History YMMV / SonicTheHedgehog2

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: [[AwesomeMusic/SonicTheHedgehog A returning Masato Nakamura strikes gold again with the Genesis version]]. The 8-Bit version has some good music too, and the music from Green Hills Zone would be adapted into "Sonic - You Can Do Anything," the opening theme from the Japanese version of ''Sonic CD''. Vote on your favorite [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome/SonicTheHedgehog2?open=all#mzkwas4r here]].

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: [[AwesomeMusic/SonicTheHedgehog A returning Masato Nakamura strikes gold again with the Genesis version]]. The 8-Bit version has some good music too, and the music from Green Hills Zone would be adapted into "Sonic - You Can Do Anything," the opening theme from the Japanese version of ''Sonic CD''.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: The Gamegear version's bad ending implies that [[spoiler: Tails got murdered]]. Several years later, one of the biggest criticisms of the games are that the DarkerAndEdgier tone is ''incredibly'' jarring and sometimes frustrating in a series about {{Funny Animal}}s fighting an evil fat man.

* DemonicSpiders: ALL the badniks in Metropolis Zone are GoddamnedBats, but the Slicer (mantis) badniks stand out the most as ''[[GoddamnedBats Motherfucking Bats]]''. Shellcrackers can be avoided by jumping over the large claw. While Asterons explode at the worst of times, they have spikes that fly out straight in a star pattern and thus can be avoided. Slicer's claws, however, are quite large, and have the annoying ability to home in on Sonic. Needless to say, they ''will'' get you at least once unless you are [[SuperMode Super Sonic]]. Small wonder why many considered it the most hated badnik in the game, if not the most hated badnik in the Genesis-era SonicTheHedgehog games, and would you like to guess who's back in the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4 fourth game]]?

** Similarly, the boss will be a cakewalk if you [[spoiler: approach it from behind by running to the right edge of the screen during the Robotnik chase and staying there until it's done rising. When behind the mech, it has no offensive moves while it moves, leaving you free to hit its jetpack unopposed. When the mech levitates, if Sonic stays on the right quarter of the screen and stays to the right when it lands, it will remain behind the mech, away from the spiked arms. The player will have to deal with two bomb attacks, easily avoided by going just under the mech for the first wave, then away from it for the second. Rinse, repeat.]]

** Similarly, the boss will be a cakewalk if you [[spoiler: approach it from behind by running to the right edge of the screen during the Robotnik chase and staying there until it's done rising. When behind the mech, it has no offensive moves while it moves, leaving you free to hit its jetpack from behind. When the mech levitates, if Sonic stays on the right quarter of the screen and stays to the right when it lands, it will remain behind the mech, away from the spiked arms. The player will have to deal with two bomb attacks, easily avoided by going just under the mech for the first wave, then away from it for the second. Rinse, repeat.]]

** Similarly, the boss will be a cakewalk if you [[spoiler: approach it from behind by running to the right edge of the screen during the Robotnik chase. When behind the mech, it has no offensive moves while it moves, leaving you free to hit its jetpack from behind. When the mech levitates, if Sonic stays on the right quarter of the screen and stays to the right when it lands, it will remain behind the mech, away from the spiked arms. The player will have to deal with two bomb attacks, easily avoided by going just under the mech for the first wave, then away from it for the second. Rinse, repeat.]]

* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Amazingly, the ''' ''final boss'' ''' of the Genesis version can become this if you lure it to one side of the room, hit it before it recovers from the recoil of its homing attack, and retreat to the other side of the room before it shoots its spiked arms at you. Rinse and repeat.]]

** Some consider Mystic Cave Zone ThatOneLevel as well, since literally almost every single object in the zone is a trap of some sort, and the enemies are either hidden or small enough to overlook. Oh, and it has an inescapable spike pit in Act 2.

*** The trick to the Casino Night boss is to stand at the sides of the area and wait for the boss to stop, then spindash up the sides before he drops the ball on you and hold left/right to hit him, even then, it's tricky to pull off consistently.

* BestLevelEver: Chemical Plant Zone is a common favorite, due to being one of the fastest levels in the Genesis games.
** It's in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' for a reason!

* FranchiseOriginalSin: The Gamegear version's bad ending implies that [[spoiler: Tails got murdered]]. Several years later, one of the biggest criticisms of the games are that the DarkerAndEdgier tone is ''incredibly'' jarring and sometimes frustrating in a series about FunnyAnimals fighting an evil fat man.

* BreatherBoss: Mecha Sonic, the second-to-final boss. With just the right timing, he can be defeated in roughly 10 seconds. If anything, he's just a warm-up for the fight against Robotnik's giant robot.
** In the Master System and GameGear version, the seal boss of Aqua Lake, [[ZeroEffortBoss who is almost incapable of harming you.]]
** Nearly every boss in the game, minus the last four and the one in Casino Night Zone, is remarkably easy to beat.

* DemonicSpiders: ALL the badniks in Metropolis Zone are GoddamnedBats, but the Slicer (mantis) badniks stand out the most as ''[[GoddamnedBats Motherfucking Bats]]''. Shellcrackers can be avoided by jumping over the large claw. While Asterons explode at the worst of times, they have spikes that fly out straight in a star pattern and thus can be avoided. Slicer's claws, however, are quite large, and have the annoying ability to home in on Sonic. Needless to say, they '''''WILL''''' get you at least once unless you are [[SuperMode Super Sonic]]. Small wonder why many considered it the most hated badnik in the game, if not the most hated badnik in the Genesis-era SonicTheHedgehog games, and would you like to guess who's back in the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4 fourth game]]?
** Slicer is much easier to handle in Sonic 4 because of the homing attack. Not easy. Easier.

** One LetsPlay of the entire Sonic series had a [[CountryMatters 'Cuntometer']] for how annoying the badniks were, out of five...the Asterons' rating scrolled off the screen.
* GoodBadBugs: Sonic can't be hurt by the otherwise nasty Chemical Plant boss if he kneels, making it ''much'' easier to defeat. Interestingly, this doesn't work if you play as Tails.

** "Super Tails": Use the debug code, enable some means of getting all seven Chaos Emeralds (either code or genuinely) and transform, then generate a Teleport monitor and jump on it. His jump height is still too low to be ''really'' useful, and it goes away if he falls into a pit or gets crushed, but still...
** Funnily enough, that's actually a legitimate form from the Super Emeralds in VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles.
** With objects that launch you (such as the see-saws in Hill Top Zone) if you spindash before you get launched, it will carry over and you'll shoot forward as soon as you hit the ground. Demonstrated in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYDRhvox504&feature=plcp this speed-run of act 1.]]

** OlderThanTheyThink: This level may have been RippedFromTheHeadlines in response to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_oil_spill Kuwaiti oil spill]] caused by the [[{{Qurac}} Iraqis]] during the GulfWar. [[FridgeBrilliance Notice the music sounds Middle Eastern]].
** Oil Ocean Zone was obviously a GreenAesop to warn people about oil spills that have been happening for decades, and that if it goes on, then a really big one could happen. Sounds about right.
** [[ComicallyMissingThePoint And then we'll have one of the greatest video game levels ever in real life!]]

* NightmareFuel/ TearJerker: The bad ending of the MasterSystem/ GameGear version implies that Tails is ''dead''. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQZOh2faww Trauma Ensues]].

* ScrappyMechanic: The infamous hang gliding sections from Sky High Zone (no, not ''[[{{Kirby}} that]]'' one), panned for the hang glider controls taking a great deal of time to get used to.
* ThatOneBoss: From the Genesis version: Silver Sonic and Metal Robotnik, the penultimate and final bosses respectively, which are fought aboard the Death Egg. [[OneHitPointWonder Without rings]]. Silver Sonic has a hitbox that's very small and you get no bounceback from spindashing into it, resulting in a lost life. Towards the end of the fight, it starts to shoot spikes during its spindash. Metal Robotnik protects its weak point with its spiked fists, leaving only a small opportunity to successfully hit the weak point. Touching the fists or legs results in death, and you'll have to fight Silver Sonic once again if death occurs. The latter (along with other bosses) is made even harder when playing as Knuckles (made playable with locking ''Sonic 2'' onto the ''Sonic And Knuckles'' cartridge) due to his lower jump height.
*** That is why you attack Metal Robotnik from the rear. This is done by going all the way to the right as you enter the room before the robot rises (it won't hurt you as it rises and you'll be in a safe zone once it does). You can attack the robot in its jetpack (but don't touch the flames!) His attack from this position is just by dropping mini bombs which are easily avoidable. This turned the boss from hugely frustrating to pretty easy, though with little room for error.
** The Underground Zone boss in the Game Gear version is considered tougher due to the smaller resolution mentioned above, making it harder to avoid the bouncing balls. And that's the FIRST BOSS IN THE GAME. Every boss afterward is, comparatively, a pushover.
*** Unless you jump right on top of the boss just as the fight begins, thus leaving you bouncing in a safe zone while the robot takes damage.

* ThatOneLevel: For the 8-bit version, Aqua Lake Zone Act 2 could very well contend for the title. For starters, it's completely underwater, and any Sonic fan would know what underwater means in this context: drowning. To make matters worse, it has patches of fake walls in rather nasty spots that you can accidentally fall in, and at least four big bubble dispensers you climb into to float upwards. The worst of these is near the end, which can fortunately be avoided by going through a fake wall, but if your speed is not maintained, you fall down and have to do that horrible "dodge the spikes + enemies hoping your bubble doesn't pop" section. Doesn't help that it's an enormous level compared to most of the others.

** Metropolis Zone (GEN), mostly due to having three acts.
*** Another reason Metropolis Zone is ThatOneLevel is because the enemies there are the toughest non-boss enemies in the game and some are even placed poorly in the level such as one of the Slicers being at the top of a yellow triangle spring wall you have to bounce up to making it hard to avoid the boomerang blades and avoid running into the slicer at the top of it.

** Some players consider Oil Ocean Zone to be one too, although it's nowhere near as bad as Metropolis Zone, which comes right afterwards.
*** The sea horse and octopus badniks that shoot at you are extremely hard to avoid, making the whole level a bit of a headache if you're trying to retain your rings. The sea horses can fly at you from out of nowhere.

*** That is why you attack Metal Robotnik from the rear. This is done by going all the way to the right as you enter the room before the robot rises (it won't hurt you as it rises and you'll be in a safe zone once it does). You can attack the robot in its jetpack (but don't touch the flames!) His attack from this position is just by dropping mini bombs which are easily avoidable. This turned the boss from hugely frustrating to pretty easy.

** While not ''terribly'' difficult, Robotnik at the end of Casino Night Zone is pretty tricky, and its extremely difficult to beat him with all your rings still intact by the end.

** One LetsPlay of the entire Sonic series had a 'Cuntometer' for how annoying the badniks were, out of five...the Asterons' rating scrolled off the screen.

* DemonicSpiders: ALL the badniks in Metropolis Zone are GoddamnedBats, but the Slicer (mantis) badniks stand out the most as ''[[GoddamnedBats Motherfucking Bats]]''. Shellcrackers can be avoided by jumping over the large claw. While Asterons explode at the worst of times, they have spikes that fly out straight in a star pattern and thus can be avoided. Slicer's claws, however, are quite large, and have the annoying ability to home in on Sonic. Needless to say, they '''''WILL''''' get you at least once unless you are [[SuperMode Super Sonic]]. Small wonder why many considered it the most hated badnik in the game, if not the most hated badnik in the Genesis-era SonicTheHedgehog games, and would you like to guess who's back in the [[SonicTheHedgehog4 fourth game]]?

* AccidentalNightmareFuel/ TearJerker: The bad ending of the MasterSystem/ GameGear version implies that Tails is ''dead''. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQZOh2faww Trauma Ensues]].
** Thought the infamous drowning music only plays when you're about to drown or hit the 10-minute time limit? Well, in 2-player mode, when one player finishes, the other player has 60 seconds to finish the stage or it's TIME OVER for them. So the time limit ticks down to 11 seconds and...yeah, have fun playing 2-player with someone significantly slower or faster than you now.

** Funnily enough, that's actually a legitimate form from the Super Emeralds in Sonic3AndKnuckles.

** OlderThanTheyThink: This level may have been RippedFromTheHeadlines in response to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_oil_spill Kuwaiti oil spill]] caused by the [[{{Qurac}} Iraqis]] during the Gulf War. [[FridgeBrilliance Notice the music sounds Middle Eastern]].