Espio the Chameleon/History and appearances

Knuckles' Chaotix
Espio first appeared in Knuckles' Chaotix for the Sega 32X. In the English manual, he is described as the hot-headed friend of Knuckles the Echidna (the surprisingly sophisticated Charmy Bee is said to keep him from losing his temper) and is visiting "Carnival Island" when Dr. Robotnik attacks it. The Japanese manual states that Espio, a detective, went to investigate the mysterious island that emerged from the sea.

In both cases, he is attacked by Dr. Robotnik and Metal Sonic who try to capture him. Knuckles saves him from the two, and Espio automatically becomes his partner character for the training stage. After this, Espio can be chosen in the Combi Catcher prior to stages. Espio can walk on walls, ceilings, and use his own Whirl Attack instead of the common Spin Attack.

Sonic the Fighters
In Sonic the Fighters, Epsio had been entrusted to safeguard one of the Chaos Emeralds to keep Dr. Robotnik from abusing it. When Dr. Robotnik later constructed the Death Egg II, which he used to deploy hordes of robots to lay the world to the world with, Espio sent Tails an emergency message containing a video of the Death Egg II deploying its robot armies to help Sonic and Tails. Soon after, Espio joined the fighting tournament held to decide which one among the Chaos Emerald guardians was the strongest. If Espio could defeat all the contestants, he would earn the right to use all the Chaos Emeralds for Tails's single-seat Lunar Fox and travel to the Death Egg II and destroy it.

At the end of the tournament, the victor used the Chaos Emeralds to go to the Death Egg II and made it self-destruct moments after escaping it.

Sonic Heroes
In Sonic Heroes, Espio, Vector and Charmy have formed a detective agency (previously, only Espio was described as "a detective"). They are contacted by an anonymous client via a walkie-talkie that was delivered to them. Espio does not entirely trust the voice, but Vector and Charmy had accepted the assignment after they get promised a reward of money, with Espio tagging along anyway after Vector reminds him of their policy to never turn down work that pays. In the game, Espio is the speed member of Team Chaotix, meaning he can run quicker than the others and creates small whirlwinds for various purposes. Unlike the speed members of the other three teams, Espio can turn invisible, throw large shurikens (ninja stars) and stick to walls indefinitely. He and the other two also have a run-in with Team Dark and Team Rose, the former due to Rouge believing them to be after Eggman's treasure and their likewise believing that Team Dark are affiliated with Eggman, and the latter due to a misunderstanding that causes Cream to think they had abducted Chocola the Chao after Espio tells her to give Cheese over to him.

At the end of their story, the client is rescued from Eggman's base and turns out to be Dr. Eggman himself, to Espio's surprise. Eggman reveals that he had been betrayed and captured by the evil Neo Metal Sonic, who has gathered everyone's data and then transforms into Metal Madness shortly after. Team Chaotix had the Chaos Emeralds throughout the game, with Espio holding the red one. Team Chaotix then stalls Metal Madness in order to buy time for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to turn into their Super States. At the end of the game, Eggman tries to sneak away, but the Chaotix chase after him to collect their promised reward.

Shadow the Hedgehog
In Shadow the Hedgehog, Espio and Team Chaotix were working on a big case, one which details they did not share with outsiders.

Mad Matrix
As a part of their investigation, the Chaotix went to Dr. Eggman's base where Espio tried hacking Eggman's computer despite data retrieval not being his specialty. While Espio was being pestered to hurry by his team, Shadow arrived. Convinced to help them, Shadow opened a portal to the Mad Matrix, which Espio followed Shadow through upon Vector's order to get the info they sought from the databases. Inside cyberspace, Espio requested Shadow's aid for his mission.

In the Hero scenario where Shadow helps Espio, the two came across Eggman in his Egg Breaker, who fed Shadow with lies about his past. However, Espio convinced Shadow to focus on beating Eggman and provided support for him in the following battle.

Last Story
In the last story, the Chaotix had arrived on the Space Colony ARK, where Espio was chosen to hack the ARK's main computer to recover some data. As the team put pressure on Espio about the urgency of his work, though, Charmy lost his patience and rammed the computer. This resulted in the Chaotix getting access to a video by Gerald Robotnik which played all around the world and gave Shadow the determination to defeat the Black Arms once and for all.

Sonic Rivals 2
In Sonic Rivals 2, Espio was sent on a mission by Vector to gather evidence on Silver the Hedgehog who had been accused of kidnapping Chao. When Espio found Silver, though, the hedgehog noticed him. Failing to provide a decent cover for himself, Espio simply ran away from him. However, this called the attention of Metal Sonic nearby, whom Espio had to escape from as well, which culminated in a race between them.

Espio soon tracked Silver down again and introduced himself, but before he could question Silver, Dr. Eggman Nega appeared, initially disguised as Dr. Eggman but Silver called his bluff. Although confused, Espio worked with Silver to destroy Eggman Nega's Egg Liner despite inference from Shadow and Metal Sonic. Afterward, Espio returned to spying on Silver, although he started to question the hedgehog's intents. He later saw Sonic and Tails getting involved in the case as well and chased Tails down to try and get whatever info they had gathered on him and dissuade the duo from interfering, but failed. Espio finally confronted Silver with the Chao kidnappings, to which Silver replied it was to save the world. Before Espio could get answers about that, though, Eggman Nega attacked them with his Egg Crawler which he and Espio destroyed even as Sonic and Tails arrived on the scene.

After failing to follow Eggman Nega, Espio chose to believe in Silver's claims and promised to help him hide the Chao. They soon found Knuckles and Rouge with some Chao and they made a plan to distract them. To buy Silver time to get a Chao, Espio lured Rogue away with the Chaos Emerald she had just found. He soon agreed to a fight with Rouge over the ownership of the Emerald and the Chao, where Espio acquired the Chao despite losing the Emerald. Reuniting with Silver, the hedgehog revealed to Espio, since Espio had proven himself trustworthy, that Eggman Nega wanted to unleash a monster called the Ifrit on the world to destroy it. However, Eggman interrupted them with his Egg Dealer which the duo beat while contending with Knuckles and Rouge just as they arrived at the fight.

Soon after in another location, Espio had Silver elaborate that Eggman Nega wanted to feed the Chao to the Ifrit which would make the beast invisible. Seeing that Silver was exhausted, though, Espio agreed to find some Rings to recharge him. Seeing Sonic and Tails were collecting them, Espio cut Sonic off and got away with some of his Rings which helped rejuvenate Silver. Just then, though, Eggman Nega showed up with his Egg Bull while Sonic and Tails arrived to interrogate the doctor. In the end, the heroes beat the doctor.

Though Espio and Silver continued their hunt for Chao, Eggman Nega showed up to gloat that he already had enough Chao for the Ifrit and had hidden them in a secret room. Espio and Silver thus worked together to find the Chao, although Espio got slowed down by Rouge. Having failed to find the Chao, Espio reconvened with Silver, only to face Eggman Nega's Egg Phantom while contending with Shadow and Knuckles. Despite Espio and Silver emerging victorious, Eggman opened the portal to the Ifrit's dimension but saw that his Chao had been freed by Sonic and Tails. As Eggman Nega summoned Metal Sonic 3.0 to awaken the Ifrit, Espio and Silver followed it into the portal to stop the robot. When they did, though, they learned it was just a decoy and that the Ifrit had been awoken in the meantime. However, the portal started to close, so Espio and Silver kept the Ifrit from leaving its dimension and left Eggman Nega trapped in there with it.

Returning home, Espio thanked Silver for his help as they parted ways. Espio still ended up getting cited by Vector, however, as he had failed to complete his original assignment.

Sonic Colors
Espio appears in the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors, having been sent on a job with his team to investigate Eggman's theme park. Sonic and Tails run into him, as well as the other Chaotix, in Planet Wisp. The name "Espio" is also one of the default file names on the Wii version.

Sonic Generations
In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, Espio attended and helped prepare Sonic's surprise birthday party. As the party began, however, the Time Eater suddenly appeared and Espio was sucked into one of the Time Eater's Time Holes and ended up in the White Space, where he was turned into a statue due to the Time Eater's effects.

Eventually, Espio was returned to normal by Sonic and Classic Sonic. When the Sonics confronted the Time Eater in its domain, where the monster was revealed to be controlled by Dr. Eggman and Classic Eggman, Espio arrived at the place with the others and cheered on both Sonics, allowing them both to transform into Super Sonics. When the Sonics defeated the Time Eater, Espio, and the others were sent back to the time where Sonic's party was taking place. Resuming with the celebration, Espio later waved goodbye to Classic Sonic and Classic Tails when they returned to their own world.

Sonic Forces
In Sonic Forces, Espio and his colleagues were alongside those who formed the Resistance after Dr. Eggman defeated Sonic (and seemingly killed him) and began his conquest of the world. At some point after the takeover, Espio and Team Chaotix would organize the City's forces until Eggman invaded it a few days later. When a rookie soldier proved unable to help shore up defenses, Espio offered him a Burst Wispon. However, Espio took it back after the rookie accidentally shot Charmy. Espio and his allies soon after got thrown into an all-out battle when Eggman's robots breached the City's gate. Thankfully, the rookie was able to end the battle by damaging Eggman's invasion airship with a missile. Commending the rookie for his actions, Espio worked with his team to begin evacuation of the City.

After six months of warfare, during which the Resistance had failed to make much progress against the Eggman Empire, who had conquered over 99% of the world, Espio and the Resistance's other core members discussed how the people had become too terrified to fight back. Espio was then introduced to their newest recruit before learning from Rouge that Sonic was alive and being held hostage onboard the newly-rebuilt Death Egg. Espio and the others thus went to the Spaceport to steal a shuttle. During the attack, Espio warned his teammates that the "masked one" was there, but managed nonetheless to keep the enemies busy while the Resistance procured a shuttle. Espio and a squad of soldiers then went to the Death Egg, having discovered that Eggman had moved Sonic's execution ahead of schedule after catching wind of their rescue mission. On the Death Egg however, Espio and his unit were forced to deal with robots while trying to find their way out. Fortunately, the Avatar managed to find and rescue Sonic.

Espio later fought Eggman's forces at Seaside Hill before coming over to Park Avenue to stop an Eggman Army invasion. At first, Espio and his unit were too busy fighting enemies, but thanks to the Avatar, they were able to secure an escape route for the civilians while the Eggman Army withdrew. When Tails and Classic Sonic (who had been brought to Espio's dimension by Eggman's new power) later joined the Resistance, Espio learned of Eggman's plan to eliminate the Resistance in three days. Discovering a day later that Eggman's HQ in Metropolis was undermanned, Espio took part in Knuckles' full frontal assault on Metropolis. However, when Infinite (Eggman's new henchman) appeared and used his Phantom Ruby prototype to cast the Resistance's army into chaos, Espio's advice on living to fight another day led to the remaining Resistance army withdrawing from Metropolis.

In the aftermath, Espio and the Resistance launched another plan to destroy the Death Egg, the power supply for Eggman's Phantom Rubies, in order to shut these weapons down. The plan eventually succeeded, and Espio would watch the destruction of the Death Egg from the Resistance HQ. However, the Resistance discovered while capturing Metropolis that Eggman had a backup reactor for his Phantom Rubies underneath the Eggman Empire Fortress. With less than an hour before Eggman put his endgame into effect, Espio and the Resistance launched one final attack on Eggman's tower in hopes of stopping the Phantom Rubies. As they fought their way through the army of replicas, E-123 Omega came to their rescue when Infinite got ready to finish them off. It was then, however, that Infinite launched Eggman's plan: using his Phantom Ruby, he got ready to drop a sun on the Resistance and kill them all. While Espio was at a loss of what to do, the Avatar was able to neutralize Infinite's sun in the last second using a Phantom Ruby prototype. This allowed Espio and the rest to resume the war on the battlefield while Sonic and the Avatar destroyed Infinite and the Phantom Rubies' reactor. Eggman, however, had foreseen this and his used his original Phantom Ruby in conjunction with his Death Egg Robot to create thousands of replicas to overwhelm Espio and the rest with. Fortunately, Sonic, the Avatar and Classic Sonic beat Eggman and destroyed his robot, which made his replica army vanish and left the Resistance as the victors.

After watching Classic Sonic return to his own dimension now that the Phantom Ruby was gone, Espio and his friends followed Sonic's example and set out rid the world of all traces of Eggman's reign. At a last meeting in the HQ, Knuckles disbanded the Resistance as the Avatar announced their departure, whom Espio expressed his respect to. The friends then agreed with Tails that even though they were going back to their old lives, they would be friends forever and keep working together to restore the world.

Sonic Rivals
Espio appears as two collectible cards in Sonic Rivals.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Espio appears as one of the referees in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. It may have been that he was once supposed to be playable, but no evidence to that has been provided to date. He is playable to some extent through hacks of the game.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Espio appears once again as a referee in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. He is seen either standing next to the starting gate or firing a starting pistol. In the DS version, Espio will tell you how many white stones are left on Winter Island (Frostown, Polastraits, Icepeak). You can also unlock an Espio outfit that your Mii can wear.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Espio also appears again as a referee in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. His Mii costume can also be unlocked in the Blank Exchange, or given to you as a present.

Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
Espio returns as a referee in Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. He also appears as a cameraman.

Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Espio returns in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, being playable in the series for the first time.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Espio appears as a Sticker:

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Espio appears as a trophy:

Sonic and the Black Knight
Espio never actually appears in Sonic and the Black Knight, but one of the default file names given is "Espio".

Sonic Dash
In Sonic Dash, Espio makes an appearance as a playable character. In this game, he can be unlocked in the following ways:
 * Pay 10 Red Star Rings (Amazon version only)
 * Collect 100 Espio Character Tokens (Amazon Fire Phone only)
 * Collect 400 Espio Character Tokens (Windows Store only)
 * Buy online

Sonic Runners
In Sonic Runners, Espio is a playable Speed Type character in the game. In gameplay, he can use a triple jump and boost the number of collected Rings by 75%.

During the "Birthday on Windy Hill" event, Espio was going to Sonic's birthday party with Team Chaotix when they got kidnapped by Dr. Eggman. They soon escaped their holding place, but not before learning that Eggman plotted something in a nearby base. When they found Team Sonic, Espio, on Vector's order, used his camouflage skills to give Sonic a birthday surprise before telling them about Eggman. Though the info turned out to be a trap, Espio rejoined Sonic at the party after Eggman was beaten. There, he expressed gratitude at Sonic's efforts.

Sonic Runners Adventure
In Sonic Runners Adventure, Espio is a playable character that can be unlocked by spending 2000 Rings upon reaching level 5 in Green Hill. He retains his triple jump and the Speed/Chaotix-type from the predecessor, with the "Chaotix" bonus here changing 30% of Rings into Super Rings for a limited time.

Sonic Forces: Speed Battle
In Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, Espio is a playable character with the following stats that are applied in gameplay: