Dark Bat Sniper

"This soped-up Dark Bat opens fire from above."

- Description of the Dark Bat Snipers in Sonic Unleashed (PS2/Wii)

The Dark Bat Sniper (ダークフロートキャノン) is one of Dark Gaia's Minions that appears in Sonic Unleashed. Besides serving for a method for Sonic the Werehog to cross pits, these mutated Dark Bats can also shoot energy balls from their tails. They only appear during the game's nighttime stages.

Overview
The Dark Bat Snipers and all of the others of Dark Gaia's Minions were born when their source Dark Gaia awoke some millions of years too early in its cycle and as a result broke into millions of fragments, which became Dark Gaia's Minions. Specifically, a Dark Bat Sniper is created when a regular Dark Bat absorbs too much of Dark Gaia's energy and mutates into a Dark Bat Sniper. They first appear in Rooftop Run Night Act I: Alleys of Spagonia on the PS2/Wii version and Savannah Citadel Night Act 1 on the PS3/Xbox360 version.

Like the Dark Bats, the Dark Bat Snipers are some of the most fragile members of Dark Gaia's Minions, as they have little health and can be killed with one-to-two hits.

Like the Dark Bats, the Dark Bat Snipers can serve as a method for Sonic the Werehog to travel over bottomless pits or large gaps. By grabbing on to a line of Dark Bat Snipers over such a pit one by one, Sonic can reach the other side. However, since the Dark Bat Snipers can attack Sonic in the process, it makes them much more dangerous to use, and one reckless move on the player's behalf can cost the player a Life.

In the case where they are needed for transport, killing a Dark Bat Sniper will only cause another one to instantly appear and take its place at the exact same position. This is a game mechanic that prevents the player from unintentionally halting his/hers progress throughout the stages.

Upon the reconstruction of Dark Gaia by Dr. Eggman, all of the Dark Bat Snipers along with the other Dark Gaia minions were returned to the beast, who was later defeated and sealed within the planet's core.

Physical Appearance
Like the Dark Bats, the Dark Bat Snipers have a mostly egg-shaped, rose-colored body with cyan eyes and body markings. They have small horns on top of their body and their lower body mostly consists of a large lower jaw with a horn-like growth at each jaw joint and two "antennas" in front. They also have a small, thin tail extending from their back with a tip that resembles a pseudanthium that can open and close.

Behavior
Unlike the harmless and non-hostile Dark Bats, the Dark Bat Snipers are quite wild and aggressive as a result of absorbing an overdose of Dark Gaia's energies, and will fight as the frontline soldiers amongst their kind.

Powers and Abilities
The Dark Bat Snipers are able to move around by teleporting into an area in a puff of purple smoke. As a Dark Gaia minion, the Dark Bat Snipers can possess people by latching onto the deepest, darkest part of the heart, and generate despair, negative emotions or even erratic behavior that are completely opposite to the person's personality.

The Dark Bat Snipers are able to levitate and move through mid-air, albeit at a rather slow rate. However, they are capable of carrying a great deal of weight while flying, such as Sonic the Werehog, without straying from their path.

As their unique trait, the Dark Bat Snipers are able to shoot harmful energy bullets from the tip of their tails over long distances, making them excellent long-range attacks.

Attack Patterns
The Dark Bat Snipers attack the player by shooting him/her with their energy bullets, and shoot these shots in pairs. On the PS3/Xbxo 360 version of Sonic Unleashed, the energy bullets have a fifteen-second charge time with a five-second interval between the shots, while on the PS2/Wii their energy bullets take three seconds to charge and are shot in succession. Their energy bullets, however, can only travel in straight lines and are therefore easy to avoid on the ground.