Sonic the Hedgehog 2 characters Miles "Tails" Prower
Gameplay
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a side-scrolling platform game. It features a story similar to the first Sonic the Hedgehog's (1991): Doctor Robotnik, a mad scientist, seeks the Chaos Emeralds to power his space station, the Death Egg, and traps the animal inhabitants of West Island in aggressive robots. As Sonic the Hedgehog, the player embarks on a journey to collect the Chaos Emeralds and stop Robotnik. The player character can run, jump, crouch, and attack by curling into a ball. Sonic 2 introduces the spin dash, which allows the player to curl while stationary for a speed boost, and Miles "Tails" Prower, a fox with two tails who acts as Sonic's sidekick. In the default single-player game mode, the player controls Sonic and Tails simultaneously; a second player can join in at any time and control Tails separately. The player can also choose to play as Sonic or Tails individually.The game takes place across 11 zones with 20 levels ("acts"). The acts are larger than the first game's, and the player navigates them at high speeds while jumping between platforms, defeating robot enemies, and avoiding obstacles. Springs, slopes, bottomless pits, and vertical loops fill acts, as do hazards like water and spikes. The player passes checkpoints to save progress. The last act of each zone ends with a boss battle against Robotnik. Sonic 2 features twice as many unique level themes compared to the first game, and most zones end after two acts rather than three.The player collects rings as a form of health: if they have at least one ring when they collide with an enemy or obstacle, they will survive, but their rings will scatter and blink before disappearing. The player starts with three lives, which they lose if they are hit without a ring, fall down a pit, get crushed, drown, or reach the 10-minute time limit; they receive a game over if they run out. Power-ups like shields and invincibility provide additional layers of protection, and lives are replenished by collecting 100 rings or a 1-up.Design
Sega of America marketing director Al Nilsen said that STI wanted "to go all out" to ensure Sonic 2 would be as successful as the original Sonic, since sequels were generally not well regarded. STI brainstormed various ideas to improve the first game's formula, beginning with making Sonic faster. In the first game, the developers limited Sonic with a cap that prevented players from running at his maximum possible speed; STI lifted the cap for Sonic 2. Naka conceived the spin dash to remove the need to backtrack for momentum, which he observed was a common criticism of the first game.STI's first step was to create a game outline for the developers to flesh out with "a book-length report" detailing the characters, story, and levels. Yasuhara had ambitious plans for Sonic 2 and designed it with "'blue sky' ideas". Assuming STI had two years of development, he conceived a plot in which Robotnik took over the world and Sonic used time travel to stop him. The plot was scrapped, but many of Sonic 2's levels were taken from it; for example, Hill Top Zone (which features dinosaur enemies) was intended to be a past version of Green Hill Zone, while Chemical Plant and Casino Night came from the Robotnik-ruled future.Yasuhara designed the stages thinking in the context of a 3D world to work out elements such as corkscrew loops and pipes. He was inspired to design Casino Night because he found Sonic's springs similar to the gimmicks of pinball tables, while Sky Chase—which features Sonic riding a biplane as he attempts to reach Robotnik's base—was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's anime Future Boy Conan (1978). The first game demo was playable around six or seven months after the initial outline's creation and featured a few levels without sound effects or significant detail. STI assembled focus groups to play the demo for feedback and created the alpha build afterward; by this point, 80% of programming had been finished.Yasuhara wanted to add a second playable character so siblings could play together. Naka suggested the second character be endearing, similar to  the kitsune from Urusei Yatsura, and beginner-oriented rather than Sonic's rival. An internal contest was held to determine the new character, and the winning design was lead artist Yasushi Yamaguchi's fox, which he named Miles Prower (a pun on "miles per hour"). STI wanted the character to appeal to Japanese audiences, and Yamaguchi gave him two tails—inspired by the Phantasy Star character Myau—to make the design more impactful. Sega of America felt the name "Miles Prower" would not sell and suggested "Tails" as an alternative. Nilsen developed a character backstory to convince the developers to make the change; they compromised by making Tails his nickname.Tails was implemented using an artificial intelligence routine that allowed him to mimic Sonic's movements. He was also used in the multiplayer mode, something that Naka had attempted to implement late in development of the original Sonic. The multiplayer mode was one of Naka's primary motivations to develop Sonic 2, since he felt multiplayer games were more fun. Naka created split-screen gameplay with the Genesis' rarely used interlaced mode, since he found the standard display mode made it difficult to see the player characters. Developing the multiplayer mode took six months.
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