sonic the hedgehog 2
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Storyline
Sonic 2 title screen
Sonic 2 title screen

At the end of Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr. Robotniks's Scrap Brain facility was destroyed, but the evil doctor narrowly escaped.

Now Robotnik is back and plans to conquer the world once more. He secretly follows Sonic's biplane, the Tornado, to his vacation spot, West Side Island. According to legend, an ancient civilization once abused the power of seven "power stones" on West Side Island. Sonic meets a peculiar two-tailed fox named Miles Prower, better known as "Tails." The two become good friends. Meanwhile, Eggman begins his search for the Chaos Emeralds to fuel his new Death Egg warship. One afternoon, he launches his full-scale attack on the island. He imprisons all of the animals of the island and turns them into mindless worker drones called Badniks. Fortunately, Sonic is determined to thwart the Doctor at all costs. This time, he isn't alone, as Tails decides to aid him. Together they must locate the Emeralds before Robotnik does, and stop him before the Death Egg is complete.[3]

 Gameplay

 Single player

Aquatic Ruin Zone
Aquatic Ruin Zone

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 nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds. Along the way, rings are collected and Badniks are defeated. Star posts serve as checkpoints, where if the player were 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 stage 2, Sonic confronts Dr. Robotnik, although there is an exception in the Metropolis level in which there are 3 stages.[3]

Although zones have grown significantly in size since Sonic the Hedgehog, they now consist of two acts instead of three (with the exception of the Metropolis Zone, which has three acts, and the three final zones, which each have one), and there is greater emphasis on variety between levels. The gameplay has also become even faster; to that end, Sonic is able to perform a new special move referred to as the Spin Dash Attack.[3] The Spin Dash attack allows Sonic to spin in place, as if revving up an engine, before taking off at high speeds from a stationary start. Sonic's running motion also features longer strides.

Special Stages track Sonic from behind while he runs through a (semi-) three-dimensional half-pipe course filled with rings and bombs. A certain number of rings must be collected to pass through three checkpoints and eventually obtain the emerald itself. The order of stages is fixed in rising difficulty, and Sonic cannot enter the next stage without passing the previous (unlike Sonic 1). Whether the player is able to obtain the emerald or not, Sonic is transported back to the last star post he hit in the zone when the special stage is over and has zero rings.[3]

From the options menu, players can select to either play as Sonic alone, Tails alone or Sonic and Tails.[3] By default, players control Sonic while Tails tags along unhindered. However, a second player may control Tails separately. Should Tails move off-screen, he will eventually return. Every time Tails dies (except whne playing as Tails alone), he returns to Sonic by flying down to the ground. However, when a player is controlling Tails, he is unable to fly.

 Super Sonic

Obtaining all seven Chaos Emeralds by clearing 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 glows yellow and is virtually invincible, although he can still get killed by drowning, getting crushed, falling off the screen, or running out of time. His speed, acceleration, and jump height are all increased as well. This means that it is much more difficult to control Sonic in this form, especially when the player needs to make precise jumps. However, his Spin Dash Attack is decreased in effectiveness as the initial velocity is decreased rapidly. Super Sonic consumes one ring per second, and when he has no rings left or he reaches the end of the act, he reverts to his normal state, severely crippling the player as they are left with no rings. However, if the game is played with Tails only and the player manages to collect all of the Chaos Emeralds, nothing happens.

Debug Mode The game also has a debug mode, which was accesible by performing a certain chain of actions at the start menu. By pressing the down button while the cursor was on the on the two player selection, a hidden options menu would be revealed. The player must then scroll down to the sound test feature and play sounds 19, 65, 09 and 17 consecutively. The player must then press the A button and start button simultaneously, which brings up the title screen again. By again pressing A and start at the single player option, players could access a level select screen, as well as another sound test feature, identicl to the one in the options menu.

 Two player

In two player versus mode, players compete against each other - either as Sonic or Tails - in a split-screen race through three regular zones and one special stage.[3] Regular zones include Emerald Hill, Casino Night and Mystic Cave and have different music from their one player counterparts, while the Special Stage is similar to the Emerald Stage in single player. In the regular levels, players are ranked in five areas (score, time, rings held at the end of the level, total rings collected, and number of item boxes broken), with the player scoring highest in the most levels winning the round, while in the Special Stage, players compete to obtain the most rings.[3] Once one player finishes one of the regular levels, the other player must finish the zone within 60 seconds or lose a life.[3]

In case of a tie, an additional Special Stage round must be completed. Also, to heighten the stakes, there are two unique items in versus-mode: a teleport item that instantly switches positions between players in a zone, and a Robotnik item that damages the unlucky player. Furthermore, an optional setting allows that all item boxes in two-player mode are only teleports.

 Special Stages

Special Stages in Sonic 2
Special Stages in Sonic 2

In Sonic 2, there are 7 special stages. When Sonic has collected at least 50 rings and he hits a Star Post, a red halo of stars will briefly float above it, which Sonic can then jump through to get to a special stage.

Special Stages track Sonic from behind while he runs through a three-dimensional half-pipe course filled with rings and bombs. A set amount of rings must be collected to pass through three checkpoints and eventually obtain the emerald itself. The order of stages is fixed in rising difficulty, and Sonic cannot enter the next stage without passing the previous (unlike Sonic 1). Whether the player is able to obtain the emerald or not, Sonic is transported back to the last lamp post he hit in the zone when the special stage is over and has zero rings.

 Development and release

While Sonic the Hedgehog was designed by Sonic Team in Japan, development duties for Sonic 2 were handed over to Sega Technical Institute in the United States. However experienced Japanese Sega members such as Yuji Naka and Hirokazu Yasuhara (the first game's lead programmer and game planner respectively) were brought in to work alongside the American developers.[6]

Prototype versions

Hidden Palace Zone, as seen in the prototype version of Sonic 2
Hidden Palace Zone, as seen in the prototype version of Sonic 2

A prototype of the game, dating from before Sonic 2 itself, was discovered on a Chinese GeoCities site and has been widely distributed on the Internet. Only four levels can be played in "normal" gameplay; the rest (including several incomplete stages) have to be accessed through the level select code. Many are not entirely playable, but can be explored using the debug code. The prototype is frequently examined by hackers to determine how Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was developed. It was recently stated in an interview with Yuji Naka that this beta was from a demonstration cartridge that was stolen at a toy show in New York in 1992.[7] Akinori Nishiyama has also stated that the leak was due to the lack of security at the time.[8]

In Asia and Brazil, the prototype version was put on cartridges and passed off as the final version by pirates who have altered it slightly to stop the Sega logo from showing when the game boots up, as was common practice.

In 2006, a member of Sonic Retro community nicknamed drx released an earlier prototype of Hidden Palace on his website. Many speculate that this could have been shown in the TV show Nick Arcade.

On February 23, 2008, 464 Mega Drive prototypes were released. Five of these prototypes were later builds of Sonic 2. These prototypes were near-finished and by this time, had been ridden of the lost stages (Hidden Palace, Wood Zone, Genocide City, etc.)

Unused music track

From the Sonic 2 options screen, one can access a sound test feature which allows the player to listen to all the music and sound effects from the game. Among them is a music track (Track 10), which is not heard anywhere in the game. It was generally assumed that this piece of music was used in a level deleted from the final game, a belief that was given further credibility using Game Genie to access the remnants of the uncompleted Hidden Palace Zone.

 Releases

The game was released in Japan for the Sega Mega Drive on November 21, 1992. The Sega Genesis release in the United States and the European Mega Drive release came three days later on November 24, a Tuesday, and the release day was dubbed "Sonic 2s day". Sega claims that they sold 400,000 copies of Sonic 2 in the first five days after release. It has since been re-released as part of the following compilations:

The game was also released for the Wii's Virtual Console on June 11, 2007,[9] and is available on the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade.[10] Various mobile phone versions exist, as well.

Sonic 2 with Sonic & Knuckles

Knuckles in Sonic 2 title screen
Knuckles in Sonic 2 title screen

Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a game activated by locking Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to the passthrough cartridge of Sonic & Knuckles that was released later by Sega. The resulting game is almost identical to Sonic the Hedgehog 2, except that one plays as Knuckles the Echidna. As Knuckles has abilities and weaknesses that Sonic and Tails do not, the game is an overall different experience. Knuckles can glide and climb walls, which allows him to access areas otherwise unreachable by Sonic and Tails, while his weaker jumping abilities make some situations, such as certain boss fights, more difficult. The two-player mode and options screen have also been removed. Players who are most familiar with the level layouts in Sonic 2 will notice a few minor differences. Unlike in the default game, when a player activates a star-post and enters the special stage, the ring count remains upon returning to the regular stage. Also, Knuckles will retain the number of rings he had when he passes through a checkpoint, after a life is lost, while Sonic and Tails start each checkpoint with zero rings whenever they lose a life.

 Reception

Due to the popularity of its predecessor Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2 already had an established fanbase anticipating its release.[11] The release of Sonic 2 was the main reason that Sega caught up to Nintendo in the "console wars". It brought their market share up to 50% within six months of its release.[12] It went on to be the best selling game for the Mega Drive/Genesis, selling around six million copies altogether.[13] It was well received by most gaming reviewers. It was praised for its large levels,[12] colourful graphics and backgrounds,[14][12] increased cast of characters and enemies alike,[11] and music. GameSpot stated that "Time may have eroded Sega's prominence, but it hasn't done much to diminish how sweet Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is." and, along with other reviewers, commented on how it is still a fun game to play.[11][12]

The game's main criticisms were of the two player mode that was a new introduction to the series. It suffered from slowdown and some visual problems such as flickering and the small area for each player. It only offered four different zones that could be played with two players

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