Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal

"Work together to stop an ancient evil!"

- Tagline

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (known as Sonic Toon: Adventure Island in Japan ) is an upcoming 2D side-scrolling action/adventure game, set for release exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS, produced and developed by Sanzaru Games and is scheduled to be released on November 11, 2014 in North America. The game plays as the handheld counterpart of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and is the second title of the Sonic Boom continuity. Both this and the Wii U game will serve as prequels to the animated television series. Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal specifically centre around events and lore of the Sonic Boom continuity with exclusive environments and characters.

A demo is available on the eShop that has 8 uses, and is free to download.

Plot
In Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, Amy discovers a secret ancient language and manuscript detailing the history and whereabouts of a Lost Crystal of Power. The evil and vile villain, Lyric the Last Ancient, kidnaps Amy in his eagerness to get his claws on this long-forgotten power that has been hidden throughout the jungles and canyons of a mysterious new island. Sonic must team up with Tails, Knuckles and new friend Sticks the Badger to trace Amy’s footsteps and save her from the clutches of Lyric and his robot army. By trusting in their own abilities and working as a team, they will prove they are stronger together than they are apart.

Gameplay
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal is set to be a 2D side-scrolling adventure platformer. Unlike its Wii U counterpart, which is more focused on 3D platforming and beat-em-up, Shattered Crystal will place a bigger emphasis on platforming and puzzles, while each character has their own unique abilities to get them through the levels. There are three different types of stages in this game: Adventure levels, which take up the bulk of the game are large, mostly non-linear stages in which the player can control all four characters (though only Sonic is available from the start). Rival Races are also from the 2D perspective. In these levels, you must race another character through a linear but lengthy course. Finally, there are Tunnel levels, which take place in 3D and are completely on rails. Here, the player is stuck at a full run, and must move left and right to dodge obstacles, occasionally having to jump off the track and use the EnerBeam to grab onto a rail in order the cross a chasm. Additionally, unique collectibles featured in this version will unlock special content for Rise of Lyric via Wi-Fi connectivity.

There are also Level Challenges in the Level Stats section to which the player must collect badges in order to unlock levels and progress through the game. There are several other collectibles the player collects in the game. Broken fragments of the Lost Crystal needs to be collected before Lyric gets them, and they are given to Sticks. Similarly, blueprints are also collected and given to Tails. There is also a Toy Shop hosted by Q.N.C and additional tokens can be bought using Streetpass.

Playable Characters
The game contains four playable characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and newcomer Sticks, who can be switched to at anytime via the touch screen of the 3DS (provided that they are unlocked). All four of the playable characters have access to the same moveset, though each one has their own special abilities. The abilities that everyone can perform are as follows: The abilities exclusive to each of the four characters are shown below:
 * Running at two different speeds.
 * Jumping/performing a double-jump.
 * Performing a downward stomp.
 * Using the Homing Attack.
 * Making use of the EnerBeam to remove enemy shields and swing from floating mechanisms that are scattered throughout the levels in order to reach new areas.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog: Can perform a mid-air dash in four different directions, allowing him to break through special blue blocks. Various gameplay videos also show that he can use the Spin-Dash, though it's unclear if only he can do this. He is the fastest of the four.
 * Sticks the Badger: Can throw a boomerang that can be controlled mid-flight. It can be used to both hit faraway switches, and to attack enemies. She will play an integral role in the story after her best friend Amy gets kidnapped by Lyric.
 * Knuckles the Echidna: Can dig underground in certain spots for a limited time, and can perform a punch move to take out enemies. He is the slowest of the group.
 * Miles "Tails" Prower: Can use his twin-tails to glide across wide gaps, but unlike his counterpart from the mainstream games, he needs wind in order to gain altitude, and as a result cannot fly on his own. By riding air-currents though, he can reach high-up areas. He can also throw bombs that stick to enemies. Various gameplay videos have also shown that he is the only one who can activate a submarine minigame by pressing X near certain monitors.

Non-Playable Characters

 * Amy Rose
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic
 * Q-N-C
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Lyric the Last Ancient

Development
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal was officially announced on 2 June 2014 by Sega as an article on the SEGA Blog and was showcased at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) 2014 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Comic Adaption
In addition to the main gameplay and storyline, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal will include a digital comic produced by Archie Comics as in-game content. This comic is four pages long and explores the events leading up to the game's opening cut scene. While a Target-exclusive version of Sonic and the Secret Rings featured a comic book pack-in, this marks the first time that an Archie Comics product has been included as in-game content in a Sonic game. The comic will be crafted by the same team helming the Sonic Boom comic series.

Staff

 * Writer: Ian Flynn
 * Pencils: Evan Stanley
 * Inks: Rick Bryant
 * Colors: Matt Herms
 * Editors: Paul Kaminski, Vincent Lovallo

Summary
The story starts thousands of years ago as Lyric and his robot army are attacking an old temple. Inside, Lyric proclaims himself unstoppable to his fellow group of Ancients. However, Lyric then sees the Ancients break apart the object of which he sought: a large crystal that could grant omnipotence. Lyric is furious, but the Ancients turn the crystal shards on him and uses them to imprison him. However, the Ancients know that they only managed to slow Lyric down and that he will be free one day, so they decide to scatter the crystal shards.

In the present day, Lyric is searching for the crystal shards with his robots, believing he will have what is rightfully his, when Shadow appears and ask him if he needs an army for that. Lyric wonders if he objects, but Shadow insists "Justice must be had by any means necessary." Lyric like Shadow's style and decides to make him his servant, but Shadow refuses to serve anyone. However, Lyric sneak a device onto Shadow and takes control of him.

Days later, Sticks is running from a rockslide in a ravine where Sonic and Knuckles come to her rescue. While Knuckles holds the boulders back, Tails and Amy get Sonic and the secured Sticks to safety with the EnerBeam. Sticks explains to the gang that she was in the ravine getting info from the rocks and claims a underground army will destroy them all. Ignoring Sticks, Amy goes back to her research at an ancient temple and takes Knuckles with her. After a long trip, they reach the temple where Amy has Knuckles stand guard outside as he annoyed her on the whole trip by asking when they were there. In the ruins, Amy is reading the carved symbols when Lyric appears and attacks her, declaring she will help him in his conquest. However, Amy summons her Piko Hammer and starts fighting Lyric.

Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose
 * Sticks the Badger
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Lyric the Last Ancient
 * Several robed Ancients

Trivia

 * This is the first handheld Sonic game to be handled by a development team other than Dimps since the Sega Game Gear games.

Videos
E3 2014 Trailer = PAX Prime 2014 Trailer= Sonic Boom 2014 Event Trailer= Japanese Trailer= TV Commercial= Behind the Scenes=