#all the Sonic poses and the chaos emerald it's just perfect

[tailshastwotails]

My first Sonic figure for all the years and I am really happy for it to be this one

[skaruresonic]

The double standard gets more annoying when you realize fandom don't ACTUALLY care for canon...if it means abitrarily bringing back chars or reffing stuff

Like, fans are mad Iizuka didn't know what Choco Island from Tails Advejtures was regarding Forces dev. Ignoring that it's NOT a game made by Sonic Team, and very blatantly contradicts Tails having low self esteem and being bullied before he met Sonic (then you have other Aspect Games do dumb shit that contradicts Sonic Team stuff, along with weird rehash of Green Hill). I'm aware Sonic Channel recently reffed it last year, but notably don't mention events of the game. Same for Fang being canonized, Triple Trouble isn't mentioned

People hype up Emerl being in the Shadow short ignoring that the literal diary entries note that Shadow wasn't even awakened yet. At least one can argue that Doom was mem hacking, but people genuinely believe that the memory is legit and don't care cuz "OMG, SHADOW VS EMERL FIGHT"

Same for people treating Neo Metal as a basic Super Form that can kick Sonic's ass, when no, it's just a recepticle to gaining DNA needed to tutn inyo a Perfect Chaos based form

A lot of this really just boils down to "canon be damned, I want char fights, or any game is canon cuz Aaron Webber said so"

It's a mess

People hype up Emerl being in the Shadow short ignoring that the literal diary entries note that Shadow wasn't even awakened yet.

Admittedly I couldn't remember the content of Gerald's Battle diary entries, so I had to look them up. Reading through them, I realized that Shadow fighting Emerl renders Gerald's problems nonsensical in hindsight due to the way establishing Links works, as stated by Battle.

In addition, Gerald says it was the researchers who managed to subdue Emerl and seal him away. For some reason, the researchers kept giving Emerl more and more weapons to absorb:

---

Journal 5

The higher ups are threatening to shut down this research facility. I had no choice but to hand them the Gizoid to buy more time for my research. I tried to be careful and commanded it to never absorb any dangerous technologies. However, I have heard that other researchers have been making the Gizoid absorb weapons. Apparently, the way to cause the Gizoid to form a new "Link" is to show it power that surpasses that of its former master. While this poses immense danger, I cannot risk losing Maria.

---

Journal 6

My worst fears have come true. The Gizoid has absorbed enough weaponry and technology that it has started to go out of control. The resulting rampage resulted in the destruction of most of the "Ark." ... I have deciphered the rest of the stone tablet. It says, "When the Gizoid had learned all that it could, it became a god of wrath, and all was destroyed." The researchers somehow managed to subdue the Gizoid and sealed it away. Luckily, it only had one "Chaos Emerald" installed. If it were to have all 7 Emeralds installed, it might destroy the whole planet. The Gizoid is too much of a liability. I tried destroying its core, but nothing I did worked. I understand too little of the technology that built him. My best hope is to try and reprogram its AI into a free-willed, emotions-based AI...

---

Assuming this fight is indeed real, and that Shadow wins, that raises an entire slew of problems.

If Shadow fights Emerl, and inadvertently establishes a Link with the Gizoid by defeating him, Gerald's dilemma vanishes instantly.

All Gerald would have to do then is order Emerl to follow Shadow the way Sonic did:

Therefore, Gerald would have no reason to "try and reprogram its AI into a free-willed, emotions-based AI" in a last-ditch effort to bring the Gizoid to heel. He would have had no reason to install the final program or a soul identical to Maria's into Emerl. The events of Sonic Battle would never happen in the first place. Shadow's interference would have rendered his efforts moot.

tfw the fight is so peak that it threatens to break canon

Now, again, granted, this scenario is predicated on the assumptions that

A.) the fight is real; if it isn't, I just have to question why our time is being wasted on a fake scenario,

and B.) Shadow wins the fight. If he loses and Emerl goes on to destroy the ARK, that'd be another issue - how do the researchers manage to subdue him where Shadow cannot? And wouldn't that kind of feed into Shadow's complex about being unable to protect Maria?

Idk, the implications become weird and untenable the more you think about them. Maybe Black Doom really is sticking Shadow in a scenario where he makes him feel as WEEEEEAK as a certain masked villain, but I must ask once again what the point of that is. I ain't playing SxS Gens just to watch this motherfucker get woobified, you know what I mean?

---

I'm aware Sonic Channel recently reffed it last year, but notably don't mention events of the game.

Just because ST references things doesn't necessarily make them canon.

(coughs)

---

Same for people treating Neo Metal as a basic Super Form that can kick Sonic's ass, when no, it's just a recepticle to gaining DNA needed to tutn inyo a Perfect Chaos based form

A Super form? Why?

Metal couldn't complete his transformation without everyone's data and Chaos' ability to metamorphize. In Charmy's words: "Incomplete freak!"

---

A lot of this really just boils down to "canon be damned, I want char fights, or any game is canon cuz Aaron Webber said so"

It's a mess

Peak fiction often hinges on the aesthetics of a scene rather than the logistics. Who cares if Shadow fighting Emerl is so acanonical that it has the potential to retcon Sonic Battle as an entire game? It feels right, therefore it must be right.

Personally, I feel like it detracts from both Shadow's backstory and the ARK's unique identity as a research facility somewhat to have all of these disparate elements link (pun not intended) back to Shadow in some way. The ARK needs to be able to stand as a bastion of scientific progress on its own merits, with all the implications that brings to the table, and not just be regarded solely as Shadow's birthplace.

It should be stressed that the ARK developed tools of destruction alongside projects of medicine and healing. That is worth taking into consideration when examining the colony's purpose as a whole.

When people speak about the colony's darker underbelly, they tend to portray its horrors as those of unethical medical experimentation. In actuality, the real horrors reside more in the general territory of the politics of WMD development. "What the fuck did they have to create a planet-destroying cannon for? Who commissioned it? Why? What was its intended use?"

SA2 and Battle both touched upon the dangers of weapons of mass destruction. In particular, the ethical considerations and mindset of those who created them. These themes reflected the cultural anxiety of the early aughts concerning their development and use.

SA2 is more subtle in that it leaves Gerald's motivations in developing such a weapon ambiguous - Eggman raising questions of whether it was Gerald's legacy and intent to destroy mankind. Battle, on the other hand, is so blatantly anti-war that you're practically hearing War Pigs by Sabbath in the background.

The Gizoid counts as a WMD. Nothing can prevent it from going on a rampage and destroying everything, and flexing your power in order to retain control only escalates risk the more you do it. The only real effective countermeasure Gerald could think of was to give it a soul to dissuade it from ever pressing the nuke launch button. Or, in more allegorical terms, temper one's destructive impulses via conscience.

It takes Eggman forcibly overpowering and dehumanizing Emerl in order to reduce him to a WMD again. Except he loses control of Emerl immediately thereafter and winds up having his Final Egg Blaster getting aimed at the Earth without his consent, much like how nuclear bombs cause indiscriminate destruction.

It's such a brilliant and multi-tiered message, artfully delivered by Battle. Which is why it becomes undercut if we can have Shadow solve Gerald's problem in an instant.

[true-blue-sonic]

what's the first sonic thought that comes to your mind right now? not necessarily espilver, just anything. i'm kinda curious

The ending of Sonic Rush, after I gave it some thought. I rewatched it for this ask, and it actually starts quite somber, which I find an interesting contrast with the altogether cheery Raisin' Me Up and its sweet, assuring lyrics. Blaze concedes she must leave because having the Chaos and Sol Emeralds in the same world will cause a crisis, and she and Sonic talk about how Cream will miss her and how Blaze finds it appropriate she leaves the way she came: as a stranger to all. Blaze's sprite is a bit closed off, with her eyes shut and a hand pressed on her hip, compared to Sonic's open-eyed look and more lax posing.

And I think Blaze really had not expected Sonic to come in and give her advice! At least, that is how I interpret the little moment where he says "Wait." with the ... afterwards and Blaze's "...!" as reaction, and Sonic saying that an unseen "that" is from him. The recollections of what Sonic apparently told Blaze that play once Blaze is in the Sol Dimension again are, if I remember correctly, not seen in the game proper. Thus, I figure his speech about how everything is fine as long as he's got the Chaos Emeralds must be spoken in that prior moment. Though I do find it strange, as Sonic's normal sprite is used instead of one of his Super Sonic ones. But I'm the fool who needed literally years to figure out that Cream gets kidnapped in the cutscene of Sonic and Blaze making up after their boss battle in Blaze's story, so what do I know, haha.

Afterwards, we get the handshake: I think it is a great showcase of everything Blaze has learned about friendship and trusting others that she is the one who both moves closer first and holds out her hand first. Interestingly, Sonic moves closer to her more quickly and shakes her hand with much more vigour than she held it out, and he's also the one who adds a second hand to hold on just a bit longer as their respective dimensions tear them apart. But Blaze seems to be the one who reaches back to him more... wanting? Yearning, maybe? As that happens, whereas Sonic's left hand actually drops down and his right hand stays outstretched basically the same way for the whole scene, compared to Blaze reaching back extra. With Sonic seeming the most confident about the two of them meeting once more ("I'll see you, again!" contrasted with Blaze's more quiet "Yes... Again..."), it might make sense that Blaze is the one who wants to stay with the two of them just a bit longer. And after that and Blaze thinking back to what Sonic told her, we get this altogether adorable sprite of her:

I consider Rush's sprite-work truly something else, I love it. This post kind of is a bit all over the place, but I think the ending of Rush is a perfect culmination of everything Blaze has learned over the course of the game. And Sonic is just an altogether sweetheart: he's supportive, he sees what is actually going on with Blaze, her past, and her powers, he understands this is why she acts the way she does, he knows she means well at heart, and he helps her learn about and embrace the love others hold for her. I wouldn't say Rush's storymode is perfect (I would argue Amy and Knuckles got the short end of the stick somewhat when it comes to their characterisations), but it's just... sweet! For me, it's truly a sweet, lift-me-up kind of game, and the ending could not showcase better Blaze's growth and Sonic's amazing personality to me.

Not entirely related to this post, but now I'm actually thinking about Sonic '06, and the similarities between Silver's and Blaze's separation there compared to Sonic's and Blaze's in Rush. Because I find it really interesting that in the former, Blaze also is the one who reaches back to the person she is leaving! It's with her left hand instead of her right, but I wonder if it means something more? Was it an intentional callback to Rush, perhaps?

[subterranean-hedgehog]

It was just another quiet day on South Island...

Things had been peaceful since Eggman's last attack. Sonic was taking full advantage of the rare time off, taking himself on a casual run through familiar scenery.

To anyone else, zipping through crumbling ruins and spike-filled rooftops at mach 1 would be terrifying.

For the Blue Blur however, it was nothing but a fun way to relax. Everything was going precisely as it had hundreds of times before. All obstacles were precisely where he remembered them. Few badniks still remained, and those who did posed very little challenge. It was perfect. No surprises. Nothing to break his focus. Maybe he'd even set a new record time! ...That is, until suddenly, the seven Chaos Emeralds descended from the skies. Before Sonic could even begin to process what was happening, they began to encircle him, slowly spinning faster and faster, until...

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

PLEASE TELL ME MORE ABT YOUR SONIC UNDERGROUND REBOOT I CRAVE CONTENT FOR THE SILLY HEDGEHOG SIBLINGS (if it’s okay with you ofc)

Honestly I dont want to share a ton online cause I still have delusions plans of making it A Thing but the quick notes on what I believe needs to be done:

More characters from Sonic canon (esp including tails!!!), but at the same time the triplets– specifically their feelings and dynamic– have to be a very major part of the show.

More worldbuilding, including explaining the medallions and their magic. Adding in more Sonic lore, we can also explain how the chaos emeralds, master emeralds and gods fit into this.

Cutting the prophecy aspect. First of all it cuts out any and all stakes– "yeah, we know it'll happen eventually, so why care?"– and it breaks a lot of motives. Several heroes/villains would only do things because "the prophecy said so" instead of having proper motivations on their own. While prophecies can work in some stories, it doesn't work in all of them, and this is one I don't think it works well with.

Aleena needs to be more offscreen. She's been on the run for fifteen years and is a mysterious, ghostly figure, yet she seems to be always there for her kids. In that, having her narrate each episode doesn't work, as it makes the audience think she's more present than the siblings do– and as they're the main characters, their perspective is important. If you hear Aleena every episode, you start to get annoyed at the siblings for talking about missing her, because your brain is saying "she's right there." Aleena should be more of a mystery, and also, as an addition:

I think the sibs should have complicated feelings about their mom. It felt like in Underground, once they discovered they were Aleena's kids, she became their awesome mom who they miss dearly, even though they have no memories of her, and Sonia is the only one who seems to miss her foster parent, as Sonic and Manic never mention theirs. Especially if we take out the prophecy aspect, we have a lot of conclusions they could come to: she wanted us to be safe and noblely gave us up, she didn't want to take care of us and abandoned us, she could've visited us at any time and didn't, etc. We know Aleena loves her kids. They have really no reason to believe that, so what do they think and how does the feeling change overtime, especially as she dips in and out dropping them hints and saving them in battles? Does that make them feel like she's watching over them, or that she is simply choosing not to talk to them?

More focus on the rebellion/story aspect. Underground went into that towards the end, but it needed to happen more. Less episodic stories (though character development episodes are ofc necessary as well!!!! don't think i'm that bitch) and more building up to the rebellion trying to overthrow Robotnik's government.

If we go with a more dark aspect, we need a darker Robotnik. If we go with a lighter show, we need a lighter Robotnik. SatAM!Robotnik would not work in Sonic Boom, just as Boom!Eggman would not work in SatAM. SatAM Robotnik is the perfect villain for a show with a high-stakes rebellion of desperate, traumatized children. Boom Eggman is the perfect villain for a workplace comedy, not really posing much of a threat and being more sympathetic and comedic. Underground Robotnik seemed to be very comedic, but then they also had him, you know, practically execute the siblings' foster families. It creates a dissonance. Is he going to be the bumbling boss trying to get his minions to do something right for once, or is he the merciless dictator who kills his political enemies? For Underground, I personally think the latter would work better as a villain, seeing as the plot is similar to SatAM's setup and requires him to be tactical enough to overtake at least one kingdom, if not a whole planet, and hold that power for fifteen years. And in doing that– we have to either cut or completely redo Sleet and Dingo. If Robotnik is a tactical villainous mastermind, why keep two bumbling idiots who can't catch three children for forty episodes? Why not just roboticize them and use the robots, or outsource? Snively at least had some competence and a familial connection, what do Sleet and Dingo have? Bad character designs tbh.

Speaking of which, redesigns. I think we all agreed on that.

and finally:

sega hire me

[beevean]

I didn't really stop to read the page/panel of Sonic looking down at Surge and giving his long winded to her until now, and holy shit man, cut down on the dialog and those word bubbles. Not even in AoSTH's Sonic Sez segments was he that wordy- the closest thing coming to that being the Sexual Harassment one because you can't exactly actually show it. Even as far as comic book presentation goes it just looks sloppy and lazy. I know they're only given so many pages to work with, but they could have done it another way than just shoving all of it into one place.

I'm sorry but I'm rolling on the floor that you're comparing IDW Sonic to the Sonic Sez of AoSTH 😂 oh IDW Sonic would love to do long patronizing speeches to children

The funny thing is that he had the gall to say "I like to keep it simple" before vomiting all those words. No you don't, you logorrheic stand-in for the writer.

The contrast with SA2 is incredible. Shadow asked him "how in the world did you manage to do a Chaos Control with a fake Emerald when I thought I was the only one who could do it" and Sonic's response is pretty much "idk i'm just a dude ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" That's Sonic! That's what it means to keep it simple.

I'm personally more irritated by the composition of the whole panel, of Sonic looking down on Surge/the viewer with a smug smirk on his face and a confident pose as light shines all around him. It would have been perfect if we were following Surge's POV, but no. Plus, well, how self-absorbed, arrogant and dismissive he comes across. Amazing how much we can talk about one (1) panel, huh.

[mellow-elbow]

talk more about tikal in SA3!! i love her and im excited to see her have more concrete importance to stopping chaos! (im a bit fuzzy on the original plot but iirc, she was a magical background force that helped sonic stop chaos? correct me there if im wrong)

👀👀👀

Tikal is the daughter of Chief Pachacamac (I call him Patch for short) of the Knuckles Clan- an Echidna tribe that lived in the mystic ruins 4,000 years ago before they were mysteriously wiped out- the truth would later be uncovered in Sonic Adventure 1 that Tikal’s father took his role as Chief after his mother, the previous Chief, passed away and began his reign of terror. Tikal shows flashbacks to the heroes of Sonic Adventure 1 to give them an idea as to what happened to warn them of the future repeating itself.

If you go through all the flashbacks, there’s a lot of truly despicable stuff. One of the most important scenes/quotes that still sticks with me is this one:

[image ID: Chief Pachacamac, a red Echidna in tribal garb, is ignoring his daughter Tikal- a peach Echidna- as she begs him not to attack. The subtitles of Tikal are “Attacking other countries, stealing and killing....” end /ID]

Other countries. The Knuckles clan was traveling, pillaging, and desecrating. But what were they doing in other countries?

[image ID: the same scene as before, this time Tikal’s subtitles read “No one has the right to take their holy grounds.” end /ID]

Taking their holy grounds. To the Echidna’s, their holy ground is the Master Emerald shrine. My theory is that there are other Master Emerald shrines across the world, possibly one for each Chaos Emerald (this translates well seeing thag in Unleashed there are ‘Gaia’ temples that restore the emeralds, I believe they were originally meant to be shrines.) I believe Pachacamac was sending troops to steal valuable information and even the Chaos Emeralds themselves to gain power.

Part of what always made Tikal so interesting to me was her color scheme. She’s much lighter than any of the other Echidna’s we see and I wanted that to have some sort of significance. So, after MORE research, I ended up giving the Emeralds their own geological shrine for each of the continents introduced in Sonic Unleashed (the game that was made of scraps from the original Sonic Adventure 3 concepts). Angel Island in the United Federation became home to the shrine of the White Chaos Emerald- or the Unity Emerald, as it’s called in my notes.

White is the color of purity, innocence, harmony, and unity- which kind of fit with the continent being named the United Federation in modern day. The emerald was also titled this because of something Tikal says in Tails’ flashback:

[image ID: Tikal is reciting an ancient mantra in front of the main temple in the Mystic Ruins. The subtitles read as follows: “The servers are the seven Chaos.” “Chaos is power... Power enriched by the heart.” “The controller is the one that unifies that Chaos.” end /ID]

“The controller is the one that unifies that Chaos.” This mantra was passed down to Tikal in secret for whatever reason, as there’s no mention of Pachacamac knowing it. So why was it so important for Tikal to never forget it?

[image ID: concept art by mellow-elbow featuring Tikal in a super-form with a white aura striking a powerful pose with a look of determination. There is a bright light emanating from where her corneas should be. End /ID]

She was a Guardian.

In my Sonic Adventure 3 pitch, Guardians aren’t only limited to Echidna’s- there were once Guardians for each geological shrine. Where’d that idea come from? Well, you may have seen this image once or twice:

[image ID: the mural from the Knuckles boss fight at Hidden Palace Zone in Sonic 3 & Knuckles; the mural depicts a large entity in possession of a green emerald that may represent the Master Emerald. To the right of the mural is a blue figure surrounded by a yellow aura. There are 6 similar aura’s without figures behind the large entity. end /ID]

Everyone is always so focused on the blue figure surrounded by the yellow aura and scream and shout “Super Sonic! That’s Super Sonic!”... but everyone always seems to ignore the six other auras coming from behind the giant boss. To me, this mural depicts a spiky blue entity in a super form distracting the antagonist while 6 other super-formed individuals attack and defeat it.

My story goes that Pachacamac knew Tikal was a Guardian and wanted to use her powers to aid him in his warmongering ways. Before Pachacamac’s mother passed, she was hellbent on drilling peace and unity into Tikal to ensure it would never happen. Her efforts were fruitless, however, as Pachacamac began his reign of terror without Tikal and still succeeded.

When the time had come and he was ready to take the powers of the Chaos Emeralds for himself, Tikal stood in his way and begged him to leave the place be. Her cries fell on deaf ears, as Pachacamac ordered his men to stampede through Tikal and a herd of Chao- upsetting Chaos who used the negative energy to become Perfect Chaos and decimate a good portion of the Knuckles clan.

We don’t see exactly how Tikal stopped Chaos, we just know that she somehow sealed her spirit inside the master emerald with them. I wanted to introduce the powers of the Unity Emerald in SA3 and how she stopped Chaos, as it would be important info that would help the new Guardians defeat the main antagonist.

Tikal’s spirit would make a return in SA3 where she would help locate the new Guardian of Unity and teach the new Guardians how to defeat their enemy by showing how she defeated Chaos.

Anyways SEGA please hire me to make Sonic Adventure 3 😔🤲🏻💙

[lyrazehedgieboiii]

I have an idea for sonic boom where sonamy boom 3 little kids travel to the past and you know like maybe accidentally used tails invention...when they are in past sonic freaks out at first but then he’s like at the end “am so gonna be the cool parent int the future” teases amy and btw i love ur stories 💗💗

Haha, of course! I swear, as soon as I got on Tumblr and saw your ask, I was like “OMG OMG OPEN A GOOGLE DOC START WRITING DROP EVERYTHING AHHHH”Sorry I’m a bit late, my laptop’s battery went dead and I was scared that the story wouldn’t save, but it did! But now here I am, hope you like it~ 

“What. The. Hell. Are. Those.” Sonic said, as his eyes grew wide at the little hedgehogs standing right in front of him.

“Hi, dad!” One of the little ones exclaimed. He sure did look a lot like Sonic himself.

 “Woah, Sonic, he called you dad! You didn’t tell me you had kids! But don’t you think Amy’s a little too young to have children?” Tails asked his big-brother figure.

  “T-Tails, seriously, they aren’t my kids! I’m not dating Amy or anything!” Sonic stuttered. The truth was that he was madly in love with Amy, he just didn’t want to admit it.

    “What do you mean, daddy? You always go to mommy everyday and kiss her, and tell her that you love her! You two leave us with Uncle Tails while you go on dates!” The youngest one said. He was an exact replica of Sonic.

     “Be quiet, Skid! Daddy tells us that he loves us too! Right, Blur?” The middle one said, looking over to her right, where a midnight blue hedgehog, possibly six, looked up.

    “Yeah.” He looked up to Tails. “Uncle Tails, did you make a shrink ray? ‘Cause you look shorter than usual!” Tails looked at himself. He looked completely the same.

   “How old are your parents?” Tails asked, hoping he could find out who their parents were. Their parents certainly couldn’t be Sonic and Amy. Amy was only 14, and Sonic was going to turn 18 soon. The oldest child looked about 6. Definitely not Amy’s child. 

    “Daddy is…” the youngest, who’s name is Skid and was about 3, stared off into space, trying to remember. “27!” Sonic looked surprised. He tugged at his scarf. That would’ve meant that Amy would have his kids at the age of 18...Was he really that much of a wimp?!

      “Do mommy and daddy have rings on their fingers?” Tails asked, as if he knew what Sonic was thinking.

    “Yes! Mommy has a diamond ring on her finger, along with some other rings.” So, they were engaged at the time?..

   “Are they married?” Sonic asked, interrupting Tails from asking the exact same question. All three of the children shook their heads.

    “Mommy said that you and her will get married soon, and she said I could be the flower girl!” the middle one giggled. She looked so much like Amy. She had jade eyes, with speckles of emerald in them. Sonic loved her immediately. 

  “Sonic, these kids must be from the future! How did you three get here?” Tails asked, hoping they would say through his invention. 

   “Well, you told us not to go near that,” the oldest one pointed to the machine that the kids came through.”

    “Fascinating. It must be a time machine.” Tails muttered, forgetting about the four hedgehogs in the room.

    “Oh boys! I brought the food you asked for!~” An angelic voice appeared, and the trio ran toward it. Amy was surprised by the sudden warmth on her legs, and found three little hedgies stuck to her, yelling “Mommy!” “You’re back!!” “WHERE WERE YOU?!” Amy wondered whose kids these were and why they were calling her ‘mommy.’  They looked like a mix of herself and Sonic.

   “Amy! Thank Chaos you’re here! These kids are from the future! They came through a time machine! They’re ours.” Amy widened her eyes. She looked back at the hugging hedgehogs.

   “This isn’t a prank, right? You’re telling the truth?” Amy said in a gentle, sensitive voice, which surprised Sonic, as he was used to hearing her coaching, cheering voice. “You know my feelings aren’t a toy you can just play with.” Yeesh, why was she so moody?

    “Ames, it’s not a prank, I swear, they’re our kids.” Amy’s cheeks went red. “No time to fantasize, our future selves are probably worried sick!” Amy shook out of her thoughts and all the questions she had.

    “I wasn’t fantasizing! I was just...wondering…” Amy took the kids in her arms, not worrying about their weight, because of the fact that she carries a humongous hammer. She walked over to Tails and put them down. “So, what are your names?” She asked, kneeling down. Sonic had a wave of pride splashing upon his heart. That was weird. It usually happened when Sonic defeated Eggman’s robots or when he saved his friends. The oldest one spoke up.

  “I’m Blur, that’s my sister, Ariana, and that,” he pointed to his little brother. “Is Skid.” Amy smiled. She couldn’t believe that these tiny little chubby potatoes were hers.

   “Has anyone told you guys how adorable you are?” Only Ariana giggled.

   “Yeah, you tell us that everyday, mom.” the oldest one and youngest one said simultaneously. “I see where you get your attitude from.” Amy looked up at Sonic, who was glaring at her.

  “Not only attitude, but also good looks~” Sonic posed, pretending to flex his non-existent muscles. Amy suddenly was caught in a daze. She had a lovey-dovey look on her face. 

   “Oh no, it’s happening again. Even young daddy makes young mommy all red-happy.” Red happy was the sonamy childrens’ way of saying that someone was blushing. They didn’t need an explanation, they understood.

   “I WAS RIGHT! IT WAS A TIME MACHIN- Oh sorry, I probably interrupted your little family moment.” Tails said, looking at the young family before him.

   “OHOHOHO, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, PREPARE FOR YOUR DOOM!” A loud explosion was heard, and everyone quickly went outside to see Eggman in his Eggmobile, looking confident, as though he was going to win the battle.

   “Ames, stay with the kids, take them inside, and make sure Eggman doesn’t see them!” Tails ‘aww’ed at the sight of Sonic being a protective ‘dad’, but quickly regained focus, and went on the X-Tornado to fire missiles. Amy obeyed the order, and quickly grabbed all three of the munchkins and went inside. The kids were squirming, wanting to go outside and participate, but Amy blocked the only way out.

    “Mommy, why are you blocking the door? You always let us go Eggbutt’s robots!” Blur cried. Amy was horrified. Will she really be that irresponsible about the kids when she’s older?” 

   “No. Not today. It’s not safe, you could get hurt!” Amy said, holding the three in her arms. She heard their complaints, and felt their kicks, but held onto them anyway. She noticed Ariana scooted away from the cuddle-pile. Amy let go of the two in her arms, and walked over to the bubblegum hedgehog. 

“What’s wrong, Ariana?” Ariana started whimpering, and that got Amy scared. Did she do something wrong? Ariana jumped into Amy’s arms, getting cradled by her mother. The middle child pulled away.

   “I just distracted you so that Blur and Skid could go outside.” Ariana giggled, her laugh sounding a lot like Amy when she was four. Amy ran out the door, leaving Ariana in a puddle of laughter. She saw her targets, and almost fainted. They were battling, and helping Sonic! They were running around, beating the crab-bots and bee-bots with Sonic’s spin dash. With so many Sonic’s at once, the robots were all defeated within fifteen seconds. Sonic gathers his future offspring into his arms and threw them into the air. He caught them before Amy has a heart attack. She walks right up to them and starts to scold them.

   “You two should be ashamed of yourselves! Your father tells you to stay inside, I tell you to stay inside, but what do you do?! You have your sister distract me with emotion, and run outside and help your father! I just wanted you three to stay safe! You’re lucky your dad didn’t scold you!” Amy had a dark and scary aura behind her that scared Blur and Skid.

  “Mommy?” an innocent little voice melted the hearts’ of everyone that had heard her, except her brothers, you deal with this all the time. 

   “Yes, Princess?” Amy asked, but then looked at herself in shock. She was aware that this was her future child, and she was aware that she’d only just met them.

   “I’m sorry I tricked you.” Ariana said, her eyes full of tears. Yes, of course Amy would feel guilty, Sonic just narrowed his eyes at his future child.

   “Don’t get all regretful, Ames. I’ve seen this trick before.” Amy turned and looked at him. What trick? “You used to do this all the time. You’d guilt-trip anyone into getting what you want and making sure you were never blamed for something you clearly did.” Amy just glared at him, his words sinking in. Was she really a guilt-tripper? Well, at least she didn’t blackmail. Ariana made a pouting face at the younger version of her dad.

“Well, this was fun and all, but I think it’s time that the SonAmy children head home.” Sonic and Amy spun their heads to their two-tailed fox friend, who was just standing there with a smirk. Amy felt a bit sad, until Sonic held one of her hands. He smiled. Yes, you read right! He smiled at Amy. She felt happy, and took the kids back inside. Tails walked over to the time machine.

  “So, while you were hanging out as a family, I figured out how to work this thing!” Tails exclaimed.

   “Make sure ya don’t send them to the dinosaur times. Future me and Amy wouldn’t be very happy.” Sonic said, putting his arms behind his back. 

   “You know Sonic, I’m surprised how you’re this chill about having kids.” Tails replied, acting like he was fixing something in the machine. Sonic dropped out of his pose and glared at Tails. He glanced at Amy and saw her blush. Perfect opportunity.

   “Well, Tails, I sure hope we have more than three, cause it must’ve been fun makin’ those kids.” He humped the air as if he were doing that to Amy. Her face went redder than a tomato and she made a disgusted face at him.

   “There are children in our presence! Say something appropriate for once!” Amy yelled at him. He just chuckled, doing his signature rub-under-the-nose thing. Amy rolled her eyes.

   “What’re mommy and daddy talking about?” Skid asked his ‘uncle Tails.’ 

   “Grown up stuff.” Tails said, trying to avoid that question as much as possible, not wanting his future nieces and nephews getting scarred for life. They nodded. Tails turned to the flirting couple. “It’s time for you to say ‘bye,’” Tails said, while Ariana nuzzled into his leg. He smiled, feeling a tear slide down his cheek. He hugged the little ones, and pushed them to their past parents. They all hugged, Sonic tried to snuggle into Amy’s neck. They let go, and they lead the kids into the time machine.

  “Bye, mom and dad!” they all said. Amy felt like crying again. Sonic held onto her waist, making her hit his arm.

   “Yeesh, Ames. I was just trying to comfort you!” Sonic exclaimed, rubbing his arm.

    “Stop acting like a married couple! You two aren’t married yet here or in their time.” Tails yelled at them, pointing at their future kids. “Okay, ready guys?” Tails asked. They nodded. He pushed a button, causing them and the machine to go back to their time. “Future me is gonna get beat up by future them.” Tails muttered as he saw Sonic kiss Amy’s cheek and laugh at her reaction.

    “I’ll be such a cool dad~” Amy rolled her eyes.

     “We’ll see about that.”

                    Well, you never know what’s going to happen in the future.

  This was so much fun to write!!! By the way, I won’t be able to post until the weekend because of University stuff.

[mario-sonic-dimensional-shift]

Mario & Sonic: Dimensional Shift - Chapter 1: The Cause Pt. 1

Doctor Eggman barges through the doors of his base, the tips of his mustache singed and a grizzly scowl on his face. He stomps over to his supercomputer and begins to type angrily, muttering insults and swears under his breath.

Orbot rolls over to Eggman and moves to his side. “What’s wrong, boss? Did your plans surprisingly fail again?”

Eggman backhands Orbot away with a grunt. “Quiet you! I don’t need attitude from scrap metal like you!”

Cubot quickly moves to Eggman’s other side. “Aw, don’t worry boss! You’ll get it next time, for sure! One hundred and eight times the charm, right?”

“Grr, I said SHUT IT!” Eggman stands up and kicks Cubot, who reverts into his cube form before hitting the wall. Eggman begins to pace about the room. “I could conquer this world anytime I wanted! If it wasn’t for that… that… blue nuisance!” He kicks some equipment over in anger. “It’s unfair! It’s frustrating! I can’t conquer my own planet, I can’t conquer alien planets, what am I supposed to do to get a win for once!?”

“Too bad you can’t live in a universe where there’s no Sonic,” Orbot says as he lazily lies on his side. “Now that would be a perfect universe. But alas, you seem to be doomed to a life of constant failure. How about some tea to calm down? I suggest chamomile.”

Eggman stops pacing. “Wait, say that again.”

“Chamomile tea? It’s known to have calming properties to soothe people.”

“No, the other thing.”

“Oh, you mean how you are stuck being a constant failure?”

Eggman hits Orbot over the head. “No Dumbot!! The part where you mentioned a universe without Sonic!” His glasses glint for a moment as he rushes over to his computer. “That gives me a wonderful idea!”

“What’re you gonna do, boss? Erase Sonic from the universe?” Cubot asks.

“You think I haven’t tried that? What do you think I’ve been doing all these years? I’ve tried bending reality to defeat him, and every single time he’s found a way to overcome it! No, I have to go farther! Farther than ever before! I must reach into another universe!”

“Dimensional travel?” Orbot tilts his head. “Now this sounds familiar. Hasn’t such a feat been accomplished already before?”

“Indeed, by Sonic’s friend, Blaze,” Eggman articulates, “However, from what I’ve observed, she only has the knowledge of transporting herself and a few others between dimensions. I also have experience with dimensional travel, from when I worked with my counterpart from Blaze’s universe. But this time it’s different. I want to bring an entire army through to an entirely different dimension! I’ll conquer their world, expand my army, and create my Eggman Empire, with no Sonic to stop me! And then, when I’ve become unstoppable, I’ll return and destroy Sonic with my vast new army! It’s foolproof! Ohohoho!”

Cubot breaks the Doctor’s laughter. “But boss, how are you gonna do that? That seems like a lot of power you’re gonna need, and to power that you’re gonna need-”

“The Chaos Emeralds,” Eggman interrupts. “By my calculations, I’ll need at least a few of them for this project.” He begins to stroke his mustache as he thinks for a moment. “Or perhaps, a single large Emerald. Yes… And I know just the sucker to trick for it!”

------

A new morning sun overlooks a series of grassy hills, with shadows of several large puffy clouds providing shade over the countryside. The grass sways gently from side to side over the beautiful spring hills. The gentle breeze is cut off by a sudden blue wind, zipping over one hill to the next, before coming to a stop upon a wonderful hill that overlooks the landscape.

Sonic looks over the area with a smile as he sits upon the grass, taking out a packed lunch. He lets out a sigh of relaxation as he lays down and rest his eyes, crossing his legs and putting his hands behind his head. “Man, it’s been a while since I’ve taken some time to myself. It’s nice. It’s good to remind myself that I’m able to slow down and take in the world around me.”

As Sonic sinks into relaxation, his empty mind is broken by the sound of his telecommunicator. He pulls it out and presses the button to talk. “You’ve reached Sonic the Hedgehog, please leave a message after the BA-WONK,” he says with a joking tone.

“Sonic, you need to come over to my lab as soon as you can,” Tails says through the telecommunicator. “Something urgent has come up.”

“How urgent can it be? We just stopped Eggman a few weeks ago, right? I think we’re good for now.”

“Sonic, it’s Silver. He’s come back from the future again.”

Sonic’s eyes snap open as the gravity sets in. Silver coming usually meant something was on its way. “Right, I’m on my way.” He jumps up, pops the chili dog he packed quickly into his mouth, and makes haste to the lab.

-------

The door to Tail’s lab slams open as Sonic rushes in, stopping on a dime right before he would make impact with a table. He straightens up and walks over to the other members of the room, consisting of Tails and Silver.

“Hey guys, came as fast as I could,” Sonic says. “So what world-breaking event are we dealing with this time, huh? Can we make a bet? I wanna bet Tails ten rings it has something to do with big purple worms. Oh, I bet they spit acid from their mouths!”

Silver shrugs a little bit. “I wish it was that simple. At least purple worms could be dealt with. This time it’s kind of just… weird. Usually the bad futures I return to are on fire, or are in some sort of eternal darkness. But when I returned to my time it was… uh… odd. There were tall mushrooms planted everywhere, and the only inhabitants there was these odd robot creatures. They were like robots that looked like brown mushrooms and turtles. Here, I drew a picture of what they kind of look like.” He holds up a crudely drawn picture of a brown mushroom robot with feet attached to its body.

“Dude, you suck at drawing.” Sonic says as he snickered behind his hand.

Silver looks a little dejected by this comment. “Okay, I know it’s not the best, but it’s not far off from what it actually looks like. It was weird, these things just wandered around aimlessly, but when they saw me they got aggressive and slowly charged at me. They didn’t pose much threat, but I couldn’t communicate with them at all. Any civilizations I found were just… ruins. I couldn’t find any living person. I didn’t know what to do, so I came back to the past to find the answer.”

“No problem at all!” Sonic wags his finger confidently. “You said they were robots, right? All signs point to Eggman, obviously! It always does. We just gotta go find him again, and kick his butt like we always do!”

“Hang on Sonic,” Tails interjects. “I don’t think we should necessarily jump to that conclusion just yet. First of all, I don’t think mushrooms are really Eggman’s style of choice for decoration. And look at this robot design, it’s so impractical! It doesn’t even have hands. Unless it was a giant fish robot, I know that Eggman wouldn’t create a robot that couldn’t even hold a blaster or have some sort of bladed appendages.”

Sonic rubs the tip of his nose with his finger. “Hm, I guess you’re right about that, Tails. But on the other hand, we don’t have any other leads on who it could possibly be. Do we know anyone who might know a possible villain with an interest for weird mushroom decoration? Where’s Amy at?”

“She’s off doing reconstruction in Jasmine Town right now,” Tails replies.

“Hm, that’s a few days run at least. How about the Chaotix?”

“Last I heard, off solving a case at Casino Park.”

“Shadow or Rouge?”

“You know we can’t find them unless they want us to find them.”

“Well that’s disheartening. And we know that Knuckles is on Angel Island, so it’s not like he would know anything special.”

Just then, a foot kicks open the door to the lab, and a familiar red echidna barges inside. “Guys, I have bad news! Eggman is planning to steal the Chaos Emeralds! We have to stop him!”

Sonic raises an eyebrow. “Well, speak of Black Doom, we were just talking about you, Knuckles. A hello would have been nice, you know. How do you know Eggman is gonna steal the emeralds?”

“I got this letter, it’s a tip that Eggman plans to steal a Chaos Emerald in Chun-Nan soon! We have to hurry! Come on Tails, fire up the Tornado!” Knuckles exclaims.

Tails strokes his chin. “Chun-Nan? That’s halfway across the world. I feel like he would try to find something a little closer, right? Knuckles, let me see that letter.” He takes the letter from Knuckles and reads it over.

“Who gave you this letter, Knuckles?” Silver asks.

“Not sure, I found it on the ground near the temple. I assume it’s from someone who wanted to warn me about Eggman’s next plan. I had a gut feeling I had to take action, and I always trust my gut.”

“So let me get this straight,” Sonic says as he pinches the bridge of his nose. “You got an anonymous letter from someone that somehow got onto your floating island telling you to go halfway across the world? Is that about right?”

“Yeah, that’s the gist of it.”

Sonic, Tails, and Silver all look at each other with disappointment but not surprise.

Tails grabs his keys and opens his hanger bay. “Okay, let’s get into the Tornado. We’re going to Angel Island, everyone.”

Knuckles looks shocked. “Wait, why?! We need to get to Chun-Nan! Why are we going to Angel Island?”

“Because you just got duped, dude,” Sonic says with a small smirk.

“What?! What do you mean?!”

“Eggman totally hoodwinked you. He’s probably got the Master Emerald as we speak.”

“No way! I put the Master Emerald in a secret place whenever I have to leave the island!” Knuckles says, his face now red with embarrassment.

“Is it under the temple?” Sonic says with a raised eyebrow.

“Wait, how did you-”

“Yeah, everyone knows you put it under the temple.”

Knuckles is now fuming with anger. “That- that two timing son of a lizard! I’m gonna tear him to shreds!” He charges out to the hanger bay and climbs into the Tornado. “Come on! Hurry up!”

Silver shrugs to himself as he follows Sonic and Tails out to the plane. “Wow, and I thought I was manipulated easily.”

----

After a quick trip to the floating Angel Island, Tails lands the Tornado right outside the temple where the Master Emerald resides. Knuckles is quick to jump out and makes a mad dash to the altar. His entrance is followed by a loud “GAH” and a few swears.

The rest of the gang follows inside to find Knuckles on his hands and knees next to an empty alter. Sonic comes next to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, buddy. I know this sucks, but I’m surprised you got manipulated so easily. You’re not as gullible as that usually, what happened?”

“I- I don’t know… I just got a gut feeling and I just had the overwhelming urge to try and stop Eggman. I guess I just wanted to believe that I needed to help for the greater good…”

Silver looks over the scene of the crime. “Well whatever happened, it looks like Eggman was able to grab the Master Emerald thanks to your absence.”

Knuckles stands up all of a sudden and gets real close to Silver’s face. “You think I don’t know that, silver boy?! Don’t think you can talk down to me just because I made a mistake!”

Silver backs up a little bit. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Don’t think that just because you have fancy mind powers and can time travel that you can act like you’re better than me!” Knuckles pokes Silver in the chest lightly, pushing him back into a wall. “I don’t need powers to pulverize you any day!”

Sonic moves in between Silver and Knuckles, pushing Knuckles back to give some space between them. “Knuckles, calm down! He wasn’t trying to insult you, he was just making an observation. Don’t take out your anger on him because of what Eggman did.”

Knuckles crosses his arms in annoyance. “Whatever. How do we even know it was Eggman, anyway? I could name a few treasure thieves off the top of my head, especially a certain batty burglar.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Tails pipes up. “Come take a look at what I found on the ground.” He holds up a small red card sporting a familiar logo of a smiling mustached head, along with the words “SUCKER!” etched into the back.

“Yup, that’s definitely Eggman’s calling card,” Sonic says, taking the card and observing it. “He’s not the sneakiest thief, that’s for sure.”

Knuckles punches his fists together. “What a smug little-! That’s it! I say we march right over to his base and kick him in his nuts and bolts!”

“I wish we could,” Tails says. “But we have no idea where he’s located right now. He changes bases every few months, so he could be just about anywhere right now.”

A flirtatious voice breaks through the room in response to Tails. “Maybe I could be of assistance with that?”

Everyone looks up to the ceiling to see Rouge the Bat hanging upside down with a grin, as she jumps off and floats down the floor. “Long time no see, boys.”

“Rouge! What are you doing here?” Tails asks with delight. Knuckles looks even  more peeved now.

“I’ve been following Eggman around for a few days. He’s been a pretty busy man lately. Lots of Black Market purchases of illegal materials. I followed him to Angel Island, where big red here fell for a letter that he wrote in 3 minutes. I planted a tracker on his ship as he was stealing the Master Emerald, and when I saw that you all were on your way over, I decided to stick around for a chat.”

“Well that’s convenient,” Sonic remarks.

“Wait, how did you know we were coming?” Tails asks.

“I also might have planted a tracker on the Tornado. Maybe, maybe not.” Rouge winks playfully as Tails furrows his eyebrows.

“So, will you be able to help us at all?” Silver asks. “Please, we’ll need any information you can give!”

“I could, but sadly, my feelings are very hurt because of what the red meanie said about me.” She makes a eyes-crying motion towards Knuckles, who scowls in response. “Don’t you know it’s impolite to talk about a lady behind her back?”

“Tch. Don’t act like you’re so superior. You know you would snatch the Master Emerald without hesitation given the chance. You might be a spy, but at the heart you’re still a petty thief.” Knuckles crosses his arms and turns away from Rouge.

“Oh Knuckles, do you truly think so little of me? I thought we were friends, after everything we’ve been through together. And friends help friends, right?”

Knuckles rolls his eyes. “Ha! I know what that means! You want something from us, right? You would never help us out of the ‘kindness of your heart.’”

“Of course I would! I don’t want anything right now, I just want something the Doctor has acquired as of recently.” Rouge brings up a holographic image from her bracelet, showing an image of a round blue gem with a white star on the center. “We call this beauty the Hyperspace Sapphire. It’s a magical stone that, when harnessed properly, can transport the user across space and dimensions, spanning from continents to distant planets.”

“So you want us to secure this stone when we fight Eggman, and in return you’ll give us the location to his base?” Sonic reiterates.

“Bingo, blue.”

Sonic puts his arm out for a handshake. “Sounds good to me!”

Knuckles stands in front of Sonic before he can shakes Rouge’s hand. “Hold on! Do you really think we can trust her about this? Who knows what she’s planning to do with that gem!”

Sonic pats Knuckles on the shoulder and smiles. “C’mon, Knux, let’s have a little faith here. Where are we without trust, right?” He pushes Knuckles aside gently and he shakes Rouge’s hand.

Rouge smiles. “Thank you Sonic, I’m glad someone trusts me.” She pulls away and brings up an image of a location on a map. “The Doctor is located here, in the middle of a dense jungle. You won’t be able to land your plane anywhere inside, only on a town just outside.” She drops the image and begins to head for the door. “I might meet you there later, who knows?”

Sonic gives a thumbs up to Rouge. “Thanks a lot, Rouge. Glad we can count on you.” He gets an idea before Rouge leaves. “Oh, wait! Would you be able to contact Shadow to meet us there? He could be a big help to us, whatever we’re dealing with.”

“What makes you think he’ll help you guys out here? He’s not much of a team player, you know.”

“I know, I just thought he might want a piece of the action. Plus, I bet I could totally get there faster and take out Eggman before he could have a chance!”

Rouge laughs behind her hand and smiles. “You got it, Blue. I’ll give him a call. Don’t get your hopes up, though.” She says before sauntering out of the room.

Sonic grins as he looks at the other members of his team. “Well guys, are we ready to fry this egg once more?”

“I’m ready!” Tails exclaims with a jump.

Silver clenches his fist in a heroic way. “I’ll make sure that we stop Eggman’s plot and save the future!”

Knuckles crosses his arms and taps his foot. “I need to take some of this anger out on some robots soon, or else I’m gonna go crazy.”

Sonic nods his head with resolve. “All right! I just hope we can quash this issue before it turns into something big. Let’s go, everyone!”

[crystalnet]

Sonic Forces is Good

Sonic doesn't really slot into any of the semi-nebulous interests that this blog has previously covered but I just had to make an exception because I have thoughts on the blue blur's new game, especially in light of everyone going crazy for Mario Odyssey and the fact almost all professional reviewers as well as various critics on youtube have been basically taking a wrecking-ball to this game. Sonic fans themselves are left mostly enjoying the game (if the subreddit is any indication) and kind of sheepishly acknowledging the pretty low metacritic scores with a bit of a shrug--a pose any true Sonic fan has gotten used to taking in the past decade. I want to talk just very briefly about the problem with Sonic in 2017 and anytime past the year 1998 really and why perception of his non-side-scrolling games seem critically flawed and misguided...

First of all, 3D Sonic has basically always been a mess. Now I should mention before getting deep into this, Forces is my first Sonic game since Sonic Heroes and Sonic Advance 2, the former of which wasn't even as fun as the flawed SA2 and the latter of which should be considered Sonic 5 (or 6 if you count Sonic CD) for all I care, in that it is an excellent expansion of OG Sonic style (shit like grinding on rails, updated Sprites and even Amy as a playable character were great additions). Those two games though are indicative of the whole series: the 3D ones are always problematic while the 2D ones don't seem particularly hard to make well. 

I think there is a big range of how fans and critics view the series, but it seems as if the 3D games are either held to the standard of Adventure 1 and 2, which were always pretty flawed games, or else held to some non-existent and unattainable standard. But we should be clear: Sonic never had his Super Mario 64. Adventure 1 comes close, and that game does a lot very well, but it introduces a lot of things which would plague the 3D games forever. I'm mostly talking about the fact A1 and A2 are want to have all these additional playable characters besides Sonic and yet, Sonic (or Shadow) levels are always clearly where the best level design and most fun is to be had. 

Why force characters like Big the Cat or E-102 Gamma down our throat, when almost all the Sonic levels are amazing compared to levels where you shoot at things or hunt for emeralds. Like extra characters are kind of intrinsically fun when your a kid, but it always felt a bit like padding to me to play the Tails/Eggman and Knuckles/Rogue levels in SA2. So the gold standard for the 3D games becomes about 1/3rd of the content in the first two games?

What I'm trying to say is that Sonic Team never knew exactly what they were trying to achieve with these games it seems. It's like they continued the tradition of Sonic 2 and 3 with Tails and then Knuckles being added by eventually just adding a shit ton of characters to every game, effectively diluting the experience. I'm not even a big fan of Mario 64, but clearly that game is critically lauded, whereas the Blue Blur just couldn't seem to make that same transition. Heroes is literally all about adding characters, along with bright, colorful presentation which barely masked the weakened level-design. Then beyond the critical face-plant that is Sonic ‘06, Sonic Team's goals with these games seem even more unclear than ever and the warm embrace of 90s Sonic seems further away then ever before during the past decade or so.

You have a couple of weird "story book"-style spin offs on the Wii like the Black Knight and Secret Rings which really push the boundaries of what a Sonic game can be (seemingly to mostly bad reviews), Sonic Unleashed, which is literally split between somewhat traditional 3D gameplay and the kind of totally different style of gameplay a la non-Sonic levels in the Adventure titles (werehog Sonic...) and then a few games that seem to be headed in a more stable direction: Sonic, Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations and to a slightly lesser degree, Sonic Lost World . 

Like I said,  I haven't played any of these since Heroes, but I've been reading up and looking at all of Somecallmejohnny's videos on youtube to get a sense of how people feel about these, and these last 3 seem to be on the up-and-up in terms of critical reaction from both critics and fans. But Generations was in 2011 and since then it's been mostly an onslaught of Sonic Boom games and I'll do us all a favor and gloss over those completely. While Lost World tweaks things a bit with a run-button, Colors and Generations built on the more traditional half of Unleashed and heavily featured the boost mechanic which lends itself to a new kind of level design which is considerably different than that of Adventure 1 and 2.

I guess the long-winded point that I'm trying to make is that Sonic Team has basically been having an identity crisis since 1998. Not a single one of these stands as a true precedent for the series in that the best of their lot--Generations-- is still one of those meta, self-aware entries since it combines modern and classic sonic, quite literally. I do really wanna play those last 3 I mentioned because they seem like they are on the right path, but I'm sure for every fan, there is still a disappointed nay-sayer. 

This leads me to my final point though, and that is that Forces, for me personally, is a pretty damn good idea of what 3D Sonic is. I think people were putting a lot of pressure on it since it's been a while since a true 3D entry that wasn't a Boom spin-off, but also because of Manias success. Mania from earlier this year was really great, but it's great in a mostly regressive way.  Yes, the four new levels are fantastic and Christian Whitehead did a awesome job of capturing the "magic" of the first 3 games while refining things like the controls and amount of sprite-frames and adding some cool extras as well as those dope Chaos emerald bonus zones, but the success it had is based off of design-principles from nearly 25 years ago. 

I can't complain at all, because it's a really fun game and a great way to revisit classic vibes and levels, but I hope it's the beginning of a sea-change for Sonic Team's approach and not just a blip. Mania 2 for instance could revisit/remix the underrated Advance trilogy, or Sega could grow some balls and let Whitehead and other fan-developers like him step up to the plate and either design a full fresh side-scrolling entry OR something like oh I don't know Sonic Adventure 3?

Either way, the game generated a lot of hype which Sega capitalized on by dropping Forces a few months later. And me and like half of hard-core fans are pretty happy with the game and that's about it. Same old story since SA2: new 3D game comes out, gets mediocre reviews, half the fans are on-board while the other seem even more disappointed than professional critics. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of what Sega should be doing with their 3D games, but no one can really agree. 

Well I for one think Forces is on the right track. It's not perfect, but it's not really trying to be the next big game (they make that clear every single time they release a 3D title that isn't SA3). It's only 40 USD which I think denotes that it's to played in-tandem with Mania, so you got your classic Sonic on one hand, and your new-fangled and always-problematic-to-somebody 3D Sonic on the other. Also it's worth noting that I play this on the Switch. I think the Switch magically makes any game better for being played on it, and yeah I can't really imagine playing this on PS4. The option of portability makes any game better IMO, and Switch just adds this x-factor to any game right now, I can't totally explain it (will write another post all about it).

The game hold ups though, and beyond the novel trifling that is the character-designer/OC, the level-design is better in my opinion than most are letting on. I'm not sure yet if anything comes close to my personal gold-standard for 3D Sonic levels (Radical Highway and City Escape) but the sense of speed is often phenomenal, but I don't think there is any more of those moments where you are forfeiting control than there has always been since even the Genesis games, which is something I've seen some critics complain about. I admit I was slightly taken back by the locked camera, and often-times narrow corridor-esque levels, but once I got the hang of it, I realized that this is a more faithful translation of classic Sonic into 3D than the more free-roaming styled levels of Adventure games. 

People seem to get mad when there's too much precise platforming in Sonic (Marble Ruins..) just as some assail it for feeling like an auto-scroller at other times. It's like fans approach the series with the same confused priorities that Sonic Team themselves have sometimes displayed. I like the generally arcade-y feel of the levels though and re-visiting them for the purposes of refining my runs/time is enticing in the way it was back in the Sonic/Shadow levels in SA2.

Sonic is a weird, platypus of a genre unto himself: Neither pure platforming, racing or trick-based sports game a la Tony Hawk/SSX, he is all of these things and none of them at the same time. And I think these levels capture that excellently. What he isn't are slow and awkward Emerald-hunting levels or shoot-em-ups, but Sonic Teams seems to always shoot for more diversity in game-play than just Sonic levels would allow for, and that's where the Avatar levels come in, retaining the style and speed of the Sonic levels, while also expanding it slightly with Ratchet and Clank-style gun-play that seems to stand-in for awkward shit like the Eggman/Tails levels in SA2. And yeah this does mix it up nicely. 

Something else I've been seeing is that it's too easy and the levels are too short, and I just hope people are playing this on Hard mode (the requisite for hard mode is simply if you have played Sonic before according to the game itself). Other criticisms I've seen simply don't resonate, like people complaining about the controls of the Sonic levels, which just did not stand-out to me as being something I noticed. I like the variety of 2D and 3D, and think it strikes a good balance. 

So yeah, I basically just wanted to write this big ass post to explain why I think it's good and why other people should STFU, basically. Sonic isn't Mario, and never had been. His games are not explicitly all-ages, timeless crowd-pleasers. His games have always been faux-edgy, psuedo-platforming/racing hybrids that click hard with some and leave others cold. They are also explicitly for kids in a way that Mario games aren't, and it's a kind of complicated point but I think professional critics should take into account this shit was never designed for a 30 year-old to enjoy. That's literally why Mania exists. A 10 year old now-a-days might enjoy Mania, but a lot of that game nearly amounts to being a joke that someone born after 1999 couldn't really get. 

So, basically I'm all for trying new things, perfecting a formula that never quite existed and honing in on the good parts of some of the first Sonic games, and I think that's what Forces does. Also the story is sick. Some Sonic fans actually get caught up on the story which is insane to me because its like following the plot of a Tom and Jerry cartoon, but this shit hit some fan-service high-points for me (great cast of characters that mostly glazes newer shit and honors OG Adventure 1 and 2 shit, a slightly "darker" tone, Classic Sonic seeming chill af compared to real Sonic, and cameos from old-school bad guys, for instance). So that shouldn't be a factor in your review if your over the age of 9, is what I'm saying, but I actually dig it despite that. 

Yes, it could be improved upon, but I think it’s an excellent starting point for the developers to build on, so hey why not add Whitehead to this team, as well as few of the level-designers from the other Boost games (Colors, Generations, Lost World), refine the controls and level design a bit and BAM, you got yourself a worthy candidate for the true, long-awaited Sonic Adventure 3 that all true fans have been waiting for forever (even though the Adventure games weren't perfect to begin with so this is a wish that contradicts my other points but still). What I think I'm saying, is if this is what they can do in a $40 title with a relatively small dev-team from what I've read, then what can they do when they go all in? Or are they too scared? Well these reviews might scare them off from even trying again and that's what I'm worried about, but Sega needs to grow some balls, and go all-in for the next release and lay-off the Pachinko-onslaught, or at least funnel some of that Pachinko-gold into developing the next game. Like I said, Sonic isn't Mario, and he doesn't need to be, or need to have games like the big cross-generational 3D Mario games that come out every 5-8 years or so. But you know he could if he wanted to, and I think Forces shows a pretty good way forward. Until then, try opening your heart to the Blue Blur if it's been a while-- who knows, you might just be surprised. Smell ya later, dreamerz~

[darkhymns-fic]

Rhythm and Balance

The island was calling, but Shadow would rather focus on the fight at hand than her voice.

Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog Characters: Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog Rating: PG Mirror Links: AO3 Notes: Written by Sky. Based on this song.

Rouge failed.

Typical.

It was his own fault for trusting someone else. Why did he do it? Why did he choose to work with them? He didn’t need them. He shouldn’t need them.

Still, her words rolled through his head, pounding into his skull.

Shadow don’t make me upset.

I don’t wanna hear you.

He shook his head, his vision becoming a mess of green and blue. He preempted his own thoughts.

I’m not scared at all.

The clock was ticking. Soon it would all be destroyed. The Emeralds would be destroyed or lost to the bottom of the ocean, and his plan would be ruined. Yet still he stood in the middle of this jungle. Still he stood, wondering over his weakness.

Shadow don’t make me upset.

His head was pounding. His legs burned, demanding he moved. Every fiber of his body ordered him to move, but it wasn’t right. It was alien and strange.

I don’t wanna hear you.

Anything else. Anything else. Anything else.

“I found you,” a voice called out behind, angry. How had he let someone sneak up on him? How could he be so careless? “You’re the fake hedgehog.”

Shadow turned slowly, his vision still a blur, the clock ticking in the recess of his mind. He pushed it away. It was that blue hedgehog from before. The one that looked like him. A smile creeped on his face. The thoughts were gone. He focused everything on this. Who was he?

“I’m the fake?” Shadow hissed, reveling in his presence. His own words felt strange and unreal. It was a question he hadn’t meant to pose to himself right now. The world meshed again into a dream, and he heard those words from that voice. But it wasn’t hers. It wasn’t hers. It couldn’t be.

I don’t wanna hear you.

He shook it off. His enemy stared daggers, unsure of what to make of Shadow. “Pah,” Shadow groaned, waving it off. He wasn’t one for talking, but it quieted the voice, quieted that ticking. Maybe if he kept going with this he could forget. “You’re not even good enough to be my fake.”

The blue one was offended. Shadow could tell not many gave him the cold shoulder. He was probably used to more dramatic speeches, words like ‘fearless hero, you can’t stop me!’ In truth, this hero was nothing more than a distraction to Shadow. A distraction he needed. Shadow had no Chaos Emerald with him this time, but he was glad. Without its power, maybe this could last longer. Just long enough.

“I’ll make you eat those words!” The enemy charged forward like a bull seeing red.

Hurry. The island’s calling.

It was a simple attack made by a simple individual. Shadow dodged to the side, delivering a swift kick to his attacker’s side, knocking him down. This one was fast, certainly, but still, he didn’t keep his full attention.

The attacker was already back up, however, quicker than Shadow had expected. Pain washed over his face as he fell back from the punch, finding himself on the defensive. The pain of his attacks lessoned his mind, brought him to a different reality, or at least one he could understand. He felt blood trickle down his face.

I don’t mind these walls or any obstacles.

Shadow fought back with an increased intensity now, surprised to find his enemy able to keep up. This blue one was angry. He fought for something more than himself, clearly, but it didn’t matter. The only thing that interested him was the fight, the distraction, and the easier questions to ask. Why did his attacker look like him? Strange, but nothing more than that.

I’m not scared at all.

Another blow to the back of his head, harder than he had realized, harder than he wanted. Shadow’s attacker was proving to be a bit stronger than he had hoped. His attacks flew faster and harder now, with an intensity to simply survive the encounter. But this wasn’t right. This wasn’t what he wanted. His body began to work for him, his mind was coming back.

Are you scared of something?

The ticking was back. Each bruise on his body a tick. Each attack landed an image of that bat in his mind, waiting for death. Something stirred deeper in that darkness, someone else. It was her. But it wasn’t.

Shadow don’t make me upset.

No, he wouldn’t lose to this nobody! He couldn’t lose! Shadow fought back, narrowly avoiding a kick and delivering a punch of his own. His attacker took it without even so much as a flinch, using this time to counter attack with another kick to the back of Shadow’s skull.

Shadow muttered something incomprehensible, completely at a loss.

No one should be able to hurt him! Not this much. He was the ultimate life, the perfect being, was he not? Wasn’t he?

Shadow don’t make me upset.

Shadow don’t make me upset.

It was louder now.

Hurry. The island’s calling.

It wouldn’t stop. Shadow couldn’t even return any blows anymore. His attacker had gained the upper hand. His mind was in pieces, just as his body would be. Her voice was ordering him to move, forcing his body to keep going. He wanted to simply fall, but she kept him going, she invaded him, she controlled him.

I don’t wanna hear you.

But still he stood, still he attempted to fight back, all the while the clock ticked away. He only hoped he would fall unconscious soon.

Shadow don’t make me upset.

He couldn’t stop. She forced him to move on, force him to stay awake, forced him to receive each attack, feel the pain of it all. But it didn’t make sense. She wouldn’t do this, but why?

You are hiding something.

Her hand crept into him, it touched and felt every delicate part of his being, his very essence, demanding to know why he hesitated, why he wasted time. He had a mission, he had a promise to keep, and he would see it through. He would hide nothing from her, he would surrender himself to her, that is what he promised. Her will must become a reality, he had no choice in the matter.

Still, even under her control, his attacker didn’t let up. It was too late to leave now. This one would follow him, this one could stop him now. Maybe he could have escaped before, but it was too late. The island continued to call. It no longer frightened him.

Yet, another voice scraped into his reality. A voice he would rather not hear. “Shadow, what are you doing!?” It screeched into his ear, just loud enough that even his attacker could hear. “Hurry before the island blows up with you on it!”

That stupid doctor.

Shadow could feel his consciousness fading, but the attacker stopped. “Blows up?!”

Shadow’s chest heaved. He wanted to say something, goad his attacker to stay and fight. But nothing came out. She wouldn’t let him.

In a flash, he was gone.

Again, he was left with his thoughts. His vision vibrated, his every moment caused pain to explode through his spine.

Shadow don’t make me upset.

And he left as well. His body moved towards Rouge, towards the Chaos Emeralds.

Shadow don’t make me upset.

[geek-gem]

My Continuation And Talk After The Sonic Movie Post

So I forgot to put Tikal's tag below it and I just did. But also it reminded me of that I guess when a friend of mine messaged me when I put talk. Because I was making this then she replied of how I was doing again. Which means this is my second time.

But okay major spoilers for anything yet just my last post. I just took a shower and the last post I discovered theirs a length of how much you can write.

Yet holy crap guys. Seriously what the fuck. I actually wrote all of that and when I was in the shower remembered it's the 10 anniversary of Sonic Rush Adventure and the official Sonic Tumblr blog made a post referencing that. I feel like mentioning that because I mentioned Blaze in the last post and tagged her too. So in a way some what of a celebration sorry yet just....

That was my fan fiction and I was gonna talk about how the fuck could you put the stories of both Sonic Adventure games into one.

Including my huge liking towards BVS Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice and just...

It's basically Sonic Dawn Of Justice. Including Shadow is basically a mixture of Batman's character and Superman's character a bit. Because the whole concept of his character.

Along with I just....I was listening to some songs mainly some other versions of, "This Is My World" from BVS and how that film is basically the reason why I came up with the idea imagine putting well mixing the stories of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 into one and just....

Even the death of Shadow and I call it that normal to smile only a little stop it just a little.

Yet I wanted to share that because with my mindset is off of Sonic right now. Including the last story trailer the Japanese one for Sonic Forces really put me off I have not listened Infinite's theme since that day I've seen the trailer. Including I've been thinking about other games such as Injustice and the DC universe, the Mortal Kombat franchise and Killzone 1 and 2 been playing those two games and how I've gotten really better with those games.

Despite mentioning I've finally took out the Sonic OVA DVD out of my PS4 so I can play Mortal Kombat XL.

Really just...I honestly wanna see so many of my favorite characters on the big screen. Also the exuse of Sega and Sonic Team would quickly put Shadow in the sequel Sega has learned their lesson of rushing shit out. I'm sorry to sound stupid yet...just the idea of so much shit going on in one movie. Because even I feel like I don't want to wait for Shadow's appearance in a movie so how about we risk this shit and combine the story of Sonic Adventure 2 with Sonic Adventure 1 and that is fucking insane.

But also because the themes and some other things I noticed in both games are similar. Such as Shadow and Chaos of how their characters are in a way.

Also this mixture of an idea of Chaos's first appearance in Station Square mix it with Shadow's first meeting in some what San Francisco well Shadow's first meeting with Sonic did mention that to a friend okay to smile.

But just no it doesn't suck my head says random shit.....just the idea is insane. Along with.....it's basically my fan fiction such as the idea of Super Sonic, Super Shadow, Metal Sonic, and Perfect Chaos fighting the Biolizard and the death of Shadow is such a big moment that I wanted it to have a lasting effect and how it goes with the movie.

Also I think I'll just mention the death of Shadow seriously as a joke despite like BVS very much imagine Superman before his again major spoilers but his death in that movie and Photoshop Shadow's head whether Super Shadow yet keep imagining the head of Shadow from pointing pose from Sonic Adventure 2 let me look.

http://en.sonicscanf.org/gallery/shadow-the-hedgehog-5/sonic-adventure-2-3/ okay so it's his running pose I was getting confused. It's mainly that I guess. Maybe I'm imagining things but I don't know I just wanna make this.

Including the idea for the sequel is mixing Sonic Rush and Sonic Lost World and adding Marine The Raccoon but maybe some elements of Sonic Rush Adventure in there with the rebirth of Shadow.

Where it's a visual reference of his return where's he standing on some pole with two Chaos Emeralds in Sonic X and how he can't remember who he was yet everyone tells him who he is he even see's the memorial and other stuff. It's better then the Deadly Six take advantage of his amnesia. He doesn't know if he should even try to defend the Earth and people question his existence now.

Because they find out in a way Shadow did die. Yet he was in some death like coma where his damage was so brutal it took a long time before he could break out of his grave. Basically he was slowly healing and the damage was just much it took a long time. Along with using all four of his inhibitor rings he used so much power he needed to recharge.

Including trying to and with help from others remember that he made a promise to Maria yet because of his amnesia can't have much of an emotional connection or just...he wants to help yet his other side such as his dislike for the planet comes back.

But because of others and including with the Chaos Emeralds he remembers everything now. Which he then realizes it's not just a promise he made to Maria anymore still he's keeping the promise to Maria. Yet he's basically found a new family and a new home to protect including when he meets Zavok who represents everything Shadow despises and this awesome fight scene between Super Shadow and Zavok and Zavok being very powerful on his own.

Basically even a reference to I never read the comic it was a old Sonic Universe one focusing on Shadow dealing with a new type of Black Arms such as one called Black Death yet not based upon it but... basically going a bit quick and what should of happened in the games in a way. This development of Shadow where the others tell him what happened yet he wonders about his place now and trying to remember despite having help and then remembers what he's supposed to do now.

On a silly note Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow The Hedgehog are kind of like a Shadow trilogy.

Yet I honestly had a problem like other people have mentioned about how the games treat Shadow when he returns. I will say I don't mind and like the Black Arms. But I just really don't like the...maybe they didn't have to be fully deep in his origin and really I hardly have plans for them but easter egg references are always nice. Maybe such as Gerald found a dead Black Arm and put it into Shadow's blood making him in a way related to the Black Arms. Instead of the idea Black Doom helped Gerald create Shadow. Well I meant mixed the dead Black Arm's blood with Shadow's blood is what I meant because their was some things that could help Shadow.

This is very weird. Including just...will say Red's, "The Ever" was a song I listened to. It's been a while along with, "A Beautiful Lie" and, "Fight Night" before I started writing that last post which were tracks from BVS.

Think I'll leave the tags like that ohhh

Well I remembered when getting the tags down of having the Deadly Six in the third movie because to build up to Sonic Forces as a two parter with a Sonic Unleashed movie as the fourth movie. From what just...yeah first movie is Metal Sonic Jesus I'm rushing shit I'm sounding...okay another friend of mine messaged me. But I'm sounding hypocritical.

Including people like Blaze and I put her in the third movie. Okay no offense don't put me in charge of these Sonic movies. Oh my random head no it can't suck just...meh and yeah build up to Infinite oh yeah mentioned his theme lol it's okay to smile. Got tags done lol just...I wanted to share this lol

Just chill out is okay to smile sorry other shit I forgot or just if that is all I don't know again o wanted to share this

[sonicboomtube]

Sonic Mania Review

Sonic Mania was the most anticipated Sonic title since Generations due to it not only being in the Classic Sonic style but as well as looking like an old school Genesis game! Is it worth the hype?

Background:  Despite the Adventure, Advance, and Rush series, Sonic games that came out since were mediocre to down right atrocious.  Things seemed to turn around in the main series with Sonic Unleashed (not counting night time stages) and Colors.  The 2.5/3D platforming action proved to be a success and by Sonic's 20th Anniversary came Sonic Generations. This game brought in Classic Sonic along with his gameplay style.  Many say it and Colors are the best Post-Adventure games ever.

Then they changed it up in Sonic Lost World and Sonic Boom trying to fix what wasn't broken.  Both games did not sell very well and the latter was even considered worse than Sonic 06.  Sonic was once again a laughing stock of the video game industry.  SEGA did some rebranding the last couple years and they came back with an announcement of 2 new Sonic games.  Sonic Forces, which has similar gameplay to Generations with a new gimmick and one that fans been asking for many years, Sonic 4!  Well, it's not called Sonic 4 but it's a game that is worthy of that name.  This is Sonic Mania!

Sonic fans turned pro Christian Whitehead and his Retro Engine and Stealth to help create a new Genesis styled game.  Christian and Stealth previously worked on Android/iPhone ports of Sonic 1, 2 & CD and thanks to their success, were hired to work on this game.

Story:  Sonic & Tails return to Angel Island as they sense a big energy reading there.  They encounter Dr Eggman (Robotnik's) new line of robots, the Hard Boiled Heavies and they retrieve a mysterious ruby from underground.  Then the ruby transports them (and Knuckles who encounters the robots shortly after Sonic and Tails) to Green Hill Zone.  I am not sure if they transport to the old zones' timeline or if it's just locations.  The storytelling is light since the gameplay is the focus.  Like Sonic 3, the story advances within the game.

 Graphics/Music:

The direction for the look and sound was to be a lost 32X/Saturn game and they have truly accomplished it!  The animated cutscenes at the opening and ending are wonderful.  Tyson Heese, who drew Archie's Sonic comics, also penciled these and it looks beautiful!  Hyper Potions did the music too for the intro and trailer and is amazing!

The remix zones' look wonderful and even smoother than the Genesis version. The original zones look gorgeous as well! The special stages look like they are from a lost Saturn game.  The animations in the characters, objects, and scenery are flawless!  The frame rate is perfect and having the game in widescreen really makes a difference as it is easier to see what is in front of you.  You can even add a CRT filter to get that nostalgic look of a 90s TV screen! 

Generally, the music in the Sonic franchise is top notch and in Mania, it is no different. As with the visuals of the retro zones, the remix of zone's themes are as you remembered it but has more of a kick to it! The new zones sound great too like the jazzy Studiopolis, the western feel of Mirage Saloon, and the peaceful melody of Press Garden!  They even released the soundtrack on Vinyl!  It's that good!

 Gameplay: If you have played the Classic Sonic games, then you'll feel right what home with Sonic Mania!  The complaints about the games that tried to copy the classic gameplay style fell short of the Genesis days. (Sonic 4's floating physics, Sonic Rush's boost to win, Sonic Advance's bottomless pits, Sonic Generations scripted speed thru certain sections.)  Fear not, all the controls are tight and not only exactly as you remember it, but in my own opinion are more refined.  It has a good balance of speed and platforming.  Playing the remix of the Genesis Zones while in part, are similar to the old games, feel fresh with new mechanics like in Chemical Plant Zone, bouncing off of colored floors to get to new heights or in Green Hill with the fire shield, can burn some bridges to get to new paths below.  The new zones are also among the series' best. Studiopolis is one of my favorites of this game,.

The zones are also non linear so you can take any path you want to get to the end and it is also required to explore if you want to find special rings, hidden items, and shortcuts. Every character plays well thru each zone.  The new move, Drop Dash helps keep your momentum of speed and also makes it easier to avoid enemy attacks.  Knuckles can smash thru walls that Sonic and Tails can't to find more hidden goodies and shortcuts.  What I like about Tails & Knuckles in this game is they can't just glide/fly thru a level with no problem.  Yeah, it helps get you thru a bit faster but the game forces you not to take the cheap way out thru the whole experience.

The bosses are some of the series best.  Mini bosses return at the end of Act 1. Act 2, you fight a hard boiled heavy, Robotnik, or a surprise challenge.  Some of the classic bosses have a new twist as well.  For example, the Death Egg Robot showing up at Green Hill Zone throwing bombs and extending it's arms to try and kill you or using Robotnik's machine from Hydro City in Sonic 3 against him.

 Extras:

The bonus stages are the blue sphere rounds you can access if your have 25+ rings and hit a checkpoint. Half are straight from Sonic 3 and others are completely new.  They aren't required to beat the game or give you the true ending but they give you medals to help unlock extras.  I consider myself really good at these in Sonic 3 but some of the newer rounds were still a challenge.  If you unlock blue sphere mode, if you play the Mania style, you get two new spheres. One is to teleport you to different parts of the round.  A green sphere is like the blue one but you have to run over it twice to turn red.  

The new special stages are found throughout the levels as giant rings like in Sonic 3 but the difference is instead of turning blue spheres into red spheres/rings, you have to chase a UFO by running over the blue objects.  They fill a speed meter and can go up to Mach 3.  Collecting rings increase the time of the stage. The control is a little stiff with the drifting but it isn't impossible though it is easy to bounce off things, fall off course, and run into spikes if you aren't careful.  The trick is to find shortcuts and try to collect as many spheres early on.

You can also play the UFO stages via a level select code and extras menu if you need to practice.  The good news is if you beat the game without getting all of the Chaos Emeralds, you can go back to your save file and keep the emeralds you have and retrieve the rest in the next run.

Other extras you can unlock are playing Mean Bean Machine, Time Attack, sound test, and debug mode. You can also play in different gameplay styles (2, 3, and CD.) You can also use the insta-sheild and super peel out but like debug mode, you have to select no-save mode.  Its unfortunate for the & Knuckles mode but you can have Knuckles as the 2nd player for each player (and that includes Knuckles himself! Make sure you beat the game as Knuckles & Knuckles to get secret ending)

 Spoiler After getting all 7 Chaos Emeralds, you can become Super Sonic, Super Tails (though doesn't have Flickies with him this time), and Super Knuckles.  If you beat Titanic Monarch as Sonic with 7 Chaos Emeralds, you get to fight Eggman and the main Hard Boiled Heavy fighting over the ruby.  You must keep collecting rings to stay alive.  You lose rings if you get attacked or do a boost attack.  It took me a bit to figure out how to play it but it's not too difficult but it is cool being part of an epic battle. Something about that ruby and the pose Sonic makes at the end of the good ending looks familiar.  Hmmmm!

The Positives/Negatives of the Game:

+High replay value with multiple paths, collecting chaos emeralds, unlocking extras, and playing as all 3 characters +Very tight controls with great balance of speed and platforming +New moves like the drop dash are a welcome addition +Old zones feel new again with never before seen sections and challenges +New zones feel right at home with the classic era.  Some of the series best +Music as always is top notch. +The majority of the bosses are some of the best of the classic era +The Easter Eggs +Blue Spheres and Mean Bean Machine are back +Sprite cutscenes and the Opening/Closing Animations are gorgeous

=Oil Ocean is one of my least favorite zones of the classic eras and would have preferred if they chose a different zone but the remix is an excellent rendition of it. =Wish there were more in game cut scenes between zones than what we got but what we got was wonderful. =I was happy with the amount of new zones we got and their quality but I wish there were one or two new zones.  Oh well, maybe next game we can get more new zones.

-You still fall for some cheap deaths.  Thankfully there aren't many bottomless pits like in certain Sonic games but it's very easy to get crushed to death (chemical plant and titanic monarch are the ones where it happened often for me) -While I liked the challenge of the special stages, I felt the controls should feel a bit tighter when turning. -Some of the bosses were tough to figure out how to beat.  Some of it was rewarding when i did find a way to defeat them.  There were a couple I had to look at let's play vids to figure it out.  Like in Sonic & Knuckles, playing as Knux was difficult fighting against the bosses thanks to the height of his jumps.

Closing Thoughts:

Even the negative points of the game didn't really bother me that much and in no way, tarnish the quality of the experience.  Some fans even claim that it is the best Sonic game to date!  I am not sure if I agree with that but I do like it more than Sonic CD which was my #2 favorite Sonic game of all time and can understand why some fans place it #1!  Whether you are a die hard Sonic fan, a causal player, or a noob, this is the game for you!  I have really enjoyed this game and will come back and replay it as often as I can!  

Sonic Mania gets 4 3/4 STARS out of 5!  (9.5 out of 10 for those that score in 10s.  A- that like letter grades.)  See you next game!

[amegakureangel186]

Ave Maria - Sonamy Oneshot

(( Hello..! This is my first time writing for sonamy so I hope it's enjoyable...! I was inspired by classical music and motivated by the awesome @wilsonsbeard (go check her out she is awesome) to finally try my hand at some sonamy XD Please let me know what you think...!

P.S. This is what I imagined them skating to if you'd like to listen UvU ~ <3 ))

Summary: Amy and Shadow are the last to compete in the figure skating event, and Sonic finds himself in the crowd - particularly captivated by a certain pink hedgehog's performance.

He’d only shown up early to get a bit of shut-eye before the speed skating event started.

The figure skating was over (he made sure to check the time), and the arena would be the perfect place to hide away and rest up between events. Upon arriving and being met with a ton of non-competitors, he figured that the spectators were only just taking their typical slooooow sweet time to evacuate the rink before the Zamboni guy would be round to fix up the ice.

Shrugging, the blue speedster quickly (or as quickly as he could, given the pesky crowd) zipped his way over to a nice, relatively empty spot in the stands close to the end, and got comfy. He had a lazy grin on his face as he settled in – eyes closed, legs up on the bleacher-style seat, one crossed over the other, hands behind his head to smooth down his quills as he leaned comfortably into the padded wall now behind him. He sighed.

The place was pretty comfortable if he did say so himself.

Sonic had just begun to slip into a comfortable doze when an announcer began speaking to the crowd: “And now, for the final couple…”

Sonic groaned, scrunching his eyes a bit. No wonder the place was still so packed – the skating event was running late. He’d almost turned over when the next bit caught his ear.

“Please welcome Shadow the Hedgehog…”

A short laugh instantly shot from the speedster’s chest as he whipped around and sat up, a giant cheeky grin plastered on his face. Sonic watched, silently chuckling to himself, as Shadow skated onto the ice, wearing skin-tight black pants and a half-unbuttoned black long-sleeve. The cuffs were rolled, and his chest fur was spilling out the front. Sonic resisted the urge to wolf whistle, just to throw him off.

Shadow stopped rather close to the end of the rink after making an obligatory entry lap, and kneeled down as the music began to slowly start, and the crowd began to hush. Sonic laughed under his breath – Shadow looked ridiculous.

As the music gently played in, the spotlight traveled to the opposite end of the stage. The crowd gasped and sonic looked up. The announcer whispered.

“….and Amy Rose.”

Sonic’s stomach dropped and for a split second he felt the urge to jet. His brow furrowed as his jaw slowly slipped down a notch.

Amy glided out onto the ice, making beautiful turns and slow spins as she made her way to center rink. She was dressed in a radiant white and silver dress-like leotard, sheer at the upper chest with a sweetheart neckline. Her shoulders, quills, and cheekbones were tastefully dusted with glitter, and sheer, weightless strands of material flowed behind her as she moved.

Sonic watched her as nothing but the sound of the ice, piano, and cello pulled her along the ice. She was obviously the main attraction of the piece, he thought, watching as she circled Shadow before offering him her hand.

Sonic frowned a bit at the sight of Shadow, having forgotten about the black hedgehog’s presence, but shook it off. The two seemed to dance together across the ice, and then break apart at certain times to perform special moves. Sonic couldn’t help but notice the rose’s flexibility in the high lifts, or the length of her long, slender legs as she was swept dangerously close to the ice…

It seemed to be a tale of two lovers of some kind. An attraction between opposite forces. Romantic, in any case. Something Sonic was sure Amy would’ve gushed and died over had it been the two of them assigned to do it. Sonic shivered just thinking about it.

His emerald eyes flicked up to examine tall dark and broody for a second time and instantly regretted it. Shadow’s face was calm looking – but not in the usual, bored and disgruntled way. The black hedgehog’s eyes were half-lidded, hazy almost, and his head was leaning just a bit too close to Amy’s chest…!!

Sonic flinched in his seat and felt his fists ball up a bit tighter. Just what did that faker think he was doing during that dip…?! Teeth clenched, Sonic’s eyes flashed back over to Amy’s floating visage in search of a reaction.

He didn’t find what he’d been expecting at all. His stomach flipped as he watched her lean and sway with the routine, her eyes heavy and totally focused on Shadow. The two seemed as if they were in their own, sappy, bedroom-eye-filled fairytale.

The blue hedgehog huffed and rolled his eyes. He could feel a sour taste in his mouth but promptly decided to ignore it.

Sonic grumbled in his seat for a moment longer  but just as quickly fell back under the performance’s (mainly the pretty pink one’s) spell: He watched her twist and turn with the music, gently fold into the lifts, he caught the glitter in her quills and fur as they sparkled under the bright lights. She had a warm, longing, and serious look in her eyes and on her lips.

Never in his life had he ever seen the hammer-wielding, over-the-top, loud and boisterous rosy rascal move so gracefully and with such a mature feel…

Sonic felt a deep tugging in his chest. Mouth slightly agape, his gaze never left her figure as she flowed and danced across the ice.

For all intents and purposes, Sonic the Hedgehog was completely and utterly entranced by Amy Rose.

Eventually the piano slowly began to fade away, as did the bright lights of the arena in favor of a dimmer, grayscale-esque spotlight. The two hedgehogs on the ice gently slid into a pose: Shadow was mainly in the background, supporting Amy in an arched dip of sorts. The skirt of her outfit hung in sparkly waves about her as her quills slipped past her shoulders, her head tilted elegantly back. She was a glimmering statue on a darkened stage.

The fading music, the lights, her glow…

She was beauti-

Like a smack to the face, Sonic was jolted from his dreamy reverie by the roaring cheers of the crowd around him. His heart-rate skyrocketed and he shook his head, fighting off the fuzzy warmth he could feel clogging up his muzzle. He let loose a forced cough as he slowly began to give a round of applause himself, eyes diverted to the side. What? The girl did a good job; she deserved a clap or two…

Bouquets and stuffed animals flooded the ice as the lights came back on and the two pulled apart. Amy jumped up and down, pulling on Shadow’s arm a bit to get a reaction out of him. He responded with a more-amicable-than-usual nod before lifting a hand slightly and moving to exit the rink. Amy on the other hand spun once more on the ice, eyes sparkling (and “serious act” dropped, sonic noted) as she waved and blew kisses to the crowd. Sonic cracked a genuine smile at the girl as she cheered, watching her as she collected a few of the bouquets.  

Amy leaned up from grabbing a stuffed chao for Cream when she froze – Her kelly green eyes widened even more and she felt her heart flutter in her chest. There he was, standing in the crowd way over at the end, near the exit. Sonic caught the familiar, excited look in her eyes and quickly tried to decide whether to pretend he’d noticed her or not.

“Sonic…!!” She hollered, skating as quickly as she could over to the closest exit gate.

Sonic shook his head, an amused sigh slipping past his lips as many of the people around turned to look his way. Leave it to Amy to make my presence known. She clambered up the steps of the bleachers, skates and all, with a beaming smile.

“Hey Amy,” Sonic started in the most casual tone he could muster. Amy giggled as she closed the final few feet between them, shoving her gifts into the closest empty seat before tackling the blue speedster in a bear hug. Sonic stumbled a bit but caught her with his arms.

“You came..!!” She exclaimed, slipping slightly in his grasp to place her feet back onto the ground. She pulled away from him enough to make eye contact with him. “What did you think?? I tried really hard with this one to get the atmosphere right…! And did you see that one lift?? I didn’t even-“

Sonic shook his head and tried very hard to keep back the grin that wanted to surface on his face. Boy could this girl talk. He knew she was just full adrenaline, though, and he didn’t really mind the bubbly chatter…

“Sorry, Ames,” He said, taking her by the shoulders and holding her at arm’s length, “But I only caught the very end.”

The slight fall in her shoulders almost made him want to take it back, but he held fast to his lie and frowned a bit for show. Like always. Amy’s heart dropped a bit, but she tried to keep up her peppy smile.

“Ahh well,” She started, suddenly becoming a bit embarrassed about her earlier excitement, “I did a really great job, Sonic, and you really should have seen it…” She shifted her gaze to the side, digging the toe of her skate into the carpeted flooring, “It’s really a shame, too, ‘cuz it was a winning routine for sure….”

Sonic was all too used to her act of trying to impress him but in a way he felt he brought it upon himself this time. Offering her up a lopsided, almost apologetic smile, he leaned into her line of sight.

“I have no doubt you were the best of them all,” He said, voice calm and true. Amy’s eyes looked into his, and he saw the spark in them re-ignite. He hummed, his smile morphing into a wider grin. “Especially with this get up, I might add.” He winked, flipping up a strand of her dress’s fabric.

Amy gasped slightly, a blush making its way onto her cheeks as her eyes grew impossibly wide. Sonic laughed before taking off in a gust of wind, leaving the flustered girl to her own devices as she yelled his name out again, this time in frustration.

If only she knew it would be a performance he’d never forget.    

[sqgtdevreviews]

Sonic The Hedgehog Publisher: Sega Developer: Sonic Team System: Sega Genesis Year: 1991

Everyone knows the story of Sonic 1 by now. Sega needed a mascot to take on Mario, wound up designing a blue hedgehog known for going fast. By appealing to the West and using radical attitude type advertising, Sonic was a roaring success and printed a lot of money for Sega. Despite what armchair game designers like to tell you nowadays, Sonic was all the rage and the best platformer at the time without the Official Seal of Nintendo Quality stamped on it.

Ironically, the game’s programmer Yuji Naka has stated a few times that Sonic 1 was modeled after his experiences in speedrunning Super Mario Bros. 1. With this knowledge you can begin to compare the two introductory mascot games. Both are 2D platformers in which you have a limited time to complete the current level by running non-stop to the right, shaving off time by cutting corners in the level design as much as possible.

Sonic 1 differs from Mario, and most other platformers, with its very advanced physics engine for the time. While most platformers back then were lucky to have any terrain other than block tiles, Sonic 1 features all sorts of sloped ground previously thought impossible to achieve. You can even run up walls and around giant shuttle loops. There is also no run button whatsoever; the controls are brilliantly streamlined so that the player needs only the D-Pad and a single button to jump. Sonic also curls up into a ball whenever he jumps, which means you can attack Dr. Eggman or his badniks at all angles unless they’re covered in spikes. No more having to aim for an enemy’s head!

What’s more, it is very difficult to actually kill Sonic. Gold Rings can be found floating everywhere in this game. You can grab an infinite amount of them, and when Sonic is hit by an enemy, he will merely be knocked backwards and lose all of his rings as long as he carries at least one. Sonic only dies if he is hit without any rings, if he is crushed, or if he drowns underwater. Sonic can also smash computer monitors open to gain powerups inside. These include more rings, a Shield to take an extra hit, a barrier of stars that grants invincibility, and temporary Speed Shoes that boost your acceleration.

However, without Speed Shoes, Sonic accelerates a lot more slowly than most other game characters and has to work harder to gain momentum. That fancy sloped terrain I mentioned earlier isn’t just a crazy setpiece, it’s (usually) your biggest obstacle. How do you get fast enough to run around it without falling off? Well, one way is to build up enough speed to run around everything easily. What you’re actually meant to do is hold down on the D-Pad to roll into a ball. When rolling, you gain incredible speed down slopes, enough to blast through levels easily. In true fancy physics action, you can launch yourself off ramps, or even jump at the right time to fling yourself at just the right angle to reach a high platform. This is what makes Sonic 1 and the following games (the ones that actually built on it) so special.

Unfortunately, while Sonic 1 is very fun, its biggest downfall is that it doesn’t capitalize enough on the fun blend of speed and rolling physics. Of the six zones (with three acts each), only half of them make good use of the sloped terrain. Every odd-numbered zone seems to be one of the good ones. The iconic Green Hill Zone is the perfect introductory zone, easy for new players to run through, but full of tricks for expert players to pull off. Spring Yard Zone (the series’ first pinball zone) and Starlight Zone are more difficult, but build on what Green Hill introduced in some clever ways. On the other hand, Marble Zone, Labyrinth Zone, and Scrap Brain Zone are blocky and full of difficult traps. Labyrinth in particular is the first and most despised of the series’ infamous water levels where Sonic is forced to gulp air bubbles underwater, lest he drown after a countdown timer ticks to 0. Your enjoyment of Sonic 1 will depend entirely on how you fare with the even-numbered zones, but luckily they don’t drag the game down that badly.

There is also a type of stage known as a Special Stage, accessed by having 50 rings by the signpost that marks the end of each level. A Giant Ring will appear and the player can jump into it for a chance to grab one of the six Chaos Emeralds. Special Stages play differently than the main game; Sonic is trapped in a large, rotating maze and continuously rolls as the maze spins around. You can edge yourself to the left/right and jump, be it off the floor or off the side of peppermint candy looking blocks. While there are round blocks that say GOAL on them, you do not want to hit them, or you will leave the Special Stage. Your real goal is to find the Chaos Emerald and collect it. These Special Stages can be difficult, and you’ll need to practice them a few times so you can learn their layouts and eventually collect all of the Chaos Emeralds. Doing all of this is optional, but you get the slightly different Good Ending (basically bragging rights) as a reward.

Other than its sound gameplay, Sonic 1 also has sound…sound. The soundtrack, which was composed by Masato Nakamura of the jpop band Dreams Come True, is one of the all time best video game soundtracks. Every single theme in the game has gone down in history, especially the famous title screen theme and Green Hill Zone. The funny thing is that Masato Nakamura actually owns the music and not Sega, so they have to pay him whenever they want to use the themes again. Clearly this is not a big issue as the Green Hill Zone theme among others have been remixed endlessly throughout the 25+ year long franchise, a testament to the soundtrack’s quality.

The graphics are another key part of the game. Sonic 1 is brimming with both personality and technological achievement to the point where it hasn’t aged a bit after all these years. Sonic himself is a well animated character with a simple design. When you don’t press any buttons for a while, he gets impatient and angrily taps his foot. He also makes cocky poses in which he wags his finger and jumps at the screen. Dr. Eggman and his badniks are just as expressive, but in a different way: they are extremely goofy and in some cases adorable. Eggman is a jolly fellow who makes a variety of amusing faces, and he even laughs at you when he hits you during a battle. The environments really steal the show, with a distinct style that blends bright colors, lots of detail, backgrounds with depth to them, and a vague early CGI look (confirmed to be intentional).

While Sonic 1 often doesn’t take advantage of its own unique gameplay, it has aged well regardless thanks to the strength of its high points. Furthermore, it will remain an important piece of history for the concepts it introduced and the biggest lesson it sought to teach us: you don’t need to be Nintendo to make a truly special game.

Sources:

http://info.sonicretro.org/Game_Development:Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(16-bit)

[getters-blog-index]

Ka’rta Tor

Chapter 4

“DON’T HOLD BACK!” “CLANKER ON OUR RIGHT FLANK!” “GOT HIM!” “WATCH YOUR FIRE!” Commands, warnings, hurrahs. They all were being thrown left and right as the battle waged on. The separatist battle droids were being mowed down by the miniguns, but they only had so much time before they ran out of power. And the tanks were still advancing. The next wave of droids included Super Battle Droids, larger and bulkier soldiers with wrist-mounted lasers. They took a lot more effort to take down.

         All the while, Jerard fought to keep them at bay, blaster nailing whatever droid made it past the shower of blaster bolts from above with the assistance of Lock and Dux. The three commanders kept up the fight, doing what they could to keep up the morale of the troops. However, they weren’t without losses. They had the fortune of being able to move the wounded inside to patch them up, but that meant less guns to fight against the droid army.          “Things are getting a bit messy, Jerard. We should press the attack. Keep them out of the shield altogether.” Dux suggested. Jerard nodded in agreement. He holstered the large blaster on his back and reached across his belt to reach his lightsaber, a sleek and simple design with triangle shaped pieces adorning the top. When activated, the blade shined a bright yellow glow.         Dux similarly unsheathed his own weapon, his mounted to his left gauntlet, shining a blue blade that looked like an extension of his own arm. The two mandalorian commanders charged the front line, slashing at the droids to carve a path to the enemy. They were joined by two clones and two mandalorian soldiers that shot at any enemies their leaders didn’t get.         Their efforts would get them passed the Super Battled Droids, and out of the safety of the shields. The droids turned their efforts to the commanders. Jerard used his blade to deflect shots as the other five shot at the droids. “Nareen is never this late. Where is she?” Jerard asked his friend. He had faith in Dux’s wife, but they needed the support. “You worry too much, Jer. She’s coming. I’m sure of it.”          As if to dash their hopes, Magna Guards appeared from the brush, staffs at the ready to strike. “She better come faster. I’m not about to let our troops die here.” Jerard responded to Dux before engaging with the IG-100 droids. They were programmed by the separatists to fight against Jedi head to head. This would not be an easy fight. He blocked one of their attacks while the other was blocked by Dux’s gauntlet-mounted sabre. “Have a little more faith. I know she’s on her way.”          Artillery shots could be heard. Nareen must’ve completed her mission, as it sounded like the tanks were shooting at each other beyond the Magna Guards. “Dux, go help your wife. I’ll handle these droids.” Dux nodded and motioned to the four that had followed to go with him. Of course, he didn’t leave without taking one of these clankers down, lashing across it’s midsection after it had failed to hit his head.           The five soldiers left, leaving Jerard to fight against the two remaining Magna Guards. He reached for his beskar’kad, his sword, with his left hand, and fought the machinations with both blades. He swung at their heads, finding his attacks blocked by the agile droids. As the blades held there, he searched out with the force to get a feel of the battle. The droids continued their advance on the temple, but he could sense the tanks were now fighting their own battle, no longer advancing. Still, there was another regiment of droid reinforcements on the way further out. He hoped that Dux and Nareen would finish their battle soon so they could regroup at the temple. The larger droid force would decimate them if they took too long.          Which meant, Jerard needed to finish up here in order to get to them. He focused on himself, using the force, and the emerald, to improve his reflexes. He would cleave these droids to scrap with a decisive move. All he needed was an opening. He released the effort he had one their electrostaffs. The battle returned to dodging and striking by both parties, seemingly perfect strikes missing their marks. Them he saw his moment. Jerard used a surge of adrenaline fueled by the force, to slice through the two droids, one with his saber, the other with his sword. Though, there was something amiss. Jerard turned to see the droids standing in place. He could see where the blades had struck. They were perfect killing blows, but the droids had yet to fall...in fact, he could no longer feel the breeze, or hear the sounds of battle. It was as if time itself had stopped...            The moment soon ended, and the battle resumed. The droids fell to pieces. Jerard stared in amazement. There was no way that someone could use the force to stop time...unless. Jerard took the brief moment to take out the yellow emerald from his belt pocket. It was shining even brighter now, suddenly unleashing a flash of light. It faded soon after, but it was clear that Jerard had found their trump card. This emerald granted him improved power in the force. He would use that power to help lead them to victory in this battle. He hurried to the tanks, in order to assist his allies, unawares of the consequences of tapping into such great power.

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             A flash of light was unleashed from the emerald still in the center of the temple in response to the light that came from outside. The true effects of the warlord’s efforts were revealed, as a group of mobians were now laying on the ground within the chamber. Sonic and his friends had been unwittingly pulled into the conflict, as were four others. Two hedgehogs, one ebony, and one ivory, a bat, and an automaton of destruction.             Sonic was the first to see their surroundings. “Uh, I think it really was Chaos Control afterall.” He turned to the other newcomers. “Shadow? Silver? Where did you guys come from?” He inquired.           The ebony hedgehog, no doubt the one called Shadow, shot him a look. “We were being sent on mission to another zone in order to ascertain the threat that they posed to our zone, though, it looks like they made a mistake, since you’re here.”           “Aww, I knew you cared.” Sonic said teasingly, causing Shadow to roll his eyes at his comment. They both looked to Silver, the ivory hedgehog, awaiting his answer. The seemingly younger hedgehog stood up. “Er, well, I can’t say I was doing anything too unusual. I tried traveling to the past again...I’m guessing it worked since you’re both here, but, what is this place?”             The automaton spoke up. -LOCATION: UNKNOWN. I HAVE NO ACCESS TO THE EGGNET NOR G.U.N. CONTROL. TRAVEL TO NEW ZONE SUCCESSFUL. TARGET ZONE: NEGATIVE. REQUESTING PERMISSION TO RELIEVE FRUSTRATION ON THE SURROUNDING STRUCTURE.-            “Permission denied, Omega. You’re not going to cave us in just because you’re not happy with where we ended up.” The bat spoke up. “So, Sonic, you said that this may have been Chaos Control?” She asked the blue hedgehog, who responded with a nod. She held her chin as she processed. “Whoever used the Chaos Control did it at a perfect time to distort where we’d all end up.”             “Only one problem with that theory, Rouge. We weren’t trying to travel anywhere.” Sally spoke up. “We were investigating an anomaly near New Mobotropolis. We all saw visions of...something. It’s hard to describe.” As the princess spoke, Rouge smirked.              “Honey, if you were investigating an anomaly, then it doesn’t really matter if you were trying to travel across zones or not. You were at the sight of something. I think that’s good enough to get you pulled through, though I’m a bit surprised that your team wasn’t all there.”            “Maybe for the better. We don’t know where we are or how to get back. Having Freedom Fighters back home at leasts puts my mind at ease while we focus on getting home.” Sally retorted to the bat’s comment. She turned to the Master Emerald in the center of the room. “It’s entirely possible we’re on Angel Island, if the Master Emerald is here.”           -WARNING: I HAVE DETECTED A SURPLUS OF LIFEFORMS AND ROBOTS SEVERAL METERS ABOVE US ENGAGED IN COMBAT. PERMISSION TO JOIN THEM IN GLORIOUS DESTRUCTION.- The entire group looked to Omega with surprise. He looked at all of them with confusion at their expressions. -IS THIS BECAUSE I WANT TO DESTROY OR BECAUSE OF MY OBSERVATION THAT YOU HAVE ALL FAILED TO DO WHILE YOU WERE HERE DISCUSSING USELESS SEMANTICS AND ‘FEELINGS’?-            “He’s right, I’m detecting a large number of lifeforms above us, most of them matching human genetics.” Nicole interjected.            -MY QUERY WAS NOT ANSWERED.-           Shadow rolled his eyes. “I’m more concerned that you’re ready to jump into a fight with an enemy or people we haven’t even met yet. So Permission Denied.”           -YOU WANT TO RUIN ALL OF MY FUN.-          “Well, if there’s people upstairs, I say we go say ‘Hi’.” Sonic said before dashing out of the room at high speeds. Tails looked at Sally and shrugged following Sonic to the upper levels of this unknown location. The princess huffed at the situation. “We need to handle this delicately. Come on everyone. We should go see what we can do before Sonic gets on their bad side.”        “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Silver said ominously.        -I DO NOT CARE WHAT YOU FEEL, FLUFFY MEATBAG.-