This Wednesday: Sonic 2 hogs XBLA

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Sep 10th 2007 at 3:30PM }

How to appreciate the above headline in five simple steps:

Read the sequence of words from left to right. Note: Utilizing this technique may require previous training. If said requirement is not met, ~~reader~~ subject may experience difficulty in advancing beyond Step 1.
Interpret the declaration as follows: Sega's speedy side-scroller, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, is arriving on Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday for 400 MS Points ($5), complete with online play.
Realize that in being the sole game release this week (joined only by Bomberman Live! and Band of Bugs downloadable content), Sonic 2 is in effect "hogging" the lineup.
Recall that Sonic the Hedgehog is notably and provably a hedgehog.
(Crucial) Make the connection and laugh in an obnoxious manner. This may be accompanied by lightly assaulting your knee or invading a colleague's ribs with your elbow. Never confuse the two.

Tags: BandofBugs, Bomberman, Sega, Sonic, XBLA, XBLAWednesday

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Vegnagun @ Sep 10th 2007 3:36PM

I get those confused all the time. People don't like to be near me when I laugh now. :(

ScreamingSkull @ Sep 10th 2007 3:38PM

I wish someone would hurry up and render these old games with a 3d renderer and keep the 2d layout.

Crono @ Sep 10th 2007 3:41PM

See "Sonic Rush" and "Sonic Rush Adventure", the only good sonic games to come out since sonic 3 and/or sonic adventure.

ScreamingSkull @ Sep 10th 2007 3:47PM

Ah, after checking those out, it seems that's close to what I was hoping for. I meant more like Ultimate Ghost and Goblins, keep the old format/movement etc, just go from sprites to a 3d renderer.

hvnlysoldr @ Sep 10th 2007 4:04PM

Like New Super Mario Bros. or Castlevania Chronicles

ScreamingSkull @ Sep 10th 2007 4:13PM

Exactly! It's not necessary to reinvent the wheel, just change what it's made of. All of those old school games could get a 2nd lease on life with a real team re imagining the art in 3 dimensions. And today's consoles should all be able to make use of them, and you could scale up and down the art properly and without bi-cubicly smudging things up like they do with 2d stuff.

mr nimblewick @ Sep 10th 2007 4:26PM

I don't know about you, but I find the controls of 2.5D games to be worse than in 2D. NSMB was great, but I never felt the precision that was Super Mario World.

A good example is how Mario in SMW turns instantly when you press in the other direction, but Mario in NSMB has to do a half-sec animation. Little things like that.

ScreamingSkull @ Sep 10th 2007 4:37PM

Well I can't comment on NSMB since I didn't play it that much, but I played the crap out of UG&G on the psp and the controls were just as evil as the original.

I think if the team working on the game wants to keep it the way it was, that extra .05 sec animation could simply have not been put in or done using some other sort of process, like a blur or flat transition.

Supino @ Sep 10th 2007 3:38PM

After following your guide to appreciation, I must say I'm super excited!!

ZenGaijin @ Sep 10th 2007 3:38PM

*hugs his copy of Sonic Mega Collection Plus*

Best 10 bucks I've ever spent...

mr nimblewick @ Sep 10th 2007 3:39PM

Tails is awesome. Knuckles is the last good Sonic character introduced (though they ruined him later).

Any arguments against these points are incorrect.

Almack64 @ Sep 10th 2007 3:41PM

I agree with points 1 & 2 but, how did they later ruin Knuckles.

ExMcloud @ Sep 10th 2007 4:48PM

They ruined Knuckles by making his missions about finding the pieces of the master emerald..Cuz it was super boring!!

Mr Khan @ Sep 10th 2007 5:21PM

Speak for yourself

I loved the treasure-hunting (again, one of the few who did)

Of course, i love knuckles, and think that instead of making a game around "i'm so emo" Shadow, they should've made something about Knuckles...

BPM @ Sep 10th 2007 8:07PM

Knuckles' Chaotix?

Also, I liked the treasure hunting in SA1, but not SA2. It was nice how in SA1, the radar would react to all three treasures. It was annoying how the radar in SA2 would only react to one piece at a time.

Almack64 @ Sep 10th 2007 3:39PM

The writtings of Mr. Keitzmann never dissapoints.

Joshua @ Sep 10th 2007 3:47PM

I got to the end of the first sentence in step 1 before I realized it was Ludwig's writing.

Ludwig, you truly make Joystiq.

Sorry, everyone else. ;)

Neon Jebus @ Sep 10th 2007 3:40PM

But...but...hedgehogs, are they really that large? I thought my friend had one and it hit in my hand. Hardly enough to fill a WHOLE Wednesday.

krid @ Sep 10th 2007 3:47PM

No screamingskull, no, bad.

This is pretty sweet! Especially because I can pwn Sonic 2 n00bs on teh internetz.

Shawn Handyside @ Sep 10th 2007 3:48PM

Normally I would avoid buying the same Sonic game over again (already own the original Genesis cart and Sonic Mega Collection), but the mention of online multiplayer intrigues me. Also this was my favorite 2D Sonic game ever so it might just be worth the risk.

Anyone have any details on the multiplayer functionality?

krid @ Sep 10th 2007 3:56PM

I am almost 100% sure it's just the vs. mode on teh internet - that and leaderboards.

Zertoss @ Sep 10th 2007 3:50PM

When your new games fail, rerelease the old ones! Again and again and again and again and again and again and AGAIN! That way, when you try to release a new game again, people will get their hopes up again, only for you to crush them. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Dammit Sega, I hate you! *slap* I love you! *slap* I hate you AND love you! *sobs*

Word of the street. @ Sep 10th 2007 3:56PM

Haha...Harvy Birdman references.

Sonic 2 with online Co-op in the Xbox live,Nothing like Gold on Gold eh Birdman?

Jonah Falcon @ Sep 10th 2007 3:51PM

You neglected to mention that the game has online co-op. :p

Word of the street. @ Sep 10th 2007 3:53PM

Must...Have..MOAR...SONIC...2!!!!

Seriously I love Sonic 2 ,I own Sonic 2 in the Sega genesis collection already and is freaking awesome.

My only problem are the special stages,I believe those are the hardest special stages from the series.

Hurry and release Sonic 3 and Knucles(The only Sonic title I bought back in the day) and Sonic CD!

Zertoss @ Sep 10th 2007 3:55PM

Really? Sonic 2 special stages are the hardest to you? I thought they were the easiest, with Sonic 3 coming in a close second.

I nearly chewed my hands off on the last special stage on Sonic Rush.

Word of the street. @ Sep 10th 2007 4:04PM

I love I never played rush, I just got a DS so I'm going to buy real soon if I see it somewhere.

IMO Sonic 1 stages were the easiest, then Sonic CD, then Sonic 3 and Knuckles.Man I used to play S3&K so much back in the day, now with all the amount of games I have is really hard to master just one.

Is not like Sonic 2 stages are impossible but there isn’t exactly room to f** up.

Word of the street. @ Sep 10th 2007 4:07PM

The "I love" is a leftover from another post so please ignore it or imagine it says "I love big boobs,Mcdonalds,Myself etc etc".

Mr Khan @ Sep 10th 2007 5:23PM

IMO, Sonic Advance 2's were the most insane

Get Blue Sphere was the most fun, however

BPM @ Sep 10th 2007 8:08PM

No way? No way!

Colin @ Sep 10th 2007 3:58PM

Despite the fact that I already own this game twice (Original Genesis, and Gamecube Collection), I'm totally buying it. Achievements for one of my most favorite games ever, and online play. Can't wait! :D

ThomasShaped @ Sep 10th 2007 4:02PM

Oh my, Joystiq. You do make me chuckle.

WiNG @ Sep 10th 2007 4:02PM

is there an achievement for tricking tails into killing himself 100 times? lol

Rymix @ Sep 10th 2007 4:09PM

Best. Sonic. Evar.

Donald @ Sep 10th 2007 4:20PM

Remember when the phrase "Sonic Team is developing it" didn't mean instant failure and "Not this shit again" reactions?

(Nights sequel on the Wii notwithstanding, hopefully)

Lewis @ Sep 10th 2007 4:25PM

When I fucking spent 400 MSPOints Small Arms last week too.

Great job there guys.

What a waste

Matthew Watts @ Sep 10th 2007 4:34PM

I want to know what Bomberman content is coming this week. I didn't know about that till you mentioned it... any one hear?

And also, wasn't a Tony Hawk Demo supposed to come out today?

Thanks for help, anyone.

Guybrush Threepwood @ Sep 10th 2007 5:00PM

Sonic Mega Colection (Plus)'d.

Seriously, who is actually going to buy this? At least it's less of a rip-off than the VC Sonic games, though.

mr nimblewick @ Sep 10th 2007 5:27PM

I like not having to change disks and controllers to play it. But to each their own.

is @ Sep 10th 2007 5:01PM

Ludwig, in case you were in any doubt - you are a very funny man. MORE PLEASE.

Marty @ Sep 10th 2007 5:08PM

Agreed... Ludwig never fails to disappoint.

is @ Sep 11th 2007 7:02AM

Im hoping that was just a slip of the finger, and you mean 'never ceases to amaze'

Diskoboy @ Sep 10th 2007 6:01PM

Sega has only two games left I'd wanna see on XBLA.

Jet Set Radio and NiGHTS.

Only problem is, you maty be able to pull off NiGHTS. But JSR would never make it because the 150mb limit..

And IMO, Sonic 3 is the best of all the original Sonic games.

Marty @ Sep 10th 2007 6:27PM

I agree, but I'll take them in increments. Playing through Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 again will make me appreciate the inevitable release of SOnic 3 / SNK. :)

ALH @ Sep 10th 2007 7:50PM

add REZ to that please.

perfect game for XBLA, only 5 levels long, plenty of unlockable 'skins', built in high score charts and oh man..if it was in HD....@_@

the_game_master @ Sep 12th 2007 10:22PM

I'm a little disappointed in Sega, why are they releasing these Genesis games, most people already have these games in the library collection.
Sega is sitting on a nice Sonic arcade game that they made in the early 90s but never released to a console. It's called "SegaSonic", I've played this on MAME and its amazing, its top scroller similar to how Sonic 3D Blast was but this game blows Sonic 3D Blast out of the water. It would have been nice if Sega just released this game for XBLA.