• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

RTTP: Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle)

B

Boogiepop

Member
To start, a link to my other Sonic R/LTTPs:
Sonic Adventure
Shadow the Hedgehog
Sonic Heroes
Sonic 06
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Sonic and the Black Knight
Sonic 4: Episode 1
Sonic the Hedgehog Game Gear
Sonic 2 Game Gear
Sonic Chaos
Sonic Blast
Sonic Labyrinth
Tails Adventure
Tails' Sky Patrol
Sonic Spinball Game Gear
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic Spinball Genesis
Sonic CD
Sonic Unleashed Wii
Sonic Colors DS
Sonic Generations 3DS

Well, I decided it was finally time to revisit Adventure 2 along with a friend, so yesterday I ended up playing through the full Hero campaign. To be honest, I actually had a good bit of nostalgia for this one (played WAY too much Chao Garden stuff), and of the 3D ones it was definitely the one I remembered best.

And honestly... it's a weird one. The Sonic stages are probably better than what they had in the first Adventure for the most part. They only start to get really crappy gimmicks at the end (the pyramid stage has the lame key things but that's not so bad, but Crazy Gadget sucks with its terribly done gravity gimmick and Final Rush (?) is terrible with its rails, rails, and nothing but). There's some minor improvements like making the light dash a little less gimmicky by removing the charge up, which is nice. I also can't remember which games have it and which don't, but I started to realize here how finicky the homing attack can seem without a cursor, though it's not atrocious like in Shadow or anything so it's not a big deal.

The Tails and Knuckles stages suck, though, and they suck HARD. It's funny since Tails' stages are so close to Gamma's stages (also forgot his design shows up for the desert area, which is a weird aside), and yet due to the screwy maneuverability they just feel pretty crappy. Doesn't help that somebody thought it would be a good idea to have lock-on points that make it super easy to kill yourself in the space level. And Knuckles should be obvious why he sucks. The change that makes it so you can only find one emerald shard (or key, w/e) at a time really does make his stages into an ungodly mess. Death Chamber (WHY IS THERE SO MUCH DAMAGING BACKGROUND FIRE!) and the space level suck to an ungodly degree, and I think I ended up with around a half hour in each. Didn't help that in the gigantic space level I managed to find where the last emerald was (behind one of the shutter doors around the arena for the boss fight that follows), but even though I figured out what to do the shoddy hit detection convinced me I was going about it wrong, and then I accidentally found the sunglasses area and believed I needed to find an invisible switch, which added massively to the time it took. Also, the way the sunglasses works SUCKS. Why do you have to cycle through options to use them, and then they turn off if you dare to jump? Ugh. Also, Knuckles looks hilarious loaded down with all his extra swag.

The story isn't as bad as I was expecting thus far. Like Sonic Adventure it's not great by any means, but it's not as mindnumbingly terrible as what happens in a lot of the later games. Helps that the big threat is more a revamped Death Egg rather than some giant ancient mystical evil monster. GUN's still a stupid idea of course and I hate that this game introduced them, but at least they don't have as much of a presence as they do in Shadow or anything.

Oh, and I had the added "fun" of the save file corrupting (looks like my friends disc we were using may have been the cause) when we quit after the Tails level in the desert. I burned my way back to where we were, but it gave me extra hate for the Knuckles levels. I since found my copy, and it looks like though we thought the save corrupted completely after the Hero campaign, it still apparently exists at the start of the space section. So I may have to do the awful Ark part AGAIN. Ugh. (Fortunately I have the back-up of a completed save from way back when to fall back on if things go wrong once more.

So yeah, I'll withhold judgment for till I play through the Dark and Final campaigns again, but for now I've found the Sonic parts surprisingly not too bad, but the Knuckles and Tails parts were even worse than I remembered.
 
S

Shahadan

Member
I hate this game so much.

Especially rails and all the bugs. And the president chase. And what they did to tails.
 
B

Boogiepop

Member
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, but we temporarily tried turning the language to Japanese when we realized it was there, and Sonic has some hilariously goofy English in the Japanese track, haha.
 
Z

Zebra

Member
The Chao gardens make this game worth starting up.

I cannot tell you how many hours I poured into that thing.
 
M

Mass Effect

Member
Just about how I feel (now at least). Sonic/Shadow levels were good up until the silly gimmicks started showing up (ugh, the space levels). The Tails/Eggman levels just make me want to stop playing the game. I didn't mind the Knuckles/Rouge levels though.

Chao garden is still great though.

Iacobellis said:
This one isn't open-world, right?
Click to expand...

No.
 
M

Marjar

Banned
Zebra said:
The Chao gardens make this game worth starting up.

I cannot tell you how many hours I poured into that thing.
Click to expand...

You come for the Sonic but stay for the Chao Garden.

Seriously, they should just make a Chao Garden game. Shit would sell like crazy.
 
W

Winterfang

Banned
Never played Battle but the original is one of my favorite games of all time and the Xbox amazing ports is even better. The Textures hold up so good.
 
M

Meccanical

Member
The only thing that made Knuckles/Rouge levels fun was going as high as you could in the level and doing that drill move down as far as you could.

Those levels were ridiculously huge.

Way too huge for the objectives you had to complete.
 
I

Iacobellis

Junior Member
Mass Effect said:
Just about how I feel (now at least). Sonic/Shadow levels were good up until the silly gimmicks started showing up (ugh, the space levels). The Tails/Eggman levels just make me want to stop playing the game. I didn't mind the Knuckles/Rouge levels though.

Chao garden is still great though.



No.
Click to expand...

Damn, memory serves me right 12 years later. I like SA1 more than this one, to be honest. Better atmosphere, less of an edgy style, and more Japanese influence throughout the game. SA2 had those corny rap songs in the Knuckles levels.

Well, the graphics were better and Chao Garden was more in-depth, but that was it.
 
V

Village

Member
Meccanical said:
The only thing that made Knuckles/Rouge levels fun was going as high as you could in the level and doing that drill move down as far as you could.

Those levels were ridiculously huge.

Way too huge for the objectives you had to complete.
Click to expand...


Also the music was good.

weird lyrics and all
 
W

Winterfang

Banned
Meccanical said:
The only thing that made Knuckles/Rouge levels fun was going as high as you could in the level and doing that drill move down as far as you could.

Those levels were ridiculously huge.

Way too huge for the objectives you had to complete.
Click to expand...

The levels where alright, they where divided in three segments in which an Emerald/Key/Fragment where located. The main problem was the radar only focus on one at the time. After like 500 of hours combined between missions I can practically located an Emerald by instinct after the radar starts ringing, I played the game so much.

Also SA1 is garbage compared to 2. Only Sonic had cool levels.
 
Z

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
The early Sonic/Shadow levels like the two city levels and the two jungle levels are really the highlight of the game. They're much more polished experiences than SA1 and you're not falling into a pit every 5 feet.

I think the Adventure mold of gameplay had a lot of potential, but Sonic Team was really too interested in throwing everything and the kitchen sink into the games at the time. I found Tails/Robotnik stages to be forgettable and the Knuckles/Rouge stages are a chore. The game was really too bloated.
 
F

Ferr986

Member
I liked SA1 more. Sonic levels had better layout IMO (more platforming and stuff), the mech stages had better controls and the emeral hunting levels had a better radar.
Chao garden was way better on 2 though.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
OP am I to assume you're playing the Dreamcast ver.? Why not play the PSN/XBL/Steam ver. of the game?
 
D

drukqs

Neo Member
I played this one back to back with its predecessor, and in most respects it's the better game.

Sonic's gameplay was fun and the levels were decently designed, though I didn't care too much for Crazy Gadget. Likewise, Shadow's gameplay shares some of the better moments in the game (it's a shame that his levels seemed far and few between in his respective story).

Tails and Eggman are fun to play as, but perhaps I'm in a minority of players who enjoyed the E-102 levels from SA. The targeting mechanism is simplistic, but there's something satisfying in obliterating enemies with the lock-on missile.

On the other hand are the treasure hunting segments with Knuckles and Rouge. I can't say I cared too much for their levels, especially those positioned near the end of their respective stories. The combination of bad level design and the one-shard-at-a-time hunting results in tedious gameplay. Don't get me started with that stupid Rouge level in the vault...

Sonic Team should have played to their strengths and focused on Sonic stages and the Chao side-game. Speaking of which, where's our Chao spin-off game?
 
B

BinaryPork2737

Unconfirmed Member
The Sonic and Shadow levels are some of the best in the post Sonic & Knuckles part of the franchise. I never really hated the Knuckles and Rouge levels or the Robotnik and Tails levels; they weren't great but I don't find them as awful as most people say they are. And of course Chao Garden was pretty rad.

Plus the music was really great at times, especially in the Sonic and Shadow levels:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyUBuCfg5vA

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzhZieZoOco

www.youtube.com/watch?v=68WOBoyRLwM

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmndRj3-3qQ

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rmRcbqil7o

Bonus for Halloween:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox0eToGCy90
 
R

RedShift

Member
The Knuckles rap music is pretty hilarious. You can hear whoever is rapping thinking 'oh god what the hell am I saying'.

Live and Learn is a guilty pleasure of mine though.
 
Z

Zafir

Member
jdkluv said:
YO THIS IS KNUCKLES, AND I'M BACK TO KICK SOME BUTT AT WILD CANYON

You know the best thing about Sonic Adventure 2 is how fucking ridiculous Knuckles’ soundtrack was AND YET THEY WERE ALL STILL GOOD SONGS
Click to expand...
Pretty much. I still like the songs despite the lyrics being silly.

I still like most of the levels in both Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 really(Apart from Big the Cat, fuck that guy). That said they're very buggy. I played Green Forest a few months back, and I managed to find like 5 or 6 bugs in just that one level. Hell, I managed to get into this square box area on the level and had to restart to get out of it..
 
B

Boogiepop

Member
Tizoc said:
OP am I to assume you're playing the Dreamcast ver.? Why not play the PSN/XBL/Steam ver. of the game?
Click to expand...

It's actually the Gamecube version. And I'm mostly going with that as I already had it laying around and since I could just rock Wii backwards compatibility it didn't even require me to drag out any hardware.
 
S

Solid Samus

Banned
I will never understand how anyone could think that Sonic Adventure 2 holds up. I couldn't understand then and I certainly don't understand how it still has its fans now.

If other fandoms had the same standards as Sonic fans... well I'm just glad they don't. It'd be a world where people would be trying to convince me that Phantom Hourglass and Deus Ex Invisible War not only had redeeming factors, but were generally amazing games in their own right

and fuck that world
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Boogiepop said:
It's actually the Gamecube version. And I'm mostly going with that as I already had it laying around and since I could just rock Wii backwards compatibility it didn't even require me to drag out any hardware.
Click to expand...

Ah I see. Thing is the versions I mentioned above are the better versions of Sonic Adventure 2 performance-wise, maybe consider playing them in the near future and comparing it to the GC ver.?
 
G

gwiz210

Member
Someone said recently here on Gaf, the Adventure series is a thing you had to be there for to enjoy these days.
 
F

FreeMufasa

Junior Member
I hated all the GC kids that jumped on this game with this port. Screaming like they just discovered gold. I was OG DC. Don't fucking tell me to buy the GC for this when I've been tellin u kids how great this was on dream cast a year before. Fucking pricks.
 
S

Semajer

Member
I sent my first Chao to Sonic Advance, and maxed all it's stats. I send it back to SA2:B, which then froze before it saved. My Chao is gone forever. Fuck this game.
 
T

The Mana Legend

Banned
Game is fucking garbage. The Knuckles and Tails levels are probably the worst levels I've ever played in any Sonic game. I stopped playing after I got to the second Knuckles stage. The game is unbearable.

I never thought it could get any worse than Sonic Adventure. But it did. Then Sonic 06 came out.
 
D

Dead Man Typing

Member
I had my save files corrupt a lot on me back on the Gamecube version. I was using a cheap third party memory card, other games were fine but SA2 corrupted often. I got myself an official memory card and it never happened again.

If you're using one of those larger official memory cards, I remember hearing some games had problems with those too. I never had the Dreamcast or XBLA versions of the game corrupt on me, so I don't think it's the game and probably not your disc either.
 
V

V_Arnold

Member
I have put 180 hours into Sonic Adventure 2 back in the good ol' Dreamcast days. YES!

Well, 10 hours must have been Knuckles/Tails levels, and indeed they were not fun (although I did enjoy the Knuckles leves, unlike the mecha action with Tails).

The other 170 though? Between the insanely great speed run attempts with Sonic and Shadow, the awesome Chao Garden, the game has given me tons of fun.
 
T

The Bankslammer

Member
FreeMufasa said:
Holaralrlafhabrfhalaala (in my knuckles digging voice)
Click to expand...

... rats

anyways yeah the game is pretty much quite bad in its entirety, i've replayed it twice recently and basically enjoyed nothing but the music and the horrible cutscenes

i'm in agreement with everyone that the treasure hunt stages are the worst followed by the robot stages, but to be honest, i don't even think the ACTION RACE levels were very fun either. level design and physics felt like a huge step down from the first adventure, imo. seemed you were being pushed down a single path with the occasional shortcut that you open using items you unlock later.
 
M

Mr-Joker

Banned
I hated Sonic Adventure 2 as I didn't like Sonic Level design, Tails and Knuckles stages, the god damn stupid story or how stupid GUN are at confusing Shadow for Sonic, how you were force to switch between characters, the Biolizard boss fight, so broken and I hated city escape worse first level for Sonic and I wish that it wasn't in Sonic Generation.

I however did enjoy the Chao garden I spent hours raising my 626 *_* (yes that was his name).
 
R

RedShift

Member
My favourite part was how badly done the dubs were. If the speech overran the time it took in Japanese the next line would start playing over it. Sometimes characters would even interrupt themselves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Sega needs to really capitalize on the Sonic Adventure 2 nostalgia like RIGHT NOW
2
50
2K
Geometric-Crusher replied
ChatGPT sucks and is a hoax
2 3
114
11K
cireza replied
Sonic Superstars | Review Thread
News 2 3
132
10K
Unknown? replied
Sonic Origins Plus coming June 23rd with a physical release, to include all 12 Game Gear Sonic games and playable Amy
News 2
56
4K
Krathoon replied
SEGA boss on Sonic Frontiers success, considering remakes and reboots
Game Dev
8
1K
stickkidsam replied
Top Bottom