Death Egg


 * For other uses, see Death Egg (disambiguation).

The Death Egg (デスエッグ) is a recurring object in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is a massive orbital fortress, constructed by Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. It is the first and most famous of Eggman's space stations. Hosting some of the Doctor's most deadly creations of all time, this vast stronghold serves as the scientist's final base in the early Sega Genesis-era games.

The whole plot of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles is driven by Sonic and Tails' efforts to destroy the original version of this space station and preventing the mad scientist from using the Chaos Emeralds to power it. Robotnik's greatest work is, however, robust stuff - over the course of those three games, the Death Egg survives a fall from space and a failed launch, and still makes it back into orbit eventually. Although the original battle station is destroyed at the end of Sonic & Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik has created new iterations of the facility in later games.

Appearance
The common Death Egg is a spherical gray space station that resembles the face of Dr. Eggman, with concave eye-sockets, a sharp nose, and a mustache rendered in kilometers of vacuum-hardened plasma-steel. Its exact dimensions, are not known, although it is easily massive; its mass and size alone are enough to destroy mountains, flatten forests, and push Angel Island into the sea, and its face alone can cover up the massive volcanic crater in Lava Reef Zone.

The Death Egg that appeared during the Emerl incident looked slightly different from the common model. Its exterior was shaped more like a flying saucer (akin to the Space Colony ARK) and had red lights around its surface

Features and abilities
The Death Egg is the largest airship ever created by Dr. Eggman. Although little has been revealed about its actual capabilities, it is said to be Dr. Eggman's "ultimate weapon", suggesting that it packs significant military power and destructive capabilities. It is also designed to run off the chaos energy of either the Chaos Emeralds or the Master Emerald. However, it has been proven to run off other power sources as well.

In terms of armament, the Death Egg has numerous weapons installed, both for outward and inward defenses. Its hull is covered in laser turrets and its insides are filled with weaponry and traps, such as electrical currents, turrets and laser cannons. It also has an advanced indoor security system ready to bring everyone onboard on high alert as soon as it detects an intruder. In addition, the Death Egg carries a substantial force of Eggman's various badnik infantry onboard. The Death Egg's most powerful weapon however, is the Final Egg Blaster, a weapon capable of destroying entire clusters of stars.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, while following Sonic the Hedgehog around, Dr. Robotnik found West Side Island where the Chaos Emeralds rested. Plotting to use the Emeralds' power for world conquest, Robotnik went about turning the island's Animals into Badniks in an effort to create more workers to finish his new plans for the Death Egg, his ultimate weapon and key to world conquest. Originally, Robotnik planned to fuel the Death Egg with the Chaos Emeralds, which were the ultimate power source. However, those plans were foiled when Sonic and his new sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower got the Emeralds first. Even so, Robotnik still managed to get the Death Egg into space.

Eventually, Sonic and Tails went for an assault on the Death Egg itself. Having hitched a ride into space on the Egg Jet when Robotnik made his escape from Wing Fortress Zone, Sonic makes his way inside the Death Egg where he fought Mecha Sonic and then Robotnik himself in the Death Egg Robot. After a heated battle, Sonic defeated Robotnik one-on-one, and the Death Egg began to explode. Sonic however, escaped by hurling himself out of an airlock into space. He was soon after saved from his fall by Tails, who came to his rescue in the Tornado after seeing the Death Egg explode.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3
In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, it turned out the Death Egg had survived its own explosion. Eventually falling from orbit, the space station crash-landed in a lake on the floating Angel Island like a giant fireball, its impact destroying the island's mountains and forests, and forcing the floating island itself into the sea. Having escaped the Death Egg's crash, Dr. Robotnik set out to rebuilt the Death Egg while plotting to harness the large source of chaos energy on the island for his operations. He soon after encountered Knuckles the Echidna, the guardian of Angel Island and the Master Emerald. Having seen the Death Egg, Knuckles believed it to be the egg of a legendary dragon inscribed on the Master Emerald's altar that was rumored to bring about the end of the world.

Scheming to use Knuckles as his bodyguard for when Sonic and Tails inevitably came to destroy the Death Egg, Robotnik claimed he had come study the Death Egg and warned him that Sonic and Tails were on their way to steal the Master Emerald. Believing Robotnik's lie, Knuckles would keep Sonic and Tails occupied when they arrived. Meanwhile, Robotnik would repair the Death Egg, constructed a Launch Base around the crash site, and prep it for launch.

By the time Sonic and Tails caught up to Robotnik, the scientist attempted to re-launch the Death. Using massive rockets, the Death Egg was able to achieve lift-off. However, Sonic managed to jump onto the Death Egg when it took off. There, Robotnik returned to defeat Sonic through excessive force - but that force proved to be his own undoing. By the time Sonic defeated Robotnik, the battle had taken its toll on the Death Egg during a critical point of its launch, and the Death Egg plummeted back to Angel Island.

Sonic & Knuckles
In Sonic & Knuckles, after its failed launch from the Launch Base on Angel Island, the Death Egg crashes back onto a volcano on the island, over the Lava Reef Zone. In a last ditch-effort to fix the Death Egg, Robotnik steals the Master Emerald from Knuckles, making Knuckles realize at last that Robotnik is the real villain and that Sonic (and Tails in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles) are trying to help. Knuckles shows Sonic to a teleportation device that takes him to the Sky Sanctuary Zone. As Sonic makes his way up the floating, crumbling ruins, the Death Egg rises in the distance, releasing numerous Eggrobos that Sonic must get past. Finally, Sonic leaps onto the rising Death Egg from a tall pillar that disintegrates beneath him even as he climbs it.

Inside the Death Egg, Sonic navigates a horrendous zone full of rocket launchers, electrical hazards, and Badniks. Instead of a single mini-boss, as in the rest of the game (except Flying Battery), Sonic has to face two. Firstly Red Eye, then after act two, the Death Ball, controlled by the doctor himself, who stands out of harm's way, controlling his latest contraption with a control board of sorts.

Sonic then faces off against a giant mech named Great Eggman Robo. This giant robot looks like an Eggrobo for the most part, except for its staggering size; its eye is as big as Sonic! Sonic destroys the Robo's hands, then defeats it by attacking its Master Emerald power source inside its chest. Defeating Great Eggman Robo causes Eggman to flee with the Master Emerald (while explosions on mech have started to affect the Death Egg) with Sonic in hot pursuit. Sonic manages to transform to Super form and chases Eggman in The Doomsday Zone while the Death Egg is left completely destroyed for good.

Sonic Drift 2
The Death Egg is the setting of the final racecourse in Sonic Drift 2 for the Sega Game Gear. This stage, constructed on the surface of the space station, is the sixth track of the Blue Grand Prix (Blue being the hardest of the three available tournaments), coming after Milky Way (at the end of course player can see to coming across Death Egg), and also serves as the venue for the Final GP, a two-car battle around just this one course. The race has three laps and the winner gets a Chaos Emerald.

Sonic Battle
In Sonic Battle, another Death Egg makes a brief appearance at the end, although it is just a small arena for the game's final bosses, Dr. Eggman himself and then a berserk Emerl. The arena is completely open, and requires strong attacks to compensate for the lack of shelter.

This incarnation of the satellite is equipped with the Final Egg Blaster, a powerful laser capable of destroying stars or planets.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and its sequel Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, there is a track called Egg Hangar that is a DLC course (for the former) based in the Death Egg. Ristar also makes a cameo appearance on the first game.

Sonic Generations
The Death Egg returns in Sonic Generations and can be seen in the background of Sky Sanctuary. Like in the original zone of Sonic & Knuckles, Eggrobos come out of it at the beginning of classic Sonic's act. The Death Egg can also be seen before the Death Egg Robot boss fight, which takes place in the timeline of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

The Death Egg has slightly different appearance in Sonic Generations, mainly the large smile on its "face".

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Death Egg can be seen in the background of Sanctuary Falls in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which takes place to the Sky Sanctuary Zone.

Sonic Runners
The Death Egg appears as a companion in the mobile game Sonic Runners. It is available during Sonic's 24th Birthday celebration. It was classified as a power-type, and its bonuses as a companion include having a 75% (80%) increase of birthday cakes in the stage, as well as a 25% chance of continuing after being defeated.

Sonic Runners Adventure
In Sonic Runners Adventure, the Death Egg can be spotted in the background of Sky Sanctuary.

Sonic Forces
The Death Egg appears in Sonic Forces. Unlike in past games, its primary purpose was not to act as a superweapon (though Vector's horrified reaction upon learning about the Death Egg's return indicated that it nonetheless had a similar reputation), but was instead a prison facility where Eggman held Sonic after he had Infinite defeat him in battle. It was later destroyed via Classic Sonic after Modern Sonic and the Avatar infiltrated the Spaceport to get schematics on the Death Egg, which was believed to be powered by the Phantom Ruby. However, it was later revealed that Eggman had secretly constructed a backup generator underneath Metropolis, having anticipated that the Resistance forces would try to target the power generators from past failures.

The Death Egg has slightly different appearance in Sonic Forces from Sonic Generations, mainly the frown on its "face".

Other space stations
Although they are not named "Death Egg", several of Robotnik's other orbital facilities are clearly designed along the same lines as the original station. See the main articles for more details on:

Similar stations

 * Silver Castle Zone, which looks a lot like the Death Egg when falling in the ending, is the final zone in Sonic Blast.
 * Egg Utopia, from Sonic Advance 2.
 * Dead Line, from Sonic Rush.
 * E.G.G. Station Zone, from Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I.

Death Egg II


Sonic the Fighters features the appearance of the Death Egg II. Sonic and friends have a tournament to see who gets to fly up to it and destroy it. The player's character of choice flies up and has a fight with Metal Sonic, followed by Robotnik. After defeating the scientist, the Death Egg II explodes, and the game ends. The central sphere seems to have an Eggrobo face rather than a Robotnik face, and bears quite a resemblance to the Death Star from Star Wars.

The stages Death Egg's Eye and Death Egg's Hangar both take place aboard the Death Egg.

Space Colony ARK
While Dr. Eggman may have been taking inspiration from his initial space station in designing the cosmic fortresses mentioned above, it seems that even the first Death Egg was not entirely his own idea. Sonic Adventure 2 introduces the Space Colony ARK, an orbital research facility built over fifty years ago by Ivo's grandfather Professor Gerald Robotnik. The ARK is fairly similar to the Death Eggs, with the exception that the actual structure is a hemisphere as opposed to the Death Egg's full sphere. On the 'face' of the ARK lies a super-weapon named the Eclipse Cannon, which, when viewed from below, makes the space station resemble Professor Robotnik's face in the same manner as the Death Egg resembles his grandson.

Death Egg Mk.II
The Death Egg casts a shadow throughout the entire story of Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Though a similar space station appears as the final location of Episode I, the true Death Egg makes a comeback in the later half of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II as the '''Death Egg Mk. II'''. This new Death Egg was built around Little Planet. While it retains many characteristics of its predecessor, the Death Egg Mk. II is still under construction and still very much incomplete. It can be seen in the Act 3's night background of Sylvania Castle Zone as well as White Park Zone. The Death Egg Mk. II is shown to have a fleet of smaller, mass-produced stations which resemble the E.G.G. Station Zone.

After beating Metal Sonic in Sky Fortress Zone, Eggman ditches his damaged airship and decides to retreat to his new space station with Metal Sonic while Sonic and Tails following them in an escape pod. Inside Death Egg Mk. II Sonic once again races his doppelganger only this time with Tails by his side. The duo then confronts Robotnik in the heart of the Death Egg, facing his latest creation. Upon being defeated, the new Death Egg begins to suffer massive internal damage and can be seen shutting down in space. Luckily, Sonic and Tails manage to escape at the last moment crashing down to Earth in the doctor's escape pods.

Sonic the Comic
In the Sonic the Comic series published by Fleetway Editions, the Death Egg remained mostly true to the game portrayal, apart from specifying the Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 space-stations as separate entities. Also, the Death Egg's impact did not cause the Floating Island to splashdown into the sea.

The first Death Egg was created by Dr. Robotnik after his first major defeat, but it was abandoned when Sonic the Hedgehog stopped him again. It later fell into the ocean (thanks to Sonic) when its orbit began to decay. Robotnik later created the "Death Egg II" which crashed on the Floating Island and had to undergo repairs. Although Robotnik managed to relaunch the Death Egg II, it was brought down for good by Sonic and Knuckles.

Archie Comics
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, the Death Egg has a three-issue story, fittingly titled the "Death Egg Saga". Later, long after Robotnik was destroyed, Dr. Eggman went into hiding for the several issues of the comic book series, but it was revealed that he was working on the latest Death Egg in issue 224. This Death Egg continued to serve as his mobile base up until the Sonic & Mega Man: Worlds Collide crossover event, while the Post-Super Genesis Wave World that resulted featured a Death Egg identical to this one.

Trivia

 * The Death Egg is an obvious reference to the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's giant planet-destroying battle station from the Star Wars movies (specifically A New Hope and Return of the Jedi). Unlike the Death Egg, the much larger and better-equipped Death Stars had colossal amounts of weaponry, as well as huge swarms of TIE Fighters, star destroyers, stormtroopers and other military personnel patrolling it, a deflector shield, and finally, a single superlaser capable of destroying an entire planet. The Death Egg's "eyes" and rough surface are a spoof of the Death Star's physical appearance.
 * The Death Egg Mark II, likewise, is a reference to the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi, down to it being constructed in close proximity to a forested planet (in this case, Little Planet), was much larger than its predecessor and possessing a generator around one part of the ship that was implied to be not completed yet.
 * In one of the two Japanese commercials with traditional animation for the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, featured Sonic flying a space shuttle and directly firing to the Eggman-looking space station which a couple of seconds later explodes. It is possible that this space station could be later used as a basis of Death Egg. The commercial can be viewed in Sonic Jam.
 * In the standalone version of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the Death Egg is seen exploding during the game's ending sequence. However, in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles version, it is simply seen falling before it transitions to the Mushroom Hill Zone.
 * When Knuckles attacked Sonic in Lava Reef Zone, the next act shows Sonic on a platform with the Death Egg in the background where its eyes light up and the whole place becomes covered in a white flash. When everything becomes visible again the whole volcano is shown to be mildly active again, with pieces of the Zone becoming fragile and floating among the Lava and effectively making the Boss fight with Robotnik more difficult.
 * The Death Egg is seen in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 from the outside only once, as it is illustrated at the emblem which was featured at the level select.
 * When Dr. Eggman uses his All-Star Move in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, he gets surrounded by a red force field that resembles the Death Egg.
 * The Death Egg appears in LEGO Dimensions as part of both the "Sonic Dimensions" level and the Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure World. In "Sonic Dimensions," the Death Egg Robot and a giant Chaos 0 are fought there. In the Adventure World, an opening in its "mouth" can be flown into, which will transport the player to a side-scrolling area modeled after its Sonic & Knuckles incarnation, along with the gravity switches from Crazy Gadget.
 * In the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 2013 remake, collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds will show the Death Egg on a collision course with Angel Island (clearly intended to foreshadow Sonic the Hedgehog 3).
 * The Death Egg does not appear in Sonic Mania, however the icon used to represent the Death Egg Zone from the stage select menu in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is used to represent the Egg Reverie Zone in the secret stage select menu for Sonic Mania.