Knuckles' Sapphire Madness

This page is not yet complete. More ideas are likely to be added, such as for enemies, upgrades and bosses
A game starring Knuckles the Echidna, set on Angel Island. A different take on the Classic Sonic formula, it is a part of the metroidvania subgenre, with gameplay taking place on a single, large and interconnected map. It has a visual style similar to Sonic Mania.
==Gameplay==
===Knuckles===
Knuckles plays exactly how he does in Sonic 3 and Sonic Mania.
===Power Ups===
====Elemental shields====
Returning from Sonic 3, they retain their characteristics and allow Knuckles to access areas he normally wouldn't be able to.
====Support Characters====
Throughout the game, the Combi Catcher machine from Knuckles' Chaotix can be found, with a petrified Chaotix member within it. Freeing them will cause them to join Knuckles. They act similarly to Tails, giving Knuckles access to one of their abilities and allowing for more hits to be landed onto bosses.
=====Espio=====
=====Vector=====
=====Charmy=====
=====Mighty=====
===Collectables===
====Rings====
Rings are used as a currency at the black market, which appears across multiple Zones, as well as from many different merchants. Rings can be stored by Tails, who can be found at multiple locations around the map searching for Sonic, in one of his machines.
====Master Emerald Shards====
Typically collected from Bosses and certain mandatory places on the map. Required to beat the game so that the master emerald can be restored
==== Sapphires ====
The most common type of collectible, these blue and oval-shaped sapphires are abundant but very useful. They are not required to beat the game.
====Chaos Emeralds====
All 7 chaos emeralds are scattered across the map in very well hidden locations. Collecting all 7 grant the ability to turn super by collecting 50 rings
====Super Emeralds====
Once all seven Chaos emeralds are collected, if the player has restored the master emerald they can transform the chaos emeralds into the powerless Super Emeralds and then explore the map in search of the power for the super emeralds, similarly hidden like the chaos emeralds.
====Chao Capsules====
Chao capsules are scattered across the map. All freed Chao head to the Chao garden and have a purpose similar to the grub from Hollow Knight.
====Animals====
There is no fixed amount of animals as badniks can infinitely respawn. Animals can be freed from badniks, and all freed animals head to the animal shelter. They also have a similar purpose to the grubs, but are slightly different to the Chao.
===Upgrades===
Throughout the game the player has to find new upgrades, which give Knuckles new abilities and most often allows him to access new areas. A lot are based off upgrades from SA2 and like in that game will slightly change his physical appearance. This change to his appearance can be optionally turned off, however.
====Shovel Claw====
From SA2. allows Knuckles to dig into the ground. This way he can find items or collectables, or access hidden rooms by digging in a certain spot like in SA2. If in the air and this move is used, like in SA2 he will dive quickly down, and can damage enemies this way.
====Hammer Gloves====
From SA2. Allows Knuckles to break harder walls and objects, such as iron containers and reinforced walls.
====Air Necklace====
From SA2. Allows Knuckles to breath underwater
====Fighting Gloves====
From SA. Gives Knuckles access to the maximum heat knuckles attack, which allows him to store power until he is surrounded by a pulsing red and purple aura. He will maintain the charge for as long as the player wants, but his speed is drastically reduced. If released around enemies, he will perform a chain of attacks, or if released near no enemies he will charge powerfully forward, able to break even harder walls and objects even the hammer gloves cannot break.
====Sunglasses====
Allows Knuckles to view invisible objects, like invisible monitors, by flipping his glasses onto his eyes with a button press at the expense of losing the ability to jump. This is an optional upgrade
====Mystic Melody====
From SA2. Using the mystic melody near an ancient ruin will open up a path, acting as either a shortcut or access to a new area.
====Egg Booster====
A detached and damaged rocket booster from one of Egg Robo's machines, obtained after destroying the machine. It gives Knuckles a double jump
==Plot/Gameplay Progression==
===Beginning===
Set after the events of sonic 3&K, Knuckles is lounging by the Master Emerald in Angel Island Zone, before being ambushed by Egg Robo the same way in Sonic 3: a big bomb suddenly falls from the sky and explodes, knocking out Knuckles briefly, however this time Egg Robo uses it as a way to grab the master emerald in an Egg Mobile with a crane. He flies off and Knuckles gets angry before control is given to the player and a part Angel Island Zone can be played. After catching up to Egg Robo, the first boss fight of the game occurs with Egg Robo using a typical boss machine; however this machine actually harnesses the power of the master emerald to create a massively powerful laser blast after its main attack.
After defeating Egg Robo, the machine is destroyed, he flies off using his jetpack and the master emerald falls down onto the floor. Knuckles does his victory pose before being ambushed again by an unfamiliar female echidna from the floor exactly how Knuckles ambushes Sonic at the start of Sonic 3. As Knuckles is lying on the ground, the mysterious echidna pulls out 7 oval-shaped sapphires that seem similar to the chaos emeralds, however they appear very sinister as they are all black and emit traces of black electricity. They float around in a circle as they come out of her hand and float over to the master emerald, corrupting it and turning it black as well, and as this occurs the ground begins violently shaking as something in the background on Angel Island begins to rise from the surface.
A gargantuan, ancient looking golem rises from the surface in the far distance with a massive hammer, and roars ferociously after successfully rising. Knuckles looks in shock and horror while the female echidna doesn’t even flinch, but after it roars she punches the master emerald with a powerful punch. After landing her fist onto the emerald, the screen turns black with nothing but the emerald on screen, as it returns to its normal green and then begins to slowly crack, before violently shattering into many pieces that are scattered all over the screen. After this, the golem freezes in place and Knuckles gets back up and has a very angry look, while the female echidna just briefly glances at him before grabbing the dark sapphires and running off, while Egg Robo flies down to the top left of the screen, looking behind him and pointing forward as many airships with badniks being held underneath them follow in the background. The game then truly begins as Egg Robo flies ahead and control is given back to the player.
===Meeting the ancestors===
After making it out of the Mechanical Fortress, having to deal with Egg Robo and Metal Knuckles alongside hinderances from Shackles, Knuckles reaches the ruins of the echidna civilisation. After exploring for a little while, eventually Knuckles comes across another echidna. They both seem surprised and excited, and aftre signalling to Knuckles to follow him, the echidna runs off. After catching back up with him, Knuckles has reached the centre of the city, where many more echidnas are, and he is able to greet the chief - Pachacamac. It turns out the echidna tribe weren't killed off by Chaos, but were instead trapped within the Gargantuan Golem for eternity until it was briefly revived. Initially the tribe is very friendly towards Knuckles, they offer to help him find the master emerald shards and non of the echidnas will attack him. Pachacamac also warns Knuckles about Shackles, implying she is untrustworthy. Eventually however, Knuckles realises the true nature of the tribe, as he witnesses them using emerald shards to find chao and enact revenge on them for what Chaos did against the clan thousands of years ago. At this point Knuckles goes against the clan and becomes their enemy, and at this point echidnsa will begin attacking Knuckles.
After this, Knuckles continues his search eventually coming across White Castle Zone and meeting its mysterious ruler, The Heart Knight, who is able to generate white fire. He awards Knuckles a shard and upgrade for defeating one of his servants, King Boom Boo. He also comes across Sonic, Fang the Sniper, Heavy and Bomb, Egg Robo and Metal Knuckles multiple times throughout his journey.
===Restoring the Master Emerald===
After restoring the master emerald at the old master emerald shrine at the now mostly rebuilt echidna civilisation, Knuckles is ambushed for the last time by Shackles who steals the complete master emerald. She takes it near the heel of the gargantuan Golem, where a small echidna tribe temple lies that had seemingly been unearthed when the golem had risen. Inside is an old appearing echidna crystallised, with an appearance matching hers. She attempts to use the emerald to break the crystal, However, suddenly from the sky, a bomb drops down and explodes, knocking Shackles down while Metal Knuckles quickly descends down with strength, shattering the master emerald again, however this time only into 5 pieces. Metal Knuckles moves to the left and picks up a piece as Egg Robo swoops in from above and does the same. During this, another piece is absorbed by a white flame, and after both robots leave, three echidna from the tribe come from the right side of the screen, one with a spear and the others with bows, and steal another piece.
Shackles then wakes up and grabs hold of a piece than fell near her tightly before trying to run away to the right, but as she does so Fang jumps out from behind the floor and shoots her with his pop gun, causing her to flinch and drop her piece, which Fang swiftly snatches, laughs like how he does in Triple Trouble, and then runs away. Knuckles then comes in, and she looks like she is willing to accept any punishment from him, but now knowing her true intentions Knuckles gives her a hand. At this point she will begin to follow Knuckles like tails follows Sonic, and gives Knuckles access to her special moves allowing him to access new areas. At this point the player is given a choice between who to fight in what order, with Egg Robo, Metal Knuckles, Fang and Heart Knight being spread about across the whole map for Knuckles to find, while the echidna tribe must be fought last. Each boss is at a location that suits their character; for example, Heart Knight is waiting at the top of the roof of the tall tower at White Castle Zone.
===Ending===
After defeating Egg Robo, Metal Knuckles, Heart Knight and Fang, Knuckles and Shackles head to the top of the Gargantuan Golem where the echidna tribe have taken their piece of the emerald. Once there Knuckles fights Pacacamac, and after defeating him the echidna tribe make amends with him and Shackles. However, after this, Eggman suddenly attacks in rebuilt Death Egg Robot alongside Metal Sonic, having received Egg Robos distress signal before he was destroyed, while a group of Egg Robos surround the echidna tribe. After defeating both, Sonic appears and destroys the Egg Robos. Eggman charges at Sonic, taking him off screen while the echidna have a celebration. This is cut short, however, once Heart Knight appears in a white, fiery entrance. In one final act of revenge, he snatches the dark sapphires from Shackles and uses them to fully corrupt the master emerald, which fuses with the gigantic golem, reviving it again. The golem turns out to be the negative form of the master emerald, while the emerald itself is the positive form, but now that the two have fused, the true form the master emerald has been achieved. Knuckles uses the chaos emeralds he has collected to turn super, flying off to stop the golem, while Sonic catches a ride on the tornado and Shackles forces the last remaining Egg Robo to fly her up. After defeating the golem, with help from Sonic and Shackles, it slowly begins to crumble and the master emerald unfused with the golem, with the dark sapphires being forced out of it. They are caught by Heart Knight, who disappears in a white flame with them.
==Zones==
The game, like any metroidvania, takes place entirely on a very large, interconnected map that is made up of multiple zones. Everytime Knuckles enters a new zone a title card appears like in the classic sonic games, though only taking up a portion of the screen like during act transitions in sonic 3 and the player maintains control of Knuckles. There are 12 zones in total:
===Angel Island Zone===
The beginning Zone. It appears how it does in Sonic 3 and isn't on fire, however, a portion of the zone does get frozen, not burnt, by Egg Robo.
===Mechanical Fortress Zone===
Not the final name. A level like Scrap Brain and Metropolis, but it is the second Zone Knuckles goes to. This zone has a central colour of orange, like how Metropolis has a central colour of green. One half of the stage has a construction theme as that half is still under construction due to the base only very recently being built.
===Echidna Civilisation Zone===
Not the final name. Inititally the ruins of the once proud civilisations city, it is now being repopulated by the now revived echidnas, and throughout the game it slowly becomes rebuilt into the grand city it once was.
===Mushroom Hill Zone===
Returning from Sonic 3, however now it is decaying and the plant life is dying. There is also a new underground section taking inspiration from the Terraria mushroom biome, which is still full of life.
===Pumpkin Hill Zone===
Entirely based off its appearance in Sonic Adventure 2
===White Castle Zone===
A Massive Castle based on medieval English castles, that is entirely made up of a colour palette of white and black. Throughout this zone, Knuckle's sprite is altered slightly to make him appear slightly nervous, as he appears to be scared of ghosts in SA2.
===Ice Cap Zone===
Returning from Sonic 3, although now the outside portion is experiencing a terrible and destructive blizzard, and the inside portions have been roboticised by Egg Robo.
===Aquatic Madness Zone===
The classic water zone. A massive water park named Aquatic Madness with many, many water slides of varying type, shape, size and colours.
=== Sky Sanctuary Zone ===
It is located very high up in the sky, only reachable by teleporter or through the top of the gargantuan golem, and falling off it will often lead to the player ending up in a random area on the surface. 
=== Buried City Zone ===
Not the final name. As the name suggests, it is a mega-metropolis buried underground. 
===Dumping Facility Zone===
Not the final name. A facility where Eggman dumps all of his failed creations. There are many call backs to bosses and badniks from Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3&K. In one room where the player will return to occasionally, the Death Egg is prominently featured in the background, and after defeating Egg Robo for the last time, it mysteriously disappears. It is connected to the Mechanical Fortress Zone, being underneath it, but is one of the last zones Knuckles goes to.
===Gargantuan Golem Zone===
The final Zone. The golem can be seen in the background in many places throughout the game, getting closer to the foreground as Knuckles gets closer to Gargantuan Golem Zone. At Angel Island Zone, the golem can be seen in its entirety, but at Aquatic Madness Zone only its lower leg can be seen. It serves as the lava zone. 
==Enemies==
===Badniks===
The most common type of enemy in the game. They are mostly original badniks and mostly similar to badniks from Sonic 3 and mania, although some new types of badniks will appear, such as larger than seen before badniks and badniks that take two or three hits to defeat rather than the usual one.
==== Sonic X-treme Cut Badniks ====
It would be cool to see these badniks see the light of day
- octopod, a cut enemy from Sonic Xtreme
- Loball
- Orca, it would be a large badnik in Aquatic Madness Zone which would take two hits to defeat and swim around either at the top of the water, jumping up a lot, or would stay in the water and chase Knuckles.
===Echidna Tribe===
The echidnas are based on their designs in sonic adventure, and retain their purplish colour in comparison to Knuckles’ red, and they remain taller than him like in that game also. There are multiple Echidna enemies, with one variant being a weaker version of the Knuckles fight from Sonic 3, another using bows and arrows, another using spears to fight and others burrowing into the ground and digging back up to attack.
===Ghosts===
A variety of ghosts who serve King Boom Boo as his servants, appearing solely in white castle zone. This includes the ghosts from Sandopolis Zone, and the Boos and Boom Boos - who are three times larger than regular boos.
==Bosses==
===Sonic===
Meanwhile, throughout the entire game, Sonic is fighting Eggman on Angel Island. Sonic has his darker blue again like in the original games and unlike mania. Leading up to the first fight, Sonic can be seen running in the distance. When Knuckles first comes across him, he has just finished fighting Eggman, who is using a machine that will later be used by Egg Robo. Afterwards, Sonic looks to his hand where a green glow can be seen. Knuckles believes Sonic has a shard of the master emerald, and so a fight ensues based on a misunderstanding like in Sonic adventure. Sonic has all of his abilities from Sonic 3 along with the drop dash, figure 8 and the bounce move from Adventure 2. After the fight, Knuckles knocks what Sonic has out of him, and realises it is a time stone, not a shard.
===Shackles===
A Female echidna slightly shorter than Knuckles, about Sonic’s height, and with a purplish skin colour like the rest of the echidna tribe. She has shackles on her arms and legs from when she was imprisoned by the echidna tribe and her appearance differs to the other echidna, showing clearly that she is from a different echidna tribe. She was incredibly interested in the master emerald, studying it alongside other, more sinister sapphires. During one of the echidna tribe's war of expansions, they fought against another echidna tribe, and Shackles alongside her father were taken prisoner. Her father was crystallised, however she was able to escape but soon she found herself in the freezing Ice Cap Zone and became frozen. Thousands of years later, she was unintentionally unfrozen during Egg Robo's roboticisation of Ice Cap, and quickly realised the temple where her father was crystallised had been long buried underground. Knowing what she had to do, she recollected the dark sapphires and used them to corrupt the master emerald so that its body would be revived so the temple would be unearthed. Now she has to collect the master emerald shards so that she can undo the crystallisation before Knuckles or Egg Robo can collect them all.
Throughout the game she hinders Knuckles journey the same way he hindered Sonic and tails' journey during Sonic 3. She is also fought twice. Her attacks mostly involve her digging into the ground to perform something, like throwing out pieces of stone. She also has a dash ability, allowing her to easily avoid attacks.
===Fang the Sniper===
Fang is a treasure hunter who came to Angel Island to hunt for treasure, and has begun hunting for Master Emerald Shards since they were scattered around Angel Island. His sprites are based on his Sonic Triple Trouble sprites, with all of his animations from that game being used in this one too. Three times throughout the game he suddenly appears to steal master emerald shards from Knuckles, which he has to then take back from Fang by chasing him around a certain area in the map until he catches Fang by damaging him once. After being caught, Fang runs away, and as he briefly trips over like in Triple Trouble he drops an extra emerald shard. Near the end of the game, Fang is fought in a boss battle, where he waits for Knuckles like how he does while waiting for Sonic in Triple Trouble. In his fight and chases he uses his signature popgun as well as bombs. During all of his encounters, a remix of his theme from Triple Trouble plays.
===Pachacamac===
His design is based on his Sonic Adventure design, with him retaining his dark red colour and spear.
===Metal Knuckles===
Metal Knuckles is a robot sent after the master emerald shards by Egg Robo, and has been built with the intended purpose of being stronger than his living counterpart. Initially raced across Pumpkin Hill Zone similar to the Metal Sonic race from CD, then later raced again this time from one side of the map to another in a longer race and then later it is finally fought. During the races he opens up new passageways throughout the map by breaking through stronger walls Knuckles can never break, opening up new areas.
Metal Knuckles first appears in Mechanical Fortress Zone while Shackles tries to pull another fast one on Knuckles, suddenly charging down onto her as its theme begins playing, and then after getting back up it charges up energy before firing directly at her, taking her away. The player can still play as Knuckles during this cutscene but are unable to reach them, but after Metal knuckles leaves with her an alternative path is opened up and Knuckles has to chase after Metal in order to help his rival, with the player having to travel down a newly opened route while Metals theme still plays until finally catching up with them. Metal has clearly finished with Shackles by the time Knuckles catches up, stealing her master emerald shards. Both Knuckles and his metal counterpart have a brief and tense staring down before Metal Knuckles flies away with the shards, leaving both of them behind. When shackles gets up, she immediately jumps down below.
When Knuckles finds his metal Doppelganger for the first and final fight against him, a brief cutscene plays where Knuckles and Metal Knuckles both rush towards each other and punch each other’s hand, causing a massive shockwave so powerful that the floor collapses beneath them and Knuckles fall down to the arena where the fight takes place, while the Metal Doppelganger flies down.
===Egg Robo===
Initially sent by Egg man to attempt to retrieve the master emerald again, Egg Robo is now coordinating the effort to find the master emerald shards before Knuckles. Throughout the game he is fought while in some machine like in Sonic 3 multiple times in different boss fights.
==== Blaster Mobile ====
A flying machine that harnesses the power of the master emerald to create a destructive laser blast
==== Freezer Mobile ====
A flying machine with ice-based attacks that is used b y Egg Robo to freeze a portion of Angel Island Zone
==== Thunder Mobile ====
A flying machine with electricity-based attacks
==== Colossal Egg ====
A massive golem-like machine
==== Catastrophic Egg ====
a lightweight and incredibly fast flying machine, able to zip around at unmanageable speeds
==== Octopod ====
Based on the cut boss from Sonic X-treme and related to the octopod badnik, it is fought in Aquatic Madness Zone and has two phases, the first phase is in the yellow machine and when that is destroyed, the reed machine is released. 
==== Egg Cross ====
The last fight against him has a first phase of being in a machine, his most powerful yet the Egg Cross, and then when Knuckles destroys it Egg Robo flies out of the machine and fights Knuckles directly. Unlike the Egg Robo enemies from Sonic 3, Egg Robo can take multiple hits. He uses his laser to fight, and has a move where he flies into the background to briefly attack. After receiving his second to last hit, he’ll drop his gun and bring out a small communications device, making him defenceless. It later becomes clear that he was contacting Eggman for support.
=== Heavy and Bomb ===
Two cute, charming and clumsy robots sent after Knuckles by Egg Robo. When Knuckles comes across them, Egg Robo is holding up a sign with a poorly drawn picture of Knuckles on it, showing him with devil horns, an pointing at it with his finger in front of Heavy and Bomb. When he realises Knuckles is behind him, he points at the picture and then to Knuckles multiple times before flying away and the fight ensues. Knuckles is incapable of damaging Heavy due to his thickness, with him only slightly being knocked back when hit by Knuckles. Bomb also explodes when damaged by Knuckles, but somehow remains intact after exploding. Knuckles defeats the duo by somehow (haven't decided if it is a move or stage gimmick yet) knocking Bomb into Heavy multiple times.
=== Mecha Knuckles ===
A new robotic version of Knuckles based on Mecha Sonic from Sonic 3. Like Mecha Sonic, it has a darker shade of red in comparison with Knuckles.
=== Silver Sonic and Mecha Sonic ===
During the first visit to Dumping Facility Zone, eventually Egg Robo can be found tampering with Mecha Sonic, while in a junk pit in the background Silver Sonic can be seen. Egg Robo quickly flees and Mecha Sonic is reactivated, and as a Mecha Sonic rematch appears to almost begin, Silver Sonic suddenly reactivates and jumps to the foreground, starting a team-up battle against both Silver and Mecha Sonic at the same time. Both utilise abilities they had in their respective boss fights.
=== King Boom Boo ===
The King of the ghosts, although it turns out he serves another entity; The Heart Knight. His fight is based off Sonic Adventure 2. During his fight his SA2 theme plays
=== The Heart Knight ===
A mysterious but powerful entity who rules the undead, even including the king of ghosts himself - King Boom Boo, and the White Castle. He has the shape of a human man, wearing a white suit complete with a black bowtie, black buttons, black shoes and black gloves. He also wears a mask with a grey heart on it. He can generate white fire, which is what the majority of his attacks use. He first appears in the room after the arena where King Boom Boo is fought. After defeating the king of ghosts, a massive door slowly opens into a very dark throne room that is hard to see in, with on the throne being Heart Knight. He clicks his fingers and all the candles in the room gain a white flame, lighting up the place, allowing him and the room to be seen better. He seems impressed that Knuckles defeated King Boom Boo, awarding him with a master emerald shard and a new upgrade that he makes appear with a click of his fingers, which causes these items to appear in brief white flames.
After collecting these items, he flies out of his throne and to high up in the room, where he generates a white flame in his hand and throws it onto the floor, causing it to be engulfed in white flames before suddenly being completely burnt, causing Knuckles to fall down the long tower the throne room is actually at the top of and all the way to the bottom, which is the beginning area of the white castle. Knuckles can then climb all the way back to the top and there are things to find throughout the whole tower, which can be accessed even from entering the white castle for the first time if the player realises the beginning room actually stretches so high, which isn’t made obvious.
=== Death Egg Robot and Metal Sonic ===
The Final Boss if the player hasn’t collected the Chaos emeralds. After Pachacamac and the rest of the tribe make amends with Knuckles, the sky begins to turn darker and the music starts. Rain begins pouring before the aiming icon appears over Knuckles. After the Death Egg Robot drops down from the sky, a remix of its theme begins to play, lightning strikes and starts to occur sporadically throughout the fight and the hatch opens to reveal Egg man while multiple Egg Robos travel past and surround the Echidna Tribe. The battle then begins while in the background the black silhouette of Metal Sonic can be seen flying past distantly in the background. After landing the first two hits, Metal Sonic enters the fight. After defeating Metal Sonic, his death animation plays and he falls off screen, while the Death Egg falls apart and Eggman flies out in his egg mobile. Sonic suddenly appears to save the echidnas, destroying one Egg Robo and taking its place, causing two other ones to fire at him, but he jumps and dodges the lasers which each destroy the other egg robo. The next egg robo then has a shocked face before it is destroyed by Sonic.
The Death Egg Robot is more advanced in this fight than in the Sonic 2 fight, having new moves to boot. Metal Sonic has his black shield from SA2,
=== Final Boss ===
A Super Knuckles boss fight against the Gargantuan Golem
Category:Sonic Games
Category:SEGA
Category:SEGA Games
Category:Sonic (series)