According to the July 1997 edition of SEGA Magazine in a developer interview, Yuji Naka stated that he added the ability to perform a Spin Dash while crouching and standing still, named the "Super Spin Dash", to make it easier for players in response to critiques of the first game where players had trouble performing the normal, running version of the Spin Dash:

"As for our new additions to Sonic 2, they began and grew out of our dissatisfactions from the first game. The idea for the super spin dash, for instance, came directly from one of those complaints—namely that beginners couldn’t do the loop-de-loops very well, and if they made a mistake they couldn’t get the momentum back to loop through it. That was annoying. So what if he could dash from a stopped position…? Then we had the image of him spinning in a ball to accelerate, and rendering it graphically helped the idea take further shape."

In a 1993 Beep! Mega Drive interview with several Sega employees, Naka first stated about the Super Spin Dash:

"It came about when we were reflecting on opinions of the first game. We were actually planning on including one other such ability. We also talked about using the B and Up buttons, but that was never realized."