Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)
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| Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| System(s): Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Virtual Console | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher: Sega
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| Genre: Action[3][4][5][6] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of players: 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ２) is a 2D Sonic the Hedgehog platform game for the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear in 1992, developed by Aspect Co. Ltd. Even though it shares its name with the 16-bit version of Sonic 2 for the Sega Mega Drive, it is not a port, as it contains an entirely different set of levels and story. It was released slightly before its 16-bit namesake, making this game host to the first appearances of both Miles "Tails" Prower and Mecha Sonic.
Strangely, Tails appears in every title card and has an almost complete sprite sheet, but is only seen in the opening and ending cutscenes, as well as being depicted helping Sonic on the box art. It is possible that he was originally intended to be a playable character, but was cut for time issues.
Contents
Story
After defeating Dr. Eggman in the previous game, Sonic leaves South Island in search of other adventures. After returning to the island, he finds a note from his friend and sidekick, Miles "Tails" Prower, explaining that Eggman had captured the island's inhabitants and also imprisoned him in the Crystal Egg Zone, demanding the six Chaos Emeralds for Tails' ransom. Determined to save his new friend, Sonic sets out to stop Eggman and recover the Chaos Emeralds once again.
The opening cutscene disregards Tails' note mentioned in the manual and instead depicts Eggman capturing Tails directly in front of Sonic.
Gameplay
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 improved upon its 8-bit predecessor in many ways. This includes the ability to grab back Rings scattered when hit by an enemy, as well as being able to smash through certain walls. Moreover, one of the major differences from its predecessor is its speed: Sonic 2 is faster than its prequel and is closer to that of the Mega Drive games. However, the Spin Dash from the 16-bit version of Sonic 2, a move specifically designed to provide speed, was not implemented; but this may be simply because the 8-bit version was released earlier.
Many levels contain various methods of transportation and was the first Sonic game to use such methods. In Under Ground Zone and Gimmick Mt. Zone, Sonic can ride a minecart, and in Sky High Zone he can use a Hang Glider. Other new gimmicks include large air bubbles in underwater levels that Sonic can ride in, which will rise upwards until they hit a ceiling, enemy, or obstacle. Sonic is also able to skim across the surface of water if he picks up enough speed.
There are seven Zones in total, each comprising of three Acts. In the third Act, that Zone's boss is faced, without any Rings to grant protection against attacks. Rather than facing Eggman himself, Sonic most often battles robotic animals, such as a sumo pig and a circus sea-lion.
Item Boxes, as in all the classic 8- and 16-bit games, resemble monitors. The items offered in Sonic 2 are largely the same as those in its prequel, although the restart marker and Shields have been removed. Chaos Emeralds are scattered throughout the stages. Each is found in the second Act in each of the first five Zones. If the player collects these and then destroys Mecha Sonic (called Silver Sonic in the English manual) in the sixth Zone, they will obtain the sixth Emerald and can access the true final stage (Crystal Egg). This is required to obtain the 'good ending'. If all the Emeralds are not collected, the game will end after Mecha Sonic's destruction.
Bonus Panel
At the end of Acts 1 and 2 of each Zone, the player has to spin a Bonus Panel to clear the Act, with a reward given based on what it lands on, which itself depends upon the player's items:
| Dr. Eggman | |
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| No prize is awarded. This panel comes up most often in the game, if none of the below conditions are met. | |
| Ring | |
| 10 Rings are added to the player's final Ring tally. This is awarded if the player ends the Act with a Ring count that is a multiple of 10. | |
| Sonic | |
| An extra life is awarded. This is awarded if the player finishes the Act with exactly two lives less than when they started it. | |
| Tails | |
| A Continue is awarded. This is awarded if the player finishes the Act with 77 Rings and with exactly the same number of lives as when they started it. |
Scoring
Enemies: 100 points each.
Master Robots (bosses): 5,000 points each.
Mecha Sonic: 10,000 points.
Dr. Eggman: 20,000 points.
End Level Ring Bonus: 100 points for each Ring held at the end of an Act. Because the Ring counter resets past 99, the maximum possible bonus is 9,900.
End Level Time Bonus:
- 0:20 or less = 300,000
- 0:21 = 250,000
- 0:22 = 200,000
- 0:23 = 150,000
- 0:24 = 100,000
- 0:25 = 90,000
- 0:26 = 80,000
- 0:27 = 70,000
- 0:28 = 60,000
- 0:29 = 50,000
- 0:30 to 0:59 = starting from 39,000 (0:30) decreases by 1,000 every second until 10,000 (0:59)
- 1:00 to 9:58:
- If the seconds are between 0 and 49, the bonus is a sum of:
- A minute-specific bonus which starts at 9,000 (1:00) and decreases by 1,000 every minute until 1,000 (9:00)
- A seconds-specific bonus which starts at 900 (0 to 4 seconds) and decreases by 100 every five seconds until 0 (45 to 49 seconds)
- If the seconds are between 50 and 59, the bonus is always 100
- If the seconds are between 0 and 49, the bonus is a sum of:
- 9:59 = 50,000
History
Development
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Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)/Development |
Versions
Though both versions were developed simultaneously, the Game Gear version contains noticeable differences from the Master System version as it was finished later. The changes made in the portable version give it a reputation of being one of the hardest Sonic games in existence. Some choices appear to have been intentional, by design: for example, the boss music is different and some boss areas have different layouts.
However, many of the difficulties in the Game Gear version result from its smaller screen and its scrolling: the player is left more open to being hit, in a way that some might label 'cheap', due to not being able to see obstacles and enemies around them but beyond the range of the screen. The scrolling is the same in the Master System version, but is not as big a problem as more of the surroundings can be seen.
Comparisons
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Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)/Comparisons |
Also released on
- Sonic 2 in 1 for the Game Gear (1995) – GG version
- Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the Nintendo GameCube and PC (2003-2004) – GG version
- Sonic Gems Collection for Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 (2005) – GG version
- Virtual Console on Wii (2008) – SMS version
- Sonic PC Collection for the PC (2009) – GG version
- Virtual Console for the Nintendo 3DS (2013) - GG version
- Sonic Origins Plus for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Steam and Epic Games Store (2023) - GG version
Production credits
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Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)/Production credits |
Manuals
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Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)/Manuals |
Magazine articles
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Main article: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)/Magazine articles |
Artwork
US/EU cover art
Physical scans
Master System version
 Reception »
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| Master System, EU |
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| Master System, EU (SMSII) |
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| Master System, PT (Black & white manual) |
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| Master System, CZ (ITO CS) |
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| Cart  Manual |
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| Master System, AU (APF11 sticker) |
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| Master System, AU (Yellow APF12 sticker) |
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| Master System, AU (Classics) |
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| Master System, BR |
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| Master System, KR (Samsung) |
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Game Gear version
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| Game Gear, JP |
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     Cover
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| Game Gear, JP (Meisaku Collection) |
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| Game Gear, US |
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| Game Gear, US (Majesco) |
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| Game Gear, EU |
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| Game Gear, PT |
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| Game Gear, PT (alt) |
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| Game Gear, CZ |
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| Cart  Manual |
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Technical information
ROM dump status
| System | Hash | Size | Build Date | Source | Comments | |||||||||
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512kB | 1992-09-05[26] | Cartridge (EU/BR) | v1.0 | |||||||||
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512kB | 1992-12-09[26] | Cartridge (EU/BR) | v2.2 | |||||||||
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512kB | 1992-09-12[26] | Cartridge (World) | v1.1 | |||||||||
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512kB | 3DS Virtual Console (World) | 
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256kB | 1991-12-05 | EPROM cartridge | AutoDemo |  (54 kB) (info)
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Page |
External links
- Sega of Japan Virtual Console page (Japanese)
- Sega of Japan 3DS Virtual Console page
- Nintendo catalogue pages: Wii Virtual Console: US, UK, AU; Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console: JP, US, UK
References
- ↑ https://www.mtwo.co.jp/development/retrogame-2/#tab-2 (Wayback Machine: 2014-04-03 00:26)
- ↑ https://www.mtwo.co.jp/development/retrogame-2/#tab-4 (Wayback Machine: 2014-04-03 00:26)
- ↑ File:S2gg-box-back-eu.jpg
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/gamegear/software.html (Wayback Machine: 2018-12-07 04:57)
- ↑ File:Sonic2ms-box-eu.jpg
- ↑ File:Sonic2 SMS KR cover.jpg
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 [mms, issue 2, page 64 mms, issue 2, page 64]
- ↑ [segamagazin, issue 1, page 70 segamagazin, issue 1, page 70]
- ↑ [gamepro, issue 44, page 163 gamepro, issue 44, page 163]
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 [sfuk, issue 12, page 31 sfuk, issue 12, page 31]
- ↑ [cvg, issue go14, page 12 cvg, issue go14, page 12]
- ↑ [segamagazin, issue 1, page 71 segamagazin, issue 1, page 71]
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126960710?searchTerm=sonic%20the%20hedgehog (Wayback Machine: 2023-07-09 06:59)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/vc/software/09.html (Wayback Machine: 2018-01-28 13:27)
- ↑ http://vc.sega.jp:80/vc_sonic2ms/ (Wayback Machine: 2009-02-07 21:16)
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/ivseDC_bdb4lv4aJ0oR_k2oSJ6-yQwaz (Wayback Machine: 2010-11-22 22:50)
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 http://www.nintendolife.com/games/mastersystem/sonic_the_hedgehog_2 (Wayback Machine: 2017-07-04 16:48)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.fr/Jeux/SEGA-Game-Gear/Sonic-the-Hedgehog-2--772258.html (archive.today)
- ↑ http://www.nintendo.com.au/index.php?action=catalogue&prodcat_id=42&prod_id=19904&pageID=4 (Wayback Machine: 2012-03-28 01:38)
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 http://vc.sega.jp:80/3ds/sonic2/ (Wayback Machine: 2012-10-28 18:35)
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 http://www.nintendo.com:80/games/detail/eZ_9L3ar33k2nmh_r678BsH2KplLPcoO (Wayback Machine: 2013-06-30 10:27)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.fr/Jeux/SEGA-Game-Gear/Sonic-the-Hedgehog-2--772258.html (archive.today)
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 http://www.nintendolife.com:80/games/gamegear/sonic_the_hedgehog_2 (Wayback Machine: 2017-09-09 22:04)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/SEGA-Game-Gear/Sonic-the-Hedgehog-2--772258.html (archive.today)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.de/Spiele/SEGA-Game-Gear/Sonic-the-Hedgehog-2--772258.html (archive.today)
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)/Hidden content#Build date
| Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit) | |
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Manuals |
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| Sonic the Hedgehog games for the following systems | |
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1991 Sonic the Hedgehog 1992 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 1993 Sonic Chaos | Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine 1994 Sonic Drift | Sonic Spinball | Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble 1995 Sonic Drift 2 | Tails' Skypatrol | Tails Adventures | Sonic Labyrinth | Sonic 2 in 1 1996 Sonic Blast Prototypes Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear prototype) | Sonic Chaos prereleases | Sonic Spinball (8-bit) prereleases | Sonic Triple Trouble prereleases | Sonic Blast prereleases Unreleased Sonic's Edusoft
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