Being the first game that showed our blue-spiked protagonist in a three-dimensional form, Sega’s Sonic Adventure (1998) was a one-of-a-kind game with multiple connecting storylines, minigames, and a semi-open world that the player could explore. This game follows Sonic The Hedgehog as he fights his long-time nemesis, Dr. Robotnik (AKA Dr. Eggman), who was once more attempting to take over the world. To help him with this goal, Dr. Robotnik has a secret weapon in the form Chaos—a water monster that breaks out of The Master Emerald and uses the energy of the Chaos Emeralds to become stronger. However, after Chaos absorbs the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds it becomes too powerful for Dr. Robotnik to control and attempts to destroy the Earth. It’s then up to Sonic and his friends to defeat Chaos and Dr. Robotnik as well as save the world from total annihilation.
The mechanics for Sonic Adventure are special in that they change depending on which character you play as. In this game, your options are to play as Sonic The Hedgehog, Miles “Tails” Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Big the Cat, E-102 Gamma, and Super Sonic (which becomes available only after you have completed the storylines of the previous characters). When playing as Sonic, you can run and dash at high speeds, use homing attacks to destroy Robotnik’s robot army, and use the rings in the game as a way to circumvent death. As you continue to play as Sonic, you also are able to upgrade him by achieving the “Light Speed Shoes” which allows Sonic to use his Light-Speed Dash in order follow trails of rings to get to hard-to-reach places; the “Crystal Ring” which allows Sonic to charge his Light-Speed Dash in half the time; and the “Ancient Light” which allows Sonic to perform his Light-Speed Attack. This is a similar pattern that follows for all the characters that you play as (excluding Super Sonic whose only ability is to fly over water and has no upgrades). For example, when you play as Knuckles, you can glide over areas, climb different terrains, and punch enemies to find the shards of The Master Emerald which shattered when Chaos broke out of it at the beginning of the game. You can upgrade Knuckles by collecting the “Shovel Claws” which allows the red echidna to dig underground to find objects and the “Fighting Gloves” which allows him to perform his Maximum Heat Knuckles Attack. Big the Cat is the only character that doesn’t involve any real “action” (in terms of defeating enemies) because all you do throughout his storyline is fish to capture his beloved companion “Froggy”. His upgrades include the “Life Belt” which allows him to float; the “Power Rod” which allows him to throw his fishing rod further; and the “Lure Power-ups” which allows Big to catch bigger fish. Overall, the game is very good at having qualities that attract all types of gamers which is one of the features that make this game so enjoyable.
Another aspect of this game that makes it so captivating is the themes that run throughout it, two of which include how greed can have disastrous results and how history can repeat itself. As you play through each character’s storyline, you get transported back in time to an ancient civilization of Echidnas and each time you get a piece of information about one of the game’s main villains—Chaos. By playing through each level you can find out how Chaos became this creature of mass destruction and the story is quite troubling. Chaos was originally a Chao, a race of cherub-like creatures, that was transformed by The Chaos Emeralds to protect The Master Emerald and the rest of the Chao race. In the beginning, Chaos, the Chao, and this civilization lived in harmony with one another. However, the chief of this civilization became obsessed with protecting themselves from enemies and expanding their territory leading him to try to and steal the Chaos Emeralds to gain more power. Once the chief and his followers invade the Chao’s territory to steal the emeralds, Chaos became filled with negative emotions that overtook him causing him to become a monster that wanted to destroy the world. The world is only saved because of a sole member of this civilization, Tikal, who locks Chaos away in The Master Emerald. Throughout these scenes, the player can see how one group almost caused the end of the world because of their imperialistic tendencies. Greed is considered a sin in the first place, and the reason why becomes very evident to player. The player learns how one’s person greed has the power to corrupt the best of things and turn the most peaceful of creatures into your worst enemies. This situation begins to repeat itself as Dr. Robotnik’s greed for world conquest leads him to free Chaos only to lose control of Chaos which plunges the world into, you guessed it, chaos! Dr. Robotnik’s greed becomes the catalyst in which history repeats itself as Chaos once again tries to destroy the world that wronged him. Looking at the game in this way, it becomes clear that this game tells a tale of how greed and a history that is not learned from can come back to bite.
Works Cited:
Sonic Adventure. Sega Dreamcast, 1998.
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