How is Sonic 2 better than Sonic 1?

[tarancepil7]

It seems to be the general consensus on r/retrogaming that Sonic 2 > Sonic 1. I don't get it. The difficulty is a joke, the music isn't as catchy and there's an annoying fox following me around. I never thought anyone favored Sonic 2 until I saw the comments on this sub.word counter VidMate Mobdro

[Superglue]

Sonic 2 is faster paced overall and it has a better color palette than Sonic 1. It's also because the final stages are way better. Tails can be annoying, but back when it first came out, plenty of people were demanding a two player mode to compete with Mario and Luigi.

[Berto]

I agree with you.
I myself prefer Sonic 1 than Sonic 2, the music is a lot catchier and it's really different than other games at that time.
But both of sons prefer Sonic 2 than Sonic 1. They like the spindash and they love experimenting with Tails (mostly Tails' abuse).
I guess those two things made Sonic 2 has more replayability to them compared than Sonic 1.

[Superglue]

Oh yeah. I didn't think about the music.

[OriginalName]

Personally Sonic 2 is my least favorite of the Mega Drive/Genesis originals, even though I still think it's a masterpiece.

A lot of that has to do with the fact that it was the last of those that I played. I got my Genesis at the very end of its lifespan with the 6-Pak (includes Sonic 1) packed in, so when I wanted a new Sonic game it was Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles that I found on the shelves. I rented Sonic 2, but didn't really spend time with it until Sonic Jam.

So, part of it is familiarity and nostalgia. At the same time, I didn't play Sonic CD until many years later, and although it has its flaws, I fell in love with it in a way that I never did with Sonic 2.

To me, it all comes down to Metropolis Zone. Once it gets to that point in the game, Sonic 2 just isn't any fun to me at all anymore. I understand peoples' dislike of Labyrinth Zone, but I never minded Labyrinth's exploration- and memorization-based difficulty one bit. It's the supernaturally annoying trap placement of Metropolis that frustrates me to no end, where an otherwise skilled player may know that a particular enemy or hazard is coming but still not be able to avoid it because of the irritating placement and trajectory.

Also, as mentioned above, while Sonic 2 has some great tracks, I don't think it's as consistent as Sonic 1 -- I think Sonic 2 easily has the worst soundtrack overall of the originals, honestly. "Hill Top Zone" and "Wing Fortress Zone" just don't fit in the series in my opinion. I think that they tried to theme the music too much with a middle-eastern vibe in Oil Ocean and a showtunes vibe in Casino Night Zone and it feels more gimmicky than cohesive. Like they're quoting music from our world instead of representing the alien, fantastical quality of Sonic's world.

I think that Sonic 2 also emphasized speed just a little too much. You have to play that game a ton before it stops feeling like a giant speed trap. I think people only started having that perception of Sonic 1 because they went back and tried to play it like Sonic 2.

I've always been surprised by the near-universal opinion that Sonic 2 is the best myself.

Metropolis Zone might have my favorite music in the series, though. It's close, anyway.