It was also well-received in later retrospective reviews, accumulating an aggregate score of 88.44% on GameRankings based on eight reviews published online in the 2000s, with re-releases also receiving positive reviews. Thomas wrote that the Virtual Console version was "an easy thumbs-up". Gibson praised the Xbox Live Arcade version's low price and online mode: "Just GBP 4.25 will buy you hours of fun. Not millions of hours, because games were shorter in those days." Craddock proclaimed that ""Sonic the Hedgehog 2" holds up as not only one of the best games available on Sega's memorable 16-bit machine, but also a worthy addition to any XBLA library." The iOS version was met with middling reviews, with criticism for the quality of the port and lack of multiplayer.