Death Egg Robot (Sonic Forces)

The Death Egg Robot is the seventh and final boss of Sonic Forces. It is fought in the Eggman Empire Fortress's "VS. Death Egg Robot" stage, which is the thirtieth and final stage in Sonic Forces. It is listed as the eighth stage in the game to be played as Classic Sonic, but features all three playable characters.

First phase
The player will begin the first phase of this boss as Classic Sonic. As such, this entire phase is played from a 2.5D perspective. The player is on a platform full of purple blocks, and one by one, the blocks on the left will disappear, replacing themselves on the right. After a certain amount of time has passed, the blocks on the right will begin to disappear, replacing themselves on the left. With this knowledge, the player must be on their toes and move quickly to gain safety on the ground.

During the first phase of the boss, the Death Egg Robot has two attacks and six hit-points. The first attack has the Death Egg Robot firing a laser that sweeps across the platform, clearing away the topmost layer of the platform. This is easily avoidable with a simple Spin Jump. In later stages, the Death Egg Robot can use this attack two or three times in succession.

The Death Egg Robot's second attack is similar to the Egg Dragoon's attack, in which solid rocks are hurled at the player. The player can easily counter this attack by hitting the solid rocks, but keep in mind that the rocks do not stay sitting on the platform: they actually clear away parts of it. The player needs to jump at the rocks as they are in the air. The rebound rocks will then fly back and hit the Death Egg Robot, thereby inflicting damage on this boss. Also, after hitting the Death Egg Robot, the rocks will bounce back to the player's field, allowing for a potential second hit.

The player must hit the Death Egg Robot with the solid rocks a total of six times to progress to the second phase.

Second phase
In the second phase, the player takes control of the Avatar, shifting the perspective to third-person, the arena resembling that of the arena that the Zavok replica was fought on. At first, like the previous phase, the Death Egg Robot has only two attacks; one is slamming its right main arm upon the platform, creating a series of red shockwaves that must be jumped over or they will damage the Avatar. The other one is relatively easy, which is firing multiple missiles from the Death Egg Robot's' fingers. It is worth noting that these missiles can be intercepted with long-ranged Wispon attacks. Additionally, this boss can also summon Egg Pawns.

To damage the Death Egg Robot, there are two options: the Avatar can either wait until the Death Egg Robot slams its arms and get close enough to the core located on its chest and either use the Wispon or the Wire Attack on it, which does more damage, but is dangerous to pull off. They can also attack its right arm, which deals low damage, but is considerably safer to pull off.

During the latter half of the fight, the Death Egg Robot will begin punching the platform with its left arm and firing lasers from it's eye to destroy sections of it, reducing the amount of space to fight on. Broken sections of the arena will return after a while.

After dealing the required damage (if using the Wire Attack on the core, it takes two hits on each phase, making it the manner of having to damage the mech six times, or if using it on the arms, it takes three hits, making the manner of having to damage the mech nine times), the Death Egg Robot will eventually shut down.

If the player is fast enough and wants a challenge, it is possible to attack the Death Egg Robot while it is charging its laser attack. This is very dangerous to pull off, but if successful, it can end the phase quickly.

Third phase
In the third and final phase, a three-headed white mech with eight tentacle arms will come out of the core of the Death Egg Robot, before sucking Modern Sonic, Classic Sonic and the Avatar into a Null Space-like dimension. Afterwards, it fires a stream of red energy lasers from its six smaller tentacles, which the trio must jump over or they will receive damage.

The main objective of this phase is to collect White Wisps to gain boost energy in order to reach Eggman's mech. Once the trio get in range, they must use the Homing Attack to hit the main head seven times. Immediately after that, they must once again use the Homing Attack to hit all of the three heads on the mech. After receiving sufficient damage, the mech will reveal a new attack, which consists of firing streams of crimson flames generated by the Phantom Ruby's power, but they are typically easy to dodge as well. However, this attack can be tricky as well, as the mech can form the flaming streams into the shape of an "X", which makes the flame very hard to predict.

Later, the mech will also fire its clawed hand from one of its tentacles, which are later accompanied by another attack of red energy lasers, which are now considerably faster than before, making dodging them hard. After reducing the boss's Health Gauge to almost nothing, Sonic will call out for Classic Sonic and the Avatar, enabling them to use a Triple Boost. If pressed successfully, the trio will attack the mech, destroying it through its core. If failed, the player will need to boost towards the mech again, but it will still be stunned. Eventually, the mech explodes, with the void-like dimension collapsing.

Trivia

 * Despite its name, the Death Egg Robot does not have any connection to its previous incarnations or the Death Egg.
 * The Death Egg Robot has the greatest health value out of any boss in Sonic Forces, it has six hit-points in the first phase, nine more hit-points in the second phase (provided the core is not attacked), and sixty hit-points in the third phase, making the Death Egg Robot have seventy-five hit-points in total.
 * The final phase of the fight bears a striking resemblance to the Nega-Wisp Armor.
 * The Death Egg Robot is referred to as the "Mega Death Egg Robot" (メガデスエッグロボ) in Sonic Forces ' original soundtrack.
 * Unlike Classic Sonic and the Avatar, who confront the Death Egg Robot each by themselves during their respective phases, the player does not directly control Modern Sonic alone during the third and final part of the battle, and instead has all three characters team up to defeat it together.
 * Despite this, Knuckles and Amy, through their communicators will only cheer Sonic instead of the whole group.
 * Unlike final bosses in former titles such as Sonic Generations and Sonic Lost World, Dr. Eggman's fate after the battle is unknown.
 * Playing as Sonic, Avatar, and Classic Sonic in the same team shares similarities to Sonic Heroes.