Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit) (InstanceTopic, 20)

From Compile Worlds

Obviously this is about the version of Sonic 2 that makes you crazy. If you were looking for the other one, it's right here

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is probably among the hardest Sonic games ever. Yes, it's much more difficult than Tails' SkyPatrol, deal with it. Unlike it's Genesis/Megadrive namesake, Miles "Tails" Prower is not your trusty invincible side-kick, but a plot device that is basically the difference between the good ending and the bad one. Other than the title and Tails' omnipresent appearances, the two games have nothing in common, and like playing most of the Game Gear Sonic games, you'll probably find yourself screaming at it in frustration. This is mostly due to SEGA purposely designing most of the zones and a couple of the bosses to kill Sonic. Many also blame the poor screen resolution of the Game Gear for it's difficulty, because we all hate blind jumps in a game that's all about ~~speed~~platforming, right?

Zones

Underground Zone: Not your typical first zone 5/5Green Hill Zone Emerald Hill Zone Neo Green Hill Zone Mushroom Hill Zone Angel Island, it has the theme of an underground mine, coated with blind jumps over lava and spike pits and dual colored Crabmeats in annoying places just for you! Oh, and Dr. Eggman is nice enough to show up for the zone's boss fight; You won't see him for the rest of the game, thanks to his needing to repair his Egg mobile.
Sky High Zone: Not content with just riding mine carts, Sonic takes to the air with a gimmicky hang glider over, you guessed it, lots of freaking spikes! You'll likely find out Sonic can defy the laws of physics with an invincibility monitor before you reach the evil Egg...ostrich...
Aquatic Lake Zone: And Sonic comes full circle with the traditional elements by exploring the sea; much to his chagrin, there are arrows and stalker shrimp out to get him. Also, we'd like to mention that there's a bubble puzzle that might remind you of a certain other blue bomber and a particular level.
Green Hills Zone: Not to be confused with the original famous zone, the difficulty in this zone comes mostly from comprehending how SEGA failed background layers at the end of Act 2 (or maybe the signpost is just shy). It's a miracle if you make it to the boss in Act 3; the level designer was nice enough to add in pits of pointy impaling objects that only a well aimed leap from a spring at over 9000 meters can get Sonic across.
Gimmick Mountain Zone: And Gimmicks there are! Conveyor Belts, MOAR spieks, and tube mazes. Are those the spinning gears from Metropolis Zone you see in the title card? Well, maybe, but they're not in this zone, because they don't make it difficult enough.
Scrambled Egg Zone: Yummy. Can we get cheese on our zone? No? But we really need something to clog all those meters of piping, death pits galore and...grass? What the hell is GRASS doing in Eggman's base? Something finally makes sense when you see the boss fight is against Metal Sonic...or is it?
Crystal Egg Zone: Thinking ahead as usual, Eggman made TWO bases, this one being made of pretty glass and having bizarrely happy holiday music. For being the Chaos Emerald only zone, they ironically take it easy on you here. Eggman finally gets his fat ass back in here, only to present you with the most difficult boss in the game...or was that the first one?

If you some how managed to get through all of that, much less without dying over a gazillion times, then congratulations, you get a pat on the back or a slap in the face, and maybe some bragging rights. But hey, at least they GIVE you an ending, unlike the aforementioned SkyPatrol.