Neo Metal Sonic

Neo Metal Sonic is one of Metal Sonic's forms seen in Sonic Heroes. He takes this form throughout most of the game in which he uses to disguise himself as Dr. Eggman and to copy the data of whom he fought against in order to make himself more powerful.

The first time he reveals himself to the heroes is in the last story of Sonic Heroes. Having gained all the data he needed, Neo Metal Sonic began destroying the Final Fortress' tower with a large lightning bolt and then uses the debris to transform into a stronger form, Metal Madness and later Metal Overlord. He is later defeated by Team Super Sonic and as a result, he reverts back to his original form and deactivates.

Appearance
While Neo Metal Sonic shares some distinctive traits with his normal form, such as black eyes with red irises, similar torso with rocket engine and the primary blue color with red shoes, there are a number of differences as well. His head has now five long quills as opposed to his regular three, with white stribes and markings around his eyes, similar to that of Shadow's. The yellow colour in his ears has been replaced with red and his nose is now black.

He has also gained a more pronounced body armour, with black and curved shoulder plates, larger gauntlets and leg armour with pointy knee caps that has white outlines, a plate covering his pelvis and elf-like shoes. He also spots a spiky belt with a black cape that protrudes out of the back of his waist.

Powers and abilities
Due to his limited appearances, most of Neo Metal Sonic's powers are unknown. What is known, however, is that he, like his normal form, is able to scan the life data of other life forms, and can thereby copy and replicate their attributes and abilities flawlessly, which is his main goal in the game. Due to his actions throughout Sonic Heroes, it can be assumed that, by the beginning of the last story in the game, he possessed the abilities of all the teams, plus those of Chaos itself.

Neo Metal Sonic also has the power to shape shift and can therefore change his appearance and body structure. When shape shifting, he usually turns into a puddle of liquid metal and then emerges in a new form. This allowed him not only to perfectly imitate the appearance of organic creatures, but also the appearance of robots as well, such as the fake Dr. Eggman copies that is encountered throughout the game, though Tails could tell it wasn't an Eggman robot. He can also safely contain creatures such as Froggy and Chocola inside of himself until he had copied Chaos' data.

As demonstrated when he first revealed himself, Neo Metal Sonic can create lightning bolts from his hands, launch them into the sky and then bring it back down with enough power to blow up the Final Fortress' largest tower. He can also manipulate outside elements through unknown means to rebuild himself, such as when he used the debris of the destroyed Final Fortress tower to rebuild himself into Metal Madness.

Metal Madness
By combining the data from Team Sonic, Team Dark, Team Rose and Team Chaotix with the data from Chaos, Neo Metal was able to rebuild himself into a much stronger form called Metal Madness. In this form his appearance is that of a large, blue, heavily-armed mechanical dragon, with two eyes lined up vertically on his head. He has several long spikes on his upper body and many smaller ones running down his back and his long, curved tail. He has a flamethrower as his right hand, and his left hand has four fingers with claws that can be launched. He has no legs in this form. Instead his lower body is attached to the Final Fortress with several cables. Metal Madness actually serves as the early state of Metal Overlord which Neo Metal Sonic trying to reach, which means that Metal Madness still is in the progress of the transformation, during the battle with him.

In battle, Metal Madness is able to launch the spines on his back as missiles that can track the opponent, and when they hit the ground, they’ll sprout into a sharp spike formation that cannot be destroyed by normal means, but will shatter automatically after some time. He can use his right hand to produce a powerful and large column of fire, and his left hand can shoot his claws as missiles which can trap his enemies in crystal cages (His claws will automatically regenerate). Finally, he can perform a powerful sweep with his tail which can knock his enemies off their platform. His only weak spots in this form are the glowing markers on the left, right and front side of his lower body, which is only vulnerable to the right formation type.

Despite Metal Madness’ transformation still being incomplete and having his movements hindered because he is still attached to Dr. Eggman's fleet, he is still more than powerful enough to take on Team Rose, Team Chaotix and Team Dark at the same time. And while all teams worked together, they could only slow him down and not prevent him from transforming even further. Dr. Eggman even stated, at that point, that even with the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, they only had a slim chance of victory.

Metal Overlord
Metal Overlord is Neo Metal Sonic’s final and strongest form. After completing his transformation, Metal Madness becomes Metal Overlord. The only physical difference between this form and Metal Madness is that he grows a pair of mechanical wings on his lower body and detaches himself from the fleet.

In this form, Metal Overlord is strong enough to fight on par with Super Sonic, Knuckles and Tails where the two latter has been granted Super Shields. Due to him having grown wings, he now is capable of flight and can fly at incredible speeds, but is still slower that Super Sonic. He can now fire a rapid barrage of crystal pillars from his torso, and he can launch the spikes on his back as homing missiles, much like as he could as Metal Madness. However, he can now fire them at a much faster rate and those that hits, can trap the target in a crystal cage, which is strong enough to hold even super transformed characters. He is also capable of enormous feats of strength, as he can easily pick up ships from the Egg Fleet with just one hand and throw them. Metal Overlord is also able to perform Chaos Control, possibly due to him copying Shadow the Hedgehog’s data, which allows him to freeze time for at least 20 seconds. It is unknown if he can do it longer than that.

Metal Overlord has proven himself to be highly resistant in this form, nearing that of invincibility. Normal attacks from even super transformed character can’t hurt him, and he does not appear to have any weak plots in this form. The only known attack strong enough to inflict damage on him, is the team blast Super Sonic Power performed by Team Super Sonic.

Metal Madness
Metal Madness is the second-to-final boss in Sonic Heroes and is fought in the Last story in Sonic Heroes, in three stages. One for Team Rose, one for Team Chaotix and one for Team Dark. The battle will take place on a platform for each team with a little distance to Metal Madness. During the battle, Metal Madness can only be damaged with the right formation type indicated by the color of the marker on Metal Madness, which changes after a couple of hits (When blue, Speed formations won’t work, when red, Power formations won’t work and when yellow, Flight attacks won’t work).

The first team up is Team Rose, to the right side of Metal Madness. Their platform has two craters, each with a Item box, containing a Team Blast Ring and has 16 rings spread around. In this round, Metal Madness can attack in three ways; He will use his flamethrower across the platform, which can be jumped over. The second one is a wide sweep with his tail which can also be jumped over. The final attack is where he launches his spines towards the team, wherever it might be. If they hit the ground they’ll sprout into spike formations which causes damage upon contact. Here, the player must get as far away from Metal Madness as possible and let the spikes sprout where they cannot get in the way, while avoiding them. During their battle, Metal Madness’ marker will remain blue, so it is best to attack him with Big for maximum damage. One of the first things to do is to pick up one of the two Team Blast Rings, which gives an instant Team Blast, and use it as close to Metal Madness as possible and then either take the second one and repeat the process, or save it for the next team. After this, keep attacking him with Big and the round with Team Rose will be complete.

The next team is Team Chaotix, to the left side of Metal Madness. Their platform contains some Rings, two empty craters, balloons where each contains a Power Core, and a cannon. Here, Metal Madness will repeat his spine attack and tail sweep which can be countered in the same way as before. His third attack is where he launches his finger missiles which can trap team members in crystal cages, but they can be broken if attacked repeatedly. If all team members are caught, the player will lose a life. The best way to counter it is either to switch to Flight formation and remain airborne, or hide inside the cannon, until he is done. The first priority for the player should be picking up the Power Cores in the balloons so there can be dealt acceptable damage. In this round, Metal Madness’ marker will change between red and yellow, so, under these conditions, it would be best to attack with a combination of Speed and Power formations; use Speed formation when Power can’t be used until Metal Madness makes a move and when possible, use Power formation to deal massive damage. Repeat this and the round with Team Chaotix will be complete.

The final team up is Team Dark, in the front of Metal Madness. Their platform has Power Cores in the craters to the left and the right side of the platform and in the balloons above them. In this round, Metal Madness will attack with his flamethrower, finger missiles and spine attack, which still can be countered in the same manner as before. First priority for the player is to pick up the Power Cores for maximum damage. Then proceed with a combination of Power and Flight formation attacks in order to deal maximum damage in short time. If this pattern is kept, Team Dark’s round with Metal Madness will over quickly.

Metal Overlord
Metal Overlord is fought in the last Story as the final boss of Sonic Heroes. He attacks by shooting out crystal pillars, which Super Sonic can destroy with Homing Attack, Rocket Accel, Tornado Spin, or Light Dash (The Light Dash will cost 5 rings though, which is not recommended.) to gain power for the Team Blast, shoot out missiles that can trap your teammates, which Tails can Thunder Shoot for Team Blast charge, and by throwing large crafts at you, which can be destroyed by Knuckles (done by using his fire combination to create fireballs and directing them at the craft), gaining Blast charge. In the final rounds he will use Chaos Control to freeze time and gain some time to launch a counter attack. Keep repeating this pattern to build the Team Blast, Super Sonic Power and use as it is the only way to hurt Metal Overlord. After five Team Blastes, Metal Overlord will be defeated.

Memorable Quotes

 * "All life form data... successfully copied." - After Team Sonic runs to Eggman's air fleet.
 * "Ultimate life form data... has been copied." - After Team Dark runs from Egg Albatross.
 * "Chaos data... has been copied." - After Team Rose reunites with Chocola Chao and Froggy.
 * "All living things kneel before your master!" - Before Neo Metal Sonic strikes an energy bolt to transform himself.
 * "You're all useless now that I've copied all your data!" - Metal Madness in the Team Chaotix fight.
 * "Even the Ultimate Life Form can't stop me!" - Metal Madness in the Team Dark fight when unleashing a powerful flame-based attack.
 * "Long time no see, Sonic, my loathsome copy!" - Before Metal Overlord beings fighting Team Super Sonic.
 * "Sonic, I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you, but I could never seem to defeat you. That's why I transformed my own body with my own hands!" - Metal Overlord, explaining why he transformed.
 * "But that was the past ... now you're nothing but a speck of dust to me." - Metal Madness' respons to Super Sonic's taunts.
 * "Guooooo! Why! I had it all! I am the ultimate overlord, Metal Sonic! I am the real Sonic!" - After being beaten by Team Super Sonic.
 * "It's no use... but why can't I defeat you?" - Neo Metal Sonic's final words before he deactivates.

Trivia

 * In Sonic Heroes, in the Hang Castle level, when you look at the Eggman statue upside-down, you can see Neo Metal Sonic, giving him away as the main villain.
 * Another hint was in the Team Dark Egg Hawk level. When Eggman saw Omega, he said, "You must be Omega".
 * Neo Metal Sonic deeply resembles Rocket Metal Sonic from Sonic the Fighters.
 * The only game that featured Neo Metal Sonic's name was Sonic Rivals, as he was a collectible card.
 * Despite Neo Metal Sonic's large role (albeit behind the scenes) in Sonic Heroes, you never actually fight him in this form.
 * Neo Metal Sonic is perhaps the least depicted villain in the series. You can't get an especially good look at him in Sonic Heroes, there is no official art of him (besides his cards in Sonic Rivals, which are very small), and he hasn't appeared since.
 * Neo Metal Sonic is the first Final Boss in the Sonic Series to not use the game title's main theme song, "Sonic Heroes". Instead, it plays "What I'm Made of" by Crush 40 for his Overlord Form, the second Final Boss was the Dark Queen, which instead of playing "Knight of the Wind", her battle plays "With Me".
 * Neo Metal Sonic is in the starting cutscene in Sonic Heroes.
 * Metal Madness's (Neo's second form) name could have been based off of Metallic Madness, which is the final level of Metal Sonic's first appearance,"Sonic CD".
 * Neo Metal Sonic is the first form of Metal Sonic that could actually talk.
 * Also, this is the first game in which Metal Sonic could actually talk.