May 15/2023 Sonic 2

I feel so unequipped to say anything intelligent about Sonic 2, despite it being the first 16 bit game I’d ever played, and despite having recently finished it. It’s a game that I’ve always had a lot of admiration for, ever since it showed up at our Toys ‘r Us in one of those massive corner kiosks with the built in Genesis console and tv. I would beg to go to the store, not to actually look at toys, but just to line up at the Genesis as though it was an arcade machine and watch Sonic blaze across the screen. At the time, we didn’t have a video game console at home, and, with my dad just having lost our shop, we didn’t have money for the arcades either, so Sonic WAS my video game for a couple months there.

That said, when we did eventually get a console about a year later, it was a Super Nintendo, and so it was Mario, Zelda, the TMNT, Legend of the Mystical Ninja and others that I spent my summer afternoons with, rather then Sonic. As an adult coming back to it, I certainly appreciate the artistry. The music is bright and energetic, and puts the lie to my standard response that the Genesis sound chip sounded like someone farting into a guitar amp. The visuals are gorgeous and colorful and, again, definitely contrast to a lot of the drab stuff on the system. Sega clearly understood, a couple years into the run of their biggest console, how to get the most out of it, and put something out that was every bit the equal of the big Nintendo, Capcom, or Konami games of the era.

But here’s the thing – this isn’t a game designed the way those other companies designed their platformers, it’s not meant for you to just pick it up and blaze through to the ending. Sonic 2 rewards careful memorization and tight control; that classic idea of what Sonic is, that blue blur hitting every loop at full speed, blasting clear through the level in a minute or so; that doesn’t come on your first play through. You need to play this game over, and over, memorizing every jump, every ramp, and plot out how best to get Sonic through. That’s in stark contrast to Mario, where, sure, if you want to hit some kind of speed runner time, you have to have the game committed to memory, but you can get full enjoyment of the game on your first play through.
I spent a lot of time in this game desperately trying to make jumps, standing at the bottom of hills trying to figure out where I was supposed to get that little bit of extra momentum that would carry me to the next spring or loop. Like I say, I don’t feel equipped to talk about this definitively – this is a game for an era when you got a game for Christmas or your birthday and that was THE game you’d have to play for the next six months. If you were one of those kids, this game had a depth to it that I didn’t expect and you probably love it for it, but for me, coming back as a 36 year old and just expecting a hop and bop platformer, I’m going to need more time with this one.

Total aside: I also played the Master System Sonic 2, which is a totally different and fun game as well that squeezes every bit of power out of that hardware. The glider levels are a weirdly good time.