They’re NOT social distancing, but the game is from 1992, soooo…

I knew I’d like M2’s revisiting this Sega Genesis classic a lot, but the extra mile (or Miles Prower, heh) the developer went here makes the experience even more enjoyable. SEGA AGES: Sonic The Hegdehog 2 ($7.99) is a solid enhanced port overall even with a touch of occasional glitchiness. Not only do you get the original game, but you get the inclusion of Knuckles the Echidna from Sonic and Knuckles as a playable character (as if you inserted a Sonic 2 cart into Sonic and Knuckles’ unique cartridge add-on slot back in 1992), a single stage Challenge Mode (I wish it had more stages, though), the Drop Dash move from the stellar Sonic Mania added, excellent HD rumble, online leaderboards and a few other nice touches like the ability to save anywhere.

Granted, there will be a fair amount of players who don’t get why such a very well known and much ported classic gets the M2 love while many other classic Sega (and non-SEGA) titles are still on the bench. But I see it this way: it’s very likely every day there will be those who never played a Sonic The Hedgehog game and as with the M2 port of the first installment, here’s a chance to at a nice price point. The recent Sonic movie did better than I and many others thought, so there’s an obvious demand to see and play more games featuring the character even if it’s a 2D game from 1992 that’s been bought to consoles, PC, and mobile devices many times previously.

If you’re sneaking out for tacos and the sky gets all trippy like this, return indoors immediately.

That and the fact that Nintendo itself has been remaking or reviving games in its Mario franchise for ages and they’ve continued to sell well across a few console variants means in a way, SEGA is pretty much keeping Sonic alive and kicking in a similar fashion and I’m all for that. Well, that and its pretty clear that the SEGA AGES project will expand into other SEGA arcade and console classics, but it’s also a long-term thing and one needs to be patient and curious to see where it’s headed. M2’s porting magic is quite excellent, but they can’t be everywhere working on every SEGA classic that needs to be done.

Anyway, the aforementioned glitchiness seems to be the game occasionally freezing in spots, but a fresh reinstall for my Switch seems to have corrected the issue. There was a problem in saving the game if one accidentally saved the game during a freeze, as the restored save would still be in a frozen state and playing from the start was the only solution. Problematic, but when you get things up and running right, this one’s a fast-paced and great little throwback that, like the original, is a true classic that comes recommended.

Hey, you’re NOT supposed to do that!: Knuckles’ abilities will literally (or is it figuratively?) have you climbing the walls.

That said, yes – it’s time to get M2 working on more obscure titles or other SEGA-published titles we either haven’t seen to date or games that demand their talents in enhancing content for today’s crowd of demanding fans who want to see the studio take on a few releases that let them strut their stuff.

Score: B+ (85%)

-GW