Super Sonic

Super Sonic is a powered up version of Sonic the Hedgehog that can be obtained through collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds and usually fifty rings. In the 2D games he plays like Sonic but he can jump higher, is faster and invincible, although he could still drown or die by falling off screen. In his first appearance Super Sonic bears no impact on the games story but would give the good ending if achieved. However, in most later games Super Sonic is usually a greater impact on the story and is often part of the true ending, or "Last Story". Sonic has golden yellow fur hair and red eyes. Just so you do not get confused, the Super transformation character and the original character are the same character (except in the sonic comic Sonic vs. Super Sonic).

Appearance of Super Sonic

 * Sonic the Hedgehog 2: When Super Sonic first appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 he was almost the same as Sonic but he was yellow instead of blue and his spikes pointed upwards slightly.
 * Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Super Sonic's appearance was slightly altered so that his eyes changed from black when Sonic to green when Super Sonic.
 * Sonic the Fighters: Super Sonic appearance was very close to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 but in 3D, he had yellow upturned Spikes and black eyes.
 * Sonic R: Super Sonic had the same appearance as in Sonic the Fighters, but in the graphic style of Sonic R.
 * Sonic Adventure: Since Sonic had an updated character design Super Sonic was also changed. Apart from the design changes shared with Sonic, Super Sonic now also had red eyes because Sonic's eye color was now green. This is also the first game Super Sonic had a yellow aura.
 * Sonic Adventure 2: In this game Super Sonic was mostly the same as his Sonic Adventure appearance, except he was a metallic gold instead of yellow, but his aura was still yellow.
 * Sonic Advance series: This was the first 2D games to have his Sonic Adventure design of red eyes and a yellow aura. This design has remained unchanged in the Sonic Advance series.
 * Sonic Heroes: In this game Sonic again had a metallic gold color like Sonic Adventure 2.
 * Sonic Rush series: Sonic Rush's design for Super Sonic very close to the Sonic Advance version, but of course in 3D.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (2006): In this game Super Sonic's appearance had again become yellow instead of metallic gold. Starting in this game, now even Super Sonic's middle two spikes float straight up, although this may or may not be due to enhanced graphics (super shadow's middle quills didn't float in the same game).
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl: In this game, Super Sonic appears as Sonic's Final Smash. It looks exactly like Sonic Heroes only plain yellow, has a spark to pop up once in a while, and in Next Gen style.
 * Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood: Only showing up as the Final boss fight against Imperial Ix, This boss battle is looked at as the most easy in the series.
 * Sonic Unleashed: The opening cutscene shows Super Sonic with a sparky lightning like golden aura but the same color and spine as Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Conditions for Super Sonic
In the actual story canon Sonic only needs to use the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds to turn into Super Sonic. It is unlikely he needs fifty rings to trigger the transformation since, for most games after Sonic Adventure, he has automatically starts with fifty rings after getting the Chaos Emeralds and turning into Super Sonic. However, rings are required to power and sustain the super form as they slowly deplete. Once Super Sonic is out of Rings, he will revert to Sonic.

In the MegaDrive/Genesis games that Super Sonic appeared in, he could only be activated by first collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds from the Special Stages. If this condition was met, Sonic could simply transform into Super Sonic by jumping, or in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, double tapping jump, as long as he had at least fifty rings (and had no shield in Sonic 3 & Knuckles).

In the Sonic Adventure series, the Chaos Emeralds are an essential part of the plot and as such are already collected at the end of the game as part of the story. Super Sonic is only playable for the final boss, with the final stage unlocked by clearing all the other characters stories.

In the Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush series, the Chaos Emeralds have to be collected throughout the game by clearing Special Stages, but unlike the MegaDrive Genesis games, Super Sonic is only playable for the final boss.

In Sonic R, Super Sonic can be played after finding all seven Chaos Emeralds in the game. He can then be selected to be used on any track. Unlike most of his other appearances, Super Sonic is not limited by a ring count and can even race alongside Sonic, as the two are considered separate characters.

In Sonic the Fighters, Super Sonic can be played but only for the second match against Metal Sonic and the fight against Eggman. To play as Super Sonic, the player must not lose and enter hyper mode. The Chaos Emeralds are automatically collected after each fight.

In Sonic Riders, Super Sonic is obtained by achieving gold emblem for all Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross missions. Then the Chaos Emerald extreme gear is unlocked and when used by Sonic, he will become Super Sonic while he has rings. He is unlocked in a similar manner in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.

In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Super Sonic is unlocked in the same way as the Sonic Adventure series, and again is only playable for the last boss.

For Sonic Unleashed, Sonic becomes Super Sonic in the game's opening, demolishing Eggman's armada and cornering the scientist. Unfortunately, Eggman traps Super Sonic and uses his power to awaken Dark Gaia. When all the Chaos Emeralds are empowered again, Super Sonic reappears for the boss fight against Final Dark Gaia. Super Sonic starts with less rings than usual, requiring the player to gather them to fill the boost gauge.

For Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Sonic again becomes Super Sonic for the final fight. Due to the RPG nature of the game, Super Sonic is not bound by a ring count. Sonic gains a vast increase in HP as Super Sonic (several thousand compared to the several hundred or so of his regular form) and only attacks with the Super Sonic POW Move, which requires a long series of stylus commands, but can inflict over 9999 damage.

Homage to Dragonball Z
Super Sonic is widely believed to be homage to Akira Toriyama's very successful manga Dragonball Z. Super Sonic bears many similarities to Super Saiyans from Dragonball Z, such as when a Saiyan becomes a Super Saiyan, their hair stands up and turns yellow, similar to Super Sonic's spikes. Another point is the fact that a Saiyan's eyes become blue when they turn Super Saiyan, much like Super Sonic's in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Also the fact that a seventh Chaos Emerald was added when Super Sonic first appeared similar to there being seven Dragonballs in Dragonball Z. Yuji Naka is a well known fan of Dragonball Z, and was once asked in an interview if Akira Toriyama had ever approached him about Super Sonic, to which he smiled and replied, "No." Both the Super Saiyans from the Dragon Ball Z franchise and Super Sonic (among other Super Transformations) are in fact a reference to an old Japanese legend about a powerful golden Warrior.

Sonic X
Sonic X is the only Sonic anime/cartoon to feature Super Sonic. Super Sonic is very similar to how he is in the games (Sonic Adventure design), except that he only needs the 7 Chaos Emeralds to achieve Super Sonic, rings serve a different purpose. It can also be noted that from the front, it seems that all of his quills are sticking straight up, giving him a more Sonic 2 appearance. Only from a side or back view does it reveal that he really has the Sonic Adventure look.

Archie Comics
Super Sonic's first Archie Sonic appearance was in issue 4 to battle a giant mecha-newt. Earlier comics had him collecting 50 rings to access the special zone, wherein collecting 50 more rings would allow him transform, but that was eventually phased out to just the requirement of Chaos Emeralds.

In the fight against Master Mogul, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were able to combine the energies of the rings they had previously gathered with the energy of Mogul's attacks to achieve their super transformations. This was the first instance of Sonic transforming without the use of a Chaos Emerald.

In the recent saga where Sonic was thrust into deep space, he mentions that he is able to transform into Super Sonic using only six green emeralds, and is able to do so on an alien planet that also plays host to chaos emeralds, only these alien emeralds are red. His transformation when using red emeralds, however, has a very different outcome. Rather than transforming into Super Sonic, his powered-up form exists as a separate entity, and his actions are unpredictable because this Super Sonic doesn't believe in "good or evil," only "power" and the acquisition of such. His time, however, just like the green emerald Super Sonic, is limited, and he vanishes before he causes any real damage. The red emerald version of Super Sonic has not been seen since.

Super Sonic's latest appearance was when he fought the new Enerjak in issue 184. This transformation was accomplished in another unusual way, as sonic transformed by standing atop the Master Emerald and absorbing its chaos energies, much in the same way as Sonic & Knuckles' version of Metal Sonic transformed by standing atop the Master Emerald.

Fleetway
In Sonic the Comic (StC), Super Sonic was a more powerful form of Sonic created from absorbing too much chaos energy, however unlike in the games Super Sonic was originally evil. In Sonic the Comic the Chaos Emeralds absorb negative energy so this is presumably why Super Sonic was evil. Super Sonic later became a separate entity from Sonic after Super Sonic almost killed Sonic's friends but Sonic will prevented him from doing so, they were then split into two separate beings. Shortly after being separated Super Sonic lost his memory and became a peaceful person who soon after made friends with cats called Ebony and Pijamas. They attempted to help Super Sonic recover his memory before finding the truth behind his identity. Super Sonic regained his memories, and the knowledge of how to harness his powers, but each time he unleashed his powers he turned evil, resulting in several very close calls. When the Sonic Adventure story was adapted into the comic Super Sonic returned and was revealed to be dying from a lack of Chaos Energy as a life support. He defeated the unstoppable by absorbing all the Emerald Energy from Chaos, who's Perfect form was also significantly more powerful than in the games, Super Sonic once again turned evil, and supercharged. Sonic and Ebony worked together to trick Super Sonic into getting close enough to merge him and Sonic back into one being. In the fan continued version called Sonic the Comic - Online (StC-O), Sonic and Super Sonic are still one entity and Sonic is still not in control when Super Sonic.