Metal Overlord

"See me as I am, no longer afraid of anything! I shall become the ultimate overlord, ruling as the world's most supreme being!"

- Metal Overlord, Sonic Heroes

Metal Overlord (メタルオーバーロード) is the fully transformed version of Metal Madness. He is the final boss of Sonic Heroes. Frustrated at his continuous defeats at the hands of Sonic the Hedgehog, Metal Sonic sought to become Metal Overlord in order to annihilate his arch-rival and eventually conquer the world himself.

After briefly fighting Team Rose, Team Dark and Team Chaotix, Metal Madness finishes his robotic metamorphosis and becomes Metal Overlord. Instantly after transforming, Metal Overlord takes off to the skies, but is pursued by Team Super Sonic, who defeats the metallic tyrant and causes him to revert to Metal Sonic. The song What I'm Made of... by Crush 40 is played during the battle with him.

Appearance
Metal Overlord's physical appearance is nearly identical to that of Metal Madness, meaning he resembles 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 (though he is not seen using it), and his left hand has four fingers with claws that can be launched, but he has no legs. The only physical difference between Metal Overlord and Metal Madness is that he has grown a pair of mechanical wings on his lower body and detaches himself from the fleet, leaving several cables hanging from the bottom of his body.

History
When deciding to take matters into his own hands of defeating Sonic and achieve world domination, Metal Sonic had the idea of becoming Metal Overlord, a form with the power necessary for both tasks. To achieve this form, Metal Sonic needed data from efficiently strong people, and as such lured Team Sonic to the Egg Fleet to destroy Sonic for good while he would copy their data along the way. Additionally, he needed Chaos' data and as such kidnapped Froggy and Chocola. When Team Dark, Team Rose and Team Chaotix joined the adventure, Metal Sonic copied their data as well for Metal Overlord.

After getting the data he need, Neo Metal Sonic transformed into the early stage of Metal Overlord, Metal Madness using debris from the Final Fortress. Despite interference from Team Rose, Team Dark and Team Chaotix, Metal Madness completed his transformation and finally become Metal Overlord. Metal Overlord then flew into the skies, intending to make his ambitions come true, but was pursued by Team Super Sonic. Confident however that even Super Sonic was no match for him, Metal Overlord fought the team without hesitation. During the battle, Metal Overlord ranted about his intention to rule over a robotic kingdom and his belief that the real Sonic was his copy. Eventually, Metal Overlord was defeated, and he fell down from the sky in agony, unable to understand how he could lose, before landing on the Final Fortress and reverting back to normal.

Powers and abilities
Being Metal Sonic's strongest known transformation, Metal Overlord is one of the most powerful robots Sonic and his friends have ever faced, and probably one of the most powerful beings depicted in the entire Sonic the Hedgehog series. In this form, Metal Overlord is strong enough to fight on par with Super Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails (the latter two having been granted Super Shields), and even then, the three of them together only had a slim chance of defeating him, if not even less.

Due to him having grown wings, Metal Overlord is capable of flight and can fly at incredible speeds,  but is still slower than Super Sonic. 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. Additionally, Metal Overlord has proven himself to be highly physically durable in this form, nearing that of invincibility. Normal attacks from even super transformed characters cannot hurt him, and he does not appear to have any weak points in this form. The only known attack strong enough to inflict damage on him, is Team Super Sonic's Team Blast Super Sonic Power.

In battle, he can fire a rapid barrage of crystal pillars from his torso, launch the spikes on his back as homing missiles, much like as he could as Metal Madness, but can now fire them at a much faster rate. He can also fire his left claws as missiles that can trap the target in a crystal cage, which is strong enough to hold even super transformed characters.

Metal Overlord is also able to perform Chaos Control, possibly due to him copying Shadow the Hedgehog’s and Sonic 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, or if he has the skills to further manipulate time and space.

Boss guide
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 Attack (the Light Attack will cost 5 rings though, which is not recommended), shoot out missiles that can trap your teammates, which Tails can Thunder Shoot for Team Blast charge, and by throwing large crafts at the player, 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 counterattack. Keep repeating this pattern to fill up the Team Blast, Super Sonic Power, which is the only way to damage Metal Overlord. After five Team Blasts, Metal Overlord will be defeated.

To acquire an A Rank for this boss battle, the player must finish it in under seven minutes.

Quotes

 * "Long time no see, Sonic, my loathsome copy!" - Metal Overlord before 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 Overlord's responds to Super Sonic's taunts.
 * "Take this!" - Metal Overlord when launching his crystal barrage.
 * "I'll crush you!" - Metal Overlord when throwing an Egg Fleet ship.
 * "I'll skewer you!" - Metal Overlord when launching his spikes.
 * "Guooooo! Why?! I had it all! I am the ultimate overlord, Metal Sonic! I am the real Sonic!" - Metal Overlord after being beaten by Team Super Sonic.
 * "Chaos Control!" - After Team Super Sonic performs Super Sonic Power four times.

Trivia

 * At the final battle there seems to be a grammar error in some versions of the game, where Metal Overlord says: "But that's was the past" instead of "that".
 * In an official Sega forum, a member of Sumo Digital (who works on the Sega Superstars series, excluding the original) said that the designer of Metal Sonic's new vehicle for Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed based part of it off Metal Overlord.
 * Metal Overlord has a strong sense of purpose. As early in the fight, he says that he was created for the sole purpose of destroying Sonic; but before the fight, he refers to Sonic as his "loathsome copy" by this he may have meant that he should have the title of the original Sonic, and when he's defeated, he says that he is "the real Sonic" or deserves to be the real Sonic.
 * It has been stated by comic book writer Ian Flynn that the Archie Comics are not allowed to use Metal Overlord in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series at the time being. Flynn also considers Metal Overlord to be one of his least favorite Sonic characters.
 * Metal Overlord Reference.jpger, in Sonic Universe #54, Sonic the Hedgehog, while fighting Metal Sonic, commented how he always beat Metal Sonic, even when the robot was a dragon. This is a reference to Metal Overlord, which was similar to a dragon. In addition, Sonic in the same comic also refers to Metal Sonic's dragon form as being "stupid," alluding to Metal Overlord being one of Flynn's least favorite characters.
 * Sonic Universe #63 revealed that in the new reality created following the Super Genesis Wave, the events of Sonic Heroes are evidently canon, as Knuckles mentions fighting Metal Overlord alongside the Chaotix.
 * Metal Overlord is the only boss of the 3D games who does not have a specific weak point.
 * Metal Overlord's defeat animation was later reused for Black Doom's final form, Devil Doom's defeat in Shadow the Hedgehog.
 * This is possibly the second gigantic form of Metal Sonic fought as a final boss; the first may be the final boss of Knuckles' Chaotix.
 * Like Metal Madness, in the PC version of Sonic Heroes, Metal Overlord is shiny blue instead of normal blue.