Fang the Sniper

Fang the Sniper (ファング・ザ・スナイパー), also known as Nack the Weasel, is a fictional character in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is a purple anthropomorphic wolf weasel that first appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble as a treasure hunter who sought the Chaos Emeralds.

Concept and creation
It is stated in few sources, that Fang the Sniper was designed by TOUMA, who worked in Sega during between 1994-2002 and later became known as popular free lance figure artist in Japan. According to the interview of Artoyz.com, Touma got interest of the Sega's blue mascot after studying for designing in Art school. After Sega hired him, Touma has worked in many departments, including at Sonic Team. Fang the Sniper was his first professional character he has designed.

During development of his debut title, Fang had what appeared to be a revolver or silver magnum as a weapon, but Sega eventually scrapped the idea due to maturity issues. One infamous screenshot featured Fang pulling out his gun to hold up or shoot Sonic, but this was entirely removed from the final game. In Sonic the Fighters, his signature weapon is instead a Popgun.

The character was originally revealed to the public as Jet, but it is unknown if this was a name used during development or an early localization attempt. His finalized name was "Fang the Sniper" (which was used in the Japanese version of his debut appearance), but this was briefly changed in the English release to "Nack the Weasel". This name was also used in the comic books he appears in, but all games released after Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble have called him "Fang" regardless of region. The wanted poster of Fang seen in Sonic Generations reads: "Nack The Weasel A.K.A Fang The Sniper", suggesting that Nack is his real name while "Fang" is a moniker.

Appearance
Fang is a purple and white weasel. He wears a big brown stetson hat, brown boots with white gaiters, and brown gloves with metal plates on them. The reason that he is known as "Fang" is because one of his canines is much larger than the other, another trademark of his. He has a long, thick, purple tail that he uses to lay back on, for bouncing on and attacking his foes.

Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble
Fang makes his first appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble, as he is one of three antagonists opposing Sonic and Tails in the race for the Chaos Emeralds (together with Knuckles the Echidna and Dr. Robotnik). Contrary to Knuckles, however, who is simply misguided by Robotnik into fighting Sonic, Fang is purely motivated by his greed, as he seeks to steal the Chaos Emeralds for himself, but he never knew the true power of them. At the end of each Special Stage, Sonic (or Tails) must fight Fang for control over the Chaos Emeralds.

Fang always fought Sonic on his Marvelous Queen throughout the Special Stages (except the first), often attaching some sort of device such as a drill or spring to his motorcycle, much like Robotnik's Eggman Mobile. Fang's weapons were often used against him by Sonic.

Sonic Drift 2
In Sonic Drift 2, Fang the Sniper is one of the seven playable racers in the game. He drives his "Marvelous Queen", and while Fang has good acceleration, he has poor handling. He has the ability to toss oil balls that cause whoever hits them to slip out of control.

Tails Adventure
Fang makes a cameo appearance in Tails Adventure. An item with his symbol would increase Tails' chances of finding Rings.

Sonic the Fighters
Fang's last major appearance and only 3D appearance to date is in Sonic the Fighters, where he attacks quickly and fiercely with his popgun and tail. He is the sixth opponent in the "story mode" and his arena is Casino Night, a casino area that appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Sonic Generations
Fang the Sniper makes a cameo appearance at the incarnation of City Escape in Sonic Generations, as he appears on a wanted poster for theft and extortion. Both his original Japanese and western names are mentioned in his poster.

Other appearances
After Sonic the Fighters, Fang has not made major appearance in the series since, although Fang has made different, small cameo appearances, such as at Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic Mega Collection Plus in Archie Comics covers, got mentioned by Sonic in the DVD-ROM flash comic which was sold to promote Sonic and the Secret Rings, and he made a cameo in Sonic and the Black Knight on one piece of fan art that made it into the game, which features him on the Marvelous Queen racing along side Sonic and Knuckles.

Personality
Fang is a mischievous treasure hunter who tries hard to be sneaky and cunning, although his overconfidence and overall naiveté proves to be his biggest flaw. In the English Sonic Triple Trouble manual, he is said to desire the Chaos Emeralds not because he knows of their true power, but because he believes they will fetch a hefty price on the market. Fang appears to be a coward, as he often runs away when his plans go wrong or when he's frightened.

While Fang had no dialogue, he showed himself to be a comedic and egotistical bad-guy who sews his own defeat in Sonic Triple Trouble. This is shown by his trap backfiring and lighting himself on fire in his first encounter and getting shot by his own heat-seeking missile while gloating in his fourth battle against Sonic. Fang was fairly clumsy, often tripping when running away after a defeat. He may not be an entirely bad guy - in his final major appearance, Sonic the Fighters, he competed cooperatively to fight the larger threat, the Death Egg II. However, his poster in Sonic Generations suggests that he is a loose criminal wanted for theft and extortion, further establishing his greed.

Powers and abilities
Fang seems to be generally lacking in abilities, he often uses his wits and gadgets instead of brawn. He's fairly skilled at piloting his airbike, the Marvelous Queen, and the various gadgets attached to it, such as springs, an irate missile and a drill.

Fang's main weapon is his Popgun, a popgun that fires corks, as opposed to conventional bullets. His title, Sniper, suggests that he's able to use his Popgun with great accuracy.

Despite being overall lacking in any real abilities, Fang's tail is rather strong and dexterous. Fang is often seen laying back on it while relaxing, Fang can also use his tail as a spring to reach great heights, in Sonic the Fighters, Fang uses his tail as part of a powerful attack as well as a third leg of sorts when kicking opponents with both of his legs.

Sonic the Comic
In Sonic the Comic, Nack used to be a member of the Chaotix Crew, but betrayed them and sold them to the Brotherhood of Metallix for money. He reappeared sporadically throughout the comic, working solely for financial gain either through mercenary work or robbing banks/ancient treasures, and he battled the Chaotix twice. He was later instrumental in shrinking various characters (including himself and Sonic the Hedgehog) to sub-molecular size, initiating a string of adventures on the sub-molecular world of Shanazar.

Archie Comics
In the Sonic the Hedgehog and its spin-off comic series published by Archie Comics, Nack was a rare wolf-weasel Mobian hybrid and a mercenary of much renown, tracking down both treasure and individuals. He had especially captured or overcome Sonic the Hedgehog four time. Nack usually preferred to work alone for the sake of speed, efficiency and so he does not have to share the reward. He worked on odd occasions with his twin-sister Nic the Weasel, but his rivalry with her is legendary.

For a brief time he worked for the Destructix, but that did not serve his interests. His most disastrous team-up was with Karl, Jeff, and Konor. They plotted to kidnap Princess Sally, but things fell apart, and the lackeys were arrested. Nack was captured later, only to find his gabg bulked up and very displeased about being left behind. When the opportunity, Nack snuck out of prison - but not before fatally poisoning the gang's food. His last job featured Bean and Bark in his employ as Team Hooligan, but ended in disaster.

Following the events of Worlds Collide, Nack has become virtually identical to his game counterpart, though he remained a part of the Hooligans with Bean and Bark, operating as a mercenary in Dr. Eggman's employ.

Theme songs

 * Sonic Triple Trouble: Nack's Theme, played whenever he appears in Sonic Triple Trouble.
 * Sonic the Fighters: Casino Night - Here We Go.

Trivia

 * According to the Japanese manual of Sonic & Tails 2, it is said that Fang resides in the mysterious Special Stage, which is described as another dimension.
 * Fang the Sniper is one of the few characters (such as Mephiles the Dark and Bean the Dynamite) to have a title that does not refer to his species. The Sniper references his penchant for using guns.
 * Fang appeared as a collectible toy in Sega's 1999 adventure game Shenmue for Dreamcast and its sequel Shenmue II released in 2001. In the game, the player can collect toy versions of several Sega characters which includes Fang from Sonic the Fighters.
 * In most media, unlike most other characters, Fang has four fingers instead of five, even in Japanese promotional artwork. The reason for this is not known, although the most common theory is that this is a reference to Yubitsume, a Japanese ritual to amputate parts of one's own finger that is practiced by members of the Yakuza, a prominent Japanese criminal organization.
 * Alternatively, his varying number of fingers may simply be a result of his being from another dimension. He is the only inhabitant of the "Special Stage" that has been seen and his four fingers could be representative of all other beings from the Special Stage.
 * Originally, Fang's signature weapon was going to be a realistic gun, but he eventually used a cork-firing popgun in Sonic the Fighters after Sega axed the idea.
 * Additionally, his alternate title-"Nack the Weasel"-was thought of by Sega's localization team, as his name is a reference to firearms. Why "Fang" was changed to "Nack" is unknown, but it might be because fangs and other sharp objects tend to have negative connotations.
 * In character select of Sonic the Fighters, Fang's gloves are miscolored white instead of brown in his icon.
 * Originally Fang was supposed to appear as boss in Sonic X-treme. In several magazine screenshots Fang is shown to be unusually giant, similarly to Metal Sonic in the game. The boss battle was meant to happen in a free roaming field. These boss battles were programmed by Chris Coffin, based on the engine of Sonic Team's game NiGHTS. Because the game was canceled, Fang never made an appearance in the game.
 * Fang was left out of Sonic Tweet for unknown reasons.
 * Fang was a prominent figure in the classic era as he had the most appearances of any side character from that era in Sonic.
 * Fang is one of the two characters to ever use a firearm (The other being Shadow in his game).
 * According to an interview on Sonic Central, Sonic does not know the whereabouts of Fang, Bark the Polarbear, Ray the Flying Squirrel, Bean the Dynamite, Chaos, or Tikal.