< Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog/Headscratchers


Games with their own pages:

  • If Sonic is the fastest thing alive, how does DR. EGGMAN out-run him in Sonic the Hedgehog 2& 3?
    • Plot convenience. And he did the same thing in Sonic 4.
    • He didn't; he always had a headstart and kept pace with Sonic purely for the sake of plot convenience.
      • Also, Rule of Funny.
    • Sonic sees stopping Eggman's plots as a game, so my guess is Sonic is letting Eggman outrun him as a challenge, cause it's fun to watch Eggman panic, and cause he's confident that he'll stop him no matter what he does.
  • Running at such high speeds, why doesn't Sonic's head get blown off his shoulders?
    • Maybe his body automatically produces some kind of protective shield? Like the "Aura" of some speedsters in comic books.
      • Alternatively, some continuities have shown Mobians to be "hardier" than we fleshy humans. In Sonic X, for example, they're regularly shown breathing in space (Lampshaded, in fact, by Knuckles saying he can hold his breath for a long time—just like Sonic 3 & Knuckles where Knuckles has a 15 second countdown in water, while Sonic only has 9 seconds till he starts to drown), or taking blows that could crush humans into mush. Maybe they're just tougher than we are.
      • The auto-shield is what happens in Sonic Unleashed. There's some weird force field around him when he boosts, which presumably keeps the air around him moving at the same speed as him.
    • Sonic just taps into the Speed Force.
    • I guess Sonic has a Required Secondary Power like Super Endurance/Durability that allows him to run at Super Sonic speed without ripping apart; this would also explain how he is able to survive hits from super powerful blows from enemies and plow through robots and certain stationary objects without any major injury.
  • A few that bug me from The Secret Rings:
    • How is it that Erazor's sword was able to kill a genie? I thought they were supposed to be immortal... Plus Erazor mentions that he is.
      • A Wizard Did It. Or more accurately, a genie.
      • Erazor wanted to control the seven World Rings and accidentally slashed Shahra (he planned on killing Sonic instead). "But the life of the one who gathered the rings must be offered up in sacrifice as the key to that control. I offer up your life, blue hedgehog!"
      • Genies aren't unkillable, they simply live for thousands of years. Erazor Djinn claims to be immortal, but maybe he was just referring to his long life.
    • In The Secret Rings, why does Erazor need those World Rings so badly if he has already achieved "god-like" power?
      • Because the World Rings were the only things that could stop him? Sounds like a good idea to go after the 1 thing that can stop you if you have god-like powers, if just to prevent other people from getting them.
      • Actually, it's because, for all it's worth, Erazor needed more power (I mean, he lost to a hedgehog.), and the World Rings were his ticket to such godly power, and he'd actually be able to escape the book and wreak havoc on the real world.
    • How did Erazor bring Shahra back to life?
      • He's a genie. As far as I know, there's no genie rule against reviving the dead.
      • Unless you're the Disney version of the genie from Aladdin.
        • Genie didn't have a rule against reviving the dead. He just preferred not to do it for rather obvious reasons.
        • Erazor is the Genie from Aladdin. Granted, he's not the friendly Robin Williams type, but still.
    • Why didn't they tell us more about Erazor and Shahra's relationship? I thought that that was one of the few things in the story with real potential, but they never even clarified the exact nature of their relationship. Was Erzaor Shahra's boyfriend, brother, father, or what?
      • Because you'd have things like Elise and Sonic.
      • Erazor and Shahra are both genies. How is that anything like Elise and Sonic?
    • Where did Shahra get Erazor's lamp? Why couldn't she use it herself?
      • Erazor probably threw it away and Shahra found it. As well, chances are that genies can't use each other's lamps.
      • It was broken when Shara had it, and she was working for Erazor Djinn at the time.
    • How come Shahra gave Sonic Erazor's lamp, if she was intent on betraying him the whole time up until the very end?
      • I think she was gambling that Sonic would be powerful enough to survive and defeat Erazor, thus freeing Shahra. The betraying was simply her sticking to the plan to ensure her survival in case Sonic failed.
      • I think she had conflicting emotions. She didn't want to destroy the Arabian Nights, but that was the only way she and Erazor Djinn could be together. She probably gave Sonic the lamp in case her plan to be with Erazor failed.
      • She was a Minion with an F In Evil, she felt sympathy for the patsy she used, and after being told to do what she feels is right, she instead sacrifices herself when it becomes evident what a monster her love truly is. Alternatively, it's the exact opposite; she genuinely was trying to assist Sonic, but didn't have the heart to fully betray Erazor, so she was cryptic in her methods so fate could choose for her. This would at least make Erazor's punishment for her more logical (it seems a pretty risky gamble to expect a stranger to save her in such a precise method that leaves him cursed instead).
    • Why didn't Shahra explain to Sonic the exact nature of what she was giving him (Erazor's lamp) instead of being vague about it?
      • I think she was simply too psychologically dependent on Erazor to go against him so blatantly.
      • She was still working for Erazor Djinn, hoping they could have a life together. She eventually has a Face Heel Turn at the end of the game.
    • How was Shahra able to escape the Arabian Nights, when Erzaor, who is much more powerful, couldn't?
      • Probably the nature of her existence. She's a ring genie, chances are such a genie has such an ability.
  • So how did Marine shoot that energy ball/throw that projectile/whatever at the end of Sonic Rush Adventure?
    • Hydrokinesis. A few times during the game, she mutters something about her hands glowing. She tries to keep the powers a secret until the end of the game. Basically, she's like Blaze, but with water instead of fire.
  • Where does Robotnik get the resources to build his bases and space stations, and why does he always go after the Chaos Emeralds?
    • I figure Eggman either steals his resources or he could very well buy some of them. In Sonic Battle, it is mentioned that Eggman sold a few E-102 Gamma look-a-likes to certain Black Market groups, so one could think that Eggman sells a few of his inventions for resources.
      • The same could be asked of Dr. Wily. Then again, Wily seems to be conning the populace in 9, so...
    • That's the tricky thing about being the villain of a series of stand-alone games. Two possibilities come to mind: 1. He has off-screen allies who help him rebuild under the hope that he'll conquer the world yet, or 2. His empire is large enough that he can fall back after a major defeat, let his robots mine some more, and try something else. As to why he always goes after the Chaos Emeralds, they're the most obvious avenue to quick, absolute power available to him. In the early games, the Chaos Emeralds are tangential to the main story, where he's just trying to take over the world the old-fashioned way. Presumably, once he learned of their existence, they became his new Plan A.
    • Dr. Robotnik owns Meteo Tech and Robotnik Corp. in Sonic Riders; he has oceans of oil, giant plants, and robotic cities in classic games; the only time his empire is totally collapsed is Sonic Adventure 2, but he rebuilds it before Sonic Advance. He is just rich and powerful.
    • According to Sonic Colors, he also owns Eggman Enterprises. Yeah, Dr. Eggman has plenty of ways to make money and pay for things.
      • Yes, exactly. He owns a HUGE Mega Corp which he makes his money from, then he tries to take over the world using all that money/resources, and simply uses the name "Eggman" as an alias while he does it. At least, that's how I see it.
    • Also, don't you run into some of Eggman's robots stealing materials in Sonic Heroes?
  • Why does Sonic have the ability to use Chaos Control?
    • My guess would be that Sonic Team had different plans for Shadow's (and Sonic's) origin that may have explained it, but those were scrapped for whatever reason to make the Shadow The Hedgehog game instead. A better question to ask would probably be what the hell were they thinking!?
    • It seemed like they wanted to say that Sonic was the real Ultimate Lifeform created by Professor Gerald and shot to Earth by Maria, and Shadow was an upgraded version of him created after Gerald went nuts and decided to destroy the human race. But they apparently backed out of that at the last minute.
      • Shadow is explicitly a prototype; if anything, you've got the roles reversed there.
        • Where is this stated? The prototype mentioned in Sonic Adventure 2 was the Biolizard. Shadow was the alpha product, so to speak.
    • Maybe it's related to using them however many times in every act after the first in Sonic 2 and Sonic 3? Admit it, you did. We all did.
    • Obviously, Sonic is The Chosen One.
    • Or more obviously, anyone with a Chaos Emerald (or built-in access to Chaos Energy, like Shadow) can use Chaos Control. Sonic only used it once to escape from the Pod (unless you consider his use of it during his final fight with Shadow canon). But really, using Chaos Control is just like harnessing Chaos Energy to turn Super.
    • Actually, Word of God says that, after absorbing so many Power Rings, Sonic now has a naturally occurring form of Chaos in his body, which is heightened when in possession of a Chaos Emerald. Sadly, I have no source link. Sorry.
  • Why do the Chaos Emeralds keep changing shape from game to game?
    • Well... they're solid chaos. What else are they supposed to do?
    • Two words: Chaos Architecture.
    • Never mind all that; I want to know why Chaos Emeralds come in so many different colors when emeralds, by definition, are green. Shouldn't they be called Chaos Beryls?
      • No, because that would just be stupid.
      • They're full of Chaos Energy. That stuff clearly messes with the gems themselves, making them change colour. Considering all the other crap that bunch of gems can do, it's not exactly farfetched.
    • The writers probably Did Not Do the Research, and might have confused them with sapphires (which do come in various colors) when naming the Chaos Emeralds.
      • Actually, I've heard that it's a Japanese semantics issue, where "emerald" pretty much means any kind of gemstone.
      • This is a common problem when it comes to translation. Similar issues plague Dragonball Z and Mario Galaxy.
    • Chaos Emeralds! They can be any color they damn well please. Because they want to. I bet they're sentient. Damn, that's a WMG in the making there.
    • Besides, the name may come from the fact that they're associated with the Master Emerald, which is green. Frankly, I doubt any of them are really emeralds in the first place.
      • Nope. They were called "emeralds" in Sonic 1 and 2, and the Master Emerald was only introduced in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
    • It was a mistranslation, IIRC. The (UK) comic book would later Hand Wave it away by having them start green, then adopt their colours when they absorbed more chaos energy or something.
    • Several characters in Sonic X have noted that too...
    • Also, in Sonic Battle, all the emeralds are green for some reason.
      • The Chaos Emerald sprite in Sonic Battle was the same one they used for the intro of Sonic Advance. Presumably, they were too lazy to recolor it. (And also too lazy to resize it to represent the Master Emerald in the finale.)
    • Two of the Chaos emeralds also appear in the cartoon Sonic Underground. They're both green. And this cartoon is also the only time that German dubbing calls them "Smaragde", which means "Emeralds" in German. In any other case, they were left untranslated, probably because of this very colour-inconsistency.
      • Adventures of Sonic, and the Archie Comics also had all the Chaos Emeralds as green, as well as the Sonic 1 promo comic, and parts of Sonic the Comic. Apparently, in the Sonic the Comic continuity, they started out as multicolor, shaped like Super Emeralds with the green one being the Master Emerald, split into 13 emeralds, they changed to the shape of the early games and lost the Master Emerald, six changed to green, and then turned back to multicolored in the explosion of the ROCC, before being combined back into 7 regaining their Super Emeralds shape and restoring the Master Emerald.
    • In Sonic Spinball, there were sixteen emeralds and they were all navy blue. Just figured I'd throw that one out there.
      • I don't think Spinball was ever canon to begin with.
    • In the Genesis games, they are viewed from the top. The later games show them from the side.
  • Why does Knuckles keep believing Robotnik when he says Sonic is up to no good?
    • I figure it's both Flanderization as well the fact Eggman was the first human Knuckles ever met, so he might have a soft spot for Eggman.
    • Probably a touch of mind control too.
      • That or jealously towards Sonic kicking in.
    • He's just gullible, there are people who are that gullible.
    • In Knuckles' defense, I don't think Robotnik has duped him more than twice in any given continuity. As to why it consistently happens across adaptations, it's arguably a core facet of his character by now.
      • In the games at least, this is true: in 3 & Knuckles, in Triple Trouble, briefly in Sonic Adventure and most recently in Sonic Advance 2.
    • I believe at one point in Sonic X, it's stated that the reason Knuckles keeps falling for Eggman's tricks is that he believes that everyone has at least some good in them and that Eggman really has seen the light this time.
      • This was placed in by the dub. In the original version, they are just giving him a condescending pat on the back for distracting the Metarex with their fake planet egg; in other words, getting tricked by Eggman is wrong but getting tricked by your own friends is good. Looking at this, Sonic X Knuckles at least had a good excuse for his mistrust, since the same people that tried to warn him of Eggman's abuse also tricked and bullied him non stop.
    • One fan theory seems to be that since Knuckles grew up with no one around him, he was never exposed to the concept of lying—and thus, the idea that someone might be lying almost never occurs to him.
      • Maybe so, but deceit is pretty common in the animal kingdom. It seems to be innate in humans too. So why wouldn't Knuckles have some inkling of how it worked? Granted, without actual experience, he wouldn't be aware of the deeper nuances of deception, and so would be rather naive and gullible to an extent, but you'd think he would have some degree of distrust towards unfamiliar faces. Especially since his job purpose in life is to safeguard an extremely valuable object.
      • Here's a theory: he doesn't fall for it at all. Knuckles considers himself Sonic's rival (though Sonic apparently doesn't share that sentiment). He has fought Sonic many times, and always lost. Knuckles is also extremely headstrong, stubborn, and proud. He IS from a warrior race, after all - losing so many times has got to hurt, even if it is to a friend of his. In the end, he wants to beat Sonic just ONCE in a fair fight. But Sonic isn't the kind of guy who'll just fight someone for no reason at all, so Knuckles needs to give him some motivation - and what better motivation than to act like he's been conned into believing Sonic is up to no good? He even fools Eggman, deliberately making him think that he's easy to trick so Eggman will keep telling him Sonic is doing something bad so he'll have an excuse to fight him. It's all part of Knuckles's plan to heal his wounded pride by finally beating Sonic once and for all, in a fair fight with neither of them holding anything back. (We'll assume that in Sonic Adventure, Sonic was canonically the winner of their skirmish, since depending on which story you're playing it can also be Tails who fights Knuckles instead of Sonic).
  • Why have the games been sugarcoating Eggman's actions even though he has shown time and time again he is willing to murder innocents in order to accomplish his goals? Really, I don't see why Sonic doesn't take it upon himself to arrest Eggman and send him to prison. If for some reason Sonic can't arrest Eggman, then he could just lead G.U.N over to wherever Eggman's base is and help them arrest him.
    • I guess this is a thing in the recent games? The original Genesis ones don't seem to have much in the way of organized civilization, and in Sat-AM everyone had already been roboticized.
      • In the Genesis games, he enslaves animals to power his robots, which is why an animal pops out every time you destroy a badnik.
    • Depends on what you mean by "recent", but yeah, starting in the first Sonic Adventure back in 1998-1999 there's a full-fledged human civilization from Twenty Minutes Into the Future that's vaguely aware of Sonic and Friends. The rest of the games have kept that up.
    • There was apparently a mass assault on Eggman's forces two years before the events of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, where Eggman seemingly copped it when his ship exploded. Of course, even that can't stop him, anyway. He's better at escaping than Dr. Wily...
  • Sonic Riders makes it so Sonic's board is many, many times faster than he is (with the exception of one item in the new version). This is especially bad because previous game Sonic R had everyone else using karts while Sonic just plain ran, and that worked fairly well. So why the hell does he get forced to have a board now?
    • WRONG! The only characters who used vehicles in Sonic R were Amy (who had yet to receive her SA 2 speed boost) and Robotnik, and the whole game was oddly slow for a racing game. Meanwhile, in the first two Sonic racing games, Sonic Drift and Sonic Drift 2, Sonic did use a kart. It looked like his shoes. Even if those hadn't happened, though, I don't see what's wrong—Sonic's not a beam of light, things are allowed to be faster than him.
    • ...Speed is his whole thing, he's the 'fastest thing alive', saying that some hoverboard is faster than someone that can move like he does is somewhat stupid
      • So hoverboards are alive now?
      • For what it's worth, in Sonic Battle Shadow was faster than Sonic. So "Fastest Thing Alive" is probably an outdated title.
      • It's been shown that Shadow's actual leg movements are slower than Sonic's. Shadow's rocket skates are responsible for his ability to keep pace with Sonic. And if '06 is to be believed, they're not doing as good a job of that as they used to.
    • plus he was just following the rules of the competition
      • This. Just because Sonic can run as fast as the competition without a board or kart doesn't mean he has to. This troper rationalizes that he would be happy to follow the rules of the race, as he still gets to go fast.
      • This is the explanation I give—that Sonic has to follow the rules, and being Lawful Good, if he enters a competition, he'll try to comply as best he can. You wouldn't run in a sack race. Sonic won't run in a car race. That being said, the whole thing about Sonic being "the fastest thing alive" was a product of the SatAM cartoon. This has never been canon in the games. Plenty of things have managed to outrun Sonic, alive or not.
      • I seem to recall that the above is actually the official explanation for why he doesn't automatically smoke all of the other racers in the Olympics games: he slows himself down in the interest of fairness. So this explanation is most likely canon.
  • In Sonic Unleashed, why does it take a single hit from Sonic to destroy a robot, but multiple Combos to do the same with the Werehog?
    • Sonic's hitting the robot at the speed of sound with his Spin Attack, while his Werehog form's hitting the 'bot at regular (human) speed. Notice how whenever Sonic home-attacks the Egg Fighters/Egg Launchers/etc., he literally sends them flying, usually into a wall or water?
    • This troper's theory is that since these new robots are powered by Dark Gaia's energies (Eggman states 'harnessing the power of Dark Gaia' several times; also, you absorb Dark Gaia energy from the robots when you destroy them), they become stronger and tougher at night, similar to what happens to Sonic when he goes werehog.
      • This troper's theory is that objects moving at or faster than the speed of a bullet impact a target harder than punching it.
  • Why does the word "COPE" appear in big flashing lights in the background of Spring Yard Zone?
    • Gratuitous English?
      • Specifically, it might have been the first word the original creators found to fit the positive, uplifting message you would expect to find in a... in whatever Spring Yard is. And it is is a fun word. Cope! :-)
    • Paradox. They're telling you to cope with the fact that the signs say "COPE", so that means that they're telling you to cope with the fact that they're telling you to cope with the fact that...
    • If I really had to come up with a reason, I would call it a strange half-hearted effort by Robotnik to lessen resistance. That's right, he's taking over and turning all of your friends into cold, unfeeling robot badniks, so... deal.
    • An ad-tie-in for Coca-cola when the Japanese market realized that "coke" meant something else?
    • From the Development Gag page: "The first game also has glowing letters reading "COPE" in the Spring Yard Zone, which is the acronym for one of the graphics processing routines used by the developers."
  • In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, why is there a carnival zone on Angel Island of all places?? Did Robotnik have time to just build one? That always bugged me, the rest of the zones made relative sense in one way or another (despite, you know, radically different climates being right next to each other on a floating island).
    • I'd guess it was one of the most recent things that the Echidna civilization built before they disappeared. Knuckles maintained it because he was all alone on the island; the carnival and its maintenance were his only sources of amusement.
    • It's the surrealism of the Mega Drive trilogy (+ Sonic CD). Spring Yard didn't follow a level theme (It wasn't really a city level, it wasn't a casino level, and it wasn't a mountain level...), Collision Chaos is a pinball table... "On drugs", and Carnival Night looks out of place in Angel Island. Actually, Sonic 3 has the most "normal" levels in the trilogy, so Carnival Night looks even more out of place.
    • Alternatively, Carnival Night is Eggman's primary base on the island, while Launch Base is just the subset dedicated to getting the Death Egg airborne again. The Flying Battery's gotta refuel somewhere, and the level order was originally going to have Flying Battery immediately after Carnival Night, anyway...
  • WHO THE HELL BUILDS A THEME PARK OVER A LAVA PIT AND A BOTTOMLESS PIT?! (Sonic Unleashed)
    • The same person who put deadly rotating spike balls in Twinkle Park?
    • Eggmanland is a park whose theme is pure, unadulterated malice. Lava and bottomless pits fit the theme quite nicely.
  • Tails can fly by twirling his twin tails like a propellor, but he can only do it for five(?) seconds at a time before getting tired and having to drop. Fair enough. However, he also does it to propel himself forwards while running at full pelt, which is presumably how he's able to keep up with Sonic. How come that never tires him out?
    • I've assumed it was momentum not exhaustion. He can re-twirl his tails while running on the ground to get more speed, but if he re-twirls them while flying he's going to fall like a rock (yeah yeah, it's not like there's falling damage in the game).
      • Plausible, but he plainly sags and pants like he's out of breath when it happens.
      • Maybe he broke something and was out of the fast running lifestyle for a few months, and he hasn't caught up to his old self yet.
    • I've thought of it as the fact that to fly, Tails has to support his entire body's weight with just his tails. While running, he's upright with his tails just having to propel him forward instead of actually carrying him in the air.
  • How did Knuckles knock Sonic out of Super Sonic mode back in Sonic The Hedgehog 3? He even did so hard enough to knock the Chaos Emeralds out of Sonic. Isn't Super Sonic supposed to be invincible, at least for the early games?
    • Better question. Why does he hide the stolen emeralds in poorly hidden giant floating minigame rings?
    • Maybe being guardian of the Master Emerald just let's him do h4x shit like that? For all we know, canceling a Chaos Emerald-induced Super Mode is part that power set, like sensing Emeralds - not like he's ever had occasion to do it again.
    • Actually, in one of the cut-scenes in Sonic and Knuckles, Knuckles knocks a giant boulder into Sonic, which can revert him back to normal from HYPER. Since he's an NPC in Sonic's story, he's invincible in cut-scenes, but a joke in actual battle.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has the Oil Ocean zone. Dr. Robotnik's boss machine in that level spends its time submerged in oil. When you defeat it, it explodes. Why does this not affect the oil the machine has been covered in the entire time? Or the entire ocean of it making up the level, for that matter?
    • Not to mention another highly-known attribute of oil: being covered in it is of great harm to animals. Sonic doesn't even have to brush it off.
      • It probably just flies off when he runs at supersonic speeds.
  • In Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic says something among the lines of "What good is a world that doesn't end?". The world he is refering to is the world of Camelot. What Bugs me is that he saves his world (and if you count X, ours.) from it's end countless times. I am starting to think Sonic is becoming a hypocrite.
    • Of course, Sonic's also never had to overrun it all with evil minions to do so...
    • Merlina didn't want the world of Camelot to end, but the way she wants to do it is hardly a utopian method (freezing everything exactly as it is forever and ever, with her as a dark ruler over all). The way Sonic says it isn't the best, but what he means is on the money.
      • Yeah, I think it's more or less, "What good is a world that never changes?". But for there to be change, there has to be beginnings and endings. What he said was more or less right, but just phrased strangely.
    • I think what he meant is that the world will come to its natural end at some point and it wasn't right to force it to go on forever. But he's also not just gonna sit back and eat chili dogs while bad guys try to blow the world up, because that's destroying the world before its natural end. Basically, forcing a world to last forever is wrong, but blowing it up isn't any better.
    • Remember that the world was a storybook, and Sonic knew that, but the characters obviously didn't. What he WANTED to say was "What good is a story that doesn't end", but he couldn't say that because he would either literally break the fourth wall, or Merlina just wouldn't understand what he meant, so he had to say "world" instead to get his point across.
  • One of the producers of something told 4kids that he wanted the voices to stay the same in all continuities. What did he mean? To switch the 4kids voices to the games or the opposite? Wasn't the reason 4kids didn't use the game voices was because they couldn't get them?
    • They meant, they wanted to use the same voice actors they used on the show, and use them in the games. Therefore, the voice actors would be the same in both continuities. And the reason why 4Kids didn't use the same voice actors from the games was because they didn't work for them. So they used their own in-house actors, and those actors went on to voice the characters in the games... All the way up until they were replaced in 2010.
  • "Sonikku". It's cute and all but still..That's the most common Japanese pronunciation from what I've heard but it's not used in the games. So why do people apply it to the games? Sonic's seiyu used it once in a video Ad then used the regular pronunciation toward the end. But that's all I've heard of that pronunciation in canon.
    • Probably for similar reasons to the fans who insist on using "Eggman" in all contexts—it's the "original" Japanese name; therefore, it has precedent.
    • I'm confused: in the Japanese audio of Adventure 1 and 2, it's pronounced "Sonikku" all the time. And if the complaint is about it not being used in The English audio tracks, "Sonic" and "Sonikku" are the same when translated. "Robotnik" and "Eggman" are actually different.
    • "Eggman" was his original Japanese name. It was changed to "Robotnik" in America, probably because they though Dr. Eggman as a villain sounded silly. And as far the "Sonikku" thing goes, I think the reason it's pronounced differently in Japanese because "Sonic" itself is a loanword and not exactly a common word in Japan. It happens a lot in other games where characters have noticeably foreign names; "Kuraudo Storaifu" (Cloud Strife), "Soriddo Suneku" (Solid Snake), "Gairu" (Guile) to name a few. All of the characters have English names in the Sonic universe, so you get stuff like "Sonikku ze Hejjihoggu" all the time. Translated in Japanese, it would have to be something along the lines of "Sonikku no Harinezumi". Sonic's seiyuu is probably the only one who uses both pronunciations, but he kinda has to.
      • Kanemaru is also a more-or-less fluent speaker of English and used to teach the language in schools, so of course he knows the proper pronunciation for the word...
    • It's Memetic Mutation. In Sonic X, in the Japanese version, Chris yells "SONIKKUUU!" a LOT of times. Tails also yells it in a similar way when he dies in the games if you have Japanese voices turned on.
  • You know, why is it that we never see any other anthropomorphic creatures other than the main characters? Every NPC Sonic meets, Eggman in SA2B aside, is human. How is this possible? (I'm not counting Sonic X, Sonic Underground, Sat Am, or PINGAS.) Logically speaking, it would take two anthro parents to make a creature such as Sonic. In other words, the world would need to be populated with other anthros to have anthros exist in the first place. So why aren't there races of anthro foxes/bats/hedgehogs/etc other than the main characters? We see Cream's mom, so is this the case? Are the main characters overly evolved chao animals or what's the deal here?
    • My guess could be that other of Sonic's kind are in their own home city when Sonic is doing his adventures. That, or then Sonic etc. Really are last of their kind.
      • That last part doesn't make sense. If they were all the last of their kind then Knuckles being the last echidna wouldn't be that big of a deal.
      • The same concept could be be applied to the early games; Eggman was the only human every seen, so the theory of anthro people just living in their own territory away from humans is pretty logical.
    • Comics, too. Don't forget the comics. Anyway, in the early games, where plot wasn't a big issue anyway, I always assumed that the animals Sonic saves had a similar thing going on; the difference was a matter of, well, being a heavily-programmed main character. (The comics support this, as I recall.) The Sonic Adventure series is a little hazier—no one even seems to notice that Sonic or his friends are out of the ordinary apart from their special powers. Uh... honestly, I think a better question is where all the humans came from, but either way it's a poser.
    • In Sonic X's pilot video - back when the show's concept had it take place on Sonic's world - there were actually multiple anthropomorphs shown in the background, and the only humans were Eggman, Chris and Danny. Other anthros obviously exist, but there's just no focus on them. Besides, when making Unleashed there was probably a mind not to add other anthropomorphs because of the trap of stereotyping various cultures as certain animals (not that they didn't stereotype already, of course).
  • Sonic's animal friends from the "classic" games. They still cameo every once and a while, and they're reappearing in Sonic 4. However, what are their English names? Now that every continuity shares the same continuity I'm pretty sure they've changed to their Japanese names, as seen in Jam and Game World, and Ricky's a boy again.
    • I guess it's that or their English names. Trying to get anything more concrete than that is liable to be worse than the Robotnik/Eggman debate.
    • In Sonic Rush Series Adventure, Sonic comes upon an island populated by anthropomorphic koalas. We also have Marine there, who while pretty close to the other animal characters in Sonic, is a noncombatant. (More so than Cream.) So I think comunities of animals do exist, but they have yet to be plot-important.
  • In the first Sonic game, there were 6 Chaos Emeralds. But in Sonic 2, the number went up to seven. Since then, you've had to collect Seven Chaos Emeralds. Where did the 7th one come from?
    • There have always been 7 Chaos Emeralds, during the games in which less then 7 appear somone got to some of them before Sonic or Robotnik/Eggman could. Furthermore, in some of the games with less then 7 emeralds, they appear in the stages rather then the special zone, so its possible they are simply in a location you can't access. Also note that, Angel Island had a distinct set of Chaos Emeralds. The Super Emeralds are likely a fusion of both sets and are the ones that appear in all games post Sonic 3 and Knuckles.
      • Angel Island's set is not distinct. And the Super Emeralds are infused with the Master Emerald's power. In fact, whether the Super Emeralds happened in canon is debatable (note that the Eggrobo that is the boss in Knuckles' story in 3 & Knuckles only appears in the ending where Sonic only collects exactly 7 Chaos Emeralds).
    • Above, it states that the Emeralds are sentient. There were seven animals in the original game, the game where the Seven Emeralds did not appear. After, the Emeralds became seven, in all the games were the original seven animals did not appear. Hmm.
    • I always thought that the seventh emerald was "lost"—they didn't rediscover the fact that it existed until the time of the second game.
    • Or the eighth emerald from Sonic the Fighters?
    • This inspired some Fridge Brilliance in me: Robotnik only had six emeralds, plain and simple. He hadn't acquired the seventh before beginning his plan. In Sonic 1, the point of gather the Emeralds is to keep them from Robotnik. Sure, they're most powerful when used together but each of them are individually very powerful and keeping them away from Robotnik is the entire point of getting them, hence why letting him have even one results in a Bad Ending. The brilliance comes in when you realize this is why Super Sonic isn't in the game (in fiction, of course).
  • Amy's ability to predict the future. It was the entire reason she was even in Sonic CD, plot-wise, then it's forgotten until it suddenly shows up as a POW Attack in Sonic Chronicles. Seriously. What's up with that? Did Sega just suddenly forget about it? Why doesn't she ever use it again? Even given how limited it has been shown to be so far, it'd be pretty handy sometimes—if they're remembered it, she could've used it to guide Team Rose in Sonic Heroes, instead of her storyline consisting of wandering aimlessly in search of Froggy, Cheese, and Sonic, with no particular reason to go any of the places they did except that Sega didn't want to make more levels.
    • Yeah, I'd say they forgot. They really shouldn't have.
      • It could be that the tarot cards were an Ass Pull and Amy is just preternaturally aware of Sonic's location. Cream's mention of Amy having "Sonic Radar" in Rush supports this.
  • In Sonic Chronicles, Tails says "Please, Sonic. I'll tell you more when you get here!". There's no reason for him to be concerned about the security of the transmission (All the stuff Tails has planned at that moment is overt and easily guessable. Of course Knuckles being captured will cause Sonic to show up. What else would happen?), so it's obvious that Tails just wants Sonic there ASAP. Then you talk to a lumberjack. If you tell him no, Tails says "We have time to do this, Sonic. Let's help him!". Why?
    • Radios are crackly and sometimes things can be hard to hear or lost in transmission. Tails probably figured there was less danger of Sonic missing something if they talked face to face. Also, Sonic is impatient, and Tails probably wanted to be able to keep an eye on him and make sure he was paying attention while he explained the situation.
    • Because it's the right thing to do?...
  • What does Rouge want with jewels? Surely she doesn't sell them, since she seems to prefer to be paid with them. She doesn't seem to wear any jewelry, so what? Does she just like shiny objects?
    • Because diamonds are a girls best friend!
    • People have become obsessed with stranger things than precious gemstones.
    • She just LOVES jewels, simple as that. Also, she considers herself a treasure hunter. She's also greedy, which is exemplified in one scene in the part of Sonic X that's based on the Sonic Adventure games - after finding the blue Chaos Emerald, which is what she was supposed to find, Topaz calls her to leave, but Rouge grabs the Master Emerald, exclaiming "I want this as well!" despite the fact it was huge, heavy and completely unnecessary for her to take.
  • In the comics, where does the meat come from? Sonic and his pals are constantly eating things like chili dogs. Is it processed food that has been engineered to have the texture and flavor of animal products?
    • Well, realistic animals do exist in the Sonic world (including hedgehogs), so I guess so long as they're not anthropomorphic they're kosher.
      • Or maybe they're all made of bugs. Oh wait, Charmy...
    • Maybe it's fake meat, like the kind vegetarians eat in Real Life.
  • Probably not as much of a JBM than a question but; from game to game, we get different zones, stages and levels for the sake of variety. We get a beach level, a city level, an ice level, pinball level and pretty much every of the cliche levels the series has spawned. Now, at least in the main games, should we believe all of the stages are a part of the same world the series takes place on? The correct geography of Sonic's world is hard to pinpoint and in Shadow the Hedgehog it does show the world map does resemble Earth and Sonic Unleashed pretty blatantly puts in different countries based on Earth's culture. So, can we say Empire City and/or Westopolis are a part of Station Square, possibly New York in the future? Apotos being Greece in the future? All ice levels being different parts of Holoska?
    • Sonic's geography works the same way as Mario's or Hyrule's.
    • This troper actually has driven past a real life place called Station Square while on a road trip to visit a friend. It's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
    • I support the above, I know where that is actually, and I also support the Word of God stating that Sonic's world and the world he visits in Sonic X are part of Another Dimension.
  • One which has haunted me a while... The original game had Sonic's speed being attributed to his magical sneakers in the instruction booklet. Yet every single game/comic/incarnation SINCE has quietly swept that under the table, until we get to SA 2 and Sonic calling Shadow out for not being faster by innate speed, but his Chaos Control abilities. The super speed powerups have further made it annoying, because I'm sure THAT represents the magical sneakers. So what happened? Did this blue hedgehog just gain the abilites of the sneakers on his own, with no explanation?
    • There was Sonic Labyrinth, where he lost his shoes and had to walk. As for the modern games, they must not think it's important enough to address anymore, since everyone accepts his speed already.
    • I've never seen the first game manual, but every cartoon and comic I've seen states that Sonic's speed in innate. The sneakers are merely necessary to protect his feet from friction burn when he runs. I've always excepted that as the canon in all continuities as it's what makes the most sense.
    • Yeah, I'm willing to chalk up the magic shoes thing to Early Installment Weirdness.
    • I remember it being that Robotnik forced Sonic into shoes that slowed him down, and the point was him finding the key needed to get them off. Sonic didn't lose his jumping ability in Labyrinth, just running speed.
  • In Shadow the Game, the President at one point mentions while looking at a picture of Sonic and Shadow that "The world was once saved by you two heroes". Now, he's probably talking about SA2, or possibly Heroes, but regardless of that... when was the picture taken?!
    • My take is sometime between Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow was thought to be dead at the end of SA2, so it couldn't be right after that game.
  • Why is Robotnik suddenly called Eggman? Yeah, I get it, it's a nickname and they did significant retconning to bring two different Sonic canons together. It just seems odd that everyone would consistently call Robotnik by a nickname. Nicknames are, by definition, casual names that may not be used at all, or variations may be used. Why doesn't anyone ever call him 'Eggmeister' or something? Instead everyone calls him 'Eggman' as though it were his real name. It doesn't seem to anger Robotnik, and no-one ever sounds contemptuous when they use the 'Eggman' moniker. Strange, eh? It's almost as if the whole thing in an embarassing retcon.
    • It' a regional thing.
      • In the Japanese versions, he was always Eggman, but they probably thought American audiences wouldn't take that name seriously or something, so when the games came overseas, he became Dr. Robotnik. Now, the way he suddenly became Eggman again in Sonic Adventure definitely could've been more well-executed, but the name itself is nothing new.
    • Plus, it's not like he was ever verbally spoken to in any of the Genesis games.
    • Sonic Generations lampshades this by having Classic Eggman say that nobody calls him Dr. Robotnik anymore. In-universe, the English version of the games made it a kind of Ascended Fanon on Eggman's part. The first one to call him Eggman in the games was Sonic, who used it as an insult. Later on, Eggman (Robotnik at the time) was thinking he needed an alias, and then that event popped into his head as he was thinking, and he decided to use "Eggman" out of a sense of irony or something.
  • What's with the rings? Do they actually exist in-universe, or are they just a game mechanic? If they do exist, who made and put them everywhere (including Robotnik's own fortresses!), and why doesn't Robotnik steal them to weaken you or try to harness their power for himself like he does with the emeralds?
    • They're apparently used as money ingame, but that's there only know purpose.
      • Eggman actually DOES use them as power sources in Sonic Advance 3. When you defeat enemies in that game, they drop a ring, and nothing else. That seems like pretty hard evidence that the robots were powered by the ring they dropped. It didn't seem to make his robots any stronger then they were before though.
        • Given their ubiquitousness, it's probably gotten to the point where collecting rings for power is easier than small animals.
    • I remember reading somewhere that the rings are manifestations of chaos energy. Therefore, it would make sense for them to just pop up in random places like the emeralds seem to do.
    • Early on in the Archie comics, it's established that even one Power Ring has some special kind of voodoo magic. Robotnik's chasing Sonic in his classic Wrecking Ball Mobile, Sonic grabs a ring, then he jumps through it to make the wrecking ball loop-de-loop and smash on top of the Egg Mobile. And they're supposed to provide some magical protection as well, as without them, everyone's a One-Hit-Point Wonder. So yes, it's likely they exist in-universe. Seeing as you need a lot of them to power Super Mode, I'd say they were created by the same guys who made the Emeralds.
  • That reminds me of another point: It seems like no one seems to notice or care about the Rings floating wherever they are except the player character. This is especially true in games with hub worlds like Sonic Adventure and Sonic Unleashed, where there are NPCs who may be standing right next to a set of them and act like the Rings aren't even there. You don't even see anyone moving them out of the way if they're blocking them. Are they just an accepted part of the world, like pennies on the ground, and the only ones who pay them any mind are the ones trying to save the world?
  • In Sonic Advance 2's Sound Test, the invincibility theme is named "UNRIVAL". What.
    • I think it's supposed to be short for "UNRIVALED." As in, having the invulnerability gives you unrivaled strength compared to the basic enemies, or something...
  • Knuckles in the the 90s era. Was his personality the same? He seems more like an overprotective, laughing bastard then anything. Especially not the silent, stoic, serious, Knuckles we all know and love.
    • Huh. That's... actually a good point. I'm making this up off the top of my head, but maybe he had turned into an overconfident type whose wont was to laugh at anyone trying to steal his Emeralds, and the events of the game slapped him all the way back into dead seriousness.
  • In Sonic Heroes, Shadow can't remember who he is, and is desperate to know. So why doesn't Rouge tell him? She was there. As if his past deeds are the stuff of secrets?
    • I just assumed trying to tell a person "You're supposed to be dead" would take too much time.
    • While playing Shadow the Hedgehog, this troper would keep asking (sometimes out-loud) himself, "Why doesn't he just ask anyone who was in Sonic Adventure 2? In fact, why doesn't anybody from SA2 just TELL HIM WHAT THEY KNOW?!? Rouge especially!
    • I think we're giving Rouge quite a bit of credit here. I think what Shadow wants to know is what happened before he was put into cryo. He has obviously realized that some of what he remembers about 50 years ago is falsified, or just plain wrong. And Rouge barely has any information about that.
  • In Sonic Adventure 2, the dark trio are able to successfully power up the Eclipse Cannon with six chaos emeralds to blast away about 1/3 of the moon. Why does Eggman want more?? What could they possibly gain by "destroying an entire planet"? And none of this explains why Eggman and co. later decide to save the world.
    • I can answer at least one of these. The first part has always bugged me, too. However, regarding the second question: Eggman's original goal was to point the Eclipse Cannon at the world and extort whatever he wanted, on pain of "Make me your supreme ruler or I blow you all to Kingdom Come." Seeing the world actually be destroyed (and at no benefit to him) was another matter altogether.
      • Plus, how was anyone to guess he wouldn't actually go through with destroying the world? He is pretty crazy.
    • With only 6, he was limited to striking at a single country at a time, leaving the others free to gang up and attack, forcing a single country to make a Heroic Sacrifice.
      • The world didn't know that though. He was essentially bluffing the world into surrendering anyway even if he couldn't secure the last emerald.
      • Yes, but as they said, the cannon was taking too long to charge up (after they fired the warning shot) without the last emerald. Even if the cannon was charged, Eggman would still probably want the last emerald, even if the only reason was so it wouldn't be used against him.
      • Eggman is crazy, yes, but not stupid. He knows full well that if he destroys the planet, there won't be anything left for him to rule, and he actually says almost exactly this in Sonic Unleashed, to the point where he's happy (well, not exactly happy, but willing if a little reluctant) to work together with Sonic if something else is actually trying to destroy the world. He was never intended to fire the Eclipse Cannon at the planet, he was just using it as a threat to put the fear of God into the people on the planet.
  • In the Archie comics the main universe that the action takes place in is called Mobius-Prime. This implies that the Mobius of the Archie comics is the original. This is a serious faux pas on the part of Archie. The games universe/continuity should be considered the 'Prime' universe. It is, after all, what the rest of the continuities are based off of.
    • The games are set on Earth.
    • Also, there are multiple timelines in the Archie!Sonic universe, so the prime designation could refer to that.
  • The chili dogs. The source cartoon had them with meat, right? In an early Archie comic's strip though, a crossover with another Archie series, Sonic shows disgust when humans tell him they eat pork. Then, what are they made of? I've always thought it was soy.
    • As mentioned before, the Sonic universe seems to have both anthropomorphic and normal animals, so probably they're made from realistic cows/pigs/turkeys.
      • Wouldn't the animal friends, the animals Sonic save, count as "normal"? But they're anthro. too. Also, have we even seen a "normal" animal in the series?
        • Froggy, orcas, seagulls, giant whales, turtles, etc. The animal friends don't seem to be any more intelligent than wild animals, so they're probably kosher in some cases too.
    • Ricky and the others can talk and are fairly anthro.
  • Why do the spitting statues in marble garden appear human?
    • Without knowing who built them, it's impossible to say. Humans could have built them. Or, just as humans make animal statues, anthropomorphic animals could build human statues. They might be religious.
      • It was built by Echidnas who have probably never heard of humans.
  • In Sonic Adventure 1, Sonic and his friends saved Station Square and probably the world by stopping Perfect Chaos, but in Sonic Adventure 2, he is chased after by thousands of cops and army men for something that somebody that looked a bit like him did, without him even getting a chance to explain what was going on.
    • Humans Are the Real Monsters.
    • They knew it was Shadow, but didn't want that secret out, so they used Sonic as a scapegoat.
      • Actually, that's a pretty good answer. G.U.N. probably did know that their Biological Doomsday Weapon escaped and had stolen a Cosmic Keystone, but they didn't want that getting out otherwise it would create a panic. So they arrested Sonic, not so they could say that they captured the bad guy, but they may have very well have been trying to recruit him into stopping Shadow for them. Of course Sonic escapes, and they can't just have him running around while the public thinks he's a villain, so...
        • Actually, it gets even better the more you think about it. G.U.N already had a spy in Eggman's midst, who just so happened to have a Chaos Emerald that he was looking for. But of course she then proceeds to direct him to three more of them, and where are they...? Only a place that is both 1. at a G.U.N owned fortress and 2. The exact location of Sonic the Hedgehog (who is there because G.U.N put him there). G.U.N had what Eggman wanted, and through Rouge were essentially were able to predetermine the battlefield, making the Prison Island incident a massive-scale yet subtle sting operation that simply went horribly, horribly wrong. Nevertheless, G.U.N had a lot of influence and knowlege of the game's events (spying, media control, being responsible for key events), it's easy to forget that when aside from their robot forces, they remain very much behind the scenes. There's a great deal of suspicious occurings in the game that can be explained via their involvement... Because chances are, it benifiets in some way to them.
  • In Sonic 2, what happens to all of those animals that fall from the sky in the Sky Chase zone?
    • Well, there's no falling damage in this game...
    • Small animals don't usually fall at terminal velocity. Cats and turtles, for example, can fall out of planes and land (relatively) unharmed on the ground.
  • The fact that despite all the various ports of Sonic 2 they've never fixed Tails' Special Zone AI.
    • Because then it wouldn't be authentic.
  • Sonic 3 and Knuckles had Knuckles going through Sonic's Angel Island Act 1. Since his story takes place right after Sonic's, wouldn't it still be recovering from the fire?
    • Well, in canon, Knuckles' gameplay never happened in Sonic 3...I don't know.
    • ...Uh, no.
  • How does Amy have a Driver's Licence?
    • I presume you mean such non-canon racing spinoffs such as Sonic Drift. For that, I can provide three reasons:
      • 1. Such racing does not involve civilians, possible property damage or, thanks to Acceptable Breaks From Reality, injury to the drivers themselves, so ensuring they can drive safely is not as much of a concern.
      • 2. In almost all games, rings basically provide invinvibility (to a certain degree) while a person possesses at least one, so again, safety is not as much of a concern as long as they can find a ring.
      • 3. It's a game.
    • Kids can race go-karts on a track without having a driver's license. I'm sure it's the same thing for the driving in the racing games too.
  • Whatever happened to that fire in Sonic's chest in Sonic and the Secret Rings? It was said that if it runs out, Sonic dies...and by the end, it's never brought up even after the battle against Alf Layla Wa Layla.
    • His transformation into Darkspine Sonic probably removed the flaming arrow.
  • What is the deal with casino-themed stages being pinball-oriented? Those are not things I've ever thought to associate in any non-Sonic context.
    • Hedgehogs curl into a ball. Sonic can roll as a ball at high speeds and is used to bouncing off things. He makes a pretty good pinball, wouldn't you say?
      • Yes, but that wasn't the question.
    • They are associated in Japan—in pachinko parlors.
      • Ohhhhhhh. That makes sense.
  • In Shadow the Hedgehog, why does it cost "ammo" to put out fire. Also how does he refill its "ammo".
    • He uses a water gun?
  • In Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Episode Metal, you play as Metal Sonic, and working for Dr. Eggman. Why are the badniks still attacking me?
    • This troper has two theories.
      • 1. As Metal Sonic was still heavily damaged during the events of Sonic CD, Eggman programmed the badniks to fight him, to warm him up.
      • 2. Eggman must have programmed them to attack any blue hedgehog or orange fox. He failed to put "organic" in the blue hedgehog part.
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