I reviewed Sonic 2 for the Master System

[stika]

Hi everyone!

This week I reviewed what is probably the lesser known version of Sonic 2. Did you play this version? What were your thoughts?

[ian]

Great stuff as usual, I agree with a lot of what you said.

I remember getting this game when it came out and I played it a lot, so I like it more than I probably should due to nostalgia goggles.

[stika]

Jul 7, 2017 18:25:42 GMT ian said:

Great stuff as usual, I agree with a lot of what you said.

I remember getting this game when it came out and I played it a lot, so I like it more than I probably should due to nostalgia goggles.

Thank you! I'm glad you liked the video!

I can definitely see why people would enjoy the game as it had real potential. I just felt the level design needed to be tweaked a bit. The same goes for Sonic 1

[playgeneration]

I think Sonic 1 is an awesome game, and has more of the fun levels than the Megadrive game which gets slower paced much earlier.
I agree with the Sonic 2 level design being flawed. It feels like a backwards step from the first game, and I'd rather it kept more in common with the 16bit Sonic 2. The Neo Geo Pocket Sonic game demonstrates what a sms version of the megadrive game could have been like.
I've tried to like sms Sonic 2 over the years, but I just don't enjoy it that much.

[stika]

Jul 7, 2017 21:41:58 GMT playgeneration said:

I think Sonic 1 is an awesome game, and has more of the fun levels than the Megadrive game which gets slower paced much earlier.
I agree with the Sonic 2 level design being flawed. It feels like a backwards step from the first game, and I'd rather it kept more in common with the 16bit Sonic 2. The Neo Geo Pocket Sonic game demonstrates what a sms version of the megadrive game could have been like.
I've tried to like sms Sonic 2 over the years, but I just don't enjoy it that much.

I think Sonic Chaos and Sonic Triple Trouble also did a great job at showing what a handheld sonic game should be like. It's just a shame Chaos is so short and easy

[Transatlantic Foe]

I quite like the majority of the level design, the exception being that awful Green Hills act 3! You can spot most of the spike pits throughout the game (except Green Hills act 3!) by holding down when standing next to them - though I agree it does slow the pace down. However the 8 bit Sonic 1 and 2, and the 16 bit Sonic 1 all suffer the same thing - go fast and you hit something, so speed is only possible after memorising the levels. It's a fair criticism but not unique to 8 bit Sonic 2.

Overall I generally have more fun with this one because the level design is more open to speed running once you've learned the stages, whereas Sonic 1 is more restrictive and broadly the same pace on repeated playthroughs as your first few times.

Sonic 1 is definitely the more challenging game but I think you're being a little unfair on the boss fights for Sonic 2. Sure that first boss is easy - but remember Sonic 1 and 16 bit Sonic 2 also have insultingly easy opening boss fights. The others I think are much tougher, thanks to one hit deaths:
Stage 2 - an attack can easily rebound you into a fireball and the way the boss height varies means you have to time your attacks well
Stage 3 - narrow window between ball being ready to be burst and being launched, so you can easily mistime and be killed
Stage 4 - random attacks, don't be tempted to pre-empt one because you'll get caught out. As the fight goes on, the window for hitting the boss drastically reduces. Get it wrong and you die
Stage 5 - watch the timing of his spikes coming back out and mind those falling rocks
Stage 6 - very easy to get bounced around, confused, and end up squashed under him. Also getting wiped out when you're not rolled up into a ball
Stage 7 - did that fireball clear the screen? Nope it just swung back and killed you. A clear opening? Nope, he's fired those electrical things across the floor. Okay now it's definitely clear, right? Nope, launches fireball as you exit the tube
Ultimately the game has respawning extra life boxes and is quite generous with them in general, so you end up with enough lives that most difficulty spikes are trivial. Sonic 1 is much better balanced in that respect.

[stika]

Jul 8, 2017 13:41:49 GMT Transatlantic Foe said:

I quite like the majority of the level design, the exception being that awful Green Hills act 3! You can spot most of the spike pits throughout the game (except Green Hills act 3!) by holding down when standing next to them - though I agree it does slow the pace down. However the 8 bit Sonic 1 and 2, and the 16 bit Sonic 1 all suffer the same thing - go fast and you hit something, so speed is only possible after memorising the levels. It's a fair criticism but not unique to 8 bit Sonic 2.

Overall I generally have more fun with this one because the level design is more open to speed running once you've learned the stages, whereas Sonic 1 is more restrictive and broadly the same pace on repeated playthroughs as your first few times.

Sonic 1 is definitely the more challenging game but I think you're being a little unfair on the boss fights for Sonic 2. Sure that first boss is easy - but remember Sonic 1 and 16 bit Sonic 2 also have insultingly easy opening boss fights. The others I think are much tougher, thanks to one hit deaths:
Stage 2 - an attack can easily rebound you into a fireball and the way the boss height varies means you have to time your attacks well
Stage 3 - narrow window between ball being ready to be burst and being launched, so you can easily mistime and be killed
Stage 4 - random attacks, don't be tempted to pre-empt one because you'll get caught out. As the fight goes on, the window for hitting the boss drastically reduces. Get it wrong and you die
Stage 5 - watch the timing of his spikes coming back out and mind those falling rocks
Stage 6 - very easy to get bounced around, confused, and end up squashed under him. Also getting wiped out when you're not rolled up into a ball
Stage 7 - did that fireball clear the screen? Nope it just swung back and killed you. A clear opening? Nope, he's fired those electrical things across the floor. Okay now it's definitely clear, right? Nope, launches fireball as you exit the tube
Ultimately the game has respawning extra life boxes and is quite generous with them in general, so you end up with enough lives that most difficulty spikes are trivial. Sonic 1 is much better balanced in that respect.

Thank you for the awesome feedback! When I said the bosses were easy, I didn't mean it as a criticism of the game. Just that I wish the developers hadn't offset the low boss difficulty by giving you no rings during these levels.