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Sonic Adventure 2From Sonic Retro
Sonic Adventure 2 is the second game of the Sonic Adventure series made for the Sega Dreamcast. The worldwide release date of June 23, 2001 signals the Sonic series' 10th anniversary. The game had a one-off promotion deal with Soap for their shoes. There were many billboards in the game that promoted the brand, and Sonic himself shows them off while grinding, a move introduced in this game. The move was carried on to later games - the promotion deal was not. This game marks the first appearance of Rouge the Bat and Shadow the Hedgehog and is one of the few games that features Eggman as a playable character. This game features the ability to play through both sides of the story, Hero and Dark. The VMU minigame, Chao Adventure 2 is included as a downloadable.
GameplaySingle PlayerGameplay takes place between two parallel storylines, the "Hero" story and the "Dark" story. The "Hero" story features Sonic, Knuckles, Tails as playable characters, while the "Dark" story features Shadow, Rouge, and Dr. Eggman. There are three different gameplay styles on each team, meaning Dark characters play the same as Hero characters. The main difference is in the story presentation. Levels featuring Sonic or Shadow are designed in much the same way as Sonic's levels in Sonic Adventure as the objective of the level is to simply reach the end of the level. Levels with Tails or Dr. Eggman allow the player to control a mechanized robot walker and generally blast their way to the end, much like E-102 Gamma's stages in Sonic Adventure. Knuckles and Rouge are required to scour their levels for shards of the Master Emerald (with the exception of 2 stages where they must find keys into Eggman's base and 1 stage where Chaos Emeralds are located), again, much like Sonic Adventure. Some levels feature various bosses, these boss encounters are unique character to character, although sometimes the bosses are the same for multiple characters. The game can only be completed when both "Hero" and "Dark" story modes are finished, and the extra story feature that is revealed must be completed with all the characters. In each stage players collect rings and defeat enemies, with a timer counting the time spent within the level. At the end of each stage, the player is given a score based on the number or rings collected and time spent within the level. The more rings and less time, the higher the score is. The player is also given a rank-based performance, a letter grade that is either A, B, C, D, or E, with A being the highest and E being the lowest. Irrelevant to any other factors, an A Rank is automatically awarded to players that complete any score-ranked mission with all of the rings from that level in the player's possession. Each stage also has a Chao container that contains a key - if the player reaches the end of the level without dying, they are then transported to the Chao Gardens. There are five missions within each Action Stage; the first mission is unlocked by default and completing it will unlock the second mission and continues that way from then on. In order from first through fifth, the missions are to complete the level, collect 100 rings, find a "lost Chao" using the Mystic Melody upgrade, finish within a time limit, and complete a "Hard mode" version of the Action Stage. Emblems are also given within the game; there are 180 Emblems in total. In order to gain all 180 Emblems, players must defeat every mission within every stage, achieve an A rank in all stages and missions, win fights and races with their raised Chao, etc. After collecting all 180 Emblems the player unlocks an extra 3-D Green Hill level. 3-D Green Hill is a remake of Green Hill Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog game with the same music and layout. Some players have moves that make them unique to their good/bad counterparts, such as Sonic's bounce attack. Two-player ModeThis game's multi player mode features three different types of play. Action, Kart Race, and Chao Race. In two-player action, the players can play nine different stages that are available in single-player mode. First a group must be chosen; Hero or Dark. Then a game type can be chosen, either Race, Shooting, or Hunting. Or the players can choose Random for a random game. There is also a Stage Select option so that the players can choose what stage to go to. Secret skins will be unlocked for two player mode if the player completes all of a certain character's missions. If all A ranks are achieved, a bonus character will be unlocked for each character. Amy Rose for Sonic's missions, Metal Sonic for Shadow's missions, Chao for Tails' missions, Big for Eggman's missions, Tikal for Knuckles' missions, and Chaos for Rouge's missions. Each character uses the same special attack as their counterparts. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle offers a more advanced multi player action mode. It also replaces Big the Cat with Dark Chao. Kart racing will be unlocked after the player completes Route 101 or Route 280, depending on which is second, in Story Mode. The six main characters are the only ones that are playable. Chao Race is a special event where two players can pit their Chao against one another in a race. Chao from different VMUs can be raced against each other as well. DevelopmentThe original plan for Sonic Adventure 2 was very different from how the finalized game ended up. It is thought that originally the game would feature only Sonic, Knuckles and Eggman as playable characters, but, after fan outcry of key characters (specifically Tails) not being playable, Tails, Rouge and Shadow were added to the roster of playable characters (However, early reports of the game do mention Rouge [then rumored to be called "Nails The Bat"] and Shadow [originally referred to as "Dark Sonic"] as always being part of the game's plot, regardless of their status as playable characters). Additionally, the game was to feature branching storyline pathways: at key points of the game, the character you were playing as would be presented with a choice on how to solve a situation. Depending on your answer, it would change what levels your character visited. This concept was removed midway through development, but eventually ended up being implemented in 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog. One of the examples described for Sonic Adventure 2's usage of this system was that Sonic was trapped in a submarine; he had two options: try to pilot the submarine to safety, or open the hatch and try to fight his way to the surface (despite not knowing how to swim). No submarine scenario whatsoever was in the final version of Sonic Adventure 2 nor in Shadow the Hedgehog. This was the first game the San Francisco based Sonic Team USA had developed, and many stages in the game were inspired by the developer's new California based location; the steep hills of City Escape are meant to represent San Francisco, while the huge bridge in Radical Highway and Mission Street are meant to represent the Golden Gate Bridge and surrounding area. (Mission Street is a famous street in the city) Route 101 and Route 280 were named after actual highways in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, the backdrop of both Mission Street and Radical Highway appears to be a New York City skyline, as the Empire State Building is plainly visible. StoryFor background info on the games story see the following links:
Shadow the HedgehogSonic Team went to great lengths to ensure the name and appearance of the character Shadow the Hedgehog remained as secret as possible. Eventually these details were leaked accidentally by toy company ReSaurus when they announced they would be producing Sonic Adventure 2 action figures. (These figures were never actually produced, as ReSaurus went out of business. However, different Sonic Adventure 2 action figures were eventually produced by Joyride Studios.) Based on texture/model file names on the Sonic Adventure 2 disc, Shadow the Hedgehog's original name was to be "Terios". In Japanese, "Teriosu" translates to several meanings - most notably, "Reflection" and "To Shine Brilliantly". Downloadable ContentBelow is the downloadable which was released in the lifetime of the Dreamcast:
Trivia
Manuals and Backstory
Voice actors
Production CreditsFor a complete list of the games production credits please click the following link: Sonic Adventure 2 credits ResourcesScans
Artwork
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