Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

After the Marble Zone in "Subterranean Sonic", it's now the turn of the Casino Night Zone in Sonic 2 to get the animated series treatment.



Robotnik has just inaugurated the place, fulfilled with casinos with obviously unfair games. The insane scientist is trying to ruin the citizens at the point that they will have no choice but to become his slaves. What for? Well, just because Buttnik is looking for laborers who will be able to erect a big monument for him (which furiously looks like the Sphinx).



So Sonic must intervene, thwart the plans and the cheatings of Robotnik and get rid of a new henchman called Smiley the Shark.



The stakes are heightened up when Tails is captured in a secret prison. Sonic is then forced to choose between two cruel options: the freedom of the citizens or the live of his best buddy.



The whole episode is a caricature of Las Vegas and an educative metaphor about gambling and dares. I liked the concept and the global result is good and fairly entertaining.



I have some things to say about some aspects of the episode. The animation, for example, is debatable, even if we already know that the show never aims for realism. But there are some limits not to trespass, even for the improbable.



When Sonic leaves Tails in a playground, there are two ways of thinking about it. First, you may be shocked by the way Sonic treats Tails, just like if he was a helpless little kid. Or, second, you may look at it like a mark of (over)self-assurance from Sonic and his actions only aim at giving Tails a moment for having fun. Anyway, when you watch the way the situation resolves, we quickly figure out that this event is only a way to make the story advance.



However, I liked the way that Sonic deals with his cruel dilemma. And when we find out how he's going to fix it, the only thing we can say is: "Why didn't we think about that earlier?"



Overall, this is not a classic episode, but it's an entertaining one nevertheless and it's superior to the first one written by Robert Askin ("Subterranean Sonic").