Sonic the Hedgehog 2/Sonic 2 & Knuckles

Genre: Platformer
Developer: Sonic Team
Platform: Sega Genesis
Release: 1992
Rating: Not Rated/E

- Graphics -

Such bright colors, yet so much detail! Seems nowadays you get one or the other. However, back in the Console Wars in an era where detail was depicted on how many different colors could be displayed at once with a limited palette, you ended up with a lot of games that used things like complimentary colors to depict shadows or color variation to keep objects and backgrounds from becoming too difficult to keep separate. Sonic 2 seemed to take this to a higher level than most, especially in terms of the shadows, however.

Graphics: 10/10


- Story -

N/A

Story: --/10


- Gameplay -

The addition of Tails was a great improvement in every way: Now you could play with your friends both co-op or even in versus mode, and Tails was completely immortal. He could take hits and just stay in the damage area without dying; He could fall off a cliff and just respawn with no pentalty. The only time he ever got in the way was during the special stages, but it was actually extremely helpful if you had a friend who was decent and willing to play. If that got in your way too much, just turn him off! Yes, the immortal sidekick is optional.

The levels themselves were well-balanced, and true to Classic Sonic style they offered many paths to the same goal. I wish this type of level design was achieved today. My only gripe here is that if you were playing Co-op, 2P (Tails) had nothing to do for the last three zones due to plot.

Also, considering this is a joint-review for Sonic 2 & Knuckles, I guess I should mention him. He was playable only when playing the game connected via a Sonic & Knuckles cartridge (though the feature is available in most collections). His abilities from Sonic & Knuckles carried over, tending to make the game fairly unbalanced. The developers made up for this with his low jump-height, however. Some bosses needed entirely different strategies, and many routes were unavailable. Unlike Sonic 3, however, I don't recall any completely alternate levels (which would make sense)

Gameplay: 10/10


- Music -

Oh god wh... I'm supposed to rate this?! No. Just take your 10/10 and go. And go listen to every variation of every song in it, remix or otherwise.

Music: 10/10


Total Score: 10/10

Also available for Virtual Console (Wii), and collections on PC, xbox, x360, Genesis, Saturn, PS2, PS3, and Gamecube.