8 Insanely Different Versions Of The SAME Video Game

Now I know what you might be thinking, "Wait did Sonic The Hedgehog 2 appear on a rival console without me even realizing it? This is huge! Maybe the Console Wars with Nintendo was an inside job! A scam to create artificial demand for video games and a plot by both companies to tag-team wrestle the money from our wallets!"

Well, slow down there champ, as no Sonic didn't jump ship to Nintendo until the Smash Bros. Series came knocking at his door many years later. Instead, we have an odd example of SEGA releasing Sonic The Hedgehog 2, rightly regarded by many to be the finest game in the entire franchise, on two self-owned consoles that ended up being wildly different.

Making matters even more strange is finding out that the Master System version of this game actually dropped a full year before the Genesis counterpart would rightly steal the stage.

While the original isn't anything to sniff at, it differs wildly in level layout and plot, this time focusing on rescuing Tails from Dr Robotnik by paying him a ransom of Chaos Emeralds. The graphics naturally look much more simplistic on the Master System when compared to the lush vibrancy that the Genesis hits with, and you're left with a pair of games that look like the before and after photos of a bodybuilding transformation.

It's still a great game but feels decidedly Tesco Value when compared to this high calibre killer of a Genesis title.