Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)
| I'm sure you can help them sort it out, Dunban. ― Fiora, Xenoblade Chronicles |
This article is about 8-bit game. You may be looking for Sega Genesis counterpart. |
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 Sonic is back on the Master System!
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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 1992 platform game developed by Aspect and published by Sega. It is the sequel to the 1991 platform game Sonic the Hedgehog and is the first Sonic game developed by Aspect. It is notable for the debut of Miles "Tails" Prower, predating the Sega Genesis counterpart by a month.
Plot
Some time after the events of the first game, Sonic decides to go out on a journey of new adventures. However, when he gets back, he is shocked to find the island mostly abandoned. He also witnessed Tails being chased by Dr. Robotnik and being captured and taken to the Crystal Egg. Some time later, Sonic gets a note from Tails that Robotnik wants all 6 of the Chaos Emeralds and to deliver them to his 6 Master Robots (Not to be confused with the Robot Masters from Mega Man) in exchange for Tails' safe return. Sonic then sets off to retrieve the emeralds and rescue Tails.
Sonic then makes his way through 6 dangerous zones, then is greeted by Silver Sonic. If Sonic does not manage to get all of the Chaos Emeralds from the previous zones, he returns home and looks up into the sky to reveal a constellation of Tails, as a reminder that he lost his best friend. Whether Tails is dead in the bad ending or not is up for debate.
If Sonic gets all of the Chaos Emeralds, he moves on to the final zone, Crystal Egg Zone. In the third act, he is greeted by Dr. Robotnik in his latest creation, the Egg Chamber MK II. Sonic destroys the mech, but the doctor retreats to a teleporter. Just when all seems hopeless for Sonic, Tails appears to him from the teleporter. They happily return home, and see a constellation of themselves.
Why We're Up 2 It, 8-Bit Style.
- The game is faster-paced than its predecessor and has more speedy moments.
- Unlike its predecessor, where half of the zones are taken from the Sega Genesis game, all of the zones in this game are unique and new.
- Interesting plot.
- The music is just as great as the previous game, and the game's composers would go on to do the music for Sonic CD.
- Unlike the other 8-bit side-scrolling games, this game has 7 zones instead of 6. (Not including Sonic Blast)
- The first Sonic game to introduce Tails, who would go on to be one of the main characters in the franchise. However, he is not playable.
- Improved boss battles for the most part.
- Bright and colorful graphics, just like its predecessor.
- Like the previous game, you don't need to traverse through frustrating Special Stages to get Chaos Emeralds. Instead, there is one emerald hidden in each zone, all being color coded instead of looking identical, except for Scrambled Egg and Crystal Egg. In the former, you will collect the last emerald if you collected the previous 5 ones. You will only access Crystal Egg Zone if you have all of the Chaos Emeralds.
- Now dropped rings are collectible if you take damage, just like most other Sonic games.
- The game is fairly generous with extra lives without making the game too easy. It's a good thing because of BQ #1 and #6.
- Despite it being extremely unfair at times, the game's difficulty is quite challenging and rewarding at the same time and can be fun for more experienced players that have played past games and know the harder difficulty and can appreciate it for what it does for the at the time new series (though some might not due to BQ #1 and #6).
Bad Qualities We’re Not Up 2
- Like Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Ghosts 'n Goblins and Mega Man & Bass, this game is notorious for its difficulty. The game has no checkpoints and some of the levels are very cheap, like Green Hills Zone Act 3 and all of Scrambled Egg Zone.
- Like its predecessor, the boss stages don't give you any rings. To make matters worse, there are no shields this time around either.
- The locations of the Chaos Emeralds can be pretty obtuse at times.
- Speaking of the Emeralds, if you die after getting a Chaos Emerald, you have to collect it all over again. (Master System version only, as the Game Gear version fixed that problem)
- The controls of the para-glider in Sky High Zone are terrible.
- Scrambled Egg Zone is confusing to navigate with those tubes. It doesn't help that everything in the zone looks the same and it's hard to tell where you've already been and where you haven't. Not having any checkpoints doesn't help matters.
- The Game Gear version suffers from a massive case of screen crunch, and takes an already difficult game and makes it even more frustrating. This is especially apparent in the first boss of the game.
- Inconsistent ending, as it has quite a few problems.
- The bad ending can be traumatizing for fans of the two-tailed fox.
- No matter the ending, the game cuts to a game over screen after the credits, as if to mock the player for playing it, even after getting the good ending.
- The game can sometimes glitch out and prevent the player from completing the level, like in Scrambled Egg Zone.
- There are no Special Stages to earn continues. Aside from collecting Chaos Emeralds, you have to reach the goal post with exactly 77 rings and get Tails to appear on the goal post in order to earn a continue.