1. Sonic Adventure 2 Radical Highway A Rank Calculator
2. Sonic Adventure 2 Radical Highway A Rank
3. Sonic Adventure 2 Radical Highway A Rank System

The Rank is a grading system used in the Sonic the Hedgehog series video games used to measure how well the player performed in a particular event of a game, the most common being completing a level.

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (GC) Shadow All Missions A Rank. History Talk (0) From Youtube. About; File History; Metadata. Radical Highway. A videos of clips from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Full Story Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (GC) Hero. Nov 04, 2015  Sonic Adventure 2 features the world-famous blue hedgehog in a hyper-fast adventure where players can either save the world or conquer it in an action-packed.rrrrIll get better. IGNORE tags Sonic Adventure 2 Battle Radical Highway Speedrun Mission 1 Sonic Adventure 2 Battle Radical Highway Speedrun Mission 1.rrIn this run Ill finish Radical Highways first mission in World.

Description

Ranks are letter-grades that range from S or A to E which judge how well the player performed while completing a particular event in a game such as completing a level or mission. Ranks are usually given alongside after the score is given and the player must obtain a particular score in order to reach a rank and thus is influenced by common gameplay factors such as the number of Rings, time taken to finish the stage, number of enemies defeated etc. Some games though have certain levels and missions where ranks are not awarded by score alone and may only judge by one or few gameplay factors (usually just the time taken to complete a mission) depending on the level's specific objective. In games where their playable characters are present in the stage clear results, they will pose and/or comment based on the rank received.

Usually, the player has to attain the highest rank (usually an 'A' or 'S') for some or all stage missions of a game to receive special bonuses, unlock new gameplay features or game achievements (such as Xbox Achievements and PlayStation Trophies).

Rank list (in order)

The following list of letter grades used in the Sonic the Hedgehog games, listed from highest to lowest. The most commonly used ranks are in boldface.

• X Rank: Violet colored/Yellow colored (Sonic Riders games only)
• SS/S+ Rank: Brass colored (Sonic Riders games only)
• S Rank: Aqua colored/Platinum colored/Gold colored
• AA/A+ Rank: Cyan colored/Purple colored (Sonic Riders games only)
• A Rank: Gold colored/Purple colored/Red colored
• B Rank: Silver colored/Red colored/Green colored
• C Rank: Bronze colored/Yellow colored/Blue colored
• D Rank: Steel colored/Green colored/Light Blue colored
• E Rank: Rusty metal colored/Blue colored
• F Rank: Purple colored (This was supposed to appear in Sonic Heroes, but it later got scrapped, so the E Rank is currently the lowest of them all.)

Game appearances

Sonic Adventure 2

Ranks are first featured in Sonic Adventure 2 and later on in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle in the stage/mission results and range from A to E. For all characters' Missions 1, 4 and 5 of all stages (except Route 101 and Route 280), the Rank is determined by the score but if the player obtains every single Ring in the stage and clears it, the player is awarded an automatic A-Rank regardless of the other score factors. For the remaining Missions, the Rank is solely based on the time taken to complete it. The player is required to earn an A-Rank in all missions of every stage in the game in order to obtain all of the Emblems (which also unlocks the 'You Are The Legend' Achievement/Trophy in the 2012 HD port).

Besides the game's stages, the Chao's stats (Fly, Swim, Power, Run and Stamina) also has its own Rank system from S to E which determines how high the stat values increase by when they level up. These stat Ranks are randomized for each Chao the player owns.

Sonic Heroes

In Sonic Heroes, Ranks return where they were given at the stage/mission results like with Sonic Adventure 2. Score-based Ranks were given for all teams' first Missions and all Extra Missions of Team Sonic and Team Chaotix while time-based Ranks were given for boss fights and all Extra Missions of Team Dark and Team Rose. In score-based missions, the character that comments on the rank the player received is the one who has the highest character score (if there is a tie, priority is given to the Speed character and then Fly) while in time-based missions, the character that was the leader when the mission was finished will comment instead. (It should be noted that comments for boss fights are always the same per character regardless of the received rank.)

The player is required to obtain an A-Rank of every Mission in the game to unlock Super Hard Mode. Ranks are not recorded for completing the Sea Gate tutorial stage or the Super Hard Mode stages. The game's save files display the number of stages/missions the player has an A Rank on.

Shadow the Hedgehog

Ranks appear in Shadow the Hedgehog where they also range from A to E. Stage mission Ranks are score-based according to the mission's alignment (Dark points for dark missions and hero points for hero missions, with neutral points counting for both), while the score of the opposite alignment reduces the final rank; having a higher hero score in a dark mission results in a automatic E-Rank, and vice versa. Neutral missions are based solely neutral score and boss fights have time-based Ranks. If the player obtains an A-Rank for every stage, Expert Mode is unlocked.

Sonic Rush series

In Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure, Ranks were given for all Acts (including boss fights) based on the score they obtained at the Acts result. However, the game's ranks now include from S to C (being the lowest).

In Sonic Rush Adventure, the Rank received also determines how many Materials the player receives when playing an Act or boss fight of a main island stage (stages that are not Hidden Islands or Deep Core).

Sonic Rivals series

In Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2, Ranks are present and function as they did similarly to the Sonic Rush games and also range from between S to C. In Sonic Rivals 2, some cards can be unlocked which require the player to obtain an S-Rank in specific acts and in the Act 2 Battle modes.

Sonic Riders series

Sonic Riders, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity and Sonic Free Riders use Ranks differently in performing Tricks in regular racing gameplay and in their side-quest missions.

For tricks, the player is ranked between X to C based on how well the player performed them. The higher the rank, the more Air (Sonic Riders and Sonic Free Riders) or Gravity Points (Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity) the player will be awarded. For the first Sonic Riders game, the Rank was determined based on how many Tricks the player performed when launched into the air but if the player did not land properly (eg. landed while in the middle of performing a Trick), they will be a given C Rank. This was not the case for the latter two Sonic Riders games where the player was simply ranked based on the timing of the jump prompt at the moment the player gets launched. In addition, the latter two Sonic Riders games also feature a unique sound effect whenever an X Rank trick is performed. All three games feature the LegendExtreme Gear which can allow the player to perform high-ranked tricks more easily.

All three games feature a mission-based gameplay (though the missions in Sonic Free Riders are required to be played as part of its story in Grand Prix Mode) where the player is ranked how well they performed in playing them depending on its objective, following the traditional stage/mission results ranking scheme in other games. Each mission has three different ranks which are differently named in each game: Bronze/Silver/Gold in Sonic Riders, Normal/Super/Extreme in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity and B/A/S in Sonic Free Riders. The player is required to obtain the highest Rank in all of the game's missions to obtain the game's respective Chaos Emerald Extreme Gear.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) features Ranks which function as they did with previous games, awarded when completing an Action Stage, Boss or Town Mission stage. Ranks range from (highest to lowest): S, A, B, C and D. In Story Mode, the player also earns additional Rings based on the Rank they received.

The player is required to obtain S-Ranks across all Mission to unlock Achievements in the Xbox 360 version of the game.

Sonic Unleashed

In the Wii/PlayStation 2 version of Sonic Unleashed, Ranks are given only based on the time taken to complete the stage and features S to C. The game's HUD now displays the par time the player is required to finish the stage within to obtain a particular Rank starting with the S and if the time has elapsed beyond the threshold for S, the HUD will switch to display the par time for A and so on for the remaining Ranks.

The Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version of Sonic Unleashed feature Ranks S to E as its Ranks based on the score received for an Act stage. Ranks are not recorded for clearing any Missions given by the game's human residents. If the player obtains an E rank 'Results Screen - E Rank', an intentionally bad rendition of the normal Result Screen music track, will play .The 'Getting the Hang of Things' and 'Creature of the Night' Achievements/Trophies can be unlocked by obtaining an S-Rank for the first time on a day and nighttime stage respectively.

Sonic and the Black Knight

The Ranks are present in the results of Sonic and the Black Knight but it does not use letter grades. Instead, it uses a star rating with the number of stars determining its rank (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest).

Sonic Colors

Ranks appear once again when clearing an Act in Sonic Colors and range from S to D based on the score received. Completing a stage with an A or S Rank now awards one or three 1-Ups respectively. In the Area Map, the game now displays how many S-Ranks the player has acquired in its HUD.

Sonic Generations

In the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3/PC version of Sonic Generations, the game features Ranks from S to D but also features two separate ranking systems for the game's regular stage Acts and Challenge Acts. In regular stage Acts, they are given based on the score received but are given only between A and D. If the player finishes an Act without losing a life (excludes restarting the stage via the pause menu), the player can earn a Perfect Clear which raises their Rank up by one level. (Hence the player can only achieve an S Rank this way.)

While playing Challenge Acts, Ranks functions as they did with that of the stages in the Wii/PlayStation 2 version of Sonic Unleashed; they are given solely based on the time taken to complete the level and the Rank and its corresponding clear par time is displayed in the HUD. The player is required to earn S Ranks in a certain number of stage Acts and Challenge Acts to earn various Achievements/Trophies.

Sonic Lost World

In the Wii U/PC version of Sonic Lost World, Ranks only appear in Time Attack mode and are given based on the time taken to complete the Zone. As with the stages of the Wii/PlayStation 2 version of Sonic Unleashed and the Challenge Acts of the HD versions of Sonic Generations, the Rank is displayed alongside with the par time which the player needs to complete in order to obtain that Rank. Once the par time has being passed, the next lower Rank with its respective par time is shown in place of the former Rank (displaying from S to D). In the Zone Map of Lost Hex, each Zone in the game will show the player's best Rank they obtained in that Zone's Time Attack Mode.

Sonic Forces

The Rank system is present in the gameplay of Sonic Forces, in which, like before, is given based on the player's performance in the completed level. The player can also complete Daily Missions to activate a Daily Mission Boost that will temporarily boost the amount of points given at the end of a stage, making it easier for players who are struggling to get S Ranks.

Rank comments

Sonic Adventure 2

• Sonic:
  • A: '[Whistles] That was cool!'
  • B: 'Too easy! Piece of cake!'
  • C: 'Just made it.'
  • D: 'Huh. No problem.'
  • E: 'Barely made it.'
• Tails:
  • A: 'I did it, Sonic!'
  • B: 'Very good.'
  • C: 'That was easy.'
  • D: 'That was a little tough!'
  • E: 'I gotta do better next time.'
• Knuckles:
  • A: 'Yeah! This is perfect!'
  • B: 'Yeah, I feel good.'
  • C: 'Not too bad.'
  • D: 'Whew. That was tough.'
  • E: 'I have to try harder.'
• Shadow:
  • A: 'Ultimate victory!'
  • B: 'Hmm. Too easy for me.'
  • C: 'That wasn't so hard.'
  • D: 'Maybe I didn't try hard enough.'
  • E: 'I guess I'm not at full power here.'
• Eggman:
  • A: 'Now you know why I am the best!'
  • B: 'Hahaha! Piece of cake!'
  • C: 'Hmm. That wasn't so difficult.'
  • D: 'I should have tried a little harder.'
  • E: 'That was too close.'
• Rouge:
  • A: 'How was that? Perfect? Like me?'
  • B: 'It's all too easy for me.'
  • C: 'Not too bad, I guess.'
  • D: 'I guess I took a little too much time.'
  • E: 'I'm ashamed to call myself a hunter!'

Sonic Heroes

• Team Sonic:
  • Sonic:
    • A: '[Whistles]. That was tight!'
    • B: 'Too easy!'
    • C: 'Barely made it.'
    • D: 'Hm. No problem.'
    • E: 'Shoot. Not my day.'
  • Tails:
    • A: 'Sonic! Knuckles! We did it!'
    • B: 'Not too shabby!'
    • C: 'Guess that's that!'
    • D: 'A bit tough!'
    • E: 'We can do better...'
  • Knuckles
    • A: 'Perfect!'
    • B: 'Hmm. Not bad!'
    • C: 'Guess that's about it!'
    • D: 'I didn't use all my strength!'
    • E: 'Just enough to pass.'
• Team Dark:
  • Shadow:
    • A: 'Perfect as always!'
    • B: 'Piece of cake.'
    • C: 'Just average.'
    • D: 'Not taking this seriously.'
    • E: 'What's wrong with me?'
  • Rouge:
    • A: 'Perfect! As usual.'
    • B: 'Piece of cake.'
    • C: 'Mmm. Not bad.'
    • D: 'I can do better...'
    • E: 'I'm ashamed to call myself a treasure hunter!'
  • Omega:
    • A: 'I am Omega! The ultimate E-Series robot!'
    • B: 'This proves my power!'
    • C: 'Satisfactory level.'
    • D: 'Power balance adjustment needed.'
    • E: 'I couldn't even beat Gamma or Beta...'
• Team Rose:
  • Amy:
    • A: 'We're like awesome!'
    • B: 'I just knew we could do it!'
    • C: 'Just this will do...'
    • D: 'Guess we could've tried harder.'
    • E: 'We couldn't even impress Sonic like this...'
  • Cream:
    • A: 'I'm so happy, I want to tell everyone!'
    • B: 'As long as we stay together, we can do anything!'
    • C: 'Cheese, you did great too. Thank you!'
    • D: 'That was pretty tough!'
    • E: 'Disappointing...'
  • Big:
    • A: 'Cause I'm super-duper happy!'
    • B: 'That was good!'
    • C: 'Not too bad, I guess.'
    • D: 'We should try to do better next time.'
    • E: 'I'm feeling a little blue...'
• Team Chaotix:
  • Espio:
    • A: 'Impossible feat! Ultimate ninja power!'
    • B: 'Good job! Nothing more to be said.'
    • C: 'Not bad. No complaints.'
    • D: 'Be on guard! Focus, and prepare yourself.'
    • E: 'Insulting. Your training has been a waste of time.'
  • Charmy:
    • A: 'Awesome! Totally awesome!'
    • B: 'No problem!'
    • C: 'Not bad, don't you think?'
    • D: 'Maybe we could've done a little better!'
    • E: 'Ok, stop foolin' around!'
  • Vector:
    • A: 'Perfect! The work of professionals, heh!'
    • B: 'No complaints!'
    • C: 'Not bad!'
    • D: 'Maybe... this wasn't our day.'
    • E: 'Lackluster performance, I'd say.'

Shadow the Hedgehog

• Shadow:
  • A: 'Hmm. Perfect!'

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

• Sonic:
  • S: 'That was incredible!'
  • A: 'Too easy! No sweat.'
  • B: 'Just made it.'
  • C: 'Hmph. No problem.'
  • D: 'Man! Today's not my day.'
• Tails:
  • S: 'Great! I did it, Sonic!'
  • A: 'An 'A' effort!'
  • B: 'Well, not bad!'
  • C: 'I had a bit of trouble there.'
  • D: 'I've got to do better...'
• Knuckles:
  • S: 'Alright!'
  • A: 'That felt good.'
  • B: 'Well, that wasn't too bad.'
  • C: 'Hmph. That took longer than I thought.'
  • D: 'Shoot! I still got a ways to go...'
• Elise:
  • S: 'I don't believe it!'
  • A: 'I'm so happy.'
  • B: 'How was that?'
  • C: 'I'm a bit tired.'
  • D: 'I need to try harder...'
• Shadow:
  • S: 'Perfect.'
  • A: 'Hm. Not even a challenge.'
  • B: 'Guess that was alright.'
  • C: 'Need to stay focused.'
  • D: 'Maybe I wasn't strong enough.'
• Rouge:
  • S: 'What did you think of my beautiful technique?'
  • A: 'For me, it was a piece of cake!'
  • B: 'That was pretty good, I guess.'
  • C: 'I guess I took a bit too long.'
  • D: 'How can I call myself a treasure hunter?'
• Omega:
  • S: 'Perfect mission.'
  • A: 'Good performance.'
  • B: 'That was adequate.'
  • C: 'Expected time frame: not met.'
  • D: 'Has one of my systems broken down?'
• Silver:
  • S: 'Perfect!!!'
  • A: 'Looks like I'm on a roll!'
  • B: 'That was easy!'
  • C: 'That took too long.'
  • D: 'I need to pull it together.'
• Blaze:
  • S: 'Can't complain.'
  • A: 'All it takes is a little effort.'
  • B: 'That was so-so.'
  • C: 'I should have done better.'
  • D: 'That was weak.'
• Amy:
  • S: 'Just perfect!'
  • A: 'Aren't I just incredible?'
  • B: 'Yay! I rock!'
  • C: 'Phew. That was close.'
  • D: 'I gotta do better than this.'

Sonic and the Secret Rings

• Sonic:
  • Gold Medal: 'That was tight!'
  • Silver Medal: 'Too easy!'
  • Bronze Medal: 'Phew, just made it!'
  • No Medal: 'Huh, no Problem.'
  • Failed: 'This just isn't my day.'

Sonic Unleashed

• Xbox 360/PlayStation 3:
  • Sonic:
    • S: 'Piece of cake!'/'Beautiful!'/'Sweet!'
    • A: 'Yes!'/'Cool!'/'No problem!'
    • B: 'How's that?'/'Not bad.'/'Ha ha!'
    • C: 'Eh, can't win 'em all.'/'Yeah, I'm good.'
    • D: 'Well, that was lame.'/'Aw, I've gotta try that again.'/'Not my best run.'
    • E: 'NOOOOO!'/'Aw, no!'
  • Sonic the Werehog:
    • S: 'Oh yeah! That's right, baby!'
    • A: (Howls)
    • B: 'Wow! I rule!'
    • C: 'Hmm, not so bad.'
    • D: 'Augh! Can I start over?'
    • E: 'Darn!'
• Wii/PlayStation 2:
  • Sonic:
    • S: 'No problem!'/'Sweet!' 'Piece of cake!'
    • A: 'Yeah, I'm good.'/'Ha ha!' 'Yes!'
    • B: 'Ha ha!' 'Yeah, I'm good.' 'Yes!'
    • C: 'NOOOO!'/'Not my best run.'
  • Sonic the Werehog:
    • S: 'How do you like that, huh?!'
    • A: 'Wow! I rule!'
    • B: 'Augh! Can I start over?'
    • C: 'Hmph, not so hot.'

Sonic and the Black Knight

• Sonic
  • 5 Stars: '(Whistles) That was tight!'
  • 4 Stars: 'Too easy!'
  • 3 Stars: 'Whew, just made it!'
  • 2 Stars: 'Hm, no problem'
  • 1 Star: 'Shoot! Not my day'
• Sir Lancelot
  • 5 Stars: 'Ultimate victory!'
  • 4 Stars: 'It was a trifling matter!'
  • 3 Stars: 'All's well that ends well'
  • 2 Stars: 'Not taking this seriously'
  • 1 Star: 'I have shamed myself!'
• Sir Gawain
  • 5 Stars: 'Perfect!'
  • 4 Stars: 'Hm, not bad!'
  • 3 Stars: 'Not bad'
  • 2 Stars: 'I didn't use all my strength.'
  • 1 Star: 'Are you going to end like this?'
• Sir Percival
  • 5 Stars: 'Heh heh! What's wrong?'
  • 4 Stars: 'Done with nearly a bit of trouble.'
  • 3 Stars: 'A performance fitting a knight'
  • 2 Stars: 'The time for practice is over'
  • 1 Star: 'What the..?'

Sonic Colors (DS)

• Sonic:
  • S: 'Amazing!'
  • A: 'Great!'
  • B: 'Very good!'
  • C: 'Good!'
  • D: 'Don't give up!'

Sonic Adventure 2 Radical Highway A Rank Calculator

Sonic Lost World (3DS)

Sonic Adventure 2 Radical Highway A Rank

In the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Lost World, Sonic does not add any comments to his Ranks; instead he spins around and gives a 'Thumbs Up' depending on the Rank received.

Trivia

Sonic Adventure 2 Radical Highway A Rank System

• In Sonic Generations, almost the entire total score (and Rank) is calculated by the time taken to complete the level. This means that, by completing an Act at a sufficiently fast time, it is almost always enough to earn an A or S Rank (assuming the player doesn't lose a life).
  • However, an orange bar counting as rings will extend off of the green bar representing time.
• In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), since Knuckles is the only character who cannot finish a stage under normal circumstances, his Rank comments cannot be heard unless the player performs gameplay glitches that allows them to finish a stage with Knuckles.
• Since Sonic Colors, after getting any rank, Sonic will do a pose for the player, but only when the time to interact with the results screen ends. In Sonic Generations, after getting the score results and rank, Sonic will do a pose, perform a move or just dance (depending on what rank the player receives).
• Rankings were supposed to be given in Sonic Adventure as well, but the concept was scrapped during development time for unknown reasons.^{[citation needed]} However, the system was implemented into the next game, Sonic Adventure 2 and almost every other Sonic game released after.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/SonicAdventure2

Go To

• Accidental Innuendo: 'Come and get some, Eggman!' The tone Sonic says this line in certainly doesn't help.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: In October 2011, an article was written that theorized the possibility of the lyrics in Knuckles' stage music metaphorically telling the story of Knuckles being a drug addict who's hallucinating the Sonic universe to escape from his grim reality, interpreting a scrapped final level as his overdose-induced death. It's a combination of Nightmare Fuel and Tear Jerker.

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• Annoying Video-Game Helper: Omochao, a Chao-esque robot with a penchant for stating the obvious. Sega hadto have known how much the mecha twerp would annoy players, so it can be hit, thrown, and whatever else you can think of to shut it up, although sometimes it will chew you out for the abuse. Oh, and as if people didn't hate it enough already, Omochao's role was expanded in the HD remaster to include tips before levels, although at least he keeps his mouth shut in those cases.
• Awesome Music:
  • The Ultimate Lifeform also has the ultimate BGM

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  • Masters of the Desert, specifically, the Egg Golem version. The theme is packed with hope for the player and the boss, because of the tune and the guitar representing the hope of the player and the boss, respectively.
• Base-Breaking Character: Shadow. This was the game in which Shadow was introduced, and he broke the Sonic fanbase relatively quickly. To some Sonic fans, Shadow is one of the best characters for a cool design, interesting backstory, and being Darker and Edgier than Sonic in a way that made him more interesting. To other fans, Shadow is one of the worst; he was derided for being a copy of Sonic, his backstory was seen as Wangst, and that his 'dark and edgy' characterization didn't fit the Sonic universe. Even more than a decade after Sonic Adventure 2 was first released, it's still hard to get a consensus on Shadow.
• Best Level Ever:

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  • City Escape, featuring Sonic boarding down the roads, grinding on rails, catchy music, and outrunning a giant truck. It was later remade for Sonic Generations, this time with the truck equipped with tint saw-blades.
  • Radical Highway is the end-all be-all of highway-based Sonic stages. The music combines with getting to play as a Darker and EdgierMoveset Clone of Sonic who is bent on revenge. No wonder it was the representative for the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Generations, as well as where you race Shadow.
  • Metal Harbor is another beloved level, perhaps on par with City Escape. The level has the most alternate pathways and exploration, the spaces are much wider, giving you the only time to breathe in the normally fairly narrow levels, it marks the spot where the player regains one of his most iconic items — the Light Speed Shoes, and there's a fast-paced timed dash to the rocket before it ignites, and topping it all off, a quick but satisfying sequence where you drop dozens of feet below to a slope with the snowboard before hitting one last loop and colliding with the goal ring.
  • Cosmic Wall is perhaps the most well-liked mech stage in the game, considering it gives Eggman plenty of breathing room, allows him to fly using his Jet Engine, has plenty of enemies to shoot to get a high score, and is sandwiched between the much more difficult Mad Space & Final Chase stages.
  • Final Rush, the final stage of the Hero side story, which has Sonic grinding multiple rails in a final push to stop the ARK cannon. This level can be punishing due to its lack of footing, but do it right and it truly is a 'rush' as you slide at the speed of sound through the space above the planet. The pumping music helps keep the intensity through the stage.
• Breather Level:
  • While Meteor Herd is a hard level with a huge layout and sudden meteor strikes, it's nowhere near as hard as the levelsit's sandwichedbetween. For Knuckles' stages in general, Meteor Herd is also a relief for players who had to deal with the ghosts, considering that Knuckles has three stages involving them (Pumpkin Hill, Aquatic Mine, and Death Chamber).
  • Cosmic Wall, which comes after the frustratinglydifficultMadSpace, is a walk in the park. Even though it is extremely long and there are lots of enemies, the enemies rarely attack. Also, the weak gravity makes it practically impossible to die via Bottomless Pit. Finally, the level in general is really fun. In the Dreamcast version, the point threshold for an A rank is extremely easy to obtain due to the massive number of enemies, though Battle fixes this. On the downside, this level is followed by a battle against a very angry Tails, so if you miss the Protective Armor upgrade (which is found on this level^note ), he will destroy you in a Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Broken Base:
  • Both non-Sonic gameplay styles have been brought under the divisive umbrella of 'alternate gameplay' in the years since Sonic '06. Supporters of it say that the variety truly showed off the potential of the characters' abilities and was one of the best things about the game. Detractors say that the alternate gameplay was incredibly slow, completely unnecessary, and (nearly) dragged the game down if it weren't for the Action stages. There's also the thorny question of whether or not they represent an improvement over Adventure's. While Sonic and Shadow stages are pretty much unquestioned as the best, are the others genuinely bad, or are people just complaining because they have to play multiple styles at all?
    • Treasure Hunting is either seen as a fun diversion from the main Action gameplay with the ability to freely glide around and explore, or a tedious slog that takes too long, pads out the gameplay, and takes time away from Sonic levels. Is the completely arbitrary nerfing of the emerald radar something that shoots the game in the foot, or does improved stage design partially make up for it?
    • Shooting is either a Catharsis Factor-filled romp with the ability to just blow up everything in sight, or again, another slow experience that doesn't belong in the game and, again, takes time away from Sonic levels. There's also the argument of whether or not they're better than their Gamma predecessors, with Gamma gampelay fans citing that he controls and turns faster and has a unique objective in his various boss fights, while fans of Tails/Eggman mech stages point out that Gamma is outright slippery while his counterparts have the weight a gun-shooting mech ought to, the stages are actually built to accommodate the playstyle rather than awkwardly placing a character in a shortened version of a stage built for Sonic, and that even though the playstyle is slower, it still has a chance to get fast if you can build up enough momentum.
  • Fans are torn on what is the definitive way to play the game: Dreamcast or Gamecube? This is made divisive by the fact the latter was a part of the early 2000s Newbie Boom, meaning many Sonic fans grew up on it. There's nothing game-breaking in the Gamecube port, but there are numerous minor graphics issues (as seen in this video comparison). These include worse lightning effects, everyone being much darker toned than in the original, and many small details being removed. As a result, many see it as inferior to the Dreamcast version. Fans who prefer the Gamecube port, however, say its gameplay improvements and higher-quality character models make it a superior Polished Port.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • The massive supply of targetable enemies and objects in Weapons Bed and Cosmic Wall make it very fun to charge the homing laser as long as possible, and watch the screen fill with explosions, tons of bonus points, and Eggman's amused little chuckle is very satisfying.
  • Throwing Omochao at enemies. Whether it's the first or hundredth time, anything to get him to stop talking and boy is it fulfilling! Hitting the real chao in the gardens can prove to be quite a stress relief too to some people.
• Contested Sequel: While many consider this one of the best Sonic games ever, some don't like the level progression structure in comparison to the original, since the player is forced to cycle between multiple styles in the same story instead of choosing a playstyle along with the story. Some do like it as a way to streamline the story compared to the slower-paced Sonic Adventure, and others even appreciate the greater differences in gameplay between the characters. In general, the original Adventure had a better plot and a heavier focus on traditional 'Sonic-style' gameplay, but this game is seen as having better level design, focus, and presentation.
• Demonic Spiders: The Artificial Chaos. They have very fast attacks, only their head is vulnerable, and a few can reproduce or hide in their bodies to be invulnerable.
• Ear Worm: 'Escape From the City', the vocal theme for City Escape, can leave a long-lasting impression with its catchiness. Especially since City Escape is hands down the most plentiful source for easily-obtainable rings to farm for Chao Market supplies, so you'll be hearing it constantly.
  • 'For True Story'... dear God.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Chao, the adorable little creatures who debuted in SA1, soon ascended to this status after SA2B fleshed them out to a massive extent. There's a ridiculous amount of people who bought the game with the prime objective of/solely for raising them, and there are nearly as many members of the fandom begging for Sega to bring back Chao just the way they were in the Adventure series, not like the seriously diluted Chao Garden minigames available on some of the newer titles. Except Omochao.
  • Despite her relatively minor role in the plot and subsequent games, Rouge the Bat is also fairly liked for being the second female character added to the series after Amy Rose, and her status as a Dark Action Girl and Ms. Fanservice. People also like her her flirty and playful nature as well as her relationships with Knuckles and Shadow.
• Evil Is Cool: Eggman takes the lead in this game. He takes out an army, succeeded in destroying half of the moon, and even came close to destroying Sonic for good!
  • Shadow too, though it's revealed later that he wasn't actually evil, still, is obviously qualified. He was the mastermind behind the plan, and is Sonic's definite equal. See also Magnificent Bastard below.
• Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Shadow and Maria is quite popular, despite them being of different species. (And surrogate siblings.)
  • Knuckles/Rouge as well. You could make a convincing claim that they have the most mutually-reciprocated feelings in the series, with some regret that their apparent UST wasn't followed up on after the game.
• Franchise Original Sin:
  • An example related to the story. At the very end of the Hero Mode story, Sonic is able to use Chaos Control, after seeing Shadow using it earlier in the game, to save himself from Eggman's burning space pod. Fans agreed that it was a blatant Deus ex Machina at best and Ass Pull at worst, but accepted it anyway because the alternative would have been killing off the titular character of the franchise. Fast-forward to Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), and the brand-new character Silver the Hedgehog is able to use Chaos Control perfectly after seeing someone else do it, just like Sonic did — but with the crucial difference that this was not relegated to a single moment in the ending, but done frequently throughout his story campaign with even less justification than in Sonic Adventure 2.
  • While the first Sonic Adventure planted the seeds for the series shedding its surreal, cartoon like tone in favor of aserious, sometimes whimsical Shonen Anime style of plot and writing, Sonic Adventure 2, more than any other game in the series, is truly responsible for crystallizing it. While the game was and still is well recieved today and its ambitious story, with attempts at a stronger narrative and actual Character Development, was well recieved at first, further attempts to apply a serious story to the series were met with increasing scorn from fans at best, to the extent that the series was seen as becoming an over the top parody of itself, reaching its apex with Shadow's spinoff game and the highly controversial 2006 game, which prompted Sega to wisely move on from that kind of approach, with the odd exception now and again. As such, this games approach to the series story is now greeted with much more scrutiny than it was in its heydey, with many fans accusing it of being a sloppily written and pretentious Cliché Storm that takes itself far too seriously at the expense of the series previously casual and surreal identity.
  • The stage Green Hill Zone has become infamous over the years for being constantly reused as a Nostalgia Level. This game features Green Hill Zone as a Nostalgia Level, but it was an optional bonus level as your reward for collecting all of the Emblems, and the stage had not reappeared in a mainline Sonic title since the first game. When later games reused Green Hill Zone, they had it as the mandatory first level as opposed to kicking off the journey with an original stage, and it reappeared so frequently (it was featured in both of 2017's Sonic titles, Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces) that fans began to view the reuse of Green Hill Zone with contempt.
• Fridge Brilliance:
  • In the 'Dark Side' ending, it's shown that unbeknownst to Eggman, the laser has overloaded as he tried to fire it with the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds, which is what the Cannon's power was source was intended to be — whilst it's possible Gerald Robotnik underestimated the power of the Emeralds, in the 'Hero Side' ending, Sonic manages to prevent the ARK's cannon from firing, potentially causing the resulting overload that occurs in the 'Dark Side' ending. This makes even more sense when one remembers that in the 'Hero Side' ending, there is a moment when you see Eggman's hand reaching for the Chaos Emerald. When Amy and Tails look out the window, and we have a clear view of the entire room, Eggman is gone, presumably having taken the Emerald to the cannon's core. Cue 'Dark Side' ending.
  • The Last Story ending has a subtle reason for why Shadow powers down from his Super form and Sonic doesn't — you start the preceding boss battle with Sonic, and each successful hit switches the other hedgehog in, whilst the one who is not being used collects some rings to stay powered up, and it's a six-hit boss. Whilst traveling past the boss leads to the characters switching out again, Shadow is meant to be the one to get the last hit.
  • The title of Eggman's theme song 'E.G.G.M.A.N.' is strange, since Eggman isn't an acronym for anything. However, the way it's written does invoke the way the game's Boss Subtitles appear one letter at a time. You can almost hear the typewriter sound effect.
  • Gerald's prototypes of ultimate life were based on the mythos of Sonic Adventure. The Biolizard was designed after Perfect Chaos, and Shadow was designed after Super Sonic. This explains why a replica of the Master Emerald shrine was on the ARK, the numerous Artificial Chaos, and why both the Biolizard and Shadow could use Chaos Emeralds.
• Fridge Horror:
  • Biolizard has gills on his neck approximately half Shadow's height, and several gills on either side of his body more than twice Shadow's height. He also has air vents at the base of his neck, not to mention the numerous pipes connecting him to his life-support system. Yet despite all this, he still has to hyperventilate. It's no wonder that he's the prototype.
  • When the Colony Drop begins, Professor Gerald's ultimatum is in the form of a video file. He's standing in front of what appears to be his cell on Prison Island. At the end, once he's finished his speech, someone off-camera asks him if he has anything more to say. When Gerald replies that he does not, that person barks out a 'Ready!' to some other people off-screen. It takes a few minutes to realize this, but this appears to be Gerald's last words before he faces a firing squad.
    • In the Japanese version of Sonic X, you can hear the gunshots.
    • From that same speech, he says that he 'designed [Shadow's] mind to be perfect, pure' (or, in the Sonic X adaptation, he mentions that he will follow his orders without question). It's a long shot, but it could mean that he somehow manipulated Shadow while he was contained, possibly going so far as to change his memories about Maria.
  • During City Escape and the freeway chase segments as Tails or Rouge, cars are presented as obstacles. Running into them causes them to fly into the air and eventually explode. Some of them happen to be driving at the time. Think about it.
• Game-Breaker:
  • Sonic is this if you have acquired the Magic Hand and the Bounce Bracelet upgrades. For the Magic Hand, you can have the option to turn your enemies (except ghosts) into balls. For the Bounce Bracelet, this can be useful for the two Shadow boss fights and the Big Foot boss fight — for the former, just quickly defeat Shadow by repeatedly using the Bound Attack when you're close to him, and for the latter, you can bounce up high enough to home attack Big Foot. The Bounce Bracelet is also used often in speedruns and to a literal game breaking extent in tool-assisted speedruns.
  • In Battle, there is Metal Sonic, Amy, Chaos, and Tails' alternate costume for the racing, treasure hunting, and shooting modes respectively.
    • Metal Sonic: Lacks specials, but he moves much faster and jumps much higher than the rest of the 'hogs and he has an invincibility shield to boot.
    • Amy: She may be slow and can't jump high, but she gets her specials every 10 rings rather than 20, and her freeze doesn't lock her opponent in midair, meaning she can send them plummeting to their death. It's not uncommon for her to continuously kill you and freeze you into submission. She's also faster on rails than other characters.
    • Chaos: He's also slow, but he can breathe underwater, has a radar that detects emeralds from further away, his punches all have a long reach, and his third special freezes the opponent for a whopping 30 seconds!
    • Alt Costume Tails: No specials, but he moves at speeds that would make Sonic blush!
• Genius Bonus: In Dry Lagoon, Rouge's first stage, she immediately encounters a turtle held at gunpoint by two GUN robots. Destroying the robots will have the turtle carry her to the second part of the stage as thanks. Random Video Game Caring Potential moment? No. It's a reference to a Japanese folk tale.
• Goddamned Bats: The ghosts. Seriously. They rarely pose a threat to the characters in the game and at best, they're just there to Jump Scare the players. They are especially annoying in Pyramid Cave, where Sonic has to go through a long corridor in a limited amount of time and there are ghosts all over the damn corridor that hold you in place and waste precious seconds.
• Good Bad Bugs:
  • The Chao Key glitch in the digital port. It allows any of the main six to access any of the multiplayer stages.
  • Another glitch relating to the Chao is that if you place an animal or Chaos Drive in front of a Chao, you can keep giving the Chao the item an infinite amount of times. There's a spot next to a toppled pillar in the Hero Garden that prevents a Chao from moving and makes the glitch easier to abuse. Good for raising up your Chao's stats.
  • It's difficult but possible to set off a chain of glitches that allow the multiplayer characters to visit the Chao Gardens.
  • Another one is during the first Sonic vs. Shadow fight where you can briefly tap the roll button, but for some reason, the animation doesn't play, yet still treats the character you're playing as as if they were still rolling, with invincibility frames and all, which results in a hilarious situation where the boss can't hurt you and actually gets damaged when they run into you.
  • If one leaves the game on for an extended period of time while in the Chao Gardens, the Chao can get some Game-Breaker stats, get glitchy graphics, and otherwise evolve into otherwise impossible to obtain chao such as Tails, Amy, and Knuckles chao (the latter two of which were Dummied Out), and Omochao. However, their stats can be 0 or maxed out at 9999 at random as well.
  • Most Tool Assisted Speedruns make use of items in otherwise unintended ways to get through levels far faster than they ever should be able to.
  • The safe doors in Security Hall can be opened simply by Screw Kicking them, for whatever reason.
• Growing the Beard: Both versions of this game did a lot to improve the Chao system into the current one that cemented the creatures' status as Ensemble Darkhorses. The introduction of Hero and Dark Chao aside, the Dreamcast release added Chaos Drives that allow the fine-tuned raising of stats, the ability to remove animal parts with ease, the Chao Kindergarten to give Chao new talents and as a way of keeping old animal talents as toys and instruments, Chao races were massively expanded upon to give a wide range of challenges, offer a plethora of new toys for Chao to use and fix the cheering mechanic, and seeds to plant more trees from the Chao Adventure 2 minigame on the VMU; while Battle on the Gamecube gave players the ability to buy special fruits, hats, and several dozen new colours of Chao eggs from the Black Market, the ability to see a Chao's stat proficiency and name them in-game, connecting with Sonic Advance's Tiny Chao Garden to offer new fruits and more jewel-tone Chao; easier transferring of Chao between memory cards and a new competition in the form of Chao Karate.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The phrase 'weapons of mass destruction' already seems a bit out of place in a kid's game, but it feels quite different in light of how frequently that phrase was used in the lead-up to the Iraq War.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Remember the introductory movie of the remaster? Shadow and Sonic did face each other, but never in Radical Highway... until the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Generations. Especially noteworthy considering the beginning of the very same boss battle has a different Shout-Out in the home console version, in that the intro movie is referenced by Sonic and Shadow's Mirrored Confrontation Shot; however, the battle itself takes place outside the Space Colony ARK.
  • A major area of the game is Prison Island. The area has several levels on both sides before it's blown up, but despite that, just the name 'Prison Island' will make some Xenoblade fans laugh.
  • The whole plot counts. Let's see: The black and red 'edgy' character was created as a part of a Mad Scientist's experiments, and is later abandoned by them. They later find a rival in the character with blue motifs, whose abilities match their own. Eventually, it turns out that the Mad Scientist wants to get rid of all of humanity, which climaxes in a battle in space with a Golden Super Mode that ends with a Heroic Sacrifice. The spoilers wouldn't need to be censored if not for the fact that they're major plot twists for another work.
  • There's many comparisons to Mega Man Zero. A mad scientist who is behind everything bad takes control of a satellite with a death laser to force global surrender and after being defeated by the resident stoic anti-hero with a red motif, he fuses with the satellite to crash it on earth. Forcing the anti-hero to stay behind to make sure he is dead for real, only to get himself killed in the explosion. Said anti-hero also woke up after a long sleep in stasis, has altered or half-forgotten memories that periodically come back to him, a young, innocent girl he loved dying which breaks his idealism, was created by the current mad scientist's predecessor to destroy humanity, only to save it, and has a blue rival boss. Better still, this time said blue rival is actually a fake copy.
  • In the Crazy Gadget stage, Eggman says 'Sonic, you're too slow!' if you need more than four minutes to reach the final room. Fast forward to Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Sonic says this in one of his taunts, making this to be one of the infamous memes.
• Hype Backlash: Back when this game was first released and a few years after, it was considered the best of the 3D Sonic games due to its different styles of play and its surprisingly complex plot. Nowadays, those are the exact reasons people call this game overhyped and nowhere near as good as it was touted. Sonic Unleashed's non-werehog gameplay is seen as a better example of a 'proper' 3D Sonic title today, though whether this game or its immediate predecessor did a better job with the 3D gameplay of the time is up for debate.
• Idiot Plot: Shadow and Sonic are clearly not identical in spite of the two being hedgehogs able to move at lightning speed. At some point in the game, G.U.N., Eggman, Amy and the general public all mistake Sonic for Shadow. In G.U.N.'s case, it's implied at times both in this game and later ones that they may have used Sonic as a scapegoat for Shadow due to wanting to limit public awareness.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Many people are accusing the XBLA and PSN ports of this.
• Just Here for Godzilla: A large number of people who bought Battle have admitted that they only did so to raise Chao.
• Magnificent Bastard: Shadow the Hedgehog was an Ultimate Lifeform that lost his best friend Maria and his creator Dr. Gerald Robotnik when they were killed by the government. Imprisoned but eventually released by Gerald’s grandson, Dr. Eggman Robotnik, Shadow enacted a plan to destroy all of humanity as revenge. Playing on Eggman’s ego and his grandfather’s legacy, Shadow manipulated the doctor into gathering Chaos Emeralds, misdirecting everyone into thinking it was for powering a Kill Sat. This diverted everyone’s attention from his real plan of performing a Colony Drop. He even manages to expose Rouge as a government agent. Shadow’s plan is only foiled because Amy Rose helps him remember Maria’s final request for Shadow to protect the people of Earth and so he decides to help stop his own scheme, almost sacrificing himself. Shadow, in his first appearance, was as devious as Sonic villains come and even as a hero is one of the franchise’s most competent characters.
• Memetic Molester: The boos from Pyramid Cave often grab a character from behind, often referred to as the 'rape ghosts.'
• Memetic Mutation:
  • 'We all did it together!'
  • Hi, I'm Omochao!I'm here to help you!
    • Be careful not to fall!
    • Keep your health meter above zero!
  • 'Faker? I thinkyou'rethe fake hedgehog around here!'
    • 'You're comparing yourself to me? Ha! You're not even good enough to be my fa-' 'I'llmakeyoueatthosewords!'
  • 'Blows up?'
  • The Knuckles Raps, especially Pumpkin Hill.
  • Eggman's Chao Garden lines were not translated out of Japanese for the international language modes. 'Yosh', what he says when petting a Chao, happens to be particularly funny for many.
  • Almost every line Eggman says from the SnapCube Gag Dub of the entiregame is popular with the fanbase, especially because the person voicing him is flying 100% Blind into the story, but the entirety of his incredibly profanemoon monologue has gone memetic, especially its most well-known line, below.
  Eggman:HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, OBAMA? I PISSED ON THE MOONYOU IDIOT!
• Mondegreen: The lyrics for 'Rhythm and Balance' (the White Jungle theme) are muffled enough that 'Oh yeah, hurry to the unexplored land' is frequently misinterpreted as 'Oh yeah, running through the Olive Garden.'
• Most Annoying Sound:
  • 'I'm not done with you- SONIC WIND!'
  • 'Time to put this- DISAPPEAR!'
  • 'Here I come! Hip Drop- BLACK WAVE!'
  • 'Now witness my pow- TAKE THIS!'
  • The sound that King Boom Boo makes: 'BLLAAARGH BLLARGH! Brararar!' And if you run too fast, he'll turn around to chase you the other way, resulting in an extremely annoying 'Breeeebreeee! Breeeeehbeeeee! Nyehahahaha!'
  • If you're too cheap to buy fruits, you can simply pet a Chao for it to gain Hero or Dark attributes, depending on the characters alignment. Unfortunately, you have to pet them quite a lot to get to that maximum, and every time you pet a Chao, your character says something. This results in ' So cute! So cute! So cute! So cute! So cute! So cute! So cute! So cute! So cute!.... Made even worse if you're trying to get a Chaos Chao. You need to have your Chao love and adore at least one character, and the only way to do it fast is to pet it. Try having ' Now there... Now there... Now there... ' done over FIFTY TIMES IN A ROW.
  • The Chao are capable of some tremendously obnoxious singing, particularly Chao that have only been given a parrot and have not had any singing lessons. Any other Chao who decide to listen to them visibly don't enjoy it and will throw tantrums after the singer stops.
  • The drowning music is either this or Nightmare Fuel depending on who you ask.
  • During the final battle of either the Hero or Dark side, you get to hear Shadow saying, 'This is the ultimate! This is the ultimate! This is the ultimate! This is the ultimate! This is the ultimate!' or Sonic saying, 'I'll use your- Chaos Control! I'll use your- Chaos Control! I'll use your- Chaos Control! I'll use your- Chaos Control! I'll use your- Chaos Control!'
  • If you're not a fan of hip hop, or lyrical music in general, many of the stage themes (Knuckles' in particular) can quickly become this.
  • The 'Hot/Cold' beeping noise in the hunting stages cam become this very quickly if you have trouble trying to locate the emeralds/keys in the stages. Considering how big the stages are...yeah.
  • If you take damage as Tails but then recover enough rings to get the health bar back into the blue only to get smacked again and drop back down to yellow, Tails will keep repeating 'My power is failing!' every time it dips back down to yellow.
• Narm:
  • In the English dub, the voice acting often overlaps itself. Somebody's lines will suddenly and mercilessly override someone else, or even another of their own lines. Interviews years later would clarify that the voice director didn't bother syncing up the characters' lip flaps to the English vocals. It shows.
    • Sonic vs Shadow 1's introductory banter. The hedgehogs argue over who is the fake one, then Sonic interrupts and rushes through Shadow's line, referring to the sentence Shadow didn't finish!
    • Upon seeing Shadow first use Chaos Control, Sonic interrupts his own line.
  • Occasionally, the VAs go into complete and total monotone. Particular stickouts include a few of Tails' lines and Knuckles' near-robotic 'Hand over the Master Emerald, give them to me.'
  • Shadow's 'I'm the coolest!' line when you first land a hit on him. The more you play through the game, the more out-of-character it sounds for him.
  • Eggman gets a touching scene in the end in which he opens up about how much his grandfather inspired him to become a great scientist, but now questions his admiration after his plan to destroy the world was revealed. And then Tails proceeds to ruin the moment with a generic, Non Sequitur 'We all did it together!'
  • Any scene with Knuckles in it becomes this once you get all his upgrades, what with the Hammer Glove/Shovel Claw combo giving him oversized hands, and the Air Necklace and Sunglasses making him look like he's trying to be cool, combine to make Knuckles look more ridiculous than he ever has before. As Sonic Shorts put it:
  Omochao: 'You got: a serious spinal condition from carrying so much junk!'
  • The scene we're supposed to take seriously of Knuckles saving Rouge from falling to her death. The problem is that Rouge is a bat, with wings. (And you just finished a boss fight in which the same pit releases enough updraft that it's impossible to fall into in the first place).
  • Tails apparently got all of his intel on a top secret military prison from a public news broadcast. The area is meant to be a highly restricted area.
• Narm Charm:
  • The rap songs that play during Knuckles' stages combine this with Awesome Music.
  • The same goes for the City Escape theme, which has become ingrained into Sonic fans' minds in spite of its utterly ridiculous lyrics and cheesy instrumentation. Jun Senoue seems to enjoy writing awesome music with cheesy lyrics, and then making it work.
  • The fight against the Finalhazard can be a bit ridiculous, if not flat-out humorous, since you're fighting a giant mutated, laser-blasting lizard creature with a Face Ship's nose shoved up its butt. But that's okay, because 'Live and Learn' is blaring in the background. And Shadow and Sonic have both teamed up to fight this beastin their Super forms. And you're in outer space.
• Painful Rhyme: The raps that play in Knuckles' stages. If the lines attempt to rhyme, it'll be with the words twisted and turned to make them fit. 'A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup' is the only one that remotely tries to rhyme each line, and even those attempts are way off.
• Paranoia Fuel: The ghosts in Pumpkin Hill, Aquatic Mine, and Death Chamber. Some of them are invisible and don't reveal themselves until after you get close to them, at which point they'll pop out in your face and grow very large before dissipating. They're scattered randomly throughout these levels, and you have absolutely no way to detect them, although some can be behind the walls, objects, on the ground, etc.
• Porting Disaster: Battle's HD rereleases are nowhere as bad as Sonic Adventure - the maingame is particularly intact outside of several aspect ratio issues in a number of cutscenes and has decent controls. However, it wrecked the Chao system in a lot of ways. Fruit textures tend to glitch into using other Chao Garden models when exiting the Chao Stadium. All of the things exclusive to the Tiny Chao Garden such as many fruits, jewel Chao and the official character Chao are unavailable. Planted trees render minuscule and float in midair. Shiny twotone Chao's textures are broken and render with bright whites over most of their bodies. Most of these changes are remedied through the Chao World Extended mod, at least.
• Replacement Scrappy: Tikal's guiding successor Omochao is pretty much the equivalent of Navi in the Sonic universe - small, needlessly and annoyingly helpful and damn-near unavoidable at times, especially when you start losing against a boss multiple times. He's also got a grating voice and his tirades can go on for ages at times. Thankfully, the devs appeared to predict this would happen and also made him an object which you can hurt, pick up, throw and use as a weapon, complete with him breaking, although as momentarily as it is. Things got worse when his prominence escalated in future games and the HD remaster, where he can now appear before the start of a level.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • The radar in hunting levels only detects one object at a time. The previous game worked on all three objects at once, and has fewer detection levels than it. Also, due to the levels being very large and the emerald locations being randomly generated, it can result in running up and down the level, struggling to find that emerald shard.
  • The action/platforming characters' abilities are all mapped to one button. All of them. Each with a specific timing and means to activate it; but multiple timings can occur simultaneously with the running characters. So, when you approach a bottomless pit with a trail of rings, one of two things can happen: Either your light speed dash will kick in and you'll fly through the path of rings, or your somersault will kick in and careen Sonic/Shadow down a pit. You can also stop what you're doing and cycle/be sure you're on the right ability unless you're doing a time attack or another stage where you don't have that luxury. It can make those stages a pain.
    • The same thing can happen in the Chao Garden; there's nothing like trying to pick up/pet a Chao and accidentally somersaulting into it and upsetting it instead. Battle alleviated some of these problems by making Sonic and Shadow unable to somersault and spindash in the Chao Gardens, and mapped the other characters' attack prompts to the Y button cycle.
  • Each of the Chao Gardens have a different rate at which gradual evolution occurs. It's higher than normal in the Hero Garden, but practically nonexistent in the Dark Garden which means that most Chao living there won't finish second evolution by the time they die.
• 'Seinfeld' Is Unfunny: The game introduced several iconic elements to the series, which have been commonplace since, so it might not seem all that special. How much it's aged is left to other conversations.
• Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer: The Chao gardens, to the point where you could rename the trope Sidetracked by Chao. The gardens feature more thematic differences, the affection and behavior mechanic has been expanded upon, the shop is much, much larger and more varied in content, plenty of fair if challenging races requiring both Hero and Dark Chao to be raised to enter, etc. Indeed, most of the game's longevity comes from grinding for rings to buy and raise a cuddly lil' moe blob of your own. This was so popular in fact, that cries of returning them to the games/making stand-alone gardens and chao have been requested even to this day.
• Signature Scene:
  • City Escape is the game's iconic level, setting the tone for the game, having an unforgettable song in the background, and that truck chase (itself a Signature Scene) capped it off very nicely. Not only did the level get a reprise in Sonic Generations but it's generally considered a high mark in game design overall.
  • For cutscenes, due to Memetic Mutation, Sonic and Shadow's faceoff before and after their respective forest stages. The whole thing is immensely quotable, for reasons under Narm.
  • The final boss fight from both campaigns where Sonic and Shadow square off one final time. Everything about it from the setup to the initial sprint to the boss fight itself is remembered fondly and is cited as one of the most exceptional character battles in the series.
  • Eggman tricking Sonic into a space pod and launching him into space seemingly killing him.
  • Gerald Robotnik speech declaring his plan to drop the space Colony Ark onto Earth.
  • Shadows fight with the biolizard.
  • And of course the final outside the Space Colony ARK where Super Sonic and Super Shadow make the final stand against the Finalhazard to prevent the space station from falling to Earth, cued up to main theme of the game 'Live and Learn'. This scene was recreated in Sonic X, complete with 'Live and Learn' (although only in the original Japanese cut).
• Signature Song: 'Live and Learn' and 'Escape from the City' are common ones in the game, while the rap music form Knuckles' stages area close second.
• That One Boss:
  • The penultimate boss Biolizard is noted for being extremely hard. It rotates at just the wrong speed so Shadow will either run into its mouth or get tail-slapped. For the last hit, it triggers a Gravity Screw with some Depth Perplexion so Shadow will collide with several bubbles whose depth is almost impossible to determine. It's even worse in the Dreamcast version, which has a glitch where getting tailslapped can knock Shadow into the water and kill him instantly. It got a well-deserved nerf when it returned for Sonic Generations (the Nintendo 3DS's actual visual 3D helped, too).
  • The following battle with the Final Hazard can be just as bad, partly due to its randomly spawning weak spots and somewhat finicky controls. Added to a 5-minute limit, hard-to-avoid lasers and orbs that throw you back, Rings that drain so fast that you'll worry more about them than the actual time limit, and you get a final battle that, while extremely epic, can also be a source of frustration.
  • Even the final boss fight in the Hero and Dark stories between Sonic and Shadow can be this. Not only is the rival hedgehog fast and hard to hit, but if he's behind you he will always use Chaos Control, disappear and then reapppear soon enough, and if you're too far away from him he'll use his special attack, which can be extremely annoying. Making matters even worse is that it's a stealth Time-Limit Boss, as unlike the True Final Boss, which explicitly says that there's a time limit, nothing says in the game that the seemingly infinite trail will end and make your character fall into space if you take over ten minutes to defeat the rival.
  • Egg Golem with Eggman is pretty annoying too, and it doesn't help that unlike Sonic who can jump out of the quicksand if he falls in, the much heavier Dr. Eggman will instantly sink and cost you a life (Eggman's battle DOES add stable platforms down there to avoid it, but it's pretty easy to miss those, even when hovering). Not to mention that, unlike Sonic, who is smaller, faster, and can take multiple hits (as long as you pick up your rings), Eggman is bigger, slower, and has a limited health bar as well. Also the Golem is malfunctioning after Sonic defeats it, so Dr. Eggman has to deal with it being considerably faster and more erratic with its attacks and movements.
  • The second Tails vs Eggman battle. The level has no rings, meaning no regaining health, and your enemy will pull out special attacks that do massive damage are extremely hard to dodge with the slow character you use. Fortunately, the version when fighting as Eggman becomes a Breather Boss if you got the Protective Armor upgrade in Cosmic Wall.
• That One Level:
  • The driving missions where you cannot hit the wall or any of the other cars, mainly because of the dodgy controls and how it almost seems like the cars are trying to specifically hit you in those missions. Thankfully, the civilian cars do not appear in the mission where you have to avoid contact with the guardrails.
  • For the shooting levels, there is Eternal Engine. In Tails' two previous levels (Mission Street and Hidden Base), you used dynamite to create platforms and reveal paths. In this level, the dynamite is placed on hatches in several rooms. Should you shoot a dynamite pack, the hatch it is on will open and act as a vacuum trying to suck you into space. Dynamite can also be found on walkways, creating new gaps that you must hover over should you accidentally shoot it. In Hard Mode, this level's difficulty is taken Up to Eleven with many more enemies, lots of more dynamite, and small platforms replacing almost all of the large platforms. It's pretty much the opposite of Cosmic Wall, and a microcosm of people's complaints about shooting stages as a whole.
  • Security Hall and Mad Space is this for the treasure hunting levels due to the sheer size of the worlds, the bad clues given and, in the case of the former, the five-minute time limit. It doesn't help that in Mad Space, some of the hints you get are reversed not just in text, but also in meaning^note . Worst of all, not all of them are reversed, meaning you might have to spend time going through the whole stage just to find them.
  • That's just for Rouge; Knuckles can have it almost as bad with Death Chamber and Meteor Herd (almost only being because his stages lack any of the infuriating gimmicks of Rouge's). The former can have several rooms where the radar doesn't go off until you go to another room entirely, while Meteor Herd is yet another huge space level like Mad Space.
  • The Hard Mode version of Pyramid Cave to a lesser extent. As if the boos grabbing you around the corridor was bad enough, there will be Boom Boos that will get in your way (and there will be a few Jump Scare boos, too). In addition, there is the section where you would have to take the second key to unlock the second corridor. Instead of jumping up the platforms, you would have to throw them by jumping from the black boxes to the platform. You'll also have to avoid the robots shooting you.
  • Crazy Gadget, due to the element of Gravity Screw and the maze-like final section where a single wrong move can lose a life. Hard Mode makes it even worse due to the exploding variety of the artificial chaos enemy being everywhere. Also, hard mode requires you to pull off some insane stunts over bottomless pits and go through the maze-like section at the end at least twice to find a very well-hidden switch that unlocks the goal ring. ^note On the plus side, even if you die and have to restart from the second checkpoint, it is still possible to A-rank the mission from there if you play through the rest of the level well enough, though that's no easy task.
  • Metal Harbor on its own is quite short and simple; A-ranking it is where you'll find trouble. The only way to actually earn enough points for the A-rank is to reach the topmost handle of the rocket. The time limit before the rocket launch is very strict, and failing to grab onto the rocket in any way counts as a death.
  • Final Rush and Final Chase for Sonic and Shadow, respectively. The former is frustrating because it's filled with grind rails that you have to precisely jump on, or else you end up falling to your fiery death (which is easy to do if you're going too fast). The latter is frustrating because it's filled with pillars that make Shadow spin around (which many players have criticized for being wonky or glitchy) and for having several Artificial Chaos, some of which you have to bounce off of just to get to one of said pillars.
  • And then there's the dreaded Cannon'sCore. You have to play as every character (except Shadow) back to back, and each character's segment is roughly the size of an average stage on its own. There are very few checkpoints, quite a few annoying puzzles and mechanics, Artificial Chaos galore, and if you lose all your lives (or if you're forced to shut off the game console) before finishing all five segments, you have to start the whole thing all over again. Also, God forbid you go through Knuckles' section without the Air Necklace.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Some people disliked the new mech stages and treasure hunting stages, compared to how E-102's and Knuckles' stages were handled in Adventure.
  • E-102's stages had the 'race against the clock' element to them, where you were on a timer and shooting enemies added onto your time. This encouraged speeding through the level while shooting stuff along the way, which meant your progression was rarely halted by having to blow stuff up that stopped you. Also, the levels felt more open, Gamma was (relatively) fast, and it used the usual rings to protect you instead of an HP bar. All of this made E-102's stages match up more with the style of Sonic's while putting its own spin on things, rather than being forced into a slow, clunky character navigating through cramped corridors. (Cosmic Wall nonwithstanding.)
  • The treasure hunting stages between the two games remained pretty much the same, but with a big exception: The Emerald Radar. In Adventure, the radar not only detected all 3 Emeralds at once, it was also more sensitive and complex than Green to Yellow to Red. This simplistic design made digging Emeralds very annoying to track down in particular, although Battle remedied this by adding a '!' over your character's head when you were rigt on top of the Emerald. Also, the levels in Adventure never got anywhere near as big or maze-like as Knuckles' later stages, and Rouge's Mad Space.
  • For all the improvements Battle made to the Chao system, there was one thing that they dialed back on: The Hero and Dark Gardens. In the original, the Hero Garden had a river and a bridge, although the pool was at least made bigger in Battle to compensate (and shallower so Tails wouldn't drown). The Dark Garden really got the shaft, because it lost both its cave and the big winding hill, so now it hardly stands out from the regular Garden outside of aesthetics. The reason for this change is unknown, but its possible it was either so the player could find their Chao easier, or so the Chao could navigate the Garden easier, as their pathfinding leaves a lot to be desired. (To see this in action, try giving your Chao a tree seed and see how long it takes for them to find a planting spot.)
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The game never explores how Eggman feels about his family being murdered by a corrupt government; in fact he doesn't seem to care at all despite allegedly having a great amount of respect for his grandfather. The whole plot is just about Shadow and his feelings. It's a shame, as it could have worked as a great Freudian Excuse for Eggman's behaviour throughout the series. Of course he wants to take over the world; the world is run by a cruel military that destroyed his family!
• Tough Act to Follow: Despite some of its faults Sonic Adventure 2 has one the most beloved stories of the entire series, especially those who grew up with it. The later entries had trouble topping it. Either tryingto capture the magic and failing or going fora lot moreof a comedic, light-hearted bent.
• True Art Is Angsty: They took a series previously known more for colourful backgrounds and cutesy creatures and turned it into a tale of revenge, grief for lost loved ones, and attempted use of a weapon literally capable of wiping out all of humanity.Sonic Adventure 1 was already this compared to the earlier Sonic games, but Sonic Adventure 2 took it even further...
• Uncanny Valley: The human characters (sans Eggman) look a little... off.
• Unfortunate Character Design: Rouge's car is supposed to be modeled after her head, but many fans think it looks disturbingly phallic.
• Visual Effects of Awesome:
  • Taken Up to Eleven compared to the first game, Adventure 2 features numerous effects and design choices that pushed the Dreamcast to its limit. Destroyed enemies break apart with trails of fire and sparks following the pieces down. It's even faster than the first Sonic Adventure, and runs at an unbroken 60 frames per second, even in stages where the screen is filled with explosions such as Eggman's first stage. Light sources have a visible 'motion trail' effect when the camera moves, character models are fully detailed with individual fingers (a step up from the blocky, LEGO-handed models of the first game), and each level is packed with architecture to give the surroundings a realistic, lived-in feel. It's the closest you could get to playing a blockbuster Hollywood action film in 2001.
  • The Dreamcast version actually packs in a lot of special graphical trickery, especially in terms of lighting and shadow, that the GameCube revamp strangely decided to greatly simplify or remove, and unfortunately were kept edited in the HD port. This is most obvious after completing Tails' Prison Lane stage, as Sonic's cell uses realistic shadowing through the bars only in the Dreamcast version. But still, even the ports still look great to this day...
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Shadow is on a quest to destroy humanity because the government murdered his best friend, an innocent child, in order to cover up his existence. She was also the granddaughter of his creator Gerald Robotnik, which is made horrifying by his speech, which actually begins with the statement 'This is a death sentence for every human being on earth' and ends right before he's executed by a firing squad. There's a reason why the ESRB rating was changed from E to E10+ when it was rereleased for XBLA, PSN, and Steam.
  • The opening of the Dark story also begins with introducing Eggman massacring an army.