Sonic the Fighters
| Sonic the Fighters | |||
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| Logo of the game | |||
| Studio |
 Sega AM2
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| Publisher |
Sega
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| Senior Developer |
Hiroshi Kataoka Daichi Katagiri |
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| composer |
Maki Morrow |
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| Erstveröffent- lichung |
Arcade : June 1996 July 1996 August 1996 PlayStation Network : November 27, 2012 November 28, 2012 December 5, 2012 Xbox Live Arcade : November 28, 2012  |
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| platform | Arcade , Nintendo GameCube , PlayStation 2 , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 | ||
| genre | Beat 'em up | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer | ||
| language | English | ||
| Age rating |
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Sonic the Fighters , in North America and Europe, formerly known as Sonic Championship known is a beat-'em-up - video game , that of Sega AM2 developed and for the first time in Japan in 1996 as Arcade was released. In the more recent releases, the title was uniformly titled Sonic the Fighters worldwide .
action
Sonic and Tails have noticed the increased activity of the robots recently. A video message from Espio the Chameleon shows that Dr. Robotnik (incorrectly called Dr. Robotonic in the intro of the game) has created a huge space station called "Death Egg II" in space, from which he wants to usurp world domination. To get there, Tails built a missile called the Lunar Fox, which can only be propelled by the power of eight Chaos Emeralds (the game ignores the fact that there are only seven Chaos Emeralds). While collecting the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic meets Knuckles, who wants to help save the world. However, since the Lunar Fox is only a single-seater, Knuckles asks the question in the room whether Sonic is the only one eligible for it. Over time, more characters will be added who will also be able to play Dr. Thwart Robotnik's plans. A martial arts tournament is organized in which only the winner with the power of all eight Chaos Emeralds flies the Lunar Fox to the Death Egg II to defeat Dr. Stop Robotnik.
Depending on the choice of character, the respective game character manages after victories over the seven other fighters and a copy of himself, which Dr. Robotnik creates and rushes on the character before the Death Egg II is reached. A fight against Metal Sonic is waiting there. After defeating Metal Sonic, the Death Egg II begins to fall apart. In a final temporary skirmish, Dr. Robotnik to be finally defeated. After the credits, it is revealed that Dr. Robotnik and Metal Sonic escape from the exploding Death Egg II.
Gameplay
In Sonic the Fighters , the player can take control of one of eight characters: the blue hedgehog Sonic , the two-tailed fox Tails , the last Echidna Knuckles , the hedgehog lady Amy Rose , Team Chaotix member Espio the Chameleon (known from Knuckles 'Chaotix ), Fang the Sniper (known from Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble and Sonic Drift Racing ) and the two new characters Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear , whereby Bean, according to the official Fighters Megamix Official Guide, is the son of the video game character Bin from the The game Dynamite Düx , also published in 1988 by the Sega AM2 developer studio, is (how Bin as a duck can have a woodpecker as a son with Bean remains unclear). In the versions released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012 , Dr. Robotnik and Metal Sonic as playable fighters as well as the new character Honey the Cat (based on the character of the same name from Fighting Vipers , was already to be found in the source code of the original version).
In this beat 'em up , 1-on-1 fights in the style of Virtua Fighter or Fighting Vipers are played. One button each is used to hit, kick or defend, whereby each character has its own attack pattern and combination options. An energy bar at the top of the screen, which is emptied with every hit inserted, shows the remaining energy of the respective fighter. If this falls to zero within the time limit, the other fighter has won. If neither of the two fighters was defeated within the time limit, the fighter with the most energy remaining wins. If the energy bars are identical, the fight ends in a draw. The standard rule is that the fighter who could win two duels wins the overall victory. The chosen character defeats all eight controllable characters (including a copy of himself) before battles against Metal Sonic and Dr. Follow Robotnik in his E-Mech. The game includes ten battle arenas ( South Island , Flying Carpet , Aurora Icefield , Mushroom Hill , Canyon Cruise , Casino Night , Dynamite Plant , Giant Wing , Death Egg's Eye and Death Egg's Hangar ) and a multiplayer mode.
development
During the development of the Sega AM2 development studio on the arcade beat 'em up Fighting Vipers , the developer Yu Suzuki noticed that another, not mentioned developer was making 3D models of Sonic and Tails during his breaks and ultimately even made them playable . Yu Suzuki passed the prototype on to Sega AM2 team leader Hiroshi Kataoka, who saw potential in the idea, but initially had doubts whether Sonic inventor and Sonic team head Yūji Naka would think it would be okay if his characters fought one another. He was very impressed by the idea, helped with the character modeling and so work on a Sonic beat 'em up began at the same time as the development of Fighting Vipers . The original 3D models of Sonic and Tails were still in the source code of the the final version of Fighting Vipers .
At the AOU Show 1996 there was a playable version of Sonic the Fighters , which, according to the company, was 50% complete. After the release of the arcade machine, a port for the Sega Saturn was initially planned, but this never came about.
New releases and successors
After the Sega Saturn port of Sonic the Fighters failed for unknown reasons, the game remained arcade-exclusive for a long time. Only with the Sonic Gems Collection for Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 released in 2005 could the game be played at home. In 2012, versions for the PlayStation Network of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 followed , with these newer versions additionally Metal Sonic, Dr. Robotnik and the originally planned character Honey the Cat made playable.
Sonic the Fighters has no direct successor, as Sonic Battle, first published in 2003 for Game Boy Advance, and the Super Smash Bros. -Games with Sonic's involvement are beat 'em ups, but they are very different from Sonic the Fighters .
reception
When it was first released, Sonic the Fighters was praised for representing the increasingly popular beat-'em-up genre without appearing too serious or aggressive. The GamePro trade press compared the animations with the Looney Tunes cartoons . In the case of the new releases, the lack of depth and the relatively small scope were noted.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sonic the Fighter . In: GamePro . No. 93, June 1996.