Retro Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Mega Drive ¨Genesis¨).

The wait was short when SEGA announced that only one year would have to wait to enjoy the sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog, a second part that really meets expectations and demands of all gamers who played the first title, and that, despite the fact that their development had certain drawbacks due to creative problems between SEGA America and SEGA Japan, the game was released worldwide on November 24 of the year 1992 (in Japan it came out three days before), obtaining good reviews, as well as a great acceptance that until today is maintained.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is firmly planted as one of the best games ever created, especially because many fans place it as the best game in the franchise (perhaps fighting the game put to Sonic Adventure 2). The blue hedgehog represented a big commercial boom for the company SEGA, and positioned it with a good sign to fight against its competitors (Super Nintendo), and it should be noted that this success is partly due to the good acceptance of the public with his first installment, which led to the creation of a continuation, where we see his protagonist again finish with the plans of Doctor Eggman and his eagerness to conquer the world.

This new delivery innovates and in the best way; it gives a new touch and adds that all of us who have played the game will be grateful; besides the inclusion of an accompanying character. Here we will know Miles ¨Tails¨ Power, a small orange fox with two tails that achieved empathy with the public in a fast and very marked way, so much so that he became the best friend of Sonic.

We can say that the game story is quite entertaining but easy to understand. After Sonic stopped Doctor Eggman and gained a lot of fame because of that achievement, he goes out in his plane named Tornado in search of more adventures , until one day he found a small island full of green land. When he sees her, he decides to take a vacation there, without seeing an object that would later be lost in the clouds.

Once there, after a few hours, he realizes that he was being followed by an inhabitant of the island, a small two-tailed fox, who was only observing, chasing and admiring Sonic and their abilities. Once detected the small orange animal, Sonic decides to run to evade his observer, but the fox decides to go after him. Once the hedgehog realizes that the fox was just watching him, he decides not to pay attention and continue his vacation without paying attention.

The fox is named Miles Power, although it is known by the other animals on the island as ¨Tails¨, due to the two tails it has. Tails admires Sonic, so at that time he decided to follow the hedgehog everywhere, since his goal was to be like him.

Tails is a lover of machines, so one day, while following Sonic, he encountered the Tornado (Sonic´s plane). Curious and delighted with the airplane, he prepares to inspect it, and then finds the hedgehog sleeping under a wing. After a moment, a loud explosion shakes the island that awakens Sonic while Tails is hidden under the plane. The forest was in flames and a series of robots that pierced the earth began to make an appearance. Sonic realizes who the person is making these explosions and goes there to put an end (again) to the plans of Doctor Eggman. Miles Power does not think twice and runs after the hedgehog.

The Doctor Eggman followed Sonic to the island in order to find the 7 Chaos Emerald´s that hide on the island to complete the necessary to make your Death Egg (a ship) and start our adventure.

We will travel through 11 different zones, which each consist of two (some of three) acts or parts. In the last act we will have to face Doctor Eggman and one of his creations (machines). Our duty is to destroy them and stop them at all costs. Each one of them moves differently and will attack us differently, so creating a strategy to be able to hit him with our attacks will be very important and we will have to be very careful not to be hit by them without having coins because we will lose our lives .

[Fuente | Source]

The inclusion of Tails as an allied character gave the game more dynamism, in addition to giving us the opportunity to play cooperatively with a second player, although it should be noted that the screen will always be focused on the character that manipulates the first player. Perhaps a flaw in the game is that, as Sonic runs faster than Tails, when we go to the speed of light, the latter is lost on the screen, which causes that who is controlling the fox is lost many times. Any ring that one or both players collect will go to the one who is using the first command, so if while they are cooperatively playing the second player is damaged, they will not die but reappear in a moment, whereas if the The first player receives damage, he will lose the rings he has or life if he does not have rings.

Although not everything ends in the presentation of Tails, but in this title we see for the first time Super Sonic (inspired by the Super Saiyans of Dragon Ball Z), a new form (or transformation) that has Sonic once it gets the Seven Chaos Emeralds that are watered between the 11 scenarios. To be able to get them we must find a ¨checkpoint¨ with a minimum amount of rings (50) and jump on the red stars that will appear. Once there, we will play a kind of mini game that changes the scenario completely, going from a 2D mode to one where the camera is placed behind the character and we will run through a kind of tube collecting rings. When finished, they will give us an emerald. Once completed, we can transform ourselves and change our appearance. You can say that completing the game 100% is to find all the emeralds, and doing so is really a challenge.

[Fuente | Source]

The difficulty of the game is quite good, meaning a good challenge for those who want to finish it. In addition, we can add to that that each scenario has multiple routes to complete it, removing the linear stereotype that had the platform games of that time, achieving a more entertaining product for the entire public. Each scenario, likewise, is full of traps and obstacles trying to prevent Sonic from completing the stages.

We will find terrestrial, aquatic and flying enemies during our journey. Enemies are robots that move thanks to the animals that are inside them. The Doctor Eggman will catch as many animals as possible in order to destroy Sonic and prevent it from coming between their plans. At the end of each stage, we can destroy some capsules that have many of these pups inside.

[Fuente | Source]

The controls of the game are quite comfortable and simple; allowing us to jump, roll and attack while running (pressing the bottom button while running at high speeds). These attacks will help us in the same way to obtain certain objects that will facilitate us to finish each of the stages, which are: rings (which will give us a life if we complete 100), to break monitors that will give us skills (invincibility , more speed, lives or protective shields) until jumping on trampolines.

                                                                                                       

The multiplayer was a dream come true, since it takes certain characteristics of the single player mode but gives a different result (there we played to stop Eggman, here to complete the first phase of the opponent) . We can choose between four scenarios to compete in a race against the other player. The screen will be divided in two horizontally so that each player can see the path of his character. The upper part will be controlled by the player playing with Sonic while the lower part will be Tails. The objective will be to reach the goal first, although the game will not end until the two players finish the stage.

As in a player mode, we will start without rings and with three lives (the one that runs out of lives will automatically lose), in addition, the objects that we can find here are three and are chosen in a random way: teleportation (change the position in the map of the two competitors), extra life and Robotnik (will remove all the rings we collected).

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is composed of a range of bright colors that make the game much more colorful, making every detail is perceived in a better way. Visually, its 11 scenarios are different from each other, since each one has its theme and particularity, although at times (when we go at light speed) we can overlook some detail, we can always delay a bit to perceive each one those details that we left on the road.

[Fuente | Source]

SEGA worked very hard on the animations and that is largely in the sprites that were designed for the game. Seeing Sonic execute their attacks or simply stand still becomes a delight, because the game designers really worked hard in order to give us each and every one of the elements that make up this branch of the game. Graphically it also stands out a lot, far exceeding what we saw in Sonic the Hedgehog. Perhaps in the versus mode is where we can see the one fault with respect to this topic, and that is that if we have many rings on top and we receive a blow, the animation will become somewhat slow due to the amount of elements present on the screen. Also, in this same mode, when the screen is divided in two, the stage and the characters are stretched a lot, which causes visually much quality is lost.

[Fuente | Source]

The sounds are well placed, they are quite fun and each action has one in particular. Listening to how the rings sound while we pick them up at maximum speeds is a real delight (just to name one of them). Now, in terms of music, we must say that it is one of the best (both in the franchise and in video games in general). The soundtrack is really amazing, each level has its own song and is totally different from the others. These set the game in a phenomenal way, in addition to the tension that gives us the song of the final boss of each stage, becoming unforgettable for everyone who played this title. The song of his intro is loved by many, although I particularly prefer the theme of Emerald Hill Zone as my favorite.

I think that the love and dedication that they put into this title is felt at all times that we are playing, and that not only say the fans of the saga, but that the numbers speak for themselves, standing as the game with more copies sold of the franchise. All the additions that were given to him perfected what they had already shown us with Sonic the Hedgehog, and it is those additions that make Sonic the Hedgehog 2 an excellent game. It must be admitted that SEGA, with all its problems between the American and Japanese parties, achieved a masterpiece, that even to this day with technological advances (in terms of graphics and other things) gamers consider this game of the year 1992 as the best of all.

I hope you enjoyed my analysis, we will soon see more content.