In 1992 Sonic fans around the world got their wish when Sega released a sequel to the original Sonic the Hedgehog game. Sonic the Hedgehog 2, or Sonic 2 as it is popularly called, brought fans not only their favorite blue hedgehog but also introduced them to Miles Prower or Tails as he is called.
The Sonic the Hedgehog 2 game plot goes a little something like this. Dr. Robotnik was supposed to have been destroyed when the factory was destroyed in Sonic the Hedgehog. However, like all evil villains, Dr. Robotnik narrowly escapes death to reek havoc on the world another day and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is that day.
The game starts off with Sonic flying off to take a vacation after his long battle with Dr. Robotnik. Sonic flies to a secret island known as the West Side Island. Once on the Island, Sonic meets a strange creature with two tails known as Miles “Tails” Prower. The two instantly become friends during Sonic’s vacation.
What Sonic does not realize is that Dr. Robotnik has followed him in his own plane to the West Side Island. He is still on the quest to find Chaos Emeralds to fuel his evil Death Egg warship. During his attempt to find all the emeralds Dr. Robotnik begins by capturing all the animals on the island, a very similar move he used in Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sonic, the law abiding citizen and fighter for all that is good cannot let the animals be captured like they were and goes off to fight them. This time, he invites his new friend Tails along and the two fight through worlds and battles to defeat the evil Dr. Robotnik.
As many players can tell, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 introduced players the unique ability to play Sonic the Hedgehog as a simultaneous 2 player game. At the beginning of the game players had the choice of playing the game as Sonic, Tails or Sonic and Tails. It was built into the game that the default play mode was Sonic with Tails following behind. The unique feature about Tails was when played as a second player he could vanish from the screen only to reappear again later. The only difference between Sonic and Tails is that Sonic occasionally ducks in the game and due to Tails being a bit smaller than Sonic he does not duck at all. Tails, despite his name does not fly in this version of Sonic.
The gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is very similar to that of Sonic the Hedgehog. Players are given 10 minutes to move from the left side of the world to the right side of the world. Players must collect gold rings that can be used as lifelines should Sonic or Tails run into any obstacles or enemies during that time frame. Spread throughout each level are Star posts that allow players to save their progress and should they “die” in the level they will start at that checkpoint.
Sonic 2 also introduced players to the move known as the Sonic Super Dash. This is where Sonic stands in place, rolls into a ball and revs up to dash off at super speeds.
Differences come into play during the Acts. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has worlds that are comprised of 2 acts instead of 3. The first act is just straight through until the end while the second act ends with Sonic or Tails facing off against Dr. Robotnik in his customized flying machine. It takes 8 hits to defeat him and be able to move on to the next level. There are 11 worlds that make up the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 game and each are notably different. Some require Sonic or Tails to fly in a plane, ride a mine cart or even go underwater. The depth of these worlds is actually the biggest difference between Sonic and Sonic 2.
There is a special stage mode during Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This time Sonic is followed through a 3 dimensional tube and he must maneuver around bombs and rings. There are six stages and a player can only move on to the next one when the first one is completed. To complete the levels a player must race through the world and collect 50 rings by the end of the level. When the level is completed the player is placed back into the world at the checkpoint they left off at. Should all levels be completed the player is able to turn into Super Sonic. Super Sonic is a unique version of Sonic that is available only after the player has collected all 7 Chaos Emeralds. Super Sonic has accelerated speeds, high and a higher jumping ability, however, for players Super Sonic is hard to control at times.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 also comes with a 2 player mode that allows players to compete against each other. This is a split screen game that allows players to race against each other through 2 unique worlds and a special zone. The player who has the highest score that comprises of time through the world, rings collected and damage wins that level.
