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Crabmeats (ガニガニ,Ganigani?) are crab-like Badniks created by Dr. Eggman, which first appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog (1991). Crabmeats are slow-paced Badniks that are capable of shooting projectile balls or homing missiles from their claws.
Crabmeats, as their name implies, were inspired by real life crabs. Its main mode of locomotion was dependent on its four short legs, which allowed it to scuttle around its territory. Two photo receptors located on top of two stalks on its head allowed it a great range of vision as enemies approached it. The two pincers located on the side of this Badnik were actually only for show. The real weapon was hidden inside the pincer itself, a device that allowed it store up concentrated amounts of energy.
The standard colors for the Crabmeat are red for the pincers, torso, and head; gray for the vocoder and legs. In Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, Crabmeats have given sleeker appearance. In Sonic Lost World, Crabmeat returns to its original appearance, although they come in two variations: regular red types and sleeker orange types.
Powers and abilities
When an enemy is spotted by the ever-watching Crabmeat, it begins to build up its store of concentrated energy. As soon as the weapons are fully charged, the Crabmeat will stop in its tracks, extend its claw, and fire two balls of energy from the barrels located inside of the pincers. Sonic found the Crabmeat's fatal flaw quickly; it took a good deal of time for the Crabmeat to fully charge its weaponry, making it a sitting duck for the hedgehog.
In Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations Crabmeat can fire missiles from inside of both of the pincers. Sonic Lost World features two designs of Crabmeats, as regular red types shoot energy projectiles and orange types can shoot homing missiles.
Game appearances
Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
Crabmeat first appeared in the 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog. In the game, Crabmeats are found in Green Hill Zone and Spring Yard Zone. At both zones, they can be seen slowly moving back and forth but they also stop to shoot energy balls on both sides. The player can easily defeat these Badniks with Spin Jump or Spin Attack.
In the 8-bit version of the game with same name, Crabmeats can be seen at Green Hill Zone and Jungle Zone. They usually act like their 16-bit counterpart, however Crabmeats, like other Badniks in the game don't have animal friends inside of them, like all Badniks in Game Gear and Master System titles.
Sonic Rush Adventure
Similar, but possibly different type of enemy appears in Sonic Rush Adventure. These enemies have been only featured at Coral Cave and are possibly built by Eggman and Eggman Nega. They do not shoot energy balls or homing missiles but they attack with their claws striking upwards; attacking them from above is dangerous. They do move from side to side fairly quickly when not attacking.
Sonic Rivals
Crabmeat appears in Sonic Rivals, only being featured as a collectible card.
Crabmeats make reappearance with upgraded models in Sonic Colors, they are featured at Aquarium Park and eventually in other levels. In this game, instead of shooting energy balls, they are now capable of shooting homing missiles at the player.
Crabmeats make another appearance in Sonic Generations. These Badniks are now featured at Green Hill and like in Sonic Colors, they can shoot missiles from their claws. However if a Crabmeat hits the player, it will fall over in laughter for while.
Sonic Jump
Crabmeat also appears at Green Hill Zone in the 2012 version of Sonic Jump. Crabmeat moves normally on platforms and the only way to attack them is to jump towards their underside.
Sonic Dash
Crabmeats will make appearance as enemies in the upcoming Sonic Dash. There are usually three in row or separated ones that try to block the player's way. However the player has ability to jump over them, dodge them or use the Spin Attack to destroy them. As the player starts to run faster, dodging or destroying Crabmeats might become harder.
Sonic Lost World
Crabmeat Badniks appear in Sonic Lost World, where they have received a cartoon-like design from earlier games. During the game, it turns out that Badniks, including Crabmeats, got hijacked by the Deadly Six. Sonic Lost World also features two types of Crabmeat Badniks, as regular ones are similar to ones from earlier games with red color scheme. These types can be found at Tropical Coast. The only way to defeat these enemies is to use Flying Kick twice, as the Badnik falls upside down and will be defeated after second kick.
The second type of Crabmeat Badniks are seen to be featured in Frozen FactoryZone Act 2, which are loosely similar to ones from Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, now with an orange color scheme. As Sonic turns himself into large snowball in the act, Crabmeat tries to fire its missiles towards the player. Missiles are able to destroy the whole snowball and the player automatically loses a life, if he/she has not collected all sticky Rings from snowball at previous Star Post.
Sonic Runners
In Sonic Runners, Crabmeats are common enemies found in the power type characters' stages. In this game, there are only the regular red types of Crabmeats, which do not fire projectiles from their claws, but instead move quickly back and forth or stand still separately or in groups.
Red Crabmeats come in three types. In addiction to the regular ones, there are golden types which grant 300 more points when defeated, and black ones called Super Crabmeats which only Color Powers and power type characters can defeat. All Crabmeat types contain Animals inside them.
Crabmeat appear in various early issues of Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, being standard units in Doctor Robotnik's badnik army and can be seen taking part in battles. Later in the comic's run, it is shown that parts of Crabmeat were used to design The Seven Badniks, which were built to repel the invading Palmtree Panic Zone forces. Crabmeat was part of an unprecedented three Badniks, having his claws as a weapon on Crabaton, Crabinator and Buzznik.
In Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog, a certain model of Crabmeat was designed specifically to aid Dr. Robotnik in his schemes to take over the world of Mobius. It had a built in vocoder, allowing it to talk directly to the mad genius. Robotnik stated at one time or another that he actually preferred having the faithful Badnik serve as his assistant rather than his whiny nephew Snively. In order to betray Nack the Weasel, Robotnik altered Crabmeat, giving him the ability to become very large. Shortly after Crabmeat tossed Nack out a window, he was destroyed by the new Mecha Sonic.[1]
Crabmeat later appeared on the Island of Misfit Badniks along with many of the other scrapped badniks Robotnik Prime had designed, but the island was sunk when Sonic and Pseudo-Sonic collided in a battle against each other. Crabmeat notices that both Sonic and Pseudo-Sonic were evenly matched and suggested a "Bighorn Challenge" to settle the fight. The island sunk as a result, and the badniks faked their deaths to avoid suspicion.[2] Later all badniks including Crabmeat were planning a revenge scheme involving enlarging Pseudo-Sonic. However it was corrupted by Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters. During the fight, Crabmeat was seen to be zapped by P.B. Jellyfish. All badniks were eventually crushed into a cube when Big Fluke landed on top of the island and Pseudo-Sonic.[3]
Crabmeat was later manipulated by the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra which got defeated in Titan Metal Sonic's body and tries to find a better replacement until it finds the inoperable Metal Knuckles laying in the ground in Albion. It then absorbs itself inside of it from Crabmeat body.[4]
Crabmeat played a very minor role in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie. Towards the beginning, after Sonic rescues Tails and the Old Man, a Crabmeat approaches them on the beach. Laughing, Sonic and Tails allow the Crabmeat to pinch the Old Man (after which it scuttles away).
In the Sonic Boom televisions series, the Crabmeats, here called Crab Bots, are a mass-produced robot model created by Dr. Eggman which make up a part of Eggman's army of robotic foot soldiers. They serve both as sentries guarding Dr. Eggman's lair or a military force used for the doctor's frequent attacks on Team Sonic and Bygone Island. However, they are not very powerful and easily destroyed in intense combat. Unlike their mainstream counterparts, who have a more cartoonish look and mostly attack with either missiles or energy projectiles, the Crabmeats shown here have a more realistic look and mainly attack with their pincers (although in later episodes, they retain their ability to use energy projectiles).
Merchandise
The toy company TOMY released a Crabmeat action figurine during the release of Sonic & Knuckles.
In the Sonic X episode "Depths of Danger", there is a single crab that resembles Crabmeat. It keeps causing trouble for Sonic, who tries to find a Chaos Emerald throughout the episode.
Kani, or gani, is Japanese for crab.
In the Ristar video game, there's a lobster-like enemy in the Planet Undertow level which can shoot fireballs from its pincers, much like Crabmeat.
