Big the Cat

"Froggy! Where are you?"

- Big

Big the Cat (ビッグ ・ザ ・キャット) is a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

He is the heaviest and largest non-metal character in the series. His character designer is either Yuji Uekawa, Takashi Iizuka or even Naoto Oshima.

History
Big was sleeping in his hut one night, when he woke up and saw that his friend, Froggy, had swallowed his lucky charm; the yellow Chaos Emerald. As soon as he noticed that Froggy had grown a tail, Froggy ran off, causing Big to chase after him. After trying to catch him in Twinkle Park, and then in Ice Cap, Big was able to catch Froggy on Emerald Coast, but E-102 Gamma caught him and ran away. Seeing that, Big tried to convince the robot to give him Froggy back, but without any positive results.

Later, Big went on board the Egg Carrier and after finding Froggy once again, he fished him in one of the many water tanks on the Hot Shelter. He was then teleported by Tikal into the past for a while, so she could pass him a message, just like she did to the other characters, about Chaos. In Big's case, he was shown just how important his "lucky charm" really was. When he got back to the present, he tried to get out of the Egg Carrier, but was caught by Doctor Eggman and Chaos 4, which then evolved to Chaos 6 when he absorbed Froggy (whose tail and Chaos Emerald had disappeared). Just then, Sonic appeared to the rescue. Big merely had to fish Froggy out of Chaos 6, leaving the rest to Sonic once he rescued his buddy. After leaving Chaos to Sonic, Big found the Tornado 2 and decided to fly home with it, crashing the plane right next to his house. However, that made the Chaos Emerald inside the Tornado 2 an easy target to Chaos when he was on a vicious rampage to gather all seven by himself. When Perfect Chaos destroyed the city of Station Square Big gave one of the seven Chaos Emeralds to Sonic so he could defeat him.

Other game appearances
He has an important role in Sonic Heroes. In this game he is the power type member of Team Rose and teams up with Amy Rose and Cream the Rabbit to find Froggy and Chocola who had recently vanished, supposedly kidnapped. After defeating the Egg Emperor on the Egg Fleet, the Eggman clone piloting the Mech turns into a puddle of liquid, and Chocola and Froggy rise out of it.

Big is playable in Sonic Shuffle for the Dreamcast as an unlockable bonus character.

Big makes several cameo appearances in Sonic Adventure 2, where can be found in most stages and boss fights, and even some cut-scenes. He was also unlockable as a character in 2-Player Mech Battle mode. Perhaps as a reference to the fact he replaces the Eggman option, he's humorously seated in Eggman's mech. In the GameCube version, almost all these cameos were removed, and in 2-player mode, he was replaced by Dark Chao. Big still appears in the game a few times if the player hits the buttons repeatedly during cut-scenes. Notable ones include the scene after the battle between Knuckles and Rouge is over, when Amy begs Shadow to help the others in the last episode, or during the scene in the same episode where Eggman is puzzling over why the cannon won't fire. Strangely enough, the GameCube version omits some of his appearances in the Hero Side story, including one exclusive scene where he peaks out of the helicopter as Sonic is ready to jump off.

Big cameos in Sonic Battle as well. Players can choose to link four Game Boy Advances together using link cables to play multiplayer games with only one game cartridge. In one of these mini games, Big can sometimes be seen fishing as he sits on the platform where the other characters battle.

Big makes a cameo appearance in Sonic Rivals as two collectible cards. Froggy also has one. He has a gallery section in Sonic and the Secret Rings. He appears in several missions in each level which usually mounts to two, if the player waits in the certain area for a few seconds Big will appear and a page will be unlocked. In each page it will feature him doing things will befriending a skeleton or lining up in a row of gargoyles and feeling out of place.

An item called the Big the Cat Mask appears in Sonic & the Black Knight. It has a 5-Star rarity.

Big has an appearance in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games acting as one of the referees.

Big is also a character in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. He still maintains his somewhat slow and dim nature, but is an invaluable ally due to his ability to safely make it through harsh environments with his Invulnerability. He has a side-quest revolving around finding Froggy's friend Norton. In battle, he has superior strength, but slow speed, being granted only 1 turn per round.

Big returns in the Wii version of Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games as a VIP character and a collectible decal. Once Big has been found as a VIP, a Mii costume of him can be purchased at the Boutique. In the Nintendo DS version, Big plays a part in the Adventure Tours.

Big is one of the playable characters in Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing.

Personality
Big is carefree and laid-back. He cares a lot for his friends, especially Froggy. He enjoys fishing and brings his rod with him wherever he goes.

Friends

 * Froggy (best friend)
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose (close friend; acts like an older brother to her)
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Cream the Rabbit (close friend; acts like an older brother to her)
 * Cheese the Chao
 * Tikal the Echidna
 * Chaotix
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Shade the Echidna
 * E-123 Omega

Enemies

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic
 * Chaos
 * Ix the Echidna

Abilities and weaknesses
Big's abilities include using his strength to lift, push, carry and throw heavy objects, and use his body (usually his stomach) to crush his opponents and objects. He can use his fishing rod to fish and attack an enemy (known as Lure Attack), and its power is increased with the Power Rod. Its power can also be raised with level-ups (there are 4 in all). In Sonic Heroes, he is able to swirl his rod around and when powered up, it has a fire trail. When Big acquires the Life Belt, he can float on water and dive underwater. Big can also use his rod as an umbrella to float on a fan with Amy and Cream. When Big uses Flower Festival with Cream and Amy, he pushes them up with his umbrella. He is also able to poison enemies with the help of Froggy.

With Big's size, he does not move as quickly as the other characters, but he seems to have excessive speed in Sonic Heroes. In Sonic Adventure, Big does not have many abilities and his attacks aren't as powerful as the other characters, but despite his size, he can climb up ladders very fast. Along with being the fastest ladder climber in Sonic Adventure, Big seems to have more advanced climbing capabilities than the others like Sonic himself. This has been proven by several pictures in Secret Rings where he easily climbed the main mast of a pirate ship. His massive body size makes him an easy target.

His strength and near-invulnerability makes him hard to take down and impervious to dangerous substances like poison gas. There are times when he gets so giddy that anything coming at him just bounces right off him. The following is a list of POW moves Big has in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood:

His main weakness is also a strength in certain situations - his low intelligence, most of the time he says things that don't help much and sheering at something without understanding what it means. In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, it was the reason why Big was immune to Voxai mind control.
 * Lure Whip (ルアーウイップ): Big hooks his line to a target's feet and pulls it down, stunning it.
 * Battering Ram (Cat Punch キャットパンチ): Big punches an enemy with his fists three times, distracting the foe.
 * Taunt (Provocation ちょうはつ Chouhatsu): Big gets the attention of an enemy and fortifies himself when the foe attacks him.
 * Froggy Poison (Frog Poison フロッグポイズン): Froggy jumps off Big and kisses a foe, poisoning the one who got the smooch.
 * Feel No Pain (Exciting エキサイティング): Big gets so fired up about the fight, any incoming attacks heal him instead of damage him.
 * Froggy Rain (Frog Rain フロッグレイン): Big asks Froggy to summon his friends, who then drop down on all enemies.

Sonic X
Big has a minor role in the anime Sonic X. Notably, he is the first character to appear in the series, as he is seen sleeping by a river with Froggy in the beginning of episode 1. His most notable appearance was during the Sonic Adventure adaption, where he played the same role as he did in the game. At the start of the series, he was apparently caught in the Chaos Control explosion that transported the main characters from their world to Earth. However, he did not make another appearance until a second Chaos Control event brought several locations from their world to Earth. It is unknown if Big somehow remained on his homeworld until the second event, or if he had been on Earth the entire time.

Sonic the Comic
In Sonic the Comic, Big makes a single-panel appearance when Chaos, drained of power and restored to its original fish form, lands next to Big, who is fishing in those waters, prompting him to turn and mumble "Hmmm?"

Writer Nigel Kitching has said that he was determined to include Big in the comic. He felt that Big resembled a Miyazaki character and would have loved to build him up into a real personality, but the comic's cancellation prevented this.

In the "unofficially official" continuation of the comic, named Sonic the Comic - Online!, Big has fished out Chaos - who he calls "Buddy" - and the two form an unlikely partnership, with Big unwittingly being used to help Chaos regain his powers. This ended after the encounter with The King Of Ghosts in the Haunted Hill Zone mines; Big, having commented several times in the story that he was hungry, finally looks at Chaos while licking his lips and saying "Really hungry..."

Big would later run afoul of the crime syndicate The Family, and was forced to work for them as a chef to pay off his debts. This quickly resulted in him owning and running his own restaurant, "Buddy's Bistro", with Chaos (not eaten after all) used as the business mascot. The Bistro is a favored spot of Amy Rose, though Big is left confused by concepts like cafe latte's and how to spell "chips".

Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie comic)
In Sonic the Hedgehog, the Archie comic, Big makes an appearance during the Sonic Adventure adaptation. While he used to live in the Mysterious Cat Country, he now resides in Knothole as he appears in numerous crowd scenes and has also played the role of Eggman in a play for the children.

Sonic X (Archie comic)
In the Sonic X comic book, Big appears in Paris, when Sonic and the rest of the gang are on the World Fair. He punches Doctor Eggman in the face when he recognizes him, and later he helped Sonic and the others defeat Eggman's robots who were on the loose.

As gentle and harmless as Big may appear to be, when Dr. Eggman was threatening to harm Froggy, or certain people Big cared about, Big responded to that with a square punch to Eggman's face, knocking him down and out.

Later, he appeared in a party in Chris's house, and when Chuck discovers the existence of a Chaos Emerald inside a meteor that crashes in the South Pole, and makes a team with Sonic and Knuckles, in a race.

Voice actors

 * In Sonic Adventure and Sonic Shuffle, his Japanese voice is done by Shun Yashiro.
 * In Sonic Heroes and Sonic X, his Japanese voice is done by Takashi Nagasako.
 * In the American version of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle, and Sonic Heroes, his voice is done by Jon St. John.
 * In the American version of Sonic X, he is voiced by Oliver Wyman.

Theme Songs

 * Sonic Adventure, Lazy Days (Livin' in Paradise) - Ted Poley
 * Sonic Heroes, Follow Me (This theme song is shared with Amy and Cream) - Kay Hanley

Memorable quotes

 * "Aww, NOW what am I gonna do?" - Big after every time he loses Froggy in Sonic Adventure
 * "I think my eyes are broken! Oh, wait, no, they're just closed." - Big in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
 * "We could give Big some ice-cream!" - Big after being asked for suggestion in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
 * "Is your name Froggy? No, your name is Sonic. So-nic!" After Sonic asks if Big was talking to him in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
 * "I have an idea!...Er, group hug?" - Big in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
 * "FROGGY!" Whenever he is looking for Froggy.
 * "Froggy where are you?" Big says this numerous times when he is looking for the frog in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Okie Dokie." Big says this instead of Ok in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Wait for me, Froggy!
 * "Froggy come home" He says this in Sonic Heroes.
 * "It's not nice to tease my friends." He says this when encountering Team Chaotix.

Artwork
 File:Big 1.png|Sonic Adventure File:Big 4.png|Sonic Adventure DX File:Officialbig.png|Sonic Heroes File:Sonicchannel big.png|Sonic Channel File:Big 3.png|Sonic X File:Big 5.png|Sonic X File:Big 6.png|Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood File:Big 8.png| Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing File:616px-ASR Big.png|Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing 

Trivia

 * In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Big is the only non-optional character to not be affected by the Voxai Overmind's brainwashing (likely due to his low intelligence). He is also the only Support-Class character who has a damaging POW move.
 * In Sonic and the Secret Rings, he is also the only character aside from Sonic himself to not take the name of an Arabian Nights Character. It was revealed in Big's journal that apparently Shahra transported him to the world of the Arabian Nights as well, most likely on accident.
 * Big the Cat is the only playable character of Sonic Heroes not to appear in Shadow the Hedgehog.
 * In Sonic and the Black Knight you can unlock a Big the Cat mask for Sonic.
 * Big is one of the tallest and heaviest non-metal Sonic characters.
 * In Sonic The Comic: Online, when "The Family" were trying to kill Big, Big revealed a hidden ability to catch bullets in mid-air with very little effort. Something not even Sonic can do.
 * In Sonic Heroes, Big speaks with an accent which has not yet been confirmed.
 * In Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, the only Sonic-character to have his name written fully in the racing standings is Big the Cat. It is written "Big the Cat" instead of other characters written such as "Tails" and "Shadow".