Knuckles the Echidna

[] Error: {{Lang}}: no text (help)This article is about the video game character as represented in video games and television series. For information regarding the character's representation in the Sonic the Hedgehog comics, see Knuckles the Echidna (Archie character). For the comic series based on this character, see Knuckles the Echidna (Archie comic).

Knuckles the Echidna
'Sonic the Hedgehog' character
File:Knuckles2006.png Knuckles as seen in Sonic the Hedgehog.
First game	Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Created by	Takashi Yuda

Knuckles the Echidna (ナックルズ・ザ・エキドゥナ, Nakkuruzu za Ekiduna) is a video game character within the Sonic the Hedgehog fictional universe of video games, television shows and comics. His creator is Takashi Thomas Yuda.

He is a red, male, anthropomorphic echidna, and while Sonic has large, spiky quills, Knuckles has dreadlock-like spines. He is 16 years old, stands 110 cm (3 ft 7 in) and weighs 40 kg (88 lb). His birth-date is February 2, the date his first game came out..

Two of the knuckles on each of his hands are actually sharp spikes. He is the strongest character in the series, said to be as strong as Sonic is fast. He is the expert of a variety of martial arts. He also has the ability to glide by trapping air under his dreadlocks. His favorite food is listed in various early Sonic the Hedgehog games manuals as being fruit, or to be more specific, grapes. According to official polls, Knuckles is the third most wanted character for return appearances in the series, due to his personality and strength.

History

Games

Knuckles lives on Angel Island, which hovers in the sky thanks to the power of the Master Emerald. His duty in life is to guard the Master Emerald, and he is the last surviving member of the Echidna people who once inhabited the island.

Due to his rather remote location and the fact that he rarely strays far from his duty, Knuckles is often alone, and as thus can be quite antisocial and distrusting. On the other side, he is also quite gullible, which is often exploited.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Knuckles thought that Sonic and Tails were attempting to steal the Master Emerald and that the infamous mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (also known as Dr. Eggman) was trying to protect it. However, Robotnik had lied to Knuckles, and was planning on using the Emerald to power his space station, the Death Egg. In the Hidden Palace Zone, Eggman's betrayal was revealed to him very bluntly, in the form of an electric shock. Since then, Knuckles has joined Sonic and Tails in their quest to stop the villain.

Aside from appearances in the main Sonic series, Knuckles featured prominently in Knuckles Chaotix, a relatively unknown spin-off title developed for Sega 32X. The game also introduced Team Chaotix, a group of comical misfits.

In Sonic Adventure, the Master Emerald shatters when Eggman frees Chaos and Tikal's spirit from within it, causing Angel Island to fall out of the sky. Knuckles's goal is to reassemble the shards of the Master Emerald. His levels are large, explorable areas in which you must hunt about the various Action Stages for three shards per stage using a sort of "Emerald Sense" radar to detect nearby Emerald shards.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Knuckles the Echidna is having trouble guarding the Master Emerald when the mysterious thief Rouge the Bat attempts to steal it. In the middle of their argument, Dr. Eggman snatches the emerald while they're fighting, but Knuckles, in order to prevent Eggman from stealing the gem, shatters it. Knuckles then sets off to find the pieces and restore the Master Emerald once more. His gameplay is the same as in the first Adventure title.

File:Knuckles-sinbad.jpg

Knuckles in the Story Mode of Sonic and the Secret Rings.

In Sonic Heroes, Knuckles joins forces with Sonic and Tails, becoming the power member of Team Sonic. He serves a similar role in Sonic Riders, which also features a rivalry between him and Storm the Albatross. In Shadow the Hedgehog, he assists Shadow in several Hero missions. In Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles appears with Tails as an "amigo" character in Sonic's storyline.

Knuckles is also a playable character in Sonic Rivals. The game starts out with him on a search for the Master Emerald which strangely disappeared. Due to his rivalry with Sonic, once Dr. Eggman reveals he is the cause for the Master Emerald's disappearance, the two begin a friendly competition which expands to include other rivals, namely Shadow the Hedgehog, Silver the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic.

He is be a playable character in Multiplayer Mode of Sonic and the Secret Rings alongside Sonic, Tails, Amy, Shadow, Cream, Silver and Blaze. Knuckles, also, plays the role as Sinbad the Sailor from the Arabian Nights stories in the single-player mode.

Sonic the Comic

In Sonic the Comic, Knuckles is depicted as (at first) being the last of his kind, and bears the burden of guarding the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds alone. When the Death Egg crashed on the island, Knuckles was briefly tricked by Doctor Robotnik into believing Sonic was a dangerous villain who plotted to steal the Island's Chaos Emeralds. The echidna thus allowed Robotnik to place his Badnik armies on the island and also construct a Launch Base Zone to rebuild his Death Egg, and assisted him in fighting Sonic & stealing Sonic's own six Chaos Emeralds so they could be combined with Knuckles's into one set of Emeralds. Knuckles, however, didn't trust Robotnik enough to tell him that he had the "missing" Grey Emerald which could control the others (the games show that this is the Master emerald, the Master Emerald doesn't appear until later when the merged emerald become fully charged), and when Robotnik tried to absorb the Emeralds' power into himself, Knuckles used the Master Emerald to defeat him.

Knuckles spent the next few months destroying every trace of Robotnik's influence on the Floating Island, including the entire Carnival Night Zone, and assisted Sonic both when his secret base came under attack by a Badnik army and when Robotnik established a base in the Ice Cap Zone. Finally, the two heroes teamed up to destroy the Death Egg before it could launch - which they failed to do, and worse Knuckles had failed to stop Robotnik's Metallix from stealing the Master Emerald to power the Death Egg! While Sonic fought to retrieve the Emerald, Knuckles used ancient echidna technology to pilot the Floating Island and open fire on the Death Egg with Chaos Energy blasts, finally downing the craft. With the Master Emerald returned, Knuckles owed a debt to Sonic and, despite preferring privacy, agreed to hide the entire population of Emerald Hill Zone in the Mushroom Hill Zone to keep them safe from Robotnik's wrath.

In the story The Homecoming, Knuckles discovered that an elderly, white-furred echidna named Dr. Zachary had appeared on the Island. Initially he claimed to be the first echidna to return to Mobius and that he was being pursued by a dangerous robot. It turned out Zachary was evil & using the robot (in reality an ancient echidna Guardian Robot) as his minion. He had the robot destroy the Master Emerald & absorb its power and intended to attack Mobius with it, but Knuckles stopped him (and ended up using the robot's head as a brief substitute Emerald) and Zachary fell off the island. Knuckles then created a new Master Emerald from the echidna's Sacred Emerald Mines, which existed in a graveyard haunted by the ghosts of the Kohenyu - a race of Styrakosaurus' who were unwittingly hunted to extinction by the echidnas -, and he had to take responsibility for their death.

He was roped into helping Captain Plunder and his Sky Pirates launch a heist on an alien galleon, in return for a chest of ancient echidna documents that could help him with the Island's ancient computer systems. Knuckles trekked across Mobius with the chest, fighting the occasional villain as he went, before finally returning to the Island to battle Robotnik & a cyborg Zachary's attempt to turn the Emerald Hill refugees into an organic computer. Robotnik was then overthrown, and the refugees returned home.

Knuckles spent his days with Porker Lewis trying to uncover the mysteries of his lost people, occasionally being drawn into battle. He left the island to save lives from the environmental collapse of Mobius, when Robotnik tried to drain the planet's life force. Soon after that (in STC's last story), the Floating Island came under attack by the terrifying Chaos creature and Knuckles was forced to scatter the Emeralds across Mobius - dooming the island in the process. He was left distraught and had to be forcibly evacuated from the island, and joined up with the Freedom Fighters to stop Chaos & retrieve the Emeralds.

Knuckles is also one of the few to know of Tails' legendary status in the Nameless Zone, a fact he became aware of when he followed Tails through a portal mistakenly believing the young fox was being kidnapped. The Nameless Zone residents came to the conclusion that Knuckles was actually Sonic, whom Tails had claimed was his sidekick. Far from blowing Tails' cover, Knuckles was delighted to meet people who didn't worship his rival and played along, assisting him in defeating the terrifying Trogg once and for all.

The last STC storyline revealed Knuckles had lived in the ancient past, acting was a warrior & leader for the echidna's against the Drakon Empire. It is presumed by Sonic that Knuckles was placed in suspended animation for unknown reasons and lost his memory.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Main article: Knuckles the Echidna (Archie character)

Sonic Underground

Knuckles appeared in several episodes of the cartoon Sonic Underground. Friend or Foe echoes the usual storyline of his initial meetings with Sonic, as he is tricked by Robotnik's cohorts and goes after Sonic and his siblings. This episode also introduced a pet for Knuckles, a carnivorous dinosaur named Chomps. In keeping with the constantly reenacted scenario, Knuckles came to realize that he had been tricked, and teamed up with Sonic and co. to save the Floating Island.

Later, Sonic, Sonia, and Manic come to Floating Island seeking Knuckles's help in the recovery of a Chaos Emerald that has fallen into Robotnik's hands. Despite the warnings of his great-grandfather Athair, Knuckles leaves the island to help them. When the Chaos Emerald is damaged and releases energy enough to threaten all of Mobius, Knuckles leads his friends to Athair in search of a way to contain it. Despite the warnings of the Hedgehogs, Knuckles is vehement in following Athair's plan to form an alliance with Robotnik. He agrees to betray the Hedgehogs to help Robotnik, but when the doctor breaks his word and threatens to Roboticize Sonia, Knuckles saves his friends. After the Emerald is contained, Knuckles returns to the Floating Island, despite Sonia's wishes that he join them as a Freedom Fighter.

Sonic Underground was cancelled before the plots could be resolved, and so Knuckles only appeared in four episodes. Had the series gone on, he would likely have appeared in the finale to aid Sonic and his siblings in their last battle with Dr. Robotnik. However, such events were never seen on the show.

Sonic X

Knuckles was a prominent character in Sonic X, appearing in most of the episodes. His history with Sonic isn't covered, but it can be assumed that some version of the events portrayed in most of their initial meetings took place before they became friends. In the first season, Knuckles was among those pulled to Earth by Chaos Control. Of all of Sonic's friends, Knuckles was the most vehement about returning home, often letting his concern for the undefended Master Emerald lead him into losing his temper. As always, this was taken advantage of, and Knuckles fought Sonic several times. Knuckles also became a popular figure, if not as popular as Sonic, and was trusted by the police and citizens of Earth alike.

After the first appearance of Super Sonic, Knuckles was able to return to his duties of guarding the Master Emerald. However, the activities of Dr. Eggman pulled him away constantly. Such occurrences took place during the adaptations of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Battle. During the latter, Knuckles joined the tournament to win the red Chaos Emerald, and made it to the final round before being defeated by Emerl.

When the Metarex became a threat, Knuckles was unwillingly drafted into the crew of the Blue Typhoon, since the Master Emerald was needed to power it. Despite his complaints, Knuckles proved helpful, joining in battle against the Metarex and helping to make sure that the Master Emerald provided enough power. However, his usual gullibility remained, and he was tricked into another showdown with Sonic by Dr. Eggman. Berating himself, Knuckles was consoled somewhat by Cosmo, who claimed that Knuckles kept being tricked because he had a good heart and wanted to believe that there was good in everyone. Sonic sneered at the sentiment, stating: "That's a nice way to think of it, Knuckles, but it still doesn't change the fact that you're a sucker!"

Knuckles became the only member of the Blue Typhoon's crew to develop a rivalry with one of the Metarex, and became a bitter enemy of Yellow Zelkova. They battled twice after meeting, pitting their great strength against each other. Knuckles fought hard, even shattering the spikes on his gloves in the second confrontation before defeating Zelkova once and for all. However, it should be noted that in the original Japanese episode, he attempts to save Zelkova from death, but Zelkova declines his help. This was possibly cut from the English dub as Zelkova's death would have looked like suicide.

He later helped provide the Blue Typhoon's Sonic Driver with power, shattering the Master Emerald in the process. When Chris Thorndyke asked if he could stay on Angel Island until he could somehow return to his own world, Knuckles replied yes, but it never came to that.

Personality

File:Advance2 knuckles.jpg

Knuckles the Echidna redrawn for the Sonic Adventure series.

Knuckles is honest, independent, headstrong, devoted to his duty and often gullible. He is very serious and usually likes to be by himself, but can be relied upon to help out whenever the planet needs saving. In all versions of the Sonic universe Knuckles has a rivalry in some form with Sonic. He appears to be jealous of the hedgehog's independent nature and freedom. Knuckles being easily tricked into believing Sonic is the bad guy has become a recurring theme in the Sonic universe, even to the point of being a running gag.

Knuckles is extremely stubborn and is loyal to his duty, although he does go with Sonic and company to save the world quite often. He was quite mischievous when he first appeared in Sonic 3, pulling tricks on Sonic and Tails and stealing their Chaos Emeralds, laughing after each encounter. Sega changed his attitude for the later games. Knuckles is said to be shy in his bio in Sonic Jam, which is not consistent with the new games, but can be backed up by the way he acts awkwardly around girls like Blaze and Rouge. Because of his flaws, he and Sonic don't always get along, but are still good friends. In more recent games, he has proven to be more socially adept.

While Knuckles's basic personality is always pretty much the same, some details vary quite a bit depending on continuity/universe - In Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Knuckles is a devoted treasure hunter, almost carefree, and quite goofy at times. He is said to be Sonic's best friend, but he's still more serious than Sonic and he knows his priorities.

In Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, Knuckles is even more devoted to his duty as a Guardian, to the point of an obsession. He finds Sonic's distinctly increased ego in Fleetway slightly obnoxious, and is an extreme loner. He is quicker to anger, slow to trust and slightly less gullible than his Game incarnation. He guards not only the Master Emerald, but also the Chaos Emeralds. His favorite food was once said to be ant-burgers, an association with the echidnas of Earth.

The Knuckles of Sonic X gets mad very easily, but is slightly less stubborn than other incarnations and tends to give in to situations when others gang up on him. He is probably the most gullible of the versions of Knuckles for the comedic value.

Abilities

Knuckles is arguably the (physically) strongest character in the Sonic series. His extraordinary physical strength enables him to perform feats such as shattering boulders with his fists, and lifting objects many times his own size and weight. His endurance is also notable. Knuckles is occasionally shown to have fire enhanced punches, as well as earth elemental powers.

Although quite a fast runner in his own right, he is less so than Sonic or Shadow. However, Knuckles is one of the few characters that is able to swim and float along the surface of a body of water. Although his jump height is relatively low, he can glide through the air by (it appears) trapping air under his dreadlocks. Knuckles is also a proficient burrower, able to dig into nearly any wall or floor, and can use the spikes on his eponymous knuckles to grip and climb walls. As the guardian of the Master Emerald, he is able to access and utilize its powers, and can sense it from a distance, even in pieces. This comes into play as Knuckles's role in the games often involves the Master Emerald breaking. Additionally, he seems to be able to sense other energies such as those used in Chaos Control.

Like several other characters in the Sonic games, Knuckles can make use of the Chaos Emeralds to transform into a super form, named "Super Knuckles". In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, he could also use the Super Emeralds to transform into "Hyper Knuckles". The exact powers granted by these transformations vary from game to game. In the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie comics, he was turned into Chaos Knuckles by absorbing the power of the Master Emerald.

Game-specific abilities

• In Sonic the Fighters Knuckles can activate the Shadow Punch, where he can attack an opponent from three different directions in rapid succession.
• In Sonic Adventure, Knuckles can perform an attack called Maximum Heat Knuckles Attack after collecting the "Fighting Gloves" upgrade. This is a punching version of Sonic's "Light Attack", and makes Knuckles glide around and home in on all nearby enemies.
• In the 2-player Battle Mode in Sonic Adventure 2, collecting 20 rings allows Knuckles to use Hammer Punch, where he punches the ground and stun the opponent. Collecting 40 rings allows him to utilize a move known as the Thunder Arrow, which sends a lightning bolt from the skies to shock and confuse an opponent. 60 rings allows him to do a move called Power Flash which freezes the other player's control for 10 seconds. (Five if using the secret costume)
• In Sonic Heroes, Knuckles plays the role of Power Formation for Team Sonic. He can use a move called Fire Dunk in which he uses Sonic and Tails as fire balls to destroy their enemies. He is also able to slam the ground and kick up tremors to attack enemies. The range and power increases as Knuckles collects energy cores. At Level 3, Knuckles can kick up a small volcanic eruption, spewing fireballs in all directions. Finally, his gliding ability is modified into the Triangle Dive which enables him to float upwards using fan drafts.
• In the racing game Sonic Riders Knuckles is a power-type character, and can bash his way through certain obstacles. When a character is near him, the player can attack the opponent in one of two different ways. One is a normal punch, and the other is a punch that leaves opponents in a screw form for a few seconds.
• In Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles can perform an attack called Screwdriver, which unleashes a spinning forward punch that flattens enemies. He can also perform a move called Ground Shaker, which paralyzes some enemies around the attack.

Sonic versus Knuckles

A recurring theme within the Sonic universe is that Sonic and Knuckles will have some sort of disagreement resulting in combat. However, these battles are always left unresolved, tied, or interrupted by outside circumstances. After these battles, they generally team up to defeat a common enemy.

The battle has appeared in the games, comics, and TV series. It occurs in practically every game featuring Knuckles up until Sonic Adventure 2. It appeared in both Fleetway and Archie's Sonic comics, the latter even featuring a battle between Sonic's and Knuckles's powered-up selves, Super Sonic and "Hyper" Knuckles. Archie also featured a battle between Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles, both having been subjected to Roboticization. It has also occurred during Knuckles's introductory episode of Sonic Underground and several times throughout Sonic X. It also serves as a sideplot for the game Sonic Rivals, which begins as a friendly competition between Sonic and Knuckles but expands to include Shadow, Metal Sonic and Silver the Hedgehog.

Voice actors

• Sonic Underground - Ian James Corlett
• Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie - Yasunori Matsumoto (Japan) - Bill Wise (US)
• Video games, Sonic X - Nobutoshi Kanna (Japan)
• Sonic Adventure - Michael McGaharn (US)
• Sonic Shuffle - Ryan Drummond (US)
• Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle, Sonic Advance 3 - Scott Dreier (US)
• Sonic X and every game after Shadow the Hedgehog -Dan Green (sometimes using his alias "Jay Snyder")

Associated Songs

The games feature several theme songs related to Knuckles. For the most part, Knuckles is associated with the rap/hip hop genre.

• Sonic Adventure: "Unknown From M.E." - Marlon Saunders.
• Sonic Adventure 2: "Unknown From M.E." (remake) - Marlon Saunders, Hunnid P.
• Sonic Heroes: "We Can" - Tony Harnell, Ted Poley. This was a team theme shared with Sonic and Tails.
• Sonic Riders: "High Flying Groove" - Tomonori Sawada. This was also a team theme shared with Sonic and Tails.

In addition, each of Knuckles's levels in Sonic Adventure 2 has a vocal song associated with the character.

• Wild Canyon: "Kick the Rock" - Hunnid P
• Pumpkin Hill: "A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup" - Hunnid P
• Aquatic Mine: "Dive into the Mellow" - Hunnid P
• Death Chamber: "Deeper" - Hunnid P
• Meteor Herd: "Space Trip Steps" - Hunnid P

External links

• Official Sonic site