Sonic Heroes
ソニック ヒーローズ
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Hi. I watched the Knuckles miniseries on Paramount+ (although it is not part of Black History Month), and have suffered defeat by the Eagles in the Super Bowl as the Chiefs were booed… as they are going for a hat trick!
I have another Sonic game for you. It is a 2003 platform game developed by Sonic Team USA and published by Sega as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The player races a team of series characters through levels to amass rings, defeat robots, and collect the seven Chaos Emeralds needed to defeat Doctor Eggman. Within each level, the player switches between the team's three characters, who each have unique abilities, to overcome obstacles. It was released for the PlayStation 2, the original Xbox, GameCube, and the PC, just before its producer Yuji Naka was arrested for insider trading twice in late 2022, we call it Sonic Heroes! We also had the game on the original Xbox, since I had an Xbox, which was fun (including the RollerCoaster Tycoon game on the Xbox)... it was not fun after I got the Wii.
The game begins with a tutorial followed by fourteen normal levels and seven boss fights. The gameplay is generally similar in each story: the player must race through levels to advance the story and collect rings for protection and lives. Level themes vary from beaches to casinos. When the player reaches the end of a level, they are graded based on their performance; an “A” rank is the highest, while an “E” is the lowest. Enemy robots are scattered around levels and must be defeated by jumping on them or other means of attack. The level designs differ slightly between each story. Espio, Charmy, and Vector’s levels are distinguished from the other teams’ because they are mission-based, requiring players to fulfill a specific objective, like collecting items, to clear a level.
Teams
Team Sonic: This team and associated levels are designed to be of medium difficulty, and contain high-speed sections. Their Team Blast, Sonic Overdrive, consists of Knuckles throwing Tails, who spins to gain momentum and throws Sonic, who attacks surrounding enemies multiple times. During the final boss, each team member, under Super Transformation, performs the same attack as Sonic. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all made a return as playable characters in Team Sonic Racing (albeit with different voice actors in the English version).
Speed: Sonic the Hedgehog (Kanemaru Jun-ichi JP, Ryan Drummond EN)
Fly: Miles “Tails” Prower (Hirohashi Ryo JP, William Corkery (Jr.) EN)
Power: Knuckles the Echidna (Kanna Nobutoshi JP, Scott Drier EN)
Team Dark: This team and associated levels are designed to be of hard difficulty, requiring skill and concentration to endure heavy battle. Their Team Blast, Chaos Inferno, consists of Shadow performing Chaos Control, whilst Omega, lifted up by Rouge, fires large lasers whilst rotating the top half of his body. It also freezes time momentarily once complete, so that all enemies are frozen in place. Rouge the Bat wears a different outfit, other than her Sonic Adventure 2 outfit. The team made a return in Team Sonic Racing (albeit with different voice actors in the English version).
Speed: Shadow the Hedgehog (Yusa Koji JP, David Humphrey EN)
Fly: Rouge the Bat (Ochiai Rumi JP, Lani Minella EN)
Power: E-123 Omega (Taiten Kusonoki JP, Jon St. John EN)
Team Rose: This team and associated levels are designed for younger players, with shorter missions. Their Team Blast, Flower Festival sees Big bouncing Amy and Cream on top of his umbrella with a shower of flowers raining down on them. All three members level up by one and grants them temporary invincibility, high running speed, and a shield. Only Amy and Big returned as playable characters in Team Sonic Racing, and Cream (who makes a cameo appearance in dialogues) was replaced with Chao.
Speed: Amy Rose (Taeko Kawata JP, Jennifer Douillard EN)
Fly: Cream the Rabbit (Aoki Sayaka JP, Sarah Wufleck EN)
Power: Big the Cat (Nagasako Takashi JP, Jon St. John EN)
Team Chaotix: This team and associated levels provide a different experience, as most are mission-based, and are only complete when the mission target is met. The mission objectives vary by level, such as having to collect items, defeating a certain number of enemies or reaching the Goal Ring without being detected by enemies. Their Team Blast, Chaotix Recital, sees Espio, Charmy, and Vector singing and playing instruments badly, causing all of the surrounding enemies to explode, whilst Ring bonuses are received for each enemy destroyed. Collecting Rings also refills the gauge, potentially allowing the player to perform another Blast immediately after the first is complete. While Vector did return as a playable character in Team Sonic Racing, Espio and Charmy were replaced with Blaze the Cat and Silver the Hedgehog.
Speed: Espio the Chameleon (Matsuda Yuuki JP, William “Bill” Corkery (Sr.) EN)
Fly: Charmy Bee (Teppozuka Yoko JP, Emily Corkery (older sister of William Corkery) EN)
Power: Vector the Crocodile (Miyake Kenta JP, Marc Biagi EN; the oldest playable character at the age of 20)
This is also the final Sonic game that the Dreamcast-era voice actors reprised their roles (William Corkery, the final boy actor, voiced Tails before being replaced with females following issues with young male voice actors hitting puberty who work in either Western animation or video games, which often happens with Ryder (Kento in the Japanese dub) and Lincoln Loud (PAW Patrol and The Loud House respectively), both are who are the main protagonists) before being replaced with 4Kids voice actors. The game’s official websites, both formerly located at http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=sonicheroes (North America) and http://www.sonicteam.com/sonic_heroes/index.html (Japan), are no longer available and can only be accessed via the Wayback Machine.
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