Play Sonic 2 EXE Online

I first played Sonic 2 EXE on the Sega Genesis, a fan-made hack that takes the original Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and twists it into something unsettling. It's not an official release, so there's no developer or publisher to speak of, but it fits right into that era of cartridge mods and homebrew experiments that pushed the hardware in strange directions.

You control Sonic, but the goal isn't just to reach the end of each stage; you're trying to survive a corrupted version of the game world. Signature mechanics include navigating through glitched-out level layouts, avoiding sudden screen distortions, and dealing with enemy behaviors that are deliberately broken or unpredictable. The pacing is erratic, with moments of calm interrupted by jarring visual and audio errors that keep you on edge. It feels like playing a familiar game that's slowly falling apart in your hands.