Metal Sonic

Metal Sonic
'Sonic the Hedgehog' character
File:Good Metal sonic.PNG Metal Sonic is one of Sonic the Hedgehog's most dangerous foes.
First game	Sonic CD
Created by	Kazuyuki Hoshino

Metal Sonic (メタル ・ソニック, Metaru Sonikku) is the fictional "robotic counterpart" and a rival of video game character Sonic the Hedgehog. Being a robot, Metal Sonic has no gender; however, Metal Sonic is referred to as being male, since he is a robot based on a male character, as well as having seemingly masculine programming. According to official polls, Metal Sonic is the most popular villain in the series, and the second most wanted character for future appearances, beaten only by Shadow the Hedgehog. His appearance is a robotic version of Sonic's original look.

Game history

The first appearance of Metal sonic was in Sonic the Hedgehog CD. He is considered the successor of the robot known as Mecha Sonic, who originally made an appearance in both Sonic the Hedgehog 2 games (see below). In this game, he is created and controlled by Eggman and is sent back in time to change the past so that Eggman can rule the future. Later, he kidnaps Amy Rose, who had been following Sonic. In Act III of the Stardust Speedway Zone, Eggman forces Sonic to race Metal Sonic in order to rescue Amy Rose. If the player managed to win the race, Metal would slam into a wall and supposedly be destroyed, allowing the player to rescue Amy.

Metal Sonic's second major appearance was in Knuckles' Chaotix, where he attempts to absorb the Chaos Rings' powers to wreak havoc in Newtrogic High Zone. However, he was defeated by the Chaotix before he could. This occasion also featured a massive, red Sonic-like robot that is speculated to be Metal Sonic, but lacks a transformation sequence to directly indicate as such.

Metal Sonic was the second to last boss in Sonic Triple Trouble, and had a "true" fight instead of the race previously held in Sonic CD. Metal Sonic also had appearances in Sonic Drift 2 and Sonic R as a racer. In the former, he raced in his "Blue Devil" vehicle, and the latter had him using his engines. In Sonic the Fighters, he was the second to last boss where he used the moves of all previously encountered characters within the game, in addition to his own. If Sonic is the character and has not lost a single round up to this point, Super Sonic can be secretly unlocked during his fight. Metal Sonic was also going to appear in Sonic X-Treme.

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Metal Sonic's original design from Sonic CD

Metal Sonic then had two cameos in Sonic Adventure. One was in Amy Rose's flashback to the events in Sonic CD, and the other one inside a tube in one of Dr. Eggman's hideouts, opposite of another Sonic robot.

His next appearance was as an unlockable multiplayer character in Sonic Adventure 2, and subsequently a standard multiplayer character in the GameCube remake, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. He can project a black shield to protect himself from the attacks of other characters, but has no special attacks of his own. An Action Replay code allows the player to use him in single player stages and Chao Gardens. After that, he had a cameo as an opponent in Sonic Pinball Party's Story Mode. He then appeared as a reward for getting all of the Emblems in the GameCube and PC remake of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure DX: Directors Cut. The player could then play time trials as Metal Sonic in Sonic's stages. Metal Sonic essentially acted as an alternate skin for Sonic. In the trial mode menu screen, he fills the slot that is used by Super Sonic in "Adventure" mode.

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Neo Metal Sonic in Sonic Heroes

His canonical return to the games was as the main antagonist in Sonic Heroes, where he transformed himself into Neo Metal Sonic. Neo Metal Sonic has elf-like shoes, shoulder blades, gauntlets, body armor, a large spike at the top of his back jet, a cape (which actually protrudes out of the back of his waist, hence, a side-skirt), five longer than normal spikes on his head (as opposed to his regular three), a spiky belt, and white stripes similar to Shadow's design. A common misconception is that Metal Sonic gained his upgrade and shape shifting abilities via the data of Chaos. This could however be incorrect, as Metal had impersonated Sonic in order to steal Froggy and Chocola.

Past failures have made Metal Sonic more ambitious. After turning against Doctor Eggman and assuming his guise, he copies the physical data (and/or abilities) of teams Sonic, Rose, Dark, and Chaotix along with Chaos, and transforms into his ultimate form, Metal Madness, and finally Metal Overlord. His words before he transformed were: "All living things kneel before your master." After he is defeated by Team Sonic in his Metal Overlord form, he reverts to his original form. Although, before he does, his final words were, "It's no use, but why can't I defeat you?" and Sonic then tells Metal Sonic that he'll accept any future rematch and races away. Metal Sonic shuts down and is picked up off the ground by Omega, who exchanges a glance with Shadow.

Data from Sonic Team of Japan's official website Sonic Channel reveals that after Sonic Heroes, Eggman made sure Metal Sonic would remain obedient to him.

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Metal Sonic's Sonic Channel artwork.

In Sonic Riders, E-10000R is said to be made using the same engine type that Metal Sonic was built with.

In Sonic Rivals, Metal Sonic is the 5th playable character. He appears working with Eggman Nega, trying to stop Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver from foiling Eggman Nega's plans (However, he is only playable once the game is beaten and does not have his own story). Metal Sonic (in various forms) also appears on 7 of the 150 collectible cards in the game.

Metal Sonic is a playable character in Sonic Rivals 2, and for the first time in the series' history, has his own story mode. Metal Sonic is described as Eggman's pawn in the game's manual. This goes to the extent of Eggman sending Metal Sonic on relay missions and using him as a remote communication device. Metal Sonic tracks down Shadow (as instructed by Eggman) and partners with him for the course of the game. Together with the other playable characters, the two track down Eggman Nega, who is planning to release an interdimensional beast called the Ifrit into the world. Eggman Nega needs the seven Chaos Emeralds to open the portal to Ifrit's world, and though he hired Rouge to collect six, the portal opens anyway. Despite the Ifrit possessing Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge, it is still destroyed by Shadow and Metal Sonic along with Silver and Espio. Shadow closes the portal to its world and is trapped inside with Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic then rips himself open to reveal that the last emerald was sealed in his chassis (which explains why the portal opened in the first place). The two use Chaos Control to return to their home world.

Sonic Rivals 2 also marks the first time that Metal Sonic has ever done heroic deeds in the series, although it is questionable as to whether or not he did this willingly, or was forced to due to Eggman's commands. It is also the first time that he is shown processing commands from Eggman in addition to his own commands. Regardless of his willingness, he teams up with Shadow to thwart Eggman Nega's plans for world domination. Metal Sonic finds himself a new rival in the form of Metal Sonic version 3.0, Eggman Nega's personal copy of Metal Sonic.

Personality

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Metal Sonic in his tube in Sonic Adventure.

Prior to Sonic Heroes, Metal Sonic just seems to be a mindless servant to Doctor Eggman. However, it is revealed in Sonic Heroes that he does have an intellect of his own, and is aggressive, dominating, ruthless and power hungry. He was once under Eggman's complete control, but in Sonic Heroes he betrayed his creator, (the same thing that E-123 Omega and E-102 Gamma did) and took the task of trying to achieve world domination into his own claws.

Metal Sonic is absolutely determined to defeat his namesake, Sonic the Hedgehog. Some of his quotes from Sonic Heroes seems to suggest that Metal Sonic may actually believe that he is in fact the true Sonic, and that Sonic is his copy, such as when he says "Long time no see, Sonic, my loathsome copy..." and "I am the ultimate overlord, Metal Sonic! I am the REAL Sonic!". However, in the final battle, he also says "I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you". This creates a mental paradox: If Metal Sonic truly believes himself to be the original Sonic, yet he also believes that he was created for the purpose of destroying Sonic, then he could probably be considered insane. More likely however is that these quotes suggest that his goal is to defeat Sonic and thus become the "true" (only living) Sonic by doing so. Also during this final battle, Metal Sonic reveals a tormented side to his personality, explaining that when he could not even succeed in what he was designed to do (defeat Sonic) he was left with no purpose.

Abilities

Metal Sonic's engine enables him to hover slightly above the ground while moving at higher speeds. As a duplicate of Sonic, Metal Sonic can match or even exceed Sonic's speed. He generally has better acceleration compared to other characters, but this is countered by his poor braking ability. Although he possesses many of Sonic's abilities including the homing attack, he is capable of higher and longer jumps than his rival, as well as incredible physical strength and endurance.

Metal Sonic's offensive capabilities include being able to shield himself from attacks in the form of lightning, or a "Black Shield". He is also able to encase himself in a fireball and accelerate in a move similar to Super Sonic's powered dashes. As seen in Sonic the Fighters, Metal Sonic can fire a laser beam out of his torso intake, and fights using his sharp fingers in a stabbing motion. An addition to Metal Sonic's abilities is the technique to copy genetic data from others. First used in Sonic the Fighters, this usually results in him being able to use the abilities of the copied target. He is also shown to be able to shape shift into forms resembling others in a similar fashion to the T-1000 from the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Whether his ability to shape shift was a one time deal remains to be seen. In Sonic Rivals he displays Chaos Control for the second time (the first being in Sonic Heroes), and can also use Knuckles' strength and Silver's psychokinesis powers due to copying the other characters in the game (whether he retained these abilities and can use them in any future games is unknown).

Metal Sonic's copying ability has differed between games. In Sonic the Fighters, his move set was assembled from some of the other fighters in the game, but with a higher level of strength. He showed his real talents in Sonic Heroes where he could perfectly copy data and abilities and also morph into other forms. In Sonic Rivals, Metal Sonic could copy the signature move of the character he's facing (Sonic Boom, Chaos Control etc.) and some of his rival's attributes (strength/speed) were carried on to him.

Metal Sonic has a greater speech range compared to other robots built by Eggman, most of whom are mute or speak in monotone. His voice in Heroes was created by having the respective voice actors (English and Japanese) for Sonic record Metal's dialogue in a gruff tone and then applying further digital effects to these recordings. In most games released before Sonic Heroes however, Metal Sonic's voice is simply electronic noises, such as beeps (also seen in Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie, although he actually manages to speak before his death). Sonic City explains that Metal Sonic did not have a voice until Sonic Heroes.

In Neo form, in Sonic Heroes, he demonstrated that he is able to shoot super powerful beams of lightning from his hand, as he shoots one up and it comes back down, destroying the entire tower of the Final Fortress. Although he is not fought as Neo Metal Sonic, it is arguably his most powerful form yet. He does not use this form in subsequent games.

In Metal Overlord/Metal Madness form he is able to shoot crystal beams from his torso, fire capture type missiles from his hands, explosion type missiles from his back, and shoot a large continuous stream of fire from his other hand. He also has the endurance or shielding to withstand any attack available in the game which is made against him by Team Super Sonic, except for a Team Blast. He also demonstrates enough physical strength to lift and throw an Egg Fleet battleship with one hand.

Other Sonic robots

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16 bit)

File:Silver Sonic from Death Egg(Sonic 2).gif

Silver Sonic in 16-bit Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Chronologically, the first appearance of a Sonic robot was in the 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It is called Mecha Sonic in Japan, but it is unnamed outside of Japan. This robot was also very clunky compared to the sleeker Metal Sonic, and also was less similar. He appears in the first half of the Death Egg Zone where Sonic fights him with Robotnik looking on in the background. The player must face him with no rings for protection, and he uses several different attacks in a pattern, including dashing from side to side, Spin Jump, Spin Dash and firing spikes in eight directions at once. In the Sonic Jam version, there are three Rings available at the start of the zone if the game is not set to Original Mode.

Sonic & Knuckles

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Mecha Sonic from Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Later on in Sonic & Knuckles, a Sonic robot appeared in the Sky Sanctuary Zone. It too was called Mecha Sonic in the Japanese version, but unnamed elsewhere.

This robot appeared three times during Sonic's and/or Tails' playthrough in the "Sky Sanctuary Zone". He first attacked in an Eggmobile, first equipped with the ball-and-chain weapon Eggman had used in Sonic 1 (Green Hill Zone Act 3), and later with the small bubble-like shield that appeared in Sonic 2 (Metropolis Zone Act 3). He finally attacked Sonic and/or Tails himself, fighting by dashing and using variations of the Spin Attack, with a pattern mimicking the previous fight in Sonic 2, which indicates that this robot may be an upgrade of the original (whether or not Mecha Sonic is always a different character or the same robot rebuilt is unknown). After being defeated, the robot shut down, and fell downward towards Angel Island when the Sky Sanctuary started breaking down.

After the events of Sonic's story, the robot, together with a unique EggRobo, tried stealing the Master Emerald, so Knuckles the Echidna faced him again at the Sky Sanctuary, where the EggRobo restrains Knuckles, allowing Mecha Sonic to attack him, but Knuckles breaks free and Mecha Sonic destroys the EggRobo instead. After Knuckles defeated the robot in a one-on-one fight, it used the Master Emerald to obtain a Super Form, but was again defeated. Knuckles recovered the Master Emerald and Angel Island returned to the sky.

If the player defeats Mecha Sonic but doesn't recover the Chaos Emeralds during the course of the game, Knuckles is forced to leave the Master Emerald behind as Angel Island falls into the ocean. A post-credits scene shows Mecha Sonic reactivating and jumping onto the Master Emerald.

"Sonic 3 & Knuckles"

Players who played Sonic & Knuckles with the Sonic The Hedgehog 3 game were able to battle Mecha Sonic with Sonic and Tails, however, this can only be done by entering the Level Select and Debug Cheats for the game. When using Super Sonic against the Super Mecha Sonic, no damage would be done to either character if you hit Mecha Sonic or vice versa. But in the full game, Sonic's/Tails' story and Knuckles' story go along as mentioned above.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8 bit)

File:8 bit mecha sonic.PNG

Silver Sonic from 8-bit Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

In the 8-bit Sonic the Hedgehog 2, another Sonic robot appeared. This robot was called Silver Sonic in the game's American manual, but referred to as Mecha Sonic in the Japanese manual. He appears as the boss of Scrambled Egg Zone, in Act 3. As the Mecha Sonic from Mega Drive version of Sonic 2, he is capable of doing several attacks like the original Sonic: Dashing from side to side (in a certain height, not by the ground like Mega Drive's), from one end of the arena to the other, occasionally pausing and landing to probe his organic counterpart with a giant arm that extends from his stomach. He can also spindash, and when he and Sonic spin into each other at the same time, both get knocked back without taking damage. If the player has already collected the other five Chaos Emeralds in the previous stages during the game, Mecha Sonic will relinquish the sixth to the player upon his defeat. If the player doesn't have the other five Emeralds, the game will end here.

Sonic the Fighters

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Mecha Sonic Model No.29

In Sonic the Fighters, a new rocket-like Sonic robot called Mecha Sonic Model No.29 appeared in the intro cutscene. This robot is also programmed into the game as a fully playable character, though it can only be enabled by hacking. When played as, the robot is called RocketMetal.

Sonic Adventure

File:Mechasonic4.jpg

Unidentified Sonic robot.

A Sonic robot is seen in Sonic Adventure, floating inside a green tube at Dr. Eggman's hideout in the Mystic Ruins, it is in the same room as Metal Sonic, who is also floating inside of a green hued tube. It has the same appearance as the version of the Mecha Sonic that was originally fought aboard the Death Egg as the penultimate boss in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Mega Drive.

Its design was used for the character of Silver Sonic II in the Sonic Comics.

Sonic Pocket Adventure

Mecha Sonic returned to his original incarnation in Sonic Pocket Adventure as the boss of Aerobase Zone. It is almost identical to its first encounter except it had the added ability to dash backwards like it did in Sonic & Knuckles. Mecha Sonic has not been seen since, but it has not been destroyed.

Sonic Rivals 2

In Sonic Rivals 2, Eggman Nega reveals that he has his own personal copy of Metal Sonic, called Metal Sonic version 3.0. Metal Sonic 3.0 is seen in the game's "Chaotic Inferno Zone" and competes against Shadow, Metal Sonic, Silver and Espio. After being defeated by Shadow and Metal Sonic in a Knockout Battle, Metal Sonic 3.0 attempts to impede them from defeating the Ifrit. However, it fails, and is not seen after the battle. Nothing of consequence happens to Metal Sonic 3.0 as it is last seen doing a losing animation.

Metal Sonic 3.0 looks exactly like Metal Sonic, but has a black and yellow color scheme reminiscent of Gemerl from Sonic Advance 3. It is one of Metal Sonic's unlockable suits in the game (called "Mach 3.0"), and is unlocked by copying all of the characters' Signature Moves with Metal Sonic.

Transformations

While Metal Sonic has never used super transformation (though Mecha Sonic did once, see above), he has had a variety of powered-up forms in the games.

Knuckles' Chaotix

An un-named giant red Sonic-like robot sometimes referred to as "Super Metal Sonic" or "Mega Metal Sonic" appears at the end of Knuckles' Chaotix, although it is not a true Super Form. It is generally thought to be an enhanced form of Metal Sonic, but its actual status is unknown. Prior to the fight with it, Metal Sonic is seen badly damaged and flying off together with Eggman into a giant ring, and out of nowhere the giant red robot appears. It attacks by attempting to crush the two player characters under its huge hands, and will revert to a chest-mounted laser cannon when its arms are destroyed. In the Bad Ending, this robot goes on to destroy Newtrogic High Zone.

Metal Madness and Metal Overlord

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Metal Madness in Sonic Heroes (PC Version).

At the climax of Sonic Heroes, Metal Sonic sends a bolt of lightning to the sky which destroys a large section of Eggman's flagship, creating a powerful vortex. The vortex sucks up several of Eggman's robot parts, which Metal Sonic absorbs. He then transforms into a giant, robotic dragon-like form (something similar to a metallic Perfect Chaos) known as Metal Madness. Metal Madness resembled Metal Sonic slightly, with the same blue coloring and head spikes. It had two eyes, one on top of the other, its right hand converted into a flamethrower and its left could fire its fingers like missiles. It could also project its spines at enemies. The only spot where Metal Madness could be attacked was a spot on its torso, which changed color. If it was blue, speed could not attack it, if it was yellow, flight could not attack it, and if it was red, power could not attack it.

Team Rose, Team Chaotix and Team Dark fought Metal Madness, who then completed his transformation by sprouting a pair of wings, lengthening his claws and flying away into the sky. He had now become Metal Overlord. In addition to his other attacks, he could fire crystals, use Chaos Control to freeze time temporarily, and pick up Egg Fleet battleships to throw. He was quickly followed by Team Sonic, who used super transformation to pursue him. The heroes fought and defeated Metal Overlord, who tumbled down to the flagship and reverted to his original form.

It is believed by fans that the name "Metal Madness" is a reference to "Metallic Madness", the final level of Sonic CD, the game in which Metal Sonic first appeared. In fact, in the beta version of Sonic Heroes, Metal Madness once had a different color scheme; he was a metallic purple/silver color, which were strikingly similar to the color palette designs from Past and Good Future versions of the aforementioned level.

In other media

Sonic the Comic

In the United Kingdom's official Sonic publication, Sonic the Comic, Metal Sonic was introduced in "The Sonic Terminator", an adaptation of Sonic CD. The robot, named Metallix ("the Metal Sonic" being a title in this continuity), lured Sonic to the Miracle Planet, which Robotnik had cyber formed to be used as a power source for the robot, by capturing Amy Rose. Unable to defeat Metallix- whose bond with the planet meant that not even ramming it after running around the entire planet could do any damage-, Sonic was given the Time Stone by a time-travelling Sonic, enabling him to travel back in time to prevent the planet's cyberforming and thus erase Metallix from existence... and then go give the Time Stone to himself from the past. (How this time conundrum works at all has been debated, and even artist Richard Elson is confused by it

Writer Nigel Kitching's original name for the character was "Metallico"; Metallix was editor Richard Burton's suggestion.

Brotherhood of Metallix

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The Brotherhood of Metallix.

A new model of Metallix, based on Mecha Sonic from Sonic and Knuckles, appeared during the comic's adaptation of Sonic and Knuckles, stealing the Master Emerald for Robotnik to use as the power core of his new Death Egg. Metallix drew power from the emerald and incapacitated Knuckles, but Sonic was able to destroy him by using the emerald's power to become Super Sonic. Before Super Sonic ripped him to pieces, the new Metallix revealed that he was part of an elite "brotherhood" of which the original Metallix had been but one member.

This brotherhood soon revealed itself when Knuckles was accidentally transported into the Special Zone and encountered Chaotix. Operating out of Robotnik's abandoned Egg Fortress in the Special Zone, the Brotherhood of Metallix — innumerable Metallixes identical to the original, ruled over by a giant red and gold Emperor — had been charged with producing the ultimate badnik version of Sonic, but had developed their own plans and goals. With the help of the turncoat Chaotix member, Nack the Weasel, the Brotherhood of Metallix captured the Omni-Viewer, Chaotix's sentient, space-time transporter. With Knuckles' help, Chaotix were able to retrieve the Omni-Viewer but the Metallix had still managed to create a "pirate copy" in order to travel through time and space. It appeared that the Brotherhood had been destroyed by a neural disruptor cannon, but they had in fact faked their deaths in order to continue their operations unhindered.

Final battle

In their next move, the Brotherhood captured Grimer, Doctor Robotnik's chief scientist, who had created the Metallix design in the first place. They charged him with building the Alpha Device, a device that began to cyber form the Miracle Planet once again. Sonic's attempt to stop the plan apparently succeeded, but his ally, Porker Lewis, was trapped on the Miracle Planet when it vanished from Mobius orbit in its usual pattern. During that month, the Metallixes reasserted themselves, captured Porker and completed the cyber forming of the planet. A Metallix, disguised as Porker, was left to stand guard as the Metallixes departed into Mobius' past with their copy of the Omni-Viewer, and when they returned, they encountered Sonic and Chaotix, who had come to investigate. But then the terrifying truth became apparent - the Metallixes had changed history, and Mobius had become a city-planet, covered with filthy industry, where surviving Mobians lived underground.

The reason for the change soon became apparent, as Sonic and Chaotix attempted to fix the time line by using the real Omni-Viewer - the Brotherhood of Metallix had traveled back in time to the point of Doctor Robotnik's creation, and removed from the fridge the rotten egg that would transform Ovi Kintobor into Ivo Robotnik. Kintobor never became Robotnik, and the Metallixes, created by Grimer alone, ruled the planet. Retrieving the egg, Sonic and Chaotix returned to Kintobor's lab and replaced it, and then, as Kintobor held it in his hand, Sonic yanked a cable to trip him up, triggering the chain of events that turned him into Doctor Robotnik. Despite the disturbing revelation that he was responsible for creating the greatest evil on Mobius, Sonic returned to the present with Chaotix, where the robots still held control of the Miracle Planet. Forced into an alliance with Doctor Robotnik, Sonic retrieved a device from the villain that deactivated all the Metallixes in a pitched final battle (Sonic later claimed that he found it anticlimactic that the Emperor Metallix and his army were defeated by a simple push of a button).

A final Metallix appeared much later as Robotnik, embued with the power of the Chaos Emeralds to an almost god-like level of power, resurrected Sonic's greatest enemies to battle him at the same time. All of these were dispatched when Sonic knocked the robot Brutus into the energy being known as Plasmas, causing a chain reaction that destroyed all the other recreated villains.

Knuckles Metallix

The Knuckles Metallix first appeared in the final panel of the "Brotherhood of Metallix" story arc, as Grimer states that a Metallix version of Sonic was too unstable, presenting blueprints for a Knuckles-based Metallix and saying "This is my new idea".

After Doctor Robotnik is defeated and is taken away by the Drakon Empire, he returns with the new Knuckles Metallix. Sonic is taken captive and forced to stand trial against the Drakon Empire after claims of killing one of their kind (a giant robot sentinal destroyed itself in the Aquatic Ruin Zone in the earlier comics after discovering his kind had left Mobius). The Drakon Empire make him stand trial by fighting the Knuckles Metallix in a duel to prove his innocence. After a hard fight the Metallix is crushed under a door and Sonic escapes back to Mobius. Robotnik is later shown to have multiple Knuckles Metallixes in his base on Flickies' Island, but they were never activated, and Grimer used a single Knuckles Metallix to capture Sonic and extract the location of the missing Dr. Robotnik. None of these Metallixes were ever seen again.

Sonic the Hedgehog (comic)

See main article for information on other Sonic robots in the comics.

Metal Sonic first appearance in the Sonic the Hedgehog comics was during the Sonic CD adaptation, albeit he debuted under the name of "Mecha Sonic". Here, he raced Sonic, like in the game, as part of Dr. Robotnik's trap, but was destroyed at the end of the issue. Metal Sonic would later return in the special Knuckles' Chaotix adaptation issue. Here, he would be transformed into a giant red version of himself by an item known as a Power Gem, before being destroyed by a similarly empowered Knuckles the Echidna.

Metal Sonic's next appearance was in a story where he would ambush Sonic and Tails (just one issue after Sonic defeated Silver Sonic II). He had rebuilt himself, using the power gem that had empowered him as a power source, and boasted a new design that included an arm cannon. After kidnapping Tails, Metal Sonic made Sonic race for his friend's life towards the Mt. Mobius volcano. However, ultimately, it was Sonic's concern for Tails that showed Metal Sonic that he was wrong, and ultimately saved the two of them from the erupting volcano, similar to the events depicted in the anime.

A new Metal Sonic created from scratch by Dr. Robotnik appeared as part of a storyline involving a 3-way battle between himself, Shadow, and Sonic. Also featured in the battle was Shadow's robotic ally Isaac. This Metal Sonic would also appear at an abandoned laboratory formerly occupied by GUN. He had a brief battle with Shadow, but both combatants were disabled when a weapon Metal Sonic tried to use malfunctioned and exploded. He was then carried off by Mecha some time before she was betrayed by A.D.A.M. and destroyed. Metal Sonic later reappeared and captured Sonic, allowing Eggman to place a remote control device in the Hedgehog's ear. Unfortunately, this plan was thwarted by the teamwork of Knuckles and Tails, who stunned Sonic and then destroyed the device. Metal Sonic then arrived with Dr. Robotnik in an attempt to finish off the heroes, but was defeated.

One hundred "Metal Sonic Troopers" appeared following Sally Acorn's annulled wedding to Anti-Antoine, having been created by Rotor and Uncle Chuck as a special defense force to replace Sonic after his disappearance at the hands of the Xorda. Their appearance was based on Neo Metal Sonic from Sonic Heroes. They ended up going berserk and destroying part of Eggman's base before moving on and ravaging Knothole, injuring Hope Kintobor in the process before being stopped by the combined efforts of Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Knuckles the Echidna. This group was also one of the few whom Eggman felt jealous of, as they came closer to destroying Sonic and the Freedom Fighters than he ever had.

Animation

Metal Sonic starred in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie as Sonic's main rival. In the movie, they had a mind link and were able to hear each other's thoughts. Throughout the movie, Metal Sonic was referred to as "Hyper Metal Sonic" by Eggman, though the other characters would refer to the robot simply as "Metal".

Metal Sonic meets his demise at the end of the movie, where Sonic attempts to save him from a lava pit but Knuckles holds him back expecting Metal Sonic to drag him under the lava. Sonic still stretches his hand out to Metal Sonic, but the robot slaps his hand away and gives himself up stating "There is only one Sonic", and finally melts. At the very last couple minutes of the movie, Dr. Eggman's CD with Sonic's data on it is also destroyed.

Metal Sonic has never made an appearance in any of the Sonic television series. However, there was a robotic Sonic piloted by a rat in the episode "Pseudo-Sonic" from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Metal Sonic was also among the various candidates fans believed to have the red eyes seen at the end of the canceled Sonic the Hedgehog series, before it was revealed by the creator that they were Ixis Naugus'.

Voice actors

• In Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle) and Sonic Adventure DX, Metal Sonic does not speak. Instead, a series of computer-generated sounds are used (similar in all games), and thus Metal Sonic has no voice actor. He also does not speak in Sonic Rivals.
• In Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Metal Sonic was voiced by Gary Dehan.
• In Sonic Heroes, Metal Sonic was played by Ryan Drummond (with some computer distortion effects added to his voice) in English, and Junichi Kanemaru in Japanese. This is the first (and so far) only game where Metal Sonic has had audio speech.
• In Sonic Rivals 2, Metal Sonic uses the same series of audio clips from the first Sonic Rivals game. However, the few solo lines he has are presented through a command line interface. In addition, Dr. Eggman, voiced by Mike Pollock, uses Metal Sonic as his personal loudspeaker, so Metal Sonic plays Eggman's recording like a megaphone.

External links

• Sonic Central official character profiles
• Absolute Anime
• Metal Sonic Concept: "Mobius" (REAL Character Profile)