Super Sonic

Super Sonic is a powered up version of Sonic the Hedgehog that can be activated through collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds and usually fifty rings. In the 2D games, he plays like Sonic but can jump higher, is faster, and is invincible. Nevertheless, he could still drown or die by falling off screen (gameplay only). In his first appearance, Super Sonic bears no impact on the game's story, but would give the good ending if achieved. However, in most later games, he usually has a greater impact on the story and is often part of the ending, or secret ending. Sonic has golden yellow skin, hair and red eyes.

Appearances of Super Sonic

 * Sonic the Hedgehog 2: When Super Sonic first appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, he was almost the same as Sonic but he was yellow instead of blue and his hair pointed upward.
 * Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Super Sonic's appearance was slightly altered so that his eyes changed from black to green.
 * Sonic the Fighters: Super Sonic appearance was very close to Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but in 3D, and he had yellow upturned hair and black eyes.
 * Sonic R: Super Sonic had the same appearance as in Sonic the Fighters, but in the graphic style of Sonic R. Also, instead of having upturned hair, he received longer hair locks.
 * Sonic Adventure: Since Sonic had an updated character design Super Sonic was also changed. Apart from the design changes shared with Sonic, Super Sonic now also had red eyes. This is also the first game Super Sonic had a yellow aura. Note that his hair locks tilt upwards a bit, similar to Shadow's, and the spikes on his back become longer.
 * Sonic Adventure 2: In this game, Super Sonic is mostly the same as his Sonic Adventure appearance, except he is a metallic gold color, but his aura stays yellow. The spikes on his back also do not change size, but are lifted up a bit. This change is the same for all the games after Sonic Adventure 2 (with Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) as an exception).
 * Sonic Advance: The design of Super Sonic is mostly the same as in Sonic Adventure 2, for the entire series.
 * Sonic Heroes: In this game Sonic again had a metallic gold color like Sonic Adventure 2. His hair locks also lifted entirely over his head.
 * Sonic Rush series: When Super Sonic doesn't move, his design is the same as in Sonic Advance.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (2006): In this game, Super Sonic's appearance had again become yellow instead of metallic gold. The design of his hair is the same as in Sonic Heroes on his head, but with Sonic the Hedgehog 2's design for his back.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl: In this game, Super Sonic appears as Sonic's Final Smash. He looks exactly like Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) except that his back's spikes are in Sonic Adventure 2 style.
 * Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood: Super Sonic's design in this game appears as a cross between his Brawl and Adventure appearance.
 * Sonic Unleashed: Super Sonic looks similar to his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but has a fire-like golden aura.

Conditions for Super Sonic
In the actual story canon, Sonic only needs to use the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds to turn into Super Sonic. While he doesn't need to collect fifty rings to trigger the transformation because, for most games after Sonic Adventure, he automatically starts them. The rings slowly deplete as they sustain the super form. Once Super Sonic is out of rings, he will back revert to Sonic. Though, it is possible for Sonic to indefinitely hold his transformation-- in Sonic Advance, he kept it for almost a week. It is shown that Super Sonic is faster than the speed of light in Sonic Rush. Burning Blaze is shown to have the speed to escape from a black hole/dimensional rift (not even light can escape a black hole), and Super Sonic is even faster than her. It is also stated by Tikal in Sonic Adventure that Super Sonic can turn into a "bolt of lighting".

In the MegaDrive/Genesis games that Super Sonic appeared in, he could only be activated by first collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds from the Special Stages. If this condition was met, Sonic could simply transform into Super Sonic by jumping, or in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, double tapping jump, as long as he had at least fifty rings and no shield.

In the Sonic Adventure series, the Chaos Emeralds are an essential part of the plot and as such are already collected at the end of the game as part of the story. Super Sonic is only playable for the final boss, with the final stage unlocked by clearing all the other characters stories.

In the Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush series, the Chaos Emeralds have to be collected throughout the game by clearing Special Stages, but unlike the MegaDrive Genesis games, Super Sonic is only playable for the final boss.

In Sonic R, Super Sonic can be played after finding all seven Chaos Emeralds in the game. He can then be selected to be used on any track. Unlike most of his other appearances, Super Sonic is not limited by a ring count and can even race alongside Sonic, as the two are considered separate characters in this game.

In Sonic the Fighters, Super Sonic can be played but only for the second match against Metal Sonic and the fight against Eggman. To play as Super Sonic, the player must not lose and enter hyper mode. The Chaos Emeralds are automatically collected after each fight.

In Sonic Riders, Super Sonic is obtained by achieving gold emblem for all Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross missions. Then the Chaos Emerald extreme gear is unlocked and when used by Sonic, he will become Super Sonic while he has rings. He is unlocked in a similar manner in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity by clearing all missions with the Extreme rank.

In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Super Sonic is unlocked in the same way as the Sonic Adventure series, and again is only playable for the last boss.

In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Sonic again becomes Super Sonic for the final fight. Due to the RPG nature of the game, Super Sonic is not bound by a ring count. Sonic gains a vast increase in HP as Super Sonic (several thousand compared to the several hundred or so of his regular form) and only attacks with the Super Sonic POW Move, which requires a long series of stylus commands, but can inflict over 9999 damage. It's worth mentioning that Final Boss (Super Ix) was using Super Sonic's presumed weakness in the comics, the Master Emerald. Super Sonic was able to defeat him almost flawlessly.

In Sonic Unleashed, Sonic becomes Super Sonic in the game's opening, demolishing Eggman's armada and cornering the scientist. Unfortunately, Eggman traps Super Sonic and uses his power to awaken Dark Gaia. When all the Chaos Emeralds are empowered again, Super Sonic reappears for the boss fight against Perfect Dark Gaia. For the Wii and PS2 versions, Super Sonic starts with less Rings than usual, requiring the player to gather them to fill the boost gauge. In the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions, he doesn't lose rings, but possesses a life gauge in that form and uses rings to fill it.

Theme Songs
Open Your Heart

Live & Learn - Crush 40, played during the final battle of Sonic Adventure 2 against Final Hazard. It can also be described as the theme of Super Shadow.

What I'm Made Of - Crush 40, played during the battle against Metal Overlord, Although considered a theme for Metal Sonic, The song clearly references both characters. Such lines as "my energy" refers to Metal Sonic copying Sonic's (as well as the other members of each teams in Sonic Heroes) energy and transforms into Super Sonic to show Metal Sonic, exactly What he is made of, hence the title of the song.

Sonic X
Sonic X is the only Sonic anime/cartoon to feature Super Sonic. Super Sonic is very similar to how he is in the games (Sonic Adventure design), except that he only needs the 7 Chaos Emeralds to achieve Super Sonic, rings serve a different purpose. It can also be noted that from the front, it seems that all of his quills are sticking straight up, giving him a more Sonic 2 appearance. Only from a side or back view does it reveal that he really has the Sonic Adventure look. He Transforms in order to defeat Perfect Chaos.

Archie Comics
Super Sonic's first Archie Sonic appearance was in issue 4 to battle The Universalamander, a giant roboticized salamander. Earlier comics had him collecting 50 rings to access the special zone, wherein collecting 50 more rings would allow him transform, but that was eventually phased out to just the requirement of Chaos Emeralds.

In the fight against Master Mogul, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were able to combine the energies of the rings they had previously gathered with the energy of Mogul's attacks to achieve their super transformations. This was the first instance of Sonic transforming without the use of a Chaos Emerald.

In the recent saga where Sonic was thrust into deep space, he mentions that he is able to transform into Super Sonic using only six green emeralds, and is able to do so on an alien planet that also plays host to Chaos Emeralds, only these alien emeralds are red. His transformation when using red emeralds, however, has a very different outcome. Rather than transforming into Super Sonic, his powered-up form exists as a separate entity, and his actions are unpredictable because this Super Sonic doesn't believe in "good or evil," only "power" and the acquisition of such. His time, however, just like the green emerald Super Sonic, is limited, and he vanishes before he causes any real damage. The red emerald version of Super Sonic has not been seen since.

Super Sonic's latest appearance was when he fought the new Enerjak in issue 184. This transformation was accomplished in another unusual way, as sonic transformed by standing atop the Master Emerald and absorbing his energy, much in the same way as Mecha Sonic transformed by standing atop the Master Emerald in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Sonic the Comic (Fleetway)
In Sonic the Comic (STC), the UK publication by Fleetway Editions, Super Sonic was again a powered-up form of Sonic's, but in this series he was also portrayed as an evil entity, bent on destruction. Sonic frequently battled to prevent his transformations into Super Sonic, since this put innocent people (including Sonic's friends) in great danger.

During the series, Sonic was separated from Super Sonic, who unwittingly contributed to the downfall of Doctor Robotnik in issue #100. Shortly after this, Super Sonic lost his memory and his powers, becoming peaceful for a time. Eventually, however, he regained his memory and powers again, and returned to his evil self. Sonic was forced to re-merge with Super Sonic in order to keep the demon under control.

Trivia



 * Super Sonic is widely believed to be an homage to the Super Saiyans in Akira Toriyama's very successful manga Dragon Ball (see image). Yuji Naka is a self-confessed fan of the Dragon Ball series.


 * In the video games, Sonic usually needs the 7 chaos emeralds usually to reach into a super form. However in Sonic The Fighters, he needed all 8 emeralds without losing a fight.