Sonic Heroes

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Sonic Heroes is a video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is the first multiplatform game in the Sonic series, appearing on the Nintendo Gamecube, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox, and the PC CD-ROM. The phrase "Sonic Heroes" refers to the uniting of the protagonists of the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

The game introduces several new gameplay elements. Unlike past Sonic games, which have all been single player, players are able to control three characters at a time, switching the party's leader.

This game also marked the return of the Chaotix, a group last seen in Knuckles' Chaotix on the Sega 32X (except for Mighty the Armadillo), Shadow the Hedgehog & Rouge the Bat from Sonic Adventure 2, Cream the Rabbit from Sonic Advance 2, Big the Cat from Sonic Adventure and Metal Sonic, who, prior to this game, had not played a major role in the series since Sonic CD.

Teams

Unlike past Sonic the Hedgehog games, Sonic Heroes for the first time allows the player to control 3 characters at once (although the player controls the selected character, while the computer takes control of the remaining two characters). A player will choose one of four teams to use. The four teams all have their own strengths and weaknesses as do each of the individual characters. Sonic Heroes was the first Sonic game to introduce the "Speed, Flight, and Power" concept into the series.

A team is made up of three characters, each suited for a specific task. The three types of characters are "flight," "speed," and "power." The flight type is able to ascend short distances with other party members. The speed character has the ability to move at a faster rate than the other two members of the team. Lastly, the power character is the strongest physically of the three.

Generally speaking, when the Speed formation is selected, the characters stand in a straight line, one behind the other with the Speed character up front. When the attack button is held, the Power and Fly characters will approach the Speed character, who will roll into a ball. Releasing the attack button will cause the Speed character to dash forwards. In cases where the Speed character is on his (or her) own before the other characters can get to him, releasing the attack button will perform an individual attack.

When the team is in Power formation, they will stand in a triangular fashion (i.e. the Power character at the front, with the other two characters behind and slightly to each side). Pressing the attack button in this formation will draw the other team members to the Power member. In Team Dark and Team Sonic, the Speed and Fly characters will curl into balls and be held (one in each hand) by the power character. In Team Chaotix, Espio and Charmy will curl into balls and be held in Vector's mouth. In Team Rose, Amy and Cream will sit on Big's shoulders.

When the Fly formation is selected, the team will be in a vertical line, with the Fly character at the top. Pressing the attack button in this formation will shoot a team member in the direction of the nearest enemy. At the lowest fly level, if this is a flying enemy, it will be stunned and fall out of the sky, dealing 1 point of damage to itself. If attacking a ground enemy at the lowest fly level, the enemy will be stunned temporarily. In cases where the Fly character is on his (or her) own pressing the attack button will perform an individual attack.

There are 'leaders' to each team, but they are merely the one who created the team or what not. One being the leader does not affect gameplay. It is only part of the story.

Team Sonic

• Sonic the Hedgehog(leader) - Speed
• Miles "Tails" Prower - Flight
• Knuckles the Echidna - Power

Team Sonic is the main team of Sonic Heroes (considering it has Sonic in it, as it says in the title of the team, and that it is in the title screen). One day, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna receive a letter from the maniacal Doctor Eggman. The Doctor tells them of his new ultimate weapon that will be ready within three days, thus, challenging them to find and destroy it. The three band together to stop the mad doctor's plans.

The typical level for this team requires one to race through the levels as quickly as possible, with intermediate difficulty settings. Team Sonic's abilities are very similar to Team Dark's, with the exception of the Power character's combos (instead of firing gatling guns, Knuckles triggers volcanic eruptions). Team Sonic is one of the two teams that is capable of using the Light Dash. Sonic can use the Triangle Jump which allows him to bounce between close walls.

The Team Blast is Sonic Overdrive, in which Knuckles holds Tails, holding Sonic, spinning them around picking up speed, until Knuckles lets go and Tails launches Sonic like the Thunder Shoot. Sonic will bounce around the area at light speed, destroying all enemies and stunning bosses like the Thunder Shoot. While the Gauge restores itself, Tails can launch Sonic in a Mini-Team Blast form at any level, and when Sonic approaches any enemy, he can activate Light Speed Attack, allowing him to destroy any enemy within his radius; however, they may not use these once the gauge has fully restored.

Team Dark

• Shadow the Hedgehog- Speed
• Rouge the Bat(leader) - Flight
• E-123 Omega - Power

Team Dark's common cause is to find Dr. Eggman. Rouge the Bat, the founder of the team and its resident flyer, is after Eggman's hidden treasure. Shadow the Hedgehog, the speed specialist, wants to know his true identity and why he was left inside a pod. E-123 Omega, the fully-armed robot, is angry with Eggman for abandoning him and wishes to prove his power to him.

Team Dark's missions are the most fighting-oriented in the game, calling for its members to blast through large hordes of enemies to reach the goal ring. To accommodate for this, Team Dark has more powerful offensive techniques at its disposal. Shadow uses his Homing attack to blast through rows of Eggman's flunkies; Rouge, besides being able to launch her companions at airborne enemies can attack enemies with powerful kicks or ring-like bombs; Omega can launch his friends at enemies, after which he transforms his arms into formidable gatling guns to take out entire groups of foes. Team Dark's attacks are generally identical to Team Sonic's. An exception is the differences between their leveled-up finishing moves (e.g.,Omega uses weapons while Knuckles uses fire-quakes).

The Team Blast is Chaos Inferno, that once activated, Shadow will grab a Chaos Emerald from Omega (even if you didn't collect one) and use Chaos Control, and Rouge, lifting Omega over Shadow's head, will have Omega use Chaos Inferno, in which he will fire two huge purple beams from his arms. The beams will destroy all enemies in range. Also, while the gauge is being restored, time will be frozen by Chaos Control, done by Shadow. Once the gauge is restored, everything will be normal again.

Team Rose

• Amy Rose(leader) - Speed
• Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao - Flight
• Big the Cat - Power

The characters of Team Rose are each trying to find someone important to them. Amy Rose searches for "her" Sonic, because she notices that Sonic had been missing from her life for quite a while. Big the Cat is searching for his amphibian friend Froggy as usual, and Cream the Rabbit is seeking out Cheese the Chao's brother, Chocola. With a picture in the newspaper (being carried off by who they believe to be Sonic) as their only clue, the three join up to find their lost companions.

Team Rose has the simplest levels in the game, boasting fewer enemies and longer flight times. Amy leads the speed formation, and though she's not quite as quick as Sonic, she has her handy Piko-Piko Hammer to smack enemies and launch her friends at enemies. Cream can fly her teammates over long distances, and with solo attacks, she can send Cheese to attack for her. Big's weapon of choice is his trusty fishing pole, which can be swung around as his finishing move, but also has a built-in parasol to help the team ride air currents over obstacles.

Their Team Blast is Flower Festival, in which Big balances Amy and Cream onto his parasol as an explosion of flowers bursts from it. This will level-up all characters, give the team a shield, and invincibility for a brief period.

Team Chaotix

• Espio the Chameleon - Speed
• Charmy Bee - Flight
• Vector the Crocodile(leader) - Power

Team Chaotix is composed of quiet, ninja-like, and disciplined Espio the Chameleon; their headstrong music-loving leader Vector the Crocodile; and the air-headed flying ace Charmy Bee. Notably missing is Mighty the Armadillo, who appears with his team in Knuckles' Chaotix.

Team Chaotix is a detective agency. One day, they receive a mysterious package with a walkie talkie in it. An eerily familiar stranger gives the team instructions through this device and claims that if the job he has for them is completed the Chaotix crew will be handsomely rewarded. Espio is wary of the job, but Vector, with dollar signs in his eyes, reminded him of Chaotix's number one rule, "We never turn down work that pays!"

In Sonic Heroes, the missions of Team Chaotix differ from the other three teams'. From collecting hermit crabs to destroying golden turtle robots, the goals these three pursue are unique and are reminiscent of Knuckles' SA2 Levels. Additionally, each member has unique skills that set them apart from the other characters of his type. Espio, for instance, can render himself invisible to avoid enemy fire and pass through laser barriers. Charmy can activate special flowers to teleport the group to another flower in the level. Vector attacks by crunching enemies in his jaws, then spewing what is said to be halitosis at enemies (the halitosis he breathes is in the form of musical notes). As Vector levels-up, he breathes (instead of halitosis) fire and the fan-dubbed "bubblegum bombs", in which Vector chucks up a load of explosive bubblegum bubbles. The bubblegum is also used to float.

Team Chaotix's Team Blast is Chaotix Rehearsal, in which Espio plucks on a samisen, Charmy bangs on a drum and sings poorly, and Vector screams into a microphone which destroys every enemy on-screen and produces a ring box for each. While the team blast gauge goes down, any enemy the player destroys will earn them extra rings.

Stages

Sonic Heroes contains a total of 14 action stages and 9 boss stages (including last story). Depending on which of the four teams the player belongs to, the enemies and objectives for each stage may be differ.

• Sea Gate (Tutorial)
• Seaside Hill - Head for the whale island!
• Ocean Palace - Escape from the ancient ruins!
• EGG HAWK - Boss
• Grand Metropolis - Crush the city under the control of Eggman!
• Power Plant - Escape from the Chaotic Plant!
• Team Versus (Team Sonic vs. Team Rose or Team Dark vs. Team Chaotix) - Boss.
• Casino Park - Dash through the giant theme park!
• BINGO Highway - Try the BINGO slides
• Robot Carnival - Miniboss
• Rail Canyon - Infiltrate the terminal station!
• Bullet Station - Destroy Eggman's base!
• EGG ALBATROSS - Boss
• Frog Forest - Discover the forest where the frogs live!
• Lost Jungle - Venture through the deepest part of the jungle!
• Team Versus (Team Sonic vs. Team Dark or Team Rose vs. Team Chaotix) - Boss.
• Hang Castle - Find the haunted castle!
• Mystic Mansion - Escape from the haunted house!
• Robot Storm
• Egg Fleet - Find Eggman's Fleet!
• Final Fortress - Hurry and find Eggman!
• EGG EMPEROR - Boss

Last Story

• Metal Madness - Boss (Fought using Teams Rose, Chaotix and Dark (In that order)
• Metal Overlord - Boss (Fought using Team Super Sonic)

Reaction

Reviews for Sonic Heroes generally are positive; most professional reviewers cited the enjoyable sense of visual style the game had (which harkens back to the classic Sonic games of the mid-1990s) but also noted its shortcomings as well, such as the poor camera system (a frequent complaint about the 3D Sonic series). Still, the majority of reviewers rated this game favorably despite the problems. Fan reaction, however, has not been quite as positive. The majority of the complaints seem to stem from the control scheme, claiming that it is either too precise or not precise enough depending on the speed of the character's movement. The game's control scheme, combined with the common "bottomless pit" obstacles in the game, have resulted in some player backlash for what many deem to be "unfair deaths".

Another complaint that both fans and critics alike shared was the fact that there were simply too many playable characters. This has been an ongoing complaint that started back during the original Sonic Adventure, with many stating that all these extra characters were beginning to steal the spotlight from Sonic; this complaint was amplified in Sonic Adventure 2, which forced players to play as the extra characters rather than Sonic himself. This was compounded by Sonic Heroes, which included a total of 12 playable characters. However, one could also say that many fans would be disappointed if their favorite character was not playable - such was the case with Sonic Adventure 2; half the roster of playable characters were added after many complained Tails was not playable.

A third common complaint is the lack of variation. Many fans were unhappy that the levels play in the same order for each team with few changes. This could have particularly improved in the sense that Team Dark's first cut-scene is in Eggman's base, yet their first level is Seaside Hill.

The PlayStation 2 version is considered the worst of all three releases, because of clipping and graphics faults during gameplay, consistently rating less than the Xbox and Gamecube versions in both professional reviews and fan ratings.[link], [link],[link],

The PC version rated fairly well and garnered better reaction from fans than professional reviewers. [link],[link],[link]

Sonic Heroes had good sales, entering all three of the "best-sellers" lists: Greatest Hits (PS2), Platinum Hits (Xbox), and Player's Choice (GameCube). The estimated sales are 2.37 million copies from the PS2 version and 1.3 million from the GameCube one[link]. Sonic Heroes was also released in a package with Super Monkey Ball Deluxe on Xbox.

Subtitles error

• There were quite a number of continuity errors between speech and subtitles in the game. For instance, numerous times, whenever you chose Team Chaotix and you were approaching a group of enemies, the subtitle below sometimes read, "Are those Eggman's assassins?", just as Espio was speaking when, in fact, Espio actually said "Are those Eggman's robots?"
• In Lost Jungle, Espio actually said his line correctly, but the subtitle had a grammatical error. It read: "Are they Eggman's robots?" This happened numerous times in the game and is probably due to translation from Japanese to English.
• In the Mystic Mansion level, speaking about the weight trap, Knuckles states: "I think that this thing may fall on us if we step on that shadow!", but the caption leaves out the "this" part near the beginning.
• Also in some levels like Frog Forest and Grand Metropolis, Espio would say "I'll handle it" even though the caption may say "Leave this to me!" which is one of Vector's main lines.

Trivia

Appearances

• Cream the Rabbit was originally designed to first appear in Sonic Heroes, however, when 2002's Sonic Advance 2 was announced, Sonic Team decided that it would be a good idea to introduce her there first, as to make Sonic Advance 2 feel fresher.
• This is the first game Chaotix has appeared in since 1995. Takashi Iizuka has been quoted saying he considers this new, re-designed Chaotix his creation, as the original Chaotix from 1995 was created by a different artist at Sega.
• An early version of Vector the Crocodile was originally slated to appear in the original Sonic the Hedgehog, on the Sound Test screen as part of a "Sonic the Hedgehog Band". Unfortunately, this animation was removed to make room for the Sega Chime at the beginning of the game.

Plot

• Although the plot for Sonic Heroes is somewhat sparse, a large portion of it is a set up for 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog, especially Team Dark's story.
• This was the first brand-new Sonic game planned to be Multi-Platform since its inception. It was designed using Renderware technology, making porting between systems easy. Primary development was done on the Gamecube, and then ported to the Xbox and Playstation 2.

In-Game

• In the opening scene of Team Chaotix's story, there are pinned papers on a notice board behind Vector, showing concept drawings of the robots used in the original Sonic game.
• The Stage Frog Forest is very similar to the Sonic & Knuckles stage, Mushroom Hill Zone.

(Knuckles also says that, during the flight with the flower, that he has big mushrooms on his island, but not as big as the ones in Frog Forest.)

Voice Acting

• This is the last Sonic game in which the voice actors from Sonic Adventure recorded their voices. Newer games in the series, from Shadow the Hedgehog on, are recorded by the cast of Sonic X. Many Sonic fans were angered by the change and have sent demands to Sega to rehire the original voice cast from this game and the Sonic Adventure series. Some people say this, however, is unlikely to happen, especially considering the passing of Deem Bristow who voiced Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik in this and all previous 3D Sonic games.
• In both the English and Japanese versions, the same actor who portrays Sonic portrays Metal Sonic.
• In the Japanese version, Tails has his voice artist from Sonic X.

Voice Talent

English Version

Ryan Drummond: Sonic, Metal Sonic
William Corkery: Tails
Scott Drier: Knuckles
David Humphrey: Shadow
Lani Minella: Rouge
Jon St. John: Big, E-123 Omega
Jennifer Douillard: Amy
Sarah Wulfeck: Cream
Marc Biagi: Espio
Emily Corkery: Charmy
Bill Corkery: Vector
Deem Bristow: Dr. Eggman

Japanese Version

Junichi Kanemaru: Sonic, Metal Sonic
Ryo Hirohashi: Tails
Nobutoshi Kanna: Knuckles
Kouji Yusa: Shadow
Rumi Ochiai: Rouge
Taiten Kusunoki: E-123 Omega
Taeko Kawata: Amy
Sayaka Aoki: Cream
Takashi Nagasako: Big
Yuuki Masuda: Espio
Yoko Teppozuka: Charmy
Kenta Miyake: Vector
Chikao Otsuka: Dr. Eggman

Allusions

As characters interact, they sometimes make references to past Sonic games:

• Amy: "This weather reminds me of our last attack on the Egg Carrier!" (allusion to Sonic Adventure) in Final Fortress.
• Amy: "This place reminds me of Casinopolis!" (another allusion to Sonic Adventure) in Casino Park, even though in Sonic Adventure she never actually entered the Casinopolis level.
• Knuckles: "We have jungle mushrooms on my island too, but not this huge!" (allusion to Mushroom Hill Zone from Sonic & Knuckles) in Frog Forest.
• Shadow: "Space? Did you say SPACE?" when replying to Rouge who said, "We might even be at the edge of space." (allusion to Shadow being created and living in space as told in Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow The Hedgehog) in Egg Fleet.
• Metal Sonic: "I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you," when addressing Sonic (allusion to Sonic CD) in the boss battle, Metal Overlord.
• Knuckles: "The Egg Carrier is nothing compared to this!" (another allusion to Sonic Adventure) in Final Fortress.
• Big: His quest for Froggy is reminiscent of his story in Sonic Adventure.

External links

• [Sonic Heroes gamesite]
• [Sonic Heroes developer]
• [SEGA: Sonic Heroes information page with Download Demo for PC]
• [Sonic Heroes wiki guide at StrategyWiki] (previously hosted by Wikibooks)

 

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