Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sonic the Hedgehog 2 |
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US cover art by Greg Martin
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| Developer(s) | Sega Technical Institute |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Director(s) | Masaharu Yoshii |
| Producer(s) | Shinobu Toyoda |
| Designer(s) |
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| Programmer(s) | Yuji Naka |
| Artist(s) |
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| Composer(s) | Masato Nakamura |
| Series | Sonic the Hedgehog |
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| Release date(s) |
November 21, 1992
Sega Genesis
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| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a super fast platform game released in 1992 for the Sega Genesis console. It was made by Sega Technical Institute (STI). In this game, you play as Sonic, a speedy blue hedgehog. Your mission is to stop the evil Doctor Robotnik. He wants to steal special items called Chaos Emeralds. He plans to use them to power his giant space station, the Death Egg.
Just like the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, you race through levels. You move from left to right, collecting rings and beating enemies. You also fight big bosses at the end of each area. Sonic 2 brought in Sonic's best friend, Miles "Tails" Prower. Tails is a fox with two tails who can fly! The game also has faster action, bigger levels, and a way for two players to play together. Plus, it has cool special stages that look like they are in 3D.
The first Sonic the Hedgehog game was very popular. Sega wanted a sequel, so STI started making Sonic 2 in November 1991. Some of the original team, like programmer Yuji Naka, moved from Japan to California to work on it. They wanted Sonic 2 to be even faster and more exciting. The game's music was created by Masato Nakamura from the band Dreams Come True.
Sonic 2 was a huge hit when it came out in November 1992. Sega spent a lot of money, about $10 million, to tell everyone about it. Critics loved the game, praising its graphics, level design, and music. Some parts, like Tails and the multiplayer mode, got mixed reviews. But overall, people thought it was better than the first game. Sonic 2 sold millions of copies and made over $450 million in 1992. It is the second-bestselling Genesis game ever, right after the first Sonic.
This game helped Sega compete with Nintendo in the early 1990s. It is still seen as one of the greatest video games of all time. Later games like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles came out in 1994. Sonic 2 has been re-released on many different game systems. A special remake for iOS and Android phones came out in 2013.
Contents
How to Play Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a side-scrolling platform game. This means you move your character across the screen, jumping on platforms and avoiding dangers. The story is simple: Doctor Robotnik, a crazy scientist, wants the Chaos Emeralds. He plans to use them to power his huge space station, the Death Egg. He also turns innocent animals into robots!
You play as Sonic. Your goal is to collect the Chaos Emeralds and stop Robotnik. Sonic can run, jump, and attack enemies by rolling into a ball. A new move in Sonic 2 is the spin dash. This lets Sonic curl up while standing still and then blast forward with a burst of speed.
The game also introduces Miles "Tails" Prower. Tails is a two-tailed fox who is Sonic's loyal friend. In single-player mode, you control both Sonic and Tails at the same time. A second player can join in at any point and control Tails separately. You can also choose to play as just Sonic or just Tails.
The game has 11 different areas called "zones," with 20 levels or "acts." These levels are bigger than in the first game. You race through them, jumping between platforms, beating robot enemies, and dodging obstacles. You'll find springs, slopes, bottomless pits, and even vertical loops. There are also dangers like water and spikes.
You collect rings to stay safe. If you have at least one ring and get hit by an enemy, you won't lose a life. Instead, your rings will scatter everywhere. You start with three lives. You lose a life if you get hit without rings, fall into a pit, get crushed, drown, or run out of time. If you lose all your lives, it's game over. You can get more lives by collecting 100 rings or finding a 1-up item. There are also Power-ups like shields and invincibility to help you.
If you pass a checkpoint with 50 or more rings, you can enter a special stage. This is where you can try to get one of the seven Chaos Emeralds. In these stages, you run through a half-pipe course. You need to collect a certain number of rings while dodging bombs. If you hit a bomb, you lose rings and slow down. These stages get harder as you go.
Once you collect all seven Chaos Emeralds, Sonic can turn into Super Sonic! To do this, you need 50 rings. Super Sonic is super fast, jumps higher, and is almost impossible to hurt. But he loses one ring every second, so you need to keep collecting rings to stay in this powerful form.
Sonic 2 also has a multiplayer mode for two players. You can race against a friend on a split screen through three levels. After one player finishes, the other has one minute to finish too. The game then compares your scores in different areas to see who wins. You can also compete to get the most rings in the special stages.
Knuckles Joins the Fun
The game Sonic & Knuckles came out in 1994. It had a cool feature called "lock-on." You could plug other Sega Genesis games into the Sonic & Knuckles game cartridge. If you plugged in Sonic 2, you could play a special version called Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
In this version, you play as Knuckles the Echidna, a character from Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The levels are the same, but Knuckles has different abilities. He can glide through the air and climb up walls. This lets him reach secret areas that Sonic or Tails can't get to. However, Knuckles can't jump as high as Sonic, which makes some parts of the game, like certain boss fights, a bit harder.
Amazing Sales Records
Sonic 2 was incredibly popular even before it was released. Game stores ordered 2.2 million copies by October 1992. In Europe, 1.5 million copies were ordered, with 750,000 in the UK alone!
When it came out, Sonic 2 broke sales records. In the US, it sold 600,000 copies on its first day. In the UK, it sold 750,000 copies in one day, making over £27 million (about $45 million in 1992). This meant it was the fastest-selling game in UK history! For two months, it was the top-selling game in the UK, Japan, and the US. It was the bestselling video game of 1992 in North America and Europe.
The game made an amazing $450 million in 1992. This was more money than any hit movie or music album that year! Sonic 2 continued to sell well into 1993 and was the UK's second bestselling video game of 1993. By November 1993, it was the bestselling 16-bit video game ever. By 2006, Sonic 2 had sold six million copies worldwide. This makes it the second-bestselling Genesis game of all time.
Lasting Impact
Sonic 2 was very important for Sega during the "console wars" of the early 1990s. This was when Sega and Nintendo were battling to be the top video game company. GameSpot said that Sonic 2 made Sonic a truly major game series. It helped Sega sell enough Genesis consoles to almost catch up with Nintendo. Sonic became a video game star just as famous as Nintendo's Mario.
The way Sonic 2 was released also changed the video game world. Sega had a special "Sonic 2sday" event, releasing the game worldwide on the same day. This was new back then, and it helped start the trend of having a single, big release day for games everywhere.
Sonic 2 also added many things that became key parts of the Sonic series. Game Informer said it "expanded the formula" with new moves like the spin-dash. It also had bigger levels with more paths and more creative boss fights. USGamer noted that many popular Sonic elements, like Tails, Super Sonic, and casino-themed levels, started in Sonic 2. Tails became one of the most loved Sonic characters. He even got his own spin-off games, Tails Adventure and Tails' Skypatrol, in 1995.
Sonic 2 is often called one of the greatest video games of all time. In 2001, Game Informer put it at number 71 on its list of the Top 100 Games of All Time. They said it was "the most challenging and finely polished Sonic the Hedgehog title." In 2010, fans voted Sonic 2 as their favorite Sonic game in a survey by Official Nintendo Magazine. GamesRadar+ called it the best Sonic game and the second-best Genesis game ever in 2017. Takashi Iizuka, the head of Sonic Team, said in 2017 that Sonic 2 "really is the best of the classic Sonic series." He felt its level design was amazing for both Japanese and American players.
How it Influenced Other Games
For Sonics 20th anniversary in 2011, Sega released Sonic Generations. This game featured new versions of famous levels from Sonic history. The PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows versions included remakes of Sonic 2s Chemical Plant Zone and the Death Egg Robot boss fight. The Nintendo 3DS version had a remake of Casino Night.
Later games like Sonic Mania also brought back updated versions of Chemical Plant and Oil Ocean from Sonic 2. Sonic Forces (2017) also featured a reimagined Chemical Plant. Some ideas from Sonic 2 even appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog animated movie from 1996. The live-action movie Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) was inspired by the game, even though it wasn't a direct copy. The Death Egg Robot and Super Sonic appeared in the movie. One of the movie's posters even looked like the original Sonic 2 game cover!
Over the years, many early versions of Sonic 2 (called prototypes) have been found online. In 1999, a fan found an early prototype with levels that were cut from the final game. This discovery was very important for a hobby called "archaeogaming." This is where people look deep into game files to understand how popular games were made.
A journalist showed this prototype to Yuji Naka in 2005. He said it came from a preview game cartridge that was stolen from a toy show in New York City in 1992. In 2006, another fan found a Sonic 2 prototype that was shown on a TV show called Nick Arcade. Fans raised money to buy this cartridge and share it online. This prototype, even though it was rough, showed fans how the game was built from the first Sonic the Hedgehog.
Fans have also made their own versions of Sonic 2. A high-definition (HD) fan remake called Sonic 2 HD started being made in 2008. It was stopped for a while but restarted in 2014. It plans to have new levels and multiplayer modes. Sonic 2 is also known for its active "modding" scene. Modders create new game mechanics and playable characters for the game. In 2021, modders were able to get the original code from the 2013 Sonic 2 remake. This allowed them to make unofficial versions of the game for almost any system.
See also
In Spanish: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive) para niños
