Sonic Adventure 2
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- "SA2" redirects here. For the Gameboy Advance game, see Sonic Advance 2.
Sonic Adventure 2<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
| |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sonic Team Sonic Team USA <tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)</th><td>Sega</td></tr> |
| Release date(s) | Image:Flag of the United States.svg June 19, 2001 Image:Flag of Japan (bordered).svg June 23, 2001 Image:European flag.svg June 23, 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer
<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)</th><td>ESRB: Everyone |
| Platform(s) | Dreamcast
<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media</th><td>GD-ROM</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Input</th><td>Game controller</td></tr> |
Sonic Adventure 2 (ソニックアドベンチャー2) is a video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Sonic Team for the Sega Dreamcast, and later ported as an update to the Nintendo Gamecube.
It was released in North America on June 19, 2001 and in Japan and Europe on June 23, 2001 to mark the 10th anniversary of the release of Sonic the Hedgehog. This game introduces two new playable characters, Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat, and is also one of the few Sonic titles to officially feature Doctor Eggman as a playable character, other examples being Sonic R and Sonic Drift 2.
Contents |
[edit] Single player
Gameplay takes place between two parallel storylines; the player has the option of advancing in either one or the other at any time. The "Hero" story featuring Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails and the "Dark" story featuring Shadow, Rouge, and Dr. Eggman play similar to each other, with each hero character playing similar to the respective dark character. Levels advance in order for each storyline, alternating between each of the playable characters.
Levels featuring Sonic or Shadow are designed much the same as they were in Sonic Adventure,<ref>Sonic Adventure 2 review on IGN</ref> wherein the player's primary objective is simply to get to the end of the level. Levels with Tails or Dr. Eggman allow the player to control a mechanized robot and generally blast a way through to the end of the stage. Knuckles and Rouge are required to scour their levels for shards of the master emerald. Interspersed between the levels are various bosses, which one particular character must fight.
At the end of each stage the player is given a score and rank based on performance.
[edit] Hero side story
Renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog has been framed for stealing a Chaos Emerald from a bank in Central City and has been taken into custody by the Guardian Unit of Nations (G.U.N.), the national military. While the helicopter containing Sonic flies over the city, Sonic breaks free and, using a piece of metal from the chopper as a snowboard, makes his escape. He outruns the police and military and afterwards does battle with one of G.U.N's giant walkers: Big Foot. Sonic defeats the robot and encounters a black hedgehog, who goes by the name of Shadow. Shadow happens to be the one who stole the Chaos Emerald and uses it to teleport with the power of Chaos Control. Sonic is then re-captured by G.U.N and taken to Prison Island.
Meanwhile, Knuckles the Echidna is having trouble guarding the Master Emerald when the mysterious thief Rouge the Bat attempts to steal it. In the middle of their argument, Dr. Eggman snatches the emerald while they're fighting, but Knuckles, in order to prevent Eggman from stealing the gem, shatters it. Knuckles then sets off to find the pieces and restore the Master Emerald.
On Prison Island, Tails goes to break Sonic free as he knows that his friend is not guilty. Upon arrival, Tails, piloting his Cyclone walker, saves Amy Rose from Dr. Eggman. Tails and Amy find out where Sonic is, and Tails goes on to break through security with his mech. Amy than uses a mysteriously obtained G.U.N security card to free Sonic, and immediately after she does so, Sonic races off to find Shadow. Sonic goes into the island's forest via a rocket at a nearby harbour and finds him. The two battle and are both out of breath, but before one finishes the other off, Eggman talks to Shadow through the latter's walkie-talkie, telling him that the island will blow up soon. The two run off and Sonic barely finds Tails and Amy before the island explodes.
Later on, Sonic, Tails, and Amy witness Eggman destroying half the moon with a powerful weapon, the Eclipse Cannon on board the Space Colony ARK. The three realize that Eggman could destroy Earth with that kind of firepower; all he needs is the seventh Chaos Emerald. Tails has the seventh Chaos Emerald (for stopping Eggman from destroying Station Square in Sonic Adventure) and well as fake emerald that he created. The fake emerald has the same wavelength and materials as the real one, except it has the power of taking the space colony down. However, Eggman's plan to destroy Prison island was executed successfully, as he was also able to use Tails as a scapegoat for Prison Island being destroyed. The next morning, the president gets a call from Eggman, but Sonic assures the president that nothing is going to happen to Earth. After meeting up with Knuckles, the gang infiltrates Eggman's secret pyramid base. Eggman sends robots out to try and stop them, but they succeed in finding a rocket which they use to get to the ARK. Knuckles leaves the group after Sonic pulls a lever on the rocket, releasing the Master Emerald shards that were onboard. He runs off toward a group of planets nearby. Sonic and the others leave Knuckles to his work and race to destroy the cannon before Earth is blown into extinction. Tails succeeds in destroying the colony's power supply but Amy is captured by Dr. Eggman, who holds Amy at gunpoint.
As this is happening, Knuckles finds the last pieces of the Master Emerald and encounters Rouge. After a confrontation Knuckles saves Rouge's life as she very nearly falls to her death. In return, Rouge grudgingly gives Knuckles her share of the Master Emerald and Knuckles restores the Master Emerald. Sonic rushes to meet Eggman, who is holding Amy and Tails hostage in return for the last Chaos Emerald. Sonic attempts to trick Eggman with the fake emerald created by Tails, but Eggman is aware of the plot (since his radar picked up eight Chaos Emeralds onboard the ARK) and is able to trap Sonic in a capsule. He then sends Sonic off into space. Sonic uses the fake emerald as a base for Chaos Control, and barely escapes his near death in the capsule. Sonic ends up somewhere outside the ARK where Knuckles is. Although he is fatigued, he still has some energy and some time to get to the Eclipse Cannon and destroy it with the fake emerald that had saved his life. When he gets close, Shadow appears. Having seen the explosion, Shadow is surprised to see him alive. The two have a final confrontation, where apparently Sonic wins. He is seen to be alive by Tails and Amy while holding on to the outside of the Eclipse Cannon as it starts to malfunction. However, while Tails is watching Sonic, Eggman snatches the real Chaos Emerald and he Puts Amy on a Capsule and he Tossed her down into Earth, Sonic dashes to her and in turn is trapped in the Capsule. Eggman gloats then ejects Sonic into the depths of space. Sonic clings to a sliver of hope as he recalls the words of Shadow.
Sometime later, Knuckles was fumbling around, looking for everyone when suddenly Sonic appeared out of thin air, he managed to sputter than he performed a Chaos Control "Just in time" and speaks of how he's going to slam dunk the emerald he has in his hand right into the Ark's Cannon.
[edit] Dark side story
Cooled off after the events in Sonic Adventure, Dr. Eggman hears wind of a top secret military weapon sealed away by G.U.N., created by his late grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. Eggman breaks into Prison Island in search of his grandfather's weapon: "Project Shadow". After blasting his way through the floors and security systems of the base, Eggman finds what he's looking for. Activating a stasis pod in a vault, Eggman discovers Project Shadow: A black hedgehog with incredible speed and a high resemblance to his arch enemy, Sonic the Hedgehog. The hedgehog introduces himself as Shadow. Shadow disposes of a guard robot, Scorpion troop Hotshot, and then sends Eggman to bring more Chaos Emeralds to the abandoned Space Colony ARK.
Soon after, Rouge attempts to steal the Master Emerald from Angel Island, hindered by Knuckles the Echidna. Eggman comes from above to steal the Master Emerald himself, but to prevent him from stealing it, Knuckles shatters it into pieces Knuckles vows to find them, while Rouge decides to go look for them as well.
Shadow is in Station Square now, and looks at the humans trying arrest him. He then has a flashback of his best friend Maria dying on the ARK 50 years ago. He decides that he must get revenge on the humans for killing her. He robs the bank of Station Square, stealing a Chaos Emerald. Then, he meets Sonic for the first time. Sonic realizes the had been framed and tries to attack Shadow, but Shadow teleports away using Chaos Control.
Shadow then shows Eggman the shutdown Eclipse Cannon, which is capable of destroying an entire planet. Shadow and Eggman decide they can conquer the world by collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds to power the cannon and use it to hold the entire planet hostage. The mysterious jewel thief and government spy Rouge the Bat assists the two villains, though her motives are initially unknown to them. She shows them one emerald but does not give it to them. She tells them there are 3 other emeralds on Prison Island.
The three go to Prison Island, Eggman distracts the military for the other two to get in and get out, Shadow sets the Egg Bomboms to explode in 15 minutes, and Rouge steals the emeralds from the safe. But not everything goes as planned when the guard robot, Flying Dog, came to get Rouge. She was able to defeat it but the gates and doors were all locked shut, likely because of Eggman's performance. Shadow has another flashback about Maria and decides to save her (though he says that it was only for the Chaos Emeralds). On the way, he meets Sonic and battles him, but before either one could win the fight, Eggman yells at Shadow through Shadow's walkie-talkie revealing their plan to blow up the island to Sonic. Shadow runs quickly to where Rouge is located and uses Chaos Control to save them.
With six of the seven Chaos Emeralds, they finally showed their plan to the world when they also destroyed half the moon. Eggman gets angry since it was only half the moon and not the whole thing. Shadow decided they needed all seven Chaos Emeralds for its full potential. Rouge then comes in and announces that the seventh emerald is in Tails's possession (for his heroics in Sonic Adventure). The team then tries to follow them to see where they would go next. It turned out that they were heading for the pyramid. In an attempt to steal the emerald, Eggman sent out his minions to intercept them, but they ended up defeating them all, ending up with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy stealing the rocket located in the pyramid.
Rouge was trying to steal the six Chaos Emeralds, when Shadow came in and warned her not to do so. She didn't just walk away however. She also shows him a report on Project:Shadow, and that the real Ultimate Life Form is the Biolizard. Shadow walks off and goes to see Eggman who reports that there are in fact eight Chaos Emeralds on board. Then Eggman realizes that one of the emeralds in their possession is fake. Eggman devised a plan of his own to counter their plan.
Rouge then set off to collect the last pieces of the Master Emerald. She ran into Knuckles on the way, and they did battle before Rouge nearly fell to her death. Knuckles grabbed her in the nick of time and Rouge decided to give Knuckles the remaining shards of the Master Emerald, allowing Knuckles to reform it.
Eggman trapped Sonic on Space Colony ARK by holding Amy hostage. He then sent Sonic and the fake emerald in a capsule ready to explode. He finally defeated Sonic the Hedgehog! Or did he? Tails defeated Eggman shortly after, but Eggman took the last Emerald and escaped. He then told Shadow to be on the lookout for someone trying to get to the Eclipse Cannon. Shadow followed this person and realized that it was Sonic. Shadow is surprised since he saw Sonic die before. They end up fighting each other, and apparently Sonic won as he was able to destroy the Eclipse Cannon. The story ends, however, with Eggman inserting the final Chaos Emerald to power up the Eclipse Cannon. However, all that does a pull up a DANGER sign on the monitor.
[edit] The last story
After finally managing to retrieve all seven Chaos Emeralds, Dr. Eggman prepares to initiate the Eclipse Cannon aboard the Space Colony ARK. However, instead of firing, a Warning Message appears: Unwittingly, Shadow has fooled Eggman into activating Gerald Robotnik's last attempt at revenge on the world for the murder of his granddaughter, Maria Robotnik.
The Space Colony ARK has shifted its position and was then on a direct collision course with Earth. With the power of the emeralds the resulting impact by the Colony would mean the complete destruction of the planet. They all see a video from before Gerald's death while he's in prison of his plan to destroy the Earth and everyone on it. Eggman then walks in and give Rouge his grandfather's diary. She puts it onto the screen and reads it.
Rouge then comes up with the plan of using Knuckles's recently restored Master Emerald to deactivate the Chaos Emeralds, which power the Space Colony into crashing with Earth.
Casting aside their differences, everyone (except for Shadow), agrees to team up in order to stop the Colony together. However, the most important actions come from Amy Rose, who, in pleading to Shadow to stop Gerald's revenge, reminds Shadow of what promise he really made to Maria Robotnik before she died, a promise to bring hope to humanity. In the end, Shadow ends up helping Sonic and Knuckles get to the fake altar of the Master Emerald by facing off against The Biolizard, a giant lizard like creature created from a picture of a lizard by Gerald as a prototype to create the Ultimate Lifeform. Unfortunately, the Biolizard, using the power of Chaos Control, ends up attaching itself to the outside of the Colony to drag it towards planet earth. The Finalhazard, in an effort to force it to impact with the planet is soon stopped by the actions of Sonic and Shadow. Sonic and Shadow, utilizing the Chaos Emeralds in the Cannon's Core, transform into Super Sonic and Super Shadow. They battle the Finalhazard in space and destroy it before it impacts Earth. The two super hedgehogs then charge at ARK at light speed and come to a stop to hold back the force with their energy. As their friends unknowingly cheer them on, Shadow thinks of his promise to Maria and pushes harder. Sonic and Shadow then perform a very powerful Chaos Control to teleport the Space Colony ARK back to its original position. Shadow, having fufilled Maria's promise, falls back towards planet, first using the last bit of energy he had to use chaos control, presumably to his attempted death, vanishing in a flash of light (where it is revealed in Shadow the Hedgehog that one of Eggman's robots came to save him). With their own lives, and more importantly, the world saved, Sonic and the others head back to Earth. The game ends with Sonic saying "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog".
[edit] Racing
- Hero: Sonic the Hedgehog
- Dark: Shadow the Hedgehog
The speedy gameplay gamers are most familiar with. Players must run to the end of the stage, gathering the most items and rings as possible in the least amount of time.
[edit] Shooting
- Hero: Miles "Tails" Prower
- Dark: Dr. Eggman
The player boards a mecha, and plays using a modified version of E-102 Gamma's gameplay from Sonic Adventure. Using laser sights, the player locks on to multiple targets at a time and fires away. The more targets that are locked on to at one time, the higher the bonus is. The player has to reach the goal ring. Instead of the normal ring system, the player has an energy bar. If the player is hit, all the rings are lost, and a chunk is taken out of the energy bar. However, unlike the E-102 Gamma stages, the player has infinite time.
[edit] Treasure hunting
- Hero: Knuckles the Echidna
- Dark: Rouge the Bat
Slower and based much more heavily on exploration, Treasure Hunting segments (Adapted from Knuckles' story in Sonic Adventure)force the player to find three items in the least amount of time possible. To help the player find the items, there is a radar that beeps depending on how close the player is to the item.
[edit] Driving
- Hero: Miles "Tails" Prower
- Dark: Rouge the Bat
The game features two "kart racing" levels in story mode, where Tails or Rouge must drive towards an objective without falling off the course or hitting too many cars. There's also a mode with all the characters playable, where the player must finish a few laps before the other CPU players, and an emblem is obtained if successful. Said mode is unlocked by beating one of the racing levels. Beating the other unlocks a two-player version.
[edit] Single player stages
[edit] Hero side
- City Escape - Sonic
- Boss: Big Foot - Sonic
- Wild Canyon - Knuckles
- Boss: Eggman - Tails
- Prison Lane - Tails
- Metal Harbor - Sonic
- Boss: Shadow - Sonic
- Green Forest - Sonic
- Pumpkin Hill - Knuckles
- Mission Street - Tails
- Aquatic Mine - Knuckles
- Route 101 - Tails (Driving)
- Hidden Base - Tails
- Pyramid Cave - Sonic
- Death Chamber - Knuckles
- Boss: King Boom Boo - Knuckles
- Boss: Egg Golem - Sonic
- Eternal Engine - Tails
- Meteor Herd - Knuckles
- Boss: Rouge - Knuckles
- Crazy Gadget - Sonic
- Boss: Eggman - Tails
- Final Rush - Sonic
- Final Boss: Shadow - Sonic
[edit] Dark side
- Iron Gate - Eggman
- Boss: Hot Shot - Shadow
- Dry Lagoon - Rouge
- Sand Ocean - Eggman
- Radical Highway - Shadow
- Egg Quarters - Rouge
- Lost Colony - Eggman
- Weapons Bed - Eggman
- Boss: Tails - Eggman
- Security Hall - Rouge
- Boss: Flying Dog - Rouge
- White Jungle - Shadow
- Boss: Sonic - Shadow
- Route 280 - Rouge (Driving)
- Sky Rail - Shadow
- Boss: Egg Golem - Eggman
- Mad Space - Rouge
- Boss: Knuckles - Rouge
- Cosmic Wall - Eggman
- Boss: Tails - Eggman
- Final Chase - Shadow
- Final Boss: Sonic - Shadow
[edit] Last story
- Cannon's Core - Tails, Eggman, Rouge, Knuckles and Sonic, in that order (All styles)
- Boss: Biolizard - Shadow
- Final Boss: The Final Hazard - Super Sonic/Super Shadow
[edit] Secrets
- Green Hill Zone - Sonic
- Chao Garden - Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Eggman, Rouge
- Costumes in 2P mode - Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Eggman, Rouge
- New Karts in Kart Race - Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Eggman, Rouge, Amy
[edit] Two-player mode
There are some characters that can only be played on two-player mode. These include, Amy Rose, Metal Sonic, Tikal the Echidna, Chaos, Chao, Dark Chao (Gamecube only, Dreamcast Unlockable), Eggrobo (Kart Racing), and Big the Cat (Dreamcast only). However, using Action Replay these characters can be playable in single-player mode.
A multitude of levels from single-player are playable. The levels playable in two-player mode are mostly the same as the normal game; Sonic, Shadow, Amy and Metal Sonic race, Tails, Eggman, Chao, Dark Chao and Big have a shootout, and Knuckles, Rouge, Tikal and Chaos hunt for emerald shards.
[edit] Themes
Sonic Adventure 2's central messages, or themes, can be any one of the following:
- "Live and learn."
- "Wishes are eternal."
[edit] Reaction
Opinions of Sonic Adventure 2 are variable among both professional reviewers and fans of the Sonic series. Although the initial Dreamcast release of Sonic Adventure 2 generally received positive reviews (with the game's smooth graphics praised as some of the best visuals on the system), the game faced the following criticisms.
- The camera system is largely fixed, and is difficult to successfully adjust before automatically snapping back into its original preset position. This is the most persistent complaint of both Sonic Adventure titles from professional critics.
- The game was more linear, being speed-based, single-lane highways suspended over bottomless pits. Contrary to earlier games, there were few opportunities for exploration.
- In regards to the story it was thought that cartoon characters such as the Sonic cast do not fit with the realistic, human-populated environments of the Adventure games as well as they did with the similarly stylised levels of the 8- and 16-bit titles.
The GameCube port (Sonic Adventure 2: Battle) fared considerably worse, despite having no single player gameplay changes from the Dreamcast version. Aside from this, some fans still consider Sonic Adventure 2 largely successful and certainly one of the best recent Sonic games, with a fair number even hailing it as the greatest to date.
[edit] Easter eggs and trivia
- The original plan for Sonic Adventure 2 was very different from how the finalized game ended up. It is thought that originally the game would feature only Sonic, Knuckles and Eggman as playable characters, but, after fan outcry of key characters (specifically Tails) not being playable, Tails, Rouge and Shadow were added to the roster of playable characters (However, early reports of the game do mention Rouge and Shadow [originally referred to as "Dark Sonic"] as always being part of the game's plot, regardless of their status as playable characters). The fact that Tails was added later may explain why most of his levels have almost no necessary contribution to the story line.
- Additionally, the game was to feature branching storyline pathways: at key points of the game, the character you were playing as would be presented with a choice on how to solve a situation. Depending on your answer, it would change what levels your character visited. This concept was removed midway through development, but eventually ended up being implemented in 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog. One of the examples described for Sonic Adventure 2's usage of this system was that Sonic was trapped in a submarine; he had two options: try to pilot the submarine to safety, or open the hatch and try to fight his way to the surface. No submarine scenario whatsoever was in the final version of Sonic Adventure 2 nor in Shadow the Hedgehog.
- This was the first game the San Francisco based Sonic Team USA had developed, and many stages in the game were inspired by the developer's new California based location; the steep hills of City Escape are meant to represent San Francisco, while the huge bridge in Radical Highway and Mission Street (which was named after a real street) are meant to represent the Golden Gate Bridge and surrounding area. Route 101 and Route 280 were named after actual highways in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, the backdrop of both Mission Street and Radical Highway appears to be of the New York City skyline, as the Empire State Building is plainly visible.
- There are Big the Cat cameos in a secret location in every single stage in the game, as well as many boss fights, and even certain cutscenes. For the release of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, most of Big the Cat's cameo appearances were removed in order to avoid confusion for most Nintendo players being introduced to the Sonic series. Some of the cameos that remained intact are the ones that had to be accessed during the cutscenes. For instance, Big can still be seen in the Last Story when Amy is talking to Shadow walking down a hallway by pressing the 'B' button at a certain moment.
- Sonic Team went to great lengths to ensure the name and appearance of the character Shadow the Hedgehog remained as secret as possible. Eventually these details were leaked accidentally by toy company ReSaurus when they announced they would be producing Sonic Adventure 2 action figures. (These figures were never actually produced, as ReSaurus went out of business. However, different Sonic Adventure 2 action figures were eventually produced by Joyride Studios.)
- The original demo for Sonic Adventure 2 packaged with Phantasy Star Online differs in several ways from the final version; most notable was the fact that Sonic was still wearing his original trademark shoes. It wasn't until a few months before the retail release of Sonic Adventure 2 that Sonicteam revealed a merchandising deal with Soap Shoes.
- Another somewhat major change in the demo was a different script for the opening Helicopter Escape sequence. In the original demo, one of the pilots actually swore; as Sonic made his escape, one of the pilots exclaimed "What the hell?" - by the time the finished game was released, this line was changed to "What in the world?".
- Other changes in the demo include a different logo, different road-side billboards, different sound effects, looser controls and physics, and a different instrumental version of the song, Escape from the City.
- Based on texture/model file names on the Sonic Adventure 2 disc, Shadow the Hedgehog's original name was to be "Terios". In Japanese, "Terios" translates to several meanings - most notably, "Reflection" and "To Shine Brilliantly".
- Whereas in Sonic Adventure, Eggman was a derogatory nickname Sonic used to insult Robotnik, Sonic Adventure 2 establishes "Dr. Eggman" as Robotnik's new official name. However, he still uses "Robotnik" on the screen when he blows up half of the moon and as his family's last name (As evident in Professor Gerald Robotnik and Maria Robotnik).
- Generally, in most games and animation, when a newspaper clipping or other printed media is shown, because the viewer cannot see what the paper says, mostly gibberish is written. In Sonic Adventure 2, objects such as the newspaper clipping featuring Tails receiving the Chaos Emerald and the printout on the Biolizard that Rouge has feature actual, readable text pertaining to their related subjects. Although it is very difficult to read the text in-game, using texture editing tools, the contents of these papers become readable. The Biolizard printout details its lifecycle before the incident at ARK (making some sort of reference to the date of January 27), and the newspaper describes how Tails received a Chaos Emerald after saving Station Square from the missile Dr. Eggman launched in the original Sonic Adventure.
- By further digging around in the disc's contents, cut dialogue has been discovered in Sonic Adventure 2; the first pieces of cut dialogue are between the President and his secretary - the President believes the planet is doomed, and that Sonic and Shadow won't be able to stop the Space Colony ARK in time, but his secretary urges him not to give up believing in Heroes. This scene was restored in the Sonic X anime adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, and is referenced in 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog. The second piece of cut dialogue is during the ending credits; as Tails and Eggman discuss Professor Gerald, Eggman begins to walk away to leave - He declares he will still conquer the world, and from there he and Tails make a pact, that the next time they meet, neither of them will hold back.
- The game suffers from poor translation. For example, in the last story, when Shadow declares "Is that what Chaos Control is?", the line, translated correctly, should have read "Was that Chaos Control?" (Or, instead, simply "...Chaos Control?") Other such oddities include characters, while the language is set to English, shouting untranslated Japanese exclamations ("Teria!", "Yosh-i!", etc; particularly with Eggman.)
- In the level City Escape, some of the benches say "EMERALD NOTWORK" instead of "Emerald Network."
- A comic adaptation tie-in (Sonic #98) has been published by Archie comics.
- In addition to the standard release of the game, an exclusive 10th Anniversary Birthday Pack was released. It included many extras, such as a limited edition coin (stamped with Sonic's face), a leather bound case, a 10th Anniversary History Booklet, and a special soundtrack CD, containing music from many of Sonic's more notable videogame appearances over the last 10 years.
- Some Omochao were added to the GameCube port near the goal rings of some levels. Touching a Goal Ring while holding an Omochao caused it to say something related to the level it is in. For example, touching the Goal Ring of City Escape holding an Omochao caused it to say "Phew, that big truck scared me." Touching the Goal Ring in White Jungle causes Omochao to say "Wow, this fog reminds me of San Francisco." Also, touching the goal ring of Crazy Gadget causes Omochao to say "Hmm... I've seen this place somewhere before." It can be assumed that this can only be done in racing stages, as Knuckles and Rouge's stages lack Goal Rings and in shooting stages, you can't pick up Omochao.
- A sign in Radical Highway reads "Amigo Left Lane", possibly referencing Samba de Amigo.
- Yuji Naka appeared as an extra in a Japanese commercial for Sonic Adventure 2.
[edit] Rouge's report
As Sega often does, in the Japanese Official Strategy Guide to Sonic Adventure 2, some interesting and exclusive content was provided that sheds slightly more light on the events that transpire in the plot; "A partial excerpt from the last investigative report by Rouge, about Project Shadow". Rouge, who was a double agent for the government in Sonic Adventure 2, gives us a peek at what she uncovered about Shadow the Hedgehog's mysterious origins.
In it, Rouge notes she has discovered a letter to Professor Gerald Robotnik from the President of that era, requesting that Gerald research "mankind's ultimate dream", the secret to eternal life. Gerald would have no part in the research, declaring that it was "like playing God". Further research on Rouge's part reveals that Gerald was ultimately forced to accept the position after his granddaughter, Maria Robotnik, contracted the disease NIDS (Neuro Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome, Sonic Adventure 2's fictional representation of AIDS). With no cure for NIDS, Gerald entered the program in hopes that he could treat her illness using data he gathered from his research into eternal life.
Thus, Project Shadow was born, aboard the Space Colony ARK. Here, the confidential research began by experimenting on Lizards, and their regenerative growth abilities. However, applying Chaos Emerald Energy to the test subject became too risky, and it became violent and out of control. It is unknown how, but information about an accident involving a mutated lizard, "The Proto-Type of the Ultimate Life-Form", was leaked to the Guardian Unit of Nations. By taking advantage of the situation aboard ARK, G.U.N. enacted a procedure under the codename, "ARK's Indestructible Seal", with the ultimate goal of erasing the existence of Project Shadow indefinitely.
However, there was a miscalculation: By the time G.U.N. arrived on ARK, they discovered Gerald was already placing the finishing touches on the finalized "Ultimate Life-Form", a hedgehog named Shadow. Gerald, Maria, and Shadow attempted to escape the ARK before the G.U.N. could seize Shadow - but in the commotion, Maria was accidentally shot and killed. With her last ounce of strength, she ejected Shadow's escape pod to Earth. At the time of Sonic Adventure 2, it was unknown if the Shadow ejected to earth that day was the real Shadow; however, this question was eventually answered in 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog.
[edit] Voice actors
[edit] English version
[edit] Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
| Sonic Adventure 2: Battle<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: center;"></td></tr> | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sonic Team
<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)</th><td>Sega</td></tr> |
| Release date(s) | Image:Flag of Japan.svg December 10, 2001 Image:Flag of the United States.svg February 12, 2002 Image:European flag.svg May 3 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer
<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)</th><td>ESRB: Everyone</br>OFLC: PG</td></tr> |
| Platform(s) | GameCube
<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media</th><td>1.5 gigabyte optical disc</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Input</th><td>Game controller</td></tr> |
There was an update to Sonic Adventure 2 for the Nintendo GameCube, called Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (ソニックアドベンチャー2バトル お買い得版). This version was released on December 10, 2001 in Japan, February 12, 2002 in North America, and on the GameCube's launch (May 3 2002) in Europe.
This game added new "Battle" multiplayer options, like the addition of new characteristics to the additional multiplayer characters that were in the available unlockable in the original. The multiplayer characters that were unlockable in the other game are now playable from the start, and other new "bells and whistles" were added.
[edit] Features
This game changed a large portion of raising Chao, the A-life form available in both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. A Chao's stats can be viewed from within the game. The player can transfer one Chao from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle to the "Tiny Chao Garden" section in Sonic Advance, Sonic Advance 2, and Sonic Pinball Party with the GCN-GBA Link Cable. (If a Game Boy Advance is connected without a GBA Game inserted, a version of the Tiny Chao Garden can be copied temporarily into the Game Boy Advance's memory.) Also the introduction of Chao Karate, in which the Chao stats are used for stats in fighting, and the Chao fight in a fighting game style, with little influence from the player.
As with the Dreamcast version, after collecting all 180 emblems, the player can unlock a 3D version of the Green Hill Zone from Sonic 1, with a remixed version of the music from the original.
In the GameCube version, the boxes in the Crazy Gadget level have a red 'x' on them instead of the Dreamcast's version's green 'x'. This is possibly because the Xbox bears a striking resemblance to the boxes with the green 'x'.
One minor setback is that Big the Cat's humorous cameos didn't remain in the stages, but he can still be viewed in some story sequences by rapidly pressing the A button throughout the scenes.
Another key thing was that, in this version, on the 5th Mission for the Cosmic Wall stage, as opposed to the requirement of 50,000 points for an A rank, as was the case on the Dreamcast version, 100,000 points were required instead, and this left many confused and sometimes very frustrated with trying to achieve the score.
[edit] Reception
Ironically, this version of the game was not as well-received as its Dreamcast predecessor. One possible reason is that it was seen as technologically inferior to most other GameCube games developed originally for that system, despite added visual flourishes such as additional rain effects, new textures, and enhanced character models.
However, to date, the game has done well sales wise with sales (2006) of 1.14 million units, making it one of the GameCube's highest selling games. [citation needed]
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
- Sonic Adventure 2 information site
- Sonic Adventure 2 at MobyGames
- Sonic Adventure 2: Battle at MobyGames
- Sonic Adventure 2 page at The GHZ
- Sonic Adventure 2 Manual
- Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle) time attack records at The Sonic Center
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