Sonic 2 2013 FAQ (In Partnership with Amazon)

      Sonic 2 (2013 Remake) FAQ

Q: What is this game, 2013 remake?
A: This is a remake of the game for Mobile from 2013. It added several new features, on a new engine, to deliver a new experience of the game.

Q: So what's up with the title? "In Partnership with Amazon"?
A: Yeah, so basically Amazon want to promote their new App Store & Retro Zone, where you can buy/play this game. So to advertise that, I'm going to be running the game for today and tomorrow.

In addition to that, there's a prize for someone who can manage to beat the time I get. If by the end of November 29th, the time I get on today or tomorrows stream is beaten by someone, then the person with the top time will receive an Amazon Fire HD8 Tablet.
(Obviously you must record/stream the run to qualify)

You can also get a prize without running at all, just by going to the site, you can enter for a Sega Genesis Classic. There are 4 of these up for grabs, so make sure to go to the site regardless to check it out.

Q: Beat your time? That sounds impossible, you're so good at Sonic 2!?
A: Maybe, but this is a different version. It plays quite differently, despite having the same levels, and I had not even touched this game at all before next week. It's also much more undiscovered on that regard, while Sonic 2 has been run and routed by dozens of runners and tasers for over a decade, this version hasn't been really at all, so there's a lot of potential for new strats and routes that could be a lot faster.

I also don't even have a time at all at the moment, and I'm only going to be running it for these 2 days, whereas everyone else would have 2 weeks, so you'd have a fair chance if you put in the work. I'd recommend trying either way, the remake is actually pretty fun, and the run focuses a lot more on platforming than spindashes (and glitches), so it's a fair bit more intuitive.

Q: What are you playing on?
A: I'm playing on an Andriod emulator called Nox. It allows you to download and play apps just like an andriod device would, so I downloaded the Amazon App store through that, and then bought Sonic 2 through that, to then play it off my PC.
Note: If there's any game lag during the stream, it's on account of playing on an emulator. It's fairly intensive to both run this emulator and stream at the same time, so it may lag a tiny bit here at there. But the game itself is smooth.

Q: What are some of the new features/differences?
A: I'll answer this in 2 parts, those pertaining to the speedrun, and those not.

In the speedrun: You can play as all 3 characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles), with functionality from S3K. This means Tails can actually fly, amongst other things. Tails can also carry you when you play as Sonic+Tails (or Knuckles+Tails), and can be controlled to do so with 1 player. In addition, you can also choose to play with S3K items (Elemental shields), which also gives Sonic back his insta-shield, as well as the others.
Most/all of the glitches no longer work. Every glitch that was used in the old speedrun doesn't work in this version, so you'll be seeing all of the levels. However, there are a few boss skips available in this version that weren't in the old one (Oil Ocean 2 and Hilltop 2). [You just fly over the trigger]
No aerial speedcap (actually an option you can toggle), amongst several other general engine changes/reworkings of the levels means you take some different paths. Even very subtle things like a wall being solid as a roof now can change a route. For example in Aquatic Ruin 1, you can't jump up to the top path right at the end without going through the loop first, so instead I jump up to the top much earlier. Several things like this occur throughout the whole game.

Not in speedrun: You can play a fully built Hidden Palace Zone. It's optional through the run (accessed via Mystic Cave 2), and it's slower to take it so it isn't in the run, but it's still really neat. You can also play the beta Hidden Palace zone (called Proto Palace in this game). There is also a hidden 8th special stage.
Time Attack Mode, where you can do Individual Level speedruns complete with centiseconds. Also available in this mode is a Boss Rush mode. Online Leaderboards available for all of these levels too.
The toggle option for items actually includes modes where you can randomise all the boxes in the game. This is actually really interesting for ILs, you could randomise them all and then wait until you get speedshoes off the first box. That'll be interesting to play around with, as I'll probably dabble into some ILs after this.
Some levels (I.e Hilltop 1), have entirely new paths that didn't exist in the old game. Mainly built for Tails/Knuckles, as Sonic can't get through it alone.

Q: Why do you use ingame time and not real time?
A: Because http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaMGf1V3MMM
tl;dr: Getting a worse time on a level can be faster real time because of the time bonus, which is dumb, so we use IGT.

Q: What is the timer you are using?
A: It is the In-Game timer function of Livesplit. I enter all the times manually at the end of each level, and it produces the splits.

Q: What is the World Record?
A: https://www.speedrun.com/Sonic_2_2013 | See my splits for my time, it's probably not updated on the leaderboard.