Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a platform game developed by Sonic Team in collaboration with Sega Technical Institute, and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. It was released in Japan on 21 November 1992 and in North America and Europe on 24 November 1992. It is the sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog and was directly followed by Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in 1994. The game formally introduces Miles "Tails" Prower as an addition to the cast and a new playable character.
The story follows Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails on their mission to stop the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik from obtaining the seven Chaos Emeralds to power his new Death Egg. Sonic and Tails must defeat Robotnik's army and free their friends.
Six months after its release, it had sold around six million copies and became the best selling game on the Mega Drive. The game was compatible with the lock-on feature of Sonic and Knuckles which allowed the player to play Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It has been included in a number of compilations on a range of platforms. It has also been ported and released individually by multiple developers, being a part of Backbone Entertainment's PlayStation 3 releases, and M2's Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch remasters. It has also been extensively remade on the Retro Engine by Christian Whitehead and Simon Thomley for mobile devices, with widescreen support and a plethora of new content.
Cheat Codes[]
All of the codes provided relate to the original Mega Drive and Genesis releases of Sonic 2. Later re-releases or remakes may not have these cheat codes, or the codes may have changed.
Zone Select | Go to the Options menu, then play songs 19, 65, 09, 17. Then go to the title screen and press A+Start. | |
Super Sonic | Go to the Zone Select, then play songs 04, 01, 02, 06. An emerald sound should play. Select a Zone and keep holding A until the level loads. | |
Debug Mode | Go to the Zone Select, then play songs 01, 09, 09, 02, 01, 01, 02, 04. A ring sound should play. Select a Zone and keep holding A until the level loads. | |
Super Sonic + Debug Mode | Go to the Zone Select, then play songs 01, 09, 09, 02, 01, 01, 02, 04, 01, 02, 06. A ring sound triggers after 04 and an emerald sound triggers after 06. Select a Zone and keep holding A until the level loads. | |
14 Continues | Go to the Options menu screen, then play songs 01, 01, 02, 04. (An incorrect sound error will occur, causing Oil Ocean Zone's music to play until the game is reset.) | |
Change Tails' Name to Miles on Game HUD (and vice versa) | On the title screen, press Up, Down, Down, Down, Up. In the International releases, it will turn Tails' name to Miles. In the Japanese version, the opposite occurs. |
Trivia[]
- The Zone Select code is actually a reference to Yuji Naka's (lead programmer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog) birthday. His birthday is September 17th, 1965.