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I recently acquired a copy of the original Sonic 2 strategy guide. Hari Hari had already scanned the most interesting parts (those Sonic 2 origin comics), but the book still has few gems.

Chief among its treasures is an interview with Yuji Naka that is special for not only being one of the oldest Sonic interviews, but for also sporting a photo of Sonic’s creator where he is not completely clean-shaven.

Other interesting highlights include a guide that names every aspect of the game* (including all the obstacles), hand drawn maps of the levels, some ‘column sections’ that talk about something (I don’t know what exactly, but the contents pages highlight them as being important) and a couple new items of character art.
Download it here


* well, almost every aspect ☹ .

Awesome stuff. Sometimes I wish I could read these things.

The handdrawn maps are adorable. The screenshots all seem to be of the final version or close thereof, but the beta title screen is sprinkled through most of the pages and in page 68 the picture of Sonic and Tails in Chemical Plant shows the beta sprites. Weird stuff.

Still no sign of the rat animal friend. Has artwork for the Sonic 2 animals been seen anywhere aside from that one obscure Sega art book? (Sonic Jam's character gallery had Sonic 2 art work for the friends, but only featured the original 7 animals.)

Still no sign of the rat animal friend. Has artwork for the Sonic 2 animals been seen anywhere aside from that one obscure Sega art book? (Sonic Jam's character gallery had Sonic 2 art work for the friends, but only featured the original 7 animals.)

Artwork for Wocky popped up in Sonic Rush, but other than that, no.
It's odd that none of the many Mega Drive area strategy guides have featured the animal friends, especially as they comprehensively name every other aspect of the games.

Fun Facts about the Sonic 2 strategy guide.
-All the boss names are in English except for Mecha Sonic. The translations are identical to the museum pages, except Hammer Eggman is left as Tonkachi Eggman.
-Each left page has real world photos of the Sonic 2 zones. The photos are slightly offset to the right on each page, so as you flip through they appear to scroll forwards.
-The Aquatic Run photos features Buddha statues, even though the actual zone is Roman themed.
-Pocky art appears on the Emerald Hill Stage while Rocky artwork appears on the Aquatic Run page. These are the only references to the animal friends. The art is the same as in Sonic Jam.
-The book is published by Shogakukan who would go on to produce the majority of Sonic Team strategy guides.
-Super Sonic is not mentioned apart from an obscured screenshot that partly shows the good ending.

Anyone else notice the real life photos of scenery on the side of some pages including the Gold Nugget Casino?

I obtained a copy of the Sonic 2 mobile game, as all the sprites have Japanese names.
Unfortunately, the rat is the only animal that isn't included in the game, so it wasn't named.
Mecha Sonic is named as Meka Sonic.

big_smile wrote:I obtained a copy of the Sonic 2 mobile game, as all the sprites have Japanese names.
Unfortunately, the rat is the only animal that isn't included in the game, so it wasn't named.

Maaaaaaaaan! It's a conspiracy! Which animal did they use in its place?

So do you have a full list? What's the Death Egg Zone boss called?

Hey smile, if you've got time for it, could you take a look through this interview with Sakae Ohsumi and translate anything interesting? The man coordinated maybe one of the couple closest-to-decent Sonic games in this half of the decade so i'd sure like to know what he has to say. (from google's snarled up translation, I take it he spent a lot of school time in America)

So do you have a full list? What's the Death Egg Zone boss called?

I've attached the file to this post, as I know quite a few members would love to read the file names. When I first glanced over the names, I thought they were all Japanese, but on a careful examination, they seem to be a mix of Japanese and English. The Death Egg boss is just called Act 11.

Oddly, enough, there seems to be a Wood zone sprite in there.

Maaaaaaaaan! It's a conspiracy! Which animal did they use in its place?

Sadly, my phone is too old to play video games, so I do not know which animal they used in its place.

On the subject of animal friends, it seems the original gang were hidden in the prototype Chaotix rom. They seem similar to their Sonic 1 appearance, although Klucky has been given a new look. The Hex 'thing' that stores them in the rom also contains a red skull, although I am not sure what it has to do with the animal friends. I've attached rips of the sprites to this post as well.

Hey smile, if you've got time for it, could you take a look through this interview with Sakae Ohsumi and translate anything interesting?

I can't read a word of Japanese.

^_^

Oops o_o Uh...anybody else capable and willing?

I took a quick look at it and didn't think it was interesting at all at least regarding Sonic, ie, "how did you come up with the idea of having Sonic be at sea?" "Well, I thought about where his new adventure would be, and I thought, he would have an adventure at sea!" Amazing! (Guess how he came up with the idea for Marin!)

He apparently moved around a lot, but he went to "American School" in Indonesia (probably a school for the children of American soldiers?). He did a homestay in Boston but I don't think he actually studied in the US.

G.Silver wrote:(Guess how he came up with the idea for Marin!)

Blood clot?

G.Silver wrote:(Guess how he came up with the idea for Marin!)

"There was this game I liked to play, called Link's Awakening, where the hero is washed up on the beach and is found by a girl called Marin. I then thought 'hmm, since Sonic's at sea, why not start him washed up on the beach too? I'll even rip that girl as an homage to that title, but make her personality completely different so I don't get caught ripping it off!'"

I must play sonic 2 again... got the real deal (Genesis plus Sonic 2)... but... I just cant stand the special stages...

Arcade wrote:I must play sonic 2 again... got the real deal (Genesis plus Sonic 2)... but... I just cant stand the special stages...

Then don't play them. I mean you do actually have to go out of your way to play them.

No, the game is not fun without Sonic glowing for a moment at the end.

Man, I loved those Special Stages. If they ever came out with an edition of Sonic 2 with a Special Stage endurance run, that'd make my day.

Arcade wrote:[...]got the real deal (Genesis plus Sonic 2)...

So do I, but my Genesis displays games through a fog of fuzzy static, freezes if you nudge it ever-so-slightly, and requires a special adapter just to function, not to mention all the cartridge blowing. I suppose that's what happens when your hardware are nearly 20 years old.

At the age of eight I managed to get three Emeralds. To this very day, I cannot beat that score.

Wombatwarlord777 wrote:Man, I loved those Special Stages. If they ever came out with an edition of Sonic 2 with a Special Stage endurance run, that'd make my day.

Sonic Jam features a special stage mode. (Sonic Mega Collection Plus was to feature one as well, but it got cut).

I was always a fan of the revamped Sonic 2 special stages they had in Sonic 3D Blast for Saturn. I don't really remember much about them now, though, except that they added dash thingers to the pipe.

And 360°s, and tunnels, and springs and platforming segments and

awesome music.