History VideoGame / SonicTheHedgehog2

* InvincibleMinorMinion: Crawl in the Casino Night Zone can only be destroyed by spinning or rolling into him from behind: attacks from above or the front bounce harmlessly off his pinball bumper shield. On the other hand, he's fairly passive and if you don't bother him, he won't bother you. An appropriate enemy for the GoldenSaucer level.

* EvilKnockoff: Mecha Sonic.

** For Japanese children, it made perfect sense; however, Dragon Ball Z did not become popular in the United States until Toonami picked it up several years later. So for many American children, the "super" shtick was more of a MarthDebutedinSmashBros .

* BonusFeatureFailure: Tails is identical to Sonic in every way. (Players couldn't actually control his signature flying ability while playing as him until ''SonicChaos'' [[OlderThanTheyThink and later in]] 3, and he also had a lowered jump height and running speed)
** He is slightly shorter than Sonic, which can actually prove useful in weird situations, like if you have to stop rolling under something that would normally crush Sonic, Tails would just about live. Same in Sonic 3 too.
*** But balanced out when those last high-up rings are juuuuuuuust out of reach for our very young fox.
**** And Tails can't go super, either.

* [[HumanCannonball Hedgehog Cannonball:]] One of the more fun ways of getting around Oil Ocean Zone.

* SuperMode: Introduced in this game. Become Super Sonic by collecting all ChaosEmeralds. After that, collect 50 rings and jump. Normally touching enemies hurts Sonic, but as Super Sonic, it ''defeats enemies'' instead. Touching [[SpikesOfDoom spikes]] in Super Mode won't hurt Sonic either, but he can still die by falling in a BottomlessPit. As Super Sonic, Sonic's rings decrease steadily and he turns back into regular Sonic if he runs out. It's only for Sonic though. Tails will have to wait for the next game(s).

The game is the first part in a three-game arc regarding the Death Egg, being resolved in the [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo bipartite game]] ''[[{{Ptitleq4kl7xn1}} Sonic 3 & Knuckles]]''.

* DummiedOut: A couple of zones met this fate, most notably the Hidden Palace Zone, of which you can find its BGM (track 10) in the finished game's sound test menu. HPZ would appear in ''SonicAndKnuckles'' due to complaints about how they left out a beautiful level when it was advertised so much, but sadly it was almost nothing like the original.

Its engine based on its predecessor, ''Sonic 2 GEN'' kicks everything up a notch. The gameplay is faster than before. It features 11 zones, most of which have two acts; to compensate for having one act less per zone than its predecessor, the acts here are quite a bit longer. Debuting here is the Spindash, a technique where Sonic (or Tails) spins in place, revs up, and takes off as a spinning ball of doom, allowing players to destroy Badniks without having to jump and gain instant speed to go up slopes and loops. Also making its debut is the super form; here, after collecting all seven Emeralds and gathering 50 rings, Sonic turns into [[SuperMode Super Sonic]], a golden hedgehog who's even ''faster'' than his regular form and possesses a higher jump (as well as [[NighInvulnerable invulnerability]].) The Special Stages were also {{retool}}ed, introducing a "non-stop 3D movement" philosophy that would be embraced by the special stages of its successors. Thanks to these improvements and additions, ''Sonic 2 GEN'' is a massive fan favorite.

* TheJimmyHartVersion: The first few notes of the boss theme of this game is very much a rip-off of the ''Film/{{Halloween}}'' theme.

* TheJimmyHartVersion: The first few notes of the boss theme of this game is very much a rip-off of the {{Halloween}} theme.

** The Metropolis Zone for the Scrap Brain Zone. Both are an EternalEngine, green in colour, etc...to the point where people playing Sonic 2 for the first time in 1992 were subject to NotSoFastBucko when they found out it wasn't in fact the final level.

On a trip to West Side Island, Sonic meets a shy young fox named Miles Prower, nicknamed "Tails" by the other inhabitants of the island based on the fact that he has two tails. Sonic allows Tails to tag along with him when he notices that the fox can almost keep up with him by rotating his two tails like a jet propeller. Tails is also a surprisingly gifted mechanic for his age, as evident when he curiously examines the Tornado, a biplane Sonic used to travel to West Side Island.

On a trip to West Side Island, Sonic meets a shy young fox named Miles Prower, nicknamed "Tails" by the other inhabitants of the island based on the fact that he has two tails. Sonic allows Tails to tag along with him when he notices that the fox can almost keep up with him by rotating his two tails like a jet propeller. Tails is also a surprisingly gifted mechanic for his age, as evident when he curiously examines the Tornado, a biplane Sonic used to travel to West Side Island.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: As per above, time travel was suppose to be invoked in some way here. Tails was supposedly originally envisioned as a character similar in function and appearance to Tikal who could help Sonic time travel to save the emeralds and then was going to be Amy Rose, but was hastily retooled early on for unknown reasons.
** Another WhatCouldHaveBeen is this game's version of Hidden Palace Zone, it was going to play a major part of the story concerning the Chaos Emeralds and be where Sonic would have first turned into Super Sonic.

** Another WhatCouldHaveBeen is this game's version of Hidden Palace Zone, it was going to play a major part of the story concerning the Chaos Emeralds and be where Sonic would of first turned into Super Sonic.

* ThisIsADrill: Robotnik has two drill themed contraptions: the drill-tank contraption from Emerald Hill, and the cave burrowing contraption from Mystic Cave.
** There is also Grounder enemy in Aquatic Ruin zones with 3 drills and Spiker at the Hill Top Zone which has spiked drill.

* FridgeHorror: The animals that Sonic and Tails rescue in Sky Chase Zone fall to their doom.
** [[FridgeBrilliance There's no falling damage in the game, so it should apply to the other animals.]]
*** [[FridgeLogic But then why does Sonic/Tails feel the need to rescue the other after the Death Egg blows up?]]
*** Dramatic effect. The ending wouldn't be that good if it ended with Sonic/Tails just landing on solid ground after a massive drop and just pose. Besides, they DID jump off the airplane to pose mid-air.
*** He wanted to make sure Sonic wouldn't fall in the ocean and drown.
*** As shown at Sonic 3's intro, which takes place right after the end of Sonic 2, he was going to fall at the ocean, so the above is true.

* BreatherBoss: Mecha Sonic, the second-to-final boss. With just the right timing, he can be defeated in roughly 10 seconds. If anything, he's just a warm-up for the fight against Robotnik's giant robot.

*** But balanced out when those last high-up rings are juuuuuuuust out of reach for our [[strike:midget]] very young fox.

* BossDissonance: A fair bit of it, zigzagging back and forth: Chemical Plant and [[BreatherLevel Casino Night]] have bosses harder than the levels; Hill Top, Mystic Caves, and Oil Ocean have a trifecta of {{Breather Boss}}es in levels that get steadily tougher.
** Chemical Plant's boss is ''not'' hard. All you have to do is ''duck'' and ''he isn't able to hurt you''. Granted, you have to watch out for those damn rotating parts of the floor, but that just translates to "stay in the center".

* WastedSong: The Death Egg Zone theme is whimsically creepy, catchy, and awesome...and since it's only played in the corridor before the Silver Sonic fight, you likely won't even hear 10 seconds of it. This is justified by the fact that it was originally supposed to be played for a full-length Act in the Death Egg Zone, but that was DummiedOut.