Sonic Battle

***Sonic Battle*** (ソニックバトル Sonikku Batoru?) is a fighting game developed by Sonic Team for the Game Boy Advance. The gameplay consists of 2D sprites fighting in three dimensional environments similar to the ***Double Dragon*** games. Unlike traditional fighters, it is beginner-friendly and easy to play, featuring no complicated combos or button inputs that need to be memorized to perform special moves.

It is the second fighting game in the ***Sonic the Hedgehog series***, the first being ***Sonic the Fighters***. It is also the first Sonic fighting game to be on a handheld.

## Story

About 4,000 years ago, a sentient weapon was created by an ancient civilization. After being lost for millenia, the weapon, known as the Gizoid, was unearthed and researched by Prof. Gerald Robotnik. It remained dormant for another half century before being discovered by, of all people, resident would-be ruler of the world and Gerald's grandson, Dr. Eggman. Frustrated at his inability to get the dormant Gizoid to work properly, Eggman dumped the contraption at Emerald Beach where it was discovered once again, this time by Sonic the Hedgehog.

The Gizoid, which Sonic names Emerl, gets wrapped up in the affairs of Sonic's friends, both allies and rivals. Through his encounters with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Gamma, Rouge, and Shadow, Emerl grows and evolves from a soulless robot into a fun-loving mech with personality traits from all of those he had met. But while the gang is having fun raising their new mechanical friend, there are those who recognize Emerl's true power. Now that the Gizoid is working again, Eggman's got his eye on it, Rouge wants to turn it into a master thief, and Shadow senses that, despite their efforts to humanize him, Emerl is still designed and programmed to be a weapon of mass destruction.

The story comes to a close when Dr. Eggman challenges Emerl to a battle aboard his new Death Egg. While Emerl is able to defeat the mad doctor, Eggman takes advantage of Emerl's core programming - to obey whoever is strongest - by using the Death Egg's Final Egg Blaster to take out several stars. However, the programming conflict between Emerl's new personality and weapon design cause Emerl to lose control. He knocks out Eggman and turns the Final Egg Blaster toward Earth. Sonic attempts to use the Master Emerald to neutralize Emerl's Chaos Emerald powers, but when that fails, he's forced to defeat him in combat. With a final goodbye, Emerl is destroyed, but Sonic believes that they'll see him again someday.

## Gameplay

***Sonic Battle*** is very different from normal Sonic games in terms of gameplay, being a fighting game instead of a fast-paced action-adventure platformer. In story mode, players can explore the overworld, which is made up of "Emerald Town", "Holy Summit", "Central City", "Night Babylon", and "Gimme Shelter", though during some parts of the story only certain maps can be visited. However, every map can be accessed during Emerl's story. By going to a selectable area, the player may train with other characters, fight E-121 Phis, or continue the plot.

Battles take place on 3D arenas with 2D sprites and are split up into Point, Survival, and Time modes. Point Battles require the player to be the first to get a certain amount of points by KO'ing other characters participating in the battle. Survival requires the player to defeat all opposing characters by KO'ing them until they run out of lives. Time Battles require the player to reach a certain objective within a certain amount of time.

Before the battle starts and before the player re-enters the battle after being KO'ed, they are able to select from three different Special Attacks: Shot, Power, and Trap. Shot attacks are mid-to-long range attacks which can be directed in any of the eight directions (with the exception of Shadow's Chaos Magic). Power attacks are typically signature attacks of the character and vary between each character. These attacks normally focus a lot of damage in one go. Trap attacks involve the character placing or releasing an explosive device which launches the opponent upward and briefly blinds anyone hit. During selection, the player selects which attacks will be Ground, Aerial, and Guard. Ground is the basic Special Attack, used when the character is on the ground. Aerial is a variant of a special attack used while the character is in the air and is often an air-to-ground attack. The Special Attack selected as Guard protects you from opponents' moves in the same category. For example, if Guard is on Shot, all Shot moves are automatically blocked until you die and reset your Guard.

All characters are also capable of healing themselves at varying speeds. Defending from special attacks and healing allows characters to fill up the Ichikoro Gauge. When this gauge is full, the character flashes and their next special attack will be a one-hit K.O. if it hits. However, it will fill the gauge of anyone who blocks the attack.

In Story Mode, after a battle when Emerl is present, Emerl gains Skill Points based on how well the player fought: winning earns 1 point; winning without losing a life earns 2 points; winning without getting hit earns 5 points. Giving an Emerald Shard or a Chaos Emerald to Emerl gives him 10 points. These points allow skills that Emerl has copied from the battle to be selected as part of Emerl's moveset. These skills are ranked one to five stars, with each star being worth five points. The total point worth of the skills cannot exceed the total number of Skill Points Emerl has, and the maximum amount of obtainable Skill Points is 500.

## Artworks

### **Renders 2D**

Sonic the HedgehogMiles "Tails" ProwerKnuckles the EchidnaAmy RoseCream the RabbitE-102 GammaShadow the HedgehogRouge the Bat
## Characters

### **Playable Characters**

* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Miles "Tails" Prower
* Knuckles the Echidna
* Amy Rose
* Cream the Rabbit
* E-102 Gamma
* Shadow the Hedgehog
* Rouge the Bat
* Chaos
* Emerl
* E-121 Phi
* Dr. Eggmam

## Arenas

* Emerald Beach (Sonic)
* Tails' Lab (Tails; enter for Virtual Training in Emerl's story)
* Chao Ruins (Knuckles)
* Battle Highway (Shadow)
* Club Rouge (Rouge)
* Amy's Room (Amy)
* Library (Cream)
* Metal Depot (Chaos Gamma)
* Holy Summit (Chaos)
* Death Egg (Dr. Eggman; only playable in Emerl's story)
* Colosseum (can used during Virtual Training and Battle Mode)
* Green Hill (can be unlocked for Battle Mode by completing Emerl's story)

All arenas except for Death Egg can be used in Battle Mode.

## Other Modes

Besides Story Mode and battle arena fights, there are a number of other game modes available for single or multiplayer by connecting the Game Boy Advance with up to three others via a link cable. These include "Battle Mode", "Challenge Mode", "Training", "Mini Games", "Battle Record", and "Options".