- Hey y'all, Scott here. Say, do you remember when I took a look at the first "Sonic the Hedgehog" game and realized that it's filled with design flaws and problems? Yup, the fans loved me for saying that. (mysterious video game music) (glass shatters) On to "Sonic 2". "Sonic the Hedgehog 1,"
the worst first entry in the "Sonic the
Hedgehog" series out there. The more I look back at this one, the more I dislike it. It's not terrible, but its flaws become more
and more apparent with time. Zones go on for far too long. Level design can be unfair,
cheap, and boring at times, and the pacing of the game is just all over the place. Half of the zones are
just a slog to go through, and the other half that I think are, at the very least, decent, my foot isn't really
thumping to replay them. Sonic 1 is at its best in the first stage. Like, if I ever wanna go
through the game again, I'll play through Green Hill Zone. Yep, that's the end of that thought. But who am I kidding? I'll still keep rebuying this game over and over again. I have a soft spot for this one. It was the first game I ever owned. I've already droned on and on about this, but I got a Sega Genesis
and a copy of "Sonic 1" as a hand-me-down from one of my cousins. A few months later, my parents
and I were driving home and we stopped by this old record store that also sold retro games. They let me pick out two
new games for my Genesis, so I chose "Ms. Pacman" and "Sonic 2", while also considering picking up "Pacman 2: The New Adventures," but I'm still alive, so you
know that didn't happen. I have just as much nostalgia
for "Sonic 2" as I did with 1, and a very similar play history as well. I could never get past the
second zone in the game. Now with the second zone
in "Sonic 1", Marble Zone, I think that's completely understandable for a six-year-old to have
trouble getting past that level. Chemical Plant in "Sonic 2," yeah, I have no excuse for that one. I've continued to dabble in
"Sonic 2" over the years, owning it on a good
handful of collections. Since I've taken a look
back at the first game, I think it's only fair to do
the deed with the sequel, too. Before we get into the game itself, let's start off with the history of it. "Sonic the Hedgehog"
was a massive success, and did everything Sega intended it to do: Giving Sega an iconic mascot, establishing a killer app for the Genesis, creating a character that
could rival Nintendo's Mario. Sonic did all of this. So obviously what better game to follow up "Sonic the Hedgehog" with than a sequel to "Sonic the Hedgehog"? "Sonic 2" was thrown into development around November of 1991, and was headed by an
American branch of Sega, the Sega Technical Institute. Sonic's original creator Yuji Naka was fed up with Sega of Japan, quit, and was then later
convinced by Mark Cerny, who nowadays is known
for his work at Sony, to work at STI. So Yuji Naka quit Sega to work for Sega. Various other Japanese Sega employees moved to America to help develop the game, which led to some
communication difficulties due to, you know, different languages. While "Sonic 2" had a
year of development time until it released, a treasure trove of levels
were cut from the final game, some never leaving the concept stage, some programmed into the
game, yet never completed. The most famous of the bunch has to be Hidden Palace Zone, which could be accessed
through cheat devices, albeit in a state where you wouldn't trust
it in a dark alley. Other cut stages include
Wood Zone, Dust Hill Zone, and Genocide City Zone. Now wonder Sega said
Nintendo's for (beep). The game launched on November 24 in 1992, a day Sega called Sonic Tuesday. This was actually a fairly
substantial deal in retrospect, simply due to the fact that Sega went for a
global release of the game, with a releasing the same day
in North America and Europe. Even thought Sega of Japan decided to release the game a
couple days early on the 21st. Regardless, it was still
a big deal at the time. But the release was also monumental due to the fact that the
game released on a Tuesday. This inspired other
publishers to do the same, which why most video games since have released on a contender for the Top Seven Days of
the Week list I'm working on. Now on to my thoughts, and I will say this. "Sonic the Hedgehog 2"
is my favorite sequel to "Sonic the Hedgehog." The intro is eerily
similar to the first game, the same Sega startup sound, except now appearing after two consecutive slow-the-(beep) downs. Title screen has the same
music as the first game, the same winged metal, the same logo, but now with a new background, less sass, and somebody new to haze. The new face in town is Miles Prower, or as sensible people call him, Tails. Having two tails that allow him to fly, he tags alongside you in the game, but doesn't add a whole
lot other than damn it. To be fair, he can kill some
enemies, grab some rings, and his addition makes the
overall journey feel more fun like you're doing it all with a pal. In fact, you can actually play with a pal, as tails can be controlled
by a second player, albeit with less functionality than Sonic and infinite lives. There's also a full competitive two-player split screen mode
for a few select levels, which, well, it could have been worse. However, Tails and multiplayer are just the beginning of
what "Sonic 2" introduces. "Sonic 2" still plays almost identically to the first game, though. You play as this, and then
try to make your way there. Collecting rings, which still act as your health bar fundamentally, defeating enemies by hitting
them in your ball state, and having the same powerups, this is definitely as Sonic
as a hedgehog can get. But now, things are way faster. Like, "Sonic 1" was faster than your average platformer at the time. "Sonic 2" says, "This guy, right?" and just obliterates it. Like, Sonic gives a
hearty (beep) this screen, because sometimes it can't
even keep up with him, it's insane. Now the increased speed is partly due to a new move you can
perform, the Spin Dash. Crouch down, exclaim death to thumbs, and haha, an instant burst of speed. This is such an awesome addition. It definitely helps with
Sonic's level design, as many slopes you have to traverse require you to be at a
relatively high speed. So instead of walking
all the way over here, start running, and maintaining
top speed to get higher, you can just. (organ notes playing) (cymbal crashing) In "Sonic 1", if you had 50 plus rings by the end of Act 1 or 2 of a zone, you had a chance to hop into a big ring for a shot at a special stage. If you can survive a migraine,
you can survive this, and win one of six chaos emeralds, which, if you collect all of them, you got a nice pat on the back in the form of flowers in
the ending, oh come on. "Sonic 2" has a bit of a different format to its special stages. If you have 50 rings by the
time you cross a checkpoint, stars appear, and you
know what that means. (light video game music) Now this is something to write home about. I have so many memories
of these special stages. I mean, come on, they're 3D. That's cool. Nowadays, I dread playing these things, but hey, compared to the
other games at the time and the special stages in "Sonic 1," these things were impressive. They were something to put on the fridge. Now, of course, disregarding
the 3D aspect of these stages that made them the talk
of the time, these blow. They require so much memorization. The fake 3D makes the perspective difficult to judge at times, and (beep) Tails. At least now you can get
multiple chaos emeralds per stage with the multitude of
checkpoints scattered about, so you can collect all
of them fairly early on. There are now seven emeralds to get, and nabbing them all
nets you a one-way ticket to ultimate power, Super Sonic. Basically almost pure invincibility, as long as you still got rings. And that's what "Sonic 2"
introduced to the franchise, but do these things overall make the experience better? Does "Sonic 2" completely
trounce the original in every way? (beep) yeah. It improves on everything from 1. I legitimately don't know of anything that 1 does better than 2. The first stage, Emerald Hill Zone, is Green Hill Zone again, but somebody had wild night
with a 152 box of Crayolas. The sheer amount of color
in this zone is amazing. Everything just pops, and
it's just so nice to look at. A beautiful amount of speed, platforming, alternate paths, it's fantastic fun. Zones now only feature two
acts rather than three, which is a godsend. Each act is more fleshed out, and ending it at two keeps
the zones from becoming stale. They end at just the right moment. The next level, Chemical Plant, spits in the face of everything "Sonic 1"'s second level
ever aspired to be. This one keeps on keeping on. It doesn't take away your speed, yet it's obviously more
difficult than the first stage. Ladies and gentleman,
here we are the section Scott couldn't get through as a kid. I never got to the boss back in the day, but now when I do, Happy No Floor Day, everybody. Aquatic Ruin Zone is the third area and is naturally water-based. A skilled player can go
through the entire stage without even touching the water. Now that's one way to realize my worth. God, the water in this stage is dreadful. Just like in "Sonic 1," you are so slow. Also, anybody else find the parallax scrolling in this stage to just be weird, like, this
just doesn't look right. Casino Night Zone is the big debut of Sonic's favorite pastime, debt. It's a really fun level, but nowhere near my favorite, though. I feel it's a bit overrated even. It's just so much of the
zone feels the same to me. We get a pinball section, the springs, the slot machine, repeat a few times until the act is over. Casino Night is still great fun, just not one of my favorites. Hill Top brings things back down to a more traditional-feeling level. Nothing crazy interesting, to be honest. Following that is Mystic Cave Zone, home to a pit that is just spikes that you can't escape from. This is on somebody's resume. Oil Ocean, not my cup of tea. I don't know, there's
just something unappealing about this to me. I'm not a fan of plain Jane desert levels, and Oil Ocean evokes the feeling of them without being, you know, a desert level. It's hard to describe. Metropolis Zone, also known as (screams). This isn't even the last zone. It's the last traditional zone, I guess, but it goes on for three acts, each longer than the last. This stage is filled to
the brim with garbage. For example, this, that, and (beep). These wall sea stars are the worst. They shoot out projectiles
if you get too close to them, and when you're going up
these gear lift things, they always love to shoot 'em off, or sometimes not, just for kicks. And with that, here's a Scott questions "Sonic 2"'s game design moment. So you have to run on these
gears to make them go up. The first time we're greeted to them, a thing of spikes are at the very top. The next time we have to deal with them, there are no spikes. Why is it more dangerous the first time? I know a thing or two about game design. I've watched four videos
on YouTube about it, so I know it's best to introduce something in a safer area, and then rev things up later down the line with things like this. Sky Chase Zone seizes on Tails' plane and we have full control over it, but not have full control
over it at the same time. Like, we can move the
plane wherever we want; however, we have to move
Sonic around on the plane to control it, so there's
a like a second or two where if you wanna move to
the right of the screen, Sonic has to walk over to
the far right of the plane. It's just no fun to control, to be honest. Wing Fortress Zone takes place
immediately after Sky Chase, and we start end. How was I supposed to know
this wasn't just a cut scene and I actually had to jump off? This isn't the time to be
pulling this kinda garbage. We're at the very end of the game. This stage makes me
wake up in a cold sweat while I'm playing somehow. Every step you take in this stage feels like it'll be your last. Like, we have to jump onto
these bars and jump off, and am I the only one who thought there is no way I can
make that jump from this? Also, what the hell? All right, we go into space, the Death Egg Zone is all we have left. And there are no rings on this stage. I think this decision is
why Sega Technical Institute doesn't make games anymore, and probably just caters grad parties now. We have to deal with this
silver robotic Sonic, which isn't super easy,
but definitely doable. Well then, on to the Death Egg Robot. This final boss is nerve-wracking. Not only did we have to
survive the first phase, but we still have no rings. Whether you successful hit the robot or it hits you just seems
a little random sometimes. Like, the hit detection
just seems wonky here. All right, all right, we
save the day, blam credits. That's "Sonic 2." And I know I ragged on it
a bit there near the end, but don't take that as
I dislike this game. The main problem gameplay-wise is that it does retain a fair amount of garbage from "Sonic 1." You know, the traps that
you can't really see coming, some trial and error, that kinda stuff. It's nowhere near as bad as 1, but it still has a good chunk
of it from time to time. Like, this final boss is just
a little too "Sonic 1"-ey for its own good. However, I'd say the pros
easily outweigh the cons. The level design can be so much fun. It's leagues faster, it
looks so much better. The music, oh, oh, the music. This soundtrack is phenomenal. Every track is fantastic. The box art was always a favorite of mine. I don't know if it's actually
objectively good or bad, but I still love it regardless. The game may have some issues, but the overall experience,
in my opinion, is great. "Sonic 2" is truly where
this series started. It fixed loads of "Sonic 1"'s problems, introduced a handful of series staples, and is just fun game overall, which is all you really need. I own this game on so
many different platforms, much like the first game. I owned that sucker on a freaky iPod Nano. Nowadays, honestly, it
doesn't really matter what version of the game you play, except I will say the mobile
phone version of "Sonic 2" is by far the most definitive. It's in widescreen, you
can play as Knuckles. They even made the lost stage Hidden Pal Zone playable, that's amazing. It's just a shame it's only on phones. Sega, do us all a favor and
pop this version of "Sonic 2" on consoles and PC, please and thank you. Yeah, "Sonic 2" is really where the series started to get good, in my opinion. And after seeing how it set the standard for video games released on a Tuesday, it made me want to do something just as monumental as that was. How about I'll go the rest
of my life without verbs, from here on out, I will
never use a verb, damn it! (upbeat video game music)
