Sonic Heroes

Sonic Heroes
Gamecube Sonic Heroes Box Art, Players Choice edition.
Developer(s)	Sonic Team USA
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Takashi Iizuka Eitaro Toyoda Kazuyuki Hoshino
Engine	RenderWare
Platform(s)	GameCube, PS2, Xbox, PC
Release	JP: December 30, 2003 NA: January 6, 2004 (GC) NA: January 27, 2004 (PS2/Xbox) PAL: February 6, 2004 PC:
Genre(s)	Adventure Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Sonic Heroes (ソニック ヒーローズ, Sonikku Hīrōzu) is a video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is the first multiplatform game in the Sonic series. It is the second game developed by Sonic Team USA, and is the direct sequel to Sonic Adventure 2. Primary development was done for the Nintendo GameCube. The game was then ported onto the Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox, and PC CD-ROM using RenderWare technology. The title's phrase "Sonic Heroes" refers to the uniting of the protagonists of the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

The game introduces several new gameplay elements. Unlike past Sonic games, which have all had a player controlling one character, players are able to control three characters at a time, switching the party's leader from speed, power and flight. The player must use these abilities to get through two "stages" before fighting a boss, which can either be Eggman in a robot, another team or an army of robots commanded by Eggman.

This game also marked the return of many characters from the Sonic universe: Chaotix, a group last seen in Knuckles' Chaotix on the Sega 32X; Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat from Sonic Adventure 2; Cream the Rabbit from Sonic Advance 2; Big the Cat from Sonic Adventure; Metal Sonic, who, prior to this game, had not played a major role in the series for years, last having one in Knuckles' Chaotix in 1995. The game also introduces a new character, E-123 Omega, who seems to repesent Eggman's infamous E-Series.

Teams

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

A team is made up of three characters, each suited for a specific task. The three types of characters are "flight," "speed," and "power." Flight-type characters are able to ascend short distances with other party members; Speed-type characters have the ability to move at a faster rate than the other two members of the team; Power-type characters are the physically strongest of the three, with the ability to smash rocks and crates, cause more damage on a target, and penetrate certain armor.

File:Sonic heroes big1.jpg

Sonic Heroes on Nintendo Gamecube.

Team Sonic

• Sonic the Hedgehog/Super Sonic - Speed - Leader
• Miles "Tails" Prower - Flight
• Knuckles the Echidna - Power

Team Sonic is the title team of Sonic Heroes. One day, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna, receive a letter from Doctor Eggman. He tells them of a new ultimate weapon that will be ready within three days, challenging them to stop him. The three band together to stop Eggman's plans.

Team Sonic's levels are considered to be the medium difficulty, as they have longer levels and more enemies than Team Rose but less enemies than Team Dark.

Their "Team Blast" called Sonic Overdrive consists of Knuckles throwing Tails, who spins to gain momentum, and throws Sonic, who does a "Light Attack" on surrounding enemies. For a limited time afterward, Sonic may initiate the attack again (by either himself or Tails/Knuckles' help). Notably, this Team Blast is the most dynamic, as it contains multiple camera angles, and each character performing some sort of action.

Team Sonic is the only team in the game who may use super transformation, and only in the final boss, Metal Overlord. The characters stay at level three with enhanced attacks, and die if all Rings are lost. The Team Blast is changed to a simultaneous "Light Attack" by all three members. Super Sonic may also use a smaller Light Attack at any given time at the cost of five Rings.

Their bonus missions in each stage are to get to the goal ring within a given time limit.

Team Dark

• Shadow the Hedgehog - Speed - Leader
• Rouge the Bat - Flight
• E-123 Omega - Power

Rouge sneaks into one of Eggman's bases in order to find a secret treasure. Instead, she finds Shadow the Hedgehog, encased in a capsule and without memory of who he is, and comes across a robot, E-123 Omega bent on destroying Eggman's robots. After realising that all their problems lead to Eggman, the three anti-heroes team up.

Team Dark is considered to have the hardest levels of the game, as they have the most enemies. Their "Team Blast", Chaos Inferno, shows Rouge flying and holding Omega, whom Shadow is hanging onto. Shadow performs Chaos Control, and Omega fires large lasers while rotating the top half of his body. This destroys all surrounding enemies, and for 10 seconds, freezes all action in the level.

Their bonus missions in each stage are to defeat 100 enemies.

Team Rose

• Amy Rose - Speed - Leader
• Cream the Rabbit with Cheese - Flight
• Big the Cat - Power

The characters of Team Rose are each trying to find someone important to them. Amy searches for Sonic, because she notices that he has been missing from her life for quite a while, and also tries to defeat Eggman just in case Sonic had been captured or something like that, impressing Sonic so that she may have herself another shot at getting married to him. Big is searching for his amphibian friend, Froggy again, and Cream is seeking out Cheese's lost brother, Chocola. With a picture in the newspaper (of Froggy and Chocola being carried off by who they believe to be Sonic) as their only clue, the three join up to find their lost companions.

Team Rose is considered to have the easiest levels, as they have the shortest levels, and have the fewest enemies.

Their "Team Blast," 'Flower Festival,' consists of Big bouncing Amy and Cream on top of Big's umbrella with a shower of flowers raining down on them killing all surrounding enemies. The effect of this, levels all three members up by one and grants them invincibility and a shield.

Their bonus missions in each stage are to collect 200 rings.

Team Chaotix

• Espio the Chameleon - Speed
• Charmy Bee - Flight
• Vector the Crocodile - Power - Leader

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

Team Chaotix is a detective agency. One day, they receive a mysterious package with a walkie talkie in it. A stranger gives the team instructions through this device and claims that if the job he has for them is completed, the Chaotix will be "rewarded handsomely". Espio is wary of the job, but Vector, with dollar signs in his eyes, remindes him of the Chaotix number 1 policy, "We never turn down work that pays!"

Team Chaotix's levels are special, in that there is no goal ring in most, but a special mission, and thus the levels are more distinctive, being much more puzzle or exploration related, such as finding crabs or destroying a certain amount of enemies.

Their bonus missions in each stage are extended versions of the original missions.

Their "Team Blast," 'Chaotix Recital,' consists of the three playing instruments, which kills all surrounding enemies and provides ring bonuses that vary between 5,10, and 20 rings for each one killed. Also, the size and difficulty of the enemy will determine what number of rings you will get, varing from 5,10,and 20.

Unlockables

Last Story

The Last Story can be unlocked after collecting all 7 Chaos Emeralds and getting 100% for all 4 teams. After the requirments have been met, the story is unlocked on the team selection screen.

Expert Mode

Expert Mode or "Super Hard Mode" can be unlocked after completing all stories and getting the "A" rank for all (including bonus missions) stages and boss fights.

Media

Cut-scenes with rich graphics can be viewed again in the Theater once the selected teams have been beaten 100%. The same thing is so for music.

2-Player Modes

Extra 2-Player modes can be unlocked when certain percentages are met.

Reception

File:Sonic Heros.jpg

Sonic Heroes on Playstation 2

Reviews of Sonic Heroes were positive. Game Rankings gave the game 69.2% for the Playstation 2, 74.1% for the Gamecube, 74.4% for the Xbox, and 60% for the PC. Most professional reviewers cited the enjoyable sense of visual style the game had (which harkens back to the classic Sonic games of the early-1990s), although have noted its shortcomings as well, including:

• The poor camera system. However, the majority of reviewers rated this game favorably despite this.

• The control scheme is either too precise or not precise enough depending on the speed of the character's movement. This is what most of the complaints stem from.

• The game's control scheme, combined with the common "bottomless pits" obstacles in the game, have resulted in many players backlash for what many deem to be named "unfair deaths."

• Unlike the Sonic Adventure games, Sonic Heroes did not have nearly as many unlockable bonuses as any other sonic games, not containing the Japanese voice language option in the GameCube version, and most of the ones the game did have were for the two-player mode only.

• The PlayStation 2 version has clipping and graphic faults during gameplay, barely able to run 30 frames per second, making it the worst of all three releases; it consistently rated much less than the Xbox and Nintendo GameCube versions in both professional reviews, fans and interviewers' ratings. It also has a menu bug where if you press what's regularly the jump button/confirm buttom on almost all of the menu screens, it will reset the game.

Sonic Heroes had good sales though the PS2 and Xbox versions released after the Gamecube release, entering all three of the "best-sellers" lists: Greatest Hits (Platinum in Europe) (PS2), Platinum Hits (Xbox), and Player's Choice (GameCube). The estimated sales are 3.50 million copies from the PS2 release and 2.50 million from the GameCube release. Sonic Heroes was also released in a package with Super Monkey Ball Deluxe on Xbox. In 2004, Sonic Heroes was the sixth bestselling game in the United Kingdom overall, and a full year after its release, was still at number eight in the all-price chart.

Staff Credits

• Producer: Yuji Naka
• Director / CGI Movie Director / Level Designer: Takashi Iizuka
• Level Designer: Eitaro Toyoda
• Art Director / Enemy Design: Kazuyuki Hoshino
• Character Design / Event Scene Animation: Nobuhiko Honda
• Special Stage Concept: Kenjiro Morimoto
• Special Stage Design: Kaori Hitsuda, Michio Abe
• Special Stage Programmers: Shinya Matsunami, Hiroshi Iwasaki, Masatoshi Shitara
• Game Designer / Enemy Game Designer / Scenario Writer: Shiroh Maekawa
• Motion Design: Atsushi Saito
• Field Artist Director: Hiroshi Nishiyama
• Field Artists: Yoshitaka Miura, Takahiro Kudo, Michikazu Tamamura, Daizo Kinoshita
• Lead Programmer: Tetsu Katano
• Menu Screen Artist / Multi Platform Artist: Ryu Ishihara
• Menu Screen Artists: Yuji Uekawa, Takeshi Ichimura, MEDAL Company, ltd.
• Menu Screen Programmer / Multi Platform Programmer / Enemy AI: Makoto Suzuki
• Enemy AI / Boss AI: Masato Nakazawa
• Enemy AI / Boss AI / Action Stage Programmer: Makiko Nishimura
• Story Event Programmer / Action Stage Programmer: Takeshi Sakakibara
• Action Stage Programmer: Tomoyuki Naito
• Development Support: Yoshitaka Kawabata, Shinya Matsunami, Tomonori Fukazawa, Shun Nakamura, Soosa Kim
• CGI Movie Producer: Keith Palmer
• CGI Movie Production: Vision Scape Inc.
• Lead Music Composer / Sound Effects / Recording Coordinator: Jun Senoue
• Music Composers: Naofumi Hataya, Yutaka Minobe, Tomoya Ohtani, Mariko Nanba, Keiichi Sugiyama, Hideaki Koboyashi, Teruhiko Nakagawa, Fumie Kumatani
• Sound Effects: Takashi Endoh, Tomonori Sawada, Tatsuyuki Maeda
• Surround Mix: Wavemaster Studio Inc.
• Recording Coordinator / Engineers: Atsushi Kosugi (Beat on Beat Inc.), Stan Katayama, Masahiro Fukuhara, Hirokazu Akashi, Yoshitada Miya
• CRI Middleware Support: Masao Oshimi, Katsumi Yabuno

Voice actors

This is one of the final Sonic games in which the English voice actors from the Sonic Adventure games recorded their voices. These English Voice Actors, along with their Japanese counterparts, are shown below:

Role	English Voice Actor	Japanese Voice Actor
Sonic the Hedgehog, Metal Sonic, Super Sonic	Ryan Drummond	Junichi Kanemaru
Doctor Eggman	Deem Bristow	Chikao Ōtsuka
Miles "Tails" Prower	William Corkery	Ryo Hirohashi
Knuckles the Echidna	Scott Drier	Nobutoshi Canna
Shadow the Hedgehog	David Humphrey	Kōji Yusa
Rouge the Bat	Lani Minella	Rumi Ochiai
E-123 Omega	Jon St. John	Taiten Kusunoki
Amy Rose	Jennifer Doulliard	Taeko Kawata
Cream the Rabbit	Sarah Wulfeck	Sayaka Aoki
Big the Cat	Jon St. John	Takashi Nagasako
Espio the Chameleon	Bill Corkery	Yuuki Masuda
Vector the Crocodile	Marc Biagi	Kenta Miyake
Charmy Bee	Emily Corkery	Yōkō Teppōzuka

External links

• Sonic Heroes official site
• Sonic Heroes International Site
• Sonic Heroes at Sega.com
• Sonic Heroes at MobyGames