The experience of powering it up after all these years was immense. The music took me back to weekends in my room, playing it with my little brother, saying 'screw you' to sunlight and letting the monitor give my skin an unhealthy glow. The graphics were simple yet effective and I started to realise that the modern Sonic games had strayed far further from the format than I had been aware. It made me long for that golden era I had built up in my head, where the games were just....better, you know? But then I fell through the game and that illusion was shattered.
The bugs in this game! I must have blocked them from my memory, because when I was young it played like a dream. But now, if I stepped somewhere at the wrong time, the coding broke and pushed me down through the earth and off the screen to my death. Either that, or I became embedded in the scenery, unable to move. Now this could be down to the original coding, or it could be the result of a poor port. But, emulated on modern consoles, it was a freaking nightmare.
The controls were familiar, intuitive and simple. The characters, Sonic more so than Tails, had a sense of weight to them when they moved. Sonic became incredibly sluggish in water, and would gradually pick up speed outside of it if his stride was unbroken. This is something that the newer games have lost along the way. We want that feeling of speed, Sega. The current Sonic feels feather-light by comparison. I can't fault it in that respect.
The story is nothing to write home about. Robotnik(as he was known then) was stealing up animals as always, turning them into robots, blah blah blah. But you didn't play it for the story. You played it to enjoy yourself, and when I was a kid that was what it delivered. But, after all these years, do I feel the same? Can it still give me that warm feeling when I smash a level in record time, or nab a Chaos Emerald?
The truth is, it's a mixed bag. Yes, I liked playing it. I loved the nostalgia, I loved how simple and straight-forward it was. However, it hasn't aged well. Or, I should say, it has aged well alongside me. It's too bland, too buggy and it gave me no incentive to push forward. I've been spoiled by modern games such as Bastion and the Xbox masterpiece Lost Odyssey in regards to story. I need a game I can connect with, and characters I can relate to and Sonic 2 provides none of that.
So to sum up, this isn't a bad game. If you want to unwind for half an hour or so, it's right up your alley. But it holds no depth and no real challenge, which is what many gamers look for now. It was a stepping stone, and should be viewed as such.
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