In the January 1993 interview with the game's programmer Yuji Naka published in the Beep! magazine, he commented on the game's 3D-stylised special stage, stating that it was conceived at the start of the game's development and was eventually implemented despite Naka being forced to work with rougher image quality. He also stated that the camera-view behind Sonic's spiny back running towards the Chaos Emerald in the final game was something that he was hoping to add. Him and the team also thought of having more "cliffs and valleys" in the special stage, but this idea was scrapped.

In the January 1993 interview with the game's programmer Yuji Naka published in the Beep! magazine, he was asked when development began. He responded:

In the January 1993 interview with game's programmer Yuji Naka published in the Beep! magazine, he stated that the rumors about Tails being a girl or Sonic's girlfriend wasn't true, he was always intended to be a boy from the very beginning. He also stated that Tails' name was originally Miles for most of the game's development. His nickname first came up from during a meeting with a producer from ABC.

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."

When Sonic or Knuckles reaches the goal as Super Sonic/Knuckles, they revert back to their original form. The player can transform into Super Sonic/Knuckles again in a brief window of time before the Act Clear results screen appears, but this causes a glitch forcing Sonic/Knuckles to quickly revert to their original form, trapping them in midair in an endless walking cycle as the current stage's music continues to loop, and leaving you stuck without advancing to the next stage as the Act Clear results screen will not appear.

This glitch can also be performed after finishing a fight with Dr. Robotnik, when the player frees the Animals from the Capsule and then transforms into Super Sonic/Knuckles immediately after. You will still be trapped in midair, but unlike regular Acts, the Act Clear results screen will appear and allow you to advance to the next stage normally.

In an interview, art director Yasushi Yamaguchi was asked about how his team came up with the idea of having 2-players, he commented:

"The development of Sonic 2 was informed by two factors: the things we couldn’t do in the first game, and the response/feedback from players. The idea of controlling Tails came from programmer Yuji Naka, who wanted a kind of “1.5 player” game—something where it would be ok if the second player died. He wanted to allow for a tandem experience where both skilled and unskilled players could enjoy the game together."

Super Sonic was originally meant to make his debut in this game in the Hidden Palace zone. However, the idea and zone were scrapped due to time constraints.

In Sonic 2 Remastered for iOS and Android, it's possible to access the original Hidden Palace Zone (from the prototype version of Sonic 2 for the Genesis), referred to as "Proto Palace Zone".

The level can be accessed by unlocking the level select screen and using the Sound Test to input a code, before selecting Hidden Palace Zone. If done correctly the player will be taken to Proto Palace Zone instead.

There is an additional post-credits scene in the 2013 re-release that can be seen after collecting all of the emeralds that were missing in the original release. The scene shows the Death Egg crashing into Angel/Floating Island, and cuts to Robotnik angrily jumping on the "END" text, akin to Sonic the Hedgehog. Surrounding him are a number of bushes, through one of which Knuckles' eyes can be seen spying on Robotnik, as a foreshadowing towards Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

The 2013 iOS version of the game features a green Grounder that can be placed by using the debug mode. This is an homage to Grounder from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

The 16-bit version of Sonic 2 was released worldwide on Tuesday, November 24, 1992, and was dubbed "Sonic 2sday". This marketing move was not commonly done at this point in time.

During the game's development, two beta builds were shown off to the public. The first was aired on an episode of the kids' game show Nick Arcade; the other was shown off at a New York toy show and was actually stolen from the event. The ROMs for both the Nick Arcade and Simon Wai prototypes (the latter being named after the person who discovered the ROM image) are available online and feature tons of unused content, including the elusive Hidden Palace Zone.

The Genesis cartridge of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was originally going to come with hologram labels. This was cut because it was too costly.

The song that plays during the credits bears a strong resemblance to "Sweet Sweet Sweet" by Dreams Come True, the band credited with writing the first and second Sonic the Hedgehog's soundtrack. Both Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and The Swinging Star, the album on which "Sweet Sweet Sweet" appears, were released in November of 1992.

Some Samsung phones have a built-in game called "Jump Boy", this game's background music is the Chemical Plant Zone theme from Sonic The Hedgehog 2.

Tails' full name was originally only going to be either "Miles Prower" or "Tails" but not both.

Yasushi Yamaguchi, who originally designed Tails for an internal competition, named him "Miles Prower" as a pun on the term "miles per hour" but the Sonic 2 development team changed his name to "Tails". As an act of rebellion, Yasushi snuck the Miles Prower name into various concept artwork and even in-game tiles. Eventually the developers reached a compromise: "Miles Prower" would be the fox's real name and "tails" would be the nickname he commonly goes by. Sonic 2 also features a cheat code that changes any in-game display of "Tails" into "Miles."

The 2013 iOS/Android phone rerelease of Sonic 2 re-adds the once lost Hidden Palace level. It consists of one act, retains the unused dinosaur and bat Badniks with a few changes, introduces a new jellyfish Badnik and a new Robotnik boss at the end. The 2P Mystic Cave zone music plays in this level.

The entrance to Hidden Palace is found at the bottom of a once-infamous shaft in the Mystic Cave Zone. Originally the shaft had spikes at the bottom that could easily (and slowly) kill the player whether or not they were Super Sonic. The rerelease removes the spikes, thus falling into this hole now takes the player to Hidden Palace.

Genocide City Zone is a scrapped level from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It was meant to be a single act but ultimately became Metropolis Zone Act 3. According to Sonic 2 level designer Tom Payne, the name "Genocide City" was chosen due to the development team's "not quite complete grasp of the English language" hence the change to Cyber City later on.

Although his name was changed to Robotnik for the English versions, Dr. Eggman's original Japanese name is still written on the tail fins and bumps on Wing Fortress Zone.

Tails was originally designed as two different Animals before being turned into a fox. First, he was designed to be a flying squirrel. His design was later used for Ray the Squirrel (who would only appear in SegaSonic Arcade). He was than redesigned as a Tanuki, but this idea was scraped since Mario already had a Tanooki suit that made him able to fly.