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darkqueenofshadows85 · 2 years

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Why I Love the Dark Era of Sonic

Greetings, mortals! Today, I will be talking about my all time favorite era of Sonic games, the Dark Era (2005-2009).

I will explain in detail what I love most about this particular era, and why I consider this, along with the Adventure Era (1998-2004), to be the absolute best era of Sonic as a whole.

Please keep in mind, this is MY OPINION! You don't need to agree with it, but please don't complain in the comments section if you disagree with my views on the Dark Era as a whole.

Anyway, let us begin! ^^

Writing and Characterization

The writing and characterization of the Dark Era titles is some of the best in the entire series in my opinion.

For example, Sonic was at his best in Unleashed and Black Knight, and Team Dark was written exceptionally well in 06. The characters were more fleshed out and had depth and likability, as opposed to the one dimensional cardboard cutouts they became in the 2010's.

The Dark Era also introduced a number of great new characters, including Silver, Blaze, Marine, the Babylon Rogues, Chip/Light Gaia, Caliburn, Merlina, Mephiles, and most of all, my beloved Black Doom ♡

On the subject of writing, I consider games like Unleashed, Black Knight and Riders: Zero Gravity to be on par with SA2 as some of the best Sonic stories ever written. ShTH and 06 are two of my personal favorites, though they do have some minor flaws, and Secret Rings, despite being the weakest of the five main Dark Era games, still had a decent enough story to keep me invested.

Tone

I believe the Dark Era earned its name due to the dark, grim atmosphere and mature storylines. People can complain all they want about the games of that era being too "edgy" or serious, but I believe that darker storylines absolutely belong in Sonic games, and "they're cartoon animals!" is not a good enough excuse to say otherwise.

The Adventure Era and the Dark Era were the prime times for the villains, especially the latter. Another reason why I believe the Dark Era has its name is because it focused on the villains' motives to inflict fates worse than death: rewriting stories and history (Erazor Djinn), using mankind as an energy source for intense purposes (Black Doom), conquering time and space (Solaris), and even trying to create a world without death (Merlina).

So, just to recap: the "Dark" in Dark Era refers to the tone in my opinion, not the quality. ShTH, 06, Secret Rings, Unleashed, Black Knight, the Riders trilogy, the Rivals duology and Chronicles all have a dark tone to some extent. The Rush duology is the only one I know of that has a bright colorful tone, but I digress.

Multiple Playable Characters and a Wide Variety of Different Gameplay Styles

As someone who grew up in the 2000's, I can’t help but miss the wide variety of characters and play styles the series used to have. Like the Adventure Era before it, the Dark Era had plenty to offer in the gameplay department. The guns in ShTH, the Werehog in Unleashed, the hoverboard racing in the Riders trilogy and the usage of swords in Black Knight are among my favorite gameplay concepts. I also thoroughly enjoyed 06's Adventure style gameplay, and my favorite part of the Rush duology was playing as Blaze. Why SEGA decided to take the exact opposite approach in the 2010's and completely ditch any semblance of creativity in favor of bland, repetitive gameplay and making Sonic the sole playable character will forever remain a mystery to me.

Awesome Soundtracks

Sonic is a franchise known for having consistently good music, and to me and many others, the Dark Era soundtracks have great music IN SPADES.

From heart-pumping rock songs like I Am... (All of Me) and Knight of the Wind, to uplifting, inspirational songs like Endless Possibility, the Dark Era games, as well as 2000's Sonic games in general, all have a wide selection of unforgettable vocal tracks to choose from.

Creative Concepts and Overall Respect For Its Audience

Another reason why I love the Dark Era is because it took the audience seriously and it always tried something new with the franchise. Compared to the 2010's, the Dark Era had an abundance of life and creativity, and you could really tell Sonic Team was really trying and gave a shit. The CGI in 06 and Unleashed was amazing, the Werehog was a fun and very creative idea to try two different play styles, and Sonic literally becoming king, restoring an entire kingdom and commanding an entire group of knights is probably one of the most badass things this franchise has produced. They really tried. And it sucks that critics like IGN, who are ignorant and lazy when it comes to doing their jobs, had a huge impact on the series going forward into the 2010's, and it suffered because of it. And don't get me started on the classicist elitists. Not everything can be the same from your childhood, guys.

Complex Themes/Messages

I believe that themes/messages are very important to the Sonic franchise's storytelling, and the Dark Era games had plenty of strong life lessons to offer.

ShTH, the first two Riders games and Chronicles are about the search for identity, Rush is about learning to open up to friends, 06 has a moral we need now more than ever: the future might be bleak and the past might be traumatic but focus on the present moment to make the best of it, Secret Rings is about not being ashamed of who you are, Rush Adventure is about appreciation for foreign cultures, Unleashed is about the duality of light and dark, and Black Knight is about learning to live life to the fullest.

What life lessons do any of the Meta Era games have to teach their audience? I cannot think of one.

My Final Thoughts

I never understood why people hated the Dark Era so much. It had a lot of great things to offer, and from the way I see them, gameplay and console-wise aside, those games showed a lot more than some previous ones have. They gave some of the characters more depth and interactions between each other (especially Team Dark in 06), introduced some new characters so they would have their own arcs to grow (Silver, Chip, etc.), the CG cutscenes in those games were amazing, they showed the main characters interacting with humans more, they gave us dark, twisted and frightening villains who are even more menacing then Eggman and would later on transform into god-like monsters, they showed cool narratives of each game's story and taught us strong life lessons about the world and how to live life to the fullest, and best of all, they even gave the main hero Sonic more character depth and humanity. The Dark Era made him into a more fleshed out character with both good and bad sides of himself, and showed us that he's not just a cool signature teen hero, he's a very noble, loyal, kindhearted, free-spirited soul who even though he has flaws, he helps out other people in need and would do whatever it takes to make sure everything and everyone will be provided a brighter future.

Too bad the Meta Era had to throw all that out the window... :(

Overall, I hope the series comes back to its former glory. I will never forget watching the cutscenes from Black Knight and being astounded by its world and visuals. I will never forget the epic opening cutscene of ShTH when Shadow meets Black Doom for the first time. I will never forget the amazement I had when watching Sonic transform into Super Sonic in the beginning of Unleashed, and I will certainly never forget the impact the Dark Era had on the storytelling of the series. Great, underrated stuff that sadly didn’t go forward into the next decade. Regardless, I still have some faith left in Sonic, but as always, we'll have to wait and see.

#sonic the hedgehog #dark era #shadow the hedgehog #sonic 06 #sonic and the secret rings #sonic unleashed #sonic and the black knight #blog post #opinion post

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dizzydennis · 3 years

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My ideas for Sonic Riders 4!

Title:

Sonic Riders: Drift Dimension

I have a lot of ideas for a potential Sonic Riders sequel and I hope you can enjoy what I have to say. I am very passionate about the Sonic series and would love to see the Babylon Rogues again. I wrote a lot, but any comments or feedback would be wonderful! Check it out under this cut!

Story:

I would like the story mode to continue to split between Team Sonic and the Babylon Rogues. For the sake of making this cohesive, I will write out the narrative linearly.

Set a few years after King Doc’s tournament, Wave has convinced Jet to allow her to continue to investigate Babylon Garden even more under the promise that it would improve their Extreme Gears. The 3 Babylon Rogues go deep within the ruins of Babylon Garden by using their gravity modules (from Zero Gravity.) Wave is still worried about the black hole that could occur, but her calculations assure her that it won’t be a problem. However, while in the heart of this floating island, the gravity modules float into the rocky ruins and activate a bright light as Babylon Garden powers up.

Tails pilots the Tornado with Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy in tow. He detected the massive energy surge that cause Babylon Garden to light up. It seems like the garden is warping reality around it, but with their courage, they enter into the void.

It seems that Babylon Garden has teleported to another world. With their airship being grounded due to the warp, the Babylon Rogues hop onto their Extreme Gears to explore. Before long, they encounter a massive airship that completely dwarfs their own. Upon being captured, they learn that Jet’s father, Kaze, is the leader of this group known as the Babylon Legion. The Rogues have been reunited with their ancestors and family. Naturally, they’re overjoyed! Especially Jet who has been longing for his father for years.

Shortly after, Sonic and his friends encounter the airship and are reunited with the Babylon Rogues. Their fun meeting soon turns dire as the Babylon Legion surround and arrest Knuckles.

Later, Jet inquires about why they apprehended Knuckles. Kaze explains that years ago when they crash landed on Sonic’s planet, they had encountered a terrible Echidna Clan who were power hungry to conquer others. When the Babylon Legion refused to give their advance technology to the Echidna Clan, they were seen as enemies. When there were murmurs that the Echidna Clan had awakened a god of destruction, the Babylon Legion tried to get reactivate Babylon Garden to allow them to leave the planet.

Instead, Babylon Garden was stricken deep into the planet and the Babylon Legion was warped to parts unknown. Jet was baffled by what he heard, but he trusted his father. Upon meeting with Sonic and the others, they discuss what happened and that there were plenty of holes in Kaze’s story. Jet, upset that others would accuse his father, argues with them. However, there was one point that Storm brings up that cannot be ignored. How were Jet, Wave, and Storm on Sonic’s planet if the Babylon Legion were teleported to this planet?

They learn that when they were younger, Kaze had volunteered the three for an experiment to see if they could return, but in doing so, the 3 Babylon Rogues were stranded on their own with no real memory of what had happened.

The Babylon Rogues have to choose between siding with Team Sonic or the Babylon Legion, but they soon find out that Kaze intends to use his technology to convert Babylon Garden into Mecha Babylon. Having learned from the Echidna Clan, power needs to be met with power. Therefore, Kaze wants to teleport back to Sonic’s planet with Mecha Babylon being the ultimate weapon; a fortified island with weapons and a metal shell.

All the heroes band together to stop Kaze from reaching the inner ruins of Babylon Garden to allow it to teleport back to Sonic’s planet. During the climax, Kaze activates the portal only for Sonic and Jet to work together to knock him off of it. Torn between going with Sonic or staying with Kaze and the Babylon Legion, Jet ultimately decides that he must go back with Sonic. He claims that “The Babylon Legion had their chance,” as Sonic grabs his hand and the two dive into the portal.

Cut back to Sonic’s planet, Babylon Garden continues to float around the planet, perfectly reflecting Angel Island. Here, Knuckles and Storm reflect that the Echidna Clan and the Babylon Legion were a lot more similar than they were different. Wave notes that it isn’t one’s lineage that defines who they are, but what they do to better that lineage for future generations. Jet and Sonic use that as a means to claim that they’re the fastest as they race across Babylon Garden. Kaze’s words echo through Jet’s mind as he overtakes Sonic and the two ride off into the distance.

Stages:

Tundra Peaks / Frigid Avalanche – A snowbound stage high in the mountains that mixes canyons, rocky hillsides, and snow. The former stage features nice, mountain villages while the latter stage takes place with massive avalanches falling around the player.

Future Mall / Shopping Calamity – A futuristic city that leads into a massive shopping mall. Players would weave in and out of stores while making their way to a large building outside. The latter stage would be at night where a certain band of robots might be trying to get away with a robbery and chase.

Tubular Coastline / Hurricane Seaboard – A gorgeous beach that runs along side an advance city. You can choose to ride along the sand or take to the waves to get some boosts by performing tricks on the water. Be careful of the storm coming in the latter stage that alters the stage in a crazy way!

Thrill Park / Cursed Midway – A theme park with roller coasters, log flumes, and plenty of other rides. Be warned though, the haunted house gets a bit intense at night and changes the entire park!

Neon Woodland / Forest Illumination – A forest hidden within a valley that glows with luminous mushrooms and vines that glow as they are touched. This place really comes alive late at night when a rave party is going on!

Babylon Garden / Mecha Babylon – While not a remake of the original Sonic Riders track, this version would start on the outside of Babylon Garden as you go deep within the floating island. The mechanized version of this stage is far more dangerous with lasers and robots about; players would fire themselves across the island via giant turrets. Mecha Babylon would be the final boss fight against Kaze.

Dimension Hops / Nostalgia Trip – This is a bonus track where you hop between dimensional pockets of Metal City, Aquatic Capital, and Dolphin Resort. It’s a celebration of the Sonic Riders series. Nostalgia Trip sends players through Green Hill Zone (of course it’s here), Final Rush, and Sunset Heights. This one celebrates the Sonic series. These two tracks would not share music.

SEGA Heroics / SEGA Darkness – Much like the other SEGA fan service stages in the series, this one instead separates the two stages between the heroes of SEGA’s rich history and the villains. Lots of fun to be had here!

Playable Characters:

Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles Tails Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, Storm the Albatross, Amy Rose, Kaze the Hawk, Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, Cream the Rabbit, Blaze the Cat, Silver the Hedgehog, Vector the Crocodile, Dr. Eggman, NiGHTS, Kazuma Kiryu, Arle Nadja

Gameplay:

The gameplay would avoid the failings of Sonic Free Riders. Motion controls have been pushed since Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity and they’d be mostly dropped here. The game would implement the AIR system, but with the multiple routes with the gravity modules. Due to plot reasons, the gravity modules themselves can’t be used, so this mechanic would just be a movement of the Extreme Gears. Speed, Fly, and Power routes would still be available based on the characters and not the gears... and would hopefully be better balanced. The springs would be taken out as they were so painfully contextual in previous games. One thing from Sonic Free Riders would be certain items to change the course of the races including missiles, ink traps, and a few others. The grab mechanic to reach out to the left or right can be brought over too as it holds a lot of potential. Also, the vibrant visuals from Free Riders should be carried over! Moreover, the boost from the original game would be present. Lastly, the game would feel faster. Drifting, much like Team Sonic Racing would be emphasized more in this game.

Typical features would include the Story, Grand Prix, Battle Mode, Time Trials, Character Profiles, Gear Shop, Gear Gallery, Online Multiplayer, and Options. Let’s have alternate costumes for the characters too! Also, the Grand Prix mode would have character specific endings that would be simplistic, but still a treat and motivation to play through it with each character!

That’s basically it for my ideas. I know it’s just a pipe dream, but I would love for a Sonic Riders game to really get into the old stories and characterizations of the original two games, while adding some heart for the Babylon Rogues. It doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel, but rather just create a fun racing game that focuses on these amazing characters.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic Riders #Jet the Hawk #Babylon Rogues #Shadow the Hedgehog #SEGA

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neoclassic-sonic · 5 years

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What about the rest of the Forgotten Sonic Characters?

With Sonic Mania Plus comes two returning characters, Mighty and Ray! After 20+ years they’ve finally made their comeback ever since their debut in the segasonic arcade game! Even the Hooligans have made a semi-cameo appearance in the form of the Heavy Magician’s illusions in Mirage Saloon Zone! Since Mania is a celebration of every Sonic game ever it was nice to experience these old characters revitalized back to life!

But with the revitalization of old characters, what does that say about the state of the rest of the forgotten sonic characters? Will they ever see the light of day again? Do some have a more chance of appearing again? Or are they doomed to obscurity? Let’s review the list, starting from when they were introduced and their last major appearance! Starting with:

Sonic CD’s Rosy the Rascal (1993) Latest appearance Sonic R (1996)

I’m sure all of us were disappointed when she wasn’t playable in mania plus. But! With her appearance in the christmas special, she may become playable in the next sonic mania game! Or at least a cameo other than an Amy Doll.

Sonic Triple Trouble’s Fang the Sniper (1994), last appearance Sonic Fighters (1996) and you know what? Let’s throw in Bean and Bark (1996), last appearance Fighters Megamix (1996)

“Hey! What’s the big idea! We just saw them in Mania! You even said they were in Mania!” Well that’s where you’re kinda wrong kid. I said semi-cameo. The hooligans did not actually appear in Sonic Mania, at least not in their actual forms. Right, remember those three were just illusions by the magician. While those were references sure, those aren’t actually the hooligans. While their appearance in a next game like mania is less likely (given they were mirage saloon’s gimmick, and they’ve already had their representation) I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t at least one reference to them in the near future.

Next up! Knuckle’s Chaotix’s Chaotix! (1995) with Espio’s last appearance in the Sonic Fighters (1996)

“Uh hey, what gives? The Chaotix crew have already appeared in modern games, they were just in Forces and Vector is in TSR! what are you on?” Well what I’m on, you see reader, is on Iizuka’s bullshit! You see since their first modern appearance on Sonic Heroes, Takashi Iizuka has stated on record that the modern chaotix crew is not the same characters as the ones in the 32x game. You see when development on the chaotix game was shifted from sonic team to another developer, the story hadn’t been written yet. Same with the characters characterization. That’s why you have a sophisticated 16 year old Charmy. Hot headed detective Espio. Pacifist nomad Mighty. God-fearing, music-loving Vector! While some of the character traits were carried over (like charmy being the glue that held the chaotix together, mighty is still a pacifist in mania, vector still has his headphones, while espio’s detective shtick got applied to the whole crew), they were basically new characters. Even though the chaotix game was viewed noncanon for years, with countless references to it in sonic mania, it seems that sega is much more willing to accept the chaotix as it was. It is very likely that this may get retconned (given how bullshit some of Iizuka’s statements on plotline are), they even might actually cameo in the next mania game if ever!

Tails Skypatrol’s Witchcarters! (1995)

Finally some actual forgotten characters! Bet you didn’t know they exist huh! Well you probably do if you’re reading this list, but i digress. Introducing the witchcarters, Carrotia the Rabbit, Fockewulf the Wolf, Bearenger the Bear and Witchcarter. These characters served as one-off antagonists and henchmen in this spinoff game, where they were left ignored for around 20 years until Archie Sonic’s Eggman’s Dozen arc where they were given redesigns to fit the modern era. They are the less iconic of the two groups of antagonists that Tails has had to fight. But they are very likely to appear in the next mania-like game.

Tails Adventure’s Battle Armada (1995)

Oof another Game Gear title but one that’s more memorable than skypatrol! Along with a metroid-style gameplay, we are introduced to the battle armada! Speedy, his father and Dr. Fukurov are a few of the notable casts introduced here! For around 20 years they were ignored until Archie Sonic (again). They are given a much bigger role compared to the witchcarters! The idea of Speedy as a rival to Tails like metal sonic is to sonic, is such an interesting concept to me! they have a greater chance of appearing in the next mania like game as compared to skypatrol!

Sonic the Fighter’s Honey the Cat! (1996)

Yeahhh, ok let’s be blunt. I love honey the cat. But she probably won’t appear in a game any time soon. Here’s why: She’s basically the mobian version of an already existing character (candy from fighting vipers). She’s a hacked character in the arcade version, removed from the gcn port and an easter egg in the latest port. She was only limited to cameos in the comic before finally debuting properly in the sonic the fighters arc in archie sonic. While Sega has definitely been more lenient with her, unless there’s another fighting game that will come out, honey won’t be appearing any time soon. (and if she does I really hope they use the rest of the fighting vipers cast too, Pane the Boar exists now! and it’s not like anyone’s using the IP! I’d like it if they just,,,, retooled fighting vipers and it’s characters for a sonic fighting game spinoff without sonic characters haha)

Sonic R’s Metal Knuckles and Tails Doll (1996)

Sonic R introduced the counterfeit counterparts to the other 2/3s of team hero. Metal Knuckles and Tails Doll. While I bet they were only created to fill out the roster, we can’t deny that their designs are cool. I don’t want to rule them out because they’re 3d characters since Bean and Bark made 2d appearances in mania, but it’s a mystery on what kind of role they’ll fulfill. Metal Sonic’s first appearance in CD was explicitly clear that he was your rival, someone to beat. These two’s appearances are kinda shoehorned as someone you have to race with but there’s no backstory. Unless there’s racing challenge in the next mania game or these characters are retooled to being a miniboss, they probably won’t appear in a major role in the next mania game, if they ever appear it’d probably be as a background cameo. (which is a shame!)

Sonic Adventure DX and Adventure 2 Battle’s Tikal and Chaos! (1999) latest appearance Tikal-Sonic Runners (2015) Chaos(illusion)-Forces (2017)

Finally we’re out of the classic era and into the adventure era! The adventure era is regarded by a lot as either a. a transitional era between classic to modern sonic, or as a part of the modern sonic era. either way this is where tikal and chaos’s first and playable appearances were made. Now this is a weird case since Chaos came from the Master Emerald and Tikal is a ghost. In their ending you can see them hanging with the chao. Ever since then they’ve been MIA. While I thought they went back into the emerald, it seems that it’s actually questionable what happened to their fate. Will we ever get to see them again? Well this is where things get pretty dicey here on out. These characters don’t have “Classic” immunity, meaning they dont have the possibility to appear in the next mania-like game since they aren’t classic. Unless we have another storyline regarding the echidna colony (unlikely due to penders) then we probably wont see tikal and chaos in a major way any time soon.

Sonic Shuffle’s Void and Lumina (2000)

With character designs looking more akin to NiGHTS into Dreams than a sonic characters, void and lumina are the more different looking characters. Opting for a more fairy look instead. Sonic Shuffle is a board game somewhat akin to mario party. These characters were one-off characters, and i guess that’s it. Unless sega makes another board game using the mainline sonic universe (not storybook sonic) then we won’t see these two again anytime soon.

Sonic Hero/Advance 3/Battle’s Vanilla and Chocola and Emerl/G-merl (2003-2004)

Woof, that’s a lot of characters. So let’s tackle them one by one shall we? Vanilla is Cream’s mother. Kidnapped ala princess peach style in the advance games, she is cream’s driving force to join sonic’s team into taking eggman down. Likewise, Chocola is Cheese’s brother. These two chao are pets of Cream. Chocola is Cream’s driving force to join team Amy into taking down eggman in sonic heroes. Emerl was a robot that died in Sonic Battle and Gemerl is the reconstructed gizoid from emerl’s remains, after the events of advance 3, gemerl lives with cream and vanilla, often portrayed in the comics as the bodyguard for the two. So how likely are they to appear? Well not anytime soon by the looks of it. They only appear if Cream has a heavy role in the story, and with each passing installment cream has been getting lesser roles. I like to think of Cream as the “next sonic”. She has the drive and the heart to become the succeeding hero. I’d love for her to get her own series of games where she is the hero. But unless she gets more roles or she gets her own spinoffs (not likely), these three wont appear anytime soon.

Sonic Riders (2006) latest appearance for storm-Sonic Free Riders (2010) for Jet and Wave-Olympics (2020)

Sonic Riders introduced three babylon rogues. Jet was introduced as Sonic’s rival when it came to races, a title loosely held by metal and shadow (metal was created to be sonic’s rival at everything and shadow was conceptualized as being an antithesis to sonic, jet is the first to be his rival in speed only). Given the nature of these games it’s actually a surprise as to why they didn’t appear in team sonic racing, or in their two previous racing games. Jet and Wave appeared in the olympics 2020 recently but storm has been mia lately. When the next racing game does come out and when they expand their roster we might see the babylon rogues debut in some sweet rides!

Sonic 06′s Elise

Unless it’s in a remake Elise has no chance of returning back due to the whole nature of 06 (and it’s storyline)

Sonic and the Secret Rings and the Black Knight’s Shahra, Merlinus, Caliburn

Not likely given that they are one-off characters in a storybook.

Sonic Rush Adventure’s Eggman Nega and Marine (2007)

I’d really love for Marine to appear again. Eggman Nega appeared in Rivals, he even appears in the olympic games, why can’t marine appear again? Sadly, unless we get a game that involves the sol dimension, these two are out of the question.

Sonic Chronicles’s entire cast (2008)

Haha. no. Most well-known as the first rpg-like game that involves the sonic characters. This game introduces Shade along with other characters. However due to the Penders lawsuit, these characters are now off limits, even to sega. this may also be the reason why we have not seen gemerl again.

Sonic Unleashed’s Lah and Chip (2008)

Chip is the Light Gaia and Lah was made for the special. We probably won’t see these characters again despite having the best writing so far.

Sonic Colors’s Yacker (2010)

Yacker didn’t fare well compared to the rest of his wisp friends. and honestly? I don’t feel too bad. while he may appear if sonic ever does need a flagship representation for the wisps, i doubt he’ll have another big role like in colors.

Sonic Lost World’s Zeti (2013)

Cause let’s face it, only Zavok and Zazz are in the limelight recently. The Zeti are a very polarizing addition to the sonic cast. they don’t have the same rep as the wisps, yet they’re designs are a bit too unique to just be left behind again. What sega’s doing now though is a bit disappointing. Half ass shoe horns into plots. Well at least for TSR, which is a racing game spin-off. We also saw this in forces (along side chaos and shadow of all people). I just hope this isn’t a trend that persists. Either make a proper plot or don’t include the character at all sega. as to when we’ll see them again, that is up to sega. this is a bit of a cloudy are cause sega doesn’t seem to be afraid to use them, but for some reason they arent too confident either.

Sonic Boom’s Sticks.(2014)

Unless There’s another boom game or Sticks is redesigned to modern standards as opposed to boom standards, we’ll probably not see her again. which is disappointing.

Sonic Forces’s Infinite and OC character (2017)

They aren’t really forgotten since it’s only been 2 years. But infinite’s basically been forgotten already! He has no appearances in other games outside forces. Not even in team sonic racing, you’d think he’d be a shoe in, but he isnt! You’d think the make your own avatar would be something that’d be implemented from everygame onward (ngl it was the only good thing about forces) but it’s also isnt seen in tsr. which seems like wasted opportunities!

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latin-dr-robotnik · 5 years

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Forces 2nd anniversary: My avatar collection!

Sonic Forces turns 2 today! I wanted to return to the game just to play for a couple of hours, maybe find something new (spoilers: it really didn’t happen) and, most importantly, share my avatars and their stories.

Back around the first months of the game I made a handful of characters, following a cool backstory set-up or trying to recreate already existing Sonic characters using the game’s tools. I’m gonna split this post right here to not clog up your dashboards (yeah, I love you all too), but feel free to join the fun!

1. Sally Acorn (kinda)

Back during pre-release, one of the biggest theories around the fandom expressed that Forces may be set in the Freedom Fighters universe. Even back then it was a wacky theory for a mainline Sonic game, but I liked the idea (even tho one of my headcanons says Forces is set straight after Chronicles). So, when I got my hands on the game, the first character I created was a kind of a Sally knock-off, and I stuck with her over the entire game, unlocking more clothes to try and recreate her as best as I could. Forces character creation limitations are going to be a constant in this post, and this is the best I could come up with, but I’m still happy with the results. Sally is a wolf now, lmao.

2. Hipster Boom Sonic

Another big theory going around the fandom back then was that the third playable character was going to be Boom Sonic, but after SEGA and Sonic Team saw how hard Rise of Lyric bombed, decided to instead do a player-created original character as the third gameplay pillar. I don’t think that theory has much solid ground to stand on, but back in 2017 I for sure ran off to the avatar creation screen right after beating the game, and made my own take on Boom Sonic. It’s pretty AU, but in a nice kinda way.

Headcanon goes as follows: Classic Sonic got warped through time and space because of the Phantom Ruby, and so did this older Sonic from the Boom dimension. “Hipster” Boom Sonic is a completely different kind of Sonic, one that has settled down and was having a nice, chill life until the Phantom Ruby shenanigans struck his dimension; now he’s working with the two other Sonics to try and stop this madness, and to return home with his friends and his special someone (yeah it’s who you think it is).

3. Normal (bootleg) Bunnie Rabbot

Yeah, another freedom fighter. You know, I’m not a “Freedom Fighters are the GOAT” type of guy (I don’t even like the extended Archie Sonic Universe), but what I do like a lot is the OG SatAM universe. After doing Sally, I thought: “Hey, Bunnie could be mostly recreated in this game, right?” And I could’ve gone pretty far with things like the robotic gloves and shoes, but I rapidly went on another tangent: recreating Bunnie, but without the robotic stuff, maybe like “a normal girl”, if you like. I loved the results.

Also, yeah, I think every single one of my old characters had headsets, it was part of my headcanon about radio comms on the Resistance.

4. Carlos (OC)

Finally, an original character (do not steal)! Carlos is my first-ever OC (yeah I never bothered making my own OC until Forces), he’s heavily into technology stuff (that’s why he’s rocking all those Mega Drive clothes), he loves Chao a lot (in fact he is carrying his Chao bag all the time), and checking my old Sonic Forces review (in spanish, btw), I came up with a pretty cool backstory for him:

Carlos was a Metropolis resident, working as IT for one of the city’s biggest companies until Eggman attacked. After the Eggman Empire took over, Carlos was left unemployed, and one night had to flee his home after getting into explosive trouble with a patrol of Eggman’s robots on a Metropolis back alley. That event caught the attention of the Resistance, who guided Carlos to their HQ and made him the new recruit. Now Carlos uses his technical skills to hack and slash through Eggman’s forces, looking to free his home from the oppresing regime of Dr. Eggman.

5. Blaze the Cat (I guess)

I wanted to recreate Blaze, but it proved to be a pretty tough task to achieve. So, I tried to mix a couple of her designs from the Mario & Sonic Olympics games, Sonic Riders AND her official design. Shadow’s shoes were the closest thing to her original shoes I could find (I’m still trying to find a replacement, 2 years later), the gloves are part of the Riders look (now that I think about it, I could try to match her Riders design more closely), and Amy’s dress is not that far from one of her designs from M&S.

6. Star the Bear (OC)

Holy shit, another OC! By this point on the game I started to feel more confortable around the idea of making my own characters (it’s a one way trip, I tell ya!), so I tried to make a character that wasn’t exactly my cup of tea.

Star’s backstory isn’t as developed as Carlos’, but I wanted to make him kind of a up-and-coming pop star, something like Justin Beaver from Sonic Boom but more humble. Star was performing live at Sunset City when the Eggman assault began, and in turn had to seek shelter with the not-yet-formed Resistance. Inspired by Silver’s fashion sense (he’s such a wild diva, I love it), Star jumpstarted (heh) his career singing a cover of Dreams of an Absolution. Also, I made up that last part just for this post, lmao.

7. OVA Knuckles

I think I made this character based on a funny tweet I saw shortly after release. The game gives you Knuckles’ shoes, Boom-style gloves and his cowboy hat from the OVA, of course I was going to make a character with those tools and put him alongside the real Knuckles (yeah that’s my screenshot).

le funny meme, haha.

8. Amy Rose

Don’t lie to me, you also tried this on your own. Looking at the Cube Wispon I thought: “man! it’s such a wasted opportunity to not have Amy playable in this game!”

I mean, the game gives you almost every single tool for recreating Amy, EXCEPT her quills, headband AND her right shade of pink. Still, this couldn’t stop the SonAmy shipping hype train and I’m not the only one that made this character only for the Tag Team stages. Feels great to take over the world, stage by stage, as Amy.

8.5. Amy Rose (Wedding variant)

“After years of love and specially patience, Amy asked Sonic the big question once again, and he finally said yes! But shortly after, during an unfortunate chain of events, the world ended under Eggman’s domination. Oh, the irony!”

AU as fuck, but hey, that was my shipping side during 2017. Nowadays this could very well tie-in with my now-abandoned Celebrity Life fic thingy, tho. I’m currently thinking of doing her Runners Gothic Amy design.

9. The most recent one

I think I made this caracter during mid-2018 or even later. She’s my current avatar and haven’t thought of a backstory or even a name yet. I believe I got inspired when I first tried to turn Amy into a mourning widow (that got dark fast lmao), but then made my own character dressing in the almighty black color. Maybe one day I will come up with a name and a backstory.

And that’s all, folks! If you reached this far, first of all thank you! I put a lot of thought into my characters and I guess that’s why I have 50+ hours of playtime, also I hope all my efforts made you maybe laugh, or maybe inspired you. Don’t hesitate in joining the conversation, specially if you have your own characters to share. Let’s make this Forces anniversary one hell of a party featuring all kinds of avatars.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic forces #holy shit look at this post's lenght #i got carried away on so many part #but i had lots of fun making my characters and writing this post #forces did plenty things wrong #but i'm kinda glad they knocked it out of the park with the avatar creation #really cool shit right here

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ohshimaacademy · 7 years

Text

Sonic Synergy (the game we almost got

SpanishA few months ago we brought you an exclusive trailer of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric when it was still in its beta phase, called Sonic Synergy. This trailer was discovered by MotoBadnik, a user focused on the research to which we have to thank today for this article, which not only analyzes the evolution during the development of Sonic Boom: Ryse of Lyric, but also reveals details and exclusive information totally unknown until now. . From here we thank you for your dedication to preservation and research on this subject by giving a speaker so you can show the world your discoveries. I do not want to entertain more, so I leave you with him and his magnificent research article.Hello,

motobadnik:I'm MotoBadnik, and today I present my research on the development of Sonic Boom: The rise of Lyric. All information has been obtained thanks to a former employee of BigRedButton who has contacted me, but who wants anonymity.origins

Around 2007, it was stated that SEGA were looking for Western development teams to revitalize their intellectual properties such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, and more. While Golden Axe: Beast Rider came out to bad reviews and low sales, Sonic's western production was forgotten about. Big Red Button, a squadron of ex-Naughty Dog developers, were called on to produce the game. During the earlier part of development, drastic redesigns for the characters were proposed. Sonic Team dissaproved of these strange designs, and desired they stick closer to the source material.

The game had already begun development in October 2011. At that time it was in "BlockOut", experimenting with races and games like "LAN Party" with a multiplayer approach. The story planned at that time was about the origins of Sonic: Sonic and a young Eggman were friends, but during a sequence of time travel Eggman annoys something in the past, causing his enmity. The elders were very important in this story, because they were related to the origin of Sonic. It was also planned that Eggman was a playable character. (Sonic Origins was the tentative title)

The game had an approach of 80% Exploration and 20% Speed. They wanted to make a kind of Jak & Daxter with Sonic, reminiscent of Bob Rafei's work at Naughty Dog.After a series of demands from Japan, they worked for 2 and a half years in the Vertical Slice (a technical demo in which all aspects of gameplay are represented, to advance on them) demonstrating SEGA's approach to the game .

The game was planned to be a Cooperative Multiplayer game for 4 people, with digital release on Steam, also planning a port to PS Store and Xbox Live if it sold well. That Vertical Slice is what we know as Synergy. The story at this time was not very important, the game would start in this room, with its corresponding scene.

SpanishHere begin the problems, about the end of 2012, SEGA teaches Nintendo Vertical Slice, and include Synergy as part of the exclusive contract on Wii U. To this is added that SEGA requested a version for 3DS, which had to be also occupy BigRedButton until Sanzaru came to save her.About mid

2013, we try to port Wii U, that completely changes the focus of the product, "Reforma" starts.The multiplayer for 4 players was impossible, and the game had to be redesigned to an adventure for 2 players. They also had to eliminate a lot of mechanics due to hardware and that made the levels have to be redesigned (more linear, buttons to interact with everything).Another big

problem was added to the Wii U disaster: The television series.A designer presents SEGA with the idea of making a Sonic TV show. It was supposed to be separate from the game, but about 8 months before the game's release, SEGA gave control to the series, changing large parts of the story and going back to silly Knuckles among other things, forcing characters to create a richer world that was totally excluded in the series and creating scenes and levels filled due to the change of history.

(I do not have information about the previous story, only that the elders were going to be much more important)

Throughout the development, Sonic Team and SEGA Japan forced BigRedButton to change several aspects of the game:Gameplay: Originally the game was going to be based more on exploration than speed, from Japan they demanded that it had more speed and that they reduce the exploration. Originally you could swim, they were opposed and because of that in the final game you die in contact with the water.Designs: Several designs by Sonic and company were discarded for moving too far away from "Legacy" designs, making them more similar.

Several NPCs had to be changed due to violating Sonic Team design guidelines. (Cliff was originally an inventor, but Iizuka said that the only inventors should be Tails and Eggman)

History: The original story was completely eliminated, they refused categorically to tell the origins of Sonic, and said that they would explain it someday.

Mechanics and ideas eliminated or changed

Rappel, throw your partner as a slingshot, push your teammates as you run to give them more speed, you could run in the water (Water Ski) with your friends with Sonic being the leader, you could swim and dive for a few seconds underwater. The vast majority of them were eliminated by the Wii U.Among the levels that reached the final version, Lake Crater had a big change, it was going to be focused on 4 player Water Ski.

Due to the change to Wii U they had to mix parts of levels to fill the lack of mechanics (The worm boss took place in Crater Lake).They wanted to bring the Chaos back, but due to time and hardware limitations they had to abandon the idea.Synergy had a "piggy bank" system, when you found one you deposited your Rings, and then you could improve your characters and weapons with them. The change of focus of the game forced to discard the system.

During the history of origins, Eggman was going to be playable, after the elimination of the story the idea was completely discarded.The name Synergy was probably discarded due to SEGA wanting to create a global brand and lose meaning after "the reform"

Multimedia

Then I present an internal PDF of BigRedButton of February 2014, a design guide, in which you can see several concepts and ideas for the game and how it evolved, including several things discarded. You can download it here.I also present 2 versions of the Synergy trailer. One of November 2012

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maverick-king-sigma · 7 years

Note

To Sigma, and his mun, what are your ten favourite games? Any games you're looking forward to?

“Well I have a preference for fighting games. Let’s go over my ten favourite games. I like these:

Ultra Street Fighter IV - I can use M. Bison and enjoy every minute of it!

Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 - I can finally defeat that blasted Barbie doll! Maybe…

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - Such a wide variety. I personally enjoy using Ogre and Dr. Bosconovitch

Street Fighter X Tekken - I can have a tag team of many characters I enjoy using from Street Fighter and Tekken! Not to mention two adorable cats, Pac-Man and a so called Mega Man…

Super Smash Bros Wii U - Yes! I can use Ganondorf to defeat so many pests!Playstation All Stars Battle Royale - I like Kratos. Plus that white cat is playable. Toro I believe.

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom - I can use a little girl with a mop as a weapon to destroy everyone including Zero! What’s not to love?

Soul Calibur V - I can use Ezio Auditore in a fighting game. This is a major breakthrough! Plus custom characters can be created. I can try and recreate my mavericks to an extent.

Mega Man Maverick Hunter X - I can play as Vile on a portable. This is great! Although I should have been playable. Not Vile. X is playable too much.

Nintendogs Labrador and Friends - I love dogs so much! Puppies are so adorable! I especially like training labradors and corgis!

And as an honourable mention! The Teen Titans game for PS2 and Gamecube! That was such a good fighter!

And as for a game I am looking forward to…it is of course Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite! I will win this time for sure! I am camping outside to get that!”

((I will put mine under a cut because it is longer than Sigma’s.))

((Unlike Sigma my list isn’t filled with fighters. My favourite games in no particular order are:

-Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelists of the Roses - I would hate to see how many hours I put into this game. I loved my deck in it which was lead by Princess of Tsurugi and I would love to have the games physically.

-Pokemon Emerald - It is tight between this and SoulSilver and Platinum but I will go with Emerald. Pokemon is very important to me. I like this game as it is better than all the other Hoenn games and Hoenn is my favourite region. I adore Team Magma and Team Aqua as well.

-Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team - This was one of my first Nintendo DS games (others were New Super Mario Bros and Nintendogs Dachshund and Friends) and it is my favourite overall Pokemon game. I love the story and the dungeons and everything about it. No other Mystery Dungeon has topped this for me.

-Mega Man X Command Mission - I don’t think I will explain any of the X games I added to this list as I could write and write and write. But I will say that this is one RPG that I never grew tired of. I find RPGs very difficult to get into but this is one I have finished and love to play over and over. Plus I love Zero’s unlockable armour.

-Mega Man X Collection - I solely put this on here because each of the games on this with the exception of one of the games (no, not Battle and Chase, X3 or X6 I love those games) can keep me entertained for ages. I especially adore X1 and X5. (Yes I know that this game is technically 7 games in one, I am cheating here.)

-Ratchet and Clank (PS2, not the re-imagined one) - This was one of my first PS2 games and I loved every minute of it, I know the game inside out and would really like to try and achieve a platinum trophy for it on PS3. I can play this game for hours, over and over and never grow bored.

-Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 - I would have put Raging Blast 2 here, but I like that I can create my own character (a female majin for those curious) and be able to have Frieza, Cell, and especially Zarbon and Whis as mentors.

-Sonic Adventure 2 - I don’t know if I want to go in depth with this game either. I enjoy every aspect of the game. Even ones that I know a lot of people dislike. I really love the music as well. I wouldn’t say I am very good at it though, I know I will never get five ranks on some stages but I don’t mind, video games are about fun! Plus I love the Chao Garden.

-Sonic Riders Zero Gravity - I prefer this over the original. I used to grab 2 Wii Remotes and 2 PS2 controllers and always do a 4 team relay race and would always place Sonic, Shadow, Amy and Silver on a team. Fun times!

-Sega Superstars Tennis - NiGHTS and Reala plus all the mini games kept me entertained. I still struggle against Alex Kidd in some of the events but on PS2 all I am missing is some AAA ranks and I would be done. I loved the courts and the music selection as well.

Probably not the most popular games in the world but they hold a special place for me, each and everyone of these I have listed.

Also a game I look forward to? Hmm…probably Sonic Forces if I’m honest.))

#sigma #ask

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ohshimaacademy · 7 years

Text

Please sega..make a sonic boom reboot

Morden sonic had a lot of games..so..I think Sega needs to take a brake from modern sonic and this time reboot boom sonic...why you may akk?..let me explain why Sega needs to stop making modern sonic games and make..a reboot of the sonic boom franchise a few months ago they brought you an exclusive trailer of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric when it was still in its beta phase, called Sonic Synergy.

This trailer was discovered by MotoBadnik, a user focused on the research to which we have to thank today for this article, which not only analyzes the evolution during the development of Sonic Boom: Ryse of Lyric, but also reveals details and exclusive information totally unknown until now. . From here we thank you for your dedication to preservation and research on this subject by giving a speaker so you can show the world your discoveries. I do not want to entertain more, so I leave you with him and his magnificent research article.Hello,

motobadnik:I’m MotoBadnik, and today I present my research on the development of Sonic Boom: The rise of Lyric. All information has been obtained thanks to a former employee of BigRedButton who has contacted me, but who wants anonymity.origins

Around 2007, it was stated that SEGA were looking for Western development teams to revitalize their intellectual properties such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, and more. While Golden Axe: Beast Rider came out to bad reviews and low sales, Sonic’s western production was forgotten about. Big Red Button, a squadron of ex-Naughty Dog developers, were called on to produce the game. During the earlier part of development, drastic redesigns for the characters were proposed. Sonic Team dissaproved of these strange designs, and desired they stick closer to the source material.The game had already begun development in October 2011. At that time it was in “BlockOut”, experimenting with races and games like “LAN Party” with a multiplayer approach.

The orginal Awesome Story: The story planned at that time was about the origins of Sonic: Sonic and a young Eggman were friends, but during a sequence of time travel Eggman annoys something in the past, causing his enmity. The elders were very important in this story, because they were related to the origin of Sonic. It was also planned that Eggman was a playable character. (Sonic Origins was the tentative title)

The game featured a strong storyline featuring the "Ancients", ancestors of Sonic and company's, who sealed the evil Lyric (an owl, the natural predator of hedgehogs) away. Chao, known as "Chaos", were able to be used in the game. Eggman would have been featured, as a younger, thin, and hillbily-like character, implying time travel may have been a stronger component of the experience. Originally, the game was developed for Playstation 4 and Xbox One, and possibly PC, but was moved to Wii U, the first of many production troubles.

One of the pillars of the game was to create an organic and more natural world tailored for Sonic, with hand-painted textures for a cartoon style. Although not ruled out, this can not be seen much in the final game due to the Wii U hardware.The game had an approach of 80% Exploration and 20% Speed. They wanted to make a kind of Jak & Daxter with Sonic, reminiscent of Bob Rafei’s work at Naughty Dog.After a series of demands from Japan, they worked for 2 and a half years in the Vertical Slice (a technical demo in which all

aspects of gameplay are represented, to advance on them) demonstrating SEGA’s approach to the game . The game was planned to be a Cooperative Multiplayer game for 4 people, with digital release on Steam, also planning a port to PS Store and Xbox Live if it sold well. That Vertical Slice is what we know as Synergy. The story at this time was not very important, the game would start in this room, with its corresponding scene.

Here begin the problems, about the end of 2012, SEGA teaches Nintendo Vertical Slice, and include Synergy as part of the exclusive contract on Wii U. To this is added that SEGA requested a version for 3DS, which had to be also occupy BigRedButton until Sanzaru came to save her.About mid 2013, we try to port Wii U, that completely changes the focus of the product, “Reforma” starts.The multiplayer for 4 players was impossible, and the game had to be redesigned to an adventure for 2 players. They also had to eliminate a lot of mechanics due to hardware and that made the levels have to be redesigned (more linear, buttons to interact with everything).Another big problem was added to the Wii U disaster: The television series.A designer presents SEGA with the idea of making a Sonic TV show. It was supposed to be separate from

the game, but about 8 months before the game’s release, SEGA gave control to the series, changing large parts of the story and going back to silly Knuckles among other things, forcing characters to create a richer world that was totally excluded in the series and creating scenes and levels filled due to the change of history. (I do not have information about the previous story, only that the elders were going to be much more important)

Several NPCs had to be changed due to violating Sonic Team design guidelines. (Cliff was originally an inventor, but Iizuka said that the only inventors should be Tails and Eggman)

History: The original story was completely eliminated, they refused categorically to tell the origins of Sonic, and said that they would explain it someday.

Mechanics and ideas eliminated or changed: Rappel, throw your partner as a slingshot, push your teammates as you run to give them more speed, you could run in the water (Water Ski) with your friends with Sonic being the leader, you could swim and dive for a few seconds underwater. The vast majority of them were eliminated by the Wii U.Among the levels that reached the final version, Lake Crater had a big change, it was going to be focused on 4 player Water Ski. Due to the change to Wii U they had to mix parts of levels to fill the lack of mechanics (The worm boss took place in Crater Lake).They wanted to bring the Chaos back, but due to time and hardware limitations they had to abandon the idea.Synergy had a “piggy bank” system, when you found one you deposited your Rings, and then you could improve your characters and weapons with them. The change of focus of the game forced to discard the system. Due to the change to Wii U they had to mix parts of levels to fill the lack of mechanics (The worm boss took place in Crater Lake).They wanted to bring the Chaos back, but due to time and hardware limitations they had to abandon the idea.Synergy had a “piggy bank” system, when you found one you deposited your Rings, and then you could improve your characters and weapons with them. The change of focus of the game forced to discard the system. During the history of origins, Eggman was going to be playable, after the elimination of the story the idea was completely discarded.The name Synergy was probably discarded due to SEGA wanting to create a global brand and lose meaning after “the reform” Multimedia Then I present an internal PDF of BigRedButton of February 2014, a design guide, in which you can see several concepts and ideas for the game and how it evolved, including several things discarded. You can download it here.I also present 2 versions of the Synergy trailer. One of November 2012

Does Sega like making sonic games bad?..come on they could of had a awesome new franchise to do..think of the awesome new ways they could of introduced the characters, hell they could of done a sonic syenrgy verion of the sonic rush trilogy...that would be soo cool!!!...ane hell why not make a knuckles chaotix game..yeah I know the game was bad but..the plot isn't that bad..here is the plot, The plot starts out on the day before the opening day of Carnival Island, a huge amusement resort with the latest in high-tech rides and games. As the guardian of the island, Knuckles' job was to make sure nothing went wrong before the grand event.Behind the scenes, however, Dr. Robotnik was cooking up a new dastardly scheme. To fuel for his latest diabolical device, Robotnik went to Carnival Island to find the Power Emerald that supplies electricity to the entire island which would fit into his plan perfectly. To further ensure that Knuckles and his friends would not interfere with his

plans, Robotnik used his Combi Catcher to freeze Mighty the Armadillo, Espio the Chameleon, Vector the Crocodile, and Charmy Bee in time.When Knuckles returned from patrolling the far end of the island, he found Dr. Robotnik as he was imprisoning Espio the Chameleon in a Combi Catcher, and chased him away, saving Espio. After that, Knuckles discovered that he could rescue his other friends one at a time by using Ring Power, a power that holds two partners together like a magical rubber band. Never held back for long, Knuckles set out with his team to save Carnival Island from Robotnik before tomorrow's grand opening.

By god..if they took that plot..and combine it with sonic synergy and it's original gameplay...bam you got your self a awesome spin off!!!..one of The chcharacters I was waiting to see was Blaze and Silver..but Noooooo they Only showd Three..three Characters!!!!..shadow Metal and vector!..that's It!!!....anyway a sonic syerngy version of sonic rush would be really cool...ane hell why not make a new intrsting story for blaze...and since sonamy is in sonic boom (kind of) how about they could do a romance between sonic and blaze...i WO

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