Big the Cat

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. After defeating the God of Destruction, Big found the Tornado 2 and decided to fly home with it, crashing the plane right next to his house. 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, supposingly kid-napped. After defeating the Egg Emperor on the Egg Fleet, the Egg Man 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 cutscenes. He was also unlockable as a character in 2-Player Mech Battle mode, where he used Eggman's mech. All these cameos were removed in the Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, the GameCube remake.

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 usaully 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.

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

Big has also been confirmed to appear in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, acording to the developers Big will also be more developed in character. He will be more intelligent and more sensitive. He is, surprisingly, a Support Class character.

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
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Cheese the Chao
 * Vanilla the Rabbit
 * Tikal the Echidna
 * Chaotix
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Shade

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 the Flower Festival with Cream and Amy, he pushes them up with his umbrella. He is also able to poison enemies in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

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 cababilities than the others like Sonic himself, this is proved by several pictures in Secret Rings where he easily climbed the main mast of a pirate ship.

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?"

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 (a fat cat and a big fish), 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...". It is assumed that he ate him, but it is possible that it was simply a joke by the writers and that both Chaos and Big are still around.

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 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, and 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 team with Sonic and Knuckles, in a race.

It is likely that he will be back for other stories in the future, in both comic books.

Voice actors

 * In Sonic Adventure and Sonic Shuffle, his japanese voice is done by Syun Yashiro.
 * In Sonic Heroes and the upcoming Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, 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 and the upcoming Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, he is voiced by Oliver Wyman.