Big the Cat

Big the Cat (ビッグ ・ザ ・キャット) is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. He is an obese, purple, male, anthropomorphic, (loosely) humanoidcat with yellow eyes. He is a fisherman, or, more accurately, a fishercat, and brings his rod with him wherever he goes, often using it as a weapon.

Big lives in a hut at the Mystic Ruins. He first debuted in Sonic Adventure on the Sega Dreamcast|Dreamcast, which was released in Japan on December 23, 1998. He is 18 years old, weighs 280 kg (617 pounds), and is 200 cm (6' 6") tall), , making him the heaviest and largest non-metal character in the series. His character designer is either Yuji Uekawa, Takashi Iizuka or even Naoto Ohshima. His family relationships are unknown, but his best friend is Froggy.

Sonic Adventure
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 onboard 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. When he got back to the present, he tried to get out of the Egg Carrier, but was caught by Dr. 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.

Sonic Heroes
Some time passed, and slightly before Sonic Heroes, Froggy went missing again, and Big teamed up with Amy Rose and Cream to create Team Rose, Big being the "power character", and the three went to find Froggy, along with Sonic and Chocola, a Chao that Cream was looking for. Although Cream and Big try to give up on the middle of the adventure, Amy encourages them to go on. During their adventure they figured out that Dr. Eggman had kidnapped Froggy, and fought Team Chaotix, with Big being angered that they teased his friends. After defeating Dr. Eggman and his Egg Emperor robot, they found Froggy in a puddle of water, which they later found out was Metal Sonic (who had used Froggy and Chocola to copy Chaos’s data).

After Metal Sonic transformed into Metal Madness, Team Rose gave their Chaos Emeralds (Cream had the yellow Chaos Emerald, and Big the purple Chaos Emerald) to Team Sonic and stalled Metal Madness by attacking his right side. After Team Super defeated the villain, Big was left standing with Cream waving goodbye as Amy went chasing after Sonic. It is presumed Big and Froggy returned to the Mystic Ruins.

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

Big makes several cameo appearences 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 collectable cards. Froggy also has one.

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

Enemies

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic
 * Chaos

Abilities and weaknesses
Big's abilities include using his strength to lift, push, carry and throw heavy things, 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.

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.

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 "unofficialy 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 also play the role of Eggman in a play.

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 Dr. 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.

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 voice is done by Syun Yashiro.
 * In Sonic Heroes, his voice is done by Takashi Nagasako.
 * In the American version of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, 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.