LogFAQs > #914059039

#10. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Sonic2_European_Box.jpg

I am probably going to take a lot of shit for this, but I think that Sonic 2 may very well be the most overrated game I have ever played. Until I came to this board, Sonic 2 was almost universally considered the best Sonic game and the pinnacle of the Sega Genesis. Every video game magazine, every top 100 list had it ranked as the best Sonic game--and often the best Genesis game ever. I had played it as a kid, but I was no where near good enough to make it through the first few zones, so my memories of it weren't super vivid. I also probably hadn't played it since the 90s. Needless to say, I was pretty hyped to play what I always understood to be the far superior sequel as a more refined adult.

But Sonic 2 let me down. I can't even say it "aged poorly" or anything like that. Nothing about the game is really antiquated--it was just never really that amazing to begin with. The spin-dash made parts of the game fun to play, but it suffers from the same inherent flaws as its predecessor. It is a game built around speed that simultaneously punishes going fast. I know the common response to this is that it encourages/forces replays to master it, and that you just need to "get gud." But the fact of the matter is that there are nine other challenging games on this list that encourage replays while not ruining the fun of an initial playthrough. Replays should give you alternate goals to attain, paths to clear, items to receive, etc. Sonic 2 wants you to replay it so the levels suck less when your muscle memory allows you to go fast. Maybe it's just me, but I hate that game design philosophy.

In addition to that intrinsic philosophical disagreement, there were also a number of factors that really took away from my enjoyment of an otherwise beautiful looking and sounding game. Like Sonic 1, the enemies and obstacle placements are fucking cheap, the bonus levels are tedious and annoying, and the hit detection is just awful. The final boss fight in particular was one of the most rage-inducing battles I've ever experienced entirely because the hit detection on Robotnik is genuinely inaccurate--not to mention having to start all over again when you fall victim to this fact.

This isn't to say Sonic 2 is a bad game. If you look at the tiers, I actually do consider it to be pretty okay... and I respect it for starting to change the paradigm for what platformers "should" be. However, we're in a topic that ranks some of the most beloved games in the genre, so in relative terms, Sonic 2 is at the bottom of the lot.

Not good
11. Sonic the Hedgehog

Fine
10. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Great
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Excellent
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Spectacular
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All-timers
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"A more mature answer than I expected."~ Jakyl25
"Sephy's point is right."~ Inviso