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Sonic Adventure 2 is my favorite Sonic game,
and one of my favorite games of all time. Sonic Adventure 2, in particular, was probably the first
game I ever fell in love with. I try my best to be honest in these videos, to lay my heart out on the
table and let you look at it. Maybe even poke at it, just don’t sever any of my arteries. I wanted
to assure you that, although this game holds a special place in my heart, it has only remained
there so readily because of its inherent quality. Not every game I’m nostalgic for maintains that
same stature. Wind Waker still has a really special place in my heart, it was my first Zelda
game, I have so many memories with it, and I will always love it, but I don't come back to it much
since I find it to be one of the weakest games in the series, even if I do still enjoy it. In this
case, my feelings have only ever gotten stronger: I've played Sonic Adventure 2 hundreds of times
throughout the years, and as of recently I've been learning the speedrun for it. I've become
intimately familiar with its many flaws, and still can't help but love it to death. Where
I only really love Sonic Adventure in part: I love Sonic Adventure 2 full stop. It is one of
the best sequels I've ever seen. It doesn't really harken back to the classics in any meaningful way;
instead, it carves its own path. In a lot of ways, it’s a bold new step; a step that would
inevitably change the series forever.
I wanna talk about that: the ways in which
Sonic Adventure 2 improves upon the original, the staggering ways in which it pushes the series
to new and interesting heights. You're listening to a Sonic Adventure 2 Retrospective.
--
Part 1 - Blue, Bold, and Brash
--
My three favorite gameplay styles from the
original were as follows: Sonic, Knuckles, and Gamma. Sonic was absolutely incredible, whereas
Knuckles and Gamma had a ton of room to grow. Knuckles and Gamma's gameplay styles have
transitioned beautifully into the sequel, with entirely new levels that take advantage of
their strengths. Sonic, on the other hand, didn't have much room to grow, and in fact, I'd say his
and Shadow's levels took a step not necessarily backward, but in a different direction. Most of
his SA1 levels were an exceptional transition from the classic outings. There were speedy moments,
platforming bits, and slower explorative segments. SA2 is built in a similar way, but ratchets
up the linearity a bit to offer a much more speedy style of play. City Escape is fairly
straightforward, there's one path to the end, with a few secrets off to the side. It's
a lot more confined than Emerald Coast, there aren't nearly as many secrets, and
pathway options might as well be nonexistent. Instead, the level focuses on maintaining
your momentum. Nailing tricks on the ramps, swinging off the poles, jumping from rail
to rail, keeping your balance along the way, and even outrunning a giant truck. I do still
appreciate that there are secrets to find here, but whenever I replay the level,
I'm focused on the tighter path, trying to improve the rhythmic flow of
speedy platforming the level encourages.
It isn't to say that pathway selection is
completely absent. Green Forest has a few short split paths, as does Radical Highway and Final
Rush. Radical Highways bridge segment is the most blatant, vertical pathway selection the series
has seen yet. Either you fall to the bottom and slowly float your way through, maintain the middle
path with some pole jumps, enemies, and platforms, or grind up the railing for a swift bypass
of the section entirely through the top. If you're good enough, you can even jump in
between these loops to immediately reach the top. Even here, though, platforming skill and reaction
timing are essential if you want to keep up your combo streak of flashy maneuvers. SA1 certainly
had moments where you could fall from grace. In Speed Highway, there were wallrunning
segments that saw failure barring the player from accessing higher, faster pathways.
It wasn't necessarily a priority, though: most shortcuts were achieved using spindash jumps.
SA2 has a lot more do-or-die moments: jumping from these rails onto the pumpkins in Sky Rail; making
it to the top of the rocket in Metal Harbor; making it to the highest bumper in Green Forest;
jumping with the right timing in Final Rush on these railways; and nailing the many, many trick
jumps that exist in every speed stage. Chiefly, these pathways aren't necessarily about extra
life boxes or interesting alternate pathways, they're often about faster pathways that bypass
some of the slower, more mundane platforming.
Sonic Adventure 1 was more freeform, allowing
for a lot more creative player expression. It was about where the player wanted to go, and at
what speed they wanted to do it. Sonic Adventure 2 is more about the execution of difficult tricks
to maintain your rhythmic pace throughout a set of fairly linear courses. There's a significant
distinction between these two styles of speed; I really can't say which one I prefer over
the other. One has more of a brisk pace to it, a relaxing jog through levels begging to be
explored. Another is a demanding set of levels which require precise timing with the reward
being that you'll feel like a speed demon when you reach the end. At the very least, I consider
them both to be the peak of Sonic's gameplay, since their control schemes and general
level design are similar enough that it's hard to notice the more subtle tweaks
to the level design philosophy.
What I will say is that this is certainly
a consistent design philosophy. With the exception of Final Chase, which is stricken by
a sickness similar to Sky Deck, every level is built for speed. Sonic Adventure had levels
like Windy Valley, which were far too linear, and didn't reflect that game's core design at all.
It was pretty boring. From City Escape to Final Chase, every level is built to take advantage
of their speed, so on that front I'd call it a success. To say they're flawless, though, would
be overstepping my bounds. Pyramid Cave is really cool, built around timed hourglass switches, but
when you get around the midpoint of the level, all of a sudden you have to retrieve an object
to open a door. It's a major pace breaker, and doesn't mesh well with the winding downhill
turbines and slowly closing doors. Final Chase would be a fun stage if the gravity tubes weren't
so awkward. Shadow trips every five seconds, often halting his speed. I find it the most
cumbersome when traveling on the vertical tubes; horizontally, I think it's a fun challenge,
avoiding enemies and obstacles while maintaining your speed. Compared to Final Rush, though,
it's a lukewarm way to send out the Dark Story. Generally, they’re fun to master.
Where the speed gameplay is different, the mech and treasure hunting gameplay have
made significant strides. Gamma was built around beating the timer, racking up lock-on combos to
add time. SA2 has repurposed the lock-on combo for something we'll talk about later. It is extremely
refreshing to have levels built from the ground up for Tails and Eggman. Prison Lane is a good
showcase of what to expect from these levels. Lots of enemies, some of them making a beeline
for you, and a ton of opportunities for lock-on chains. These levels are about chaining
efficiency: the faster you clear out the enemies, the quicker you'll be able to progress.
Usually I hate when Sonic games do this, forcing you to defeat enemies to open up a door,
Heroes and Rush are particularly guilty of it, but I think it's fine in SA2 since all the enemies die
in one hit. Plus, some enemies need to be juked around, like the artificial chaos, meaning you
can't just hold the button down and expect a win. In fact, Eternal Engine has an even better
remedy for spamming the shoot button. Dynamite packs are placed on airlocks, so you
could get sucked out into space if you aren't careful with your trigger finger. It does the same
thing with platforms later on. You really need to pay attention to what you're locked onto when you
shoot, which is much more manageable in this game due to the changes made to the mech controls.
Gamma had to turn his entire body to target enemies, which worked for his wider level design.
Tails and Eggman can't turn as sharply, or they'll lose all their speed. To accommodate for that,
their top halves will swivel faster than their lower halves, giving you the freedom to choose
your lock-ons without turning the whole mech. This is particularly useful when trying to maintain
speed while quickly dealing with the obstacles in your way. You can still charge forward without
completing pivoting the direction you're running. Admittedly, I'm torn on this change. While it's
easy to maintain speed barreling down a hallway, it's a lot harder when the camera pivots a
90 degree angle. You'll often find yourself pushing the stick a little too far and losing all
momentum. Gamma's a lot more free in this sense. The swivel does make locking onto enemies more
simple, and if I wanted to be pretentious about it, I'd even say that the way Tails and Eggman
control their mech suits is probably how it would feel to operate an actual mech suit.
At this point, I'm just happy there are actual fun levels to play around in that are
built around these more restrictive controls. Weapons Bed is fast, requiring that the player
avoid colliding with enemies while hovering, it's a straightforward stage, nonetheless
pretty fun. Sand Ocean is a platforming stage, since you're there before you get the hover
ability. Platforming with the more limited movement can be trickier than you'd think.
However, it's also a level that exposes a bit of an annoying tendency in almost all of
the mech stages: forced wait time. Whether you're waiting for a pillar to fall, platforms to
move, cylinders to raise, or these insufferable elevators. Fun as these stages can be, there is
an alarming amount of waiting the player has to do before they can return to high octane running and
gunning. I have fun in Cosmic Wall when I'm hover flying and getting rid of the pesky artificial
chaos before they boot me into the space below; I don't have fun in Cosmic Wall when I'm
placed onto a moving platform and forced to waffle about for a solid minute. Thank god
the speedrun can skip these segments.
Hidden Base presents a really good compromise.
There are doors that can only be broken by a few shots. Same with dynamite packs you can shoot to
lower platforms. You can usually snipe these from far away if you're good enough, thus eliminating
the potential wait time. Even if you are waiting behind a door or dynamite packs, you'll only be
waiting for a few seconds, and those few seconds will be filled with the player rapidly removing
said obstacle. Hidden Base is one of my favorite mech levels for that very reason. Almost
nothing in this level forces you to wait around, it's all about how fast you can clear out your
surroundings, the core of the mech gameplay as far as I'm concerned. It’s a shame that levels like
Iron Gate, Prison Lane, Lost Colony, Cosmic Wall, and even Cannon’s Core have forced waiting, but
at least they don’t encompass the entire level.
Which brings us to treasure hunting,
which in my opinion, has had the most substantial upgrade. In SA1, Knuckles had
a lot of potential, but most of his levels sucked. Red Mountain was probably the best
fit for him because of its verticality, and how easy it was to get Knuckles where he
needed to go. Even then, though, Tikal as a "hint system" was just broken. She'd tell you
where to go, you didn't even have to think most of the time. Casinopolis, Speed Highway, and Lost
World were just too small for their own good. You can tell they were specifically built for Sonic
and Knuckles was simply inserted into them. His campaign is a flash in the pan, and not a super
bright flash. There was a lot of room to grow.
I think it's important to acknowledge just how
influential space is for the treasure hunting levels. Big levels almost always equates to a more
challenging, rewarding hunt. Wild Canyon and Dry Lagoon are great showcases of that; they're the
least exciting by virtue of their smaller size. You don't have to cover as much ground, so
finding the emeralds is a simple endeavor. Compare that to Meteor Herd and Mad Space.
There is a lot to explore in these levels, they're extremely vertical, but also fairly wide.
You'll have to be very thorough in your search to find where the shards are hiding, so you spend a
lot more time building a familiarity with the map. Pumpkin Hill is an even better realization
of what Red Mountain was. A wide open space, very vertical, with a ton of stuff to look for
on the three towers and everywhere in between. They don't always have to be open, though. I
actually really enjoy Death Chamber despite how cramped it can feel. There are timing-based
doors to slide through, secret rooms to find, and so many unique hiding spots for the keys
to ensure the player will never be able to truly know where every single hiding spot is.
It's more labyrinthine, and that's alright. Just another flavor of exploration I
can't personally get enough of.
It's not to say they perfected treasure hunting
or something, not even close. Occasionally, there will be a really pace breaking gimmick that gets
in the way of your hunt. Changing water levels in Aquatic Mine, while cool, has the same problem
Sky Deck does: the switches are all the way at the top, and since you can never see what you've
affected in the level until you travel there, you'll never know if you're on the right
water level for whichever emerald is beeping. Oftentimes, you'll just have to swim back up and
change the water level. It's the same problem I have with Security Hall. Chaos Emerald behind a
blue safe? Tough shit, go all the way to the top and switch the blue safes on. I'm not saying
these levels can't have more complexity built into their design, I just went over how Death
Chamber was more confined and restrictive. The difference is that your gimmick isn't shoved
off in the attic somewhere forcing the player to backtrack all the time. That stuff feels like
padding, especially because SA2 changed the radar to only beep for one shard at a time.
Now, I actually consider the change to the radar to be a more complicated issue than people make
it out to be. Most people seem to believe this was a change purely to pad out the game, to make
sure players would have to comb over parts of the level multiple times to find all the shards.
I'm not quite convinced. See, one of my biggest problems with Knuckles in SA1 was that finding
the emerald shards was too swift a process. In the smaller stages, a lot of that had to do with the
radar. It would beep for all three shards at once, and so in the smaller levels, you'd be done in
seconds. Therefore, it isn't too crazy to imagine that the radar nerf was implemented to make the
smaller levels a little less straightforward. I mean, imagine if Wild Canyon had SA1's radar,
it would be even more pathetic. I don't think it's a perfect solution, obviously. In the much, much
larger levels that SA2 provides, the radar is more blatantly annoying. You're already being asked to
navigate a large area, why do you have to search the same map five times over? I feel like Mad
Space in particular would be a lot more digestible if it had SA1's radar, since you wouldn't have to
climb up to the top every time. I actually don't consider Mad Space to be one of the worst levels,
I have a lot of fun with it when the shard RNG is nice to me. The gravity mechanics can be a real
hassle to get used to, but the only reason they start to infuriate me is due to the radar system
being such a bad fit for that specific stage. Basically: the radar is complicated, I don't
think it's good, but that also doesn’t make SA1’s radar good. There’s more nuance here than
meets the eye. I can say that about a lot of the problems the levels face. Some of them, the bigger
ones, are more fun and substantial than others; but it doesn't mean that I can't possibly have
fun with Security Hall because of an obnoxious gimmick, or Dry Lagoon just because
it's a small, straightforward level. I can enjoy the smaller levels more than in SA1
in part due to the nerfed radar. Clearly, though, they aren't the ideal realization of everything
the gameplay style can be. It's a pretty huge step from the original, though. I can't see
this as a downgrade in any sense of the word, even if parts of the levels are inferior.
That's how I feel about all three styles in a broad sense. Every style has its more blatant
weaknesses, some that are even a little worse than the original, but none that come
close to making their styles as a whole worse than their original incarnations. SA2 is
not the peak of what these styles can offer, they're simply a step towards the ideal.
Just as Sonic Adventure's soundtrack infiltrated my Spotify, so too has Sonic
Adventure 2's soundtrack. There's something in here for everyone, Sonic's no
nonsense, upbeat rock and roll; Shadow's grungy, electronic rock; and Rouge's jazz infusion. Every character has their own genre of music,
it's incredible; one of most diverse and creative soundtracks the series has ever seen, and I
love listening to these songs using my Raycon Everyday E25 Wireless Earbuds. I listen
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--
Part 2 - Super Sonic Style and Grace
--
I can see how this selection of levels doesn't
inspire a ton of confidence. It's a fun set, but many of them have fairly annoying issues, and
it isn't exactly clear what the strengths of each play style are on first blush. I mean sure,
why not just use all the hint monitors in the emerald stages? Once you hit the third monitor,
you're basically flat out told where it is. Why not just run around in mech stages and spam the
shoot button? Why not just avoid all the ramps in City Escape? Just make it to the end of these
linear hallways, that's all the game requires of you after all. This is often how I felt playing
Sonic Adventure. When playing Knuckles' stages, I'd just look for Tikal so I could finish quickly.
With Tails, I'd fly to the end without a care in the world, skipping most of the level. I only got
more out of Sonic's level design because it was an intrinsically rewarding process to explore
his levels and find shortcuts. There were zero extrinsic indicators that would tell me
how I was supposed to play the game.
Sonic Adventure 2 adds an extrinsic indicator,
one that seems inconsequential, but is likely the sole reason it remains my favorite Sonic
game to this date: the ranking system. If this game did not have a ranking system, I genuinely
don't know if I'd still love it as much as I do, which sounds like hyperbole, but just stick with
me. This ranking system is what encouraged me to learn the ins and outs of these levels; it
pushed me to figure out the most effective and fun ways to play them. Much like Devil May
Cry will rank the player on their performance, incentivizing players to switch up their weapons
and combos; Sonic Adventure 2's rating system works differently for all three styles, tending
toward what's most fun or stylish for each.
Ranks are determined by your point tally, which
is itself determined by a myriad of different factors: how many enemies you beat, rings
collected, tricks performed, basically everything you do has a point total associated with it, and
if you reach the point threshold, you'll be given a rank from E to A. Each gameplay style has a
set of unique bonuses that the player will need to collect in order to reach their threshold.
For Sonic and Shadow's levels, it's all about the time bonus. If you reach the level before a
certain time, you'll get more points, making it more likely that you get the A rank. For Tails and
Eggman, it's about efficient chaining. You'll get points for killing an enemy, sure, but you'll get
much more if you get a high chain going. Knuckles and Rouge don't necessarily have a time bonus, but
there's a timer for each individual emerald found that resets when you find one. The amount of time
it takes you to find each will determine how many points you get at the end. You can quickly figure
out what each style requires of you from this. Speed stages are not just about finishing fast,
they're also about performing tricks, rail grinding, and defeating a few of the enemies along
the way. Mech stages are about chaining together as many enemies as possible without getting hit or
losing your lock on, meaning you'll have to think about what you're shooting. Finally, Treasure
Hunting is about how efficiently you can glide through each level to find shards as fast as you
possibly can. You have to know how to get around the level quickly, where the rockets are, which
walls you can climb up, where you can dig, etc.
Each style has a set of discouragements to keep
the player on track. You can't dilly-dally for too long in the speed stages, or you won't get the
time bonus. You can't spam the shoot button in mech stages and turn your brain off, or you
won't get the combo bonus. Finally, you'll lose points for using too many hint monitors, so you'll
have to rely only on one or two hints for the A. These rank requirements are pretty strict, too:
the game isn't afraid to hand out lower ranks for subpar performance. It makes obtaining those A
ranks all the more delicious. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this might not be my favorite
Sonic game if it didn't have this system, and if the system wasn't as strict as it is. Later games,
I feel, miss the point of what a ranking system is really meant to achieve. As much as I love Sonic
Generations, you get an S rank by sneezing. You may as well not be ranked at the end, all it
incentivizes the player to do is not die.
In Sonic Adventure 2, getting a B rank is as
annoying as it is inspiring. It sucks to get a low rank, hear the "barely made it" from Sonic;
but it is in equal parts motivating. You want to prove to the game that you understand its levels,
that you can rip through them stylishly. It has a command over mastery that the rest of the series
will never be able to match up to in quite the same way. I'm not saying it magically eliminates
every problem I have with the level design. I still get annoyed when I reach Aquatic
Mine or Cosmic Wall, or Final Chase. Hell, an unfortunate side effect of making the emerald
stages time based is that emerald locations are based on RNG, so you could just be saddled with
bad luck. However, what it does do is thread each level together, and gives me something to focus
on besides the more underwhelming level gimmicks. At least in Cosmic Wall I can focus on getting
big chains while on the moving platform; at least in Final Chase I can focus on getting it
over with quickly. It's not some kind of cure-all, but it allowed me to look at each of these levels
with a different set of priorities, and it's my most played Sonic game to date as a result. It's
the only Sonic game I've been confident enough to speedrun. I'm even on the board now!
I will say, having practiced the speedrun, the ranking system isn't exactly built for speed.
At first, it was incredibly jarring for me to beat a speed stage in record time, only to be met with
a lower rank. It's a difficult tightrope to walk. If you just focus on speed, it's easy to ignore
most of the level in favor of getting to the end quickly. You won't interact with any of the
enemies, you won't find any of the secrets, you won't pull off tricks or do anything fancy.
In the classics, in order to speedrun effectively, you had to first learn the level inside and
out. You had to explore it first to figure out the route, and then you could blitz through it.
I view the ranking system as part of that same learning process. To get A ranks, you have to
involve yourself with most parts of the level, leading to a deeper understanding of the design
as a result, priming you to beat each level even faster. It sounds a bit silly, I know, but
getting these A ranks is extremely fulfilling, and one of the reasons it's such
an intensely replayable game.
I don't think quite enough is said about how much
mileage SA2 gets out of its levels. There are four additional missions in each level, along with
the initial story clear, that each have ranks to achieve. In SA1, the extra missions were usually
pretty awful. Big's were an abhorrent nightmare. Usually it involved beating the level within
a certain time, collecting rings, racing an… even faster Sonic? I guess? I don't quite buy it.
Sonic Adventure 2 streamlines the mission process. Mission 2 is about how fast you can collect
100 rings, mission 3 is finding the lost chao, mission 4 is beating the level under the gun of
a timer, and the final mission is a redesigned stage layout dubbed as "hard mode". The only
one here I don't like is the fourth mission. It's virtually unchanged from the initial mission
and feels like padding. However, the other missions are really fun, and the ranking system
allows the player to have an experience separate from the core level. Finding the quickest path to
100 rings asks you to pay attention to where the earliest ring placements are, encouraging the
player to find hidden ring boxes and the like. A ranking is solely based on completion time, so
you can focus on collecting. It works the best in treasure hunting stages, since those don't
have obvious rings to pick up on a linear path. You just have to search for the
easiest places to access rings.
Lost Chao missions are all about finding secret
areas. Often you'll need the Mystic melody, a power-up you can find hidden in the regular
stages. Power-ups in this game are handled so much better than in the original. Instead of clumsily
funneling yourself into mandatory upgrades, Adventure 2 will place mandatory upgrades inside
the levels, and leave truly optional upgrades as hidden rewards for completionists. I'm still
not convinced Sonic games need upgrades, but it's a better way to dole them out
than in the original, at least for me. Finding the Mystic melody for each character was
really fun. Tails and Eggman have hidden lasers that do more area of effect damage, or armor
for more health. Not all of them are winners, the ancient light is about as useless as it's
always been, and the sunglasses are kinda lame. However, they are much more fun to find, and
actually give the player more of a reason to revisit earlier levels with newly acquired power
ups. As I was saying, the lost Chao makes use of this explorative mindset. It's still a time
based challenge, but it's a challenge you have to first approach with a more explorative mind.
Finally, hard mode is a complete stage revamp. Harder jumps, more enemies, that sorta stuff.
The remixes are pretty fun, and you're ranked the same as the main level categories. Plus, if
you're not a fan of Emerald RNG, hard mode has the same Emerald places every time, at the cost
of them being pretty tricky to track down.
It might not sound like much, but it's remarkable
just how fun these simple little shake ups are, and how efficient they are in terms
of reusing content. In the original, reuse was fairly obvious. Giving characters
the same level with virtually no changes. In SA2, each level is unique, though two
characters might share the same visual theme. Radical Highway and Mission Street; Pumpkin Hill
and Sky Rail; Lost Colony and Eternal Engine. Instead, the reuse comes from the additional
missions, prompting you to play the same level multiple times, but for objectives that shift
how you have to play them. Besides mission 4, which sucks, why did they add this? Giving a rank
to all of the missions adds even more of a reason to check them out, to see how hard mode switches
things up, or to see where the hidden chao is, or to recognize that there's a hidden ring in Metal
Harbor just for the second mission. Or at least, I assume that's what this lone ring is for?
I would imagine it hard to make levels for a Sonic game. He moves so fast that the levels
need to be huge to accommodate that speed, adding more to the necessary development
time. Even with mech and treasure hunting, adding more levels probably would have been a
hefty process, so it's cool to see that they were able to make the most of the content in the game,
without making it feel padded out or frustrating. Going for all the emblems in SA1
was… not a comparably fun experience. And I'll leave that there for you to ruminate.
Another extra SA2 completely champions over the original is the Chao garden. Chaos are not
really my favorite part of these games anymore, and truthfully it's hard for me to find the words
for this side attraction as a result. Figured I'd at least mention it anyway. I find SA2 chao a lot
more engaging to raise, since they have so many different forms based on what you feed them,
and who's doing the feeding. Raising hero and dark chao can even give you hidden bonus gardens.
There's just a lot more meat in SA2, and you can select the gardens from the stage select, instead
of having to head there through a hub world. It's nice to stop by after a mission to deposit your
animals and chaos drives. That said, this is still nothing more than a novelty, and I don't have much
to say about it that hasn't already been said. It provides ample reason to defeat enemies and
explore the levels, but I'd be lying if I said I derived the same enjoyment from it as I did when I
was a kid. Both these games have the issue of chao races and karate being complete snooze fests, as
you have zero control over whether your chao wins or loses. It's simply down to whether or not you
have the better stats. They are damn cute little tykes, though. I wish I could channel my inner
child again with this, when I really cared about going through all the steps for a Chaos chao.
Nowadays it feels like a whole lot of work for nothing all that satisfying in return.
--
Part 3 - Trimming the Fat
--
Sonic Adventure 2 changes a lot about what
the first game established, but the most readily apparent difference is the lack of a hub
world. I'm of the belief that while novel, Sonic Adventure's hub world was damaging to its pacing
and malleability. I go over this in more detail during my SA1 video, but suffice to say, I think
it harmed the amount of stages there could be for each character, and didn't contain much satisfying
content that would see you exploring the hub world. It was a glorified level select.
Pair the removal of the hub world with the streamlined story select, and we've already
eliminated most of the first game's pacing and story issues. If you'll recall, my biggest
problem with the first game's narrative was how needlessly confusing it was to digest all of it.
Chaos' story was spread through all 6 campaigns at completely random points, often taking away from
moments in the individual stories that should have been more impactful. The way in which these
stories intersected was also pretty hit or miss, leading to a slew of interesting stories
bogged down by an ambitious "choose your own adventure" format. What I adore so much
about the switch to a Hero and Dark story is that it retains the same strengths as the
6 character select. One of the only things I liked about the original's nonlinear character
order was getting to see other characters show up. Why are they there? What were they doing? In
SA2, you've pitted two groups against each other, who fight on a regular basis, meaning no matter
which one you pick, there will be moments where the other side makes an appearance and you'll
be left wondering what they've been up to all this time. You learn from Shadow that Prison
Island will blow up in 15 minutes. Where did the plan originate, how did they carry it out, it
gets me so intrigued to play the Dark story.
While on paper it's less exciting than 6
intersecting stories, it's much easier to manage and leads to far greater internal consistency
within the individual stories. Every level plays off the next since we're now working as a team.
Hero story starts with Sonic escaping captivity, encountering Shadow, Knuckles and Rouge hunting
for pieces of the Master Emerald, Tails going to break Sonic out of prison, with a fun-filled
escape sequence until our heroes all meet up in the city, break into Eggman's desert base, and
travel to the Space Colony Ark for the climax. Knuckles is kinda on his own mission, so I guess
you could say his involvement is tertiary at best, but I'm personally okay with it because the
other characters often react to his absence. Knuckles also doesn't really strike me as one to
screw around when the Master Emerald is in danger, so going on a solo mission isn't that jarring. My
point is more that this is a much more fun story than anything in the first Adventure. There's
enough time to build up the antagonistic force, get our heroes pitted up against it,
and fight that evil. On the flipside, getting to see the villains team up in the
Dark Story is extremely cathartic, and I think people really take for granted how special
it is that we got to play as Shadow, Rouge, and Doctor Eggman himself for an entire story.
It's a story with a lot more frenetic energy. Sonic and Shadow have an anime showdown, Eggman
blows up an entire island, and then half the moon, Sonic and friends break into Eggman's pyramid
base to steal his rocket to the Space Colony Ark, where the principle three characters duke it out
in a battle to either save or destroy the world. Each character has enough time and stage space
to make their mark. Sonic's always on the move, eager to escape captivity and face his problems
head on, but that usually leads him to trouble, namely when he gets caught by the military and
then again when he goes to save Amy and Tails at the Space Colony. Sonic never really has a plan,
he just charges in and does the best he can. Tails operates as the brains, a little less timid
than in the first game, piloting a mech of his own design. He takes matters into his own hands,
tracking Sonic down, breaking him out of prison, and even creating a fake chaos emerald. He's
still a bit inexperienced, though, which lands him into trouble when Eggman tricks him into
revealing that Sonic's emerald was fake.
An interesting part of the Hero vs Evil dynamic
is that each character gets their own thematically fitting rival. You might think Sonic and
Eggman are the dynamic duo of hero and villain, but in this case, pitting Tails and Eggman
together couldn't have made more sense. Eggman is a mad scientist, a brilliant inventor,
and a force to be reckoned with. He is older than Tails, more experienced, and more willing to
make the hard calls: at the cost of his not so subtle desire to take over the world. Of course,
Eggman doesn't care about his companions as much, they formed an alliance out of necessity,
he was more than willing to let Rouge die when she was caught by the military.
This is wonderfully contrasted when Tails seeks revenge for his fallen friend. Tails cares
a lot about Sonic, so his death gives him the courage to come at Eggman with everything he's
got. He still has a lot to learn to compete with Eggman's intellect, but his heart is undeniably
in the right place. Shadow, on the other hand, is about as stubborn as Sonic. His single-minded
desire to wipe out humanity is what motivates his character. He doesn't feel the need to put himself
in the line of fire very often, he mostly hangs back and only steps in when absolutely necessary.
Saving Rouge from death was a particularly poignant moment for his eventual development,
a time where he went against his own instincts to help someone in need. Deep down, maybe this
cold hedgehog isn't so different from Sonic.
Knuckles and Rouge are a bit more comedic in their
parallels, but it fits their one-track minds. Knuckles is out to restore the pieces of the
Master Emerald because it's the sacred gem he's tasked with protecting. He needs to get
it back. Rouge is in it for the superficial, she thinks the Emerald shards are pretty and wants
to claim them for herself. You can obviously see who's in the right and who's in the wrong here;
nevertheless, it's really fun to watch these two eclectic personalities bounce off of each other,
and even gain a bit of respect near the end. Two very devoted treasure hunters. When all is said
and done, it's not a very long set of events. It's a standard Sonic vs Eggman affair.
It's a brisk, yet entertaining bout between good and evil, one that succeeds in creating
memorable moments far more than its predecessor, while also nailing the Last Story concept
where its predecessor absolutely failed.
Sonic Adventure 2 has the same general Last
Story setup. All of the stories converge to fight off the big bad. Except this time,
the seeds were planted much more naturally. Where the original would shove Tikal flashbacks in
the character's faces, with little to no reaction from said characters, Sonic Adventure 2 raises
natural questions like where did Shadow come from, why did he want to wipe out humanity, why was
the Ark created, stuff like that. They're not questions explicitly raised by the story, but
they're questions the player could realistically be asking themselves. Either way, the reveal
of Gerald Robotnik's doomsday plan is pretty chilling. It's a world-ending event set into
motion years prior, accidentally activated by Eggman who had no idea about his grandfather's
plans. It provides context as to why Shadow wants to destroy humanity so badly, he harbors
the same blinding hatred as Gerald did. Since the Space Colony Ark is now on a crash course for
Earth, our heroes and villains have to team up to stop it and save the world. Every single character
gets a shot in: Tails opens up the way for Eggman, who opens up the way for Rouge, who opens up the
way for Knuckles, who opens up the way for Sonic. It's a team effort, no one contribution
is more or less important than another's. Everyone needs to head to the cannon's core.
We even get an awesome turn-around for Shadow, finally breaking free of the hatred Gerald imbued
into him, courtesy of Amy's encouraging pep talk. Always found this moment a little too quick and
cheesy for my liking, but it's a good moment for both him and Amy, which is good because Amy
ain't exactly winning any awards in this game. He beats down the failed prototype ultimate
life form, an embodiment of what Shadow could have been without his kindness. Now, all the
pieces are in play for a banger of a team-up: Sonic and Shadow going super to stop the Space
Colony from crashing into earth. Functionally, this finale is almost the same as the one against
Perfect Chaos. Super transformations, Crush 40, heightened stakes. But Sonic Adventure 2 had a
much, much stronger buildup to these events. Every single playable character had a role to play in
getting Sonic and Shadow where they needed to be, everyone pitched in. This is a hail mary, one that
the both of them can't possibly walk away from. Not only is the buildup stronger,
so is the bittersweet resolution.
Sonic and Shadow's combined chaos control took too
much power, and ultimately Shadow couldn't keep up. And so, he died saving humanity, the ultimate
defiance of his master's wishes. In the end, he was able to keep his promise to Maria. This ending
scene hurts to watch, every single time. Despite everything they've all been through, despite what
they've all done to each other, everyone shares a somber moment together in remembrance of Shadow.
Tails and Eggman ruminate on why Gerald would do something so heinous. Knuckles and Rouge
talk about the future. Sonic and Amy express interest in returning home, but not without my
favorite line from him in the entire series. [Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog] For all their
bluster, Sonic and Shadow are kindred spirits. Deep down, they both care about others, and they
both want to maintain peace. Their rivalry is one of my favorites in all of fiction. It's incredibly
simple, I know that: but I love it all the same. Sonic starts off agitated that he's
been mistaken for a criminal hedgehog, but by the end of this story, they're
bantering back and forth like old buddies. Sonic really did come to care about Shadow, and
won't let his sacrifice go to waste. In the face of Sonic's portrayal as a dumb, joke-cracking
machine; and Shadow's portrayal as a cold, unfeeling soldier... it's humbling to
remember a time where these characters had a bit more… pathos. There's something…
touching about that. It's a powerful line, one that's stuck with me all these years.
Sonic Adventure 2 isn't a complicated story, and it doesn't really try to do anything you
haven't seen before. At the same time, though, it doesn't overstay its welcome, there are tons
of amazing character moments and rivalries, and it's a blast from start to finish.
--
Legacy
--
I've tried to make it clear throughout this video
that, although this is one of my favorite video games, it is nevertheless a step short
of its full potential. It is a massive and exciting improvement on a flawed base,
one that I enjoy playing to this day, but it's still a bittersweet feeling. I guess
you could call me one of those butthurt Sonic fans that's always yearned for an Adventure 3.
I don't scream it from the rooftops at every available moment, but it is something I would have
liked, once upon a time. The problems of Sonic Adventure 2, more than anything, light the way to
a sequel which would better iron out those kinks. Make levels that better fit the gameplay styles.
Less annoying gimmicks, more streamlined design, that fits the core three styles. But… time has
soldiered on, and despite remarks to the contrary, we never did get our third adventure. It's
such a weird base to make a Sonic game out of. Mech shooting and treasure hunting spliced
in with high speed platforming? Yeah, it is weird. It doesn't really make any sense.
And yet, it's something I, and many other people, enjoy in spite of its out of left field nature.
Doubtless, many other people would have loved to see it carried to even greater heights.
Sonic Adventure 2 is a very flawed video game, in ways that are perhaps more striking
to me than any of my other favorites. There are levels that annoy the living shit out
of me: and yet I keep crawling back. That said, the time for Adventure 3 is over. I hope they
never try it. Sonic Team has changed. They've changed writers, they've changed the way
Sonic plays, they've changed the voice cast, they've changed so much about him. It's a
completely different era, and a Sonic Adventure 3 in Sonic's current paradigm would no doubt be an
utter disaster. I have a lot of pessimism toward revival projects. Despite my love for returns to
form like Crash 4, there's always something there that feels a bit… displaced from time, pardon
the pun. You just can't capture that same spirit, no matter how much you study the level design, the
writing, the overall design: I just don't think this is something that can be recreated after
the passage of time and exchange of artists.
I hate to be gloomy at the end of a video about
one of my favorite games, but it truly does suck that this has to be my favorite Sonic game. That
these ideas couldn't have been further improved, that we couldn't get another banging set of
levels. For mech and treasure hunting especially, this was the first game where they were
really allowed to break into their own, to define themselves in unique levels.
Adventure 1, in many ways, felt like a prototype for everyone besides Sonic, and it
saddens me that these characters only really got one game to shine. I'm kind of frustrated with
where Sonic's been lately. I haven't connected with him in a very long time. Playing Adventure
2 again has made that all the more clear. There was a time where this blue hedgehog was the
center of my whole world. Now, he's a curiosity. Wonder what he'll try next, I say in the back
of my head, remembering the glory days.
This isn't meant to be elitist. I don't want to
come off that way. I enjoy several of the modern Sonic games a lot, just as I now enjoy a lot of
the classics. Mania, even, was fantastic. There's just something about his current direction that
feels… aimless. Like no one really knows what to do with him anymore. For all of their faults,
returning to the Adventure games have reminded me of a time where there was a strange, yet
clear vision of what Sonic was. It was a time where I understood him the best, and a time I
truly do wish I'll be able to return to soon.
