Sonic 2: 20 Years On

I did a similar post two years ago which was much more detailed, and oddly enough, it is the most viewed entry on this entire blog by a LONG shot. I suggest you go read that first. I'll wait.

Good. Now you know that today is the 20th anniversary of the release of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 on the Sega Megadrive. (Or "Genesis", if you will.) As this landmark game reaches the double-decade, let's dust off our ROM emulator and take another retrospective look.




Sonic 2 introduced several elements to the series. A new character, Tails the fox, or Miles, as his creator Yasushi Yamaguchi wanted him to be called. A new move, the Spin Dash, for taking off at speed from a stationary position. The ability to become the gold, invincible and permanently sped-up Super Sonic after collecting all the Chaos Emeralds (collecting them all in Sonic 1 did nothing apart from a slightly different animation in the ending sequence). And finally, a split n' squished-screen two-player mode, with three playable levels plus the Special Stage.

The excellent British gaming magazine Mean Machines Sega rated Sonic 2 at 96%, their third-highest rating for a Megadrive game, right behind Ecco The Dolphin (97%) and Street Fighter II (98%). According to Sonic Retro, Sonic 2 has been re-released 25 times so far, on such platforms as Saturn, Gamecube, PS2/3, Xbox/360, Wii, iPhone and more. Yes, the Nintendo Gamecube. If you'd told me in 1992 that Sega's flagship character would one day appear on Nintendo, I'd have told you to cut back on the LSD. But enough about that –

"Watch me, Sonic!" Tails didn't come into his own until 1994's Sonic 3, with his ability to swim, tail attack and airlift Sonic, but the little fella is still useful to have during normal play. When controlled by the CPU he can still get the occasional hit on the bosses...

...but during the Special Stage, get someone to control him as the ring tally requirements are ridiculously tight. (These pseudo-3D stages are crazy, by the way. I'm still no better at them than I was when I was 14.)

I received this game for Christmas in 1992 along with several million others (you know who you are), and the cartridge (left) was used at length. Especially as the game was very long, with 11 levels. So, how does the game measure up in 2012?

Well, it's still challenging. Thanks to the magic of emulation software, I've been able to keep playing it long after my actual console went kaput, so my Sonic skills haven't gone to ruin. In fact, a couple of years ago I was still able to whip some cocky kid at it in the ACMI's Games Lab, thanks to extended sections of this game – the terrain and enemy placement – being permanently ingrained in my memory. I'm sure the same is true for most gamers (with whatever game).




Even now I find some levels quite tough. The Casino Night Zone boss is still frustrating beyond belief, and two decades have not made that seahorse enemy in Oil Ocean Zone any less of a pain in the ass. Ditto the crab that punches you. I hate that thing. And it's even harder controlling it with a battered Mac keyboard instead of a joypad.

I always found Sonic 2 the most difficult of the original Megadrive 'trilogy'. I couldn't even get Super Sonic without a cheat. After 20 years I still struggle to get past some parts. In a way, I guess that qualifies the game's continued success.

All artwork in the screenshots © SEGA/Sonic team, but the cart photo is mine!

The Name Game

INANE AM RADIO TALK SHOW CALLER (FEMALE): I'd just like to wish you and all your families a very happy Christmas, and a peaceful and safe new year.

INANE AM RADIO TALK SHOW HOST (MALE): Yeh. Same t'you.

And there we have Christmas sentiment in a nutshell, folks. The time of year when people pretend to care about others' feelings. Yeh. Whatever. Same t'you, lady. Now sod orf. There's 38 more callers waiting on the damn line.

Anyway, even though this is tagged as a Top Ten, it's actually only a Top Five. This is my list of –

Five Japanese Sega Video Games From The Early 1990s With Strange Names!

1. Popful Mail

(Falcom, 1994)

Yes, that is its actual title! A side-on platform game starring a girl called Mail with a big sword. You make her walk around the forest slashing stuff up. Get the picture? The game also has an RPG element to it, in the way that you converse with various characters you meet. Being a CD release it has the obligatory cartoon intro sequence. The English version of it is pretty funny, I have to say.

Isn't that a Pokemon on the right?

Pointy ears, like all elves.

That raccoon-type thing is about to get the chop.

"Intriguing. A happy face on the left, and what looks like a hedgehog on the right. But what's that brown lumpy thing in the middle?"

2. Keio Yuugekitai (Keio Flying Squadron)

(Victor, 1994)

A 2D shoot-'em-up set (oddly enough) in the year 1867 starring a 14 year old girl named Rami who, for reasons best known to the programmers, decides to ride on her flying dragon Pochi to shoot fireballs at marauders wearing nothing more than a bunny girl costume. How many bags of Wizz Fizz did these guys get through when they storyboarded this? Besides all that it's actually a rock-solid game; it was released on PlayStation four years later.

"What do you mean, 'Where's my cocktail'?"

"There sure are a lot of middle-aged married men down there."

Little raccoons in rowboats.

3. Warau Salesman (Laughing Salesman)

(Compile, 1993)

Seriously, you have to watch a clip of this. Even if you don't understand Japanese, this is hilarious. It's also just a little bit effed-up and dark. Not a game as such, it plays out more like an interactive cartoon. You control the leering overworked salesman in a variety of situations, such as drinking in a bar and fondling the girls on either side of you.

Wow, what a title screen.

The eponymous salesman. Creepy.

"Hey, barkeep. Keep the friggin' Suntory comin'."

4. Panorama Cotton

(Success, 1994)

Another weird title, and this time the heroine is a girl called Cotton who flies around on a broomstick shooting at monsters and looking for enchanted candies. Seriously, what are these dudes on. This is a pseudo-3D shoot-'em-up that was never released outside of Japan, and that's too bad, as it looks like fun.

Aw, would you look at that. She's riding on a broom.

Play view. That girl in the purple bikini is just there to distract you.

That purple bikini girl is back for more distraction. And look! More fan service.

5. Time Gal

(Taito, 1993)

This actually hit the arcades in Japan in 1985, but what we see here is the Sega version. A girl called Reika travels through time, and does stuff in different eras. The FMV animation is really good. The programmers put in all these bizarre and sick death sequences for when Reika loses a life – one has her minecart crashing at full speed into a cliff face. In another, she gets stepped on by a dinosaur. One of the future time periods she travels to is the year 2010. It is depicted as bleak and soulless. How did they know?

'Wolf Team'. My my, aren't we enigmatic?

How to pick up women. Tee hee.

Yay! That block I was standing on exploded.

Sonic 2: 18 Years On

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is a platform game by SEGA, the sequel to the debut Sonic game of 1991. Unlike the first Sonic game which was programmed in Japan, Sonic 2 was developed in the United States at the Sega Technical Institute. Released on November 24, 1992, it was the fastest- and highest-selling video game of its time, and continued to hold that title for years.

The combined Japanese/American design team would certainly influence the game's graphical style and give it a look and feel distinct to its predecessor, as the screenshots below show.

The verdict: 18 years on, it's still a winner!

The title screen, and a new playable character – Tails the Fox, created by Yasushi Yamaguchi, who drew and animated just about everything in the game.

Emerald Hill Zone, level 1. Its best feature is the checkered 3D 'barrel roll'. Tim Skelly, the Art Director, had to work on this 3D feature until the checks lined up exactly.

Chemical Plant Zone, level 2. This level is infamous for allegedly triggering seizures in some players (what the press termed 'photo-epilepsy'). This was supposedly brought on by the bright background combined with the high speed sections. Beats me – I had no problems with it.

Aquatic Ruin Zone, level 3, the obligatory 'underwater' level.

Casino Night Zone, level 4. An amazingly fun level; Sega got so much positive feedback about it that they decided to develop Sonic Spinball, a pinball game, soon after. This level was Yamaguchi's and it looks very different from how it looks in prototype versions. I should add that the music in this level really adds to the atmosphere.

Hill Top Zone, level 5. Basically a simple reworking of Emerald Hill.

Mystic Cave Zone, level 6. Sometimes after Sonic jumps off the vine, Tails continues to hang there.

Oil Ocean Zone, level 7. The foreground art is by level artist Craig Stitt, the background is by Yamaguchi. This screenshot is from a hack. There's now an extensive Sonic hacking scene; most hacks are too buggy and not worth playing, but a few are done by scarily talented people. I took this screenshot from a hack to show the 'checkered ball' which was in earlier versions, but later taken out. You hit a switch, the ball comes out from the ground and...you can stand on it. And that's about it.

Wing Fortress Zone. After the 8th level, Metropolis Zone, there's a short plane level (Sky Chase), then you get this. Tails is the one who normally flies the plane.

Death Egg Zone, and the final boss.

The ending sequence.

The Special Stage. Tim Skelly drew the 3D half-pipe. He says he could have done a full 360˚ vertical loop, but they ran out of space (the game was an 8-megabit [1MB] cartridge).

Sonic fans know what Sonic 2 was like in unfinished form thanks to a ROM of an earlier version (the 'beta version') which appeared online in 1998. The level select revealed some levels which later got scrapped. One of these was Wood Zone, which was set in a forest and done by Brenda Ross. It's unplayable without debug mode and is very glitchy, as you can see.

A level set in a desert (also by Brenda Ross) was also scrapped, but it's not even in the beta version. All that exists is a screenshot that Brenda mocked up for the press (however, she has said that this level was up and running, but they didn't have time to add it to the game). Hackers have put together this whole level based on the art style seen in that one screenshot (like I said, scarily talented) by finding unused artwork buried in the ROM. There have been endless debates over the level's name. Most people call it Dust Hill Zone, including Brenda Ross.

Brenda said the desert level was designed to have a palette change, so the yellow sand became white snow, and the cacti became Christmas trees. This hack screenshot shows what it might have looked like.

The most famous lost level is called Hidden Palace Zone, done by Craig Stitt. It was supposed to be a 'secret' level, and it appeared in so many pre-release screenshots, but was not in the final game, most likely due to time constraints and additional design work being required. Hidden Palace is in the beta version, and it's a great looking level – unlike the other scrapped levels, it has rings, enemies and most platforms implemented – but cannot be completed. The fully complete version in the hacks is fun to play, and it still remains a shame the level was cut. The music it had was very moody and eerie and fit the visuals really well.

A large Emerald in Hidden Palace. For a while, there was all this speculation that this was the 'Master Emerald' (as seen in 1994's Sonic & Knuckles, the follow-up to Sonic 3, which also had a level called Hidden Palace, totally unlike this one). Craig Stitt said much later that it was just there to stop up the tube – Sonic would break it open like he would any other smashable object. The Emerald in the beta version is unbreakable, though.

All images © SEGA/Sonic Team 1992.

We Must Repeat!

Hey, I just redesigned the masthead; like it?

Our theme for the month of November 2010 is 'We must repeat': in other words, look back to the past and re-interpret it for the future. 'Repurposing', as those chin-stroking tosswinkles at Thr**dl*ss call it.

© SEGA 1994

I can't remember who sent me this, but it was before I got a Mac, so that person is probably dead. Anyway, it's obviously a scan from a Korean magazine. This is a piece of promo artwork for Sega's video game Sonic The Hedgehog 3, released February 2, 1994 and quite a remarkable piece of colour styling and airbrushing as well as character design (this is probably the best official drawing of Tails out of them all!).

I'm assuming this artwork was done in Japan because Yuji Naka wanted an all-Japanese team working on Sonic 3, despite the fact that 1992's multi-million-selling Sonic 2 featured level art done by American artists to give the game a more 'international' look. Oh well, the dude gets what he wants.

Screen Worlds (Part Deux)

More images from my visit to Screen Worlds. Be awed. Awed, I tell you!

A Commodore 64 computer (1982), with joystick, game on cassette, and tape loader. It could also run software on ROM carts. I'll see anyone outside who doesn't think this is awesome!

A blurry screenshot of Tempest (1981), with simple circular-scroll and fire controls. I hadn't played it originally, but there was some ownage here. The concept is very simplistic but a bunch of dumb kids with skateboards who had a go couldn't figure it out.

The IBM PC version of Tetris (1984). Regularly mentioned as one of the best video games of all time and voted in some online poll as the greatest thing to come out of Russia.

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game (2005). Haven't they milked enough money out of this franchise? Amazing graphics and brilliant concept, though.

This is what you see when you complete Sonic The Hedgehog (1991) – goes without saying I've seen it hundreds of times. On my birthday in 2005, I drew a small crowd of kids playing it on the big screen at the ACMI. In 2008 I had the pleasure of owning some dork at it at ACMI's Game On. Back at ACMI in 2010 and the shine hasn't gone off this classic one bit.

Screen Worlds

Before I begin, I'd like to point out that it's now ten years since the events in the 'drug house scene' in Constantinople (see May 1 post) took place! Anyway, the renovations at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image are finally done and my friend Yoji and I went to see the permanent exhibition Screen Worlds, which charts the rise of moving images through history. Here are a few still images of said moving images.

A beautifully-rendered world of possibility.

Pong vs. Tennis – a floorscreen.

The light at the end of the tunnel.

Visitors are asked to predict the future of our digital world, which is difficult, but I managed it (see below). My prediction may seem fatuous and flippant to you, but then the fact that I have a blog earns me the right to be as fatuous and flippant as I like, wouldn't you say?