Amy Rose

Amy Rose (エミー・ローズ), once known as Rosy the Rascal, is a character who appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. She is a pink, preteen, hedgehog who plays the part of Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend. She has chased Sonic since her debut in 1993, and has been trying to win his heart in everything from the series' animated TV shows to comics and games. She is the first female character introduced into the game universe and is also one of the most popular, coming in fifth place on an official popularity poll.

Like Sonic and other characters in the series, Amy is significantly shorter and lighter than humans her same age. To be precise, she is 12 years old, 90 cm (2'11") tall, and keeps her weight a secret. She was described as being 8 years old in Sonic CD, but as of Sonic Adventure and onwards she has grown older (by 4 years). Also, with the addition of Cream the Rabbit, Amy seems to have found herself a sidekick similar to Sonic's own Tails (as implied by Sonic Battle, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Advance 3,  and Shadow the Hedgehog.)

The alias "Rosy the Rascal" is most likely a play on of "Rosie the Riveter", a feminist character and national icon which represents the women that had to work during World War II when all of their husbands were drafted. The name is rather suiting as both characters are extremely tough and motivated females.

Original appearance
Despite her frequent use in Sega games (especially since the Dreamcast era), Amy was not actually created by Sonic Team. A prototype version of her appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog manga published in 1992, and there she was literally "the girlfriend of Nikki (Sonic)", as the description translates. After that appearance, Sega took the character, and Kazayuki Hoshino redesigned her for Sonic CD in 1993. It is said that she is always wearing a red dress and Converse-like running shoes.

Game appearances
In her first game appearance, Sonic CD (1993), Amy was introduced and kidnapped by Metal Sonic. Doctor Robotnik then used the time stones to set time back on the Little Planet. Robotnik forced Sonic to challenge Metal Sonic in a race for Amy's life, which Sonic had won. Amy was rescued and Metal Sonic was destroyed for the time being. She had the nickname "Rosy the Rascal" at this point, and was named "Princess Sally" in the Western manuals to tie in with the cartoon, though all later games called her Amy. Being a Genesis-era game (though technically a Sega CD game), Sonic CD's plot was minimal. Amy's only personality trait was that she was a big fan of Sonic, and no real reason was given for her kidnapping besides as bait for Sonic. Though Sonic CD was released after Sonic the Hedgehog 2, it was in production at the same time, meaning that Amy has more or less been around as long as Tails.

Amy appeared again in Sonic Drift and Sonic Drift 2 to race in a Grand Prix – her vehicle was a car with a face. She was a playable character in the 1996 arcade game Sonic the Fighters. In 1997's Sonic R, Amy was the only character to drive a car - everyone else ran on foot (or in Robotnik's case, drove an Eggmobile).

Sonic the Fighters introduced her Piko Piko Hammer. This game used her "Rosy the Rascal" nickname as well, though it has not been seen since.

In 1998, Sonic Adventure thrust Amy in the spotlight. She is a playable character in the game and uses her weapon of choice, the Piko Piko Hammer, to defend herself during her quest to find the family of a bird that escaped Eggman and crashed into her. Like the other major characters in the series, Amy was redesigned significantly for this game. Her spines were redesigned into short hair being slacked down, and she now wore a red dress and red boots with a white stripe from the top to the tip, similar to Honey's Fighters dress, to take advantage of her more mature 12-year-old form. Interestingly, her boots are identical to Wonder Woman's official costume. She was given green eyes, the same eye color as Sonic had only in a lighter value. Somewhat oddly, in this newer design, Amy often appear to have a more of an 'hourglass'-shape to her body than many other females in the series (such as Blaze, Wave and Marine), despite the fact that she is canonically of a younger age than many of these characters.

When Sonic Shuffle was released for the Dreamcast, Amy, as well as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles collected rings and other items while walking around on a board game surface.

She was an important supporting character in Sonic Adventure 2 because she had some of the most prominent roles and was playable in 2-player mode. When Sonic was kept in an island prison, with Tails' help she managed to free him. This happened to be one of the surprisingly many times Amy has saved Sonic rather than the usual opposite. She is also responsible for causing Shadow to realize Maria's true wish by begging him to help everyone, and thus ending up saving the world against the Biolizard, and later with Sonic-- Finalhazard.

Amy was playable in Sonic Advance, but unlike the other playable characters, she could not spin and all her attacks had to be triggered. She had an unlockable playable appearance in Sonic Advance 2 (after collecting all Chaos Emeralds with all the other characters) in which she could spin, as well as Sonic Advance 3

In Sonic Heroes, Amy leads Team Rose. She represents the team's speed formation. She's accompanied by Cream the Rabbit and Big the Cat on a mission to impress Sonic, while Big wants to find his friend Froggy (again), and Cream and Cheese want to find Cheese's sibling, Chocola, all the while inspiring the whole team, cheering her friends on.

Amy appears in Sonic Battle as a playable character. She is considered by some to be one of the stronger and more reliable characters in the game. All of her attacks contain large amounts of speed, power, and balance, her healing ability can quickly raise her HP, and she is the third fastest character.

Amy appeared alongside Sonic and the rest of the cast in Shadow the Hedgehog to try to convince Shadow to join their cause. Amy in particular needs Shadow's help to rescue Cream and Cheese from Eggman's Cryptic Castle.

Amy is a playable character in Sonic Riders from the start, and her type is Speed, as equivalent to Sonic's. She is not playable in the Story Mode, though she is a character in the main story.

Amy appears in the new Sonic the Hedgehog game as an ally in Silver the Hedgehog's storyline to enlist his help in finding Sonic, not knowing that Silver is looking for him too for radically different reasons. Upon finding Sonic, Silver battles him and gets the upper hand, but Amy stops him from finishing Sonic off. Amy also saves the damsel-in-distress Princess Elise and Sonic at one point in the story.

Amy also appears in Sonic's storyline in Sonic Rivals: Amy has been turned into a card by Dr. Eggman and Sonic sets off to save both her and Tails. She also makes cameo appearances as three collectible cards. And although it is said that Rouge will be playable and there seems to be a rivalry between the two in few games. She doesn't appear in the sequel Sonic Rivals 2, except as a few collectible cards.

Amy is a playable character in the Party Mode in Sonic and the Secret Rings alongside Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Cream, Silver and Blaze. Amy is also briefly mentioned in a page of the game's Special Book, which states she is "Sonic's ever-cheerful love interest."

Recently, Amy was confirmed to appear in the Mario and Sonic game crossover as a playable character in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Like all the other female playable characters (Blaze, Princess Peach, and Princess Daisy) she will wear a different outfit to her normal clothes, her dress similar to her normal wear (but different around the shoulders) while she wears a different pair of shoes.

Amy will be a playable character in the upcoming game Sega Superstars Tennis.

Amy will be playable in the upcoming Sonic Riders sequel Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.

Amy was absent in Sonic Rush Adventure.

In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Amy went with Sonic to travel back in time to save Knuckles.

Sonic X


Amy was also one of the main characters in Sonic X, an anime series which is the most recent of the Sonic the Hedgehog TV shows; her first ever appearance in a Sonic TV series (she did not appear in any of the three American produced series).

In Sonic X, Amy is Sonic's self proclaimed girlfriend. As with her game appearances, her long-term goal is to get him to notice her. She gets mad at Sonic's impatience and aloof attitude, which occasionally are so bad that she is driven to violence. However, she really does care about him.

Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comics, Amy was the same age as depicted in the original games. In a flashback it was shown Amy tried to become a part of the Freedom Fighters but was denied by Sally Acorn. Amy accused Sally of doing this so she "won't get closer to Sonic" however the true reason was that Amy was far too young at the time and did not have the experience like Tails had. However, during the Sonic Adventure adaptation she makes a wish on the Ring of Acorns, which caused her to grow physically older, reaching the age of 12, while maintaining her childish mindset and making her appear to be something of a ditz. After this Amy once again requested to join to help the freedom fighters this was denied again by Sonic, who told her having an older body is not enough she still had the mentally of an 8-year old and still had no fighting experience. A year later when Sonic returned to Mobius, Amy was awarded a medal and became a freedom fighter by Sally, who thanked her for her service to help the freedom fighter; Amy was overwhelmed by happiness that one of her wishes came true. Like most characters, Amy Rose never appeared on the SatAM cartoon.

Amy is the cousin of Rob O' the Hedge (a thinly veiled homage to Robin Hood), who sends her to live in Knothole as things get tough in their homeland of Mercia. Echoing her introduction in Sonic CD, she was captured by Metal Sonic but saved by Sonic the Hedgehog in the landmark issue #25. She fell head over heels for Sonic, but remained distant out of respect for Sally Acorn. After Sonic and Sally's breakup in issue #138, Amy has begun to show her love for the hedgehog once again.

In recent issues, Amy has started to play a larger role in the comics. In issue #172, Amy confronts Fiona Fox after discovering she is actually using Sonic and is secretly in love with Scourge the Hedgehog. In the back story, she is learning martial arts from Knuckles' girlfriend Julie-Su so that she will be able to win Sonic over in the future. In issue #175, after Eggman completely wiped out Knothole with his Egg Fleet, Amy was one of only four citizens not captured and transported into the Egg Grape Chamber (the others were Sonic, Tails and Knuckles). She and the other three heroes launched an attack on Eggman's city and successfully liberated the Mobians.


 * In a scrapped story line, Amy and Sonic were to become a couple after Sally and Sonic's breakup. They would keep their relationship a secret to Sally. Later on Fiona would have developed romantic feelings for Sonic, and she would become a rival of Amy to win over Sonic's heart. The story was changed dramatically as Fiona and Sonic started a relationship, which became a huge shock to Tails who had a crush on Fiona for years. It was later revealed Fiona cheated on Sonic with Scourge.

Sonic the Comic
In the UK publication Sonic the Comic, Amy first appeared in a two-part story where she was 'arrested' by Dr. Robotnik's Trooper Badniks for the criminal offence of association with Sonic (she had been saying she was his girlfriend). While annoyed at the fact she had been lying about them being an "item," Sonic still had a duty to rescue her and did so, but to his horror realised that she was now a fugitive and would have to stay with the Freedom Fighters.

Amy's character swiftly matured as the comic went on and became one of the most valuable members of the Freedom Fighters, especially due to her expert marksmanship with her crossbow (which she created herself). The notion of a love interest in Sonic was, for the most part, underplayed and one of the comic's writers, Nigel Kitching, revealed he saw it partly as Amy just trying to annoy Sonic. Several times, Sonic would be left exasperated by either civilians assuming the two were dating (which Amy would play along with) or her playing up the crush - because of this, when trapped on the Miracle Planet with her, he faked being lost for two days.

While it had been planned for her to be a more useful member, unfortunately the first three stories (one a Sonic CD adaptation) she was in had her taken hostage as a plot motivator. In the second of these, however, she showed her maturity and quick thinking by brokering a mutually beneficial deal between her kidnappers (Captain Plunder and the Sky Pirates) and the Freedom Fighters. Her appearance was also changed, likely to further distance her from her Mega Drive/Genesis version - she was often seen wearing combat trousers and a white T-shirt that had various slogans or pictures on it, ranging from "Girl Power!" to a Christian cross. When the Sonic Adventure adaptation was released, her hairstyle was altered to reflect the games and she began wearing a bomber jacket.

She appeared often in strips, with a few solo stories by Lew Stringer where she saved the day without the others noticing. She constantly showed pragmatism and quick-thinking: in the story "Plasma" in #78, she both worked out how to defeat the villain and let Sonic believe he had as she knew that, as a symbol of hope for Mobius, "it's important that they think it's him who saves the day!". She also took a second-in-command role, taking full control when Sonic was absent or transformed into Super Sonic; when Sonic was lost in the Special Zone, she led the Freedom Fighters until he returned in #100.

At a later part of the comic's life, Amy would be mostly written by Lew Stringer as a straighforward adventurer and had a long series of back-up strips teamed up with her best friend Tekno. After encountering the mysterious Eternity Ring, they both traveled through time and space to help out people in trouble and save multiple planets (including Earth). Adventures included Mobius in the year 5000AD, helping Hercules complete his thirteenth labour to get into Olympus, and witnessing the birth of life on Mobius. (This was done as editor Deborah Tate wanted different locations for the back-up strips, and the Eternity Ring set-up was inspired by UK strips Adam Eterno and Garth )

Nigel Kitching originally planned for Amy to be more of an irritant for Sonic, influenced by 1930s/40s "Hollywood screwball comedies" like It's a Wonderful World, but while still being a capable fighter. ("But what Amy was not and never was some weak soppy character who swooned over Sonic like a silly little girl. Well, she did but we were never quite sure if she just doing it for a laugh.") However, Deborah Tate wanted the character to be of a role model for girls, as she was the only female regular character at the time, and dictated that she be more sensible and mature.

Sonic X: The Comic
Amy Rose's appearance in the Sonic X comic is similar to the one in the Sonic X anime. In this comic book version, her relationship with Sonic developed more closely, Sonic even took her on a date for Valentines Day (though this was due to the fact he lost a bet to Knuckles). However after the date when Amy asked to Sonic if they would go on a date again, Sonic answered with: "Maybe"

''Sonic : Adventures
Two French-made comic books published by Sirène were released on 1994. Amy appears in the first volume ( "Sonic Adventures: Dans Les Griffes De Robotnik") being kidnapped by Robotnik as bait to get Sonic. This version of Amy had the same design as in Sonic CD.

Personality
Amy in the early games is presented as being kind and sweet, and a good victim for holding hostage by her enemies. Her kind and caring nature seems to have given her the ability to talk almost anybody out of destruction, from Eggman's supposedly single-minded and emotionless robots like E-102 Gamma (who then released her and turned on Eggman) to bitter, revenge-seeking villains such as Shadow the Hedgehog (who after talking to her, helped Sonic save the world in Sonic Adventure 2).

In the more recent games she has become far more violent and aggressive, much to Sonic's dismay. Her former image, that of being what could be described as the series Ingenue (the "sweet and innocent girl"), appear to have been taken over to the new character of Cream the Rabbit. However, she is extremely protective of her friends. Despite her violent tendencies, Amy has a very good heart, she never gives up, and is one of the most optimismic and cheery characters of the series.

Upon being asked by Sega.com if Sonic and Amy will ever get married, creator Yuji Naka said that "there will hardly be any chance, I bet. Amy will continue to pursue Sonic all the time, but Sonic will not ever get married. I think so, because I cannot picture the image of Sonic that he is married and has his children! Also, I feel it is a more Amy's style to always chase Sonic."

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is Amy's love-interest as she cares very deeply for the blue hedgehog and marvels at all his personal traits. Most often, Amy gets involved in the story while searching for Sonic or trying to find information about his whereabouts. She tends to plunge ahead at first glimpse of his figure, this prompting unusual confrontations as she embraced both Shadow the Hedgehog during the events of Sonic Adventure 2 as well as Silver the Hedgehog in Sonic '06, though the latter was dissolved as part of the storyline. Amy travels the world in pursuit of Sonic and won't hesitate to throw herself in the line of danger if it means protecting him. While Sonic appears to dislike her consistent approach of marriage, he values her as a very good friend and has been known to come to her rescue whenever she needs him.

Friends
Aside from Sonic, Amy converses with many other characters in the series.

Cream the Rabbit
Cream the Rabbit, Amy's best friend. Since Sonic Heroes, Cream and Amy are portrayed as best friends and they share a sister-like relationship, comparable to Sonic and Tails' brother-like friendship. This fact is strengthened by Sonic Advance 3, as when they are paired together, they are given the title "Team Jubilee" and serve as a female counterpart to Sonic and Tails' "Unbreakable Bond." The two also seem to frequent together almost completely throughout Sonic Battle, except when Emerl drags one of them away. Amy is also seen searching for Cream during the level Cryptic Castle in Shadow the Hedgehog which further suggests how much she cares for her.

Miles "Tails" Prower
Miles "Tails" Prower is a lot like a little brother figure toward Amy. Sometimes she is bossy with him and many other times, she is protective and defensive of Tails. Although, Amy will sometimes use Tails' close connections with Sonic to find out his whereabouts and/or some current events. Nonetheless, Amy and Tails are very good friends.

Knuckles the Echidna
Knuckles the Echidna is more of an associate with Amy than a good friend, only because they usually have the same enemy and need to work together. Aside from those events, the two will probably get into some kind of a dispute over what is going on. Nonetheless, they will save and help each other and can be considered as allies. In Sonic X, Amy sees Knuckles as a naive hothead, and their relationship is a bit more bitter.

Big the Cat
Big the Cat is the "muscle" of Team Rose, and an important member in the team. Amy sees that sometimes Big loses his courage, but she never lets him give up, because she knows that he is stronger than he looks.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Shadow the Hedgehog met Amy in Sonic Adventure 2 in an awkward confrontation when she mistook him for Sonic (hugging him). They met again on Space Colony ARK while the others were racing to the core of the colony to stop the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow initially intended to wait for the end to come, in course for the vengeance on the earth's people for the death of his only friend, Maria. However, Amy was able to convince him that life on the planet was basically good, thus Shadow remembered Maria's true last wish was to let all the people live good lives. He went on to supposedly sacrifice himself and was shown for the first and only time shedding a tear with only Amy as a witness. Since then Amy has apparently maintained a friendly attitude towards Shadow, even when his memory was not able to recall her after his return. During the events of Shadow the Hedgehog, Amy supported Shadow in Cryptic Castle and was heard cheering him on in both the Last Story and Expert Mode.

Blaze the Cat
When Amy first met Blaze in Sonic Rush she thought Blaze was interested in Sonic and told Blaze that Sonic is her man and she will take on anyone who tries to get between their "relationship." Blaze quickly opposed to Amy's misunderstanding; Cream explained to Amy that she was trying to get Blaze to ask for Sonic's help but really did not know him. Amy takes Cream's word and befriends Blaze immediately. Later on she helps to teach Blaze the value of friendship.

Silver the Hedgehog
Silver the Hedgehog immediately became friends with Amy in the intentions of searching for Sonic after a rather embarrassing first meeting. Unfortunately, when Amy saw Silver trying to kill Sonic, she without hesitation jumped in front of her love and protected him. Afterwards, she yells at Silver saying that Sonic would never do what he is accusing him of doing and angrily storms off. However, with Sonic dead at Mephiles' hands and the world distorted, the two put their differences aside to restore him. But once Solaris was defeated, all the events of their encounter were erased. So to this day, they have no idea of the other's existence.

Emerl
Emerl had a literal mother-son relationship with Amy, which she said "Hello, Emerl. I will be your new mommy!". In turn, Emerl responds "Mommy! Mommy!" After meeting the robot, Amy came to the assumption that Sonic was trying to tell her he got Emerl so they could start practicing raising a family together. Amy teaches Emerl boxercise and has him be her coach during her own exercise sessions.

E-102 Gamma
E-102 Gamma can be considered a friend of Amy's, since she managed to convince it to stop serving Dr. Eggman in Sonic Adventure. She also showed concern for Gamma, stopping Sonic from hurting it any further when they got into a fight.

Doctor Eggman (Ivo Robotnik)
Amy's main enemy is Doctor Eggman. They first met upon Eggman kidnapping her to use as bait for Sonic. Amy despises his machines and mechs and shows to be more violent and irritated against Eggman and his constant interference in the anime series Sonic X.

Rouge the Bat
Rouge the Bat also seems to hold a rivalry with Amy as demonstrated in Sonic Battle. This conflict seems to revolve around their opposite views and differences in age. Rouge sees Amy as being a young love-struck hedgehog who does not understand maturity, while Amy perceives Rouge as being an unscrupulous bat who is only interested in herself. While there is friction between the two, they seem to be able to tolerate one another and even show support for each other as in Shadow the Hedgehog when Amy relieved Rouge's concern for Shadow's wellbeing after the final battle in the Last Story.

Zero
One of Eggman's robots, Zero, seems to have been a sort of more active enemy to Amy in Sonic Adventure, where Zero kept trying to abduct the Flicky who followed Amy around, and chased both Amy and the bird around all of her stages. In the end though, Amy managed to destroy the robot in a battle, and the Flicky flew off with her parents.

Abilities
As with all the other hedgehogs of the series, she can run somewhat fast, and has been seen to roll into balls just like Sonic. She also can occasionally use the homing attack. Notably, she has never had access to any known form of super form in any media.

Amy also has tarot cards. She has been seen using them before her transformation to her older self. They have not been seen since then. She has been able to successfully tell the futures of Knuckles, Sonic, Tails, and unknown to her Shadow and Rouge. She apparently helped Sonic and Tails in battle by preddicting Eggmans robots movements and finding his weakness.

Amy in the beginning was always seen as the damnsel is distress. However, lately she has been seen helping, supporting or even protecting her friends. With her Piko Piko Hammer, tarot cards and strength she has come into a more stregthening feministic role. She is now, sometimes, unafraid to step into battle. Especially if its protecting Sonic or Cream.

The Piko-Piko Hammer
Also known as the Love Hammer in Sonic Battle in-game, Amy's Piko-Piko Hammer is based on a popular Japanese toy of the same name. They are common in Japanese comedy, where a person is often hit with the toy hammer, producing a loud "piko" sound. In western countries, it is known as a "squeaky hammer" or simply "toy hammer". In the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the Piko-Piko Hammer is Amy's weapon of choice. She usually uses it to defend herself and her friends, but she will also use it to threaten her friends if they annoy or anger her.

The Piko-Piko Hammer has several powerful abilities, including the power to create small tornadoes. Amy is also able to conjure multiple hammers, allowing her to continue attacking even if she has lost or thrown one. The hammer first appeared in Sonic the Fighters, where it appeared to be a toy squeaky mallet, which squeaked comically when it struck an enemy. By the time the hammer next appeared, it appears to be very hard indeed and instead of squeaking, it makes a distinct, less squeaky piko-piko sound. The size of the hammer is rarely represented at a constant rate, and can vary from being quite small to appearing too large to support or wield.

When using the hammer, Amy seems to "Conjure" it into existance, that is, she does not appear to carry it with her to the areas in which it is used. Aside from this, she seems to have access to an undisclosed quantity of hammers which she can access; In the anime Sonic X Amy seems to be able to pull the Piko-Piko Hammer out of thin air multiple times, once during the situation at the end of the 2nd season of the show when Doctor Eggman was disrupting everyone late at night: Amy threw her hammer at Doctor Eggman, severely denting his airship, before wielding another and going on to hurl a great quantity of the weapons at the ship.

TV Shows

 * In Sonic X (2003), she is voiced by Lisa Ortiz.

Video Games (US)

 * In Sonic CD (1993), she was voiced by Lynn Harris when she yelled "HELP!"
 * From Sonic Adventure (1999) up until after Sonic Advance 3 (2004), she was voiced by Jennifer Douillard.
 * As of Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), she is currently voiced by her Sonic X voice actor, Lisa Ortiz.

Japanese

 * Her Japanese voice actress is Taeko Kawata, but in Sonic Shuffle, Emi Motoi took over Amy's role.

Trivia

 * An allusion to Amy's Sonic CD dress might have been made in an early episode of Sonic X (Season 1).
 * Her Olympics outfit is similar to Helen's of Sonic X.

Theme songs
The games feature a few theme songs related to Amy. "My Sweet Passion" is a funk/pop song, while "Follow Me" is a pop rock song.


 * Sonic Adventure - "My Sweet Passion". It is sung by Nikki Gregoroff.
 * Sonic Heroes - "Follow Me". This theme is shared with Cream and Big, but it focuses almost entirely on Amy. In one point of the song there is a remix to a part of My Sweet Passion. It is sung by Kay Hanley.

Notes and references
In addition to information taken from the Sonic the Hedgehog games themselves, the instruction booklets of the US and Japanese versions of the games were also used as references for this article.

Gallery
Image:Amy.png|Amy Rose from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) Image:Amy 12.jpg|Amy Rose from Sonic Heroes (2004) Image:Amy0.jpg|Amy