Big the Cat

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Big the Cat
Sonic the Hedgehog character
First gameSonic Adventure (1998)
Created bySonic Team
Voiced byJon St. John (1998-2003)
Kyle Hebert (2010-present)
Ian Hanlin (Sonic Prime)

Big the Cat (Japanese: ビッグ・ザ・キャット, Hepburn: Biggu za Kyatto) is a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. He is an anthropomorphic cat and fisherman who he usually with his pet Froggy and plays small roles. He was designed for Sonic Adventure because a fishing rod gameplay is programmed in. Big would appears in other Sonic games including Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood which the developer's founders wanted to revitalize him. He has been gained strong criticism by critics and fans, listed as one of the worst video game characters for his lack of intelligence and gameplay in Sonic Adventure.

Concept and creation[edit]

Big the Cat was created for Sonic Adventure because the Sonic Team had a fishing rod programmed in and needed a character to make it interesting for players.[1] Big was designed in the game to had small roles.[2] During development of Sonic Chronicles, BioWare's founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk announced that they are going to revitalize Big alongside with Sonic's other friends.[3] BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka stated about the fact many people hate Big as they are trying to counterclaim the fact by making people feel emotional attach to Big.[4]

Big's English voice actor has changed few times. Jon St. John was the first to assume the role for Sonic Adventure, Sonic Heroes.[5] but was replaced by Kyle Hebert, who voice Big in Sonic Colors, Team Sonic Racing and Sonic Frontiers.[6] In Sonic Prime, Big is voiced by Ian Hanlin.[7]

Appearances[edit]

In hist first appearance Sonic Adventure, Big wakes up in his hut to see that Froggy has swallowed Big's lucky charm, a Chaos Emerald, and grown a tail. Froggy hops off, and Big chases him through a number of levels. Each time, Big must find Froggy in a body of water and fish him out, only for Froggy to hop away. At the last of these, Big finally catches Froggy, but E-102 Gamma steals the creature and leaves. Determined to rescue his friend, Big finds Doctor Eggman's airship, the Egg Carrier, and boards it. He quickly finds Froggy in a water tank and catches him. He meets Tikal the Echidna, who tells Big of the significance of his Chaos Emerald: it controls the other seven. When Big reaches the deck of the Egg Carrier in hopes of escaping, Chaos absorbs Froggy to reach a more powerful form, since Froggy is still possessed by Chaos' tail. Since Chaos' body is permeable, transparent, and filled with liquid, Big is able to fish Froggy out of Chaos. Satisfied that he has done his part to help defeat Chaos, Big departs the Egg Carrier using Tails' airplane, the Tornado 2, but it crashes near Big's house due to a lack of proper landing gear.

In his second playable appearance Sonic Heroes, Big teams up with Amy Rose and Cream the Rabbit as the power-style character in their trio.[8] Big alongside his team travel through several stages while he looked for Froggy and eventually reach the Egg Fleet, one of Dr Eggman's aircrafts. They find a mecha piloted by a clone of Dr. Eggman. When they conquer it, the clone dissolves into a puddle of liquid, and rise Chocola and Froggy. Big, Amy, and Cream go on to help the other playable characters defeat the game's antagonist Metal Sonic. Big also would be a playable character in Sonic Chronicles.[3] Sonic and Tails find him after using Tails' first Tornado plane to escape from soldiers; he helps them locate the base of the Marauders. He also has a sidequest involving finding Froggy's friend Norton.[9] In the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors, Big appears several times, though he is not playable. He follows Froggy, who has escaped into the Aquarium Park section of Dr. Eggman's "Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park." He meets Sonic and Tails and explains his problem; Sonic agrees to help and takes on a mission, but Froggy does not turn up. Big later meets Amy, who is trying to find Sonic, and they continue their searches together. Eventually, they do find Sonic, as well as Tails. Amy encourages Sonic to complete a mission; when he does, Amy offers to throw a picnic and Big eagerly participates. Froggy's location and well-being are left ambiguous. In Sonic Frontiers, Big appears in a portal, and introduces a fishing minigame which the player can be rewarded with tokens that can be spent on Portal Gear fragments, Vault Keys and many other items, with additional chances to fish acquired through purple coins around the Starfall Island.[10][11]

In the party game Sonic Shuffle, Big is playable character who he can use Froggy to move extra spaces if the player gets a dice roll of six, and can throw boulders as his special attack.[12] Big is also a playable character in the racing game Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing, where his special move involves Froggy growing massively and stomping other racers.[13] Big has made a cameo in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Lego Dimensions,[14] and as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. Big would later be a playable character in Team Sonic Racing in which he is a power-type character.[15] Big plays a minor role in the anime television series Sonic X. He's first appear in the series' first episode "Chaos Control Freaks", as he was showed sleeping by a river with Froggy. As one story arc is based on Sonic Adventure, Big plays a role similar to his from the game. Big and Froggy also appear in Netflix's Sonic Prime.[16][17]

Reception and legacy[edit]

Big the Cat has generally received strong criticism from critics, ranked as one of the worst video game characters. Brian Taylor of Paste shared that Big has caught strong criticism from fans who thought increasing the Sonic the Hedgehog cast size cause disservice to the integrity of the series.[18] GamesRadar+ writer Jim Sterling wrote that anyone with a vision of human decency can described him as "a blight." He also discussed that he's like an overstuffed Lennie Small from Of Mice and Men, criticize his voice as it sounds like Barney Rubble choking, and he has mostly been involve the multiple rescues of Froggy.[19] Official Nintendo Magazine writer Thomas East discussed how annoying Big was, describing him as the illness of the dead, his lack of intelligence, obsession with Froggy and fishing gameplay and elements in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Chronicles.[20]

Andrei Dumitrescu of Softpedia wrote that he unsure why Big is such a disliked character in the series, but it seems unwise to create an experience that's centered around not liking a certain aspect of a game.[21] Eurogamer writer Tom Phillips found the addition of Big in Lego Dimensions as "a bit of surprise" despite of being a joke among Sonic fans, which is a shame officially retired from future Sonic games due to negative fan reaction to him, although he has sporadically appears in cameo roles.[14] Kotaku writer Ruby Innes wrote that Big has often been in a Waluigi-type position, appearing mainly in spin-off games since his introduction into the franchise and Big played like a Duke Nukem-voiced cat as he searched for his bestie Froggy and went fishing.[22]

A leaked footage of Sonic Frontiers at Gamescom has appeared online featuring Big.[23] In addition to his appearance in the game, PCGamesN writer Chris J Capel noted that fans of the Sonic franchise constantly complain there hasn’t been a fishing minigame in the franchise since Sonic Adventure and Sonic Heroes featured an upsetting lack of fishing.[11] Jesse Lab of The Escapist felt that Big is emblematic of the franchise’s problem with recurring characters that considered worthless as Big become a punchline of the franchise for decades since his introduction In Sonic Adventure. While the writer prepared for the worst when he was announced to appear in Sonic Frontiers. Despite his hatred over the character, his fishing section is the most enjoyable features in the game.[24]

Big was featured in a McDonald's promotion around December 2004. One of eight handheld dedicated consoles packaged with Happy Meals featured Big recreational fishing.[25] In 2016, an image of the Game Grumps holding a Big plush appeared on the franchise's official social media account with the captions that more stuff are planned on the year. Destructoid writer Ben Davis noticed at the bottom of the image were numbers that omit him that a game involving Big is coming soon.[26] For April Fools, Sega released a game called Big’s Big Fishing Adventure 3, a point-and-click browser game.[27]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Betker, Gerjet (July 20, 2011). ""Die Sonic-Fans nie wieder enttäuschen!" - Interview". GamersGlobal.de (in German). Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  2. ^ "Interview With Sonic Adventure 2 Director Takashi Iizuka". IGN. June 4, 2001. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Garratt, Patrick (2008-03-13). "Sonic RPG: We want to revitalise Big the Cat, says Bioware". VG247. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  4. ^ Gibson, Ellie (March 14, 2008). "Sonic RPG to feature Big the Cat". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  5. ^ "Jon St. John | Video Games". Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
  6. ^ Erskine, Donovan (November 30, 2022). "Sonic Frontiers voice actor and cast list". Shacknews. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  7. ^ Griffin, David (2022-10-27). "Sonic Prime: Exclusive Release Date and Character Posters Reveal for Netflix Animated Series". IGN. Retrieved 2024-05-21.
  8. ^ Sonic Heroes (GameCube) instruction manual, pp. 11–21.
  9. ^ Bozon (May 16, 2008). "Hands-on Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood". IGN. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
  10. ^ Nightingale, Ed (August 26, 2022). "Big the Cat finally seen in Sonic Frontiers". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Capel, Chris J (July 2, 2022). "There's a Sonic Frontiers fishing game with Big the Cat". PCGamesN. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  12. ^ Sonic Shuffle instruction manual, p. 23.
  13. ^ Harris, Craig (February 18, 2010). "Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Hands-on". IGN. Archived from the original on October 11, 2013. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Phillips, Tom (June 17, 2016). "Knuckles, Shadow and Big the Cat shown in Sonic's Lego Dimensions level". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  15. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (June 23, 2018). "Big the Cat is in Team Sonic Racing". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  16. ^ Carson, John (June 10, 2022). "Iconic Duo Big The Cat And Froggy Confirmed For Netflix's Sonic Prime". Game Informer. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  17. ^ Goslin, Austen; McWhertor, Michael (June 10, 2022). "Sonic Prime's new teaser trailer confirms that, hell yeah, Big the Cat is in this". Polygon. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  18. ^ Taylor, Brian (July 7, 2014). "10 Best Videogame Cats". Paste. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  19. ^ Sterling, Jim (January 19, 2011). "The 10 worst Sonic friends". GamesRadar+. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  20. ^ East, Thomas (May 29, 2013). "The best and worst Sonic characters". Official Nintendo Magazine. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  21. ^ Dumitrescu, Andrei (2008-03-17). "Sonic RPG Presenting Big the Cat". Softpedia. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  22. ^ Innes, Ruby (August 25, 2022). "Is Big The Cat Making A Return In Sonic Frontiers? [Update: Hell Yeah He Is]". Kotaku. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  23. ^ Robinson, Andy (September 12, 2022). "Big the Cat features in leaked Sonic Frontiers footage". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  24. ^ Lab, Jesse (November 24, 2022). "Why Is Big the Cat the Best Thing About Sonic Frontiers?". The Escapist. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  25. ^ "McDonald's and SEGA Reveal Details of New Happy Meal Promotion Featuring Sonic and 'Search for the Silver Game'". GameZone. December 2, 2004. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  26. ^ Davis, Ben (January 9, 2016). "Sega teases plans for Sonic's 25th anniversary with Big the Cat". Destructoid. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  27. ^ Carter, Chris (April 1, 2016). "Sega's April Fools' joke is a playable Big the Cat browser game". Destructoid. Retrieved May 18, 2024.

External links[edit]

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