPGs don't do anything for me anymore and I grew out of the anime art style in general. Although, the Japanese did make a strong comeback with some excellent AAA games lately, especially Capcom. I quite enjoyed DMC V and RE2 Remake.
I was a freshman in high school when Sonic 2 came out. I remember people skipping school to go get a copy of Sonic 2. I remember seeing Sonic run through the corkscrew for the first time and thinking how cool it looked.
Sonic Cd is without a doubt the top of the mountain.
I want to like Sonic CD but can't get into it. I found the level design very off-putting. Ditto exploring every stage and having to time-travel to get the best ending. I'm used to racing to the end of the level and getting the Chaos Emeralds. Now Sonic 3 & Knuckles, that's the GOAT.
@@DarDarBinks1986 You could still do that in Sonic CD, so long as you had 50 rings by the end of a level you could enter the special stage for a time emerald. You don't have to do the time traveling to get the best ending.
Play the recent Christian Whitehead versions that were released for everything under the sun, they include time trial modes for each of the present stages; you can get through most of the levels in ridiculously short amounts of time...(past/future signs disabled in that mode).
Sonic CD is massively overrated. The level design is terrible, and feels like a bad rom hack. And the time travel mechanic was an unnecessary and annoying gimmick.
@@the-NightStar How dare you besmirch the greatest theme of all time!?
@@Avarice666 Sonic CD is my least favourite Sonic game, I even preferred Sonic 2006 to Sonic CD.
Sonic 2 was actually the first Genesis game I ever played for any substantial amount of time long before I ever owned a Genesis. My best friend and I played the hell out of the multiplayer mode back in the day.
Sonic 2 was my first Sega game. I honestly missed out on a lot of the 89-91 games and playing them now, I see where I came into Sega at the right time. These days, I respect a lot of early Sega console titles, but Sonic 2 is def the killer app for the console, IMO. Trick with Sonic 2, which everyone knows, is just farm as many Chaos Emrlads as you can in Emrald Hill. Great work. I am a fan.
This afternoon I beat sonic the hegehog 1 on the mega drive
Woot! Congratulations
That game never gets old. Plus the sound track is so darn good.
I still remember the first time I played this game. It was at my friend's house after school back in 2nd grade. Still amazing reply quality and so much fun.
One thing to note about "Sonic The Hedgehog 2" is that you do NOT have to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds in order to beat the game properly, since the ending remains pretty much the same with the only difference being Sonic seen in his Super form if you decide to collect all seven emeralds.
I remember growing up not having a lot, my dad took the last little bit of money he had and got me a Sega Genesis and Sonic 2 was the pack in title for Christmas. I gave him and my mom the biggest hugs because I understood we ain't have money like that. Rip Pops I love ya and man do I miss ya!
Fun fact the cart for sonic & knuckles had a seperate rom chip for the moddified sonic 2 with knuckles, the cart of sonic 2 was nothing more than a key to access that rom.
Sonic 2 is the best 2D platformer ever made. Perfect graphics (backgrounds, characters and animaton), perfect stage design, one of the best soudtracks ever made, perfect gameplay and infinit replay value. It has twice as many stages (Zones) as the first Sonic. It manages to do what seemed to be impossible and be even better than the first Sonic.
Growing up, my Dad and I didn't share a lot in common, yet one area where we actually bonded was video games. While we both loved the original Sonic, it added so much being able to play together in Sonic 2. Since I left home a year later, we never got the same experience with Sonic 3.
This is the best intro ever! Don’t ever change it
Facts: There are two Sonic 2s. 8-Bit Sonic 2, part 1, was for the Game Gear and the Master System and 16-Bit Sonic 2, part 2, was for the Genesis/Mega Drive. Canonically, Tails made his debut as a non-playable character in 8-Bit Sonic 2 and Tails made his playable debut in 16-Bit Sonic 2. 16-Bit Sonic 2 was the first game where Sonic transformed into Super Sonic after collecting 7 Chaos Emeralds plus 50 or more rings needed to transform.
I have been watching this channel all this time... and I didn't realize you never talked about this lol.
Good job man!
I remember when I got my Sega visions issue about sonic 2. Man, that was a fun time.
Another great video! Thanks for putting this together!
Thanks again for another awesome video, dude! This is my favorite in the series by far. I got my Sega for Christmas 93 with Sonic 2 as the pack in. I had always been a Nintendo kid up to that point but after five minutes of Sonic, I was converted 😎 The music, the graphics, the speed…Sega did what Ninten…uh..couldn’t
Awesome review as always & I can’t wait to see your Sonic 3 & Knuckles review.
Me and my dad were always trying to beat it. I’ll never forget my dad eventually getting to the very last level.
Really good memories right there
Nothing tops opening sonic 2 for Christmas as a kid, opening the box and placing the cartridge in the slot for the first time.
Utterly mind blowing.
Emerald Hill Zone 1
Excellent works as always Sega Lord X! I was a huge Nintendo fan growing up and your videos give me a different perspective on Sega. Thanks for the video and keep em’ coming!!!
Got this game 1992 as a christmas gift when i was 4. Now its a tradition to play it through every christmas :) Best Sonic ever
Christmas morning playing Sonic 2,. Stayed up until i finished it. Happy memories growing up.
A great review for a childhood favourite of mine. Brilliant channel, thank you for the videos. 👍👍👍
Glad the content is back
Am I the only person who always makes Sonic do the cliffhanger animation at the end of every stage??
Your review of the first Sonic game was bang on RIGHT.
How can chemical plant not be your favourite music? Best track ever that!
Awesome review man! Didn’t know about the first sonic review. Going back to watch it NOW!
Awesome review of one of my personal favourites ever... I'll never forget the 1st time i played the 1st Sonic game, I was 8 years old & you can only imagine the excitement to play something so different & so unique & then to play Sonic 2, well the rest speaks for itself... And I agree i absolutely love the soundtracks to these games, I still listen to them regularly...! They are just so cool... These two games are the main reason i became so addicted to video games as a kid...! Great times & great memories...! EPIC...! 😁
My first Genesis game was sonic 2 and it was the best childhood memory because my late father bought it for me! We were poor but he wanted to surprise me with my own systemon Christmas! Thanks Dad and rest well in peace!
Awesome. Glad to see your coverage of this. I really look forward to seeing your opinion of Sonic 3, and Sonic cd.😁👍
This was my first Sonic game!
Mine as well.
Yo man you’re doing great thank you for these awesome videos
This was the pack-in game on my Genesis. And oh boy do I have great memories of playing it.
Sonic 2 is a pretty solid game. Though I feel it starts to fall flat in the last quarter of the levels. It's also disappointing to find out how much content was straight up cut out from this game, both in terms of completed levels and assets, and ideas that didn't make it past the concept stage. That said, I am very thankful for the 2013 port that added true widescreen and restored Hidden Palace - the holy grail of videogame lost levels. That port is finally coming to consoles next year.
Nothing beats ''Sonic 2 Long Version'' running on original Mega Drive hardware.
Sorry, what is coming to consoles next year?
@@europa7533 The remastered ports of Sonic 1/2/CD (the first two still limited to mobile platforms) and a newly remastered port of 3&K
so many of my early memories came from sonic 2 and 1 as a kid of 5 years old in 1994 and on sega megadrive here in Australia
Can't wait to hear you talk about Sonic 3 & Knuckles as it's one of my all time favorite games.
Yeah mate, Sonic 3 & Knuckles might just be the greatest platform game of all time. 👍
@@johnbowles5399 it is.
At the very least, had my favorite explosions is the series. And I will forever be grateful for this game spawning massive amount of fan games c:
Back in the day I was absolutely obsessed with Sonic 2 and it will forever be one of my Top 5 favorite games.
I still VIVIDLY remember being taught how to spin dash by a boy a few years older than me at the counter of The Toy Works in Keene, New Hampshire nearly 30 years later
best sega game. beat this so many times
Finally Sonic 2 review. I have been waiting for this.
I still remember the code! Options 19,65,9,17,4,1,2,6,9,9,1,1,2,ac and start at the same time on 4. Sound system 4,1,2,6. I played the shit out of this game when I was a kid.
I believe the first part is Yuji Naka's birthday. Or one of the developers anyway =)
Man I wanna thank you for your awesome channel. It was enough for me to finally decide and get myself a genesis again and a bunch of games (unfortunatelly I lend mine years ago and never got it back). I've just got Sonic 2 too and man...
vivid memories of getting this with my genesis for Christmas. Then discovering that debug mode cheat....ah, so many fun times growing up.
Not only is the music amazing but even the sound effects are amazing as well.
I always hit like on your videos as soon as I open them because even if I don't agree with everything you say I know the content is solid and well made.
Still one of my favorites! Thank you for this wonderful presentation!
My favorite Genesis game right here!
Thanks for you uploading a video. You Rock!
as a Nintendo fanboy back then.. Sonic 2 was the game that made me drop that and buy a Genesis. it was a tough sell to convince my parents on why I needed both a Genesis and an SNES though.
You were lucky, it was the best console generation to own most systems as possible.
I haven’t been able to stop playing this, so excited for the movie
Amazing review as always Mel. I was 12 years old when this was released and remember how excited I was to play the sequel after enjoying the first game. Still a great game to play today. Good job my friend 👏🏻
A great fathers day gift; a Sega Lord X Sonic 2 video :)
Sonic 2 and Sonic & Knuckles were the first two Sonic games I ever played. Purely coincidentally, I first played them around the same time Sonic commemorated his 10th Anniversary. Ironically, I never thought I was going to get involved with Sonic. A few years after doing so, however, I would find out that I picked a very interesting time to become a fan. Not only was it around the same time as the 10th Anniversary and Sonic Adventure 2's release, but it was just months after the Dreamcast's discontinuation and Isao Okawa's passing. Here I am roughly twenty years later a true-blue Sonic fan looking forward to his 30th Anniversary. Cheers to Sonic!!!
So since I had a SNES only and not a Genesis, I played Sonic 2 any way I could: first at a kiosk at KB Toys, but I'd never miss an opportunity to play a friend's Genesis, and they almost always had this game.
This game had a huge impact on me and I believe that my inability to play it made me dream of playing it again - I would doodle entire level designs on notebook paper. I would include all the stage mechanics that I had seen in the game thus far and just use them to construct fun looking levels.
I specifically remember the first time that I got to Oil Ocean, and I thought those launch cannons were so cool, so I started using those in my level drawings.
Got sonic 2 for christmas... one of my best memories of this console..
Just wondering what system is this gameplay on and what kind of tv? I know it’s sega but is this video off of a sega ? It looks awesome Thanks
Sonic 2 took what made the original good and made it better. A classic in every sense. Takes me back to being 14 and getting that Sega Genesis on that christmas day with Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 cartridges.
3&K > Mania > 2 > 1 > CD > 4 (lol)
I'm spoiled. I can play the Android versions on my TV with a controller.
That's interesting.. how are you pulling that off?
@@Zaron_Gaming Side-loading the Android APKs to my Nvidia Shield TV. It uses my Google credentials to validate my purchase and uses the controller that I have synced to my device. 2nd controller doesn't work though.
Played this every day for many many years back in the golden day 👍👍
I'm 40 years old and have owned every generation of PlayStations since the Mega Drive/Genesis days of my teens - and I honestly feel, pound-for-pound, Sonic 2 remains the best game ever made. In terms of gameplay, music, balance of difficulty, variety of level design... for a 16-bit console it was (and still is) unbelievably good.
[Caveat: S3&K was better but I consider that two games - the first of which had me swearing like a trucker at the Big Red Barrel for most of 1994; Sonic 2 was the better standalone game.]
Back then my vacation goal was to finish both Sonic 1 and 2 in sequence, getting all emeralds. Took almost the entire afternoon, and I could do it for days repeatedly...
Sonic, Road Rash, Top Gear 2 and Lotus 2 were among my favorites. I still own my Genesis and play it every now and then. And no emulation on new console will ever replace the feeling of the original hardware. The control, the sound quality, everything was and still is great.
Sonic 2 was the best in the series. So many memories beating this game.
A thing who made this game so fabulous is his arcade touch ! If you put this game on an arcade cabinet, it work because it's pure arcade platformer ! Graphiscs and animation was amazing and stay gorgeous today. I remember this in France when we discover Sonic and Sonic 2 in 50Hz (slomo version !) and when we can play it in 60Hz with the mod ... it's was incredible how Sonic and Sonic 2 are so damned better in 60Hz ! But you know what ?! There are always people in France who continue to play Megadrive in 50Hz ! Pure Crazy ! Sonic 2 is amazing ! Accessible, easy but can be difficult if we want to achieve all the secret, very playable, fun ... a master piece.
1992 was the "awesome sequel year" in Sega's history: Sonic 2, Streets of Rage 2, Thunder Force IV and others. The jump to 8+ Mb carts enabled almost a generational leap like improvement in graphics and game content variety on the Genesis.
Sonic 2 is my favourite video game of all time, it blew me away when I first played it.
Sonic 2 on Master System deserves a standalone review. It has some cool mechanics and unique bosses, although some later levels are too maze-like and confusing. The fact that it's much less known than Mega Drive Sonic 2 (at least outside Europe and possibly Brazil) makes it especially worth a look.
One of my favourite early Sonic games, and I even prefer it to its Mega Drive counterpart. Aqua Lake Zone can burn in hell though.
This was the first sonic game I played and beat, very special game and a great memories with it.
I didn't get to this one until about 2003 or so, and Sonic 2 still floored me.
This is a special game for me. I was late to the Sega game. I was, ultimately, a Super Nintendo kid, but I had friends who had a Genesis and I really liked it too. My brother and I spent a whole summer doing yardwork and saved enough money to buy a Genesis model 2 with Sonic 2 as a pack-in for $99.99 at Blockbuster (that same Genesis is now hooked up to my 4K through RGB SCART and a RetroTink with a Mega SD just living in the cartridge slot). Sonic 2 was pretty much the only game we ever owned. Having a Genesis mostly just expanded what we could rent from Blockbuster. But boy did I play a lot of Sonic 2. In fact, it was the first Sonic game I played through. I rented Sonic 1 a few times, but yeah, after Green Hill Zone it just felt worse than Sonic 2 in every way.
X, you're a bit older than me. When I got my Genesis 2, I was in maybe 4th or 5th grade. I can see how it'd be way too easy for a teenager, but for a 10 or 11 year old, it was the perfect difficulty. It was easy enough for me to not get my ass beat in the first level or two, but it got challenging enough for me to Game Over around Hilltop Zone or Mystic Cave Zone until I got better. Death Egg zone was a real challenge, but I eventually got to where I could 1 credit clear Sonic 2 without much issue. Then I got all the Chaos Emeralds, and that was just awesome to do when I was maybe 12 or 13. I have played a LOT of Sonic 2. However, I don't really come back to it much anymore. And that's because Sonic 3 & Knuckles just blew it out of the water in every possible way.
If you made me choose between Sonic 2 and naked Sonic 3, yeah, I guess Sonic 2 is better because there's more there. But Sonic 3 & Knuckles? X, I'm waiting for this video! In my opinion, it had the best soundtrack of any Genesis game. I know the TH-cam algorithm will probably have you cut Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles into 2 videos, but these are not 2 different games. Sonic 3 & Knuckles is THE best sonic game ever, not to even be challenged until Sonic Mania (and it still might win out!). Again, I was very much a Super Nintendo kid, but Sonic 3 & Knuckles might be my favorite 16 bit game. It's certainly the one I come back to the most. I can beat it in my sleep, but I still love playing it.
For anyone else who loves 3&K as much as I do, if you have an Everdrive, Mega SD, or an emulator, get yourself a ROM of Sonic 3 Complete. It cleans up all what little was wrong with Sonic 3 & Knuckles (you can become Super/Hyper Sonic or use double jump special attacks, you can stop being Super/Hyper Sonic to save rings, you can continue to hear the regular stage music instead of the Super/Hyper Sonic theme when you go Super/Hyper, when playing 1p with Sonic and Tails you can make Tails fly and carry Sonic where you want him to go, and much more). Great game, always love it, can't wait for X's video.
A great review SLX 👏
Fair review and good points
Sonic 2 was the first game that hooked me so I still hold it in high regards. Nostalgia man....
The bosses were easy but 9 year old me didn't care, emeralds were impossible with tails, soundtrack is still on my phone to this day.
Love this game, solid review
10 year old me was blown away by this too, always remember the games becoming more like cartoons, the soundtrack will always be a favourite
Oldie, but goldie 🥰
I played a bit of Sonic 2 at a friends house before ever playing Sonic 1.
I was obsessed with the Spin Dash.
When I tried Sonic 1 a little later, I thought it sucked because I couldn't spin dash.
Of course I know better now, but that's a 10 year old kid for you.