If you were a Mega Driver back in the day (or Genesis-er if you live Stateside) then you’ll know Sonic 2 was the best Sonic. The original Sonic the Hedgehog introduced the concept and set the tone, whilst Sonic 3 tried too hard with its dodgy boss melodies and pain-in-the-arse bonus levels. Anything after that was mince. Sonic 2 was the sweet spot in the series.

Why is this relevant here at RPS’s House-O-PCs, I hear you ask? A ROM hacker has given Sonic something very cool from our home: an Aperture Science portal gun.

The third annual Sonic Hacking Contest is underway, asking enthusiasts of the blue coloured hedgehog to manipulate his world in a manner of intuitive an interesting ways. Although designed in 2014, snkenjoi’s aptly-named Portal Gun In Sonic 2 mod is entered in this year’s contest and is over and above the best I’ve seen so far. You’ll need a Mega Drive emulator to play that, mind.

Besides the fact that working on classic console games on PC in this way is infinitely cool, the hack has been programmed amazingly well as it looks to nail the physics of portal-planting:



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I’ve watched this longplay twice already today, and found that the parts that best demonstrate the gun in action fall on 2.53 and 22.30. On occasion the game glitches due to the increased speed teleportation adds, but all in the game handles it very well.