There is one good reason which is faster turnaround time for development because the emulator already exist and has been used for plenty of other games already. I mean I want proper 3D special stages and more 2-player levels as much as anyone but that's not what the Ages project has been about since M2 took over it
I get the project would be limited by emulation, but it feels a bit like overlooked things that would be expectant of an enhanced version. Flying for Tails is the equivalent to spin dash for Sonic, everyone expects to be able to do it because it's a trademark for the character's gameplay. It still astounds me only one official version of the game has bothered to implement it yet we have that blog pointing how vital spin dash and drop dash were. Not to mention it looks like they had to downgrade some of the enhancements just to balance this, such as omitting Drop Dash from multiplayer just so Sonic doesn't have an unfair advantage. As mentioned I find completely un-enhanced 2 player weird because the emulator tricks are usually something M2 excels at with these packages. I pinpoint these two overlooked features because they feel like things more pivotal to the core game, what a lot of fans would have wanted and even assumed it to have in 1992, stuff like Knuckles and Drop Dash, they're hindsight extras from future games.
I know the SEGA Ages version of Sonic 2 doesn't release in NA & Eu until 20th. However, I was able to download the Japanese release (by creating a Japanese Nintendo account, purchasing a gift code from PlayAsia, redeeming it on the eshop and then downloading the game). I did a (good-ending all emeralds collected in Emeralds Hill with "ring keep mode" enabled") playthrough with Sonic (& Tails) which I uploaded: Gameplay begins at 1:09 Yes the super-sonic act1 ending soft-lock glitch is not present. The drop-dash plays fine-as you would expect. You can rocket up very steep inclines (like the one's in Metropolis act2) and reach high platforms (46:30) which you couldn't reach in the original release. You can also drop-dash with Super Sonic. For the ring-chain ranking; beware your ring-chain will reset to zero if you get three Eggman in the Casino Night slot machines. It also resets to zero if Sonic gets hit by a bomb in the special stages but doesn’t get reset to zero if Tails (as your AI partner) gets hit in the special stages. I wouldn't recommend trying to drop-dash in Sky Chase or at the end of Wing Fortress just before you rejoin Tails, it doesn't end well.... I also played with Knuckles, which plays as you would expect. Now that Sonic has the drop-dash there really is no point with playing as Tails as he's clearly now the weakest character (you can't play the 100 ring challenge with Tails). To play with Tails you need to select him in the "options" menu just like in the original.
Knuckles can but Tails can't. Tails is the best playable character in Sonic 3 because of his flight, the level routes designed for Tails and the way he can traverse the zones. In Sonic 2 without his flight he is just another Sonic clone, and with Sonic having the drop-dash in this release there really is no incentive to play as Tails.
It's not a bad thing, and I do like they did add SOME extra polish to this release, but it's odd they seemingly never even considered obvious touch ups to the core game like giving it's trademark addition his signature ability or polishing two player mode. Surely Tails flying is the same as Sonic's spin dash, people expect him to be able to do it. It seems like they even noticed because they turned off drop dash for Sonic multiplayer just to hide that they left Tails as a 'dud' character, meaning something they DID bother to add had to be dumbed down in access-ability. All three characters with their trademark abilities to make playing the game fresh three times over would have been quite gratifying and made this the next best Sonic Switch title after Mania, instead we got one and a half abilities.
I was gonna say it's lazy of them not to add Tails' Super ability (considering they've all but retconned the Super Emeralds, it wouldn't seem odd if he just needed the 7), but they didn't even import his flying ability from 3? I'm sorry, but there's no excuse for that. Taxman and Stealth raised the bar for what a mobile port/remake could be and M2 ain't even halfway there.
Pros of playing as other characters besides Tails: - ability to Drop Dash (Sonic) - ability to climb and glide (Knuckles) - ability to Super transform Pros of playing as Tails: - playing as Tails I rest my case. Spoiler Just to be clear, I'm not being serious, it is entirely a cosmetic preference. Although in Sonic 2 I often find the forced Super transformation annoying, so I do enjoy playing as Tails for that reason as well, though it sucks he's kind of nerfed in this version without Drop Dash or any flight ability to compensate for that.
I do relate. I like playing as Coco in Crash N Sane Trilogy for similar reasons, but all the same I did think it was shame she had no gameplay changes just to make playing this old game at least mildly more fresh an experience and to make her feel like she added something unique. Tails is on the same stance, cute sprites and character, but they really should have added flying, especially since this is M2's SECOND attempt at the game.
IMO the only advantage to playing as Tails in most versions of Sonic 2 is that he can perform the Spin Dash faster than Sonic.
Can I just point out that Sonic 2 is already available for Switch as part of the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive Classics pack? There are two entirely separate emulated versions of Sonic 2 on one platform. I can understand putting out Classic games in every platform under the sun, but I cannot understand this.
Knuckles can, as per the original game, but Tails can't. Does SEGA no longer hold the original source code for the original Sonic games? Is there a reason why they are having to constantly emulate/hack these games instead of properly porting them (like they did with Sonic Jam) to newer platforms?
Likely two different divisions of Sega, with two different ideas. Sega Mega Drive Classics wasn't released in Japan, so for the Japanese audience this is their only option beyond importing or setting up a foreign account. For the international audience, if someone just wants Sonic 2 and none of the other Mega Drive games, then this is the better/cheaper option.
But none of this makes any logistical sense whatsoever. The collection is an emulator and a rom, the AGES version is a different emulator and a different rom. Time and money has been spent bringing this game to the same platform twice. It doesn't matter if it's different divisions in SEGA or different regions, the point is that this is wasteful for SEGA.
nah, you can straight up buy the ROM on Steam, so they must have it lying around somewhere. I do think that maybe they're doing this in an attempt to justify re-releasing it yet again, but it seems so half-baked...
