Sonic Adventure 2

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Script

Recap

Credits

Manuals

Glitches

Beta elements

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Sonic Adventure 2
Key artwork, featuring Sonic (left) and Shadow (right).
Development staff
Developer(s)	Sonic Team USA
Publisher(s)	Sega
Director(s)	Takashi Iizuka
Producer(s)	Yuji Naka
Designer(s)	Takashi Iizuka Eitaro Toyoda Kazuyuki Hoshino
Programmer(s)	Tetsu Katano
Artist(s)	Kazuyuki Hoshino Yuji Uekawa
Writer(s)	Shiro Maekawa
Composer(s)	Jun Senoue Kenichi Tokoi Fumie Kumatani Tomoya Ohtani
Video game overview
Series	Sonic the Hedgehog
Release date(s)	NA 19 June 2001 INT 23 June 2001
Genre(s)	Platformer Action Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: E ACB: G USK: 0
Platform(s)	Dreamcast
Media	GD-ROM
Input	Dreamcast controller
Game order
Preceded by	Sonic Adventure
Followed by	Sonic Heroes

What kind of hedgehog are you?

— Tagline

Sonic Adventure 2 (ソニックアドベンチャー2, Sonikku Adobenchā Tsū^?) is a platforming video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series published by Sega for the Dreamcast. It is the sequel to Sonic Adventure, released in June 2001 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the franchise. This was the final title in the series to be released on a Sega console before the company transitioned to a third party developer. Sonic Adventure 2 is notable for marking the debut of Shadow the Hedgehog, a black hedgehog that resembles Sonic the Hedgehog with similar powers, and Rouge the Bat, an enigmatic treasure hunter.

Sonic Adventure 2 was built around the dichotomy of "good and evil", and thus features Hero and Dark storylines. In the Hero storyline, Sonic is framed as an escapee and teams up with Tails, Knuckles, and Amy to stop Dr. Eggman, who plans to subdue the world with the Eclipse Cannon, a superweapon stored at the Space Colony ARK. Conversely, the Dark storyline features Eggman as he attempts to conquer the world using the same weapon with Shadow and Rouge's help. The game carries on its predecessor's gameplay but introduces three distinct styles for its six playable characters: Sonic and Shadow focus on high-speed platforming, Tails and Eggman on shoot 'em up sequences, and Knuckles and Rouge on treasure hunting. The Chao system from the first game is expanded, allowing players to raise Hero and Dark Chao as a reflection of the game's central theme.

Development for Adventure 2 began in September 1999, shortly after the international release of its predecessor. It was developed by Sonic Team USA (later Sega Studio USA), an American branch of Sonic Team established to ensure stricter management over the series' image in Western markets. Its visuals were inspired by those of California, where the team was headquartered, to give a more "American atmosphere" than its predecessor.

Upon release, Sonic Adventure 2 received positive reviews for its gameplay variety, visuals, and music, but faced criticism for unresolved issues from its predecessor, particularly with camera controls. Due to being released at the end of the Dreamcast's lifetime, it only sold around 500,000 copies. The game was re-released for the Nintendo GameCube in late 2001 and early 2002 as Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, with various updates to the graphics and gameplay features.

Plot

Fifty years ago, Professor Gerald Robotnik, the grandfather of Dr. Eggman, directed a top-secret military initiative known as Project Shadow to achieve immortality. The project, conducted on the Space Colony ARK, resulted in two creations: a prototype, the Biolizard, and Shadow the Hedgehog. However, doubts over the project's safety resulted in the ARK being raided by Guardian Units of Nations (G.U.N.) military forces. The raid resulted in the deaths of everyone involved in Project Shadow, except Gerald, who was imprisoned, and Shadow, who was ejected back to Earth. Driven insane by the death of his granddaughter Maria during the raid, Gerald implanted false memories into Shadow to make him seek world destruction; Gerald was executed shortly after, while Shadow was held in stasis on Prison Island.

Dr. Eggman releasing Shadow the Hedgehog.

Eggman discovers Gerald's diary and learns of Project Shadow. Wanting this research to conquer the world, he storms Prison Island and releases Shadow, who offers his servitude to the doctor, commands him to bring Chaos Emeralds, and arranges a meeting on the ARK.

Sonic fleeing from the GUN Military Truck in the city.

Soon after, Sonic the Hedgehog is falsely accused by G.U.N. of deserting from Prison Island. Sonic breaks free and rushes through the capital city to flee persecution. Both hedgehogs cross paths after Shadow steals a Chaos Emerald. Sonic attempts to attack but Shadow uses his Emerald to warp away through Chaos Control, leaving Sonic to be recaptured by G.U.N.

Meanwhile, as he returns to his Hidden Base, Eggman finds Rouge the Bat and Knuckles the Echidna fighting over the Master Emerald, but his attempt to steal it ends in vain after Knuckles shatters it, prompting Rouge and Knuckles to hunt for the shards separately. Eggman then meets with Shadow on the ARK as they had planned, and Shadow tells him of the Eclipse Cannon, a superweapon capable of destroying an entire planet when powered by the Chaos Emeralds. The doctor hatches a plan to power the cannon and use it to submit the world to his rule. Rouge, who infiltrated the ARK through a transporter in the Hidden Base, joins them after handing over a Chaos Emerald.

The trio returns to Prison Island, planning to steal the three Chaos Emeralds there and plant bombs to destroy the island. At the same time, Miles "Tails" Prower storms Prison Island to liberate Sonic and meets Amy Rose, who has come here for the same reason. Tails and Eggman have a fight that results in a stalemate, while Sonic is freed by Amy and flees into the jungle on Prison Island. Eggman's plan is ultimately successful, and Sonic and his friends escape just before Prison Island explodes.

The Moon being destroyed by Eggman's demonstration of the Eclipse Cannon's power.

With six Emeralds, Eggman demonstrates the Eclipse Cannon's power by destroying part of the Moon, and threatens to destroy Earth too if the world does not submit to his rule. As they escape persecution from G.U.N., Sonic and Tails infiltrate the limousine of the president of the United Federation and hack its computer, learning that Eggman is headquartered on the ARK. Concurrently, they meet Knuckles, who guides them to the Hidden Base. Despite the doctor's attempts to stop them, the heroes board a rocket to the ARK.

Sonic facing Shadow on the ARK.

As Knuckles splits from the group to retrieve the Master Emerald's shards, which have drifted into space, Sonic and Tails hatch a plan to sabotage Eggman's scheme by giving him a fake Chaos Emerald which would shut down the Eclipse Cannon. The doctor, having anticipated this by reading two Chaos Emerald readings on the ARK, kidnaps Amy and baits Tails into revealing this plan. Eggman ejects Sonic into space with an exploding pod, but Sonic survives when he uses the fake Emerald to replicate Shadow's Chaos Control. He eventually confronts Shadow and defeats him, disabling the Eclipse Cannon as well.

Eggman upon unknowingly activating Gerald Robotnik's doomsday protocol.

At the same time, Eggman is defeated by Tails in a battle, but sneaks off with the final Chaos Emerald, which he inserts into the cannon. However, his joy is short-lived; instead of the cannon firing, it is revealed that the doctor unknowingly activated a doomsday program by Gerald to hurl the ARK towards Earth, destroying it, to avenge Maria's death. Sonic and the others hatch a plan to use the Master Emerald to neutralize the energy of the Chaos Emeralds, and everybody but Amy and Shadow rush to the Cannon's Core. Initially indifferent, Shadow is persuaded by Amy's plea that most people do not deserve to die, rekindling the memory of his true promise to Maria—to give humanity a chance at happiness—and he joins the others.

Super Shadow (left) and Super Sonic (right)

Sonic's group enters the Cannon's Core, but they are attacked by the Biolizard. Shadow defeats the creature as Knuckles uses the Master Emerald to neutralize the Chaos Emeralds. However, the Biolizard uses Chaos Control to fuse with the ARK, becoming the Finalhazard and keeping the colony on its collision course. Sonic and Shadow use the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and Super Shadow respectively. They defeat the Finalhazard and use Chaos Control to warp the ARK back into orbit before it hits Earth. Shadow, unable to maintain his transformation, plummets back to Earth, content that he fulfilled his promise to Maria, culminating in his apparent death. The group reflects on their recent adventure, while Sonic returns to Earth, uttering the words "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Characters

Image	Character	Biography
	Sonic the Hedgehog	The fastest hedgehog on Earth has a little competition. Mistaken for an escapee, Sonic is being chased by a secret military organization. He'll have to catch up with the mysterious black hedgehog in order to thwart Dr. Eggman's latest plan to conquer the world.
	Shadow the Hedgehog	The black hedgehog that resembles Sonic. Shadow is the ultimate lifeform created by Professor Gerald. Shadow has a special ability called "Chaos Control," which allows him to warp time and space using Chaos Emeralds. After telling Dr. Eggman about the existence of the Eclipse Cannon, Shadow encourages Dr. Eggman to join up and help conquer the world.
	Miles "Tails" Prower	This fox boy with two tails can create mechanical inventions that rival those of made by Dr. Eggman. This time, Tails pilots his latest walker, "Cyclone." He will support Sonic completely with his mechanical abilities.
	Dr. Eggman	Also known as Dr. Robotnik, Dr. Eggman is a self-proclaimed genius. He is an evil scientist with an IQ of 300. A renowned authority on robotics, Eggman joins forces with Shadow and Rouge in a plot to conquer the world. Once he has collected the Chaos Emeralds, he plans to take care of his lifelong rival, Sonic, once and for all.
	Knuckles the Echidna	The guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles takes his residence on the floating Angel Island. He is known as a treasure hunter, but is a skilled martial artist as well. Ever since the Master Emerald was shattered, Knuckles has made it his mission to collect each every shattered piece.
	Rouge the Bat	As a hunter who devotes her life to the pursuit of jewels, Rouge is determined to make herself rich. She is passionate about her work, and once she's set her sights on a new treasure, she stops at nothing until she gets it. In order to collect the many pieces of the Master Emerald, she offers to help Shadow and Dr. Eggman—but her true identity remains a mystery to them both.
	Amy Rose	A cheerful girl full of passion who loves to chase after Sonic wherever he goes. Learning that Sonic was arrested by the military troops, she comes to Prison Island alone. She has a strong sense of intuition and a pure heart.
	Maria Robotnik	A beautiful and mysterious girl that exists in the memory of Shadow, Maria is the granddaughter of Professor Gerald and a cousin of Dr. Eggman.
	Prof. Gerald Robotnik	A brilliant scientist and Dr. Eggman's grandfather. Noted as one of the most brilliant minds of all time, Professor Gerald designed the world's first space colony "ARK." He was also involved in the development of the ultimate life form: "Project Shadow." He later disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Gameplay

The three gameplay styles of Adventure 2, with the Hero characters on the left and Dark characters on the right. From top to bottom: Sonic and Shadow's fast-paced platforming, Tails and Eggman's shoot 'em up gameplay, and Knuckles and Rouge's treasure hunting.

Sonic Adventure 2 is a 3D platformer video game that plays similarly to its predecessor. Gameplay takes place between two parallel storylines, "Hero" and "Dark." The player controls Sonic, Tails and Knuckles in the Hero story, and Shadow, Dr. Eggman and Rouge in the Dark story. The game is divided into a series of stages where the player controls one of the aforementioned characters. Interspersed between the levels are various bosses, which one particular character must fight. Levels come between each of the playable characters. Finishing the Hero and Dark stories unlocks a final story culminating in a boss fight where the player controls Super Sonic and Super Shadow.

Sonic and Shadow play fast-paced levels that emphasize traditional platforming. Like Sonic in Adventure, both characters can perform the Spin Dash for a burst of speed and the Homing Attack to lock on to enemies. This game also introduces the ability to grind on rails and the Somersault to traverse low gaps. Tails and Eggman's levels feature multidimensional shooting akin to E-102 Gamma in Adventure; they are confined to slow mechs and can shoot enemies. Knuckles and Rouge, like the former in Adventure, traverse open-ended levels where they must find three hidden items, typically Master Emerald shards. They are guided by a radar and clues from Hint Boxes. They can glide, punch enemies, and climb walls.

An A rank being awarded to the player at the end of a level

Similarly to previous Sonic games, players collect Rings scattered throughout the levels as a form of health; being hit with Rings results in the character dropping them, while taking damage without Rings results in a life lost, or get a Game Over if they run out of lives. Tails and Eggman have Health Gauges which replenish with Rings. Power-ups can be found in Item Boxes or by passing through Star Posts, which, as with previous games, act as checkpoints. The game also introduces a ranking system based on the player's score or time spent by the end of each stage, with A being the best rank, and E the worst. Regardless of any other factors, an A rank is automatically awarded to players in score-ranked missions with all of the Rings from that level in their possession.

Sonic obtains the Bounce Bracelet (seen on his right arm), a Level Up Item that allows him to bounce

Like its predecessor, the game features Level Up Items, permanent upgrades that grant the playable characters new abilities: for example, Sonic and Shadow can perform the Light Speed Dash across a line of Rings with one such item; another allows Tails and Eggman to hover; and another gives Knuckles and Rouge the ability to dig through most surfaces to uncover secrets. Some Level Up Items are required to progress through the story, while others are optional; one such example of the latter is the Mystic Melody, which allows the player to uncover secret paths in the stages. Below is a table with all of the Level Up Items in Adventure 2:

Returning from Sonic Adventure are the Chao, virtual pets that can be raised in Chao Gardens. Adventure 2 introduces a morality system where Chao can turn into Hero or Dark Chao depending on how they are treated by the playable characters: for example, a Chao well treated by Knuckles, a Hero character, will gradually become a Hero Chao. Chao have five attributes (Swim, Fly, Run, Power and Stamina) which can be increased if given Chaos Drives or Animals found in the main stages to win Chao Karate and Chao Race minigames. Chao can mate and eventually die, but reincarnate if treated well, and evolve into Chaos Chao after reincarnating twice.

There are five missions within each stage, each with its own ranking, and are unlocked in order, although only the first one is required to beat the game. Missions include collecting 100 Rings, finding a hidden Chao, and completing a harder version of the level. The player can get 180 Emblems through a variety of tasks, which include getting A ranks, beating missions, and winning Chao competitions. Collecting all Emblems rewards the player with Green Hill, a 3D remake of the stage from the original Sonic the Hedgehog.

Controls

• General
• Sonic and Shadow
• Tails and Eggman
• Knuckles and Rouge

Button formation	Movement
	Move
	Jump
/	Action
	Switch action
L / R	Rotate camera
START	Pause

Button formation	Movement
	Sonic	Shadow
/	Somersault
Hold / > release	Spin Dash
Jump >	Homing Attack
/ on Grind Rail	Crouch
/ near Rings	Light Speed Dash
Jump > /	Bounce Attack	N/A

Button formation	Movement
	Tails	Eggman
/	Volkan Cannon
Hold /	Lock-on
Lock-on > release /	Lock-On Missile
/ near enemy	Propeller Punch	Punch
Jump > Hold	Hover

Button formation	Movement
	Knuckles	Rouge
/	Punch	Kick
Hold while midair	Glide
Glide into wall >	Climb
+ / underwater	Swim up and down
/ after jumping/while on wall	Dig

Objects

Items

• Air bubble
• Chao Egg
• Chao Key (first appearance)
• Chaos Emerald
• Chaos Drive (first appearance)
• Container (first appearance)
  • Cage (first appearance)
  • Chao Container (first appearance)
  • Steel Container (first appearance)
  • Unbreakable Container (first appearance)
  • Wooden Container (first appearance)
• Emblem
• Emerald Shard
• Floating Item Box (first appearance)
• Gate key (first appearance)
• Goal Ring (first appearance)
• Item Box
  • 1-Up
  • 5 Rings
  • 10 Rings
  • 20 Rings
  • Bomb
  • Health (first appearance)
  • High-Speed Shoes
  • Invincibility
  • Magnetic Shield
  • Shield
• Key Stone
  • Gate Key (first appearance)
• Meteorite (first appearance)
• Outfit (first appearance)
• Ring
• Snowboard

Gimmicks and obstacles

• Ancient Ruin (first appearance)
• Ball Switch
• Bungie Vine (first appearance)
• Dash Panel
• Dynamite (first appearance)
• Egg Beetle (first appearance)
• Gravity Control Switch
• Green energy fluid (first appearance)
• Grind Rail (first appearance)
• GUN Military Truck (first appearance)
• High-speed warp tube
• Hint Box
• Hourglass (first appearance)
• Iron ball
• Jump Plate
• Laser field
• Missile (first appearance)
• Pipe (first appearance)
• Point Marker
• Propeller Spring (first appearance)
• Pulley
• Ramp
• Rocket
• Safe
• Spikes
• Spinning drum (first appearance)
• Spring
• Swing Bar (first appearance)
• Time Switch (first appearance)
• Turtle (first appearance)
• Warp Hole (first appearance)
• Warp Wall (first appearance)
• Weight (first appearance)
• Wide spring

Characters

Playable

• Amy Rose (multiplayer)
• Big the Cat (multiplayer)
• Chao Walker (multiplayer) (first appearance)
• Chaos (multiplayer)
• Dr. Eggman
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Metal Sonic (multiplayer)
• Miles "Tails" Prower
• Rouge the Bat (first appearance)
• Shadow the Hedgehog (first appearance)
  • Super Shadow (first appearance)
• Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Super Sonic
• Tikal (multiplayer)

Non-playable

Chao Dark Chao (first appearance) Dark Chaos (first appearance) Hero Chao (first appearance) Light Chaos (first appearance) Neutral Chao Chao Principal (first appearance) Chaolin (first appearance) Chaoko (first appearance) Chaosky (first appearance) Dinner (first appearance) Happy (first appearance) Omochao Wacky (first appearance) Gerald Robotnik (first appearance) Maria Robotnik (first appearance) President (first appearance) Scorpion Troop (first appearance) Secretary (first appearance) Sigma-Alpha 2 (first appearance) Spider Troop (first appearance) Researcher (first appearance)

Animals Bat Bear Boar Cheetah Condor Dragon Gorilla Half Fish Parrot Peacock Penguin Phoenix Rabbit Raccoon Seal Sea Otter Sheep Skeleton Dog Skunk Tiger Unicorn

Enemies

Artificial Chaos (first appearance) Artificial Chaos P-1 (first appearance) Artificial Chaos P-100 (first appearance) Cell (first appearance) Float Type (first appearance) Guard Type (first appearance) Badniks Buzz Bomber Chopper E-1000 Gola Unidus Kiki Boo (first appearance) Boom Boo (first appearance) Guardian Units of Nations Blue Eagle (first appearance) Bomb Beetle (first appearance) Bomb Wing (first appearance) Gold Beetle (first appearance) Gun Beetle (first appearance) Gun Hawk (first appearance) Gun Hunter (first appearance) Gun Wing (first appearance) Hornet-3 (first appearance) Hornet-6 (first appearance) Hornet-9 (first appearance) Laser Hawk (first appearance) Laser Hornet (first appearance) Laser Hunter (first appearance) Mono Beetle (first appearance) Phoenix (first appearance) Rhino Cannon (first appearance) Rhino Jet (first appearance) Rhino Metal (first appearance) Rhino Spike (first appearance) Shield Hunter (first appearance) Sky Hawk (first appearance) Spark Beetle (first appearance) Spring Beetle (first appearance)

Stages

Story Mode

There are a total of thirty-one stages in Sonic Adventure 2's Story Mode: sixteen from the Hero Story, fourteen from the Dark Story, and a final one from the Last Story. With some exceptions, each of these stages takes place in one of the game's major settings and features any of the three gameplay styles.

• Hero Story
• Dark Story
• Last Story
• Map

No.	Stage	Character
1	City Escape	Sonic
2	Wild Canyon	Knuckles
3	Prison Lane	Tails
4	Metal Harbor	Sonic
5	Green Forest	Sonic
6	Pumpkin Hill	Knuckles
7	Mission Street	Tails
8	Aquatic Mine	Knuckles
9	Route 101	Tails
10	Hidden Base	Tails
11	Pyramid Cave	Sonic
12	Death Chamber	Knuckles
13	Eternal Engine	Tails
14	Meteor Herd	Knuckles
15	Crazy Gadget	Sonic
16	Final Rush	Sonic

No.	Stage	Character
1	Iron Gate	Eggman
2	Dry Lagoon	Rouge
3	Sand Ocean	Eggman
4	Radical Highway	Shadow
5	Egg Quarters	Rouge
6	Lost Colony	Eggman
7	Weapons Bed	Eggman
8	Security Hall	Rouge
9	White Jungle	Shadow
10	Route 280	Rouge
11	Sky Rail	Shadow
12	Mad Space	Rouge
13	Cosmic Wall	Eggman
14	Final Chase	Shadow

No.	Stage	Character
Final	Cannon's Core	Tails, Eggman, Rouge, Knuckles, Sonic

Other stages

• Chao World
• Green Hill

Bosses

In Story Mode, there are several bosses that the player has to fight after completing certain stages. There may also be times where two bosses are separately fought in a row following a stage.

• Hero Story
• Dark Story
• Last Story

No.	Previous stage	Boss	Next stage	Character
1	City Escape	F-6t Big Foot	Wild Canyon	Sonic
2	Wild Canyon	Dr. Eggman	Prison Lane	Tails
3	Metal Harbor	Shadow	Green Forest	Sonic
4	Death Chamber	King Boom Boo		Knuckles
5		Egg Golem	Eternal Engine	Sonic
6	Meteor Herd	Rouge	Crazy Gadget	Knuckles
7	Crazy Gadget	Dr. Eggman	Final Rush	Tails
8	Final Rush	Shadow		Sonic

No.	Previous stage	Boss	Next stage	Character
1	Iron Gate	B-3x Hot Shot	Dry Lagoon	Shadow
2	Weapons Bed	Tails	Security Hall	Dr. Eggman
3	Security Hall	R-1/A Flying Dog	White Jungle	Rouge
4	White Jungle	Sonic	Route 280	Shadow
5	Sky Rail	Egg Golem	Mad Space	Dr. Eggman
6	Mad Space	Knuckles	Cosmic Wall	Rouge
7	Cosmic Wall	Tails	Final Chase	Dr. Eggman
8	Final Chase	Sonic		Shadow

No.	Boss	Stage	Character
1	Biolizard	Cannon's Core	Shadow
2	Finalhazard		Super Sonic and Super Shadow

Modes

1P Play

Story

• The Story Select menu.
• The same menu with the Last Story unlocked.

1/2

Story is where the player follows along with the plot of the game. There are two stories at first: Hero and Dark. Once these two are completed, a third, final storyline known as "Last" is unlocked. Progressing through this mode unlocks more stages to play in Stage Select. Also, every time the player leaves the game and comes back to this mode to where they left, a short summary of one of the playable characters is played so that they can remember where they left of. When a story is finished, the player unlocks its "Boss" mode and is able to revisit certain points of the plot.

Stage Select

Stage Select is the overall map of the game's settings. Here they can play any stages they have already completed in Story mode. Each of these levels has five separate missions:

• Mission 1: This is the mission that is played in Story mode, where the player must simply get to the ending of the stage or, in Hunting Stages, find the three hidden items. Ranking is given based on score.
• Mission 2 (Collect 100 Rings!): In this mission, the player has to collect one hundred Rings to succeed. Ranking is given based on time.

Sonic having found the lost Neutral Chao in Pyramid Cave.

• Mission 3 (Find the lost Chao!): Here, the player is tasked with finding a Neutral Chao that is hidden somewhere in the stage. Most of the time this Chao is found in an area that is only accessible by interacting with an Ancient Ruin, meaning that the Mystic Melody has to have been obtained beforehand to complete this mission. Ranking is given based on time.
• Mission 4 (Finish the stage in [time]!): The player has to reach the end of the stage under a time limit. Worth noting is that there are no Star Posts in these missions, meaning that they will have to start from the beginning once they lose a life. If the player runs out of time, they will be taken back to the beginning of the stage, but they will not lose a life. Ranking is given based on score.

Comparison of an area in City Escape normally (left) and in Hard mode (right); the path through the staircase has been sealed off; the right side has fewer platforms, the Super Ring Item Box has been removed, and a Gun Wing has been added instead.

• Mission 5 (Clear Hard Mode!): This mission is unique from the others since the player has to finish a much harder version of the stage. Various paths are now sealed off, tougher enemies are more prominent, there are fewer platforms over bottomless pits, enemies sometimes appear out of nowhere, and the player is forced to have already obtained certain Level Up Items to progress. Ancient Ruins now simply spawn 1-Ups or are removed sometimes. In Hunting stages, the three items the player must find are always in the same spot. Ranking is given based on score.

Missions are unlocked once the player beats the one prior; for example, Mission 4 is accessible after beating Mission 3, which is unlocked after beating Mission 2. Completing a mission for the first time awards the player an emblem.

Kart Race

Kart Race is racing mode that is unlocked after beating either Route 101 in the Hero story or Route 280 in the Dark story and plays the same as these two stages. Each of the six playable characters has their own karts.

Boss

Boss is unlocked after beating either the Hero or Dark story. Here the player goes through all of the chosen story's bosses in order, similar to the Boss Sub Game from Sonic Adventure. After beating all of the bosses, the player is awarded an emblem.

2P Play

Sonic and Shadow racing through City Escape.

Unlike its predecessor, Sonic Adventure 2 has a multiplayer mode. 2P Play features four different modes: Race (Sonic/Shadow stages), Shooting (Tails/Eggman stages), Hunting (Knuckles/Rouge stages), and Random. Each type of stage is played split-screen, except for the shooting stages. The conditions for winning in each type are as follows:

• Race: The player who reaches the Goal Ring first wins.
• Hunting: The first player to find the given amount of Master Emerald shards wins.
• Shooting: The first player to reduce their opponent's HP Gauge to zero wins.

There is also a Kart Racing mini-game in 2P Play mode, but the player will have to clear the Kart stages in the Hero and Dark stories in order to enable it.

Big in the Eggwalker, exclusive to the Dreamcast version.

Along with the six main characters of the game, 2P Play has the following unlockable characters exclusive to 2P Play:

• Amy Rose: Playable after beating all of Sonic's levels with an A-Rank
• Metal Sonic: Playable after beating all of Shadow's levels with an A-Rank
• Tikal: Playable after beating all of Knuckles' levels with an A-Rank
• Chaos 0: Playable after beating all of Rouge's levels with an A-Rank
• Chao: Playable after beating all of Tails' levels with an A-Rank
• Big the Cat: Playable after beating all of Eggman's levels with an A-Rank

Shadow's alternate outfit.

Another exclusive to the two-player mode is alternate outfits. In Sonic Adventure 2, the player can unlock special costumes for each of the six main characters by completing all of their respective missions. Sonic and Shadow's costumes originated from Phantasy Star Online, an online RPG series that was also developed by Sonic Team, while all the other characters had unique outfits. Also on Sonic Adventure 2 were seasonal costumes for Halloween and Christmas, available as DLCs in late 2001.

Extra

The Extra menu holds the following:

• Tutorial: Omochao will explain the game rules and mechanics.
  • Basic Controls:
  • Sonic/Shadow:
  • Tails/Dr. Eggman:
  • Knuckles/Rouge:
  • Chao:
• Emblem Results: Displays the list of emblems collected.
• Download Event: Play downloaded events.

Options

The Options menu is the settings menu for Sonic Adventure 2 which holds the following options:

• Sound Test: Listen to BGM.
• Change file:
• Change Jump Pack setting:
• Change Stereo / Mono:
• Set language for voice and text:
• Change menu screen theme:

Home Page

Home Page opens the official website in the Dreamcast web browser, where players can download additional content for the game.

Cast

The cast for this game is largely carried over from Sonic Adventure.

Role	Voice actor
	English	Japanese
Sonic the Hedgehog	Ryan Drummond	Jun'ichi Kanemaru
Miles "Tails" Prower	Connor Bringas	Atsuki Murata
Knuckles the Echidna	Scott Dreier	Nobutoshi Canna
Amy Rose	Jennifer Douillard	Taeko Kawata
Shadow the Hedgehog	David Humphrey	Kōji Yusa
	Ryan Drummond (few lines)
Rouge the Bat	Lani Minella	Rumi Ochiai
Omochao		Etsuko Kozakura
Dr. Eggman	Deem Bristow	Chikao Ōtsuka
Maria Robotnik	Moriah Angeline	Yuri Shiratori
Gerald Robotnik	Marc Biagi	Chikao Ōtsuka
Chao	Tomoko Sasaki
President	Steve Broadie	Kinryū Arimoto
GUN Soldiers	Marc Biagi	Kōji Ochiai
	Scott Dreier	Tōru Ōkawa
Secretary	Sue Wakefield	Mami Horikoshi
G.U.N. computer
News reporter	Lani Minella
Space Colony ARK computer	Scott Dreier	Tōru Ōkawa
Default menu voice	Shelly Fox

Development

Background and conception

Sonic Adventure, the successful prequel to Sonic Adventure 2.

In the 1990s, Sega was amongst the main competitors in the video game market and was able to gain a foothold against Nintendo with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive to directly compete against the Super Mario franchise on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In spite of an eventual fierce rivalry between the companies specifically in North America, the game became a massive success for Sega, and quickly spanned a multimedia franchise with video games, cartoons, and comics; in just two years, the eponymous character had gone from being a sketch to being a character more widely recognized by American children than Mickey Mouse like Mario. However, in the later years of the decade, Sega began to lose its dominance with the start of the 32-bit era, where its Saturn system was overshadowed by the Nintendo 64 and Sony's PlayStation. In a last-ditch effort, Sega released the Dreamcast in 1998 in Japan and 1999 in the rest of the world. It was a new console far more powerful than its competitors with new features like online gaming. Sonic Adventure was one of the release games, and received critical acclaim. However, the Dreamcast ultimately failed against its competitors.

Sonic Adventure was developed by Sonic Team in Japan and was initially released in that country on 23 December 1998. In 1999, several of its members, including Takashi Iizuka and series co-creator Yuji Naka, moved to the United States to develop a Western localization of the game, since the Dreamcast had not yet been released outside of Japanese markets. The team members established Sonic Team USA (later Sega Studio USA) as a US-based division of the group. The subdivision was established so that Sonic Team could have a stricter management over the series' image outside of Japan, since they felt that the comics and television shows that had been produced in North America were off-brand for the series and made Sonic "feel like a completely different character".

The developers of Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Team USA, in San Francisco.

The localized version of Sonic Adventure was released in mid-to-late 1999. Shortly afterwards, Sega demanded a sequel, and work on a new game began soon afterwards. In some ways, this has been compared to Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which was developed by the Sega Technical Institute in the United States, compared to the first game which had been made in Japan. Development for Sonic Adventure 2 began shortly after the American release of the international version of Sonic Adventure in September 1999. Iizuka served as director and art designer, while Naka was the producer.

Gameplay

The first thing the developers did when it came to the gameplay was to recreate Sonic Adventure's structure but making it more dynamic by focusing more on the action. Wanting to go back to the series' roots, the team removed the Adventure Fields from the first game to make the level succession more streamlined. Also, whereas Sonic Adventure featured a mix of action, exploration, etc., for Sonic Adventure 2, the developers separated these sequences according to each character's gameplay.

The development team sought to make the game an impressive experience, and made it run at 60 frames per second with "tempo", giving Sonic a variety of actions rather than focusing on speed alone. Its levels facilitated this flow, making Sonic seem faster than he was. Developing the game was also much easier than Sonic Adventure due to the team's experience with the Dreamcast's hardware. The game would end up having six different playable characters, all of whom were given roughly equal gameplay time, unlike Sonic Adventure where Sonic's story was much longer than the others.

Iizuka described the Chao as a "relative neutral entity" in Sonic Adventure. In the sequel the developers expanded the creatures' presence, adding the ability to raise "Hero" and "Dark" Chao to reflect the conflict between good and evil. In Sonic Adventure 2, Chao have the ability to socialize, so they resemble a "real artificial life form."

Art

The developers of Sonic Adventure 2 used San Francisco, where they were located, as an inspiration for the artstyle of the game. This inspiration is most noticeably in the Hero story's first level, City Escape (pictured).

Since Sonic Team USA is located near San Francisco and its Bay Area, we discovered some magnificent locations. We decided to insert the beauty of these settings into our game.

— Takashi Iizuka on the artstyle of Sonic Adventure 2.

Whereas Sonic Adventure was inspired by Sonic Team's trip through Latin America, the developers sought to give Sonic Adventure 2 an "American atmosphere". They were influenced by San Francisco and other locations in the United States, such as Yosemite National Park (where they vacationed during its development), the Golden Gate Bridge, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Characters

• Early designs of Shadow the Hedgehog.
• Early designs of Rouge the Bat.

1/2

During the development of Sonic Adventure, the team wanted to introduce a new rival for Sonic in a potential sequel, but rarely discussed the idea. The developers eventually found use in this new character when they laid out the "good vs. evil" storyline. The character was co-created by Iizuka and the writer of the story in Sonic Adventure 2, Shiro Maekawa. The rival character's name was originally "Terios" ("reflection of"), a reference to being Sonic's doppelganger, before being changed to Shadow the Hedgehog.

Maekawa was tasked with developing Shadow, whom they wanted to look just as "cool" as Sonic. Maekawa settled on the design of a black hedgehog, but struggled coming up with his personality. One night, while he was brainstorming lines for a scene in which Sonic confronts Shadow for impersonating him, Maekawa came up with Shadow's first line: "Hmph, aren't you the fake one here?" To further shape his "subtle" character, Maekawa envisioned Shadow would refer to himself with the more humble Japanese pronoun boku (僕, boku^?).

Another character, Rouge the Bat, was created to contrast Knuckles. Funnily enough, her original name was "Shadow", before being changed to the current one.

Promotion

Promotional artwork of Shadow and the early logo of the game.

Sega announced a follow-up to Sonic Adventure and a spin-off, which would become Sonic Shuffle, on 4 October 1999. The newly named Sonic Adventure 2 appeared for the first time at E3 on 11 May 2000, with Sonic Team adding the video shown to its website on June 30. Sonic Team posted a trailer and a number of screenshots on 30 May 2001, with Sega promoting Sonic Adventure 2 as the last Sonic game for the Dreamcast and as a celebration of the series' tenth anniversary. Sega held a tenth anniversary party for Sonic in June 2001, at which attendees could compete in a battle tournament, and the winner played against Takashi Iizuka himself.

Sonic Adventure 2 was released worldwide on 23 June 2001, marking the Sonic series' tenth anniversary. A special collector's edition of the game was produced, featuring a large blue case that contained the game, a music CD (featuring tracks spanning Sonic's ten year history), a Sonic the Hedgehog retrospective booklet and a commemorative coin.

Pre-release

Sonic in his normal shoes, from Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial.

A demo version of Sonic Adventure 2, titled Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial, was distributed as a bonus to those who purchased the first copies of Phantasy Star Online. Since Phantasy Star Online was released in late 2000 in Japan and early 2001 in Western regions, this bonus disc served as an excitement builder for the final release of the game just six months later. This version only included one stage (City Escape) and a rudimentary two-player mode accessible through hacks.

While there are many changes between Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial and the final version of Sonic Adventure 2, a key difference is that Sonic is lacking the Grind Shoes in the demo, as Sega's partnership with Soap was made late in the game's development.

Advertisement

Sonic Adventure 2 is known for its infamous commercial which shows a scientist approaching a hedgehog labeled "Good Hedgehog" and petting it. The camera then goes to a tank labeled "Bad Hedgehog" where a cow is being lowered in. Eating sounds could be heard along with screams from the cow until the screen goes back to the "Bad Hedgehog" burping, this being a parody of a scene from Jurassic Park.

Soundtrack

The cover of Multi-Dimensional.

The main theme of Sonic Adventure 2 is "Live and Learn," performed by Crush 40. Some of the character themes were remixes of their Sonic Adventure counterpart. Five soundtracks have been released for Sonic Adventure 2:

• Multi-Dimensional Sonic Adventure 2 Original Sound Track contains all of the sound tracks of the game except for the character themes.
• Cuts Unleashed: SA2 Vocal Collection contains all of the character theme songs and "Live and Learn".
• Sonic Adventure 2 Official Soundtrack is the western-released soundtrack containing all of the character themes and some of the action stage themes.
• Sonic Adventure 2 Battle - Sampler is a promotional disc that only contains the tracks from Cuts Unleashed but all of the track's durations are halved.
• Sonic Adventure 2 Original Soundtrack 20th Anniversary Edition contains both vocal and instrumental music tracks from the game to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Sonic series.
• SONIC ADVENTURE 2 OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK VINYL EDITION is a vinyl album of two records with a selection of both vocal and instrumental music tracks from the game.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	83.3%
Metacritic	89%
Review scores
Publication	Score
Edge	7/10
Famitsu	33/40
GamePro	4.5/5
GameRevolution	7/10
GameSpot	8.6/10 (US) 8.8/10 (UK)
Hyper	87%
IGN	9.4/10
Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK)	8/10
Dreamcast Magazine	93%
SuperGamePower	10/10
Consoles +	92%
MAN!AC	89%
Dorimaga	9.1313
Gamers' Republic

Like its predecessor, Sonic Adventure 2 received critical acclaim, with scores of 89% and 83.3% from review aggregators Metacritic and GameRankings, respectively. Critics appreciated the game's multiple playing styles. According to Edge and reviewer Four-Eyed Dragon of GamePro, the core game's three styles and bonus features such as Chao gardens made the game engaging to play. Johnny Liu of Game Revolution praised its replay value of multiple playing styles and 180 different goals. Anthony Chau of IGN called it "one of the best Sonic games ever": "If this is the last Sonic game in these declining Dreamcast years, it's satisfying to know that the DC didn't go out with a bang, but with a sonic boom."

Shahed Ahmed of GameSpot criticized Adventure 2's camera for the "cardinal sin" of 3D platformers, as it forces the player to jump to an out-of-frame platform. Ahmed wrote that although a player can re-orient the camera with the trigger buttons, it reverts when the character moves. According to Chau and Liu, camera issues were absent in Tails and Dr. Eggman's levels and insignificant in Sonic and Shadow's, but searching for Emerald Shards and items in cramped sections of Knuckles and Rouge's levels was frustrating. Edge found camera problems permeating the game, with no significant improvement from Sonic Adventure.

Liu called the graphics "sweet, sweet eye-crack". Four-Eyed Dragon wrote that the game "is simply jaw-dropping beautiful," citing its detailed backgrounds and scenery and the playable characters' and enemies' extensive color palettes. According to Chau, the game had "some of the best textures ever seen" and was one of the most beautiful Dreamcast games. Edge was impressed by the texture detail and draw distance, and Chau, Liu, and Ahmed praised its 60-frame-per-second rendering speed.

According to Ahmed, the game's music was a step up from Sonic Adventure's "campy glam-rock and J-pop soundtrack," with less emphasis on lyrics, and Liu appreciated its more "understated" approach. Four-Eyed Dragon praised Sonic Adventure 2's music as "an eclectic mix of orchestrated masterpieces, guitar tunes, and melodic hip-hop voices gracefully fill the game's ambiance to a perfect pitch." Reaction to the voice acting was mixed; although Ahmed said "The voice acting, and the lip-synching in particular, is executed quite well," Liu and Chau thought the English voices were inferior to the Japanese ones.

Ahmed criticized Sonic Adventure 2's plot: "Throughout the game the plot becomes more and more scattered and lackluster," not focusing long enough on one element to execute it meaningfully. Although Liu agreed that despite the game's ambitious scope and themes it failed to advance the series' core plot beyond the original Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Sonic games, Edge appreciated the story's presentation from both perspectives: hero and villain.

Sonic Adventure 2 received several accolades, including the 2001 IGN's Editors' Choice Award. ScrewAttack called it the fifth-best Dreamcast game, and GamesRadar rated it the tenth greatest Dreamcast game out of 25, saying: "Despite trailing off significantly in recent years, the 3D side of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise had a surprisingly stellar start with the Sonic Adventure entries, and the 2001 sequel really amped up the action." In February 2014, IGN's Luke Karmali called the game his tenth-favorite game of all time. Sonic Adventure 2 was placed at the number one spot in WatchMojo's "Every 3D Sonic Game Ranked" video; it was also placed at the #4 spot in their "Top 20 Sonic the Hedgehog Games" list.

Re-releases

Image	Game	Platform	Description
	Sonic Adventure 2: Battle	Nintendo GameCube	Sonic Adventure 2: Battle is the enhanced port of Sonic Adventure 2. Released in late 2001 in Japan and in early 2002 in the rest of the world.
	Sonic Adventure 2	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC	Sonic Adventure 2 was re-released in high-definition format via Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and Steam throughout October 2012. It also featured the "Battle" DLC, which included all of the added features present in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

Adaptations

The Sonic X anime series included a six-episode adaptation of the game's events between "Project: Shadow" and "Showdown in Space", known as the Shadow Saga. Like its predecessor, the adaptation was mostly faithful to the game's plot, with the Japanese version even being a word-for-word adaptation at some points. However, parts were written in for characters that did not originally appear in Sonic Adventure 2 such as Christopher Thorndyke and Cream the Rabbit.

In Sonic the Hedgehog #98, published by Archie Comics, a two-part adaption of Sonic Adventure 2 was presented, written by Karl Bollers and Ken Penders.

The Sonic the Hedgehog 3 film produced by Paramount Pictures is heavily inspired by elements of the game itself.

Trivia

• This is the first Sonic game to have swearing in the English track. Swear words can be heard in the lyrics of the main theme of Knuckles the Echidna and in the lyrics for the background music of some of the stages he goes through (i.e., "Deeper"). This was also the main reason why the GameCube version has a "Lyrics" warning on the ESRB rating.
• This is also the first Sonic game where Sonic team up with Dr. Eggman to defeat the bigger threat.
• Sonic Adventure 2 is the only game where Sonic wears the Grind Shoes in order to promote the Soap product which the Grind Shoes were based on, along with the new extreme sport, freestyle grinding, that the shoes were made for. There are also many billboards, blimps, and benches in the game that advertised the shoes. The Grind Shoes themselves are a custom version of the Scorcher/Nitro Soap Shoe, while Shadow wears a pair of custom Broadside Soap shoes, as grinding (or "soaping") debuted as an important new gameplay element.
• If one were to go to the Theme Select in the Options menu and rotate the Control Stick clockwise for a few moments until hearing a chime sound, they would then see a picture of the President's Secretary and will then be able to select the Secretary's menu theme.
• Like Sonic Adventure, in the original Dreamcast version of the game if you insert the disk into a PC, special wallpapers will be available to download as an easter egg. As well as that, there is a list of main series Sonic games prior to Sonic Adventure 2, although Sonic the Hedgehog CD is absent from the list.
• The camera can be used to move objects in the game. This is most noticeable in the Chao Garden if the player has a fruit in front of the camera and they walk away from it. The same thing can be done in the Chao Garden in Sonic Adventure.
• In the first cutscene of the demo version, before the player enters City Escape, the man on the radio says, "What the hell?" in the text. In the final release, the script instead says, "What?!"
• Sonic features the most Level Up Items out of the playable characters in Sonic Adventure 2, with a maximum of six. Knuckles and Eggman have five Level Up Items, and Tails, Shadow, and Rouge have a minimum of four.
• The Dreamcast version of the game runs a disc check to make sure it is not run from a copied disc. If this check fails, Eggman will fall through the floor when he starts his section of Cannon's Core.

Big the Cat in the Hero story's first cutscene.

• Big the Cat has six known cameo appearances in the cutscenes of Sonic Adventure 2 that can be only seen by pressing , these include:
  • During Sonic's escape from the helicopter at the beginning of the Hero story, Big can be seen in the Dreamcast version holding onto it.
  • During Sonic and Shadow's first meeting, Big can be seen running around Shadow while he is standing over the F-6t Big Foot.
  • In the cutscene after Knuckles fought King Boom Boo, Big can be seen standing behind the entrance to the shuttle once the entrance opens.
  • During the cutscene after Knuckles and Rouge's fight, Big can be seen wandering around the arena.
  • During the Last Story's intro, Big can be seen standing on the computer's platform with Eggman.
  • In the Last Story, before Amy tries to persuade Shadow to help, Big can be seen running right and left in the hallway that leads to main room.
• Shiro Maekawa has stated that he found difficulty in writing the story for Sonic Adventure 2. Despite this, the game's story stands to be Maekawa's favorite as he is emotionally attached to it, as the game is the first story he wrote for.
  • Maekawa has stated that if he had a chance to rewrite it or change something about the game's story, he would only add back the scenes he had to cut.
• Takashi Iizuka regards Sonic Adventure 2 as his favorite Sonic game as of July 2022.
• Sonic Adventure 2 is the game with the second most original lyrical arrangements in the franchise, with a total of 18. The game with the most original lyrical arrangements in the franchise is Sonic Frontiers, with a total of 21.

Videos

• E3 2000 trailer
• Sonic Adventure 2 Trial trailer
• US commercial
• Japanese commercial 1
• Japanese commercial 2
• Japanese commercial 3

External links

• Official Japanese website (archived)
• Official English website
• Product page at the Japanese Sega website (archived)

Sonic Adventure 2

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Main article · Scripts (Hero, Dark, Last) · Staff · Manuals · Glitches · Beta elements · Gallery · Pre-releases (The Trial, Preview, TRIAL Version) · Re-releases (Battle, 2012)

*Appears or is playable in only the 2P mode · ^Appears in only the original Dreamcast version
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Sonic the Hedgehog console mainline games

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