Level Design Notes
Sonic 2 is probably the biggest single 2D Sonic game so far, with a whopping ten levels (final boss stage not withstanding), as opposed to the average number of six or seven. Admittedly most of them are quite brief, and except for the later ones, each is divided into 2 acts, while Sonic 1 carried 3 acts per level. They're long enough to enjoy them properly though, and somewhat easier too. You'll fight the boss at the end of each second act, and as with Sonic 1, Eggman strikes again in all new contraptions, each requiring eight hits to defeat. One of the key selling points was that Sonic 2 is generally faster than its predecessor, and this is partly thanks to the level design, where stages such as Chemical Plant Zone feature long, twisting and looping stretches of ground to run along at great speed, creating some of the fastest experiences of the early Sonic world. These kind of experiences are more common than slower paced, trap-filled corridors, as seen in the Marble or Labyrinth Zones in Sonic 1. That's certainly not all you can expect from the stages though, as many of them continue the tradition with plenty of, or perhaps even more multiple routes, hidden shortcuts and secret areas, as well as varied and diverse traps and enemies. Scenery graphics are improved and more detailed, and brand new environments are visited such as tall mountains and the caves within them, more varied factories and our first visit to the Death Egg space station. It's been found that in the planning stages of the game, many more levels were considered, and you can find out a bit more about that in the Sonic 2 Beta section.
Though Sonic 2 doesn't advance the level design of the series in particularly huge leaps and bounds, these zones are fine additions to it, containing a similar degree of well developed variety and vibrancy to their Sonic 1 counterparts, and up until the last few stages, the difficulty feels noticeably lower, yet challenging enough.
The ten zones are excruciatingly analysed in their own separate pages, which can be accessed by clicking the titles or screenshots of each, from the following list. Details on the final boss and ending sequence are listed at the bottom of this page..
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Similar to the Green Hill Zone, this is another standard tropical introduction stage, this time set a little further away from the sea than normal, surrounded by fields and hills. Lots of loop-de-loops, sloping hills and twisting pathways, but also some narrow, spiked tunnels below and plenty of badniks around. Notable as one of the shortest, simplest Sonic levels in existence. You should have very few problems here.
Toxic chemicals are being produced in this grimy factory, under the bright lights of the city. A high-speed level, and in fact, the fastest of its time, with long twisting paths and loops. Near the bottom of Act 2 lurks the dangerous pink chemical which acts as water, so tread with care.
A cheerful little water level set around crumbling ruins in a small lake, hidden within a thick forest. The water divides the stage right along the middle, and one main route (filled with intertwining roads) lies above it, while the other is submerged below, where things can get much more tricky. As long as you stay on the high road, you should have few problems with this brief stage.
Sonic establishes his controversial gambling problem with the original casino themed level, a classic staple. Bumpers, flippers and blocks are inexplicably arranged high above the buzzing cityscape at night, and colourful neon lights are everywhere. The classic pinball zone of Sonic 2, that'll send you bouncing off of things in all directions, often across giant pinball tables.
Set high above the clouds, where only the peaks of the rocky mountain tops and canyons are visible. A straight-forward, but hilly level with high walls to climb, lava pits to dodge and internal caves to explore. Use see-saws to spring up, unstable vine lifts to ride down, and watch out for earthquakes which create havoc in the volcanic caves, causing ground and lava to rise and fall.
Carry on deep inside the mountains and you'll find these dark, spooky caves tamed by mine cart rails and tunnels. This slightly uncommon Sonic location is an enclosed, corridor-based stage with deadly spiked traps and crushers waiting for you round every corner, so be careful. Use hanging vine switches to open up bridges and gates and avoid falling into long pits.
This time Eggman's been busy producing, literally, an ocean of oil. It's sunset in this grimy refinery, but the thin, suspended paths and surroundings are highly decorated. Use green furnace flames to shoot yourself upwards on small platforms, and a series of spheres will transport you across the large zone to other areas. The oil occupies the whole bottom of the stage, and its thick properties will act as quicksand, so if you don't jump your way out to a nearby ledge, it'll drag you down and kill you.
Despite what the name would suggest, this is not a city, but a giant Eggman industrial factory. It features not two, but three huge acts with a massive array of tricky features and traps to negotiate. Portions of the stage loop from top to bottom frequently, and you'll have to be mindful of some nasty industrial crushers, giant nuts and screws, large pits of boiling chemicals and quite possibly the three most irritating badniks you will ever meet. A long and challenging level, but with a great soundtrack.
Beaten in his own factory, the doctor retreats to the skies, but Sonic and Tails give chase in their Tornado bi-plane. A very different level that takes place in the air and is only one act long, with no boss and contains only rings and badniks. You can move around freely within a gradually scrolling environment in which the objects will come towards you from the right, but no matter where you go, the Tornado will follow your position, and you'll always land back down on its wings. A simple, fun level that works more like a mini-game.
Essentially Act 2 of Sky Chase Zone, this single act is based on Robotnik's first flying battleship. It hangs in the air so throughout the whole thing, there's a constant threat of falling to your death off the thin ledges and platforms. The paths take you all the way around the mighty ship, filled with propellers, many types of platforms, guns and speed launchers. Though fairly brief and with a simple appearance, this is one tough stage that demands the highest degree of skills.
Death Egg Zone
And so it comes to this. Not a level as such, as it contains only two bosses, so would be better classed as a boss arena. I would consider this to be, if not the most difficult final boss challenge in Sonic history, then certainly one of the most difficult. You have the grueling task of defeating not one, but two enduring bosses, with no checkpoints, and no rings whatsoever. Nope, not a single one, or any other item.. None. Put simply, taking as many as one hit per life is not an option here.
Boss: Mecha Sonic
So you've made it to Dr. Eggman's massive mechanical spherical satellite of doom, poised to unleash deadly death rays on all living things from space, and it's up to you to bring down his evil schemes, save the planet and somehow survive the fall back down to home, eh? Well, we'll worry about that fall in a minute. First of all, you'll find yourself in a narrow corridor surrounded by light blue (Chemical Plant scenery art re-used) and brown coloured walls of technology and stars whizzing past in a window behind you. A suitably space-like and very foreboding musical intro accompanies your entry, which is abruptly halted completely when you walk forward into the main room, where it is replaced by the boss music. Just as well, personally the odd wailing sounds that that track features thereafter isn't a favourite of mine, and it's almost as if the developers agree. Anyway, the first boss room puts you against a dull brown technological background, with a straight floor as your battleground. From the top right, something hovers down to the arena - a large grey robot modelled on Sonic! The first of our hero's robotic doppelgangers, often unofficially dubbed as "Silver Sonic", his actual name is probably closer to the slightly less original "Mecha Sonic". Perhaps a prototype for the more infamous Metal Sonic of Sonic CD, or others would argue that it would later be reborn in Sky Sanctuary Zone in Sonic & Knuckles. No one can really say for sure. Whoever he is though, with a set series of nasty moves that you need to learn and avoid, he's not just here for the free lunch. Your best chance is to know what he's going to do before he does it, and take every opportunity you can grab to hit him, because without any rings, every second counts. Notice that the window in the center of the room opens up once the mecha has landed, and Eggman is peering in, watching the action unfold.
Basically, he will dash from one side of the room to the other in a variety of different ways, but based on a pre-defined pattern that he does not stray from. Between each attack he stands still on the side for a couple of seconds before launching into the next one, and this is where you should land most of your hits, one at a time. You can only damage him by hitting his head, and while he's standing still, you should use your jumping spin to do so. Don't spin dash or roll right into him or you'll touch the spikes, and lose a life. Mecha Sonic goes down in 8 hits.
Mecha Sonic will usually be spinning in a ball across the room, either on the floor or with a jump in the middle. He'll start spinning in a static position before moving. Leap over him when he spins across the ground, and stand still in the center, below Eggman's window, when he jumps over you. Follow the guide below to know which attack he's going to do, but if you're not sure, try standing in the far opposite side from where he starts, and jump over him and out of there when he arrives. Another type of attack is where he'll use the wheels on his shoes to dash across from one side, and then turn around and dash back from the other side, without pausing in between. He isn't spinning in this instance, so you can hit his head twice here, if you can jump into it at the precise moments that he passes by you, on each dash. This can be tricky, and you'll die if you time it incorrectly, but there is an easier way. Just before he's about to dash, stand around the middle and face away from him, and charge up a spin dash of your own, but do not release it yet. When he passes by, he'll take a hit just by touching you, and another one when he turns around and dashes back from the other side. Release the spin dash when he's finished and if you were facing away from him, you'll dash off safely to the opposite side. You need to get in position for this very quickly though, as he won't hang around and wait for you, and you would also need to quickly run back to his corner if you want to try another hit while he stands there.
Finally, a particularly nasty attack has him throwing out sharp spikes in all directions, at certain times where he's spinning and jumping over you. Read below to know when this is going to happen, because you have to be standing in the correct place to avoid them. I use pieces of the background as a guide to tell me where to stand. See the small horizontal pipes either side and slightly below Eggman's window? As shown in the screenshot, If you stand directly underneath the one furthest away from Mecha Sonic (usually the left one) before he launches into this attack, you should be able to avoid the spikes. Bearing all that in mind, use this numbered guide to help you with the order of his attacks. Make your first hit as soon as he lands, before he begins his first attack, and then if you hit him once between each one, and twice during the first dash, you should be able to finish him off after attack #5...
1) Spins across the floor from the right.
2) Dashes from the left and back.
3) Spinning jump from the left.
4) Spins across the floor from the right.
5) Spins across the floor from the left.
6) Spinning jump from the right, with spikes.
7) Dashes from the left and back.
8) Spinning jump from the left.
9) Spins across the floor from the right.
10) Spins across the floor from the left.
11) Spinning jump from the right.
12) Spins across the floor from the left.
13) Dashes from the right and back.
14) Spins across the floor from the right.
15) Spinning jump from the left.
16) Spinning jump from the right with spikes.
This pattern repeats, but directions are then reversed.
2) Dashes from the left and back.
3) Spinning jump from the left.
4) Spins across the floor from the right.
5) Spins across the floor from the left.
6) Spinning jump from the right, with spikes.
7) Dashes from the left and back.
8) Spinning jump from the left.
9) Spins across the floor from the right.
10) Spins across the floor from the left.
11) Spinning jump from the right.
12) Spins across the floor from the left.
13) Dashes from the right and back.
14) Spins across the floor from the right.
15) Spinning jump from the left.
16) Spinning jump from the right with spikes.
This pattern repeats, but directions are then reversed.
Final Boss: Eggman Mech
After you've defeated your silver twin, he'll explode and you'll be able to progress to the right, where Eggman is standing. The doorway opens and he legs it the hell away from you. Chase him down a corridor into another large room, this time with large windows between brown pillars behind you, looking over space and the world below. Somehow Eggman can outrun Sonic and has enough time to get to the far end of the long room and leap in the cockpit of his final death machine; The first ever Eggman Mech! While not as big as later models, this is indeed the original, and is a large red robot based on the graven image of the self-obsessed doctor. The head closes and the final boss music kicks in as the mighty machine rises from the floor. The previous battle only really relied on sticking to a regular pattern and was mostly more of a test of memory than skill. This, on the other hand, requires significant skill, and while this guide can help you to avoid certain attacks that may kill you, making your own attacks on the thing is all down to your own precise timing and jumping abilities, and it may take some time to get the hang of. You still have no rings and if you get hit (likely), you'll have to redo the Mecha Sonic fight aswell. The deck is stacked against you my friend, but I shall do my best to assist you...
Dr. Eggman loves his mechs, and this one comes equipped with two spiked arms that can be fired as missiles at long range, and a jetpack booster that allows the machine to make high jumps up out of view, and come crashing down on any small spiky rodents that happen to be underneath, using a sophisticated target lock system. Impressive stuff, but the large, bulky torso, more specifically the chest area, is the vulnerable point of the machine, while everything else will hurt you. The spiked arm is usually in the way, but you need to jump high enough past this and make contact with the chest at the right times, and he'll go down in a super-sized amount of 12 hits. He'll make a start by taking a few steps forward. Don't try and hit him just yet, just stay a little way in front of him as he walks towards you, but not too far. When he stops and takes one step back, he's about to blast upwards, out of the top of the screen. You can land your first hit When he's standing still, just before he jumps, but it's quite a tricky one to make. Because the arm is withdrawn slightly, it's possible to jump up nice and high, from a fairly close position to him, and hit that chest area. However, it's very easy to miss-time it or not jump high enough and hit the spiked hand, so if you're not particularly confident, it might be better to play it safer, even if it means a longer battle. In my method at least, there are two possible instances where you can hit him, and this is the harder one. If you're playing as Knuckles in Sonic 2 + Knuckles, his weaker jump makes it even harder, but it is still possible.
Let him blast off to the top of the screen, then do the following.. Run over to one of the far corners (I always stay on the right side, but either will work), and you'll see the target marker over you, following your character around and bleeping. Jump around if you like, but stay to as far right or left as possible. When the red and yellow flashing circle appears in the middle and it bleeps more vigorously, it means the marker has locked on to whatever location you happen to be in at the time, and it remains in that location. Quickly get out of there because the mech is about to come crashing down on that spot in about a second's time. Don't go too far though, because this is your other, somewhat easier opportunity to hit him. Leave him enough girth and you'll find that the knees kind of buckle when he comes down, which, naturally sends the rest of the body down and forward a little for a brief moment, allowing you to jump over the hands more easily and land another precious hit to the chest, before the mech re-aligns itself.
Now the first time he does this, he won't walk forward afterwards, he'll crouch down again, but it's to fire both of his spiked arms, one after the other. Technically, it is possible to stand close to him and dodge the missiles while grabbing a couple of extra hits while he's crouched, but I would not advise this, because dodging those arms at close range is no easy feat. Instead, flee. This is why I recommended that you made the mech jump down to a far side of the room, because if you run all the way to the other side now, the spiked arms only go a certain distance and will not be able to reach you from all the way across the room. If he's too close, you'll have no choice but to try and leap over them. Good luck with that. When he's finished, he'll blast off back up again. You probably won't be able to get back over to him quick enough to land that other, harder hit before he takes off, so don't worry too much about that. The target marker will appear over you again, but this time it's not quite so important that you stay to a far side, because he won't fire the arms afterwards. Still, it's a good idea to do so anyway, just in case you lose track of his patterns, and also to avoid getting stuck behind him (read below). Avoid being crushed, as before, and be ready to hit the chest again when he lands. Then, he'll repeat the whole pattern by walking forward a few steps, and blasting off again, where you can try and make that harder hit if you want. So he basically alternates between firing the arms and walking between each jump, and I recommend that you give him one hit just after he lands each time, and, if you can, another in the brief period of time between walking and jumping. Repeat for all 12 hits.
All this, however, is assuming that the mech actually lands facing your direction, which he should do if you've followed my advice correctly. If you manage to make him come down around the center of the arena, and you move from left to right while the target marker locks on, so as to confuse the system, you may find that the mech will land facing the wrong way, with you standing behind it. Now you've really screwed up, because not only do you miss the chance to squeeze another hit out of him, Robotnik puts his patterns on hold to try out another attack that's very hard to dodge. From the top of the jet pack, he'll spurt out a pair of Eggman bombs that land in your vicinity and then explode. Even touching them will cause death so you better hope you're lucky enough to dodge them. From there, he may give you another pair of bombs to deal with, or he may just walk forward and then blast off again. Either way, just make sure you don't end up behind him, it's generally not a good idea.
When you make that magical twelfth hit, the mech's limbs will immediately fall off and the body will crash to the ground in the explosion. Sonic, sensing danger, automatically runs for his life through the corridor to the right of the arena as fire and explosions chase him along the way while the Death Egg begins to collapse (I don't know why) all around him. The scene fades to white just as our hero reaches the end of the corridor and makes a dramatic leap of faith out of the burning space station!
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#1. Comment posted by Reckoner on Sunday, 27th July 2008, 5:06am (BST)
#2. Comment posted by Hellahulla on Wednesday, 17th June 2009, 12:40am (BST)
#3. Comment posted by Cruizer on Sunday, 25th October 2009, 2:25pm (GMT)
#4. Comment posted by Adam on Friday, 5th August 2011, 12:22pm (BST)
#5. Comment posted by hypermario13 on Tuesday, 29th November 2011, 3:22pm (GMT)
#6. Comment posted by Manta on Saturday, 28th July 2012, 6:20pm (BST)
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#8. Comment posted by Slate The Hedgehog on Sunday, 17th March 2013, 8:26pm (GMT)
#9. Comment posted by Oobo on Monday, 2nd September 2013, 6:10am (BST)
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Ending
As Sonic, the ending begins (in an unusual medium for story scenes in the Sonic games) with a series of small black and white images with a white border around the rest of the screen, but it's a nice little ending to a great game. It's accompanied by the beautiful tune of "Sweet Sweet Sweet" which is a real Japanese song by Dreams Come True (you may also know of the remix that featured in the ending credits to Sonic the Hedgehog 2006), a member of whom composed the game's music. The first image is of the Death Egg exploding in the sky, with all the little animals looking up at the bright ray of light from back down in the Emerald Hill Zone. Tails is among them in the next shot, and he looks understandably concerned. Before you know it, he's back in the cockpit of the Tornado giving a thumbs up to one of his flicky friends, and as the climax of the music builds, the Tornado takes flight in the fourth and final image, with birds following closely behind, eager to catch their hero as he plummets from space. We then go back to the game graphics, and Sonic's still alive as he re-enters the atmosphere, spinning around as he falls. As the musical climax comes in, so does Tails, and Sonic lands rather neatly and conveniently on the wings of the bi-plane, and a couple dozen blue flicky birds follow behind as our victorious duo do a lap of honour across the skies. The flickies exit and the Tornado turns and leaves too for a moment before coming back to allow Sonic to leap up at the player with his fist raised in triumph! The day has been saved! Cue the credits with mega-mix of Sonic 2 music.
If you completed the game as Tails, the same thing happens, but with the two characters switched around, except that there are no pieces of black and white artwork to go with it. While the ending music plays, Tails just falls through the sky the whole time until the climax hits, and Sonic comes along in the Tornado. His blue flickies are replaced with white and red ones and Tails celebrates his victory at the end by jumping up and thrusting his crotch at us. Nice.
Super Sonic also has his own ending, if you complete the game having also collected all seven Chaos Emeralds in the Special Stages. The four images begin, as with regular Sonic, then Super Sonic is shown flying through the skies. Tails meets him in the Tornado, but Sonic doesn't stand on the wings, he flies next to it (rather dangerously close to the propeller - not that it would bother him I suppose). Little eagles take the place of the blue birds, and then the Tornado turns and leaves, and Sonic follows it a second later. They then reappear at the front of the screen, and Super Sonic jumps out at us, with a slightly pissed off look about him.
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#1. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Saturday, 7th May 2011, 11:14am (BST)
#2. Comment posted by Sonicfan32 on Tuesday, 12th July 2011, 6:03pm (BST)
#3. Comment posted by hypermario13 on Tuesday, 29th November 2011, 3:27pm (GMT)
#4. Comment posted by natalie on Thursday, 12th July 2012, 8:46pm (BST)
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#1. Comment posted by Tailsspain on Friday, 10th July 2009, 7:49pm (BST)
#2. Comment posted by Cruizer on Sunday, 25th October 2009, 2:26pm (GMT)
#3. Comment posted by Sonicfan32 on Monday, 9th August 2010, 5:59pm (BST)
#4. Comment posted by abcee on Wednesday, 1st September 2010, 10:17pm (BST)
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- Origin
- Storyline
- Comments
Gameplay - Basics
- Items
- Common Objects
Stages and Story - Level Design Notes
- Emerald Hill Zone
- Chemical Plant Zone
- Aquatic Ruin Zone
- Casino Night Zone
- Hill Top Zone
- Mystic Cave Zone
- Oil Ocean Zone
- Metropolis Zone
- Sky Chase Zone
- Wing Fortress Zone
- Death Egg Zone
- Ending
Other Modes - Special Stage
- Super Sonic
- 2 Player Versus
- Options
- Knuckles in Sonic 2
Miscellaneous - Ports and Compilation Appearances
- Sonic 2 Beta and the Lost Zones
- Cheats
Downloads
Last Updated
Content for this page last edited:
31st January 2009
Files last uploaded for this page:
18th February 2009
31st January 2009
Files last uploaded for this page:
18th February 2009
Recent Notes
Death Egg Zone
Posted by LOFC_Ed on 2nd September 2015
Ending
Posted by FinalSpecimen on 4th December 2014
General Notes
Posted by DaWrecka on 31st October 2014
Ending
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Death Egg Zone
Posted by Oobo on 2nd September 2013
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Posted by LOFC_Ed on 2nd September 2015
Ending
Posted by FinalSpecimen on 4th December 2014
General Notes
Posted by DaWrecka on 31st October 2014
Ending
Posted by AnarchyBeryl on 3rd January 2014
Death Egg Zone
Posted by Oobo on 2nd September 2013
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