Final Rush in D tier is the most godforsaken criminal and vile take i have ever seen in my life man thats like by far the most satisfying and replayable stage in the entire game especially once you start doing the floor is lava challenge
@@azurelionheart they messed up rail grinding in the PC port, but it works fine on gamecube and the recently released SA2 input mod fixes the rail grinding.
@@azurelionheart true, the pc port is ass without a controller. I played it on Xbox and it was fine but later when i tried the game on a pc with a keyboard its just awful
10:20 I think there's a misunderstanding, if the timer is set for 15 minutes, it's calculated that she needs 10 minutes to escape. Otherwise, in 15 she'd be blown up. So 5 minutes for the hunt, 10 minutes to get out.
I'm frankly, very confused as to how that was unclear. Especially because he makes the connection for the shadow's time limit. And he's going back to chaos control her out.
Glad to know I wasn't the only one terrified by that damn beetle in Egg Quarters. Took me so long to get over it being scary to defeat that level, it is anxiety personified.
The 100 ring mission for eternal engine is my eternal nightmare. As much as I like metal harbor I think I would put pumpkin hill at the top of my list.
Tails got done so dirty in this game. I don't mind him being in the mech in principle, but in practice they gave him the worst stages in the game. Prison lane is the best of the 4 and it's just a poor man's iron gate. Mission street, hidden base, and eternal Engine are all plauged by cheap enemy placement, awful level design, and way too few rings(mission street and hidden base literally require you to get the ring bonuses from checkpoints just to push the ring count for the stage over 100)
@@znerd3664 mission street is such an absolute nightmare to get the 100 ring mission for no reason. even when youre prepared for the enemy placement its STILL hard to avoid. i dont remember the mission for hidden base being too bad, but maybe its just overshadowed by mission street and eternal engines being so painful
The reason Shadow doesn't have that many stages is because early on in the game's development, Shadow (along with Rouge and Tails) were originally not planned to be playable in the game. And were only added after people asked about Tails being playable and needing to keep the whole duality theme.
I think it was cause the dark side story is supposed to be starring Eggman, while Shadow and Rouge are his supporting cast. The game was advertised for making Eggman playable for the first time, so they made that the main focus for his story.
@@mann-nova9392 There's a pretty strong case for OP's claim. Early advertisements for the game showed Sonic in Sky Rail and for a while they lacked any gameplay footage of Rouge, Tails, or Shadow.
@@MechaKnuckles Weird to have almost a Sonic game with the blue blur and knucklehead, but not the two-tailed fox himself. I wonder why they thought of that...
this is a rumor based on the fact that the first trailer didn’t show him, Rouge or Tails as playable. the game would make no sense structurally if Eggman was the only playable guy in the Dark Story, and they didn’t have enough time after that first trailer to totally restructure the game and the story. I think fans just got upset by the lack of Tails in the first trailer and then started circulating rumors that their outcry changed the game afterward
A Rank Quotes "That was cool" Sonic "Yeah, this is perfect!" Knuckles "I did it, Sonic!" Tails "How was that, perfect like me?" Rouge "Now you know why I am the best!" Dr. Eggman "Ultimate Victory." Shadow
@@yrrr4871 If you become a channel member you get a bunch of cool emoji’s! Check out the description for details about becoming a member or just watch ChaoGamings livestreams and you could possibly get gifted a membership :] You also get a custom chao if you become a member plus lots of other great perks
@@Choa you are dead wrong about Lost Colony, that level has some of the best music in the game and for me that level was the opposite of forgettable with how atmospheric it was.
ngl the driving stages have really grown on me over the years. especially after realizing how to actually trigger the drift mode. i wouldnt say they are great stages but i remember absolutely hating them as a kid, especially that mission where you werent allowed to hit the walls seemed impossible to me back then
@@Beleth420 My friend always used to beat me driving backwards and laugh. Years later I learned that driving backwards (technically keeping yourself in a drifting state) uncaps your speed. He was using speedrunner tricks without knowing it.
Yeah nope, Lost Colony's theme is a fantastic atmospheric piece that hints well at the dark secrets that G.U.N. holds, I'm not super fond of the stage but I find its song more memorable than the majority of the Eggman songs in the game, which all blend a little much (besides Sand Ocean, that tune is nice)
Glad to see I wasn't the only one terrified of the beetle robot in Egg Quarters. Took me months to finish the Dark Storyline because I was so terrified of it.
I actually really like Security Hall. It's not the best stage in the game, but having the timer on it kind of made me appreciate it more. I'm a new Sonic fan who somehow just discovered this game as an adult a few months ago, and frankly, I sucked at it when I first started. Most of the treasure hunting stages took me 20+ minutes to complete the first time through. While playing through the story, Security Hall was the first stage that really forced me to learn it back to front instead of just being able to flail around cluelessly until I found the emeralds, and to my surprise, I ended up finding it really fun. Because it was a nonlinear level, instead of feeling stuck on one part, I really felt like I was improving with every attempt. It was like the only stage I got higher than an E rank on in my first playthrough. ...Although that locking mechanism truly is awful. And the time limit does bug me. Eggman says you have 15 minutes, Rouge says she'll do it in five, and then when you hit the three minute mark Eggman starts complaining that you took too long. Talk about moving the goalpost!
Was everyone in this comment section a coward as a child? I was playing Doom and Resident Evil at that age and heres like 50 people in this commeny section crying about a robot in a Sonic game "traumatizing" them. It's not cute or funny, its pathetic.
10:17 Upon watching this video, I realized why Rouge has only 5 minutes in Security Hall even though Eggman said 15. It's so Shadow can have 10 minutes to save her in White Jungle before the island explodes. They apparently wanted the time limits to make sense in context even though by the time you're done with Security Hall, Rouge still has 10 minutes to spare so they just had her act cocky to contextualize the shorter timer. It's not the most elegant solution to keep gameplay and story in harmony, but I appreciate that they made an attempt at all to justify why you would still have 10 whole minutes after Rouge has collected all the Chaos Emeralds to save her. I think it would've been cooler if the game had a 15 minute timer that simply saved however much time you had left after Security Hall and gave you whatever was left in order to do White Jungle, but that'd be harder to implement, cause a potential problem of White Jungle being unbeatable with the given time limit, and might make for a worse experience overall since time limits can be very stressful for some people. But yeah, I just like that this little bit of storytelling actually makes sense when you consider the story context. Edit: You mentioned my theory in the White Jungle section after I wrote this, but I think it makes the most sense and makes this part of the game feel a lot more cohesive and immersive
Bro Mission Street, what a jam. Also a musician here, the harmony and melody are out of this world satisfying. The turnaround is the perfect use of a bvii chord, nice use of technique in the melodic lines with little embellishments here and there. Probably my favorite sonic track of all time for sure.
I honestly loved the treasure hunting stages in this game, sure the radar change is a big L , but these stages are made with treasure hunting in mind unlike SADX's treasure hunting stages which were just modified sonic stages
Never again will we have such satisfying controls for Rouge and Knuckles either. They moved like butter and felt like they actually had some speed. Heroes onward did them dirty.
6:59 YES! THAT STAGE WAS A HORROR GAME UNLIKE EVERY OTHER STAGE! I did not want to play Dark Story as a kid JUST BECAUSE OF THIS ONE STAGE I hid in the shadows all the time for like 20 minutes, thank god I'm not alone on that.
This was a great video. Sonic Adventure 2 is up there as one of my favorite Sonic Games and I enjoy hearing the level breakdowns. Never knew of Green Hill Zone Bonus Stage.
Am I the only one who whole heartedly likes the SA2 treasure radar over SA1? I just like how the game has a kinda high skill ceiling if you can memorize the locations based on first hints while still being fast enough with your movement to get the pieces with a decent enough bonus for an A rank. I like how they're more difficult because getting faster at them gives them their own replay value.
"High skill ceiling" You mean fighting the controls and camera because the game is actually terrible? The only treasure hunter stage of any real difficulty is Mad Space, and even then it follows the exact same formula to A rank. Blitz around the stage checking the major areas, if you didn't get a shard or two, exit out and restart the level and try again. Its not "skill", its RNG nitwit.
Nice list, didn't expect those multiplayer stages to show up in the ranking either so that was a nice touch. Now awaiting that Sonic Adventure DX Stage Tier List :)
My heart broke in two pieces when you said that you don't like the music track "Trespasser". 💔 But man, you are right about the Knuckles music. Absolut high class OST
Same,. I won't disagree that the stage isn't all that exciting on repeat playthoughs but the song is beautiful, it's one of my favorites from the OST as well hehe.
Looking back, a huge part of why I loved this game so much as a kid is because the music is SO good and so atmospheric. It pulls you right into every stage, even if the stage itself is repetitive or annoying. Edit: Also the chao garden is so fun I originally only bought this game for that after seeing my cousin play it
Same. I feel like it's especially true with Rouge's stages for me because like for example, Mad Space easily is one of the worst stages but yet at least for myself, I LOVE the song and it actually helped keep me distracted from how annoying it can having to traverse the stage which really is a pain in butt lol. Same with Hidden Base and Eternal Engine, great songs that can pull you in.
@@devinwarrick3660 Oh for sure, the music for her stages, ALL of them were good. Very jazzy and energetic with a "spy-like" feel to them. There's just never a dull moment with her songs.
-There's no way any of the stages in your E-tier are worse than Aquatic Mine or Death Chamber. -I think Cosmic Wall and Meteor Herd are A-tier -Metal Harbour is honestly B-tier and below Green Forest
Oh my goodness, I was terrified of the robot in Egg Quarters as a kid too. I seem to remember making my older brother play it for me because I hated that thing so much xD As an adult now it’s no big deal obviously, but that’s good to know I wasn’t the only one
I get that it's all opinion but idk it feels really biased towards the speed stages without taking consideration for what the other 2 gameplay styles truly offer or why certain decisions were made like tails being in a mech (he was added after the hero dark split and was clearly built off of eggman to keep the sides even) shadow not having many stages(he was added pretty late into development even having sky rail being given to him despite originally being sonics stage, this also led to certain story decisions since there wasn't time to make more shadow stages)
*Hates rail grinding *Puts Final Rush in D tier, right next to Death Chamber *Shows footage of rail grinding on a keyboard going poorly *Puts Grind Race, the stage made of grind rails over death pits, in A tier
Glad to see that I wasn't the only one scared of Egg Quarters as a kid. I'm surprised you ranked the driving stages so low. I liked those stages as a kid, and they unlocked the kart racing minigame.
Extremely well made video! I found it quite interesting that the list was so evened out between all of the tiers. I’ve also been attempting to get all of the emblems in SA2, so now I know which stages to look out for.
Thank you for making this video. My frustrations with some of the levels feel validated. Still love this game very much. Hope the new sonic game coming out has a chao garden in it!
My favorite memory with Pyramid Race is the fact that you can jump on and run up the sides of the pyramid, and can even run up invisible walls on the side of the pyramid with enough speed. With Metal Sonic, you can go fast enough and run up such a long invisible wall that it looks like he's flying into the sun lol
Shadow was supposed to get even less stages at first, but then they decided to give him Sky Rail which was originally a Sonic level. Sky Rail's song was originally called Mr. Smiley, but since Shadow took it over, they changed it to Mr. Unsmiley.
I'd personally put White Jungle at the top and Aquatic Mine at the bottom. Personal preference on the former, but as for the latter: Mad Space at least has visually-distinct and open sectors so you can quickly sweep the trail (center -> moon -> capsule -> holy -> spire -> surrounding -> center) for radar blips. Aquatic Mine, you just CANNOT do that, because the side areas are all so far out that they won't pick up on radar unless you're in them already and it's super cramped and _everything looks the fucking same._
i recently picked this game up again and i’ve been playing every day for weeks lol. i never even got close to beating it as a kid but i’m 29 now so it’s way more fun now that i understand everything, especially the chao garden!!! love the video!!! i learned a handful of tricks just from your brief explanations!!!!!
I loved this so much, and it’s awesome to find other sonic adventure 2 fans that validate all the hours I spent as a kid playing this and just being in the chao garden 😂 keep up the great work!
I do replay Cosmic Wall semi-often but solely because its one of the easiest stages to do the Chao Key glitch in (its funny to see Eggman roam around in City Escape)
Man, I spent SOOOOOOO much time in pumpkin hill cuz I breezed through the first knuckles stage and kinda just wandered around being confused by the ghost train for half an hour
I love that you take into consideration both ups and downs of all stages. I might be biased at some since I didn't experience them that badly, though :v Great video, almost an hour and didn't get bored all the way to the end! Your editing makes it enjoyable uwu Shoutout to the hell that is A-Ranking Eternal Engine and Mission Street's 100 rings challenge PS: Those sections at Cannon's Core that look like that one stage on Ancient Ruins are probably not laziness from developers, but part of the lore of the ARK and its relation to those ruins Gerald used to base his project
It took me many years to find out about the last story too, but for me it was the rouge stage with the timer. Years later I replayed it and had absolutely no problem. Was pretty weird not sure why it was completely impossible for me before.
Honestly the Knuckles/Rouge stages were really easy, even with the downgraded radar I never had much of an issue. The only stage i really had a problem with was Made Space due to the huge size. For the most part I’d argue they are faster than the Sonic levels. If you know what you’re doing you can beat then even faster than the speed stages
Just want to point out that the air necklace is shown in the SA2: Battle instruction booklet and listed as one of Knuckles' power ups (they list 2 for each character); so I'm sure plenty of people who grew up with the GC version knew about it.
@@BigBoy257 I was one of those dumb kids, so yes, I do believe that. Also game manuals back then were actually really nice to look at. SA2:B's and Pikmin 2's manuals had a lot more work put into them than they really needed.
If I recall, Shadow doesn’t die at the end. He survives his fall to earth via Eggman but loses his memory. that’s how he ended up where he ended up in sonic heroes.
Radical Highway also let you take down a jet, as for Egg Quarters yeah those Beetle Security Guards scared the crap out of me as a kid. Green Forest has a secret room on the lower path accessible through summersault near the start of the stage. There were plenty of differences between 1P & 2P Versions that were ignored. Also there was yet another Stage you forgot about where you spend a lot of time, Chao World should be A Rank or higher if possible. As for the 2P Differences, Meteor Herd removes all Artificial Chaos enemies & meteors don't fall while ring boxes replace the level up item with that area always being open. White Jungle & Final Chase are interesting cases where the stages end halfway & are left intact after if you can get to the rest of the stage. City Escape ends right after running down the building, Metal Harbor's Goal Ring is where the lower spring to the missile would be & you can still get to the upper area with spindash tricks. The Missile Launch doesn't happen platforms with springs replace the rocket to the Missile & the level up item is replaced by 4 ring boxes as springs are added to replace homing attack & light dash sections. It's notable that the shooting stages are drastically different in 2P Battle Mode to fit the new goal. Pyramid Cave, Crazy Gadget, Cannon's Core, & Prison Lane aren't given 2P Counterparts. Green Hill had an unused 2P Version strangely enough. The instruction booklet also makes a point of mentioning Knuckles Air Necklace in addition to the Shovel Claw. I have to say I have grown to enjoy most of the stages in the game through 20 Years of owning it.
I will have to check out that Green Forest pathway, thanks for sending that! Didn't want to rank Chao World as it isn't technically an action stage but I do agree that it would be A rank. Probably S rank LOL
I have never understood why everyone gets mad at rouge for 5 minutes in security hall. Eggman says to set the timer for 15 minutes, rouge has to beat security hall in 5 and gets saved by shadow who then has to escape white jungle with only 10 minutes. That's a total of 15. shadow set the timer for 15, so at 15, kaboom, happens and that would be bad, so rouge gives herself 5 minutes to find the emeralds and 10 minutes to escape... she fails but she's thinking ahead. That being said, Great video!
OK. Give her 10 minutes instead, and give Shadow 5 since his stage is nowhere near as tedious and potentially long as Security Hall. Or split it down the middle with 7 and 8 or 8 and 7 so Shadow has a bit more leniency to explore around. Rouge didn't need 5 minutes in a large stage with Emeralds behind locked doors that require her to waste time going to the top of the stage to switch the locks. While having a shitty radar that only detects 1 Emerald at a time and has pretty small range compared to the SA1 radar.
in my humble opinion, all of the speed stages are a rank, they all gave me so much fun, like doing the shortcuts on final rush, and just playing through radical highway in general
You ain't alone that Flying Robot scared the heck out of me too when I was a kid especially always hated it when looking for keys especially when it gets louder when close
(Choa talks about the scary beetles) “Yeah, I understand that.” (Footage shows him going through the stage counterclockwise) “Well, there’s your problem. You run directly toward them that way.”
The bomb timer was set to 15 minutes, all Rouge said was 5 minutes should be plenty of time to get the emeralds and then she could use the other 10 to escape
I feel like I’m the only person who puts Eternal Engine as the best mech level and one of the best levels in the game. I’m not sure why, but the punishment of the dynamite packs combined with their benefit to destroy due to the score and combo bonus was always exciting to me. Combine that with one of my favorite tracks in the game and it’s one of my favorite levels ever
Green forest not being in A-rank is such a crime. Okay, it is pretty linear, but bro,.it is so so so iconic, it's perfect and yet... YOU PUT IT IN THE SAME TIER AS EFFING CRAZY GADGET
The reason for the stage disparity is that Sonic, Eggman, and Knuckles were originally the only playable characters. Tails, Shadow, and Rouge were tacked on mid-development to allow the multi-story system to make a return, hence each of them only getting 4 stages (not including canon's core or the driving stages).
Just beat SA2 for the first time yesterday and it took me nearly 3 hours. After I beat it I thought there is no way they expect everyone to beat it that way and that's when I discovered the air bracelet was a thing.
I know this video is just your opinion, but it doesn't take away the right of one to disagree and say their own opinion on the matter, so please don't think this comment is any form of hatred. I appreciate all the effort you put in this video
Enough of Treasure Hunting, about Shooting now. I think Hidden Base is the best of the Shooting stages, because it has good amount of platforming, it does not have any on-rails/elevator segment, most obstacles can be quickly destroyed if a player is skilled enough, it's just a fun stage, you did not mention how unlike most stages in this game, Hidden Base has a clear story progression going on in the gameplay, you start far from the pyramid with GUN robots chasing you, then once you enter the perimeter it changes to Eggman robots, after that you keep ascending through the level, near the end you're high up and the stage ends at the top entrance, which will directly lead to Sonic infiltrating downwards, I wish all stages had this kind of progression instead of mostly just starting and ending at seemingly unrelated places in the story. I really don't see many issues in this stage other than two instances of unpredictable enemy, I think people just don't like that much because the previous two Tails stages weren't really that fun, so at that point the player is already "f*ck this shit I just want to play as Sonic". Sand Ocean is an interesting case, the platforming is very tight, but the way you demonstrated was with a poorly executed jump, the thing with the walkers is that doing a jump from standstill won't grant you horizontal speed sufficient to do the simplest jumps, you have to gain speed (momentum?) to do proper jumps, I made a video on how to get A-Rank without the Hover in this stage and it's pretty satisfying to get those jumps to work. Sorry, but I really hate the "Tails shouldn't be in a mech, he should be on-foot like in SA1" argument when discussing SA2, because that it's just not how the game was ever conceptualized around, you have three playstyles where you play in two teams that both will play around the same playstyle, the more you think about having Tails like SA1, the more problems you face it. -It utterly breaks the game balance: Sonic Runs, Shadow Runs; Knuckles Hunts, Rouge Hunts; Tails Flies, Eggman Shoots ???? -It would make for completely different design for Tails levels that wouldn't have any counterpart since Eggman would be Shooting. -Would not work given the theme of duality of the game, where characters with similar abilities fight their opposite counterpart equally. Tails being a genius that improved his Tornado and is willing to fight Eggman (another genius) makes complete sense story-wise, character-wise and in the game's concept. You would have either him being playable as a Mech or not have him being playable at all, which would make it for Eggman having to fill the gap anyway. Instead of asking for on-foot Tails, as something that completely deviates from the Sonic Adventure 2 Game Concept, ask for better Shooting stages for Tails, if you're not having fun with the Shooting stages that are supposed to be fun, then I think it's fairer to ask for a better execution of that idea instead of asking for a completely different game concept that it's not what Sonic Adventure 2 was designed to be. I find interesting people really talk like "Shadow has so few levels :(" when Rouge and Tails has the same amount of 4 and people forget Sonic has the most amount of 6 stages, Action Race being the only playstyle to have a total of 10 stages (11 if counting Green Hill), while Hunting and Shooting have 9 stages each. It seems you really put a lot of emphasis on exploration for Sonic/Shadow stages, which I don't entirely disagree but personally looking for different pathways are the least interesting part in an action game for me, even for a stage 100% linear I can still have tons of fun if the game throws good amount of challenges to overcome and actions to do, Sonic Adventure 2 is quite possibly one of the most linear Sonic games as far as Action Race stages are concerned and I have a good time playing it regardless of how many paths there are, I enjoy Shooting stages despite how little room there is for shortcut so I don't feel like the exploration in these two playstyles are that relevant. Overhaul, I can see you put a lot of effort in this video, the editing is also pretty good, I really appreciate and enjoyed!
I know I'm late, but hey, better late than never. My ranking: A-Rank stages: Crazy Gadget Final Rush Sky Rail Meteor Herd Final Chase Pyramid Cave Aquatic Mine Eternal Engine Pumpkin Hill White Jungle Green Forest Cosmic Wall Hidden Base Death Chamber Lost Colony Wild Canyon B-Rank stages: Mad Space Sand Ocean Metal Harbour Radical Highway Prison Lane City Escape Egg Quarters Dry Lagoon Weapons Bed C-Rank stages: Mission Street Route 101 D-Rank stages: Route 280 Iron Gate E-Rank stages: Security Hall Cannon's Core
I mean, it's generally a thing with playing games as a kid. I remember playing WALL-E game in my childhood and was absolutely scared of those parts of the levels, where it was pitch-black and you had to attract the flashlight robot by music for moving with you. And add to this a fact that there were mice-like robots who were attacking you, if you were going there without the light. Damn, sounds like alot for a kids game, isn't it?
Really, I like the mech and emerald stages. It's just the 100 ring missions on tails specifically are so frustrating. The mech get hit more, that's why they get health bars. 100 ring mission is basically play 70% Of the level without getting hit. Fast too if you want the A rank. On the emerald stages it's difficult, but rewarding because there aren't too many enemies. And you have to find hidden ring boxes. But the mechs struggle.
Speedrunning truly changed my perspective on this game than what I had as a kid. So much more to it. Regardless still one of my favorite games of all time!
It's so fun hearing opinions on these stages. I personally love final rush so much. I think that once you get a handle on some of the weird rail grinding, it genuinely feels so good to pull off. It just has this flow state effect. I'm in the same boat in regards to unlocking green hill zone. I've gotten A ranks on almost everything, but that dang eggman sand level is just so hard for some reason. I go back and try it from time to time. Probably about time for another attempt! Also the 2 player rail level is so fun! My friend and I used to just play that level over and over and jump from above and try to land on the lower rail section.
Tails/Eggman stages: Target 11 enemies for 2000 Perfect bonus. Don't get hit while targets are being destroyed or you won't receive 2000 point bonus. . Knuckles/Rouge stages: Don't rush too fast and you'll see the other Emerald pieces or Chaos Emeralds and DO NOT use the Hint Monitors. Using them decreases your bonus when collecting the Master Emerald shards or Chaos Emeralds. . Sonic/Shadow stages: Run fast. Find hidden actions among set pieces for bonus points. Destroy enemies and collect Rings for extra points as well. Don't die either. It affects your Rank A attempts among ALL characters.
Also if you have any problems with any of these stages. With any of the 6 characters. You have a serious case of skill issue. . And the stage design and enemy placement isn't even bad. You just don't understand what you're getting yourself into. Also the L1/L2/R1/R2 (PlayStation) or LB/LT/RB/RT (Xbox 360/Xbox One) or L/ZL/R/ZR (Nintendo Switch controller on Steam. Or whatever controller you're using on Steam) controls the camera. So if you can't see. Change the camera angle. Loser.
So, I like this video, but part of me thinks the Sky Rail assessment didn't make sense. You say "I've never been a big fan of rails in Sonic games, and Sky Rail isn't one of the worst examples, but I'm still not a fan" and IMMEDIATELY follow it up, literally next sentence, with, "overall, it's one of the best stages in the game." My dude. It's called Sky Rail. If you put on a pie chart how much of the level is JUST grinding, it's like a solid 75% of the chart. Am I being crazy right now? Still, love the video. Always love seeing new content creators who make good material. Keep it up :)
Editing is cool, but these rankings are CRIMINAL. Sand Ocean with Lost Colony is absolute BS. Rouge’s Security Hall timer always made sense too, but Shadow onscreen is just an instant A rank to you😭
I think a shadow stage in place of lost colony would've been much more interesting, and it also could've been nice if they had shadow actually speak during the level at random intervals, since the ARK was his only home he's ever known, and to hear him have unexpected voicelines about his surroundings during the level, reminiscing of his home and the familiar environment, would've given players a better insight into Shadow's character prior to any of the major plot reveals
Cant believe I sat through a hour long video lol, that just shows how great it was! I always loved the treasure hunting levels and the fact that the levels where big made it more fun to explore for me. I would put Pumpin Hill as no 1 just for the music alone.
I do appreciate the sonic adventure team trying to give you a variety of stages, but let's not pretend anyone is playing these games for the mech stages or emerald hunt stages. You play those stages so you can get back to the fun stages, ie the speed.
Am I the only one who actually liked many of the mech stages? It was really satisfying for me to rack up point modifiers and just blow up a bunch of stuff. But I was also a child.
Final Rush in D tier is the most godforsaken criminal and vile take i have ever seen in my life man thats like by far the most satisfying and replayable stage in the entire game especially once you start doing the floor is lava challenge
You do have a fair point, this stage is more fun once you are actually good at it. Problem is that most players aren't great at it though
Yeah, sure, if the rail grinding mechanics in the PC port weren’t painfully sensitive and easy to mess up…
agreed, this is a crime. Final Rush is easy my favorite level in the game.
@@azurelionheart they messed up rail grinding in the PC port, but it works fine on gamecube and the recently released SA2 input mod fixes the rail grinding.
@@azurelionheart true, the pc port is ass without a controller. I played it on Xbox and it was fine but later when i tried the game on a pc with a keyboard its just awful
10:20 I think there's a misunderstanding, if the timer is set for 15 minutes, it's calculated that she needs 10 minutes to escape. Otherwise, in 15 she'd be blown up. So 5 minutes for the hunt, 10 minutes to get out.
I'm frankly, very confused as to how that was unclear. Especially because he makes the connection for the shadow's time limit. And he's going back to chaos control her out.
City Escape and Pumpkin Hill should get an S rank. I'd argue they're two of the most iconic stages in the whole franchise. Do DX next!
Agreed and the 2 best songs in the game
city escape is super overrated
@@FlamingZelda3 wdym? I’d say its well rated, it even had a stage in generations.
@@FlamingZelda3 it's overrated because of the song not because of its design.
None of the treasure hunting stages deserve an S.
Glad to know I wasn't the only one terrified by that damn beetle in Egg Quarters. Took me so long to get over it being scary to defeat that level, it is anxiety personified.
Dude that green light the bug has actually made me so afraid. Everytime i saw the light i immediately paniced and ran as far as i could(ingame).
I had to get my brother to play that level for me because I got so much anxiety from the flashing green light.
Exactly that used to be so scary and i still have that energy in me
Even as an adult that stupid bug still gets me anxious 😂
Personally I was scared of the ghosts
The 100 ring mission for eternal engine is my eternal nightmare. As much as I like metal harbor I think I would put pumpkin hill at the top of my list.
Pumpkin Hill is a good choice! And I agree about the 10p rings being awful
Tails got done so dirty in this game. I don't mind him being in the mech in principle, but in practice they gave him the worst stages in the game. Prison lane is the best of the 4 and it's just a poor man's iron gate. Mission street, hidden base, and eternal Engine are all plauged by cheap enemy placement, awful level design, and way too few rings(mission street and hidden base literally require you to get the ring bonuses from checkpoints just to push the ring count for the stage over 100)
@@znerd3664 mission street is such an absolute nightmare to get the 100 ring mission for no reason. even when youre prepared for the enemy placement its STILL hard to avoid. i dont remember the mission for hidden base being too bad, but maybe its just overshadowed by mission street and eternal engines being so painful
The reason Shadow doesn't have that many stages is because early on in the game's development, Shadow (along with Rouge and Tails) were originally not planned to be playable in the game. And were only added after people asked about Tails being playable and needing to keep the whole duality theme.
This is the prevailing theory. Though I don't know if we can say it is the case for certain.
I think it was cause the dark side story is supposed to be starring Eggman, while Shadow and Rouge are his supporting cast. The game was advertised for making Eggman playable for the first time, so they made that the main focus for his story.
@@mann-nova9392 There's a pretty strong case for OP's claim. Early advertisements for the game showed Sonic in Sky Rail and for a while they lacked any gameplay footage of Rouge, Tails, or Shadow.
@@MechaKnuckles Weird to have almost a Sonic game with the blue blur and knucklehead, but not the two-tailed fox himself. I wonder why they thought of that...
this is a rumor based on the fact that the first trailer didn’t show him, Rouge or Tails as playable.
the game would make no sense structurally if Eggman was the only playable guy in the Dark Story, and they didn’t have enough time after that first trailer to totally restructure the game and the story. I think fans just got upset by the lack of Tails in the first trailer and then started circulating rumors that their outcry changed the game afterward
i like to imagine an actual brown fox with blue eyes got arrested due to the misinforming wanted poster in mission street
A Rank Quotes
"That was cool" Sonic
"Yeah, this is perfect!" Knuckles
"I did it, Sonic!" Tails
"How was that, perfect like me?" Rouge
"Now you know why I am the best!" Dr. Eggman
"Ultimate Victory." Shadow
The editing on this video was insane, great job Chao
Thank you!!
How you get those emoji's?
@@yrrr4871 If you become a channel member you get a bunch of cool emoji’s! Check out the description for details about becoming a member or just watch ChaoGamings livestreams and you could possibly get gifted a membership :] You also get a custom chao if you become a member plus lots of other great perks
@@Choa hey now Sonic 06, Heroes and Shadow are good games.
@@Choa you are dead wrong about Lost Colony, that level has some of the best music in the game and for me that level was the opposite of forgettable with how atmospheric it was.
ngl the driving stages have really grown on me over the years. especially after realizing how to actually trigger the drift mode. i wouldnt say they are great stages but i remember absolutely hating them as a kid, especially that mission where you werent allowed to hit the walls seemed impossible to me back then
Drifting makes them better for sure. Sucks the game doesnt tell you about that at all though
Route 208 Act 4 is absolute torture, even when you know how to control drift. They put you through a veritable gauntlet of tight corridors at the end
@Devin Garcia Shadow for sure
@@Beleth420 My friend always used to beat me driving backwards and laugh. Years later I learned that driving backwards (technically keeping yourself in a drifting state) uncaps your speed. He was using speedrunner tricks without knowing it.
Mad Space deserves a tier of its own.
Yeah nope, Lost Colony's theme is a fantastic atmospheric piece that hints well at the dark secrets that G.U.N. holds, I'm not super fond of the stage but I find its song more memorable than the majority of the Eggman songs in the game, which all blend a little much (besides Sand Ocean, that tune is nice)
His hatred for eggman is very apparent
Lost Colony is a B Rank for that theme alone. (End the bias against Eggman)
Glad to see I wasn't the only one terrified of the beetle robot in Egg Quarters. Took me months to finish the Dark Storyline because I was so terrified of it.
It and King Boom Boo for me.
What kind of pampered childhood did you have that you found that crap scary?
I actually really like Security Hall. It's not the best stage in the game, but having the timer on it kind of made me appreciate it more. I'm a new Sonic fan who somehow just discovered this game as an adult a few months ago, and frankly, I sucked at it when I first started. Most of the treasure hunting stages took me 20+ minutes to complete the first time through. While playing through the story, Security Hall was the first stage that really forced me to learn it back to front instead of just being able to flail around cluelessly until I found the emeralds, and to my surprise, I ended up finding it really fun. Because it was a nonlinear level, instead of feeling stuck on one part, I really felt like I was improving with every attempt. It was like the only stage I got higher than an E rank on in my first playthrough.
...Although that locking mechanism truly is awful. And the time limit does bug me. Eggman says you have 15 minutes, Rouge says she'll do it in five, and then when you hit the three minute mark Eggman starts complaining that you took too long. Talk about moving the goalpost!
The stage is 3 square feet in size, anyone complaining about the timer is blind.
Really impressed with the amount of effort and editing in this one!
I agree!
Thank you!
Wait a min, how did you do those custom emoji's. That's so cool.
It's over, I'm old, I'm getting left behind. Lol
@@rell660 it's because I have a RUclips membership for ChaoGaming
@@BoneTheCat10 ........... That is so cool.
I’ve never paid attention to Tails’s wanted poster but I’m glad you did. That was hilarious
Can confirm on Egg Quarter, still have trauma from over a decade ago and have yet to fully get over it lol
I hated egg quarters too when I was younger lol that beetle always scared the shit outta me
Was everyone in this comment section a coward as a child? I was playing Doom and Resident Evil at that age and heres like 50 people in this commeny section crying about a robot in a Sonic game "traumatizing" them. It's not cute or funny, its pathetic.
@@ScumSookar gross this is even more cringe
"...some of you even might remember some of the lyrics to City Escape"
Me: SOME OF THEM!? *begins to sing* LOL
10:17 Upon watching this video, I realized why Rouge has only 5 minutes in Security Hall even though Eggman said 15. It's so Shadow can have 10 minutes to save her in White Jungle before the island explodes. They apparently wanted the time limits to make sense in context even though by the time you're done with Security Hall, Rouge still has 10 minutes to spare so they just had her act cocky to contextualize the shorter timer. It's not the most elegant solution to keep gameplay and story in harmony, but I appreciate that they made an attempt at all to justify why you would still have 10 whole minutes after Rouge has collected all the Chaos Emeralds to save her.
I think it would've been cooler if the game had a 15 minute timer that simply saved however much time you had left after Security Hall and gave you whatever was left in order to do White Jungle, but that'd be harder to implement, cause a potential problem of White Jungle being unbeatable with the given time limit, and might make for a worse experience overall since time limits can be very stressful for some people. But yeah, I just like that this little bit of storytelling actually makes sense when you consider the story context.
Edit: You mentioned my theory in the White Jungle section after I wrote this, but I think it makes the most sense and makes this part of the game feel a lot more cohesive and immersive
8:27 I LOVE the mysterious vibe from the music in that stage... So it's not forgettable in my opinion
14:39 Sky Rail is dope
30:30 Pumpkin Hill. Halloween themed levels are some of my favorite type levels
Bro Mission Street, what a jam. Also a musician here, the harmony and melody are out of this world satisfying. The turnaround is the perfect use of a bvii chord, nice use of technique in the melodic lines with little embellishments here and there. Probably my favorite sonic track of all time for sure.
I honestly loved the treasure hunting stages in this game, sure the radar change is a big L , but these stages are made with treasure hunting in mind unlike SADX's treasure hunting stages which were just modified sonic stages
Never again will we have such satisfying controls for Rouge and Knuckles either. They moved like butter and felt like they actually had some speed. Heroes onward did them dirty.
Exactly this game has the absolute best knuckles and rouge controls. They are almost as fast as sonic and shadow while being smooth to control
@@TheNadroj10 I can just hear the lagoon music in my head as I power walk around with Knuckles at light speed lmao
21:28 that shadow voiceline killed me
MaRIaH
It reminds me of the voice clip of Peach saying “Mariooo!”
Final Rush in D-tier? That’s a hard disagree from me. Best level in the game. Even had fun A ranking it, which I can’t say for many other levels lol
Yeah he hates grind rails. Final rush is a perfect level to end off hero story. It’s atleast a B tier, honestly A tier for me
>Any space level is good
Lol
Lmao even
Did you know rail hopping barely works at all in this game buddy?
The flying robot in Egg Quarters was absolute nightmare fuel you are definitely not alone XD
6:59 YES! THAT STAGE WAS A HORROR GAME UNLIKE EVERY OTHER STAGE! I did not want to play Dark Story as a kid JUST BECAUSE OF THIS ONE STAGE I hid in the shadows all the time for like 20 minutes, thank god I'm not alone on that.
I used to be so scared of that stage too, I had my brother do it for me hahaha
This was a great video. Sonic Adventure 2 is up there as one of my favorite Sonic Games and I enjoy hearing the level breakdowns. Never knew of Green Hill Zone Bonus Stage.
Thanks for watching!
I was scared of egg chambers too growing up
"I was a stupid cowardly child afraid of a frigon Sonic game."
Good for you pal.
Am I the only one who whole heartedly likes the SA2 treasure radar over SA1? I just like how the game has a kinda high skill ceiling if you can memorize the locations based on first hints while still being fast enough with your movement to get the pieces with a decent enough bonus for an A rank. I like how they're more difficult because getting faster at them gives them their own replay value.
"High skill ceiling" You mean fighting the controls and camera because the game is actually terrible?
The only treasure hunter stage of any real difficulty is Mad Space, and even then it follows the exact same formula to A rank. Blitz around the stage checking the major areas, if you didn't get a shard or two, exit out and restart the level and try again. Its not "skill", its RNG nitwit.
Nice list, didn't expect those multiplayer stages to show up in the ranking either so that was a nice touch. Now awaiting that Sonic Adventure DX Stage Tier List :)
I like this idea!!
My heart broke in two pieces when you said that you don't like the music track "Trespasser". 💔
But man, you are right about the Knuckles music. Absolut high class OST
Was hoping someone else was going to agree about Lost Colony's music, one of the best tracks in the game!
Same,. I won't disagree that the stage isn't all that exciting on repeat playthoughs but the song is beautiful, it's one of my favorites from the OST as well hehe.
Lost Colony is almost a good stage JUST because of the music.
@@onlyfrons Totally right. Soooo relaxing. :)
Same, I love Lost Colony, my favorite Eggman stage theme, with Iron Gate in second and Weapons Bed in third
Looking back, a huge part of why I loved this game so much as a kid is because the music is SO good and so atmospheric. It pulls you right into every stage, even if the stage itself is repetitive or annoying.
Edit: Also the chao garden is so fun I originally only bought this game for that after seeing my cousin play it
Same. I feel like it's especially true with Rouge's stages for me because like for example, Mad Space easily is one of the worst stages but yet at least for myself, I LOVE the song and it actually helped keep me distracted from how annoying it can having to traverse the stage which really is a pain in butt lol. Same with Hidden Base and Eternal Engine, great songs that can pull you in.
@@decadentgamer3108Mad Space's soundtrack was amazing. I loved all of Rouge's stage music because it had more jazzy elements and instruments
@@devinwarrick3660 Oh for sure, the music for her stages, ALL of them were good. Very jazzy and energetic with a "spy-like" feel to them. There's just never a dull moment with her songs.
-There's no way any of the stages in your E-tier are worse than Aquatic Mine or Death Chamber.
-I think Cosmic Wall and Meteor Herd are A-tier
-Metal Harbour is honestly B-tier and below Green Forest
You think Mad Space is better than Aquatic Mine and Death Chamber?
@@Choa Yes
Oh my goodness, I was terrified of the robot in Egg Quarters as a kid too. I seem to remember making my older brother play it for me because I hated that thing so much xD
As an adult now it’s no big deal obviously, but that’s good to know I wasn’t the only one
I get that it's all opinion but idk it feels really biased towards the speed stages without taking consideration for what the other 2 gameplay styles truly offer or why certain decisions were made like tails being in a mech (he was added after the hero dark split and was clearly built off of eggman to keep the sides even) shadow not having many stages(he was added pretty late into development even having sky rail being given to him despite originally being sonics stage, this also led to certain story decisions since there wasn't time to make more shadow stages)
-or the fact that the mech stages have so many enemies due to the gameplay
*Hates rail grinding
*Puts Final Rush in D tier, right next to Death Chamber
*Shows footage of rail grinding on a keyboard going poorly
*Puts Grind Race, the stage made of grind rails over death pits, in A tier
Glad to see that I wasn't the only one scared of Egg Quarters as a kid. I'm surprised you ranked the driving stages so low. I liked those stages as a kid, and they unlocked the kart racing minigame.
Extremely well made video! I found it quite interesting that the list was so evened out between all of the tiers. I’ve also been attempting to get all of the emblems in SA2, so now I know which stages to look out for.
Thank you for making this video. My frustrations with some of the levels feel validated. Still love this game very much. Hope the new sonic game coming out has a chao garden in it!
My favorite memory with Pyramid Race is the fact that you can jump on and run up the sides of the pyramid, and can even run up invisible walls on the side of the pyramid with enough speed. With Metal Sonic, you can go fast enough and run up such a long invisible wall that it looks like he's flying into the sun lol
**Falling into the vacuum of space**
"I'm going home to watch TV"
Shadow was supposed to get even less stages at first, but then they decided to give him Sky Rail which was originally a Sonic level. Sky Rail's song was originally called Mr. Smiley, but since Shadow took it over, they changed it to Mr. Unsmiley.
I'd personally put White Jungle at the top and Aquatic Mine at the bottom. Personal preference on the former, but as for the latter: Mad Space at least has visually-distinct and open sectors so you can quickly sweep the trail (center -> moon -> capsule -> holy -> spire -> surrounding -> center) for radar blips. Aquatic Mine, you just CANNOT do that, because the side areas are all so far out that they won't pick up on radar unless you're in them already and it's super cramped and _everything looks the fucking same._
I have done 180 emblems twice now and I can confirm majority of the normal ones are OK but majority of the space ones are a pain in the ass xD
Chao you did an insane job on this. Great editing and one of the best videos I have seen yet! Well done. Great information.
i recently picked this game up again and i’ve been playing every day for weeks lol. i never even got close to beating it as a kid but i’m 29 now so it’s way more fun now that i understand everything, especially the chao garden!!!
love the video!!! i learned a handful of tricks just from your brief explanations!!!!!
The Chao garden is a needless time sink and they should of spent less time on it and more time making the game less crap.
When 100% SA2 i would often do Cosmic wall as a stress reliever. You might find it average but it is my favorite stage
Cmon the music in lost colony is like the one outstandingly GOOD thing about it
I loved this so much, and it’s awesome to find other sonic adventure 2 fans that validate all the hours I spent as a kid playing this and just being in the chao garden 😂 keep up the great work!
Driving stages where you can't hit other cars or the walls are terrible.
I do replay Cosmic Wall semi-often but solely because its one of the easiest stages to do the Chao Key glitch in (its funny to see Eggman roam around in City Escape)
Has to be the highest quality teir list ever, well done! great use of the soundtrack
The crazy gadget level felt impossible as a kid. I couldn't for the life of me figure it out!
Glad im not alone!
Man, I spent SOOOOOOO much time in pumpkin hill cuz I breezed through the first knuckles stage and kinda just wandered around being confused by the ghost train for half an hour
I like Lost Colony’s music.
This video is so good! Glad you did this. The editing probably took awhile but some things I definitely agree with.
I love that you take into consideration both ups and downs of all stages. I might be biased at some since I didn't experience them that badly, though :v Great video, almost an hour and didn't get bored all the way to the end! Your editing makes it enjoyable uwu
Shoutout to the hell that is A-Ranking Eternal Engine and Mission Street's 100 rings challenge
PS: Those sections at Cannon's Core that look like that one stage on Ancient Ruins are probably not laziness from developers, but part of the lore of the ARK and its relation to those ruins Gerald used to base his project
Thanks for watching, and you are most likely correct about the ark and SADX textures
It took me many years to find out about the last story too, but for me it was the rouge stage with the timer. Years later I replayed it and had absolutely no problem. Was pretty weird not sure why it was completely impossible for me before.
incredible video from start to finish, congrats on living the dream of beating it 100%
Honestly the Knuckles/Rouge stages were really easy, even with the downgraded radar I never had much of an issue. The only stage i really had a problem with was Made Space due to the huge size.
For the most part I’d argue they are faster than the Sonic levels. If you know what you’re doing you can beat then even faster than the speed stages
I hated egg quarters SOOOOOO much growing up. Hell, I still do. That shit is scary af
Just want to point out that the air necklace is shown in the SA2: Battle instruction booklet and listed as one of Knuckles' power ups (they list 2 for each character); so I'm sure plenty of people who grew up with the GC version knew about it.
Yeah, but you don’t really think that dumb kids took the time to read that stuff, do you?
@@BigBoy257 I was one of those dumb kids, so yes, I do believe that. Also game manuals back then were actually really nice to look at. SA2:B's and Pikmin 2's manuals had a lot more work put into them than they really needed.
If I recall, Shadow doesn’t die at the end. He survives his fall to earth via Eggman but loses his memory. that’s how he ended up where he ended up in sonic heroes.
my favourite part with the treasure stages is their hard modes being the same every try so you can build the most efficient route
Radical Highway also let you take down a jet, as for Egg Quarters yeah those Beetle Security Guards scared the crap out of me as a kid. Green Forest has a secret room on the lower path accessible through summersault near the start of the stage. There were plenty of differences between 1P & 2P Versions that were ignored. Also there was yet another Stage you forgot about where you spend a lot of time, Chao World should be A Rank or higher if possible.
As for the 2P Differences, Meteor Herd removes all Artificial Chaos enemies & meteors don't fall while ring boxes replace the level up item with that area always being open. White Jungle & Final Chase are interesting cases where the stages end halfway & are left intact after if you can get to the rest of the stage. City Escape ends right after running down the building, Metal Harbor's Goal Ring is where the lower spring to the missile would be & you can still get to the upper area with spindash tricks. The Missile Launch doesn't happen platforms with springs replace the rocket to the Missile & the level up item is replaced by 4 ring boxes as springs are added to replace homing attack & light dash sections.
It's notable that the shooting stages are drastically different in 2P Battle Mode to fit the new goal. Pyramid Cave, Crazy Gadget, Cannon's Core, & Prison Lane aren't given 2P Counterparts. Green Hill had an unused 2P Version strangely enough. The instruction booklet also makes a point of mentioning Knuckles Air Necklace in addition to the Shovel Claw. I have to say I have grown to enjoy most of the stages in the game through 20 Years of owning it.
I will have to check out that Green Forest pathway, thanks for sending that! Didn't want to rank Chao World as it isn't technically an action stage but I do agree that it would be A rank. Probably S rank LOL
Loved this video, really threw me back to not just playing the heck out of this during the Dreamcast days, but in the Gamecube era too. +1subbed
Glad you liked it
I love how at 5:05 the video is of a guy actually playing sa2
I have never understood why everyone gets mad at rouge for 5 minutes in security hall. Eggman says to set the timer for 15 minutes, rouge has to beat security hall in 5 and gets saved by shadow who then has to escape white jungle with only 10 minutes. That's a total of 15. shadow set the timer for 15, so at 15, kaboom, happens and that would be bad, so rouge gives herself 5 minutes to find the emeralds and 10 minutes to escape... she fails but she's thinking ahead. That being said, Great video!
OK. Give her 10 minutes instead, and give Shadow 5 since his stage is nowhere near as tedious and potentially long as Security Hall. Or split it down the middle with 7 and 8 or 8 and 7 so Shadow has a bit more leniency to explore around. Rouge didn't need 5 minutes in a large stage with Emeralds behind locked doors that require her to waste time going to the top of the stage to switch the locks. While having a shitty radar that only detects 1 Emerald at a time and has pretty small range compared to the SA1 radar.
in my humble opinion,
all of the speed stages are a rank, they all gave me so much fun, like doing the shortcuts on final rush, and just playing through radical highway in general
Your love-hate relationship with Crazy Gadget is the same than Aquatic Mine for me. One year to beat it (because of those **God's dam** ghosts)
You ain't alone that Flying Robot scared the heck out of me too when I was a kid especially always hated it when looking for keys especially when it gets louder when close
So much anxiety 😭
(Choa talks about the scary beetles) “Yeah, I understand that.”
(Footage shows him going through the stage counterclockwise) “Well, there’s your problem. You run directly toward them that way.”
I enjoyed & understand your perspective cause even I had my same problems with these stages playing SA2 myself. Great work to a great game
7:13 I WAS S O SCARED OF THAT THING AAAA
I never even noticed eggman says 15 mins and then rouge is just like “nah”
The bomb timer was set to 15 minutes, all Rouge said was 5 minutes should be plenty of time to get the emeralds and then she could use the other 10 to escape
I feel like I’m the only person who puts Eternal Engine as the best mech level and one of the best levels in the game. I’m not sure why, but the punishment of the dynamite packs combined with their benefit to destroy due to the score and combo bonus was always exciting to me.
Combine that with one of my favorite tracks in the game and it’s one of my favorite levels ever
Green forest not being in A-rank is such a crime. Okay, it is pretty linear, but bro,.it is so so so iconic, it's perfect and yet... YOU PUT IT IN THE SAME TIER AS EFFING CRAZY GADGET
35:55 wait thats what Tails says? I thought he said, "This machine needs some tuning"
The reason for the stage disparity is that Sonic, Eggman, and Knuckles were originally the only playable characters. Tails, Shadow, and Rouge were tacked on mid-development to allow the multi-story system to make a return, hence each of them only getting 4 stages (not including canon's core or the driving stages).
Knuckles’ section in Cannon’s Core was easily 90% of my deaths when I first played it. It took me like 3 hours to beat that stage because of him.
same here lol
Just beat SA2 for the first time yesterday and it took me nearly 3 hours. After I beat it I thought there is no way they expect everyone to beat it that way and that's when I discovered the air bracelet was a thing.
I know this video is just your opinion, but it doesn't take away the right of one to disagree and say their own opinion on the matter, so please don't think this comment is any form of hatred. I appreciate all the effort you put in this video
Enough of Treasure Hunting, about Shooting now.
I think Hidden Base is the best of the Shooting stages, because it has good amount of platforming, it does not have any on-rails/elevator segment, most obstacles can be quickly destroyed if a player is skilled enough, it's just a fun stage, you did not mention how unlike most stages in this game, Hidden Base has a clear story progression going on in the gameplay, you start far from the pyramid with GUN robots chasing you, then once you enter the perimeter it changes to Eggman robots, after that you keep ascending through the level, near the end you're high up and the stage ends at the top entrance, which will directly lead to Sonic infiltrating downwards, I wish all stages had this kind of progression instead of mostly just starting and ending at seemingly unrelated places in the story. I really don't see many issues in this stage other than two instances of unpredictable enemy, I think people just don't like that much because the previous two Tails stages weren't really that fun, so at that point the player is already "f*ck this shit I just want to play as Sonic".
Sand Ocean is an interesting case, the platforming is very tight, but the way you demonstrated was with a poorly executed jump, the thing with the walkers is that doing a jump from standstill won't grant you horizontal speed sufficient to do the simplest jumps, you have to gain speed (momentum?) to do proper jumps, I made a video on how to get A-Rank without the Hover in this stage and it's pretty satisfying to get those jumps to work.
Sorry, but I really hate the "Tails shouldn't be in a mech, he should be on-foot like in SA1" argument when discussing SA2, because that it's just not how the game was ever conceptualized around, you have three playstyles where you play in two teams that both will play around the same playstyle, the more you think about having Tails like SA1, the more problems you face it.
-It utterly breaks the game balance: Sonic Runs, Shadow Runs; Knuckles Hunts, Rouge Hunts; Tails Flies, Eggman Shoots ????
-It would make for completely different design for Tails levels that wouldn't have any counterpart since Eggman would be Shooting.
-Would not work given the theme of duality of the game, where characters with similar abilities fight their opposite counterpart equally.
Tails being a genius that improved his Tornado and is willing to fight Eggman (another genius) makes complete sense story-wise, character-wise and in the game's concept. You would have either him being playable as a Mech or not have him being playable at all, which would make it for Eggman having to fill the gap anyway. Instead of asking for on-foot Tails, as something that completely deviates from the Sonic Adventure 2 Game Concept, ask for better Shooting stages for Tails, if you're not having fun with the Shooting stages that are supposed to be fun, then I think it's fairer to ask for a better execution of that idea instead of asking for a completely different game concept that it's not what Sonic Adventure 2 was designed to be.
I find interesting people really talk like "Shadow has so few levels :(" when Rouge and Tails has the same amount of 4 and people forget Sonic has the most amount of 6 stages, Action Race being the only playstyle to have a total of 10 stages (11 if counting Green Hill), while Hunting and Shooting have 9 stages each.
It seems you really put a lot of emphasis on exploration for Sonic/Shadow stages, which I don't entirely disagree but personally looking for different pathways are the least interesting part in an action game for me, even for a stage 100% linear I can still have tons of fun if the game throws good amount of challenges to overcome and actions to do, Sonic Adventure 2 is quite possibly one of the most linear Sonic games as far as Action Race stages are concerned and I have a good time playing it regardless of how many paths there are, I enjoy Shooting stages despite how little room there is for shortcut so I don't feel like the exploration in these two playstyles are that relevant.
Overhaul, I can see you put a lot of effort in this video, the editing is also pretty good, I really appreciate and enjoyed!
I know I'm late, but hey, better late than never.
My ranking:
A-Rank stages:
Crazy Gadget
Final Rush
Sky Rail
Meteor Herd
Final Chase
Pyramid Cave
Aquatic Mine
Eternal Engine
Pumpkin Hill
White Jungle
Green Forest
Cosmic Wall
Hidden Base
Death Chamber
Lost Colony
Wild Canyon
B-Rank stages:
Mad Space
Sand Ocean
Metal Harbour
Radical Highway
Prison Lane
City Escape
Egg Quarters
Dry Lagoon
Weapons Bed
C-Rank stages:
Mission Street
Route 101
D-Rank stages:
Route 280
Iron Gate
E-Rank stages:
Security Hall
Cannon's Core
I was also scared of the flying thing in Egg Quarters. I replayed recently and thought "wow I was such a baby"
I mean, it's generally a thing with playing games as a kid. I remember playing WALL-E game in my childhood and was absolutely scared of those parts of the levels, where it was pitch-black and you had to attract the flashlight robot by music for moving with you. And add to this a fact that there were mice-like robots who were attacking you, if you were going there without the light. Damn, sounds like alot for a kids game, isn't it?
didn't expect final rush to go so low, its my favorite level in the game
Really, I like the mech and emerald stages.
It's just the 100 ring missions on tails specifically are so frustrating.
The mech get hit more, that's why they get health bars.
100 ring mission is basically play 70% Of the level without getting hit. Fast too if you want the A rank.
On the emerald stages it's difficult, but rewarding because there aren't too many enemies. And you have to find hidden ring boxes. But the mechs struggle.
Speedrunning truly changed my perspective on this game than what I had as a kid. So much more to it. Regardless still one of my favorite games of all time!
It's so fun hearing opinions on these stages. I personally love final rush so much. I think that once you get a handle on some of the weird rail grinding, it genuinely feels so good to pull off. It just has this flow state effect.
I'm in the same boat in regards to unlocking green hill zone. I've gotten A ranks on almost everything, but that dang eggman sand level is just so hard for some reason. I go back and try it from time to time. Probably about time for another attempt!
Also the 2 player rail level is so fun! My friend and I used to just play that level over and over and jump from above and try to land on the lower rail section.
Have you managed to get all As? Also, I love Final Rush as well
My favorite is Radical Highway. My least favorite is Death Chamber
37:30 Great moment right here
Tails/Eggman stages: Target 11 enemies for 2000 Perfect bonus. Don't get hit while targets are being destroyed or you won't receive 2000 point bonus.
.
Knuckles/Rouge stages: Don't rush too fast and you'll see the other Emerald pieces or Chaos Emeralds and DO NOT use the Hint Monitors. Using them decreases your bonus when collecting the Master Emerald shards or Chaos Emeralds.
.
Sonic/Shadow stages: Run fast. Find hidden actions among set pieces for bonus points. Destroy enemies and collect Rings for extra points as well. Don't die either. It affects your Rank A attempts among ALL characters.
Also if you have any problems with any of these stages. With any of the 6 characters. You have a serious case of skill issue.
.
And the stage design and enemy placement isn't even bad. You just don't understand what you're getting yourself into. Also the L1/L2/R1/R2 (PlayStation) or LB/LT/RB/RT (Xbox 360/Xbox One) or L/ZL/R/ZR (Nintendo Switch controller on Steam. Or whatever controller you're using on Steam) controls the camera. So if you can't see. Change the camera angle. Loser.
@@baka-ptmx3523 Reported.
So, I like this video, but part of me thinks the Sky Rail assessment didn't make sense. You say "I've never been a big fan of rails in Sonic games, and Sky Rail isn't one of the worst examples, but I'm still not a fan" and IMMEDIATELY follow it up, literally next sentence, with, "overall, it's one of the best stages in the game."
My dude. It's called Sky Rail. If you put on a pie chart how much of the level is JUST grinding, it's like a solid 75% of the chart. Am I being crazy right now?
Still, love the video. Always love seeing new content creators who make good material. Keep it up :)
Editing is cool, but these rankings are CRIMINAL. Sand Ocean with Lost Colony is absolute BS. Rouge’s Security Hall timer always made sense too, but Shadow onscreen is just an instant A rank to you😭
SA2's OST was the first game OST I bought. Immediately ripped it and put it on my MP3 player on my walks to class.
Meteor Herd's 100 ring mission is the absolute worst. Just randomly take damage.... when you need to avoid damage.
I think a shadow stage in place of lost colony would've been much more interesting, and it also could've been nice if they had shadow actually speak during the level at random intervals, since the ARK was his only home he's ever known, and to hear him have unexpected voicelines about his surroundings during the level, reminiscing of his home and the familiar environment, would've given players a better insight into Shadow's character prior to any of the major plot reveals
That damn beetle robot in egg quarters gave me sooooo much anxiety. You’re definitely not alone 😂
Cant believe I sat through a hour long video lol, that just shows how great it was! I always loved the treasure hunting levels and the fact that the levels where big made it more fun to explore for me. I would put Pumpin Hill as no 1 just for the music alone.
I do appreciate the sonic adventure team trying to give you a variety of stages, but let's not pretend anyone is playing these games for the mech stages or emerald hunt stages. You play those stages so you can get back to the fun stages, ie the speed.
Am I the only one who actually liked many of the mech stages? It was really satisfying for me to rack up point modifiers and just blow up a bunch of stuff. But I was also a child.
Sand ocean does suck though. Iron gate, mission street, eternal engine are boss boss
Damn dude, I loved those driving stages. Some of my most replayed stages!