E-102 Gamma

"Doctor Robotnik… Enemy. Master Registration… Deleted. E-Series… Friends. Must save…"

- Gamma

E-102 Gamma (ガンマ) is a fictional character in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. He is 215 cm (7ft 1in) tall, weighs precisely 825.256 kg (1819.378 lb), and wields a machine gun that can transform into a 15.5 cm smart missile launcher. His character designer was either Yuji Uekawa or Takashi Iizuka. He was first introduced in the game Sonic Adventure as a playable character. Being a robot, he has no gender, but Amy refers to him as a "he" when she stops the fight between Sonic and Gamma, and his voice actor is male as well. Gamma's gameplay involves the player utilizing his missile launcher to destroy enemies and eventually reach a boss/target within a given time limit. The more enemies the player destroys, the larger the score and extension of time for the given level.

History
E-102 Gamma is a robot line created by Dr. Eggman. As such, it's name can refer to many characters in the Sonic universe. Nearly all Gamma models are identical in design, par slight modifications such as expanded weaponry. While they vary in rank, Gammas are considered a profound model by Eggman, and thus usually have a close role with their master, (somewhat replacing the traitorous Metal Sonic as a right-hand minion or personal muscle). Because of their form and origin, however, nearly all E-102s play a tragic role in their starring game.

Original E-102γ (Sonic Adventure)
E-102 Gamma, the second robot of the E-100 series line (technically third including E-100 Alpha), was created by Dr. Eggman. E-102 Gamma is powered by (and later influenced and ultimately controlled by) a captured pink Flicky held inside the robot. Although E-102 Gamma was created by and made to work under Dr. Eggman, assisting in empowering the Chaos creature, he turns against his maker's will, and devotes his short existence to freeing the animals contained in the other E-100 units.

Immediately upon his 'birth', he is ordered by Dr. Eggman to pass a unique training course and to fight his older 'brother', E-101 Beta, to become a crew member on the Egg Carrier and prove the efficiency of his design. After defeating Beta in combat, his first task on board involves capturing a frog who had absorbed Chaos' tail (namely Big's pet "Froggy", who also held a Chaos Emerald that Eggman desired). The mission also serves as a contest against his younger brothers, E-103 Delta, E-104 Epsilon and E-105 Zeta, who were all modeled upon Gamma. Gamma passes the mission but as a result of his success, he is forced to watch his less-successful brothers be exiled for their failure and remodeled for generic 'badnik' duty in undisclosed locations. Gamma is distinctly haunted by the memory of Delta turning to look at him as he was warped away; this memory comes up several times later in the game.

Eggman then tells Gamma, now the sole elite robot on board, to acquire a bird from a girl (Amy Rose) held captive in a prison cell on the Egg Carrier. Upon searching for the cell, Gamma accidentally discovers a disabled E-101 Beta in a lab, undergoing a torturous reconstruction process through machines. Though somewhat disturbed by this sight, he quickly disregards this and returns to his mission. After finding Amy, Gamma demands the bird only for Amy to bluntly refuse, her affection toward the animal confusing him. He quotes himself, "Why save that which is useless to you? Does not compute." The bird then flies up close to Gamma and stares him in the eyes. Somehow affected by this, Gamma suddenly experiences an unbearable pain, before suddenly freeing both Amy and the bird from their cell, urging them to leave. Surprised and touched by this, Amy exclaims that Gamma must be different from the other robots and tells him she'll be his friend.

Gamma has no time to think about what he's just done before he is called up to the deck to dispose of the trespassing Sonic and Tails. A grueling battle ensues with Gamma and Sonic, though Amy stands in between them, begging them to stop and explaining to Sonic that Gamma is a friend. Both reluctantly submit to Amy's pleas and back down. As the Egg Carrier begins to lose altitude and slowly fall to the earth below, Amy encourages Gamma to free himself, explaining the virtues of friendship before they evacuate. As Gamma touches down in the Mystic Ruins, he thinks constantly about his past and the words of Amy. After overlooking scant memories from his 'life', Gamma determines that Dr. Eggman is evil, and deletes his master registration program. He then decides to begin a 'rescue' mission, locating his newly registered "friends" (the rest of the E-100 series) and 'freeing' the birds or other animals trapped inside them.

Gamma first finds and destroys Delta in the Windy Valley, then locates Epsilon in Red Mountain on Angel Island, and destroys him as well, freeing the animals. Afterwards, he returns to the Egg Carrier to find Beta and Zeta. After destroying an upgraded and much more heavily fortified version of Zeta, he overlooks his progress, locating a final two E-series models; E-101 Beta and E-102 Gamma, himself. He goes to the deck for the final confrontation with the newly rebuilt, advanced E-101mkII. Despite Beta's numerous enhancements, Gamma eventually succeeds in destroying Beta.

Before exploding however, Beta gathers up one last ounce of strength and suddenly blasts Gamma at point-blank range, severely damaging him. As Gamma limps away from the battle field, the bird that was inside Beta flies up close and stirs one final memory in Gamma, of a family of birds together. Gamma deactivates, collapses and explodes, freeing the pink bird inside, who unites with the other bird. After that, they reunite with Amy's blue bird companion. The pink bird later follows Amy to Station Square after it is destroyed by Perfect Chaos. While Gamma himself could not be there, the bird represents him in spirit.

Despite Gamma's betrayal of Eggman, the doctor continued to build robots based on the E-102 model after Gamma's demise

Sonic Shuffle
Gamma is one of the secret characters in Sonic Shuffle, in which the game's description listed him as "revived with the power of dreams". Like all players he holds a unique playing ability. If he plays a 4, 5, or 6 card, he'll change into wheel mode which will negate the effects of minus ring spaces. If he plays a special card during a battle, two roulette's will spin, and the sum of the two numbers will equal the damage done to an enemy. Gamma is unlocked (somewhat suitingly) after obtaining the final image in Amy's room.

E-1000 (Sonic Adventure 2)
The game Sonic Adventure 2 and its remake Sonic Adventure 2: Battle presented the E-1000. The E-1000 was a mass-produced variant of E-102 Gamma that served as a normal Badnik-style enemy, sporting a pair of cannon arms. Despite being paired for what may seem like double the firepower, the E-1000 line's weaponry, with low-velocity projectiles, and no homing feature, was generally far less effective than E-102's single missile launcher. As far as can be assumed by its actions, the E-1000 are not sentient.

Chaos Gamma (Sonic Battle)
In Sonic Battle several used robot parts, including those of E-102, are used to create a new robot named E-102r "Chaos" Gamma, a new robot powered by a Chaos Emerald shard. He looked just like his first body, except his missile launcher was replaced by another hand. This line however was shortly postponed for the activation of the robot Emerl, an act that would play part later on. The new Gamma has several new weapons, such as a grenade launcher and an electric dagger, but does not have his original cannon or the 'headlight' mounted on his chest (this was likely done to allow his sprites to face both left and right without needing new sprites for both directions). During the game, Chaos Gamma makes numerous attempts to capture Emerl for his master.

After Emerl absorbs an Emerald shard, Chaos Gamma confronts him, now able to express his bitterness and jealously for stealing his intended shard. Cream however reasons with the robot and, after some long thought, he sacrifices his shard to Emerl. In the final chapter of the game, Emerl can train with Chaos Gamma as a sparring partner before the final challenge. It is unclear if this is because Chaos Gamma has become good again and turned on Eggman, or if like many characters bested by Emerl, he feels the need to pass along his fighting skills to him. All Gamma himself says is that he is ready to begin a training sequence. (Note that the challenge takes place in Gimme Shelter, and thus the same model that redeemed itself there earlier).

E-102r "Chaos" Γ is unlocked by beating him in story mode, but he does not become a playable character in story mode himself.

Also throughout the game the player would encounter and fight "Guard Robos", who are identical in equipment to Chaos Gamma, but are gray, notably less intelligent, and cannot teach fighting techniques.

Interestingly, other characters seem to know Gamma personally and treat his 'rebirth' as uneventful. Even characters who had little interaction with his original incarnation seem to acknowledge him as a friend. Notably, he no longer recognizes Sonic and his friends, as his original memories were most likely deleted after his initial destruction aboard the Egg Carrier. It is unknown if he will return.

In other media
A less recognized Sonic character, E-102Γ has had a few sparse but notable appearances in other Sonic media. Nearly all appearances reference his original appearance in Sonic Adventure.

Comics
E-102Γ is depicted in the Archie-published Sonic the Hedgehog comics, namely in the Sonic Adventure story arc. While this adaption is somewhat loyal to the game, many later aspects, including his death, are never shown. It has been explained that many aspects of the game's story had to be compressed in order to fit into the comic's adaption, though it may be also due to the comic's rather different methods of robotization. Seen departing from the Egg Carrier, Gamma's fate was left unresolved for years, until Archie's new series, Sonic Universe, revealed in issue three that Gamma was very much alive. E-123 Omega was sent to eliminate the rogue robot, but Shadow the Hedgehog got in his way.

Though "Archie" made little use of Gamma, they continued to pay homage to him through the character Isaac, who design-wise is near identical to E-102, albeit with a completely golden hue. Interestingly, Issac is not an E-Series or even created by Eggman for that matter, the comic suggesting the resemblance to be a complete coincidence.

In the Shadow Saga Part 3 or Sonic Universe 3 commander Abraham Tower wants Shadow and Rouge to recruit Gamma who has been destroying Dr. Eggman's E-100 series robots. Shadow goes on his own to capture Gamma saying that he could do more in the Fight against Robotnik If he joins GUN, and Gamma agrees. Meanwhile at the Eggdome, Eggman has activated Omega to capture the rogue Gamma. Later, Gamma found Omega via his scanner. Omega appears and attacks Shadow and Gamma, but Shadow says he will not allow another living weapon be destroyed, like Metal Sonic. Shadow attacks Omega but gets stuck in Omega's cannon arm and is blasted to a faraway mountain. Later, Gamma flees having weaker weapons and rusting armor. Omega then begins to taunt Gamma, stating that he is more powerful and faster. Gamma admits this is true but states what weaknesses of Omega he can take advantage of, like Omega is unwieldy, heavier, and less nimble than Gamma. Using this, he knocks Omega Down with three well-aimed cannon shots. They stand face to face (Omega is about twice the size of Gamma.) Gamma then surrenders and Omega shows a sign of respect by stating he could see how Gamma beat the other E-100 series robots. Omega's chest opens and machine guns and missile launchers replace his arms ready to destroy Gamma. Gamma says he has something that Omega doesn't, a soul. Before Gamma was blasted, he wirelessly uploaded emotions onto Omega. After Gamma is destroyed Shadow appears. Omega/Gamma says he has transferred his soul into a new body, but he's acting like it's a virus. Then Omega feels something new, and becomes good. Omega places rocks on the spot Gamma was destroyed and told Shadow ,"If you tell anyone I made a grave marker, you're dead." Shadow and Omega then return to GUN headquarters. Shadow is notably glad for the addition of Omega, who will continue Gamma's mission, but sad for the loss of Gamma.

Despite both including elements from the Adventure arc, Gamma has not appeared in either the Archie Sonic X comic or Fleetway's Sonic the Comic.

Television


Sonic X also retells Gamma's storyline. This depiction is somewhat loyal to the game arc, almost down to a word for word re-enactment (though much of the game's dialogue is lost in the transition to the English dub), however rather than battling his brothers he finds them deactivated and uses a unique hacking device in his system to delete their master obedience program, and thus any need to hold their animal captives. This does not work on Beta however, who is still online and attacks Gamma. Gamma attempts to explain his fate to his brother and convince him to free himself but it falls on deaf ears and so, in a last ditch effort, he literally clashes with him, fatally wounding them both and 'freeing' their animal batteries. As they collapse and explode, their hands grasp into one anothers', as a touching final symbol of their unity. Unlike in Sonic Adventure, Amy sees Gamma 'die' and cries.

Personality
Even though the E-Series is a robot line, nearly all exhibit a conscience and personality, opposed to their emotionless physical form and drone-like robotic dialect. Like most of Eggman's sentient robots, they usually betray their master, though unlike over-ambitious models such as Metal Sonic and E-123 Omega, Gamma's leave of duty is usually out of a compassion or remorse for his actions against Sonic and his friends.

The original E-102Γ is renowned for gaining his sentience and more or less being the first to portray the thoughts of an average Eggman robot. However, given his mindless actions as Eggman's slave, it is unknown if he gained sentience or had it all along but simply disregarded it at first. Even under evil alignment however, he holds a sensible and rational manner towards his enemies (in direct contrast to his belligerent, violent, partially-malevolent, borderline-insane younger brother and successor, Omega). However he becomes somewhat uncomfortable to vivid human emotions, to the point that the emotional conflict of his loyalty pains him, leading to his eventual leave of duty.

It should be noted that even when gaining a free will, Gamma still holds a rather regimented attitude and devotion to his mission. He considers his life less important than his friends' and is shown to fight selflessly for them to the brink of sacrificing himself, much like other heroes in the series, the only difference being that Gamma was actually given such an opportunity.

When Gamma is rebuilt in Sonic Battle, he does not act quite as free-willed but speaks somewhat less robotically. It is revealed that Gamma's personality is enhanced with the power of emeralds, much like Emerl, as exhibited by his more emotional, human-like dialect (he now speaks with contractions), however unlike the pacifistic original, Gamma unveils a rather bitter, violent personality, jealous of the robot that possessed his original Emerald and obtained his rightful 'power' (to the disdain of the fan community), that is only softened upon being reasoned with by Cream, much how Amy had to with him before, explaining how a friendship involves sacrifice and sharing.

In Sonic X, though depicted as the original, and therefore of similar personality, he was cast with being slightly more emotional and was capable of being frightened and disturbed even before he met Amy, even able to exhibit organic like exclamations such as groaning and at one point even producing a forlorn facial expression (also seen on Bocoe, Decoe & Bokkun). It still portrays Gamma's naivete towards good and evil however, perhaps best exhibited when he notices Big trespassing on deck, only to ignore him simply because he was supposedly never ordered to attack him.

E-102Γ, like many other Sonic characters, exhibits traits of a stock character, namely the "dark knight" or "tragic villain". Similarly, these characters are villains by loyalty alone and are usually not actually evil per se, often in fact exhibiting compassion and nobility towards their enemies. Like Gamma, their fate is usually a grim, yet noble end. This is enthesized in Sonic Battle, when Emerl, upon examining the malfunctioning Gamma, evokes sympathy for the price they must pay for serving as a weapon of Eggman.

Gamma's appearance speculates a rather tragic theory that all past robots created by Eggman, and thus destroyed by Sonic have a sentience and unique personality, though perhaps only Gamma is the first to accept and express his own.

Gamma the 'She'?
An odd fan debate is over the actual gender of the original Gamma as, despite its masculine personality, it is powered by a pink, possibly female Flicky. It should be noted however that robots rarely exhibit any similarities to their organic battery.

Doctor Eggman/Doctor Ivo Robotnik
His creator and the first person he sees upon 'birth', Gamma exhibited a strong sense of loyalty and devotion towards Robotnik, and as such, made his betrayal a painful and reluctant one. While he eventually turns on his master, he does not attack him directly, perhaps only seeing him as an unfriendly form to avoid rather than exhibiting an actual spite or hatred towards him. To add to this, Gamma remained a favorite with Robotnik, who seemingly never discovered his betrayal.

E-Series
In the later half of his life, Gamma devotes himself to 'freeing' his E-Series brothers, whom having spent his life partnered with, assigns them as his friends. It is obvious the feeling is not mutual however, making his mission a strenuous task of battling and destroying each brother to release their animal counterparts. Ironically, the actions of the E-100s without direct order from Eggman suggests that that they too may have gained a sentience and independence, albeit a jealously and hatred for the brother who upstaged them and ultimately had them disowned.

Amy Rose
Amy perhaps forms the largest bond with Gamma, eventually convincing him of his mission and his friends. Though originally seeing him as a "bully" for trying to take Birdie, (or 'Lily' in Sonic X), she invokes sympathy for him when it is made obvious even he does not understand the point of his loyalty, the thought of an emotionless being upsetting her, little realizing the effect this was taking on his programming. Ironically, while Gamma's act of heroism changed her view of Robotnik's robots, she is well known for her rather cold, violent disposal of them usually. Their bond is expanded upon in Sonic X, where Amy witnesses his death at the hands of E-101β. Though she had completed her goal of reuniting Lily's family, she was heartbroken by the sacrifice Gamma had made in order to fulfill it. Any connection with the two seems to have been severed in the later titles.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Having been trained since his creation to destroy him, Gamma obviously sees Sonic as an enemy of Eggman's. However, unlike other rivals, which are usually in the form of a grudge match, Gamma supposedly sees him simply as a target he is ordered to destroy, rather than a form he truly loathes (much how Sonic merely sees him as another of "Eggman's clunkers"). They are both unwilling to take their battle outside Amy's wishes however, and both back down. Interestingly, it is suggested in the dialogue of Sonic Battle that he and Sonic were both friends before his 'death' (and eventual 'rebirth' as "Chaos" Gamma), though this is never expanded upon in Sonic Adventure or it's 'Director's Cut' remake.

Abilities
As one of Eggman's destructive gunner robots, E-102 is built for battle. His main weapon is a machine gun that can internally transform into a 15.5 cm missile launcher that can fire in rapid succession after locking on with a laser targeting device on his head. Due to the targeting device, E-102's shots are always accurate and allows the pinpoint accuracy to find an enemy's weakspot (As opposed to Omega, who simply shoots in all directions, hoping something will hit). In addition to his missile launcher, E-102 has a variety of modes to change his body frame to suit a situation. He features a normal, upright position when he is walking or moderately running; in a hurry, he transforms into a wheeled position to increase his speed, and when he encounters water or another insufficient place to walk, his feet fold in and a rotor appears from his torso, allowing him to float over the obstacle indefinitely. He also has a headlight attached to his torso, but it is never actually used in-game.

Eggman also installed Gamma with the ability to accept upgrades into his system. The upgrade Laser Blaster upgraded Gamma's weapon and allowed him to lock-on to an increased number of enemies and deal extensive damage. The Jet Booster permitted Gamma the ability to hover for some time and cross longer distances in the air.

When rebuilt as "Chaos" Gamma, Gamma retains his wheeled and flying modes, and can make the Jet Booster appear behind him when needed. His cannon arm and targeting system are gone, but he can make several weapons appear on him. These new weapons include a large hand named the Solid Knuckle, a claw-like weapon named the Paralyze Dagger which can replace the arms to discharge electricity and fire energy blasts (similar to E-101 Beta mkII's arms), two large drills named the Buster Drill, and a shoulder-mounted grenade launcher known as the Blinker. He can also activate a manual reactor meltdown, where he creates a massive explosion that damages him and everything around him and finally Recovery Mode which rapidly heals any damage.

Conception and inspiration
E-102Γ is somewhat a staple in the Sonic series, being the first robot to be fully playable platform-wise and even exhibit a story. His whole life depicted on screen, he is arguably one of the most developed characters in the series.

Only two pieces of concept art have been found of Gamma, shown on various Sonic fansites. His most obvious basis is the EggRobo from the earlier games, though he also bears resemblance to many renowned battle robots in science fiction, particularly the ED-209 from the Robocop series, most obvious due to its "chicken walker" design.

It is believed many fans asked for this shooting ability, but Sega and Sonic Team felt that Sonic the Hedgehog using a gun was inappropriate. The developers thus decided to make another character with this ability in lieu of giving Sonic a gun. In Sonic Adventure 2, this gameplay style was adopted for Dr. Eggman and Miles "Tails" Prower's mechanized walkers. However, in a recent Gamespot interview, a developer assessed Gamma's creation as simply because "Kids like robots". He also may be a reference to the Metroid series.

Gamma and the Master Emerald?
In the duration of Sonic Adventure's story, it is never explained as to what method the Master Emerald is shattered in the beginning of Knuckles the Echidna's story. One fan theory is that, at some point in development, Gamma was to destroy the Master Emerald as an unused mission. While this has not expanded from speculation, there is some plausible evidence to support this.


 * During Gamma's story, there is a large time gap between his first and second mission, where this would have taken place, while most other characters have a stream-lined story, and Eggman's top priority being Chaos at the time.
 * It would be somewhat suiting for Gamma to assist in the release of Chaos, given he was created for the main purpose of nourishing and increasing his power.
 * When he is teleported through time by Tikal, it is somewhat odd of her erringly casual and familiar nature towards him, let alone why she would teleport someone of evil alliance in the first place.
 * Another possible, yet subtle hint is in an image during the credits sequence, depicting Gamma hovering over the shattered Master Emerald, seeming somewhat misplaced in the usually pivotal screenshots, although, this could just be a picture of him standing near the Emerald in the Adventure Field. This image is also in the Museum of Sonic Gems Collection.
 * Gamma is seen gliding towards the Master Emerald in the scenes in the credits after his story is finished.

Voice actors

 * Sonic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle - Jyoji Nakata (Japan)
 * Sonic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle - Steve Broadie (US; died June 19 2001)
 * Sonic Battle - Jon St. John
 * Sonic X - Andrew Rannells (US). Fans considered this voice completely out of character for Gamma, as it was very high-pitched as compared to the particularly deep voice he had in Sonic Adventure.

Trivia

 * Gamma is notably the first prominent character in the Sonic game series to die onscreen. This is often considered by fans to be the most poignant moment in the series (which can be considered somewhat ironic, seeing as it is basically a dramatized enactment of an average Badnik death).
 * Within Gamma's story arc, he defeats Sonic, making him the first of Eggman's robots to canonically defeat Sonic in battle. This is succeeded only by Omega, though a team battle. This may be debunked by the fact that most Sonic's, Tails, and Amy's stories show Gamma losing somewhat pathetically to Sonic. However, it can be said that Gamma's retrieved memory is more reliable than any characters' account, as he is a robot. Plus, Gamma recalls the event in his next cut-scene, whereas no other character mentions it again.
 * It is unknown if the original Gamma only exists in Maginaryworld, or if there are currently two separate Gammas running around.
 * Artwork of E-102Γ is also presented in the Sonic compilations and as cards in Sonic Rivals.
 * An odd effect takes place in Gamma's adventure mode in Sonic Adventure upon completing his story, creating a consistent night-time effect in the Adventure Fields. This happens also in Sonic Adventure DX, but resets upon entering Mission Mode.
 * In the Gimme Shelter hub world in Sonic Battle, other pieces of the E-Series can be seen in production, with a notable unknown green E-Series robot. It's official name and relation to Gamma are unknown.
 * If E-123 Omega receives an E-Rank in Sonic Heroes, he will reference his older brothers, proclaiming "I couldn't even beat Gamma or Beta."
 * When Sonic Heroes was being released, many thought that Gamma was on Team Dark, however it was actually Omega.
 * Many view Gamma as one of the more emotional character in Sonic continuities, despite being a robot
 * Gamma is the only playable character in Sonic Adventure to have a theme without lyrics. Tikal and Dr Eggman also have themes without lyrics, but are not playable.
 * It is possible that E-102 Gamma is based off of Locutus of Borg, as they both have laser sights on their right eye, both of their right limbs are weapons while the left remains a hand, they are both the product of an innocent victim being assimilated, and they both use the phrase, "Resistance is futile!"
 * As remarked by Rouge in the Japanese version of Sonic Battle, she says that Chaos Gamma "looks like Omega". It could be a nod to the fact that many fans mistook Omega for Gamma when he first appeared in Sonic Heroes.
 * In the Japanese version of Sonic Battle, Amy said, "Hey! It's Gamma!" which means that she knew Gamma's name, despite calling him "Mr. Robot" the last time they met.

Artwork
 File:E-102_Gamma_1.png|Sonic Adventure Image:E102gamma.png|Sonic Adventure DX File:Gamma.jpg|Sonic Battle File:GammaBIG.png|Sonic Channel 

Screenshots
 File:E102Gamma.png|Archie Sonic the Hedgehog File:23.jpg|Sonic X File:SERIes.jpg|Sonic X File:087e102.jpg|Sonic X File:Gamma_Kills_Beta.jpg|Sonic Adventure File:E-102.jpg|Sonic Adventure File:0Gamma.jpg|Sonic Adventure File:Fin.jpg|Sonic Adventure 