Sonic Adventure 3 (Iloveadventuresverymuch!'s version)

== Introduction ==
Sonic Adventure 3 is an action-adventure platformer released in 2013 for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U and Wii, 2014 on PC and New 3DS and 2018 on the Nintendo Switch. Sonic Adventure 3 was a follow-up from Sonic Adventure 2 where Eggman would harness the power of the mighty gem to connect galaxies 100 light years away from Mobius and take control of the universe but Sonic's here to stop him and end his very evil plans alongside Tails, Knuckles and Shadow. The game released to critical acclaim by both fans and critics alike. The Wii and New 3DS versions had mixed reception and the Switch port by Blind Squirrel was received relatively well except for some performance issues.
== Story ==
Somewhere in Eggman's base, Eggman would be at his desk, typing out words to research a powerful thing on the planet, but then, he stumbles upon the mighty gem. After more research, he would find out the true power of the mighty gem: It can make universes suffer from destruction and lead Eggman to rule the universe. He puts it in a cannon and launches it into the air, it finds itself faster than the speed of light, and knocks out an entire galaxy far far away. This leads into the main story.
=== Team Sonic Story ===
Sonic would find out about Eggman's plans by seeing a huge bombing up in the sky, but nothing was there at the beginning, so he called Tails and Knuckles to help him destroy Eggman's evil plans. Tails would create the Lightspeed Plane, an airplane that can surpass the speed of light and reach galaxies upon galaxies while a spy Eggpawn tried to copy the DNA of the machine to one of Eggman's battleships but Sonic's friends would not notice. Tails test his airplane and reproduce it to aid Team Dark. Then, Sonic hops in to reach the Aromena galaxy, where he would find YU-242, a planet that was similar to earth but without any trace of human life. Eggman surprisingly landed on that planet and met Sonic. Eggman didn't tell Sonic how he made the battleship go at the speed of light but instead offered him a gift, The gift contained an Eggman Bo-omb that would launch Sonic off to another planet in another galaxy. The planet was strange. It was all purple and full of deep oceans with weird creatures. Sonic would rush on the planet but Tails is worried about if they're gonna leave the planet. Sonic gives him hope by saying that maybe Team Dark would arrive and help. After that, Tails took Sonic to the middle of the planet and called rouge to land close to where they are. Then the plane of Team Dark landed to save Sonic and Tails from being stuck in the planet. Team Dark would get them to the other planet to get their plane back and fly along without them, but they realized it was already flown by Knuckles to the colder planet in yet another galaxy. After that, Sonic and Tails find out that Knuckles crashed the plane and is searching for gems. Knuckles finds some gems and a discourse between Tails and Knuckles begins because Knuckles crashed Tails' plane. After the heat goes out of control in the discourse, Sonic tries to fix the plane the best he can and ends up doing that. They later go to save the main planets in each galaxy one by one and stumble upon Eggman again but with the gem. After a short boss fight, Team Sonic's story ends at a cliffhanger before the Final Story.
=== Team Dark Story ===
Shadow would see an explosion up in the sky and immediately think it's another galaxy shattering. He calls Rouge about the issue while she hunts for some gems in an abandoned palace. Rouge would respond and go to Shadow, sure that Tails and Sonic are up to making a machine that can reach that galaxy in minutes. After that thought, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega would go to Tails' workshop for him to reproduce an invention that he wants to use to go to the galaxy. Tails would be shocked to hear that Team Dark knows what he was up to and reproduced his plane for team dark to use it. Later, Team Dark would reach an icy planet where they'd detect some gems. Rouge got to find them while Shadow found a big blue icy whale that he eventually battled out against. Rouge ended up finding some of the gems and Shadow defeated the blue icy whale. But then, both of them saw what looked like Tails' plane machine rapidly heading towards the planet but ends up crashing. After the crash, Knuckles gets out of the plane and tells Shadow and Rouge that he's lost. Shadow reassures Knuckles that the icy place is fine. Soon, a call from Sonic emerged while Knuckles was doing some exploration far from them on the planet, Tails said that they were stuck in the middle of a purple planet that they remember passing by. Team Dark would land and get Sonic and Tails on the plane, making them go back to the other planet they were in before to get their plane, but then, they realized that Knuckles crashed the plane in an icy planet, where they landed Sonic and Tails to for them to fix the plane. Then they went back to some planets that Sonic already visited and do a research on the surface of Mobius after reaching the planet where Eggman was in. Their story would end on a cliffhanger after that.
=== Last Story ===
After Eggman's machine went out of control and exploded after Sonic defeated it, the gem would shatter, causing many many galaxies to burn into small ashes, including the galaxy that Mobius was in. Eggman took this try as a failed attempt but yet refused to team up with Sonic. Sonic would try to make him join their team, but fail at each attempt. After that, Tails realized that the gems Knuckles and Rouge had were identical to the chaos emeralds, they were just shaped different. But Eggman wasn't done, he would take out the negatives of the gems to create the ruler of the universe, a giant space dragon that was an ultimate life-form. Everyone stays worried, even Eggman, but Sonic remembers the perfect chaos fight and how Chaos only sucked the negative force of the emeralds. With that realization, Sonic assures everyone and takes the emerald, transforming into super sonic, he also makes shadow transform into super shadow and tails to transform into super tails and they both take on the dragon, defeating him and returning many galaxies to their original state, especially mobius. After that, they would go back to their homes and end the story.
== Gameplay ==
Sonic and Shadow would control exactly like their Sonic Adventure 2 counterpart with all the abilities from SA2 intact without any new abilities except the physics would be similar to SA1 instead. Tails has his gameplay style from SA1, Knuckles and Rouge have their gameplay style from Adventure 2 and Omega would have mech-shooting gameplay more similar to Gamma from SA1. The game would contain exactly 7 planets with each stage for every team. The game would have a small chao garden similar to the SA2 chao garden but upgraded to be more unique.
== Development ==
The game would start development in 2009 after SEGA wanted a Sonic game to be made for the generation after the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation, but there was the problem of making it look like a game that would be on a next-gen PlayStation or Xbox: hardware. But luckily, they used the Unleashed lighting engine and compiled a small level that would struggle to run on the 360 and PS3, then they downgraded that level to be compatible for the 360 and PS3. After that, the full concept of Sonic Adventure 3 started in 2010. The original script was written by Ken Pontac and Warren Graff, the writers of Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations but it was disproved by the director of the game, instead he decided to bring back Shiro Maekawa, the writer of SA2 to write the game. After that, they called out Bandai Namco to develop the Wii version of the game and were given some tools and instructions on how to make it work, and chose Dimps to develop a DS version. But after the plans, SEGA got the specs for the next gen PlayStation and Xbox, they realized the game would be running at 60 fps and wasn't willing to change the graphics as a result, but 2 new consoles called the Wii U and 3DS emerged and SEGA decided to make Dimps change the development platform from the DS to the 3DS and they decided change some of the assets to match the 3DS's more powerful specs, and for the Wii U version to be a port of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions but with 60 fps instead, The main version of the game was later finished and it would be a launch title for the PS4 and Xbox One, as well a game for the Wii U, PS3 and Xbox 360. 1 Day after, the Wii version was finished and published the same day as the main console version. The 3DS version was still undergoing some struggles until early 2014 where Dimps heard about a new 3DS and spent all their resources to developing a game for that type of 3DS since it allowed exclusives. Then, finally, the 3DS version was finished and published, and SEGA also published a PC version of the game that was the main version. After that, Blind Squirrel was issued to make a Switch port of Sonic Adventure 3 in 2018 after the success of the Switch. They would release the port for the Switch in 2018, ending the entirety of Sonic Adventure 3's development.
== Release ==
The game was announced in 2010 at E3 of that year alongside Sonic Colors, showcasing the advanced graphics that the next generation of consoles could handle, the game's release was not shown since the next gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles' release wasn't announced yet, even the consoles themselves weren't announced around that time. The game's announcement left a lot to be desired according to many fans since they didn't showcase the name of the game, it was titled "Sonic Project Next-Gen" before the full name "Sonic Adventure 3" was confirmed. Also, according to the fans, the game was revealed too early since the next-gen consoles weren't announced at the time and it would lead to major confusion. In 2011, SEGA announced more info about the game, detailing it's name which got people talking about the future of Sonic and where it is heading, as well as major bombs in announcements to make people feel excited. In 2012, SEGA didn't decide to announce a lot, the only announcement they made is small screenshots of the game and nothing else. But when 2013 rolled around, SEGA decided to drop major announcements around that time, announcing that SA3 would release that year which got fans very excited on what's to come. Later, the Wii version got a gameplay reveal and a lot more info on SA3 was announced, detailing the major consoles like the PS4 and how they can run the game at a smooth 60 frames per-second. The Wii U version was announced as a port to the Xbox 360 and PS3 version but in 60 frames per second, while a PC version got announced to be the same game as the PS4 and Xbox One but was delayed due to the DRM not working properly and setting off alarms. The 3DS version was now the New 3DS version which wasn't met with the most positive outlook by original 3DS owners, but later, the game got released on the 3DS. In late 2017, after the release of Sonic Forces, SEGA announced that Sonic Adventure 3 would be coming to the Switch as a port by Blind Squirrel. After that, the Switch version came in 2018. 
== Marketing and Promotion ==
Jazwares would release a new line of toys in 2013 to co-inside the Sonic Adventure 3 release in a collector's edition box of the game. The toys were just reprints of some Sonic Generations toys made by Jazwares but making it fit with the game a bit more.
Some fast food restaurants like McDonalds, Burger King and Sonic Drive-In wanted to have meals which promote Sonic Adventure 3 in their box, but SEGA couldn't decide who's the one they're going to team up with. At last, SEGA decided to choose McDonalds to promote Sonic Adventure 3 in their happy meals, just like what they did in Sonic Heroes, but also SEGA wanted to make a Sonic Adventure 3 ad campaign with Sonic Drive-In since they both have the same name. The ad campaign was called "Two Sonics, one Hedgehog" and was called the most interesting ad of it's time.
SEGA also wanted to air commercials of the game on cartoon channels such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon as well as social media sites like Youtube or Twitch, these commercials were the SA3 gameplay trailers but tweaked to make them like commercials. 
== Trivia ==
* Sonic Adventure 3 was deemed by SEGA to be the last Sonic game in the Sonic Adventure Series and that no Sonic Adventure 4 will ever come out.
* According to an interview with Ian Flynn, the game's is told a while after Sonic Heroes's story but as a proper gameplay sequel, it's a sequel to Sonic Generations.
* The Wii version was received poorly by critics but harshly bashed by fans due to the choice of having the boost formula and the over-usage of 2D sections and blocky platforming. The New 3DS version was mixed by both fans and critics because of it's hallway linear level designs in the adventure style that makes the game feel boring, but not too bad.
* A reference to the largely popular Nickelodeon cartoon show SpongeBob SquarePants can be seen in the purple planet, where in one of the underwater stages, you can barely see a small pineapple with windows and a door in the distance which closely resembles SpongeBob's iconic pineapple home.
*Another reference to yet another huge cartoon that is Adventure Time by Cartoon Network and Federator Studios, in one of the cutscenes in Team Dark's Story, you can see a huge shining sword and a crown which reference both the main character of the show, Finn and the anti-hero character Ice King
* The game also has cameo of the wisps to the 2010 Wii title Sonic Colors in a level in the planet YU-242, with a small group of Wisps floating in the sky, it's a cameo that's very easy to miss though.
*Eggman giving sonic a bo-omb gift is a clear reference to the anime Sonic X and when he sends messages to Sonic and an explosion by using Bokkun.
*Canonically, most Sonic characters in that were in Mobius including major characters like Amy Rose or Vector the Crocodile didn't die or get erased when the earth got destroyed as a result of the galaxy being taken away. The reasoning as why they didn't die because Sonic characters do breathe in space, which answers a lot of questions by Sonic fans.
*The Switch version by Blind Squirrel was considered a decent port but with unnecessary new additions, such as the addition of alternative shoes and gloves that were deemed worthless since they were only different colors and weren't unique.
*In the development of the game, campaigns for Team Rose and Team Chaotix were planned, but scrapped since they didn't fit into the overall storyline
*Sonic was voiced by Roger Craig Smith in the final release, but some data suggested Sonic was going to be voiced by Jason Griffith, mostly for the E3 2009 Prototype which had Jason Griffith voice clips, Tails was actually voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessy, which is the Tails voice actor in Sonic Boom and later games despite Tails being voiced by Kate Higgins in Sonic Lost World, Knuckles was voiced by Travis Willingham, and Shadow was voiced by Kirk Thornton, but there was still clips of Jason Griffith Shadow lines.
*In 2016, as a way to celebrate Sonic's 25th Anniversary, SEGA released a level pack DLC which included stages from previous sonic games such as: Hill Top Zone - Sky Sanctuary Zone - Stardust Speedway - Emerald Coast - Green Forest - Grand Metropolis - Kingdom Valley - Jungle Joyride - Tropical Resort and Windy Hill from Sonic Lost World, there was a second DLC pack released in 2021 containing Sunset Heights from Forces, Studiopolis from Mania and Sweet Mountain mostly based off the Colors Ultimate version
*The game had an unlockable battle mode which had 1P and 2P options where you could play as all 6 characters, but characters such as Amy, Tikal, Chaos, Cream, Silver and Blaze were also playable alongside the 6 characters, but characters like Mephiles from Sonic '06 and Vector, Charmy and Espio went unused in the game files, with clips by their respective voice actors still being present but Mephiles and Vector got re-added in another DLC pack with Infinite from Forces
Category:Video Games