Platform	Mega Drive
	Genre	Platformer
	Publisher	Sega
	Points	800
	Rating	9 / 10

Review

Sonic was definitely one of gamings most adored mascots at one point in time. Back in the old Mega Drive days it was hard to escape a gamers collection without finding at least one Sonic title. Now a days though, this is a different story with Sonics stale translation to 3D and Segas determination to run the franchise into the ground. It’s still nice though to be able to revisit some classic games from the past with the Virtual Console.

Sonic 2 took what made the first game so brilliant and made it 100% better. With larger levels, a new character, new moves and of course, blast processing it’s hard to believe Sonic 2 isn’t still the best video game ever made (perhaps one in a list on hundreds).

Story wise, the game is very similar to the first game. Dr. Robotnik has taken all the animals from Mobius and trapped them inside his machines and programmed them to take out Sonic (and Tails!) at any cost. As a loyal friend and savior of the land, Sonic takes it upon himself to chase down Robotnik again and put an end to his nasty plan, as well as saving his friends from the machines along the way. Hardly original but still, who said old 2D platformers needed a plot?

Levels are based differently from the original, now each area is much more unique in terms of theme (we can clearly tell the difference between the Las Vegas gambling level and the cliché ‘caves’ zone) as well as having two larger stages each rather than three like in the original.

Sonic’s new moves include the now-staple ’spin dash’ which allows Sonic to crouch down and spin like the wheel of a car, and shoot off at high speeds through levels. The technique not only helps you get through levels faster but also acts as an offense to those nasty bad guys.

The original game on the Mega Drive made it very hard to complete due to the lack of save function. As with a lot of games, the Virtual Console really helps with it’s save ability to allow you to come back to the game exactly where you left it at a later point in time.

Graphics, Sonic 2 is very pretty and the game is still fun to play when it gets really fast. Although unlike Sonic’s 3D adventures, the locations you play through still look nice when you stop and take a look at them properly.

Although still a rival to classic Mario titles released at the time. Sonic 2 is definitely up there in platform games to remember.