[MD] Sonic the Hedgehog 2

[icycalm]

I'll give that it's still easy peasy, and there's a bit less sense of a "flow" given that you frequently have to slow down or come to complete halts (which, according to moronic journalists, is "totally un-sonic-y :mad: ")

It's quite contradictory with the "Sonic is all about SPEED" mentality.

Can you fucking please try to make a bit more fucking sense? First you call the journalists morons because they say that coming to a complete halt is contradictory to the game's mentality, then you yourself say the same thing. What does that mean? That you consider yourself a moron just as much as the journalists? If so, don't fucking post here. This is not a forum for morons.

[El Chaos]

Excuse me, I meant to say that the fact that so many people consider Sonic CD to be the apex of the series is quite contradictory with the speed mentality which they seem to hold (not me), therefore the irony.

[Molloy]

Why do I remember you saying the exact opposite? You were going to write a mini-review saying that 2 was the worst in the series and a huge letdown. Has your opinion changed this radically in the meantime?

And Sonic 1 has water levels? And 2's can be avoided? Really?

It's been so long since I played these games, that they have all blurred into each other in my memory.

No, that was my original opinion.

The Labyrinth Zone in Sonic 1 is water based. There are 3 Acts. As I recall the last Act in Scrap Brain Zone has a very hard water section as well.

In Sonic 2 Aquatic Ruin Zone is water on the lower level and land on the higher level so so you can avoid the water entirely.

[El Chaos]

I just noticed that, in the 7th paragraph, the 58th word should be inertia.

Feel free to delete this post after it's been corrected.

[Muzozavr]

Sonic 1 has one water level: Labyrinth Zone. It also has act 3 of Scrap Brain, but that doesn't really count, because if you know what you're doing, you can complete it in about 30 seconds by taking a shortcut.

Sonic 2 has one water level: Aquatic Ruin. On both acts the underwater paths can be completely avoided.

Sonic 3 on the other hand... The one "fully" underwater level is Hydrocity, but almost each level contains some underwater paths. Only Marble Garden is completely free from any water.

Angel Island does feature a short underwater course, Carnival Night contains a long annoying obligatory underwater path, and it's mandatory, Ice Cap features water on act 2 but there aren't really underwater PATHS. And even Launch Base, the final level, contains an underwater course.

Sonic and Knuckles contains absolutely no water levels.

Sonic CD contains Tidal Tempest, and AFAIK only Tidal Tempest. Which is good, because that one water level was fairly awesome.

[icycalm]

I just noticed that, in the 7th paragraph, the 58th word should be inertia.

Fixed, thanks!

[Deku Scrub]

If you want challenge try Sonic 2 on the Master System. It's a total bastard. The boss battles are particularly enjoyable.

My first video game ever was this game for the Sega Game Gear - I could beat the first two levels just fine, but I never got past the first boss (the antlion one). I went on to beat Sonic Chaos, Sonic Triple Trouble, and a whole bunch of other Game Gear games before eventually getting a Super Nintendo for Christmas.

A few years ago I dug up my Game Gear out of nostalgia and played some of the games. When I played Sonic 2 and reached that antlion, I beat him for the first time ever with one life remaining; it felt wonderful to finally defeat my old nemesis.
I then proceeded to accidentally jump off a cliff in 2-1.

Long story short, that game is indeed challenging. Too bad it's at my parents' house, or I'd give it another shot right now.

[icycalm]

http://insertcredit.com/2011/06/23/happ ... -hedgehog/

"Sonic 2 is the best sonic game", lol. And this site's editor agrees.

Meanwhile, outside of casual-land, Sonic 2 is easily the worst Sonic MD game:
http://insomnia.ac/reviews/megadrive/sonicthehedgehog2/

That insomnia.ac link is actually a good review, though I wouldn't rate the game as low as the reviewer did; I'd give 3 stars. I replayed the main 3 Genesis Sonic games recently (because 20th anniversary), and S2 was easily the worst of them, mainly due to the flaws in level design that Joshua Farrelly mentioned. Level gimmicks which are pretty much noninteractive and there to look cool (e.g. Oil Ocean cannons, Metropolis bumpers and nuts/bolts, Chemical Plant pipes, etc.), entire filler zones (Casino Night and Sky Chase), and countless smaller bad moments like the spring pits which keep appearing after Hill Top, or the peek-a-boo enemies in Metropolis, or the infamous Spike Pit of Death in Mystic Cave. Boss battles are also much less threatening (and exciting) now that I'm not 8, with the exception of the final boss which is still awesome (and to a lesser extent the Wing Fortress boss). And the number of rings in each level is significantly increased in Sonic 2 from the first game, while the levels aren't actually too much bigger in comparison (just look at soniccenter.org's maps and top ring scores).

The other big problem with the level design is that there's no longer any real need to maintain inertia, thanks to the addition of the spindash. In the first game the designers didn't have that feature to fall back on, and as a result the levels were much more focused; this is why Spring Yard, Star Light, etc. are still such blasts to play, and it's also why half the challenge in the original came from manuevering Sonic around the obstacles the designers placed, whereas in S2 you just rev up a spindash and get through any obstacle you want. Sonic CD had a similar move with the Super Peel Out, but there was still a need to maintain momentum due to the time travel mechanic; the developers recognized this, and designed the levels accordingly. (And the Super Peel Out didn't give you invulnerability to badniks either.) Sonic 3 & Knuckles still had the spin dash, but the levels were much better balanced around it. My theory on why this is: Sonic 2's designers originally intended for the wall recoil feature (which was present at least as late as the Nick Arcade beta) they put in to counterbalance the spindash, but they decided to remove it and then it was too late to rebalance the levels accordingly, since the game needed to be out by Christmas.

Also of note is that all the best ideas in Sonic 2 are recycled and improved upon in Sonic 3&K. The scrapped levels Hidden Palace and Dust Hill reappear in a new form (Dust Hill becoming Sandopolis), the earthquake segment in Hill Top is expanded upon into the segment in Marble Garden where the ground is rising, Casino Night is revamped into the much superior Carnival Night level, etc. S3&K also had much better unique level gimmicks, since almost all of them were interactive and controllable. (No I never had problems with the Carnival Night barrel.)

Basically, Sonic 2 is trying to be a bridge between the momentum-focused obstacle courses of the first game and the setpieces/dynamic level design of the third game, but the problem is that the obstacle courses aren't very well designed, and the setpieces aren't nearly frequent or extravagant enough. Both S3&K and S1 have much better level design and execution than Sonic 2 (not to mention Sonic CD), and S3&K's aesthetics are even much better than S2's as well. Basically, my personal quality hierarchy for the Genesis games goes: 3&K > CD > 1 >>>>>> 2. (Although S2 is still much better than the game I'm supposed to be calling "Sonic 4.")

I like the suggestion in the Kotaku article of hiring Treasure to make a 2D Sonic game. S3&K's extravagant setpieces and level design definitely remind me of Treasure's 16-bit stuff. (Unfortunately the 3D games after the Adventure titles kind of got bogged down a bit TOO much in setpieces, or to be more precise noninteractive/barely interactive setpieces.)

[JoshF]

Every once in a while I think about rewriting that review. I don't like the style, but the criticisms hold up perfectly as sriK confirms. I've also thought about doing an article on why Sonic sucks and has always sucked. Take a look at Sonic Generations and you'll get a hint.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuqCzlu4rqA&feature

This game is either:

A. A platformer with bad platforming and enemy-less wasteland stages. When there are enemies, they mostly function as a different type of platform object to get you to use the homing attack. If you do get hit by an enemy, you're protected by the series' omnipresent game-breaking feature, mandatory God Mode (rings).

B. A Tony Hawk's Pro Skater type game with simplistic trick mechanics and boring, simplistic, linear layouts.

C. A racing game without nuanced maneuvering, i.e. a horrible racing game.

[icycalm]

Every once in a while I think about rewriting that review. I don't like the style, but the criticisms hold up perfectly as sriK confirms.

Perhaps your taste in style is evolving in a different direction from mine, but I have always found the style of that review extremely enjoyable, and still do. The only thing wrong with it is some inconsistent use of the past tense, which I've been meaning to fix for some time.

I've also thought about doing an article on why Sonic sucks and has always sucked.

I would suggest you do this in the form of a Sonic 1 review... The idea of the general article is that it should be about a general subject... "Why Sonic sucks" is not such a general subject, I think.

I like the way you analyze Sonic Generations, by the way. It is exactly where criticism should be headed. Remove all aesthetics and look at the structure. Then, once that has been analyzed, replace them and finish the piece off. (Not necessarily WRITTEN in that order though; it may be reversed in the text, or even cut in pieces and mixed and shuffled, depending on the relative importance of aesthetics vs. mechanics in any given title.)