Something even more cool about Cosmic Wall: the symbolism of the artificial Chaos. Due to the original they're based off of betraying Eggman and destroying his spare Egg Carrier back in SA1, Eggman being able to destroy groups of Artificial Chaos more easily than the others can due to the stage design basically is a revenge by proxy.

"fly in the freedom" "yes, your feet will touch the ground" as someone who dedicates far too much of my time to sonic music, I deeply appreciate this

I guess it makes sense why Eggman’s levels are designed better than Tails’ since he was there from the get go and Tails was only added around halfway through development. I still think they get a bit more hate than necessary but I will admit I like Eggman’s levels better.

Finally some discourse about the mech levels other than "its not Sonic/Shadow levels therefore it's bad"

An Eggman level analysis? Hell yes.

Great recap of your deep cut of the “REMEMBER THIS CUTSCENE FROM SONIC ADVENTURE 2?” to remind us your father journey of analyzing Sonic Adventure 2.

I like how there's a follow-up to this level in Shadow the Hedgehog; Cosmic Fall. It's essentially this level, but everything is falling apart because the ark is on its last legs. It's the most tense level in the game and one of the few ones I genuinely enjoy (I say this as a person who did all 326 routes in Shadow the Hedgehog)

ZoomZike: "Needless to say this finally leaves quite the impression, closing off the best mech stage in this game which in tern leads to the best cutscene in the game. It truly represents Eggman's path for conquest and for all intensive purposes godhood." Eggman: "Yush"

I always appreciated how SA2 gave Eggman more context. He didn't just effortlessly turn up at the ARK - he had his own battles to traverse on his journey, the same way the other characters do. It's neat seeing his own desperation in the plot, and not just everyone's own efforts to stop him. And that cutscene... it's easy to forget with the whole egg motif and his dramatic speeches and his campiness as a character, but the reason he's the main villain in the large majority of games is because he's fucked up and merciless at times. There was no reason for him to extract the info from Tails, because he already knew about the fake, but it makes Sonic's apparent death hurt Tails so much more if he's thinking it's his own fault in part. It's brutal, it's cruel, it's fucking perfect.

you thought i wouldn’t catch that fly in the freedom line

The power of yosh really works in space

I always felt Eggman's Mech stages have some of the best of it's gameplay style in the game. This, Iron Gate, and Weapons Bed really make you feel like an evil mastermind barreling thru the enemy like they're nothing and asserting your Egg-dominance on your way to world conquest. Mech stages may be the lesser of the three gameplay styles, but even then they still have some great moments like say Tails blasting thru the GUN troops in Mission Street, or nuking everything in Weapons Bed. (Except the Cannon's Core sections, those are the only parts of this game I really don't like)

This game overall did eggman justice. Probably one of my favorite eggman portrayals.

imagine making a video like this for a sonic forces level. it would be like 2 minutes long lol

Also fun fact: Sonic Team added even more enemies to Cosmic Wall in the Battle release of the game, and increased the Hard Mode point requirement for A rank; Cosmic Wall Mission 5 is the only mission in the game that requires 100,000 points in SA2B (it only requires 50k on DC). Cosmic Wall is not only the best mech stage in the game, but I'd say it's one of my top 5 stages in SA2B, period. Like you said, it not only manages to perfect the mech stage formula, but it also allows you to go balls-to-the-wall with your combos. There's barely any moment that I'm not getting either a 1500 or 2000 point bonus from my combos.

I thought this would be about secret lore of Eggman becoming a god.

This level is far from perfect, but it definitely made me appreciate the more on rails mech shooting a little more...

God I miss Eggman being playable in the main series games… er.. game, since its the only time. I thought Eggman’s levels were all pretty good. Tails’ was hit n miss.

"Now you know why I am the best!"

“Balls to the cosmic walls” ZoomZike 2021

I'll never get tired of you making the video last exactly as long as the in-game timer at the end of the level. I love that little detail

3 points: 1) I am pretty sure the difficulty in climbing the wall with the camera being "uncooperative" (i.e.: forcing you to make blind jumps at times and encounter hidden enemies) is likely intentional as the level clearly represents Eggman's difficulty in actually scaling that wall to beat Sonic. It suddenly gets easier at the last climb where the camera shifts because Eggman finally got to a place where he could beat Sonic and the gameplay reflects that. That, or just as you said it would be too boring and difficult to make the player do that several times. 2) the shooting galleries don't have much danger because that's not the point of a shooting gallery. The real danger of the shooting gallery is the very real possibility that your shots are not good enough and that A rank (post-Dreamcast) is out of your reach. 3) all the music in this game is a banger but Cosmic Wall is easily the best Eggman theme and within the top 5 of the game. I listen to this track in my car, it's so good.

I love that you try to get in the head of devs, and do your best to theorize what reason some decisions were made that most either would assume is arbitrary, or not think about it being an active design decision at all

This levels music is hype also

Loving these SA2 level analyses! They really went all out with this game

Oh my God, even with the section at the end you timed the win with the video length. Bravo for commitment.

Always felt like the rail shooter segments were a reward for trudging up there, you finally get in a place where you can just go wild without worrying about platforming and just shoot. Like an inverse of the Sonic stage "You beat the challenge now have fun running fast for a bit" reward system. You ran around a lot and now you get to just kick back and blast stuff.

I’ve been enjoying these stage breakdowns. Kinda want to go back to the game. Especially the chao garden.

I really appreciate you looking at Cosmic Wall. Eggman's my favorite character to play as in SA2, and my favorite character in the Sonic series. Most people only really talk about the speed stages so hearing your perspective on my favorite level in the game was a treat. You never disappoint, Zoomzike.

I just realized that the ending rail section of Cosmic Wall is extremely similar to the beginning of the Final Rush and Final Chase, which is fitting, they're moving away from the core on the way back down to the canon. I just never put it together that the reason they both start with these grinding sections is because the Surface of the Ark is covered with these transport rails likely used to move cargo between different livable stations, probably the most reasonable explanations for crazy grind loops outside of the Suspension lines from Radical Highway.

Cosmic Wall is such a blast to play. The booster mechanic makes it feels fresh and open, the density of enemies gives you a constant satisfaction of hearing the laser target and then listening to the explosions, it has some neat verticality to the wall-scaling segments, and those on-rails sections are appreciated as breaks, since it's the second longest level in the game (behind only Cannon's Core). Also did not realize WHY it was called Cosmic Wall until this video and feeling a bit silly.

Not even ten SECONDS in, and I'm impressed! Finally; someone mentions that Eggman held a GUN to a LIVING BEING'S head! I love you, ZikeyZoom. You're the best.

Finally someone talked about this legendary stage. I agree that if all the mech stages were setup like this, they'd rank among the speed stages.

Got to be honest I thought the Mech levels were pretty cool when you play as Eggman, even if they were flawed. If SEGA ever makes a game with egg man has the focus I would want them to refine this game play style for it.

Epic recap my dude. Always love your deep dive into my favorite game. This was the one time Eggman didn't screw up and could have killed sonic in the space pod if sonic didn't get lucky with that fake chaos emerald and used chaos control.

If you spam the shoot button at those container things during the rail shooters instead of locking in, you will get way more points

I guess they saved the railshooter sections being dangerous for the hard mode to not frustrate new players too much. So that they can focus on having fun zooming through space instead of having to worry about surviving.

MORE MORE MORE I just love how thought out your whole analysis is on all those SA2 vids you did and it's always a delight to watch

5:31 That look down below showing space & Earth... that feels so intimidating to me... sends chills down my spine

I think the whole point of this level being so easy and giving you free points in the on-rails sections was to increase the chance that the player would get an A rank in this level on their first try. On my first complete playthrough of this game, I remember this being the first stage I ever got an A rank in, and it was shocking. That's probably done intentionally to further emphasize just how powerful Eggman is in this moment.

In my opinion Hidden Base is the best shooting level, Cosmic Wall is good but there is too much waiting on rails. In Hidden Base these moments can be all avoided by the player skill and the entire stage have a good progression from far from the pyramid up to the top of it Good video!

Ah yes; this stage and Security Hall were the ONLY stages I A-ranked first try on my first playthrough. The latter, A-ranked by dumb luck but Cosmic Wall was essentially one of the most engaging mech levels I've ever played. It made me realize how to stay organized and bruteforce-y simultaneously. Thank you Zike for also appreciating almost every single detail in these awesome stages, and for making me learning to love said-stages.

Hearing Eggman shout "Yush!" with his arms in the air while in a half-body mech suit jumping gleefully like a child after completing a destructive rampage costing someone else billions of dollars is a hilariously precious memory 😆

It's so refreshing to see the mech gameplay being discussed more than just dismissed entirely. This is without a doubt the best one, though I'd say all of Eggman's levels have some merit. Since it's spooky month, is Pumpkin Hill next?

I actually really loved the rail segments in this level. The thing about Cosmic Wall is it takes one of the biggest core aspects of the mech levels and ramps it up to 1000, that being *unloading hellfire and watching the numbers fly.* The rail segments feel like a way of letting you do just that, in a style similar to a shooting gallery as you said. Cosmic Wall is even more unique because it has the highest score requirement for an A rank out of all the other levels, at a *phat* 100,000 points (in the Gamecube version, at least. Dreamcast was a laughably easy 53,000). When I was A-ranking every level, I remember it was crucial on the rail segments to resist the urge to wipe out a whole bunch of enemies at once. Instead, you'd be awarded generously for taking them out in chunks so you get the smaller combo multiplier several times (ultimately adding up to a bigger total than you would with nonstop PERFECTs). So it not only teaches you to rethink your approach to the levels, it feels like a serenade to your own awesomeness just watching the board *flood* with multipliers as you hand out devastation. It's just SO hype.

This game is almost a masterpiece

I remember how awesome it was when I guaranteed an A Rank during the Hard Version of this stage by not only collecting every single ring, but also managed to pass the score threshold for the A Rank! I even chanted E.G.G.M.A.N. near the end of the stage! One of the best runs I had in this game!

Great analysis. Eggman definitely could've used more levels like Cosmic Wall that let him just go anywhere.

I would really love to see you praise every level of SA2 - I can't get enough of these videos!

Sonic Adventure 2 was peak characterization for Eggman. He's so unapologetically awesome in this game. I mean, he pissed on the moon, it doesn't really get more iconic than that.

at this point, i await the video titles almost as much as i await the videos... great analysis dude! being able to play as eggman in this game was such as blast, especially back in the day when he was still a major threat to the other characters.

"what comes up must come down your feet will definitely hit the ground" nice sonic hero's reference there.

I really hope you can cover more of these levels. I love it!

I've been wondering for awhile: do you have the skill to analyze a rouge or knuckles level? Because they're randomized, nonlinear, and exploration-based there's a lot more level design to talk about. Are you up for the challenge?

Wow, this got long. Cosmic Wall is probably my favorite level in the game, and it really does serve as the culmination of Eggman's levels as a whole. But part of that is how the mech shooter stages' design and the Dark Story levels' design intersect. I got the feeling in SA2 that the Dark side characters were supposed to be the "harder" ones to play as, a sentiment supported by Heroes stating it outright for its Team Dark. What was meant to make Team Dark's levels harder was a greater focus on combat, in part due to a greater enemy density, and this is certainly present to a degree in SA2's Dark side levels. But the thing is, greater enemy density can actually be a positive during the mech stages, because the intended way to gain points is by chaining large numbers of enemy lockons - up to an extent. See, the chain bonus reaches its maximum at a chain of 11, meaning that chaining more than 11 foes at once is just missing out on points. Tails doesn't really encounter this issue, because his levels are more about survival and have fewer but often more dangerous enemies, but Eggman faces it right at the start of Weapons Bed. You start the level facing about 15 or so inactive GUN mechs, all sitting ducks, and a savvy player will eventually realize that the objective is to not get greedy, to try and get one 11-chain while leaving fodder for more chains and more bonus points. Cosmic Wall ups the ante for rationing your targets. While there are, as you mentioned, many basically-harmless enemies who only exist to get shot, I'd argue that their purpose is not to challenge Eggman's health but his score, and subsequently the player's ability to keep chains going while also using a new movement style specific to this level. Enemies aren't nicely gift-wrapped for you like on Weapons Bed, so you have to boost-hover over fairly long distances while navigating stuff like the Artificial Chaos, who actually can fight back and ruin your chains, or the bomb-bots, where you have to lock-on all their targets before they deploy those bombs at you. When you encounter the golden spinny-boys, you'll eventually notice that each of them has two target points, changing the way you ration your targeting when they're around. Even in the rail-shooter sections, the reason the enemies can't really hurt you is because your challenge here is strictly about how well you can rack up 11-chains without waste. Tails's levels, from beginning to end, are about navigating awful deathtraps and hostile enemies using a clunky walking plane. Eggman's best levels are about destroying swaths of foes with calculated precision, using exactly the amount of effort he needs and no more.

‘By that logic, you can shoot omachao’ 10/10 agree.

in the rail shooter sections, it can be quite easy to get damaged by artificial chaos by not destroying them quick enough in hard mode, usually being in front of the rail. (not to mention that the level in general gets very challenging, at least the first time you play) also, i love how this is one of the (if not only) levels where the points reaally mean a lot to the score, considering the time score is usually overpassed due to the length of the level. thanks for the nice video as always! :D

I love your videos. I really want to replay this classic now.

I really enjoy how useful the Laser Blaster upgrade from Iron Gate is in this stage, enemies are often placed near those pyramids meaning that the optional shot upgrade rewards you on later playthroughs of this level

Literally one of the best stages in the game and most underrated stages in the series

Man am I glad to be able watch these again. Lost internet for a while, good to be back.

This level has my favorite music out of all the levels and is up there with Pyramid Cave’s and White Jungle’s. Good video my dude

Im so glad you're giving stages other than the speed stages attention, I personally really enjoyed the mech stages and thought they were almost on par with the speed stages. Though I was overall meh about the treasure hunting stages, never hated them (apart from death chamber and mad space) and never really loved them either.

I love this whole game! Thanks for your commentary on the level design

The music on this stage is so good!! But I often forget about it bc the entire game has so many bangers,

Amazing video. The mech stages are great.

you didn't even mention how much of a banger the music is.

"Now you know why I am the BEST!" - Dr. Eggman

I really enjoy your analysis of Sonic levels.

Not to mention the music for this stage. Hands down the best mech stage track. Always gets me pumped to destroy everything i see and look forward to playing it again! This was always the best mech stage in my head. Also when i get the final upgrade hear, it feels like it makes Eggman the best mech character and he's that much more ahead of Tails' mech. That dark blue hud really stands out too, love it.

This is also easily my favorite of the mech shooting stages by far in every regard, with only Weapons' Bed getting a close second Also, as for there being no damage in the on-rails sections: I always thought that was because the challenge there wasn't "not dying" (since in general the mech shooting stages are meant to be easier by design if you know what you're doing due to the auto aim), but rather "score higher". These stages are as arcade-y as Sonic can get and Sonic gameplay has always stayed true to its arcade-y replayable score-based gameplay. This, coupled with the fact that this is a shooting gallery (where difficulty has always been about getting higher scores, and not about the actual game being difficult) AND the fact that this level requires an insane amount of points to get the A Rank, all made that a good decision in my eyes. I loved replaying this stage and trying to optimize my shooting chains during these to get the A Rank, it was actually one of the best stages to try and A Rank imo, even better than most Speed and Exploration stages.

These sonic vids are making my top 10 every time I see a new one. 👍🏻

man i love these analysis videos, good job zoomzike!

"This mech was perfectly designed for space." With it's open cockpit, no radiation protection, and no life support systems, perfection for space.

I live for these SA2 level analysis's now. I didn't know how much I needed these.

After watching your video about the Green forest, I was so shocked that there were so many alternative options!!

Yessss greatest strikes again 🤩 great vid

i love these level analysis videos plz make more :)

Awesome video as always. I think in somes cases like these, the hard mode deserves a mention, generally those more drastic gameplay changes like the rail shooter are mostly used just to spice things up without much difficulty, but it's on hard mode were we see their true colours. Also, the second Eggman Railshooting section is VERY similar to a section of Sonic Final Rush, indicating perhaps that they are going through very similar challenges but for different outcomes(master plan success Vs Stop a disaster), also I think one of the Ark levels in Shadow the Hedgehog also uses a very similar section to it

I actually understand why the devs didn't make those rail sections dangerous: it would've been really hard, and ruined their premise. The enemy AI in this game is designed to target players where they are, not where they'll be, to encourage movement during combat, or even just running past enemies all together. Also, since you're on a rail, and most enemy projectiles can't be stopped, adjusting enemy AI for these sections would've been unfair, because the player couldn't avoid getting hit if they let them shoot at all. Furthermore, since players are encouraged to chain their homing shots together, and the constant movement gives you a steady stream of new targets that you have a limited window to see and target, making the enemies capable of hurting you would've ruined it as a shooting gallery by forcing players to simply destroy everything as quickly as possible without chaining. They might've been able to get around this with missile launching robots, or gun beetles that flew alongside the rail, but those wouldn't have meshed well with the shooting gallery style of these sections. In all, making the rail sections actually dangerous would've been a lot of work and caused a lot of frustration for both the devs and the players.

Love these videos! Can’t wait for one on Final Rush 😳🙏

Doing a loop as Eggman is something I've always wanted to get

This was the last level I expected to see on this channel. Very interesting analysis.

I really love the mech stages for the A Ranks and the flow a skilled player can get, a little trick i know i didn't invent is to jump while turning, the speed is preserved and the turn seamless With that in mind Eternal Engine is my favorite Mech stage but yeah Cosmic Wall is great

I've been waiting for this moment MY WHOLE LIFE!

Eggman at the end of this game was truly peek Eggman. How he handled that entire thing with Tails, Amy, A FREAKING GUN and Sonic, even looking remorseful and sending Sonic off with PRAISE not a nasty one liner or such. Just a 'well fought'. And no mater which way it goes still ends up succeeding. Then after seeing his mistake, MANS UP to help fix it with his arch enemy. Then at the end of it all having a introspective moment as if looking into himself when talking about his Grandfather. Eggman had such layers in this game.

Excellent level design analysis

I love these videos where you break down A level

When you finished the level, I half expected you to add in Eggman's A Rank voice clip to finish off your video: "Now you know why I am the best!"

Thanks for explaining why it is, that i love this level so much :D

If this Eggman was in forces, he would've ordered Infinite to kill Sonic upon first meeting him, carpet bombed the city, and executed everyone of Sonic's friends.

Awesome video, maybe you could do pumpkin hill next that level is one of my favorites in any sonic game

A while back I saw this video but didn’t watch it, and recently as I played through SA2 for the first time I remembered the video title and thought to myself “it’s a MECH LEVEL. I hate mech levels with a burning passion. How can it possibly be good? It might be better than the tails levels, but there’s no way it’s good enough to warrant this title.” And then I played the level. And HOLY SHIT YOU WERE SO RIGHT This level is now one of my favorite sonic levels of all time unironically and I apologize for not seeing the light earlier. Time to actually watch the video lol

About time I finally watched this one. An excellent level indeed. As a teen when I first played this honestly I found this level to be quite easy. Maybe it had to do with it just being better than the other mech stages. I also found Final Chase to be easy as well, but maybe that was because I had already faced the challenge of Final Rush before then.

Such a coincidence that this video found me plus this is my favorite Eggman stage. I felt so invincible when I played it. It was a wonderful experience as a child!

i love the references to other sonic media in your script like Fly Into Freedom and the sonic heroes song reference

My personal fave mech levels are Eternal Engine and Lost Colony, but Cosmic Wall IS a very fun level with its floating mechanic and it being a demonstration of Eggman's destructive capabilities. The whole thing is essentially destroying everything around you and racking up points XD

This is actually my favorite level in the game, I like it just as much as city escape

Nice breakdown.

DON'T GIVE HIM MY LIFE FOR A PISS ROCK