Play Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Europe) Online

Sonic 2 on Master System throws you into faster, twistier levels with Tails by your side—hovering gives you a little breathing room, but those underwater sections still make you panic as the air runs out. Robotnik’s animal robots are weirder than ever, and yeah, you’ll absolutely lose all your rings to spikes you swore you’d avoid this time.

Developer: SEGA

Genre: Platform

Released: 1992

File size: 512 bytes

Game Overview

Remember when Sonic 2 hit the Master System? It felt like a big step up from the first game—you’ve got Tails tagging along now, and the levels have way more going on. You’ll bounce off springs, loop through corkscrews, and smash through Robotnik’s weird animal-mech hybrids (seriously, why does he keep turning cute critters into robots?). The underwater zones still stress me out though—that air meter ticking down never gets easier.

What’s cool is how different Sonic and Tails feel to play. Sonic’s all about speed, obviously, but Tails can kinda cheat by hovering for a second. I always end up taking dumb risks with Sonic and then regretting it when I lose all my rings to some spike trap I definitely saw coming.

It’s got that classic 16-bit energy crammed into an 8-bit system, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. Just don’t expect the same experience as the Genesis version—this one’s got its own weird charm.