Egg Gunner

"The Egg Gunner makes up the backbone of Dr. Eggman’s mech army. This versatile robot has a propulsion system that allows it to hover in the air and quickly change position, tracking enemy targets with the machine guns fastened to each arm."

- Sonic the Hedgehog: Official Game Guide

The Egg Gunner is an enemy that appears in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). They are a model of mechs created by Dr. Eggman and made up the backbone of Eggman's mech army during the doctor's operations to control Solaris. Much like the Egg Pawns, they are versatile and come with an assortment of equipment.

Appearance
Breaking away from Eggman's traditional desgin, the Egg Gunners are humanoid and highly futuristic robots over two meters tall. They have an almost triangular and slim torso with a pronounced chest area, legs with knees bending backwards, and three-toed hook-like feet. They also have a small machine gun for the left hand and a missile launcher for the right hand. On their backs they have a propulsion system shaped as two joined disks, and their heads are shaped like disks with a glowing light blue line on the front for eyes.

The Egg Gunners are predominantly black with white formfitting-plating covering their legs, front torso and white round plates on their shoulders. Their heads are white with a black stripe and the midsections of their arms and pelvis are completely white. Additionally, they have a light on the left side of their chest.

Powers and abilities
The Egg Gunners are versatile and come equipped with useful skills. They possess a propulsion system on their backs and jet modules on their legs which allow them to hover and fly through midair at speeds matching or even surpassing Sonic's running speed. For their left hand they have a Vulcan Cannon machine gun that lets them fire fast, albeit weak, rounds of shots, and for their right hand they have a missile launcher that launch more powerful, but slower missiles. However, they lack sufﬁcient armor and are therefore quite fragile.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
The Egg Gunners made their first appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). They are one of the game's most common enemy, appearing in nearly every Action Stage, excluding Crisis City, Flame Core and End of the World (early screenshots and demos of the game also showed Egg Gunners in Crisis City). Usually, they can be found on the ground, but they will sometimes also use their hover ability to chase after the player when grinding or in Super-Speed Stages.

In gameplay, Egg Gunners will quickly change position and track the playable characters where they will attack them with either their machine guns or missiles. If hit by an Egg Gunner's round, the player will only lose one Ring per hit, making it easy to escape or launch a counterattack, but being hit by the same rounds from multiple Egg Gunners can deplete the Rings quickly. Getting hit by their missiles will cause the player to lose all their Rings, though these missiles can be grabbed by Silver's Psychokinesis. Nevertheless, they only take one attack to be destroyed.

Sega Superstars Tennis
The Egg Gunners reappeared again in Sega Superstars Tennis. They have a minor role in the game, and they play very few times. They are seen alongside Metal Sonic in the game. Instead of guns and missiles, they are armed with electric spiked balls that relieve their opponents of ten rings when the balls strike.

Egg Lancer
The Egg Lancer is an advanced edition of the Egg Gunner. In addition to having a tougher armor, they come equipped with twin energy cannons—one ﬁtted to each arm—that release beams capable of homing in on a target. They only appear in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

Egg Stinger
The Egg Stinger is an upgraded version of the Egg Gunner. While not possessing a tougher armor, they are equipped with a cannon on each arm that ﬁres powerful rockets. They only appear in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

Egg Gunner
The yellow variant of the Egg Gunners is a much stronger version of the regular models. They possess surprisingly tough armor and are equipped with a large missile launcher on each arm that fire large and powerful missiles. They only appear in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

Trivia

 * The strategy guide for Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Sonic th Hedgehog: Official Game Guide, states that the Egg Gunners have two machine guns for arms. This is incorrect, as they have one machine gun and the other arm is a missile launcher.
 * The Egg Gunner family bears a striking resemblance to the E-100 series, albeit more streamlined and realistic. The Egg Gunner in particular most resembles E-102 Gamma, due to the single mounted gun on the right hand. They also have a closer visual relation with Gun Hunters.