Sonic Adventure 3 (SA3)

Sonic Adventure 3, is an action/adventure, platformer game, developed by Sonic Team and published by SEGA. It is the sequel to Sonic Adventure 2 and the third installment of the Sonic Adventure series. Thus, the game shares many similar gameplay elements and mechanics with the games Sonic Adventure through Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). The game takes place shortly after the events of Sonic Adventure 2 and is a prequel to the events that transpire in Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog. The game also sees the return of the Chao Garden.
Note; This version is the most current and up to date draft of the concept. An older, but more in depth draft can be found here.
==Plot==
The game further explores the mysterious past of Miles "Tails" Prower, as well as the fate of Shadow the Hedgehog post-Sonic Adventure 2 and pre-Sonic Heroes.
=== Story Synopsis===
====Prologue ====
Station Square is in the midst of an attack brought on by the Kitsune, fox-like creatures from another dimension. In the center of town is a giant tower of ice. Inside the tower is a mysterious and powerful black arms-like creature named Black Nox. Sonic, Tails, and a new character, Terios the Hedgehog attempt to take him down, only for all three to fail. Sonic is trapped, Tails and Terios escape and the entire city is hit with an ice bomb, freezing almost everything.
====Tails’ Story====
Breaking series tradition Tails story kicks off the game. A week after Sonic’s defeat, Tails is in a race to collect the ancient Kitsune Pearls before a mysterious villain, King Kitsune does. At the same time, Tails hopes to use the pearls to defeat Black Nox in a rematch. Along the way, Tails must come to terms with his low self-esteem and reliance on Sonic while trying to piece together why no one is telling him exactly what’s happening.
====Sonic’s Story====
The true new original story. Set two days before the Prologue. Sonic must team up with Dr. Eggman to stop a powerful new threat, Tails’ estranged father from another dimension, Myria M. Prower (aka King Kitsune). Sonic struggles with keeping this information from Tails so Tails doesn’t have to know his father is evil. Nonetheless, Myria turns out to be much stronger than they expected. Eventually, they fail to keep Myria from invading their dimension and releasing a monster named Black Nox, who defeats Sonic. A week after his defeat, Sonic with new resolve meets up with Terios and the two agree to take down Myria and Black Nox together.
====Knuckles’ Story ====
Set two days before the prologue. The Master Emerald attempts to warn Knuckles about the future and guide him toward preventing the impending kitsune invasion. To stop this, Myria splits open the Master Emerald, causing Knuckles to once again have to reassemble it.
====Dr. Eggman’s Story====
Set moments before the prologue. After assisting Sonic in cornering Myria with the help of his new E-100 series robots, Eggman is forced to watch as Myria turns the elite robots against him. Eggman now must spend his time tracking down and defeating his own creations before they do any more damage.
====Terios’ Story ====
After being found by Myria following the ending of Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow’s body is accidentally split into two separate beings using a kitsune pearl. The two beings become Black Nox and Terios respectively. Set three days before the prologue, “Terios” is forced to play both sides of the conflict in order to re-merge with his other half in time before he dies.
====Rouge’s Story====
Set a day and a half before the prologue. Rouge is sent to get intel on the Kitsune by GUN. However, after infiltrating their forces Rouge learns more about Myria and his relation to Tails. Along the way, Myria finds out that Rouge is on to him and sends a merciless stalking robot, Oni-Bot after her.
====Final Story====
Terios is finally able to merge back with Black Nox, becoming Shadow the Hedgehog again. Myria is able to get all eight Kitsune Pearls, and turns himself into “Kitsune Myria.” Kitsune Myria then begins to prepare his plan to sacrifice the citizens of Station Square to bring his dead wife (and Tails’ dead mother), Rosemary back to life. Sonic reveals to Tails the truth about Myria being his father. With the help of the others, Sonic and a distraught Tails must track down and take on Kitsune Myria and Shadow together. 
===Full Story Breakdown===
==Gameplay==
The gameplay of Sonic Adventure 3 is reminiscent of the first two in the series, taking a lot of their mechanics and evolving them in new ways. Much like the first Sonic Adventure, the game offers 6 playable characters, each with their own unique gameplay styles and story campaigns. 
===Playable Characters===
====Miles “Tails” Prower ====
*Tails’ gameplay is similar to that of his in the first Sonic Adventure. Although slower than Sonic, Tails can fly through hoops to access new paths of a level. The objective of Tails’ stages generally revolves around getting to the goal ring by a set time limit. Tails moves from that game return with a few new unlockable ones.
====Sonic the Hedgehog====
*Sonic’s gameplay remains similar to that of the game’s predecessors with minor physics tweaks. The objective of the stages is to reach the goal ring with as high of a score as possible. Sonic’s moves from the previous games including the homing attack, spin dash, light speed dash/attack, and bounce all return, with a few new unlockable moves including the drop dash and boom kick.
====Knuckles the Echidna====
*Knuckles too retains similar gameplay to that of his in the previous Adventure entries. The objective of these stages is to find three objects using a radar system and hints. His moveset also remains largely the same as it did in Sonic Adventure 2, with some minor physics tweaks.
====Doctor Eggman====
*Dr. Eggman’s gameplay takes the “Lock-On Shooting” style from Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 and improves upon its physics and level design. Eggman’s Sonic Adventure 2 moveset remains, including the health bar and melee attack. Much like Gamma’s iteration of the style, stages have a time limit to clear, with the player losing a life if the timer runs out. Destroying enemies gives the player some additional time. Eggman is also given a speed boost in this iteration, making him a bit more comparable to Gamma’s in the first Adventure.
====Rouge the Bat====
* Rouge’s gameplay takes her moveset from Sonic Adventure 2 and combines it with the survival/stealth elements of Amy’s gameplay from the first Sonic Adventure. Throughout Rouge’s stages, Rouge must reach the end of the stage by solving puzzles and avoiding large, undefeatable robots trying to hunt her down. Stealth and creative platforming are heavily emphasized.
====Terios the Hedgehog====
*Terios’ gameplay is an evolution of the gameplay from Shadow the Hedgehog. Due to his rapidly deteriorating health, Terios is constantly losing rings as he picks them up (similar to Super forms.) At his weakest, Terios is rather slow, lacks a spin jump, and can only attack through relatively weak melee attacks and firearms picked up from enemies or found around stages. After picking up 10 rings, Terios is faster and can use the spin jump/homing attack combo. After picking up 20 rings, Terios is about as fast as Sonic, and has a spin jump/homing attack that does more damage. Beyond the unique gimmick, his stages have identical goals to Sonic’s, simply reaching the goal ring.
===DLC Characters===
The game also received additional DLC playable characters. However, each character is mostly just a slightly different version of already playable characters. These characters also have their own story campaigns, but said stories are devoid of cutscenes and are merely a list of stages. These characters include Shadow the Hedgehog (who plays like Sonic), E-102 Gamma (who plays like Eggman), and Myria M. Prower (who plays like Tails.)
=== Adventure Field===
Much like Sonic Adventure and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) Adventure Fields return but are revamped. As the title suggests, unlike the previous two entries the game only has one Adventure Field. This is done in an effort to prevent the player from getting lost and keeping time away from the Action stages to a minimum while still allowing the player to enjoy the area. 
The Adventure Field in question is “Station Square” returning from Sonic Adventure. This version of Station Square has been entirely rebuilt and reconstructed to be bigger than ever and feature more side-content and room for more NPCs. Although about the average size of most STH Adventure Fields, Station Square is dense with more things to do than any other Sonic hub world before it.
Some of the side-content and mini-games available from the Adventure Field include;
==== Twinkle Park====
*Twinkle Bowling
*Twinkle Cart Racing
*Twinkle Darts
*Fishing
*Wack-A-Hog
*Downhill Skating
====Emerald Coast Hotel====
*Chao Garden(s)
*Chao Karate
* Chao Racing
====Retro’s Arcade====
*Tails’ Sky Patrol
*SegaSonic the Hedgehog
*Sonic Drift 2
*Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
*Sonic the Fighters
*SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter
NPCs show up in the form of various human characters that task the player with town missions and mini-game challenges although Big the Cat, Amy Rose, and Cream the Rabbit appear as the only characters that offer additional challenges for Action Stages.
Progression in the Adventure Field is more streamlined than Adventure and STH. Areas are simply unlocked as the game progresses without any need to solve a puzzle to unlock them. Additionally, in order to speed up the time it takes to get from one stage to the next the Adventure Field allows the player to move to the next stage via a preview screen of the stages. This is similar to how the hub world was presented in Sonic Generations, allowing the player to skip over the hub exploration if they chose but leaving it around as an extra portion of the game.
As the game progresses there are two aesthetically different versions of Station Square, although both are functionally the same. The normal, bright, and Sunny version of Station Square as seen in Sonic Adventure and the Frozen over version of the city that’s trapped in a hefty layer of slowly melting ice. Once the game is beaten these two skins can be swapped, although some stages are only accessible in the Frozen version. 
===Action Stages===
==== Stage List====
--> Sonic Adventure 3 (SA3)/ List of Stages
*Frozen City Siege
*Emerald Coast 2.0
* Frosty Dockside
*Barren Mountain
*Casino Plaza
*Sewer Scramble
*Cyber Snow
*Tropical Greenland
*Neon Highway
*Airship Convoy
*Sparkling Cavern
*Icy Infiltration
*Oil Canyon
*Egg Carrier Ruins
*Port Blank
*Snowfall Station
*Core of the Kitsune
*Kitsune Space Station
====Mission System====
#Get an S rank in the stage!
#Complete the stage under a time limit!
# Defeat a set number of enemies!
#Beat the Stage Without any Rings!
====Bosses====
Yokai
#Black Nox (黒夜) (First Battle) (Prologue)
#Hebi (蛇) (Tropical Greenland)
#Inugami (犬神) (Neon Speedway)
#Ōgumo (大雲) (Sparkling Cavern)
#Nue (奴延鳥) (Oil Canyon)
#Onryō (怨霊) (Icy Infiltration)
#Ikuchi (イクチ) (Egg Carrier Ruins)
#Kamaitachi (かまいたち) (Port Blank)
#Black Nox (黒夜) (Core of Kitsune)
#Oni-bot (鬼 )
Other
#E-106 Eta (Oil Canyon)
#E-107 Theta (Sewer Scramble)
#E-108 Iota (Casino Plaza)
#E-109 Kappa (Frozen City Seige)
#E-110 Lambda (Barren Mountain)
#E-111 Mu (Sparkling Cavern)
#E-112 Nu (Port Blank)
#E-113 Xi (Snowfall Station)
#E-114 Omicron (Core of the Kitsune)
#Myria M. Prower
#Super Shadow
#Kitsune Myria (Final Boss)
== Trivia ==
* Many of the game’s story themes also act as a part of the game’s meta-narrative. The story deals with mourning and being able to accept and move on from death. The main antagonist, Myria attempts to do anything in order to bring his wife, Rosemary back from the dead.
* The game’s story recontextualizes Shadow's resurrection, and retcons him being rescued and brainwashed by Eggman after Sonic Adventure 2. Instead, the story sees Shadow being rescued by Myria who resurrects him with the Kitsune Pearls. To tie things in, Shadow at the end instead asks Eggman to wipe his memory, ashamed of his actions throughout the story, siding with the villain.
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