Chaos Emerald


 * For Super Sonic's Extreme Gear board from Sonic Riders, see Chaos Emerald (Extreme Gear).

The Chaos Emeralds (カオスエメラルド) are seven powerful Emeralds from the Sonic the Hedgehog video games. The Chaos Emeralds have mystical properties and abilities, and the holder of them all can use them for a large variety of things, such as transforming into a powerful "super form", powering machines, and warping time and space. Each Emerald can transform thoughts into power which make them an everlasting source of energy and allow them to float in the air. The type of energy the Emeralds produce is based on the thoughts (positive thoughts create positive energy, negative thoughts create negative energy), and these energies can be drawn from the Emeralds without physical contact. After the conclusion of a story, the Emeralds tend to scatter themselves across the world (or to Special Stages), and as such characters often collect them throughout the games. While they were more like "bonus" items in the early games of the series, the Chaos Emeralds became necessary plot devices in Sonic Adventure, and that trend has continued throughout the later 3D games.

Background




The Chaos Emeralds' background is shrouded in mystery, and they are known to have existed for a millennia, along with the larger Master Emerald. The games and comics have revealed that both the Echidna and Babylon civilizations that existed thousands of years prior to the games knew about the Chaos Emeralds, along with the Black Arms, who have visited Earth for at least 2,000 years. The civilization that created Emerl over 4,000 years prior to the games is also known to have been experimenting with the Chaos Emeralds. The Chaos Emeralds were named such by the remaining Echidnas due to their connection with Chaos, who destroyed their civilization.

According to Sonic Adventure, the ancient saying associated with the Chaos Emeralds and the larger Master Emerald is "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power. Power is enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos." The meaning of this saying is further clarified in Sonic Adventure 2 by the Master Emerald's power to neutralize the Chaos Emeralds, and in Sonic the Hedgehog where their ability is described as being able to "transform thoughts into power."

While the Chaos Emeralds can lie around basically anywhere, they can quite often be found in Special Stages (also known as "The Special Zone"), strange alternate dimensions. Even alone, their power is unmatched by anything else in the universe; except perhaps by the Master Emerald, which is just as powerful as all seven Chaos Emeralds, if not more.

The Chaos Emeralds in themselves are usually used for laser radii or nuclear-based weapons of mass destruction (in Doctor Eggman's case), Chaos Powers (normally the case with Shadow the Hedgehog), and letting people turn into their Super forms (pretty much everyone). The energy can also be given from one super form to another character to allow that person to achieve a super form of his own (for example, at the end of Sonic Heroes and Sonic the Hedgehog).

Although Sonic is seen at the end of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game allowing the Emeralds to return to their original places, it is not known why the Chaos Emeralds need collecting at the beginning of every game (except, of course, for the purpose of game dynamics).

However, there is one exception to this explanation. During the opening sequence for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (if you chose Sonic or Sonic & Tails as your character choice), Sonic is in possession of all seven of the Chaos Emeralds at the beginning. This is evident when he leaps off the Tornado and falls off-screen only to come racing across the ocean as Super Sonic before making his way onto Angel Island. There, Knuckles steals the Chaos Emeralds and hides them from Sonic so that he has to search from scratch like all other games. Thus, another explanation could possibly be that Sonic himself hides them so their power won't fall into the wrong hands, and so all of them won't be in one group for "easy picking." This is also backed up by the Sonic X series in its final season where Sonic scattered the Chaos Emeralds throughout the universe while he was in his Super form so the Meterex wouldn't get a hold of them. Another reason why the Chaos Emeralds are spread is because they have magnetic forces, so they tend to scatter themselves.

Because of the huge power emanating from each emerald, creating radars to track them are relatively simple (Rouge, Tails and Eggman all had one in Sonic Adventure 2, and Tails used one again in Sonic Riders). Each emerald is linked to each other, and as Tails describes, act like magnets attracting each other, allowing him to discover Eggman's location on the ARK. Knuckles also seems to have the natural ability to sense an Emerald's power(for example in Sonic Rush, where he mistakes the Sol Emeralds for the Chaos Emeralds).

Role in the games
Throughout most of the early games, Doctor Eggman tries to get his hands on the Chaos Emeralds in order to fuel his doomsday weapons. The player can choose to collect the Emeralds in their Special Stages in order to unlock a "good ending", a super form, or both. The Chaos Emeralds have gained a more important part of the plot in later games.



In Sonic Adventure, the Chaos Emeralds were collected by Eggman in order to feed Chaos, the guardian of the Chao and Emeralds, and that changed form every time it received one of the gems. With all seven, it became Perfect Chaos, and used up all of the negative energy in the Emeralds before dropping the powerless and dull emeralds onto the ground. Sonic then picked all seven up and used the positive energy to become Super Sonic and destroy Perfect Chaos. Also in the game, Tikal the Echidna states that "The 7 Emeralds can change our thoughts into power", and that the Master Emerald controls that power.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic and Shadow had the ability to use the Chaos Emeralds to utilize "Chaos Control", an ability that alters time and space to teleport or freeze time. Interestingly, Sonic at one point uses the Chaos Control ability with a fake Emerald that had the same properties as a normal one, but less power.

In Sonic Heroes, the gameplay pays homage to classic elements, so it goes back to a way of collecting the Chaos Emeralds in special stages to unlock the Last Stage. In that stage, Sonic becomes Super Sonic, and he gave some of his energy to Tails and Knuckles, giving them Super Shields.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, the Emeralds were found throughout the stages again (again, Special Stages weren't used), and Shadow collected all 7 by the end of the game, only to let them be stolen by the evil alien Black Doom, who used them to Chaos Control the Black Comet to Earth's surface. Shadow then got the Chaos Emeralds back and transformed into Super Shadow in order to destroy Black Doom and teleport the Black Comet into space to be destroyed by the Space Colony ARK's Eclipse Cannon, the cannon itself using the Chaos Emeralds as its power source.

In Sonic Rush the Chaos Emeralds are necessary to access the final stage of the game. Special Zones make a return as a way to find the Emeralds. The Emeralds are shown to have an inter-dimensional counterpart, the Sol Emeralds, with similar powers. The Chaos and Sol Emeralds' powers are shown to come from the positive emotions of their wielders in this game and they are used by both Sonic and Blaze to transform into their Super Forms.

In the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog, the Emeralds fully take on the power to "transform thoughts into power", just as the Master Emerald was said to be capable of doing in Sonic Adventure. These emeralds appear slightly smaller in size, and give off gleaming sparks of light of their respective colors, and are given the additional title of "miracle gems". In the time-frame of the game's events, Sonic and Shadow discover that Chaos Control performed in close range by two individuals at the same time with an Emerald each creates a rift in time and space, allowing each of them to mentally choose a desired place and time, with which they can reach by entering the rift. Princess Elise's father, the Duke of Soleanna, also proves in this game that animals and robots aren't the only ones able to access the power of the Emeralds, by using a single emerald to chant and seal the newly born Iblis into his daughter's soul, so long as she abstain from crying, with the only other stipulation being that the vessel must be of royalty. Mephiles succeeds in mass-producing duplicates of himself using two Emeralds, and showing Silver a fabricated vision of a smug-looking Sonic surrounded in flames, through the Emerald itself. Only six of the chaos emeralds appeared in this game: the green emerald (which Shadow and Rouge found whilst exploring crisis city in the future. they then used it along with the cyan emerald to go back to the present while Shadow stayed in the future to battle Mephiles. Rouge then gave the chaos emerald to E123-Omega to give to Shadow in the future so as to escape Mephiles. Mephiles later used its power along with the yellow emerald to battle Shadow), the blue emerald (which was owned by Elise who then gave it to Sonic when she was captured. Sonic then gave it to Eggman so as to ensure Elise's release. Eggman then put the emerald into his Egg Genesis which Silver and Blaze defeated and obtained the emerald themselves. Silver then gave it to younger Elise in the past as a good luck charm, which showed how Elise came to possess it in the present), the yellow emerald (which Mephiles went after at the end of Shadow's storyline and used to battle Shadow in conjunction with the green emerald), the white Emerald (which the Duke of Soleanna sealed Iblis inside Elise's body with. The duke then gave the Emerald to Silver right before he died which Silver used to go back to the future so as to seal Iblis. Blaze then used it and the cyan Emerald to seal Iblis away into a different dimension), the cyan Emerald (which Sonic and Shadow obtained from defeating Iblis so as to go back to the future. Sonic then gave the Emerald to Silver, which Blaze used in the future along with the white Emerald to seal Iblis away) and the purple emerald (which Mephiles was shown to have the entire way through the series). The red emerald meanwhile was never seen in the main storylines until the last story. Mephiles also somehow uses some sort of "shortcut" when he uses the purple Emerald in his possession to warp all six of the other Emeralds to his location, possibly using the magnetic properties of the Emeralds, and uses their full power to begin his and Iblis' transformation into Solaris. Sonic's friends then have to search through the world's end for each of the emeralds: Tails: Yellow, Omega: White, Knuckles: Green, Silver: Cyan, Rouge: Purple, Amy: Blue, Shadow: Red. Lastly, Elise, sharing the hopes and desires of the remaining cast (possibly even including Eggman) to bring Sonic back to the land of the living, uses all seven Chaos Emeralds to bring Sonic back to life, in the form of Super Sonic, who thanks Elise and shares his power with fellow hedgehogs Shadow and Silver.

In Sonic Riders, the first one to be seen was stolen by the Babylon Rogues but it is unknown which one it was. After that, the only time they are featured was as the entry fee for the World Grand Prix and when Jet 'won' the race and used the emeralds as Eggman instructed to raise the Babylon Garden from Sand Ruins.

In Sonic Rush Adventure it is suggested by Blaze that the Chaos Emeralds have a mind of their own. They appear in her dimension for no indicated reason and one must race Johnny for the Chaos Emeralds, although it is possible that Sonic had them with him before he arrived in the Sol Dimension and they scattered during the transition (note that the Chaos Emeralds in the Sol Dimension would likely have the same effect as the Sol Emeralds in the Chaos Dimension as shown in Sonic Rush)

The Emeralds did not appear in Sonic and the Secret Rings; instead they were replaced by the seven World Rings which instead of containing positive and negative energy each one contained one emotion that make ups the stories. The emotions are Prayers, Rage, Sadness, Hatred, Joy, Pleasure and Wishes. Each ring was collected by Sonic, but as his life was meant to be the sacrifice to gain full control, Shahra gave her life to save his which resulted in him using the Rage, Hatred and Sadness rings to become Darkspine Sonic.

In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, the emeralds are stolen one-by-one by the lost clan of echidnas known as the Nocturnus (who are often referred to as "the Marauders") in order to use their magnetic relationship with the Master Emerald to attract the Master Emerald & Angel Island itself to their base of operations. The Chaos Emeralds later are taken by Ix into the Twilight Cage, and distributed amongst the Kron (to power their factory), the Zoah (as a power-source for a secret weapon to use against the N'rrgal), the N'rrgal (as a weapon against the Zoah), the Voxai Overmind, and Ix's two Gizoid prefects, Scylla and Charyb. At the end of the game, the emeralds are all brought back together and Sonic uses them to become Super Sonic and battle a Master Emerald-empowered Ix.

In Sonic Unleashed, after being caught by an early design of Eggman's "Egg Dragoon", Sonic summons the power of the Chaos Emeralds and becomes Super Sonic to destroy Eggman's fortress. However, Eggman traps Super Sonic in a machine which removes the emeralds from him, reversing his super transformation and drains the emeralds of all of their power in order to power his laser weapon designed to awaken and release Dark Gaia from the planet. From there, the emeralds are left completely black and powerless, and are taken by Sonic and Light Gaia to the seven sacred shrines on different parts of the planet. The emeralds' powers are restored one-by-one, and the seven continents are put back into place as each emerald is restored. At the end of the game, while inside each of the shrines, Light Gaia asks the Chaos Emeralds to bring the shrines to him, and the emeralds, as well as the shrines, appear inside the core of the planet, with the shrines combining together to build the Gaia Colossus, which Light Gaia controls via his own power. The Chaos Emeralds are lastly used by Sonic to become Super Sonic.

All seven Chaos Emeralds can also be seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl when Sonic transforms into Super Sonic and when he turns back to normal. The Chaos Emeralds can also be seen on Super Sonic's trophy. In one of Sonic victory poses Sonic is seen holding the blue Chaos Emerald.

In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, the Chaos Emeralds appear in the Dream Figure Skating (Sonic) event. The players team must recover the emeralds from Flappers and then use them to defeat a frozen version of the monster, Perfect Chaos.

Artificial Emeralds
It is possible to create synthetic Chaos Emeralds with the same wavelength and properties as the originals, but with less power. This has been proven by Tails in Sonic Adventure 2 and by both Tails and the Metarex in Sonic X. However, the Metarex-made Emeralds seem to phase out after use, becoming fragile and useless.The Metarex-made Emeralds seem only to have negative energy inside them as Sonic became Dark Sonic because he was using negative chaos energy only.

Sol Emeralds
The Sol Emeralds are the equivalent jewels from Blaze the Cat's dimension, appearing in Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure.

Guardians
The Chaos Emeralds were originally guarded by Chaos, a Chao that had mutated due to contact with the Chaos Emeralds, and that protected both the Emerald Shrine and the other Chao that lived there. Knuckles guards them as well as the Master Emerald.

Tikal found Chaos and the Chao in her ancient Echidna family. She loved them and cared for them, but her father found out about them and wanted the power of the Emeralds for himself. He attacked the Emerald Shrine and tried to steal the gems, but Chaos absorbed the power of the Emeralds, became Perfect Chaos, and destroyed the Echidnas. Tikal appealed to the Master Emerald to seal Chaos away inside it, sealing her own spirit in the process. The Chao lived on and bred, however.

This is the point at which the Echidnas took over in protecting the Emeralds. Knuckles is the Echidna that protects them in the time of the current Sonic the Hedgehog timeline, and also the only Echidna left according to the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 manual (in the Sonic Team storyline, other continuities like the American Sonic comics have more echidnas in existence).

Angel Island was not afloat in the time of Tikal, but was instead located in the ocean near the Echidna city (now Mystic Ruins). It's possible the Floating Island was created when Perfect Chaos arose before Tikal sealed him which there is evidence of in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 manual. If this is true, the reason it does float high in the sky is most likely in order to protect the Emerald from invaders who might try to steal it (like Dr. Eggman eventually did).

Another reason for the fact that the Angel island floats, could be that the Master Emerald's energy causes the island to rises high above the surface. During the time of Tikal's life the Chaos Emeralds canceled out the Master Emeralds effects and after Chaos used the Emeralds to become Perfect Chaos, the lifting effect of the Master Emerald started (although it is not shown in Sonic Adventure). This is extremely likely, given that Sonic needed to retrieve the Master Emerald so the island could rise and that the island began to sink and wobble in the sky after the Master Emerald was stolen again by an Eggrobo in Sonic & Knuckles.

Strangely, when the Chaos Emeralds become Super Emeralds in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which happens during the story of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, the island still floats in the air. The question is, why does it float if the Super Emeralds are in the same chamber as the Master Emerald? This may be true because the Master Emerald can cancel the Chaos Emeralds, or enhance them to make Super Emeralds. This may mean that the Master Emerald provides power for the Chaos Emeralds, and can be made to stop their power or maximize their power in close range.

In the Archie Comics storyline, Knuckles is merely the latest in a long line of Master Emerald protectors, known as the Brotherhood of Guardians.

Blaze the Cat is the Guardian of the previously mentioned Sol Emeralds.

Amount
In the first game of the series, Sonic the Hedgehog, there were six Chaos Emeralds. This was also true for the Game Gear/Master System games Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Chaos and Tails Adventure. The amount was extended to seven Emeralds in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Mega Drive, and that number has been consistent ever since, except for the two following games which contained eight.

In the arcade game Sonic the Fighters, in order to travel to the Death Egg II, the player must collect all the Chaos Emeralds. Each character held an Emerald in the "story mode", and to get another one from a different character, they must be defeated in a fight. However, instead of the traditional seven Emeralds, there are eight. The widely accepted reason for this is because there are eight fighters, and so Sonic Team added another Chaos Emerald. Some fans believe that this eighth Emerald is fake, but it is usually treated as a gameplay device rather than a significant plot element. There is also the possibility that the eighth Emerald is in fact the Master Emerald because it was obtained by Knuckles, but that can't be, because it was red, and the Master Emerald is green.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, after accessing the Sound Test and entering a code, the player has access to a secret, and very difficult, 8th special stage. Upon completion, this stage yields the gray Emerald. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, after accessing the Sound Test, two unused Special Stages could be accessed (one Chaos Emerald stage, with the same layout as the one in Sonic 3, but with different colored panels, and one Super Emerald Stage). They unlocked a "golden" Emerald (instead of the gray one as in Sonic the Hedgehog 3). After that, the player goes on to the Angel Island stage. This eighth Emerald is simply a glitch.

In Sonic Spinball there were 16 Emeralds. These could possibly be Artficial Emeralds, due to the drastic change in number and the fact that they are all dark blue.

Colors
In the original Sonic the Hedgehog, the six Emeralds were blue, yellow, red, green, pink and white. A seventh, purple Emerald then appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the pink Emerald was replaced with cyan one, and the yellow Emerald became orange. In Sonic the Fighters, there were eight emeralds. One emerald for each playable character, Sonic (blue), Tails (orange), Knuckles (red), Amy (pink), Bean (green), Bark (yellow), Fang (darker purple), and Espio (violet). The orange emerald was colored yellow again in Sonic Adventure, and the colors of the Emeralds have remained constant ever since, as (in Sonic Advance/Sonic Rush order) red, blue, yellow, green, white, cyan, and purple. The white Emerald often appears gray, and Sonic R had both a yellow and an orange Emerald instead of a blue/cyan one (the Chaos Emerald was blue in the racing course it was found in, but the screen after the race shows it as cyan). In Sonic X, the Emerald colors were: Dark Blue, Cyan, Yellow, Purple, Red, White and Green. The gemstone-appropriate names for colored beryls are scarlet emerald (red), golden beryl (yellow), emerald (green), aquamarine (cyan), blue goshenite (blue), morganite (purple), and goshenite (white).

Certain games have used their own unique colors for the emeralds - in Sonic Spinball, they are all blue, while in Sonic Battle, they are all green. In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series by Archie Comics, green is the color of most Chaos Emeralds. Special zones sometimes house Emeralds that are white (see Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles, February 1996), a black Emerald served as a prison for Chaos 0 (see Sonic the Hedgehog #80) and mention is made of a red Emerald on an alien home world (see Sonic the Hedgehog #126). In the UK's Sonic the Comic series, the emeralds are blue, yellow, red, green, orange, grey and purple. In Sonic Heroes, Team Dark's Special Attack involved stopping time with Chaos Control, even if you have not collected any emeralds. This is apparently a fake emerald, and it looks slightly like tinted glass (even though when looking at the texture files of the game, the texture for this Emerald is the same as in Sonic Adventure 2).

Sonic the Comic
In the UK's Sonic the Comic, the history of the Emeralds is expanded considerably, though some points contradict the storyline of the games.

The Chaos Emeralds were originally green Raw Emeralds from the Sacred Emerald Mine of the ancient Echidnas, but were infused with Chaos Energy by the Drakon Empire in the distant past. When brought together outside of certain stabilising conditions (e.g. extreme cold), the Chaos Emeralds generate a chain reaction of Chaos Energy and warp to the Special Zone.

Six of the Chaos Emeralds were brought to Mobius in the distant past, and subsequently used by Doctor Ovi Kintobor in an attempt to rid Mobius of evil with his Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor (ROCC). An accident involving the Emeralds and the ROCC transformed Kintobor into Doctor Ivo Robotnik.

The Emeralds were gathered by Sonic and protected from Robotnik, but were eventually returned to the Floating Island and placed in the care of Knuckles, the appointed Guardian of the Chaos Emeralds.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics)
In Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog (comic series), Chaos Emeralds are much more numerous than they are in other continuities; in reality, there are far more than just seven. They are also connected to the "Power Rings", which are produced by harnessing the energy of the emeralds. This continuity explains a more scientific origin than a conventional mystical one found in other sonic continuities. It was revealed in a recent storyline that the Emeralds were the product of the Xorda (the aliens that transformed Earth into Mobius) gene bombs. Specifically, they were formed by the absorption of the Xorda gene bombs' massive energy release into underground beryl deposits.

In addition, there is the existence of rare 'Super Emeralds'. The origins of these can also be attributed to the Xorda-induced cataclysm albeit these Emeralds are the product of much more concentrated energy absorbed into the beryl material. What's more, there's another level of existence known as "the Chaos Force", which is tied to the Chaos Emeralds and has been tapped into by the "Guardians of the Floating Island", Knuckles' ancestors - one theory is that the Xorda gene bombs allowed the energies of the Chaos Force to spill out into this plane and take the form of Chaos Emeralds or more canonically, the Chaos Force was only recently discovered and its existence made aware to the inhabitants of Earth/Mobius. There is also a special Black Chaos Emerald that served as the containment vessel for Chaos and Tikal. Mammoth Mogul's own Chaos Emerald was used in a similar manner to temporarily imprison him.

While on an alien world, Sonic discovered a batch of red colored emeralds (officially designated outside of the storyline by the editor as "Chaos Rubies"), which rather than transform him into Super Sonic, created a mad, power-crazed Super Sonic that was independent of Sonic's body (similar to Fleetway's normal Super Sonic). No such explanation has been offered as to the origins of these particular types of Emeralds, though the catalyst for their existence can be alluded to a possible previous altercation with the Xorda or perhaps the idea that certain cataclysms of immense energy combined with certain minerals can follow the same suite as Earth/Mobius' Chaos Emeralds.

It was revealed by A.D.A.M. that there were many Chaos Emeralds scattered across the universe, in his plot to use Shadow and Tails to retrieve them. A.D.A.M. later succeeds in collecting all the Chaos Emeralds of the universe. While Sonic transforms into Super Sonic as a distraction, Super Shadow and Turbo Tails send all the Chaos Emeralds to the Zone of Silence. There, the Zone's new ruler, Feist fused all of them into seven differently colored jewels, similar to the Chaos Emeralds in the games.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
The Chaos Emeralds made an appearance in DiC's cartoon series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog in a four-part story called "Quest for the Chaos Emeralds", but they are very different from the game versions. There are only four, and instead of different colors they are all different shapes. They have no guardian, but the Emeralds are hidden in time instead of a certain place. Each Emerald focuses on a different power:
 * Invisibility: This made the holder invisible, and at first seems to be invisible itself. However, the invisibility can be negated if the holder is covered in substances such as sand or flour. Buried on an island in the time of pirates.
 * Invincibility: This granted invincibility, but it is more complicated than simply holding it. To trigger its powers permanently, its first holder must become king. As its title suggests, the holder becomes completely immune to physical harm, as well as becoming quite muscular and gaining superhuman strength. Interestingly enough, Tails is able to access its power, despite not being king. Guarded by Merlynx the Magician in the Middle Ages.
 * Immortality: This granted immortality to the holder. This is not simply an inability to die of old age or natural causes; any injuries that the holder suffers immediately heal within seconds to minutes; in a way, this eliminates the need for the Emerald of Invincibility. Resided with Robotnikhotep, Robotnik's mummified ancestor, in Ancient Mobigypt.
 * The Power of Life: The most powerful of the four, this emerald can give or take life from anyone and anything, even if they're already dead. This was hidden on an island, guarded by a volcano entity who would only yield the emerald after a sacrifice was offered.

Robotnik forced a scientist, Professor Caninestein, to build him a time machine to grab the Emeralds and become the Supreme High Robotnik. In this form, he could rule the universe. Unfortunately for him, the scientist granted Sonic and Tails the duty of making sure he does not get them. Assisted by Caninestein's various time-travel devices (sneakers, surfboard, skateboard) and the locals from each time area (some were parodies of real historical figures or even Sonic's own ancestors) Sonic and Tails foiled Robotnik's first attempts at the first three Emeralds, facing many life-threatening situations on the way.

But Robotnik tried again and succeeded, using all four emeralds to transform into a form he dubbed "Supreme High Robotnik". Supreme High Robotnik almost killed the duo by sending them into the Big Bang (represented by a giant stick of dynamite which would bring the universe forth once it explodes), but they managed to escape, and Sonic formed an idea. Completely ignoring the rules of paradox, the duo managed to gather their past selves (who, as keen-eyed viewers will notice, are all shown using the skateboard instead of the devices they used previously) after they left each time area. Five Sonics and five Tails went back to the present time where Supreme High Robotnik was still wreaking havoc. The team that now consisted of ten all worked together to steal back the Emeralds and return them to their original places.

The AoStH episode "Fast and Easy" featured a fifth Chaos Emerald which is supposedly the most powerful - it does not focus on a specific attribute, so it is more like the game version. This Emerald is of a brilliant cut and, unlike the other Chaos Emeralds, is fashioned into a ring. Its power is apparently dormant until it is plugged into a pedestal in the "Secret Zone", and then it is seemingly capable of doing anything. Robotnik intended to use this power to terrorize the world with floods, but his plans were thwarted when a thief called Easy Eddie stole it from him. After Sonic had realized what exactly was going on and the magnitude of the problem, the ring was pried from Eddie's finger. However, the thief stole it again and bargained with Robotnik, but it was a trick and Robotnik gained the ring. But as always, Sonic messes up Robotnik's plans by stealing the ring from the pedestal, and subsequently throwing it into the sea. As for Easy Eddie, he managed to escape from Robotnik and give up being a thief.

Sonic Underground
Another of DiC's Sonic adaptations had Chaos Emeralds in it, but very little is known about them. Like in the games, they are a source of incredible power but the exact number of them in existence in unknown. Knuckles guards one Emerald on the Floating Island, and Robotnik tried to steal it and frame Sonic for it. It failed in a way very similar to the Archie story of the same basic idea.

In a three part episode towards the end of the series' run, Dr. Robotnik managed to acquire another Chaos Emerald and used it to power his enormous indestructible fortress, the Fortress of Altitude (otherwise known as Egg Fortress). However, he lost the Emerald to his lackeys Sleet and Dingo, who stole it after deciding to leave Robotnik and get their own power. When Dingo attempted to go solo, the Emerald broke, and threatened to destroy Mobius with waves of Chaos.

Forced to work together with Robotnik, Knuckles and the royal siblings located the fragmented Emerald. However, when Sleet attempted to contain it by placing it within Dingo - transformed into a safe - it reacted with Dingo's mutation abilities. Becoming a giant, shape-shifting monster, Dingo threatened to destroy all of Mobius before he was brought down. The shattered Emerald was then placed within a special canister by Knuckles and taken to the Floating Island.

In the episode "Mobodoon, it is possible that the crystal seen generating Mobodoon's beauty (later stolen by Robotnik) is in fact a Chaos Emerald, as it looks very similar to one, and at one point Manic uses the crystal to recharge his siblings' medallions.

Sonic X
In Sonic X, the Chaos Emeralds echoed their role in the games as objects that were sought after by all parties. However, the series also introduced a new concept: Chaos Emeralds reacting to each other. In the anime, whenever Chaos Emeralds were brought together without being given time to adapt to each other's presence, they would release immense quantities of energy. When all seven were present, this resulted in an automatic gigantic Chaos Control. Also, all seven being in one place results in them releases energy that pushes them away from each-other. This is likely the anime's way of creating an explanation as to why the Chaos Emeralds end up scattering, as opposed to when in the video games they just seem to mysteriously scatter for no reason. While that's generally why they scatter in Sonic X, at the start of the final season Sonic actually did have seven emeralds, and he scattered them across the galaxy to keep Dark Oak from taking them from him (Dark Oak was too powerful for Sonic to defeat even when he was in his Super Form). Later in the same season, the Emeralds are scattered again by a gravity warp created during a battle between Super Sonic and Super Shadow. In the Season 2 episode A Robot Rebels, Knuckles has a vision of the past showing Tikal at the Emerald Shrine. The 7 Chaos Emeralds are there, but quite different than the modern ones. They appear much larger, are shaped differently. Instead of a white Chaos Emerald, there is a pink one.

Emerald Shards
Emerald Shards are fragments of Chaos Emeralds crushed by Doctor Eggman found in Sonic Battle. They are used to operate the E-121 Phi model robots. Once an E-121 Phi is destroyed they drop their Emerald Shard and either break down or retreat. When 5 Emerald Shards of the same color are united, a Chaos Emerald can be created. Tails is the one who first discovered how Emerald Shards work and characters often visit him to have their Chaos Emerald reassembled which Emerl would soon absorb. E-102 Gamma is also seen with an Emerald Shard which he absorbs to injure Shadow.

Trivia

 * The Chaos Emeralds are not indestructible as shown in Sonic Underground, Archie, and Sonic Battle, the Emeralds have been seen breaking but are easily repaired.
 * In the games, either the green or red Emeralds are usually to be the first obtained.
 * It is possible that even just one Emerald can give someone plenty of power. As shown in Sonic X, when Sonic was fighting E-18 Guerra-Hard, Sonic obtained two Emeralds and was granted the power of invincibility as well as flight, despite not have the other Emeralds. Similarly, Mephiles managed to gain the power of turning the battlefield into darkness with just one Chaos Emerald, and managed to create a massive army of clones just by using two Emeralds in Sonic the Hedgehog 2006.
 * The Emeralds can be enhanced in more ways than one. As shown in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, the Overmind somehow transformed 2 Chaos Emeralds into Great Emeralds. And in Sonic 3 & Knuckles the Chaos Emeralds can be enhanced to Super Emeralds.
 * There's a possibility that the Chaos Emeralds (much like the Master Emerald) could be sentient. As stated at the end of Sonic Rush Adventure, Tails believes that the Emeralds wanted to be used to build the SS Tornado EX. It was also theorized by Blaze that the Chaos and Sol Emeralds brought Sonic and Tails to her world for a reason. And in Sonic Rush, Eggman and Eggman Nega state that in close proximity, the two sets of Emeralds call out to each other.
 * The Chaos Emeralds seem similar to the Dragon Balls from the Dragon Ball manga and anime series, since there are seven Chaos Emeralds and seven Dragon Balls. The Chaos Emeralds are also similar to the Dragon Balls from the Dragon Ball GT anime series, since both the Chaos Emeralds and Dragon Balls are not indestructable. The Emeralds are also similar because in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006); they brought Sonic back to life, which is just like the main ability of the Dragon Balls.
 * In Sonic the Fighters, there are 8 Chaos Emeralds instead of 7, due to the game having 8 characters.
 * Some games (classic ones) have an orange emerald, however its supposed to be a light blue/cyan like color. Early releases of the Jazwares Super Pack a set of action figures with the Super Forms of the three hedgehogs (Sonic, Shadow, and Silver) and the 7 Chaos Emeralds had the orange emerald. The orange emerald was replaced with the light blue/cyan emeald in newer packs.
 * When the colors of the Chaos Emeralds are inverted, they simply swap colors, giving the appearance that the position of the emeralds simply changed.