Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Japanese: ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ2ツー Hepburn: Sonikku za Hejjihoggu Tsū?) is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team, with assistance from Sega Technical Institute, and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis console. It was released worldwide in November 1992. The game is the second main entry in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and the first to feature Miles “Tails” Prower, a flying two-tailed fox. He and protagonist Sonic the Hedgehog must stop the series antagonist Dr. Ivo Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds in order to power his space station, called the Death Egg.

Development of the game began in November 1991, two months later than originally intended, because Sega of America felt that it was too soon for a sequel. Both American and Japanese Sonic Team staff contributed to development; art director Tim Skelly designed the appearance of the game’s new 3D special stages, based on an earlier tech demo created by Yuji Naka. The staff increased the speed of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in comparison to its predecessor. As with the original game, the soundtrack was composed by Masato Nakamura.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was a critical and commercial success. It has sold over six million copies, making it the second-best-selling Genesis game behind the original Sonic the Hedgehog. It has since been released in several compilations and downloads for various platforms, which were also generally positively received. A remastered version was released on iOS and Android devices in December 2013, including new features such as Boss Rush and Time Attack modes, and the ‘Hidden Palace Zone’, which was scrapped from the original 1992 release. Two sequels, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, were released in 1994.