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Sonic and pals are gearing up for some brawling action!


— Tagline

Sonic Battle (ソニックバトル Sonikku Batoru?) is a fighting game developed by Sonic Team for the Game Boy Advance. The gameplay consists of 2D sprites fighting in three dimensional environments similar to the Double Dragon games. Unlike traditional fighters, it is beginner-friendly and easy to play, featuring no complicated combos or button inputs that need to be memorized to perform special moves.

It is the second fighting game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the first being Sonic the Fighters. It is also the first Sonic fighting game to be on a handheld.

Story


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About 4,000 years ago, a sentient weapon was created by an ancient civilization. After being lost for millenia, the weapon, known as the Gizoid, was unearthed and researched by Prof. Gerald Robotnik. It remained dormant for another half century before being discovered by, of all people, resident would-be ruler of the world and Gerald's grandson, Dr. Eggman. Frustrated at his inability to get the dormant Gizoid to work properly, Eggman dumped the contraption at Emerald Beach where it was discovered once again, this time by Sonic the Hedgehog.

The Gizoid, which Sonic names Emerl, gets wrapped up in the affairs of Sonic's friends, both allies and rivals. Through his encounters with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Gamma, Rouge, and Shadow, Emerl grows and evolves from a soulless robot into a fun-loving mech with personality traits from all of those he had met. But while the gang is having fun raising their new mechanical friend, there are those who recognize Emerl's true power. Now that the Gizoid is working again, Eggman's got his eye on it, Rouge wants to turn it into a master thief, and Shadow senses that, despite their efforts to humanize him, Emerl is still designed and programmed to be a weapon of mass destruction.

The story comes to a close when Dr. Eggman challenges Emerl to a battle aboard his new Death Egg. While Emerl is able to defeat the mad doctor, Eggman takes advantage of Emerl's core programming - to obey whoever is strongest - by using the Death Egg's Final Egg Blaster to take out several stars. However, the programming conflict between Emerl's new personality and weapon design cause Emerl to lose control. He knocks out Eggman and turns the Final Egg Blaster toward Earth. Sonic attempts to use the Master Emerald to neutralize Emerl's Chaos Emerald powers, but when that fails, he's forced to defeat him in combat. With a final goodbye, Emerl is destroyed, but Sonic believes that they'll see him again someday.

Gameplay

Sonic Battle is very different from normal Sonic games in terms of gameplay, being a fighting game instead of a fast-paced action-adventure platformer. In story mode, players can explore the overworld, which is made up of "Emerald Town", "Holy Summit", "Central City", "Night Babylon", and "Gimme Shelter", though during some parts of the story only certain maps can be visited. However, every map can be accessed during Emerl's story. By going to a selectable area, the player may train with other characters, fight E-121 Phis, or continue the plot.

Battles take place on 3D arenas with 2D sprites and are split up into Point, Survival, and Time modes. Point Battles require the player to be the first to get a certain amount of points by KO'ing other characters participating in the battle. Survival requires the player to defeat all opposing characters by KO'ing them until they run out of lives. Time Battles require the player to reach a certain objective within a certain amount of time.

Before the battle starts and before the player re-enters the battle after being KO'ed, they are able to select from three different Special Attacks: Shot, Power, and Trap. Shot attacks are mid-to-long range attacks which can be directed in any of the eight directions (with the exception of Shadow's Chaos Magic). Power attacks are typically signature attacks of the character and vary between each character. These attacks normally focus a lot of damage in one go. Trap attacks involve the character placing or releasing an explosive device which launches the opponent upward and briefly blinds anyone hit. During selection, the player selects which attacks will be Ground, Aerial, and Guard. Ground is the basic Special Attack, used when the character is on the ground. Aerial is a variant of a special attack used while the character is in the air and is often an air-to-ground attack. The Special Attack selected as Guard protects you from opponents' moves in the same category. For example, if Guard is on Shot, all Shot moves are automatically blocked until you die and reset your Guard.

All characters are also capable of healing themselves at varying speeds. Defending from special attacks and healing allows characters to fill up the Ichikoro Gauge. When this gauge is full, the character flashes and their next special attack will be a one-hit K.O. if it hits. However, it will fill the gauge of anyone who blocks the attack.

In Story Mode, after a battle when Emerl is present, Emerl gains Skill Points based on how well the player fought: winning earns 1 point; winning without losing a life earns 2 points; winning without getting hit earns 5 points. Giving an Emerald Shard or a Chaos Emerald to Emerl gives him 10 points. These points allow skills that Emerl has copied from the battle to be selected as part of Emerl's moveset. These skills are ranked one to five stars, with each star being worth five points. The total point worth of the skills cannot exceed the total number of Skill Points Emerl has, and the maximum amount of obtainable Skill Points is 500.

Characters

Character Description
Sonic pose 61 Sonic the Hedgehog - The main protagonist of the game.
Tails 44 Miles "Tails" Prower - Sonic's trusted sidekick.
Knuckles 23

Knuckles the Echidna - A powerful echidna who is Sonic's friendly rival.

Amy 21 Amy Rose - A pink hedgehog who acts as Emerl's mother.
Shadow 7

Shadow the Hedgehog - A black hedgehog who doesn't seem to remember his past.

Rouge 10

Rouge the Bat - A professional thief and spy who wants to make Emerl a thief.

Cream 8 Cream the Rabbit - A polite little girl who is great friends with Emerl.
Char emerl big Emerl - The Gizoid discovered by Dr. Eggman thanks to his grandfather's diaries.
Chaos Gamma

E-102 "Chaos Gamma" - (Unlockable, no episode)

Chaos battle giant

Chaos - (Unlockable, no episode)

File:E-121 Phi.png

E-121 Phi - (Only in Story Mode; copies with Emerl's color scheme but differing eye colors appear in Battle Mode when multiples of the same character are chosen)

EggmanBattle2

Dr. Eggman - The main antagonist (only playable through a Gameshark code).

Arenas

All arenas except for Death Egg can be used in Battle Mode.

Other Modes

Besides Story Mode and battle arena fights, there are a number of other game modes available for single or multiplayer by connecting the Game Boy Advance with up to three others via a link cable. These include "Battle Mode", "Challenge Mode", "Training", "Mini Games", "Battle Record", and "Options".

Battle Mode

In "Battle Mode", players can select characters and arenas to spar in.

Mini Games

In "Mini Games", 2D mini games can be selected. These games are largely unrelated to the fighting motif. These include:

Character Description
File:180px-Sonic battle soniclash!.png Soniclash! (Multiplayer only)- The only minigame to be available for play at the start of the game, Soniclash! sees players bounce around a pinball-like arena, rolling around in ball form.

Players: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow. Big the Cat makes an occasional cameo sitting on the edge of the arena fishing.

File:180px-Sonic battle flying get.png Fly & Get (Multiplayer only)- Unlocked by beating Tails' episode in Story Mode. Fly & Get is an aerial ring-collection game which inspired a later Sonic Cafe mobile phone release, Tails' Flying Get.

Players: Tails, Cream, Gamma, Rouge.

File:180px-Sonic battle mine hunt.png Mine Hunt - Unlocked by beating Knuckles' episode in Story Mode. Here, Knuckles plays a game of minesweeper. Due to a design oversight, there is no way to exit the minigame once it is started. However, no data is lost by turning off the system while playing Mine Hunt. Unlike the other minigames, this is for one player only, although you can transfer it to another Game Boy Advance with no cartridge inserted.
File:180px-Sonic battle treasure island.png Treasure Island (called Treasure Hunt occasionally) (Multiplayer only)- Unlocked by beating Amy's episode in Story Mode. This game plays similarly to Knuckles' missions in the Adventure titles.

Players: Amy, Cream, Knuckles, Rouge.

File:180px-Sonic battle speed demon.png Speed Demon (Multiplayer only)- Unlocked by beating Shadow's episode in Story Mode. Players race down a highway toward a goal while avoiding obstacles and launching off ramps. You can accelerate to higher speeds by jumping off ramps.

Players: Shadow, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles.

Secret Combo Cards

Combo Cards representing each character can be obtained by entering a code in the Sonic Team building in the Central City area during Emerl's story.

  • Sonic: 75619
  • Tails: OTrOI
  • Knuckles: yU3Da
  • Amy: alogK
  • Cream: ZAhan
  • Shadow: ArmIa
  • Rouge: AhnVo
  • Gamma: tSueT
  • Chaos: EkiTa

Note: when having the cards, they cost six stars (30 skill points). When using them in a battle, Emerl will do either 1st and 2nd, 2nd or 3rd or 1st and 3rd attack and have the heavy attack or a special attack at the end, he will not stop attacking until the move finishes.

Reception

 Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings 69.34%[1]
Metacritic 69 out of 100[2]
Review scores
Publication Score
Game Informer 6/10[3]
GamePro 3.5/5[4]
GameSpot (7.7/10)[5]
GameSpy 3/5[6]
IGN 8/10[7]
Nintendo Power (7.4/10)[3]
X-Play 3/5[8]


The game received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics. According to review aggregator site Metacritic, the game has a score of 69 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[2] According to the video game review aggregator site Game Rankings, the game has a score of 69.34%.[1] While some critics praised the game's "surprisingly deep arena-fighting gameplay", graphics, and multiplayer mode, others dismissed it for its "limited moveset" and use of 2-D sprites on a 3-D fighting arena.

IGN gave the game a positive review, saying "It does try hard to be what Smash Bros. is, and even though the game doesn't quite reach the same status Nintendo and HAL created for the Nintendo consoles, Sonic Battle has enough stuff to make it one of the top original fighters on the Game Boy Advance system."[7] GameSpy also gave a positive review, saying "A solid and pleasantly deep arena beat-'em-up with lots of longevity, and through the presence of the Hedgehog and his posse adds absolutely nothing to the game, it's nice to see them getting work in these tough economic times."[6] Nintendo Power gave a more mixed review, saying the "moves are limited, but the overall experience is tons of fun."[3] GamePro also gave a mixed review, criticizing the game's story mode, saying "The biggest problem with Sonic Battle is the poor game design in Story mode. Earning Skill Points, and thereby new abilities for Emerl the Robot, is a grueling ordeal."[4] Gamestyle gave a more negative review, saying "Fighting really isn't Sonic's strength - at least not with regard to good gameplay.".[9]

Chronology and Legacy

The storyline of Sonic Battle was loosely adapted for TV in episodes 45 and 46 of Sonic X, entitled "Prize Fights" and "A Wild Win" respectively. The story is later continued in Sonic Advance 3 (in which a new robot, Gemerl, is built from Emerl's data) and heavily referenced in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

Trivia

  • Oddly, the seven Chaos Emeralds are all green in this game, and the Master Emerald does not have its own separate sprite. Meanwhile, Emerald Shards have their own sprites.
  • Strangely, when Sonic gets the Master Emerald, he states "A Master Emerald." This is most likely a typo.
  • When Chaos Gamma appears before Sonic, Tails and Emerl, Sonic and Tails quickly mistaken him as Gamma, whom they haven't seen since Sonic Adventure. Knuckles and Amy also mistake him as Gamma. Rouge notes that he looks similar to Omega.
    • Even though Knuckles seems to remember Gamma, the two have never actually met. Knuckles merely followed him to get to the Egg Carrier.
  • When entering Central City, a blue sign that reads "Sonic Team" is easily seen. Emerl can enter it in his story where he can input certain codes to obtain combo cards.
    • Shadow's and Chaos' card passwords are anagrams of Maria and Tikal respectively.
    • Knuckles' is a reference to his designer Takashi Yuda.
Sonic battle story difference

The mistranslation (left) and the corrected one (right).

  • The Japanese version has a language option where players can choose from Japanese to English. Some differences and mistranslations can be seen.
    • One example is in the beginning of Rouge's story where Rouge calls the hacker, which is Eggman, a "dirty bastard" for hacking the Central Computer.
    • Another example is the menu, where the game asks if the player is going to continue the story or play a different episode. The whole menu text itself is different in the English releases of the game and has a massive mistranslation (pictured on the right).
  • This is the first Sonic game with 2D artwork not done by Yuji Uekawa.
    • The artwork resembles the style of Puyo Pop Fever, another game made by Sonic Team.
  • While Amy's sprites are identical to her sprite in the Sonic Advance games, there's a minor difference: her irises are larger.
  • Although this game was released before Sonic Heroes, there are several references to the game including Rouge mentioning Omega and Shadow's presence there. Therefore, it can be inferred that this game appears to take place after the events of that game.
    • If that is the case, it is unknown how Shadow remembers his past, given that during the events of Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog he could not remember anything beside Maria. This probably means that the game takes place sometime after Shadow the Hedgehog.
  • Dr. Eggman's base in the game, "Gimme Shelter," shares the name with the popular Rolling Stones song.
  • In the Shibuya Downtown course in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Sonic Battle artwork can be seen on a plane.
  • In Virtual Training, even though the player gets multiple lives, one K.O. will end the Virtual Training session.

Videos

Sonic_Battle_E3_2003_Trailer

Sonic Battle E3 2003 Trailer

Sonic_Battle_Game_Boy_Advance_Retro_Commercial_Trailer_2004_Sega_Japan

Sonic Battle Game Boy Advance Retro Commercial Trailer 2004 Sega Japan

Sonic_Battle_Commercial_Jap_2

Sonic Battle Commercial Jap 2


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Sonic Battle for Game Boy Advance. GameRankings (2004-01-05). Retrieved on 2013-04-09.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Sonic Battle for Game Boy Advance Reviews. Metacritic (2004-01-05). Retrieved on 2013-04-09.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 {{Cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/game/game-boy-advance/sonic-battle/critic-reviews |title=Sonic Battle Critic Reviews for Game Boy Advance |publisher=Metacritic |date= |accessdate=2013-04-09}}
  4. 4.0 4.1 GamePro Media: (2010-01-13). Sonic Battle Review from GamePro. Web.archive.org. Retrieved on 2013-04-09.
  5. January 13, 2004 3:38PM PST (2004-01-05). Sonic Battle Review. GameSpot.com. Retrieved on 2013-04-09.
  6. 6.0 6.1 GameSpy: Sonic Battle - Page 1. Gba.gamespy.com. Retrieved on 2013-04-09.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Sonic Battle - IGN. Gameboy.ign.com. Retrieved on 2013-04-09.
  8. [1]Template:Dead link
  9. [2]Template:Dead link

External links

Sonic Battle

Main article · Scripts (Sonic, Tails, Rouge, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Shadow, Emerl) · Staff · Gallery
Sonic the Hedgehog handheld games

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