I doubt sonic team would put a flamming skull in the game Let's be serious the game is marketed towards children Parent's would be pissed off ..well not mine :D
OK - Hang on. Now, I know this is starting going to branch off using another theory - but lets see. Genocide is the destruction of a civilization, right? Now - let's think if Knuckles were in Sonic 2 (like I said, using another (proved-wrong) theory). Let's think of (this gonna be crazy!) Sonic Adventure. What's the whole point? What did Chaos do? He wiped out the echidna culture - GENOCIDE! Maybe they would have something like that in Sonic 2. Just think - Sonic 2 DX - Adventure Version. Man, would that be weird...
