Sonic 2: XL is a humorous romhack of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, created by Captain Bozo and Ranger.
Gameplay wise, it is virtually identical to the original game, but also parodies the rom hack trend of making the rings hazardous (e.g. the hack OMG The Red Rings) by adding one major twist to the gameplay—the rings are all changed into Onion Rings. Every five rings Sonic grabs, he gets fatter, which changes the gameplay considerably and makes the experience a lot harder overall. It goes from just slowing Sonic down and hindering his jump to disabling his spindash and even making him spin out of control if he goes down a slope. If he grabs thirty consecutive rings (or busts open two consecutive 10 ring monitors) he'll become so obese that he becomes immobile, promptly dying of a heart attack seconds after. The upside is that Sonic can work off his weight by simply running around enough and avoiding rings as much as possible (or by simply smashing the new "?" monitors sitting around, which instantly reverts him back to normal).
Tropes:
- Acrofatic: Subverted very hard. While Sonic can still get bounced along by springs just as effectively as he was thin, gaining weight hampers him heavily, starting from slowing him and lowering his jump height, to making him unable to spindash or jump at all.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- A new "?" Monitor is added to the game that will automatically change Sonic back to normal if he busts it open. These are graciously added into zones where large links of rings are impossible to avoid, such as Chemical Plant, in order to make the game possible to beat. On top of that, each boss fight has one of these monitors preceding them now to ensure that you have a fair fight.
- While Fat Sonic in any form automatically hinders Sonic's jump, underwater areas like Aquatic Ruin still allow him to jump insanely high in order to make it possible to beat the level. The same goes for any spring-based objects, which will still propel him as per normal regardless of weight level.
- Grabbing rings in Special Stages will not bloat up Sonic or kill him, as it would make them flat out Unwinnable otherwise.
- Balloon Belly: Sonic gradually gains this from every five rings he grabs, which eventually hinders his jumping and keeps him from spin dashing or even properly spinning—and if he grabs 30 total, he'll become so obese that he can't even move and will die of a heart attack in a few seconds. And losing your rings will not change your weight. Fortunately, Sonic can work off his excess weight by running around a lot.
- Big Eater: Sonic becomes this against his will, since all of the rings will affect his weight.
- Brought Down to Normal: Eating too many rings will disable the spin dash and keep Sonic from running fast, jumping, or even spinning properly.
- Death by Gluttony: This will happen to Sonic if he eats too many Onion Rings without walking off the fats. All it takes is 30 of them to render poor Sonic immobile and trigger a fatal heart attack.
- Formerly Fit: The normally fit Sonic quickly becomes morbidly obese when he eats too many Onion Rings.
- Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: The main gameplay is very hard now due to the Onion Ring mechanic, but the bosses are as easy as ever, at least if you fight them as normal Sonic. It also helps that several boss stages place a "?" diet monitor right before the boss fight, ensuring that Sonic will be fit enough (unless the player doesn't want to grab it).
- Hollywood Heart Attack: Averted; despite this game's comical depiction of obesity, Sonic doesn't have an overly exaggerated heart attack once he gets too fat. Instead, he sits motionless and stares off with a weary face before giving his Death Throws.
- The Millstone: Tails can make Sonic fatter even when he himself collects rings.
- Misbegotten Multiplayer Mode: The hacks turns the otherwise fun two-player mode into this. The new fat mechanic makes it impossible to play a straight game of two-player, because Tails can grab rings with no ill effects, while Sonic will quickly bloat up from the rings Tails gathers.
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Nintendo Hard: The change the rings add to the gameplay make the game a lot harder than the original. - Nutritional Nightmare: The deep-fried Onion Rings which replace the Gold Rings. Just eating five of these makes Sonic gain a level of fat, and 30 of them will make him so fat that he'll die from a heart attack.
- Poison Mushroom: The hack turns all of the rings into this by gradually making Sonic morbidly obese, but they still protect Sonic from damage. 10 ring monitors are your worst enemy in this game, since they instantly make Sonic even more fat than individual rings will—popping open two of them consecutively will instantly bloat Sonic into the highest fat level, unlike how it takes 30 regular rings to get that fat.
- Power-Up Food: Absolutely inverted by the onion rings. Sonic loses his abilities as they make him fatter.
- Shmuck Bait: Whatever you do, do not play the slot machine in Casino Night Zone—getting any big ring bonus will spell doom for Sonic.
- Super Mode: Sonic is still capable of becoming Super Sonic, and the sprites alternate between Sonic's regular form and fat form. It won't protect Sonic from getting a heart attack or slowing down to a crawl if you grab too many rings, though.
- Unintentionally Unwinnable:
- If you somehow manage to get Fat Sonic past the Wing Fortress boss and the ? Monitor after it (by using debug mode) you can't complete the level. Sonic is too fat to jump high enough to jump onto Tails' plane and will miss and fall to his death instead.
- It's entirely possible to avoid taking the ? Monitor right before the bosses, causing you to have to fight Robotnik as a fatter and thus more hampered Sonic. In certain cases the boss might become outright unwinnable (such as Oil Ocean if Sonic is too weighty to jump back to the platform).
- Unwinnable by Design: It's entirely possible to get stuck in spots where Sonic can't jump out of if he's too fat and there's too little room for him to run around and work off the fat, forcing the player to either let an enemy kill them or let the timer run out. Hill Top Zone is particularly nasty in this regard, since even the first stage of Fat Sonic can keep him from jumping to safety and trap him in the lava pits.
- Visual Pun: The rings are all changed into Onion Rings.
- Xtremely Kool Letterz: The title, which is a shorthand for Extra Large.
