Sonic Heroes

"We're Sonic Heroes!"

- Quote by Sonic twice in the game


 * This article is about the Sonic Heroes game. You might be looking for the Sonic Heroes (song).

Sonic Heroes (ソニック ヒーローズ) is a video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Sonic Team and released in 2003 and 2004 for multiple platforms (consoles Xbox, GameCube, PS2, PC, and PS3 (PlayStation Network). This game differs from other Sonic games by allowing the player to take control of one of four teams, each with three characters, who each have abilities unique to them.

Gameplay
The game introduces several new gameplay elements. Unlike most Sonic games, where players control one character, three characters are available at any time to choose from, as the player may switch the party's leader freely, whilst the other two characters follow. Each character has an individual ability - speed for fast stages, power for breaking objects, or flight for reaching high platforms - and the player must use these abilities to traverse the fourteen stages. Each stage has a different layout for each team, providing different challenges for each story. Each ability is also represented in the interface by color; blue for speed, yellow for flight, and red for power. Each ability also has an element associated with it: Speed uses wind, Fly uses lightning and Power uses fire. These can be used to solve various puzzles, most notably in Team Chaotix's Mystic Mansion stage. Each team also has a Team Blast skill, which can be performed when the Team Blast meter is full. This can be achieved by performing such actions as destroying enemies or collecting many rings.

Teams
In addition to controlling three characters, the player may select one of the four teams available to use at the beginning of the game. Each team has one member capable of the aforementioned skills, which are Speed, Power and Flight, but follow a different, yet intertwined, storyline. Each team also has a unique Team Blast skill that has major power and additional effect.

Team Sonic



 * Speed: Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Flight: Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Power: Knuckles the Echidna
 * Head of the Team: Sonic the Hedgehog

Team Sonic is the title team of Sonic Heroes. This team and the associated levels are designed to be of medium or normal difficulty (which is why they are the title team of this game), and contain some high-speed sections. Their secondary missions involve reaching the goal within a time limit.

Team Blast
Team Sonic's Team Blast is called Sonic Overdrive. When used, Knuckles grabs Tails by the feet who grabs Sonic by the feet, and he spins Sonic and Tails around, before releasing them. Upon release, Tails kicks Sonic away, who yells "Blast Away!" and Sonic starts bouncing around the area at astounding speed, destroying all enemies in the area. After the performance, Sonic can perform the Light Speed Attack on additional nearby enemies, and using Sonic with the Thunder Shoot ability gives a similar effect, until the Team Blast gauge resets.

Plot
While running around on his own, Sonic meets Tails, and Knuckles in the Tornado who reveals that they have receive a letter from Doctor Eggman telling them of a new ultimate weapon that will be ready within three days, challenging them to stop him, if they can. Sonic, competive as ever, accept the challenge. Unlike Tails, who is disturbed by the message and unsure what will happen, Knuckles is confident that there is nothing to worry about. Sonic, however, tells them that he would not miss this adventure and the three heroes band together once again to foil Eggman's plans.

After two levels, they receive an emerald and then defeat Eggman in the Egg Hawk. They then save a city, getting another emerald. They then encounter Team Rose, beating them. They then battle in Casino City, with 24 more hours. They then defeated Eggman in the Robot Carnival. Beating two more levels, they encounter Team Dark. They defeat them and advance through a haunted castle. They then beat Eggman again in the Robot Storm. They then realize the Eggman is a fake, and to stall for time. However, they don't see Neo Metal Sonic copy their data. They then board the Egg Fleet and defeat Eggman in the Egg Emperor. After blowing up the fleet, Amy finds Sonic and Sonic runs away while both Tails and Knuckles look on.

Team Dark

 * Speed: Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Flight: Rouge the Bat
 * Power: E-123 Omega
 * Head of the Team: Rouge the Bat

Team Dark and the associated levels are designed to be of hard difficulty, requiring skill and concentration to endure heavy battle. This team's secondary missions involve wiping out 100 enemies in the stage.

Team Blast
Team Dark's Team Blast is called Chaos Inferno. When used, Shadow pulls out a Chaos Emerald and performs Chaos Control. Rouge then lifts Omega off the ground, and Omega spins his torso around while shooting a powerful laser blast attack from his arms to destroy all the enemies in the area. After the performance, time will be stopped, which means that all enemies, doors and switches will be frozen in place until the Team Blast gauge resets.

Plot
Rouge sneaks into one of Eggman's bases after hearing that Doctor Eggman is accumulating valuable treasures. However, to her shock, she finds Shadow the Hedgehog, who was thought to be dead, encased in a statis capsule and without memory of who he is. As she awakens Shadow, however, she accidentally activates E-123 Omega, a robot bent on destroying Eggman and his robot as revenge on his creator for sealing him up in the base. Upon being activated, Omega attacks Shadow, thinking him to be a robot. Shadow saves Rouge and Rouge breaks Shadow and Omega's fight up. Realizing that all their problems lead to Eggman, the three anti-heroes team up to find Eggman.

After clearing two levels, they beat Eggman in the Egg Hawk. They then crush a Grand Metropolis in two levels, then beat Team Chaotix. They pass two more levels and beat Eggman in the Robot Carnival, who claims Shadow has no past. They take down an underground base in two levels and then beat Eggman in the Egg Albatross. However, it turns out to be a fake. They leave, not seeing Neo Metal Sonic copying their data. They then go through the Frog Forest, finding Team Sonic and beating them. They then take on a haunted house in two levels and beat Eggman in the Robot Storm. They then take on the battle ships in the Egg Fleet. They then defeat Eggman in the Egg Emperor. They defeat the fake Eggman and Rouge and Omega look for the secret treasure, only finding clones of Shadow. She then leaves with Shadow.

Team Rose

 * Speed: Amy Rose
 * Flight: Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao
 * Power: Big the Cat
 * Head of the Team: Amy Rose

Team Rose and the associated levels are designed for younger players, with shorter missions, which allows them to bypass the more difficult sections of many stages. This team is the only one to include the tutorial level in Story Mode. The secondary missions for this team entail the collection of 200 rings.

Team Blast
Team Rose's Team Blast is called Flower Festival. When used, Blast. Big bounces Amy and Cream on the surface of his umbrella. Amy and Cream then hop up to form a tower with Big, with Cream balancing on Amy, Amy balancing on the top of Big's umbrella and Big holding his umbrella as high as he can. Cheese then begins showering flowers and petals, destroying all enemies in the area. After the peformance, each member is granted a Power Core, while the team itself is granted a Shield and becomes invincible until the Team Blast gauge resets.

Plot
While near the beach with Cream, Amy is searching for Sonic in a newspaper, when the wind suddenly blows it away, but Cream and Cheese manage to catch it and bring it back. As the wind begins to blow up again, however, Cream and Cheese is blown away with it, but Big arrives and manages to catch them with his fishing pole. When they come together around the newspaper, it is revealed that Big is searching for his amphibian friend, Froggy, again, and Cream is seeking out Cheese's lost brother, Chocola. With a picture in the newspaper (of Froggy and Chocola being carried off by who they believe to be Sonic) as their only clue, the three join up to find their lost companions.

After making their way across the seaside in two levels, they beat Eggman in the Egg Hawk and then find Team Sonic in a city. After beating them, they get away and Team Rose continues in Casino Park, which reminds Amy of Casinopolis. They then beat Eggman in the Robot Carnival, Big and Cheese suspect Froggy and Chocola are close, so Amy's team annihilates an underground base, beating Eggman in the Egg Albatross. However, they realize that it is a fake, Froggy is not there and Chocola has been chaonapped. Betting Eggman has something to do with it, they head after him through the Frog Forest. They encounter Team Chaotix, beating them, thinking they chaonapped Chocola. They then search a haunted castle and beat Eggman in the Robot Storm. They then take out Eggman's Egg Fleet and defeat his Egg Emperor. However, he is a fake too and is knocked out. However, Chocola and Froggy are reunited with Big and Cheese. They hear a voice saying their Chaos data has been copied when Cream notices Sonic and tells Amy who immediately chases Sonic while Cream and Big laugh in joy for their friend.

Team Chaotix
Team Chaotix and the associated levels provide a different experience, as most are mission-based, and are only complete when the mission target is met. Because of this, their stages frequently loop back to the start so that players can scour the stage for anything that may have been overlooked. The missions mostly consist of collecting or destroying stage-specific items (Chao are often the target for collection). The secondary missions usually add an extra challenge to the normal goal, such as collecting or destroying twice as many targets or completing the mission without being seen by the enemies or elements inside of a level (for example, the frogs in Frog Forest).
 * Speed: Espio the Chameleon
 * Flight: Charmy Bee
 * Power: Vector the Crocodile
 * Head of the Team: Vector the Crocodile

Team Blast
Team Chaotix's Team Blast is called 'Chaotix Recital. When used, Espio and Chamry begin playing on musical instruments while Vector begins singing into a microphone. The resulting sound waves they create will then destroy all the enemies in the area. For each enemy destroyed during the Team Blast, Team Chaotix receives a random amount of rings. After the performance, Team Chaotix can receive additional amounts of rings for each enemy they destroy afterwards until the Team Blast gauge resets.

Plot
On a lazy day at the Chaotix Detective Agency, Vector is stitting at his desk in the office listening to music while Espio is standing solemnly by. Suddenly, however, Charmy comes crashing into the office with a mysterious package, claiming that they have gotten a job. Inside the package, the team finds a walkie-talkie, wtih a stranger who gives the team instructions through this device. The stranger claims that if the job he has for them is completed, the Chaotix will be "rewarded handsomely". Espio is wary of the job, but Vector (and Charmy), with dollar signs in his eyes, reminds him that they "never turn down work that pays", and the team heads out.

After making their way past a seaside, they beat Eggman in the Egg Hawk. They then take down every one of Eggman's robots in Grand Metropolis and beat Team Dark, advancing in the bingo park. They then take on a special stage, recovering the Chaos Emerald. Continuing on, they defeat the Robot Carnival. In the Rail Canyon, they defeat Eggman in the Egg Albatross. However, he is turned out to be a fake, while the client reveals he knows that. He sends them to the Frog Forest, while Charmy and Vector suspect something about their client. In the forest, they meet Team Rose, who battle them, thinking they took Chocola. They are beaten and Team Chaotix journey to a haunted castle, beating Eggman in the Robot Storm. They then take down the Egg Fleet and Eggman in the Egg Emperor. He proves to be a fake and they rescue their client: the real Dr. Eggman. Charmy beats Eggman up for promising what he hasn't got.

Last Story (Team Super Sonic)

 * Speed: Amy Rose/Espio the Chameleon/Shadow the Hedgehog/Super Sonic
 * Power: Big the Cat/Vector the Crocodile/E-123 Omega/Knuckles the Echidna
 * Flight: Cream the Rabbit/Charmy Bee/Rouge the Bat/Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Head of Team: Amy Rose/Vector the Crocodile/Rouge the Bat/Super Sonic

Plot
Continuing from Team Chaotix's story, Vector asks who locked Eggman up for trying to conquer the world and the doctor answers, but before he does, all the teams race outside and find Neo Metal Sonic transforming. He combines their data with the power of Chaos and becomes Metal Madness. Team Sonic decides to fight Metal Sonic using the seven Chaos Emeralds. Team Rose, Team Chaotix and Team Dark hold Metal Madness until he becomes Metal Overlord. Team Sonic uses the power of the emeralds to become Team Super Sonic and defeat Metal Overlord, returning Neo Metal Sonic to plain Metal Sonic. Sonic tells Metal Sonic to let him know when he wants a rematch and runs off. Tails and Amy chase after him, and Metal Sonic shuts down and collapses. Knuckles and Rouge go look for the Master Emerald, Team Chaotix go after Eggman for their money and Shadow and Omega hold up the defeated Metal Sonic and look at each other.

At the end, Team Sonic is seen running off to their next adventure.

Levels
This is a list of the levels in Sonic Heroes, arranged by theme. Some levels reappear in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games, Mario & Sonic at the 2012 London Olympic Games, and Sonic Generations. Three levels from this game (Seaside Hill, Casino Park, and Final Fortress) reappear in the third installment of the SEGA Superstars series, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing.

Ocean

 * Sea Gate (Practice Stage)
 * Seaside Hill
 * Ocean Palace
 * Boss: Egg Hawk
 * Turtle Shell (Multiplayer Battle)
 * Egg Treat (Multiplayer Ring Race)
 * Seaside Course (Multiplayer Bobsled Race)
 * Road Rock (Multiplayer Quick Race)

City

 * Grand Metropolis
 * Power Plant
 * Boss: Team Battle (Team Sonic vs. Team Rose/Team Dark vs. Team Chaotix)
 * City Top (Multiplayer Battle)
 * Hot Elevator (Multiplayer Ring Race)
 * City Course (Multiplayer Bobsled Race)

Casino

 * Casino Park
 * BINGO Highway
 * Boss: Robot Carnival
 * Casino Ring (Multiplayer Battle)
 * Pinball Match (Multiplayer Ring Race)
 * Casino Course (Multiplayer Bobsled Race)

Canyon

 * Rail Canyon
 * Bullet Station
 * Boss: Egg Albatross
 * Mad Express (Multiplayer Quick Race)

Jungle

 * Frog Forest
 * Lost Jungle
 * Boss: Team Battle 2 (Team Sonic vs. Team Dark/Team Rose vs. Team Chaotix)

Haunted

 * Hang Castle
 * Mystic Mansion
 * Boss: Robot Storm
 * Terror Hall (Multiplayer Quick Race)

Airship

 * Egg Fleet
 * Final Fortress
 * Boss: Egg Emperor
 * Final Boss (Phase One): Metal Madness
 * Final Boss (Phase Two): Metal Overlord

Past References
As characters interact, they sometimes make references to past Sonic games:
 * Amy: "This weather reminds me of our last attack on the Egg Carrier!" (allusion to Sonic Adventure) in Final Fortress, though she wasn't attacking the Egg Carrier, she was imprisoned upon it.
 * Amy: "This place reminds me of Casinopolis!" (allusion to Sonic Adventure) in Casino Park, even though she never actually entered Casinopolis during the course of Sonic Adventure.
 * Knuckles: "We have jungle mushrooms on my island too, but not this huge!" (allusion to Mushroom Hill Zone from Sonic & Knuckles) in Frog Forest.
 * Shadow: "Sonic.... Why does that name, bother me so much?" (allusion to Sonic Adventure 2) when standing still in the Hang Castle level.
 * Sonic: "I never thought I'd see Shadow again." (allusion to Sonic Adventure 2) when standing still in the Hang Castle level.
 * Shadow: "Space? Did you say SPACE?" when replying to Rouge who said, "We might even be at the edge of space." (allusion to Shadow's "fatal fall" from space or Space Colony ARK in Sonic Adventure 2) in Egg Fleet.
 * Shadow: "Some things never change, do they?" as a response to Rouge mentioning going after the Master Emerald at the end of Team Dark's story (allusion to Sonic Adventure 2).
 * Metal Sonic: "I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you," when addressing Sonic (allusion to Sonic CD, the game in which Metal Sonic made his debut) in Metal Overlord.
 * Knuckles: "The Egg Carrier is nothing compared to this!" (allusion to Sonic Adventure) in Final Fortress.
 * Big: Big's quest for Froggy is reminiscent of his story in Sonic Adventure. In addition, the giant frogs in Frog Forest and Lost Jungle resemble Froggy.
 * Rouge: "I haven't heard from The President lately." (allusion to Sonic Adventure 2) while the player stands still for a while on any stage.
 * Omega: "I couldn't even beat Gamma or Beta." (allusion to E-102 Gamma and E-101 Beta from Sonic Adventure) when the player gets an E rank as Team Dark, when you finish any stage with him.
 * Knuckles: "Maybe that was the GHOST of Shadow we saw earlier!" (allusion to how Shadow was thought to have died in Sonic Adventure 2.)
 * Knuckles: "She never gives up does she?" (allusion to Sonic Adventure 2.)
 * Metal Sonic: Metal Sonic's Metal Madness form is a reference to the final zone in Sonic CD (which is reached immediately after defeating him in said game).

Reception
Reviews of Sonic Heroes were mostly average to positive, depending on the platform; Metacritic averages range from 64% for the PlayStation 2 version (based on 29 reviews) to 73% for the Xbox version (based on 28 reviews). Game Rankings averages ranged from 60% for the PC version (based on 18 reviews) to 74.5% for the GameCube version (based on 95 reviews).

Reviewers noted several positive aspects to the game. These included the gameplay style; whilst the transition to 3D has been noted as rough for the Sonic franchise, Sonic Heroes came close to the series' 2D roots. Sound design was also praised, described as "inexorably linked" to the experience and "at least very pristine" with "perfectly implemented" sound effects, running in Dolby Pro Logic II. Graphics design and environments were also highlighted, described as colorful, vibrant and cheery, with consistent art design and an exceptionally vibrant color palette. Framerate was also consistent for the Xbox, Gamecube and PC versions, although a drop in framerate in the multiplayer component was noted.

It also attracted several negative criticisms. Often cited were the game's camera control system, described as "uncooperative" and "terrible". Camera control compounded an additional problem regarding the controls relative to the camera's position, such that pushing forward may or may not move the character in the same direction the camera is facing. Falling from the level's platforms into the deep pits below was also criticized. The game's voice acting also came in for criticism, described as "horrendous" and "the biggest misstep in the sound design" such as the infamous line "What are we gonna do Sonic?" and Tails' helpless personality. Also, the third Chaos Emerald (yellow) has proved extremely difficult to get compared with the others.

In addition, the PlayStation 2 version received lower average scores. Clipping and graphic faults were cited, whilst the framerate was also lower than the other versions.

In 2004, Sonic Heroes was the sixth bestselling game in the United Kingdom overall, and a full year after its release, was still at number eight in the all-price chart. The game ultimately sold well enough to enter all three consoles' "best-sellers" lists: Greatest Hits/Platinum for the PlayStation 2, Platinum Family Hits for the Xbox, and Player's Choice for the GameCube. The game was also released in a package with Super Monkey Ball Deluxe on Xbox.

Development
The game uses the RenderWare engine so that the game could be programmed and ported easily to the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox, and PC CD-ROM.

The game's designer, Takashi Iizuka, stated that he did not want to make Sonic Heroes another Sonic Adventure title, as he was worried only core gamers would buy the title, instead preferring to create a game for general users to adapt to.

Voice actors
Sonic Heroes is notable for being the second to last Sonic game in which the English voice actors from the Sonic Adventure games recorded their voices. These English voice actors, along with their Japanese counterparts, are shown below.

Music
The soundtrack for this game was released as the album Sonic Heroes: Triple Threat.

Track Listing

 * 1) Sonic Heroes: Main Theme by Crush 40 - 3:29
 * 2) "We Can" (Theme of Team Sonic) by Ted Poley, Tony Harnell - 3:18
 * 3) "Stage 01: Seaside Hill" - 1:36
 * 4) "Stage 02: Ocean Palace" - 2:01
 * 5) "Follow Me" (Theme of Team Rose) by Kay Hanley - 3:35
 * 6) "System Screen: Select" - 1:38
 * 7) "Stage 03: Grand Metropolis" - 2:28
 * 8) "Stage 04: Power Plant" - 1:04
 * 9) "Special Stage: Bonus Challenge" - 2:13
 * 10) "Stage 05: Casino Park" - 2:29
 * 11) "Stage 06: BINGO Highway" - 2:25
 * 12) "Battle: Casino Area" - 2:41
 * 13) "This Machine" (Theme of Team Dark) by Julien-K - 4:23
 * 14) "Boss: Robot Carnival/Robot Storm" - 2:18
 * 15) "Stage 07: Rail Canyon" - 2:39
 * 16) "Stage 08: Bullet Station" - 2:16
 * 17) "Team Chaotix" (Theme of Team Chaotix) by Gunnar Nelson - 3:42
 * 18) "Boss: Egg Albatross" - 1:39
 * 19) "Event: Disquieting Shadow" - 0:31
 * 20) "Stage 09: Frog Forest" - 1:55
 * 21) "Stage 10: Lost Jungle" - 4:41
 * 22) "Special Stage: Emerald Challenge" - 2:14
 * 23) "Stage 11: Hang Castle" - 4:42
 * 24) "Stage 12: Mystic Mansion" - 2:42
 * 25) "Stage 13: Egg Fleet" - 2:31
 * 26) "Stage 14: Final Fortress" - 2:24
 * 27) "Event: Metal Sonic... the Ultimate Overlord" - 1:24
 * 28) "Last Boss: Metal Madness" [Version 1] - 3:19
 * 29) "What I'm Made Of..." : Last Boss /Metal Overlord [Version 2] by Crush 40 - 3:43
 * 30) "Event: Finale... Adventure Must Go On" - 1:13

Characters

 * This game marks the debut of E-123 Omega as well as Sonic's first appearance on the PS2 and Xbox.
 * Knuckles is the only power character who uses two hands to operate a pull switch.
 * Knuckles is the smallest power character.
 * While selecting Shadow or Omega to be the leader in Team Dark, if the player uses the first-person camera to look at Rouge, she will occasionally turn her head in your direction and wink at the player.
 * Whether you have a female or gender neutral robot in your team or not, Eggman/Metal Sonic will say after Robot Carnival/Storm "Don't get too excited, boys! Those were the easy ones!"
 * When entering Final Fortress as Team Sonic, Sonic will say "This must be Eggman's headquarters!" However the subtitles make a typo, and miss out the 'be,' reading "This must Eggman's headquarters!".
 * In the opening scene of Team Rose's story, Amy is seen with a newspaper clipping showing a photograph of Sonic carrying Chocola and Froggy. The article on the newspaper appears to be an ad for a "Palm" port of the original Sonic The Hedgehog.
 * In Seaside Hill as Team Chaotix, when you see Eggman's robots at one point, Espio will say, "Are those Eggman's robots?". However, the subtitles say, "Are those Eggman's assassins?"
 * Amy's Piko Piko Hammer has red ends and a yellow middle instead of yellow ends and red middle.
 * When Charmy bursts into the Chaotix Headquarters in the first scene in the Chaotix' Story, it appears that their headquarters is inside a furniture shop.
 * None of the power type characters are female.
 * It should be noted that in this game Sonic's arms don't outstretch behind him while he runs. In other words, whenever he runs he's always swinging his arms.
 * Rouge is the eldest flight character of the four teams.
 * In one trailer for Sonic Heroes, when all the teams come together, if you look closely, Shadow knuckle bumps Rouge.
 * This is the first true reappearance of Metal Sonic since Sonic Triple Trouble (Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 don't count because Metal Sonic only made a cameo in Sonic Adventure, and he is exclusive to the multiplayer mode in Sonic Adventure 2)
 * Sonic Heroes is the first time Metal Sonic is heard talking. The second being Sonic Generations.
 * In Grand Metropolis, when you get to the cannon that leads to a rail section as Team Chaotix, Espio says, "I'll handle it." The subtitle actually says, "Leave this to me!"
 * If you look closely, Espio's hair, or spines in this case, are almost exactly like Metal Sonic's (in his original form, not his Neo Metal Sonic form).
 * This is the first Sonic game to have Metal Sonic actually talk.
 * This is the only main series game that Shadow is playable in but does not transform into his super form.

Teams

 * Team Rose is the only team that has more girls than boys (there are none in Team Sonic and Team Chaotix).
 * Team Chaotix is the only team without a hedgehog, or even any kind of mammal on the team since Vector and Espio are reptiles and Charmy is an insect.
 * In the opening scene of Team Chaotix's story, there are pinned papers on a notice board behind Vector, showing concept drawings of the Badniks used in Sonic 1.
 * When Super Sonic gave Knuckles and Tails Super Shields, he probably could have easily given them their Super Forms instead, considering in Sonic 06 he gave Shadow and Silver super forms.
 * Every team in this game reappeared in Sonic Generations as friends Sonic has to rescue. (Big and Omega do appear but are cameos in the Statue Room)
 * Team Sonic and Team Chaotix are the only 2 teams that do not have girls,but Team Dark and Team Rose do.

Development

 * This game marked the first time that Crush 40 has recorded more than one song for one game.
 * The "F" Rank was supposed to be in the game, but was scrapped for unknown reasons.
 * The game was developed on a RenderWare engine so that the game could be programmed and ported easily for the multi-platform release.
 * Gamma was supposed to be in the game as the power character for Team Dark but the producers couldn't think of a way of reviving E-102.

Gameplay

 * If you are battling another team (any team) and you look at them with the first-person camera, they will be doing ridiculous things (like spinning around in circles or star-jumping) However, you have to be on the platforms to do this, as when you are flying and looking down, you only see the person on your foot, and not the people on the ground. However, when you are flying and looking down and the team you are facing isn't directly under you, you can see the team doing the same things, spinning around etc.
 * Strangely, during the Special Stages, there's a slight chance that the player can go outside the tube but moves in an uncontrolled stated.

Features

 * This is one of the three games to not play the main theme during the final boss, the other two being Sonic and the Black Knight and Sonic Generations; but a short section of Sonic Heroes plays when Sonic is transforming into Super Sonic.
 * In the PS2 version, the menu actions of X and O are switched; normally X would be select and O would be a back button, but this isn't the case. This is because all Japanese PlayStation games do this, and the American Sonic Heroes didn't switch X and O for the menus, making it one of the few games released in America to have this quirk.
 * The game's sound test classes some of the levels as 'zones' i.e Casino Park.
 * Although any team can get any emerald during gameplay, Last Story shows that Team Sonic got the blue emerald, Team Rose got the yellow and purple emeralds, Team Dark got the green and white emeralds, and Team Chaotix got the red and cyan emeralds.
 * Getting an A-rank on every level in the game unlocks Super Hard Mode, A very hard play through of every level that is very similar to Shadow the Hedgehog's Expert Mode.

Miscellaneous

 * In the 2008 edition of Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition, Sonic Heroes is awarded for most playable characters in a platform game.
 * During the Off-Panel for Archie Sonic Universe Issue 2, Sonic jokes that Archie might make a comic adaptation for Sonic Heroes in 2010 since they made an adaptation for Sonic Adventure 2 in 2009 and the game was released in 2001.
 * This is the first Sonic game to be in multi-consoles of different franchises.
 * A remix of the Battle: City Area music can be heard in the Special Stages for the DS version of Sonic Colors.
 * This is the first Sonic game to be released on a Microsoft and Sony console.
 * Seaside Hill appears in the Dreamcast era of Sonic Generations. Its Special Stages are playable in the 3DS version.
 * The Egg Emperor was also in Sonic Generations for 3DS but as the boss for the DS era (Water Palace/Tropical Resort) after Tropical Resort.
 * Out of all of the versions of the game, the PS2 version was the most criticized.
 * This is the only Sonic game to have its theme song named after the game.
 * There is much debate over which era Sonic Heroes belongs to. In the console version of Sonic Generations, this game is classified as part of the Dreamcast Era, but the 3DS version considers it part of the Modern era.
 * A Remix of the Quick Race music can be heard, during various missions in Sonic Generations.
 * This game can be downloaded on the PlayStation Network on PlayStation 3, but this game is only downloadable in Europe for £7.99/€9.99 but unfortunately there it will not feature any HD treatment and no new features. The file size of the game is 4.5GB.
 * Although Metal Sonic was revealed in this game's trailer / intro, the game's manual for consoles has him listed as "mystery monster".
 * Team Rose's levels are the length of older levels in the series before the series started to move to long levels that take a while to get through.
 * When using the Metal Heroes cheat the hems at the bottom of Amy's and Cream's dresses become spiked the same happens to the buckles on Big's belt.

Metal Heroes
Use this cheat to become metal versions of your team in 2-Player Mode.
 * Nintendo GameCube: Hold A+Y after you select a level in 2-Player Mode.
 * Xbox: Hold A+Y after you select a level in 1 or 2 Player Mode.
 * PlayStation 2: Hold X+Triangle after you select a level in 1 or 2 Player Mode.

Artwork
For more artwork, please see Sonic Heroes/Artwork Gallery

Trivia

 * There are few differences in each version. The GameCube version is the original and maintains the steadiest framerate, but only has one voiced language available (Japanese in the Japanese release, English elsewhere). The Xbox version (and "Originals" release) contains dual languages dependent on system settings and contains a mildly higher number of polygons, but the framerate is bumpier (particularly in multiplayer) and the shadows are noticeably downscaled. The PlayStation 2 version is often remembered as the least favorable port, having graphical and gameplay glitches as well as framerate issues, but at least contains freely selectable languages. The PC port released later is a port of the Xbox version and is basically the same version with few differences of its own - the exclusive feature would be selecting camera modes between Auto Camera and Free Camera (though it's not always available). For the most part, it is also higher resolution than the Xbox version and features slightly enhanced shading. The downside is that has problems with certain gamepads (similar to the PC version of Sonic Adventure DX) and only contains one voiced language due to size concerns at the time. There is also at least one known graphical oversight - Big's character model is missing its stripes in-game due to a simple error, prompting some fans to patch the problem.
 * In the Japanese dub of Sonic Heroes, the characters' lip syncing noticeably does not mesh well. This is because the pre-rendered cutscenes were designed with English in mind, and it would be cheaper to have uniform visuals than to render two separate renditions of the same storyline. This is in contrast with the previous games (the in-games cutscenes were designed with Japanese in mind), and would become the standard for the rest of the series.