The other Sonic 2 rated by ESRB

by Chris Greenhough { Dec 5th 2008 at 8:08PM }

The Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was never released in North America (only the inferior Game Gear version made it there), so its appearance on the ESRB database (which pretty much guarantees a Virtual Console release) is a little bit of history in the making. A very little bit, mind, because the differences between the 8-bit Sonic 2s are trivial, to say the least.

We never played either iteration, so are unqualified to comment on the game's quality, but Wikipedia informs us that this was Tails' debut appearance, which also means this game marks the start of Sonic having friends. Man, look how that turned out.

[Via Go Nintendo]

Tags: esrb, master-system, platform, sonic, sonic-the-hedgehog-2

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Covarr @ Dec 5th 2008 9:12PM

You claim not to have played the GG or SMS versions, and yet you say the GG version is inferior. Some would argue that the minor differences make the GG version better, because of a separate song for good ending (SMS version uses the same song for both), and better colors (it's well known that the GG has support for more colors on screen than SMS, and it is used to make water the proper color in Aqua Lake Zone).

Then again, cropping off edges of the screen is never a good thing, especially in a fast paced game like Sonic.

CamranChaos @ Dec 5th 2008 9:32PM

This game was bundled with the Game Gear I got for my 7th birthday, and I still to this day can't make it past the 2nd zone. It's not that I'm bad, it's just that this particular Sonic game is so frustrating. Then again, most of the ones for the GG were...

-slycooper_rocker- (lorddshadow the amazing) psn: shahanasalam @ Dec 5th 2008 9:35PM

so this is what started it all. the game that forever screwed every sonic after it.

Gewurz Man got equipped with... Guitar Hero! @ Dec 5th 2008 11:19PM

Oh, come on; without Tails, there'd be no 2-player Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 on the Genesis and I always thought that was a nice feature back then.

But yes, the Game Gear Sonic 2 was not well made. I think it's the first game I ever quit in frustration. And not the oh-fine-I'll-try-again-later Mega Man kind of frustration, either.

Mr Khan @ Dec 5th 2008 11:50PM

I thought this meant Sonic 2 & Knuckles

sadly are my hopes dashed. Though i have it on Sonic Mega Collection anyway

shinneri @ Dec 6th 2008 1:12AM

I love that game even though it's one of the harder Sonic games (for me at least). That octopus boss is very difficult. In fact all the bosses were hard.. But it was all worth it for the hang gliding.

Is this the only Sonic game with hang gliding? I can't think of any other with it...

SephFinale @ Dec 6th 2008 1:35AM

Sonic Rush.

I want to see Sonic CD on the VC... 8[ I had a PC copy of it...but none of the PCs in my house are old enough to run it...and no, there is no fix for me to play it. I have an older 16-bit copy, not a 32-bit one.

CalcProgrammer1 @ Dec 6th 2008 2:02AM

@SephFinale

I have that same CD, got it with a Hewlett Packard PC back in 1995 off of some promotion...loved that game, except it used some no-name proprietary graphics library that only worked with certain PC's. I occasionally set up an old PC to play it, great game.

You could try DOS Box or something like that to emulate an older system, or try running Windows 95 on Virtual PC or something.

SephFinale @ Dec 6th 2008 5:13PM

What's hilarious is that it originally ran off the Windows ME computer we had gotten in 2001...

AceRadd @ Dec 6th 2008 8:24AM

I loved this game for its version of the Green Hill Zone theme (it was a chiptune version of the Japanese version of Sonic CD's intro music).

Other than that, it was a bit naff though.

HairyBalls @ Dec 6th 2008 9:44AM

Would be Nice to See Rambo from the Sega Master System come to the VC.

seth @ Dec 6th 2008 10:32AM

Oh MAN!!!! I remember playing this on game gear. It was one of the few games I owned on that system (this and predator). I don't think I ever beat the game. There was one jump in like the 4th zone that I remember always having difficulty with. When this gets released (I'm guessing around the same time as Sonic and the black knight, or whatever...) I'm totally going to pick it up

Kogen @ Dec 6th 2008 12:16PM

This game is good on SMS, but it is a bit harder than most Sonic platformers and not as overall good as the first one is.

If you can play games like Megaman, then you can beat this, though.

Also Sonic lost all his money with the Dreamcast and became depressed, that is why he started befriending people with guns and hookers. His older friends are fine.

People who hate the concept of friends probably had social issues in school.