Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Progress Report II

Aquatic Ruin

The third zone of Sonic II is Aquatic Ruin. As the name suggests, there's water in this level, though drowning is rarely a problem you'll be facing. The level is usually easy enough, though I did one annoying enemy stopping me in my tracks. Grounders.

Usually very simple to deal with, Aquatic Ruin simply loves to make you run into them. They'll occasionally burst through a wall and it usually happened when I was going too fast to notice before I got hit. Despite this, it's a nice enough level which didn't take away any of my lives. The boss too was quite simple...

Robotnik will fly from pole to pole and hit them with a hammer. An arrow will shoot out of one of the four bird statues and, if you dodge them, will get stuck on the other pole. You can then jump on the arrow in order to attack Robotnik. Doesn't take long for this to happen...

...and that's the end of Aquatic Ruin.

Casino Night

Although I mentioned Chemical Plant as being the most iconic level in the game, some could argue that Casino Night is more so. The first level in Sonic history to be casino-themed started a trend that was common in Sonic games up until Heroes (correct me if I'm wrong, I can't think of any more recent casino levels...). There's barely any enemies, the only thing you really need to worry about is not spending too much time messing about on the pinball and slot machine sections.

A common thing in this level are launchers, which will send Sonic spinning away at great speed. In addition, you can get a few hundred points by landing in that section with the three stripes. 

In addition, you'll see these slot machine sections. You can repeatedly use them and, if you get lucky, amass a stockpile of lives through getting over 100 rings. However, there is a risk involved. If you get three Eggman slots you will lose 100 rings. The Jackpot is 150 rings. I only did it enough to get my extra life and then I got away before I developed a chronic gambling problem.

Then I ran into one of the few enemies in the game.

Still, over the last two Acts I amassed three extra lives (one for 100 rings in Act 2, one I got in a secret passage and one for getting 50,000 points) for a total of nine. I hadn't died yet to a boss in Sonic 2 and I was feeling confident. It wasn't to last.

Yeah, see how that says eight lives? I forgot to take a picture on the first attempt. The idea is that you use the flippers and your spin dash to attack Eggman. He will drop mines every now and then which can be annoying if you're going fast. My biggest problem was jumping into Eggman thinking I was spinning but I wasn't and then getting harmed. It's a bit of a finicky boss in my opinion, I don't like it much though I can say it is a decent idea. However, eventually...

Yeah. Three lives were lost here and it's probably only going to get harder from here. Or maybe I'm just bad at this one boss. Who knows? No one, yet, and there's only one way to find out. See you for Acts 5 & 6!

Yeah...no bonus...

OH YEAH, I successfully got a decent video of the first level last night, just to show off the special stages and why I won't be going into any on my main playthrough.

Music

Aquatic Ruin

Casino Night

Next: Hill Top and Mystic Cave Zones.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Introduction

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

1992

Genesis

After the huge success of the original Sonic the Hedgehog in helping the Mega Drive/Genesis catch-up the Super Nintendo. In fact, in some markets the Mega Drive outsold the Super Nintendo, thanks partially to the success of their brand new mascot. So it was no surprise when a sequel was released sixteen months later in November 1992. 

The biggest change to the series is right there on the cover; the introduction of Miles Prower, more commonly known as 'Tails', as an ally for Sonic. He will follow you everywhere and not do much, but if you have a controller in the second port then they can control Tails whenever they want. A 2-player mode was introduced, but it's largely forgotten about. There are more Zones than the original, but now they are just two Acts. There are other changes, but I'll get to them in due course.

I'm going to supply a video of the first two levels (the first because it is the first level, and the second because it is the Chemical Plant, probably the most iconic level in Sonic 2).

My experience with this game doesn't go far beyond Chemical Plant, though I've seen the game through many times. This won't be as easy for me as the original, but a bit of challenge never hurt anyone, eh?