As I mentioned on last week’s episode, I never owned a Sega Genesis. It probably went a long way toward explaining why I liked Nintendo more than Sega.

Still, I played a ton of video games as a kid, so it’s not like Sega and I never crossed paths. A friend of mine had a Genesis that we played from time to time. I also did some house sitting in Colorado one summer for a family who had a system left over from when their daughter went to college.

I wasn’t quite as crazy about cooperative play back then — I liked it, but I hadn’t really been introduced to a ton of games where it was fully implemented. Half the time I just made stuff up (like my co-op version of Mario Kart). One of the first titles that sent me down that path was Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Sonic was cool and all, but for me, Tails was where it was at. He got to help Sonic by heroically taking the bullet for him, because he always came back later. Nasty spiked enemy threatening to take your rings? Tails will dive on it! Too lazy to fight another of Robotnik’s machines? Tails has got this boss fight! Suck at getting Chaos Emeralds? Tails can help in the bonus stage!

Sonic 3 ended up making Tails’ role much better — for example, he could go more than .3 inches off the screen and not immediately die, and he could carry Sonic to reach higher places. But Sonic 2 was the first of its kind, and I’d argue the music was better. There’s good tracks in 3 as well (Ice Cap Zone, anyone?), but I like 2’s choices better, and that’s what MtME is all about.

Here’s five of my picks for the best tracks from Sonic the Hedgehog 2:

Emerald Hill Zone

There’s something to be said for the theme from the first level of a game.The original Super Mario Bros. is obviously the most iconic example of this, but plenty of games’ soundtracks are defined by the music you hear right after you hit start. Emerald Hill kinda captures the feeling of Sonic — it’s a slightly fast, upbeat song that evokes thoughts of mischievous frolicking. And…chili dogs? No, let’s not talk about the cartoon.

Aquatic Ruin Zone

I’m not sure a ton of people would put this track in their top 5, but I always liked it. The back-and-forth nature of the song appealed to me for some reason. I also liked the dichotomy between this track and the one where Sonic was, you know, close to a miserable drowning death because he couldn’t find any freaking air bubbles. One track suggests exploration, the other OH GOD WHERE IS A BUBBLE GET OUT OF THE WAY TAILS.

Oil Ocean Zone

This is another track that I think I like more than most folks do. I think the driving bass line and instrument choice go a long way toward setting the scene. Now, I might also be biased by an Overclocked ReMix version of this song that added lyrics and made the bass absolutely sick, but the original is still very good.

Boss Theme

Let’s just clear one thing up right now: It will always be Dr. Robotnik, not Dr. Eggman. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

This is my favorite of any of Robotnik’s themes in the Sonic series. It’s just the right amount of foreboding. Plus, a few of these fights were pretty fun — who doesn’t remember that totem pole fight with the arrows that shot out at you? Silly Dr. Robotnik! If you’d just stop hitting them with a hammer, Sonic could never jump high enough to kill you!

Special Stage

This is one thing Sonic 2 got right compared to Sonic 3. The mini-game to collect Chaos Emeralds was not only more fun, but Tails (who we affectionately call “Little Buddy”) gets to help too! Hell, half the fun of these stages was spinning around in loops before the first rings started to show up. The other half was being able to blame someone for running into a bomb like an idiot. And then there’s this whimsical little ditty to tie the whole thing together.

Music to My Ears covers soundtracks or individual songs from video games on a recurring basis, which is basically whenever Chris gets around to writing it. You can view all posts in the series by clicking here.