Knuckles in Sonic 2

[brad9753]

When you play the game like this, when you go through the speacle stage, you keep the rings you had when you went in, were as if played using sonic you go to 0. so realy you can collect all the rings on 1 stage 3/4 times over!

Is this a bug that was never sorted out or was it a feature added purposly? Was anything else added when playing Knukles?

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

A couple of new product placements (such as a whole bunch of 1-ups in Chemical Plant Zone act 1 that Knuckles can only reach by gliding), and infinitely easier special stage ring requirements. That's it as far as I know.

[brad9753]

o and i noticed today that if you looe a life you keep your rings.

[Omni Hunter]

That can't be right, are you refering to actually losing a life in a level or in the special-stage? Because losing a life always means having 0 rings as generally you have to lose your rings before you can get hit and die.
I'll try crushing Knuckles though, to see if you're actually correct.

[Shadow Hog]

I distinctly remember that star posts, for whatever reason, saved ALL the rings you'd obtained up to that point (well, the number at any rate), so you didn't come out of a special stage completely vulnerable (that was how it worked, wasn't it?...). By the same token, you could die and return with a lot of rings. Not really a bad feature, if you suck really bad; it means you can suck up plenty more hits than you otherwise could.

[DackAttac]

I regard it as done on purpose. It's ridiculously easy, yes. But I also thought it was unfair to sacrifice all my rings to go to a special stage. I personally think a better compromise would be you don't get your rings back after you die, and when you get back from a special stage, you have your original total minus 50. (Like a toll to play the stage.)

But, really, S3&K saw the games stop being as challenging, and just being meandering spectacles to admire while you truck along to the end. So it only would make sense that huge benefit was added.

I'll put it this way. I didn't regard S2 as 'beaten' until I did it without Knuckles. Which happened for the first time... three weeks ago. Ain't I awesome?

And I have to say, forcing me to play Mystic Cave's boss without rings makes the boss a lot more fun. In fact, playing through all the bosses without rings would be an interesting turn for any of the games. (As, like, an unlockable mini-game or something.)

[Delphine]

Which happened for the first time... three weeks ago.

...I did it when I was ten.

[Sniffnoy]

I'll put it this way. I didn't regard S2 as 'beaten' until I did it without Knuckles. Which happened for the first time... three weeks ago. Ain't I awesome?

...with or without all the emeralds?

[Light Speed]

Well aren't you special!

[Delphine]

I'm just saying, it's not that hard.

[Grant]

buh buh buh, I'm Del, I play video games, buh buh buh

[Delphine]

Aaaaaaaaaaand you're a prick.

[Rlan]

The large amount of extra lives for Knuckles in Sonic 2 were due to the increased difficulty of beating Giant Robo-Egg because of Knuckles' shit jumping skills and knack for glitching his way into his torso, causing insta-death.

And how can you say that Sonic 3 & Knuckles dumbed it down when it included Sandlopolis Zone?

[Omni Hunter]

I'd say that gliding and climbing already over-compensated for Knuckles meagre jumping, the extra 1-ups just made use of those skills.
As for the rings being saved, that sucked. You're already having the benefit of not starting from the beginning, why start again with rings?

[istavan_toth]

Which happened for the first time... three weeks ago. Ain't I awesome?

Six months ago or so I was playing a Sonic 1 hacked rom wich lets you play as Knuckles. I was playing Laberint Zone and only then I discovered that you can really take that alternate route from Act 1 without using debug. It startled me, and of course I tried in a regular Sonic 1. It worked.

That alternate path was a mistery for me since I discovered debug mode. It was awesome to discover how you can actually play that part of the level.

[Grant]

Aaaaaaaaaaand you're a prick.

Relax, I wasn't being mean-spirited.

[G.Silver]

That alternate path was a mistery for me since I discovered debug mode. It was awesome to discover how you can actually play that part of the level.

The way to get Sonic up to that path is really well hidden and not really intuitive at all, backtracking is not something you ever do in Sonic. I guess Sping Yard has that one switch that activates a platform behind you, but it doesn't have any other function, whereas the one in Labyrinth Zone does.

[Omni Hunter]

Wait a tick, alternate path in Labyrinth? How did I miss this?

[G.Silver]

Easily, 'cuz like I say, you have to backtrack to get to it! In Act 1, when you drop into the second area of water, you'll come to a place with two switches, one opens a door to the left (filled with rings) and the other opens the door to the right (the way to continue through the level). You hit the one that opens the door on the left, and then use the rising platforms to get back out to the water's surface, and you'll find a platform that will take you across the surface into another area.

[Green Gibbon!]

I actually never knew that until just now. Should... should I commit seppuku?

[Delphine]

Yes. Make sure you film it.