A few months later, a new version was released on a later phone model which featured an enhanced title screen and an 'attack' mode, putting the player through a sequence of Special Stages or boss battles. In 2006, Sonic 2 again followed in the footsteps of Sonic 1 by appearing, pre-installed on Panasonic mobile phones in Japan. Although borrowing music from Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles and making up its own level names and layouts, the visual styles of Emerald Hill, Chemical Plant, Aquatic Ruin, Casino Night, Sky Chase and Wing Fortress (plus Scrap Brain from Sonic 1) are all dumbed down a bit for the lower resolution, but still present and correct. However, one handheld game that is, for all intents and purposes, a kind of adopted child of Sonic 2 is Sonic Pocket Adventure, released for the Neo Geo Pocket, much later on in 2000. The two Sonic 2's should therefore be taken as separate sequels to their respective Sonic 1's. The Game Gear title was released around a month earlier, but unlike the 16-bit and 8-bit versions of Sonic 1, which have some similarities, the overall concept of the game and all of the levels differ completely.

It is important to note however that the Game Gear 'version' of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is in no way related to this game at all, other than the name. Many are more or less identical emulations, but some vary.

Following the example of its predecessor, Sonic 2 has been ported to almost as many different platforms ranging from collection disks or downloadables on newer consoles, to arcades and mobile devices.

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