Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (GameCube)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Sonic Adventure 2.

Following the success of Sonic Adventure (SA1), development began on its sequel, Sonic Adventure 2 (SA2), but not without incident. Dreamcast sales struggled in spite of SA1’s success, so Sonic Team downsized and a portion of them moved to San Francisco, where they established Sonic Team USA. From there, development continued in earnest, with the goal of streamlining the design of SA1 and appealing to American sensibilities, including a greater emphasis on action, giving the six playable characters more equal playtime and capturing an “American” atmosphere for the setting. Although this gamble paid off, with strong critical reception and selling over 500,000 copies worldwide, Sega had already discontinued the Dreamcast months before SA2 launched, giving the game the distinct honor as the final Sonic game released on Sega hardware. Around this time, Sega had transitioned to third-party development and, a year later, released an updated GameCube port with additional multiplayer content, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (SA2B), which became one of the bestselling GameCube games of all time. From then on, starting with 2003’s Sonic Heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog became a multiplatform series.

Thanks in part to SA2B, SA2 also maintains a reputation as perhaps the most important Sonic game ever made, not just for establishing a formula for the rest of the series moving forward, but also for its influence on the fandom. It not only introduced new characters that remain popular to this day, in particular Shadow the Hedgehog, but also has iconic moments that future games have referenced and a soundtrack that has proven memorable among those who have played it. SA2 would also not only get its own adaptation in the Sonic X anime alongside SA1, but influence the story of the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which motivated me to finally play this game (through SA2B on GameCube due to cost and availability). Shadow the Hedgehog himself would get his own spinoff game, Shadow the Hedgehog, as well as his own Shadow Generations game alongside a remaster of Sonic Generations. I know that I myself wanted to play this game as a kid, but now that I finally have as an adult, I found it worth the effort, even if it’s showing some age now.

Sonic has been arrested by Guardian Units of Nations (G.U.N.) for a crime he didn’t commit. He manages to escape G.U.N.’s clutches and runs into a mysterious black hedgehog, Shadow, who resembles him. With the power of a Chaos Emerald, Shadow proves himself an equal match for Sonic and disappears just as G.U.N. catches up to Sonic. A struggle between good and evil ensues as Sonic seeks to clear his name.

Unlike SA1, SA2B splits its story between two campaigns, “Hero” and “Dark”, with one side wishing to save the world and the other wishing to conquer it. Each campaign switches off between three characters, each with their own perspective on the same events. Due to the presentation, I will cover the story between each campaign based on the experience of playing the Hero side and then the Dark side, as you must play both for the full experience. I will mention, however, that starting from this game, Doctor Eggman’s name is unified with the Japanese version of the franchise for brand unity, so I will only use the name Eggman and not Robotnik.

Story Select images sourced from
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle HD Project.

The Hero story follows Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, each with their own intertwining goals. While attempting to clear his name, Sonic runs into Shadow and gets recaptured by G.U.N., prompting Tails to try to liberate him on Prison Island. There, Tails runs into Eggman, who has endangered Amy, who is there for the same purpose as Tails. Elsewhere, Knuckles fights with Rouge the Bat over the Master Emerald until Eggman captures it. Knuckles destroys the emerald before Eggman can get away with it and races against Rouge to find all of the scattered pieces.

Like SA1, SA2B has multiple subplots, though this time they are more intertwined rather than split off into separate campaigns, adding some complexity to the presentation and storytelling. This means that the game juggles a lot more at once, as does the player, though it does do a decent job for the most part with telling a darker story than SA1. Each character’s story feels disparate at first, especially with Knuckles doing his own thing while Sonic and Tails work on finding Eggman and Shadow, but the story feels more focused once Eggman threatens the world with the power of the Space Colony ARK’s Eclipse Cannon. Eggman’s demonstration of the Eclipse Cannon’s power still carries some weight nowadays, as it has some lasting, if unexplored, consequences and feels more “real” compared to many of his other plans.

The way that the Hero story handles some of the characters, however, is a bit mixed. Since we view the events from one perspective, Shadow comes off rather mysterious due to his sudden and sporadic appearances, but we know that he can easily go toe-to-toe with Sonic. While Rouge the Bat comes off a similar way but for Knuckles, her introduction feels more confusing than intriguing, outside of some flirtatious interactions, as it’s done in a way that the player is supposed to know who she is. The other characters all feel relevant to the story, though as of this point in the game, Amy, who isn’t playable this time, doesn’t do much apart from getting captured or kidnapped.

One particular plot point involving a fake Chaos Emerald also invites confusion. Its existence has little explanation, even if its purpose makes some sense in the moment, with no indication of the work put into its creation. The way its power gets used later also has little foreshadowing apart from “Sonic and Shadow are both hedgehogs” and “the fake emerald has the same wavelength and properties, but is less powerful”. Yes, this scene is pretty dramatic, but falls apart when you think about it out of context.

While I do appreciate the Hero story’s attempt at telling a complete arc, it’s clear at some point that you’re only getting half of the story. You’re left with the impression that Eggman’s full plan and Shadow and Rouge’s deals are explained in the Dark story, as the Hero story makes no attempt at giving the player more than what is absolutely necessary. Certain scenes, such as the one where Eggman speaks with the President, are written in such a way that you’ll clearly get more content in the Dark story. The clearest indication, however, comes from an action near the very end that implies that the end isn’t quite the end, as well as the post-credits sequence consisting of an in-game trailer for the Dark story. As such, the “save the world or conquer it” concept already falls flat.

Where the Hero story leaves unanswered questions, everything starts clicking when you also play the Dark story, which follows Shadow, Rouge and Eggman. On Prison Island, Eggman awakens Shadow from suspended animation. Shadow swears his loyalty to Eggman out of gratitude and tasks him with gathering the seven Chaos Emeralds on the Space Colony ARK. Elsewhere, Rouge fights Knuckles over the Master Emerald, but Knuckles shatters it when Eggman tries taking it for himself. Rouge later joins forces with Eggman, offering him a Chaos Emerald, but she has her own ulterior motive.

As with the Hero story, I appreciate the Dark story’s attempt at a more complex storyline, which pays off with the context of the Hero story added in. Eggman’s plan makes a bit more sense now with his interest in putting his grandfather’s research to use and following where it leads. We not only see Shadow’s awakening, but learn that Eggman’s grandfather created him under Project Shadow, though we don’t learn the full details just yet. Although Rouge’s subplot runs parallel to Knuckles at first, and she still shows up out of nowhere at the beginning, her presence makes more sense once we learn where her true loyalties lie. Seeing Shadow and Rouge within the context of their first game also changed my perspectives of the characters, as they feel more complex than later appearances would have led me to believe. Shadow even gets an interesting moment where he saves Rouge because her situation reminded him of Maria, whom at this point the player doesn’t know much about apart from Shadow’s strong connection with her.

However, I did still have some nitpicks about the story, whether they would count as plot holes or not. One that stands out is how despite Eggman destroying part of the moon with the Eclipse Cannon, any changes in the Earth’s tide aren’t addressed and it’s a bit silly that such a threat “fell on deaf ears.” I also found it annoying how Sonic and Shadow are somehow easily confused for one another even though they look nothing alike apart from body type.

Unlike the Hero story, the Dark story ends on more of a cliffhanger. Fortunately, beating this story after the Hero story plays a trailer for the Last Story, which promises to tie up all the loose ends. While SA1 featured a secret ending as well, the presentation leading into it in SA2B leaves an impression.

Completing both the Hero and Dark stories unlocks the Last Story, which, like SA1, ties both campaigns together while explaining more of the story. Without spoiling too much, I thought that this addition accomplished its goal for the most part, even if it arguably invalidates the advertised “save or conquer” dichotomy. Amy’s presence pays off when she has a pivotal scene with Shadow that completes his character development while adding to her own character. We also learn more about the late Gerald Robotnik’s motivations and get to see both sides teaming up for a greater cause, which I liked for how it finishes everyone’s arcs and reveals more about the Dark sides’ morality, including a more nuanced Eggman. Shadow’s arc also has a very fitting conclusion that feels powerful within the vacuum of SA2B. Although the main threat of the finale didn’t have any prior foreshadowing, it still fit within the context of Gerald Robotnik’s subplot and didn’t feel too out of place.

Of course, there are some nitpicks, like how the characters could have received a certain message based on the context in which it was filmed, but they don’t take away from the impact of the finale. I will note, however, that my research indicated that Shadow’s motivation wasn’t as clear in the English version due to a translation misstep, whereas the Japanese version makes it clearer that Gerald had manipulated his memories.

Overall, while SA2B could have used a better script, it did have a pretty good story that pairs well with SA1. It’s not hard to see why it’s so iconic, since it has plenty of memorable moments and introduces two fan-favorite characters. Even if all of its parts don’t quite gel together in the actual plot, its sincerity keeps the story engaging and entertaining. Whether or not SA2B heralds the structure of later games, I can’t say I didn’t like it anyway.

Shadow is a great addition to the case.

As the second full 3D game in the franchise, SA2B takes what SA1 established and adds its own gameplay twists. Keep in mind that since I haven’t played the original Dreamcast release of SA2, everything is based on the experience playing the GameCube version. Due to how the game presents the different gameplay styles through pairs of characters, I will also talk about how these styles differ between each pair.

For the most part, SA2B plays like SA1, but with more responsive controls. One big difference, however, is the lack of Adventure Fields, meaning that the game plays like a straight series of Stages like the Classic games in the name of streamlining the experience. Since the game also splits its story between two distinct campaigns, all of the alternate gameplay is integrated into this linear path instead of playing as each character separately across six different campaigns. I didn’t mind this change as much as I thought I would since the variety feels more focused and still flows well with the story progression, but I’ll admit that I did still miss the Adventure Fields, which gave SA1 a unique flavor and felt more manageable compared to other games in the series.

The Stages themselves feel like a natural evolution of SA1, offering some novel twists while feeling familiar to players coming off the previous game. Each Stage not only has five unique missions that can earn you additional Emblems through Stage Select (with a neat reward for collecting all of them), but can have their own gimmicks that add a different twist to each of the three formulas, such as altering the local gravity or briefly stopping time. There are also now hard ring counts, which influence your score and rank, and hidden Chao items and animals you can collect (more on that later). Additionally, all characters share the same pool of lives when playing through Story mode and losing all of them returns you to the main menu, where you can pick up from the beginning of the last Stage with four Lives (all pickups and powerups carry over between attempts, minus the Chao Key).

Certain changes, however, needed better implementation. Despite the GameCube possessing the C-Stick, the camera is still bound to the triggers. While understandable considering the limitations of the Dreamcast’s controller, I didn’t like that even after you adjust the camera to your liking, it usually snaps back to its prior position once you start moving again. There’s also Omochao replacing SA1’s hint orbs, though he appears more often. He only gives a hint when touching him, so he’s easily avoidable, but his placement sometimes means you’ll receive a hint multiple times or when you didn’t intend to, which can make him annoying further into the game (frustrated players can attack him, but he’ll call you out for doing so).

I also had mixed feelings on the Action Window, which ties a number of optional actions to the same button (B). Most of the time, it works smoothly and you won’t really notice its nuances. However, certain optional actions require switching through the Action Window actions with Y, which slows the pace of a Stage if you want a certain ability. The Light Dash ability, returning from SA1, also has a rather tight timing window, which can make using it outside of deliberate moments a pain because you’ll often do a Somersault instead. In essence, I like the idea of the Action Window, but it’s not as consistent as something like Kingdom Hearts II’s Reaction Commands, a later mechanic where various unique actions are tied to the same button.

Getting into the individual characters, Sonic and Shadow’s Stages play like Sonic’s Action Stages in SA1, but now with the addition of momentum-based Grind Rails and Horizontal Bars. The latter of the two main mechanics can launch either character forward if the player jumps at the right time, as indicated during each rotation on the bar. These two mechanics alone not only feel like natural extensions of SA1’s gameplay, but also open up the level design for added freedom while retaining the linear level structure. However, Grind Rails are a bit particular with their hitbox, which can make precision in the heat of the moment annoying at best. I didn’t so much mind the momentum-based gameplay either, but Sonic and Shadow can still slow down at questionable moments and crouching, which can help you gain speed, can sometimes still slow you down when you think it won’t.

Both characters also have their share of powerups. The Light Shoes and the Air Shoes respectively grant Sonic and Shadow the Light Speed Dash, the Flame Ring lets them destroy Iron Boxes, the Ancient Light lets them destroy multiple enemies all at once and they can both open portals in certain spots with the Mystic Melody, but only Sonic can use the Magic Gloves (letting him capture and throw enemies) or the Bounce Bracelet (giving him a Bounce Attack that can also help him reach higher ledges). I did enjoy using most of these abilities, especially with the Light Speed Dash only requiring a single button press now, but, again, I found the timing window a bit tight. I also didn’t even touch the Magic Gloves, since it never really came up.

As for their level design, I found it good for the most part. City Escape remains iconic for its spectacle, but it also does a good job at showcasing their gameplay at a base level before later Stages put their own spin on it. Coming right off of SA1, however, I couldn’t help thinking that the truck setpiece felt like a different take on SA1’s iconic orca setpiece, not that that’s a bad thing. Some hidden shortcuts and items in other Stages had me wondering how I could have figured them out without playing them a number of times, but there’s fortunately no wrong answer unless you want specific results. However, I didn’t enjoy Crazy Gadget at all because of a section where you manipulate gravity in the vacuum of space, with one wrong jump sending you to an untimely death all too easily. Final Rush and Final Chase weren’t as bad, but did lead to some sweaty hands from the tension of missing a crucial rail or jumping the wrong way at the wrong time.

Knuckles and Rouge’s Stages play out like Knuckles’ campaign from SA1, only expanded in both size and complexity, with more involved Stage gimmicks that affect how you progress. Should the player find hidden items while looking for the three Master Emerald shards, they’ll upgrade each character’s abilities, some of which are required and more easily found. For example, Knuckles and Rouge can break iron containers with the Hammer Gloves and Iron Boots respectively, dig underground or within walls with the Shovel Claws and Pick Nails respectively, locate hidden items with the Sunglasses and Treasure Scope respectively and open portals in certain spots with the Mystic Melody. Knuckles also has access to the Air Necklace, which lets him breathe underwater and makes getting through his portion of the Last Story significantly easier.

Of all the Stages in the game, however, I had the most issues with the treasure hunting stages. The bigger scope makes sense for trying out new mechanics and escalating from the previous game, plus these provide better moments for manually switching between actions in the Action Window. However, even with well-designed maps like Pumpkin Hill, the increased size later feels like a detriment because of certain gameplay changes, such as randomizing the shard locations each time you start the Stage. Even though you have a hint system to help you out, deciphering the hints can require knowledge of the Stage that you wouldn’t have on your first run. The worst mechanical change, however, is that even though you can still grab shards in any order, the onscreen radar only tracks the shards sequentially instead of all at once, artificially lengthening the time spent in each Stage. Even if you can tolerate each mechanic individually, these combined make Security Hall and Mad Space among the most frustrating Stages in the entire game, not helped by the former imposing a five-minute time limit.

Unlike the other character pairs, Tails and Eggman’s Stages are based more on those of E-102 Gamma from SA1, as they pilot mechs while shooting their way through to the end. One major difference, however, is that although they can still collect rings, they lose a life when their Health Meter is completely depleted by enemy attacks (rings and health pickups recover Health). Both Tails and Eggman can gain a hover ability from the Booster and Jet Engine respectively, break iron containers with the Bazooka and Large Cannon respectively, open portals in certain spots with the Mystic Melody and gain lock-on missiles with the Laser Blaster. Eggman also has a unique Protection Armor item, which increases his maximum Health.

I didn’t have many issues with these Stages compared to the other characters, and even enjoyed them a bit, but I did still have a couple apart from the terrible camera. From my experience starting with the Hero story, I didn’t like how the game doesn’t bother explaining the basic controls until after the very first encounter, a boss fight against Eggman. In later Stages that required hovering between platforms, I found that the jump height left little margin for error when trying to reach a higher elevation, especially when stopping time during the Last Story and eyeballing the positions of certain platforms and moving blocks.

The initial Neutral Garden.

Players can find further replay value in the Chao Garden, a returning feature from SA1 where you can raise Chao like virtual pets. This version feels more robust than the original, with more Chao stats and the ability to give them Chaos Cores and animals that you find throughout each Stage, each one affecting their stats in different ways, though you can only bring back ten at a time (any collected beyond the limit during a Stage will override the earliest pickup) and any that you don’t give one of your Chaos will disappear between visits. Chao will not only take on physical characteristics of the animals you give them, but can also grow up into Hero or Dark Chao, distinguished by their coloration.

While the base Chao Garden operates the same, it does have a couple quirks. One is that since there are no Adventure Fields, the only way you can access it during the Story mode is finding a Chao Key and completing a Stage, though you are booted out once you exit. Otherwise, you can only go through the Stage Select screen, which gives you more freedom with your visit. I’ll also mention that since picking up and petting the Chao are mapped to the same button, I felt frustrated later on when I couldn’t easily move them around with Rouge the Bat (and only her for some reason).

A representation of the Tiny Chao garden.

Like in SA1, you can move your Chao outside the Chao Garden to an external source. Since SA2B lacks the VMU connectivity of the original SA2, you can instead Drop Off or Pick Up Chao from the Tiny Chao Garden in the original Sonic Advance, provided you have the proper link cable. Since we had the right hardware, we tried it out and found that apart from playing around with your Chao, which won’t age while in this Garden, you can play two minigames: a Rock Paper Scissors minigame with revolving cards and an updated version of the memory game from Chao Adventure. Playing these two minigames earns you rings that let you buy food and toys for your Chao in a store accessible by pressing L. It’s not much, but it does let you take any one Chao with you on the go.

The exterior of the Chao Kindergarten.

The biggest addition, however, is the Chao Kindergarten, accessible by leaving the Chao Garden and carrying your Chao through a neighboring portal in the hub area. Here, you can rename your Chao (though you can’t pick the name) and have them learn lessons in a classroom with a timer that continues even while playing the main SA2B (you can’t pick up Chao from a classroom until it finishes the lesson). You can also visit the Principal’s Office for tips on raising Chao, as well as a Doctor’s Office where you can check up on your Chao’s health and learn valuable information about them. The only other thing you can do is visit the Black Market, where you can buy special items for your Chao, as well as special Chao eggs and other secret items, provided you’ve earned enough Emblems to unlock them. I didn’t do that much with the Chao Kindergarten, but I can see how someone could get sucked into it if they cared about spending time raising a Chao.

If you want even more replay value, there’s also a 2P Battle mode that you unlock simply by plugging in another controller. The Battle port has six modes, twelve playable characters (four for each mode) and thirty Stages (ten for each mode). Some characters have special abilities the player can use once they collect enough rings and you can change some of the rules during Stage Select. The different battle modes include: 

• Action Race Battle: Based on Sonic and Shadow’s gameplay. Simply race to the goal while collecting rings and dealing with any enemies along the way.
•  Treasure Hunt race: Based on Knuckles and Rouge’s gameplay. Collect a majority (or all) of the shards before the other player.
• Shooting Battle: Based on Tails and Eggman’s gameplay. Either race to a goal or deplete each other’s health.
• Chao Race: Unlocked after playing it once in the Chao Garden. Participate in an automatic race between each player’s chosen Chao. Different courses rely on different stats, which can easily decide the race on their own. Cheer on your Chao with the A button for as long as your Chao has Stamina.
•  Chao Karate: A new mode exclusive to Battle and unlocked by playing it once in the Chao Garden. Participate in an automatic fight between each player’s chosen Chao. Stats come into play, but are weighted differently and not clearly explained. When your Chao’s Zeal gets low enough, you can encourage it by mashing the A button. Matches in the Chao Garden are a Best-of-Five Tournament while 2P Battle matches are Best-of-One.
• Kart Race: Unlocked by playing the Story mode. A basic kart racer where you can race as one of six characters across three courses (Beginner, Standard, Expert). You can collect rings, but otherwise just drive across the track and occasionally activate a Boost.

Although 2P Battle does add more gameplay options, I personally don’t see myself booting up the game again just for that. The modes mimicking the Story mode Stages are entertaining, but the Chao modes aren’t that exciting since the player barely has any input and it’s easy for a more experienced Chao to steamroll another, as the winner is more or less determined once the race starts. I also found the Kart Race mode a bit barebones, but it’s at least competently made, which is more than I can say for some dedicated kart racers.

Not the worst, but certainly not the best.

Compared with SA1, SA2B runs at a smoother 60 FPS (like the original Dreamcast version), creating a “faster” feel. SA2B features updated character models compared with the Dreamcast that at least look higher quality. I appreciated the attention to detail in the character animations, as, at least during the Story mode, similar characters have different animations, like how Sonic runs as normal but Shadow looks like he’s skating. There are also some jiggle physics with Rouge during certain interactions. Among the background details in certain Stages, it’s interesting seeing ads for the now-defunct Soap shoes brand, which also influenced Sonic and Shadow’s footwear in this game. There’s also a good amount of memorable music, with particular highlights in “Escape from the City”, “E.G.G.M.A.N.” and “Live and Learn”.

Beyond that, however, the game does have its share of technical issues that were hard to ignore. Cutscenes still have awkward animation, though at least not to the same level as SA1, and the dialogue doesn’t match the mouth flaps as well. As mentioned earlier, the camera still sucks, as it can get stuck on level geometry at the worst times on top of snapping back after adjusting it in many Stages. Although the game has okay voice acting, the sound mixing makes it harder to appreciate even the most iconic moments like the “faker” exchange, but makes me glad the game had subtitles. If the music doesn’t nearly drown out the dialogue, dialogue can overlap or get cut off, even in moments where it doesn’t feel as justified. Although there’s mostly good sound design, the fire audio in at least one Stage sounded closer to popcorn noises. Interestingly, the English audio still has the characters say certain lines in Japanese, like Knuckles yelling “oraoraora” when digging or Eggman saying “Yosh!”.

Although Sonic Adventure 2: Battle has definite flaws and shows some signs of aging nowadays, like the original Sonic Adventure, I can’t say that I had a bad time. Its unique and iconic story is one that future games arguably haven’t recreated as well and while the attempts at varied gameplay are hit and miss, I couldn’t help enjoying the whole package for its sincerity and cohesiveness. If you can obtain a copy, it’s still a good addition to any Dreamcast or GameCube library.