Long time ago, when video-games dominated my childhood, we had everything. Super jumps, power-ups, hard bosses, mind blowing scenery, puzzles, we've had it all!... Everything except for one thing: the 3rd dimension. Everything was measured and designed in terms of width and height, depth wasn't a factor, but that surely wasn't a limitation. My proposition here is to remember some fine moments that cut into the memories of many gamers. Plataform moments. In 2D.

To start the series I've chosen a game that got me bound to my Mega Drive for a long time, and that even today steals precious days of my year with it's clever level design and addicting gameplay: Sonic 2.

The first time that game made it's way into my Mega Drive slot, was back in January 1993. I was on my way to a family meeting and with no cousins of my age, video-games would surely play a big part in that weekend. Knowing that a bad game could destroy a perfectly passable weekend of my school recess, I had made reservatio for some games at a local rental store. Altough I don't remember what other game swere on my list (Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle probably), Sonic 2 was, and I was craving to play that thing.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had been launched in November 1992 both in american an japanese soils, but as a brazilian boy living at the countryside things took weeks to reach me. So, after some waiting I would have the chance to play it. Since i've had a nice time with the original Sonic, I thought that the sequel would entertain me quite as much.

I was wrong.

From the moment that Emeral Hill Act 1 began, I knew that something was diferent. The game was way faster than it's preceder, and the levels seemed to be specialy built to add more and more speed to the game. In spite of that it wasn't just a "press left + jump" kind of game, the levels sent the little blue porcupine into well built scenes and with a major point: you always knew what you were doing.

That surely was a heavy factor in the way the game was designed. Although you passed running through teh stages at fast pace, you always knew where Sonic was and at anytime could slow down, look and explore your surroundings. The game played like a cerebral action movie, you didn't had to stop to make your choices. And that made a huge difference.



There is one thing that can be very annoying about plataform games: the dificulty pacing. Many time in a plataformer, the gamer is subject to choke point in which i's skills are put to test. Usually its a sequence of hard-timed jumps, or a sucession of enemies that get in your way to reach that fuking high door. It's not a bad thing, after all that's got to be always more and more challenge, or the game is destined to be a "boring afternoon playthrought". But to the increasing dificulty pacing be well received, it must be bound to an equally adjusted learning curve. And Sonic 2 got it.

Chemical Plant Act 2 had an underwater starway part that could present some challenge (and it did, and i hated it), but by the third time you got to it, you knew how to time your jumps and got foward, to an more easy and straight-foward section of the level. That was rewarding, the game wasn't a sucession of hard parts. It was an sequence of well disposed easy(the fast running parts) and hard (the timed jumping/ obstacle course) parts.
The boss fights were also pretty creative (as they were in the first Sonic game), each one with a different approach, and a diferent resolution. Although I think that they could've had made them harder, they matched the stage scenario, and were quite pleasant to beat (Aquatic Ruin being my personal favorite).



Another aspect of the game that got me right away was the music. The score from the game was so well composed and went so well in each level, that I even today I caught myself humming the themes of the game. From the now classic Emerald Hill tune, to the industrial moody Metropolis theme, the game got it all. IMO it was the best soundtrack of the series.

In graphical terms, the game went far beyond form it's predecessor. The animations were more fluid, and the speed impression that got from running through the stages was more impressive than in it's pequel (sincerelly, it was more impresive than Sonic 3 also). The levels and characters were beautifully drawn, and in spite of the limited color pallete of the Mega Drive, everything was vivid and very nice to the eyes.

But wasn't only in the gameplay, music and graphical terms that the game was beyond it's predecessor. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had some new additions that would be maintained for the rest of the series.



First of all, Tails was introduced. The two-tailed fox was an really nice touch to the game, and in spite of not helíng so much in the levels, it was fun to watch Sonic blaze through the leves with it's partner. The bonus stages were redesigned also, they weren't a chaotic vegas-like maze, now they were race tracks, in which Sonic and Tails collected rings and avoided mines (BTW Tails pretty much fucked up everything in the bonus stages). The new design matched the series theme very well, and would be reused in futures installments of the franchise.

As in the first game, you received a chaos emerald in the end of each bonus stage. They ere seven in stead of six this time, and after you've got them all you would get more than a happy ending. You now could transform into Super Sonic, which was faster, invincible (except for the ultimate killers, like bottomless pits and porcupine mashers) and had a different look (Sayan based, obviously). Getting all the seven emeralds wasn't easy, but it was rewadfull, and besides you couldn't tranform into Super Sonic at the final stage (you needed fifty rings to do so, and there are only three in the final level) it was nice to do so in the other ones.



Sonic the Hedgehog 2 played well, looked good and although it was kind of short it took the series one step beyond, and became one of the major Mega Drive titles. The game is an example of how an simple concept can be axpanded without turning too complex or tedious. It's a major chapter in the way plataform games were made, and in many ways, it is plataform as it's best.

Well, thank you all for your time, it was nice to write this, and I expect it to be nice to read also. Sorry for the bad english, see ya!