Health Gauge

The Health Gauge is a recurring game mechanic in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Like the traditional game gauges, Health Gauges are an attribute assigned to game characters, enemies and playable characters alike, that indicate their physical health. When the Health Gauge of a player character reaches zero, the player is defeated. When the HP of an enemy reaches zero, the player might be rewarded in some way.

Description
The Health Gauge is an energy bar that appears in gameplay. Its exact design depends on the game and in which contexts it is used. Its function is to measure the remaining health of an entity in the games it appears in. Health is usually measured in a finite number of Health Points, often shortened as HP. When an entity with a Health Gauge takes damage, usually from enemy attacks or hazardous obstacles, the Health Gauge will be depleted by a certain amount. Should the Health Gauge be depleted completely, the entity will become incapacitated.

In the playable characters' case, the Health Gauge replaces the Ring health system in the games they appear in. In all cases, the player's Health Gauge is displayed on the HUD. The amount of health players lose with each hit depends on the strength of the hit's source, and sometimes the player's own defense. If the playable character's Health Gauge should reach zero, the player will defeated and often lose a life, causing them to restart from the beginning of the latest battle/level or from the last qualified checkpoint. Should their Health Gauge be depleted, the players can in most cases restore their health by different means, often by collecting Rings and power-ups, certain techniques or something else entirely. In general, the different methods of regenerating health depends on the game's genre. In action games, this method is very quick, whereas fighting- and RPG games feature slower paced methods to match the gameplay and realism. In certain games, it is also possible for the player's to increase the amount of HP their Health Gauges can carry by means depending on the game.

In enemies' case, the Health Gauge serves to display how many hits the player have left to defeat enemies or bosses. The display of enemy Health Gauges are slightly more flexible. In regular Sonic games, modern bosses may have their own Health Gauges displayed on the HUD while lesser enemies may have their Health Gauges displayed above them as intangible icons. In certain fighting- and RPG games however, the Health Gauges for bosses and enemies may be displayed in the same manner as the player's. The amount of health enemies lose when damaged by the player also depends on the games and situation. In some cases, player's attacks can only take a certain amount of health from specific opponents (e.g. a grunt like the Egg Buster always loses 1/3 of total health when hit, while a boss like the Hot Shot will always lose 1/4 of total health), while in others, the player can take away more health the stronger the playable character's attributes or moves are. In a few games, both cases may even apply; in the battle with Solaris in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), the Arrow of Light can away more of Solaris' health with one shot than the Spear of Light can, and in Sonic Unleashed, Sonic the Hedgehog's attacks always take away the same amount of health while Sonic the Werehog's Skill take away more health the higher the Werehog's parameters are. When a lesser enemy's Health Gauge is depleted the enemy will be destroyed, and when a boss's Health Gauge is depleted the player will have cleared the boss fight. Unlike playable characters, it is only under rare circumstances that opponents can restore their own Health Gauge; examples are like when failing to success a QTE against lesser enemies and bosses of Sonic Unleashed.

SegaSonic the Hedgehog
The first incarnation of the Health Gauge appeared in the arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog. In this game, they are used by the playable characters Sonic, Mighty and Ray. Their Health Gauges appear on the bottom of the screen, just next to their respective character icon, where they are displayed as simple blue bars. The player can replenish them by picking up Rings.

Sonic Adventure
In Sonic Adventure, and its remake Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, the Health Gauge is utilized not only by playable characters, but also by boss characters for the first time which would be a recurring feature throughout Sonic the Hedgehog series since then. In this game, it is a white-framed gauge with a cyan energy bar. Its background is colored grey for bosses and red for playable characters.

The Health Gauge is only used by the Tornado/Tornado 2 during the Sky Chase Acts. Here, it appears in the lower left corner of the screen. When it comes to boss battles, the Health Gauge appears in the upper right corner of the screen, and it will always lose a set fraction of health when the bosses take a hit.

Sonic Adventure 2
In Sonic Adventure 2 and its remake Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, the Health Gauge, also referred to as the HP Gauge. is used by both playable characters and bosses alike, much like in Sonic Adventure.

In the playable characters' case, the Health Gauge is used by the characters for the Shooting Battle Stages. This version of the Health Gauge is displayed on the bottom of the screen and resembles a grey rectangle with a blue energy bar and black lines along the upper rim. Its energy bar changes color according to the gauge's capacity: at 100-50% capacity it is blue, at less than 50% capacity it is yellow, and when critical it is red. To refill the Health Gauge, the player can either collect Rings or a Health Item Box power-up. In Dr. Eggman's case, the Health Gauge can be increased by 1/7 its original size with the Protective Armor. It will also turn the Health Gauge's bar dark blue.

In the bosses' case, the Health Gauge is displayed in the upper left corner of the screen and resembles a transparent white-framed rectangle with a dark blue energy bar and the word "Enemy" below it. Like in Sonic Adventure, this Health Gauge will always lose a set fraction of health when the bosses take a hit. Additionally, its energy bar will turn red when the bosses' health turns critical.

Sonic Heroes
Sonic Heroes introduced the concept of standard enemies that require more than one hit to defeat. These enemies will often have a health indicator to show how many hits are required to defeat the enemy. This type of feature too was carried on to future games such as Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Unleashed.

Sonic Rush
In Sonic Rush, only bosses are given Health Gauges. In this game, the Health Gauge appears on the Nintendo DS's Touch Screen and is displayed as a horizontal row of yellow segments representing the number of hits the player has to land. For each hit landed, a segment will turn grey. On Easy mode, the number of segments are six, and on Normal Mode, the number of segments are eight.

Sonic Rush Adventure
In Sonic Rush Adventure, like in Sonic Rush, the Health Gauge is reserved for bosses only. In this game, they are presented as black gauges with a red energy bar on the bottom of the screen (which screen depends on the gameplay). Also, on their left end is the word "BOSS" and a skull.

Sonic Unleashed
The Night-time Stages in Sonic Unleashed, Sonic becomes Sonic the Werehog. In this state he is slow, yet powerful and has much more high endurance depicted as a Life Gauge (Called Vitality in the Wii version). Instead of losing rings, being harmed cause Sonic to loose a portion of health, but collecting rings restores a small portion of his health.

During Night-time stages, unique power-ups resembling golden rings, but with a green eight-pointed star in their centers, can refill the Health Gauge. They can be found in barrels, crates and other various breakable containers.