The Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has a reputation as one of the hardest installments in the Sonic franchise due to making minimal changes to already-challenging level layouts designed for the Master System's larger aspect ratio on the notoriously small Game Gear screen.

Because Sega prefers to release the Game Gear version of the game on newer hardware, and the original Master System version only being released in the Master System's most successful regions (Europe, Australia, and Brazil), most players are only familiar with the version generally considered inferior.