SEGA has announced an “End of Service” for the 2013 remasters of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, available on Apple and Android devices. The remasters got a lot of attention when revealed back in 2013, namely because prominent fan game developers Christian Whitehead (“Taxman”) and Simon Thomley (“Stealth”) were behind the remasters. The two would go on to develop Sonic Mania, which no doubt was a gig they earned thanks to their work on the 2013 remasters.
The remasters were so good that many (myself included) see them as the best way to play the games, even beating out their reissues in Sonic Origins and the M2 versions released on Nintendo platforms. Heck, they were named our favorite SEGA games of 2013! Fans might be having deja vu as SEGA delisted Sonic CD and Sonic 4 Episodes 1&2 in May 2025.
The “End of Service” means the games will no longer receive support from SEGA, and will see the removal of online leaderboards and loss of multiplayer functionality in Sonic 2. If you want my advice, download these even if you don’t own an Apple or Android device just to have them. If you find an Apple TV for cheap, pick it up and enjoy! Remember, these versions have easter eggs not found in Sonic Origins!
The games are still available to download for free, with no clear date of them being delisted, but the “End of Service” means it is only a matter of time. Happy 35th anniversary!
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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 remastered joins the SEGA Forever lineup – Happy Sonic 2sday!
UPDATED – GDC 2013: Sonic the Hedgehog remastered releasing to iOS and Android in Spring 2013
Sonic 2 Coming to iOS and Android Tomorrow With Hidden Palace Zone Intact
This is why I prefer things on Valve’s Steam playptform, I’m sick of other platform providers like Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Xbox etc taking down services after years of investing and contributing to them, what’s the point even having a leaderboard when they take it all down again? at least on Steam, everything remains, even if games and apps later get delisted, as long as you invested in it at the time, it stays with you as good as forever, because Steam as a store front supercedes the hardware, so even if you access your Steam account on any future hardware, your library will always be with you, plus it’s still possible to buy even delisted games on Steam if you know what you’re doing.
That being said, the 2013 mobile ports are the best versions, even more than Sonic Origins? How could that be, never saw that coming.
Origins changed to the COINS system for 16:9 versions and removed some Easter Eggs. These versions also allow you to simply play the games. No sub menus or anniversary modes or other titles getting in the way, just straight Sonic 1 (or 2) with all the benefits of HD and 16:9 and no other additions aside from quality of life improvements from Taxman and Stealth and Hidden Palace Zone.
Pity they didn’t put it on Steam at the time, I guess the reason they didn’t was because the Sega Mega Drive Collection had the original Mega Drive versions and they didn’t want to fragment the store front with two different version of the same title, but unlikely they’ll put it up on Steam now as Sonic Origins is now still the most recent version – which is exactly why they took down the Mega Drive versions for the Sega Mega Drive collection. But if they had, it would have been near timeless, even if it later got delisted it would not be 100% impossible to still get them, the only way to retain the Android ports is to get a workaround to save them to an SD card and import them as you upgrade your hardware unless you intend to keep the same phone, tablet or laptop/desktop device, though this isn’t guarantee as not all apps and games onmGoogle Play store front allowmyou to save them to a card, and even if you did previously purchase them from the Google Play storefront, it’s not always possible to download them again (unlike on Steam), that’s why you can’t get the Android port of the Dreamcast version of Chu Chu Rocket even if you bought it on that same account before.
I tried playing these games recently and it’s just about impossible unless you’re going to pay for them. Predatory ads all over the place every time you finish a level, die, go through the menus, etc. The APK might still exist after this, but they will be worthless unless you already paid to remove ads. Really sucks they’re doing this.
When SEGA ended service and removed online functionality from their Forever games (Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Monkey Ball etc.), the ads were removed too and the games remained fully playable. Maybe the same will happen here.
There is a way to still play the Android mobile ports, if you’ve got a Steam Deck just download ‘Sonic 2 Absolute’ and extract it in decktop mode and add it as a non-Steam game so you can launch it from gaming mode like any other game seamlessly and you can play it any way you want with customisable options from all versions including its own mods menu.
Also as Sonic 3 never got the same treatment for Android as the first two games, this can also be set up in the same way with ‘Sonic 3 A.I.R’ (it includes all the content from Sonic & Knuckles – as we all know here, Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles are fundamentally two parts of the same game that Sega put out individually), again as versatile as Sonic 2 Absolute with mods and easy customisation.
Until Sega decide to re-release them again, these are currently the best option for thr Android ports.