Stardust Speedway 026 - Post Mortum Report (Sonic The Hedgehog 2)

Platform: Sega Mega Drive (Version 1 Model)
Completion Time: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
Total Score from Playthrough: 220,320
Chaos Emerelds Gained: Seven

Initial Thoughts Of Sonic The Hedgehog 2

I have got to admit this before starting this blog entry; This is one of my favourite games ever, I know this game like the back of my hand and I can complete the game in under 1 hour if played quickly; but for this play through, I played the game slowly enough to take notice of anything which could be useful for the project.

Also, for this game I am playing the title on its original platform, The Sega Mega Drive. I originally wanted to play all of the chosen research titles (Apart from Sonic CD) on their original platforms to get the popper experience that Sega and Sonic Team wanted to achieve during the time of release, but on reflection playing these games on Compilation Disks such as Sonic Gems Collection and Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection so that I can go back to specific levels in any of these games for further examination (Especially Spring Yard Zone for more scoring combinations)

Interesting Points Discovered

1. Möbius 2.0 - As a big Sonic Fan, I do know as the player that the first two titles of the series are set on the Planet of Mobius, but when compared to the levels of the first game, you can see these original levels have been evolved by Sonic Team in this game. This might indicate the passage of time which has passed between the two titles and also how Robotnik redesigned his Zones to try and capture Sonic and stop him in his tracks.

The following is a list of levels which show the evolution of Mobius from the first game to the second:-

SONIC 1 Levels/////////SONIC 2 Levels

Green Hill Zone (Into) Emerald Hill Zone

Scrap Brain Zone (Into) Chemical Plant Zone

Labyrinth Zone (Into) Aquatic Ruin Zone

Spring Yard Zone (Into) Casino Nights Zone

Marble Zone (Into) Hill Top Zone

Marble Zone (Into) Mystic Cave Zone

Scrap Brain Zone (Into) Metropolis Zone

Warps of Confusion (Special Stage) (Into) Sky Chase Zone

Final Zone (Into) Death Egg Zone

(* Oil Ocean and Wing Fortress Zones are like nothing featured in Sonic 1 and are exclusive to this title)

2. The Rainbow is Complete - Within the Wing Fortress Zone's Special Stage (The Hardest One in the Game) lies the fabled 7th Chaos Emerald which makes its first appearance in the series and is the most important emerald of the collection as it negates the evil energy of the remaining Six and makes them into a force of Good instead of evil.

Now within the official storyline, both Dr Kintobor and Sonic were creating the 7th Emereld to negate the evil powers of the six others, but the experiment went wrong releasing the evil energy back into the world and changing Dr Kintobor into Dr Robotnik, making him evil in the process. Now it was said that the 7th did not exist but Robotnik must have found a way to create the Emereld without the use of Sonic to power his machinery and hide it within this special stage on one of the hardest levels in the game.

When Sonic collects this emerald with the other Six, He can completely defeat Robotnik and turn into his alter ego; Super Sonic (Hints of Dragonball Z here me thinks)

3. Return of the Pinball Wizard

This recouring theme started within Spring Yard Zone (In Sonic 1) in which elements of a classic pinball table are scattered within the zone itself and can be used to Sonic's Advantage e.g using a pinball flipper to jump higher in the air than usual. These themes can be found once more within the Casino Nights Zone but is also taken a step further with the Slot Machine elements that can be found. Not only can Sonic gain extra points/rings in these slot machines, but these elements when looking at the entire level map can be seen as a bonus pocket in a Pinball Table which is very interesting in a game such as Sonic and is taken further in Sonic Spinball.

Concluding Thoughts

I have always loved this game and everything about it, especially the ending where you think Robotnik won the war against Sonic with him dying in the atmosphere above Mobius (Sorry for the Spoiler), but when looking at the game even closer and looking at the entire level maps which I didn't know existed until the research taken for this project you can see this game in a very different light.

I only noticed the extended Pinball themes in the Casino Nights Zone in more detail since playing this run-through (Especially when looking at the level maps) that have been brought from Spring Yard and this specific element will be very useful during the project as a Pinball machine is one vary early example of a capitalist device within the entertainment industry as the first recorded Pinball Machine created goes back to 1931.