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Beatrix Gerke
It's a big anniversary year for various Nintendo franchises, but it's easy to forget that it's also a whopper for SEGA's mascot, with June bringing the 30th Anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog. We'll have various articles celebrating that milestone, but a little ahead of time I thought I'd share a fun memory I have with the franchise; I suspect many have had similar experiences.
There was only one choice: my absolute favourite from that era, Sonic the Hedgehog 2. When that game originally came out I was eight years old, and I played it over, and over, and over again. Though the system had lots of games I loved, not to mention the other glorious 16-bit Sonic titles, Sonic 2 was the top one in my world. And so, around 15-20 years later, I was sitting on the edge of a bed in my old room playing it once again.
My initial thought was "I'll play the first few levels and then head down to spend time with the family"; that didn't happen. Once the music kicked in and I was dashing through stages and summoning memories to find secret areas, there was no going back. Early on I was doing well, hoovering up Chaos Emeralds and barely getting hit. "Ok," I thought, "you still have it".
Ah, but Sonic 2 ramps up, and once you get caught in a tricky section with no rings it's easy to lose a lot of hard-earned lives rather quickly. I gradually progressed from lounging comfortably to perching on the edge of the bed and eventually, I kid you not, sitting on the floor cross-legged to be closer to the TV.
Oil Ocean Zone was responsible for the first glut of lost lives, which was a tad irritating as I'm pretty sure I could do that level in my sleep as a kid. In that final quarter of the game there are some real points of doom, and by the time I reached Wing Fortress Zone my nerves were starting to shred. It is, frankly, an annoying zone - I didn't like it in 1992, and I don't like it now. Great music, though.
I got to Death Egg Zone with about 6 lives, if you count continues, and it really hit the fan. Mecha Sonic wasn't too bad but I lost a few lives, then it was the final boss. When you're low on Sonics and out of continues this encounter is extremely tense, and I struggled. In fact, I went down to my last life.
When I went downstairs with a giddy air my parents asked what I'd been up to. I told them, and there was a knowing smile from both of them. In 20+ years not much had changed. I was still their 'little boy', like all kids are to their parents, and I was still a Sonic 2 fan that couldn't resist one more run.
Sonic 2 still remains my favourite game of all time, even after playing over 1000 games in my lifetime. Every single time I come back to it, it hasnt aged in the least, and it makes for a perfectly comfortable playthrough in a short amount of time.
Just as a tip for the end, as metal sonic comes down, start revving in a spin dash and you'll hit him about 6 times before you can dash out of the way before he goes into a spin dash. With robotnik, just stay away from him, wait for him to fly in the air. When he's about to land, move to the side a bit to dodge him, and when he bends his knees on impact, jump and hit him ONCE, then run to the opposite side of the screen and wait for him to take off again. With this slower war of attrition, you can easily beat him in 4 to 5 minutes with no risk of taking damage.
Playing it again over the years on Wii VC, 3DS ages, Megadrive Mini, still love this game. Can I get all the Chaos Emeralds now ? Can I F***,
My gaming skills has most definitely taken a dive over the years
I experienced it too just today. I was going for the 6 Emerald Chaos in Sonic 1 and I seem to be unable to get them as fast as when I was a teenager. Last time I beat Sonic I didn't even get them all. I keep screwing bonus stages up. I just don't have it anymore.
@Gerald Same boat mate. I can easily pick up Sonic 2 and play it to completion as though it was yesterday. However, back in the day when I got proper gud, I would ensure that I had collected every Chaos Emerald before completing Emerald Hill Zone. Doing it now though, I just give up with the idea and complete the game without them. To be honest, I now find Sonic's special stages too tedious to bother with.
Nice one beating Robotnik on your final life. I find him a bit glitchy sometimes, I burned through about 7 lives recently because I was being greedy trying to hit Robotnik multiple times and Sonic would occasionally go straight through him instead of bouncing off him so Sonic would then die from the contact.
This was a great article, thanks for sharing! This definitely put a smile on my face. I have so many good memories playing Sonic 2 with my brother and our friends. I remember passing the controller back and forth, and when we finally beat it, you could hear the cheering down the street.
I loved Sonic 2(and the whole series on the Genesis) back in the day, and still loved them the last time I played them. My reflexes and skills are better now than back when I was a kid, though my patience for memorizing is less. I never liked the Sonic 2 bonus stages, so I don't bother with emeralds. I play Sonic games with a deep focus on just getting to the end of the stages and not worry about what I'm missing, so I don't recall disliking the stages you did to the same degree. Cool that you beat the game on the last life. That kind of pressure can be too much when you really want to finish what you started.
The special stages in Sonic 3 are significantly better than Sonic 2, but both are great games. This article may have convinced me to replay 2. Maybe after one more civ revolution match.... If I can finish it and still have some time left.
The only difference with your story is that I'm much better at it now, in my 30s, than I was when I was a kid. But that's mostly down to playing Dark Souls in my 20s and leveling-up my Patience and Resolve stats across all genres.
Sonic 2 was the pack in game with my Mega Drive. I remember Sonic 2sday well, but that was before I had the MD so preordered the Game Gear version from Boots (!) instead. Nowhere near as good as the original 8 bit sonic unfortunately (which is still my favourite one overall).
Come to think of it, and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Sonic 3 (& Knuckles) the only Mega Drive Sonic game with a save feature? I recall none of the Mega Collection games had it except for that one.
I think i only need a video cable but Im not sure. Before my genesis stopped functioning properly I would randomly plug it in and play. I beat Aladdin after suffering through those dreaded lava levels.
@noswitchbutidc The Windows version was the first version I played. I don't think that I care if they replace bits of the Mega Drive soundtrack. Michael Jackson's songs are generally great but some of the songs attributed to him in this game (like Carnival Night Zone) are a tad overrated, in my opinion.
@BlueOcean The "original" tracks were actually added later on, since SEGA was going to have a different OST on Genesis before Jackson was involved, this claim is backed up with this ROM: :Sonic_the_Hedgehog_3
Sonic the Hedgehog[c] is a 1991 platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Genesis/Mega Drive. It was released in North America on June 23 and in PAL regions and Japan the following month. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog, who can run at near supersonic speeds; Sonic sets out on a quest to defeat Dr. Robotnik, a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and seeks the powerful Chaos Emeralds. The gameplay involves collecting rings as a form of health, and a simple control scheme, with jumping and attacking controlled by a single button.
Development began in 1990 when Sega ordered its developers to create a game featuring a mascot for the company. The developers chose a blue hedgehog designed by Naoto Ohshima after he won an internal character design contest, and named themselves Sonic Team to match their character. It uses a novel technique that allows Sonic's sprite to roll along curved scenery which was based on a concept by Oshima from 1989.[2] Sonic the Hedgehog, designed for fast gameplay, was influenced by games by Super Mario series creator Shigeru Miyamoto. The music was composed by Masato Nakamura, bassist of the J-pop band Dreams Come True.
Sonic the Hedgehog was very well received by critics, who praised its visuals, audio and gameplay. It is widely considered one of the greatest video games of all time and became one of the best-selling video games of all time with approximately 24 million copies sold worldwide. On the Genesis, which it was bundled with, it sold 15 million copies, making it the best-selling game on the console. It established the Genesis as a key player in the 16-bit era and allowed it to compete with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It has been ported to multiple systems and inspired several clones, a successful franchise, and adaptations into other media. It was followed by Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 1992.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2D side-scrolling platform game. The gameplay centers on Sonic the Hedgehog's ability to run at high speed through levels that include springs, slopes, bottomless pits and vertical loops.[3] The levels are populated with robot enemies, inside which Dr. Robotnik has trapped animals; destroying a robot frees the animal, but is not necessary to complete the game.[4] The player must also avoid touching spikes, falling into bottomless pits, being crushed by moving walls or platforms, and drowning, which may be prevented by breathing air bubbles from vents.[5] Sonic's main means of attack is the spin attack, in which he curls into a ball and spins his body, damaging enemies and certain obstacles upon collision. This may be performed by jumping or rolling.[6]
At the start of the game, the player is given three lives, which may be lost if Sonic collides with hazardous enemies or objects while in possession of no rings, falls to the bottom of the level screen, or exceeds an act's ten-minute time limit. Signposts act as checkpoints to allow Sonic to return to the most recently activated post when he loses a life.[7] The time resets when he returns to the checkpoint.[8] The game ends when the player runs out of lives,[9] although the player may return to the beginning of the act with three lives if they have any continues.[8]
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