Knuckles the Echidna (Sonic Boom)

"Strong. Determined. The muscle of the team."

- Sonic Boom Official Website

Knuckles the Echidna is one of the main characters in the Sonic Boom series. He is an anthropomorphic echidna from Angel Island and serves as the muscle of Team Sonic, a group of heroes who defends the peace of Bygone Island and the world at large.

Concept and creation
When developing the character designs, Knuckles was made larger and more muscular to emphasize his strength, his role as the strong guy on the team and the bruiser he is. His gliding ability was excluded because it did not fit into any of the stories.

The sports tape Knuckles wears is inspired by fighters and American football players and is meant to give him a sense of practical heroism by showing that that he is not vain, which is a trait more fitting for villains, when saving the world, and to give him a more grounded approach. It is especially worn around his arms to emphasize that his specialty is power. Excluded from Knuckles' design were his boxing gloves because he was needed to show gestures with his hands and fingers in a TV show.

Appearance
Knuckles closely resembles his main series counterpart in overall characteristics, but is quite drastically different in terms of physical proportions. He is much larger than all of his team-mates, standing over a head taller than Sonic, and is considerably more muscular. He has a rather large torso, broad shoulders and thick muscular arms, making him very top-heavy, and possesses longer legs and quills. Also, like his main counterpart, he has a white, crescent moon-shaped mark near the top of his chest.

For attire, Knuckles wears a pair of red and yellow shoes, designed with wrap-like markings, that have green cuffs and grey metal plates on top. He also has white sports tape wrapped around his hands and knuckle-spikes, the lower half of his arms and legs, and his biceps, making him similar to a Muay Thai boxer.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
In Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Knuckles was with Sonic, Tails and Amy in another endeavor to foil Dr. Eggman's plans, where they chased him and Metal Sonic to a new island. Following a brief separation, Team Sonic reunited at a mysterious tomb, where Metal Sonic cornered them with Eggman's new Destruction Troops. Though Knuckles insisted they did not need saving, Sonic took the crew into the tomb to save them. As they tried escaping the sealed tomb, Knuckles quickly blamed Sonic for their predicament, just as they accidently awoke Lyric the Last Ancient, which Knuckles also blamed Sonic for. The group was then tied up by Lyric with his shackles as the snake escaped, but they used the shackles―now converted into Enerbeams―in an fruitless attempt to catch Lyric.

With Lyric gone, Team Sonic sought information from Cliff. The archeologist revealed that Lyric was an evil Ancient who planned to power his Sentinel army with the Chaos Crystals to destroy all life in the world, but was imprisoned by his race when they discovered the plan. The group thus set out to retrieve the Crystals before Lyric. As they sought one Crystal in an Abandoned Research Facility, where the team split up, Knuckles and Amy met MAIA, a robot who rebelled against Lyric, who, with their aid, helped Sonic and Tails get a map to the Crystals while Knuckles and Amy got the second Crystal.

Continuing their hunt, Team Sonic subsequently faced a short alliance between Lyric and Eggman, Metal Sonic who had been reprogrammed to serve Lyric, and the power struggle between Lyric and Eggman. Needlessly, the team overcame every foe and got each Crystal. When obtaining the last one though, Lyric had his robots surrounded Sonic and demanded that Knuckles, Tails and Amy gave up their Crystals if they wanted Sonic alive. Though Knuckles and his friends surrendered the Crystals, Lyric still had his robots attack Sonic. Much to Knuckles' relief however, Sonic survived, and the team followed Lyric to his lair to stop him for good. In the following battle, Lyric used the team's Enerbeams to ensnare them, but before he could destroy Team Sonic, Eggman ambushed Lyric from behind, freeing the group. Knuckles then joined Sonic in incapacitating Lyric for good, during which Shadow the Hedgehog dropped by from an earlier battle, where Knuckles helped Sonic dispose of Lyric's technopathy device. As Sonic and Knuckles got back on good terms, they returned to the Village to celebrate their victory.

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal
In Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, Knuckles, Sonic and Tails and Amy rescued Sticks when she was caught in a rockslide. Brushing off Sticks' claims that an underground army would destroy them all, Knuckles followed Amy to an ancient temple she was researching where he stood guard outside. Later, Knuckles teamed up with Sonic, Tails and Sticks to track down and save Amy who had been kidnapped by Lyric and his robot army, who sought to use her archaeological knowledge to find a Lost Crystal of Power and seize its power.

TV series
Accordingly, Knuckles comes from Angel Island. Growing up, he was tutored by multiple teachers, but never managed to retain their lessons. He eventually settled down on Bygone Island where he became a part of Team Sonic. Years ago, Knuckles would also consistently pester a grocery boy named Charlie by fooling around with the shop's inventory. This would cost Charlie his job.

When Sonic held try-outs for a new sidekick, Knuckles went to make Sonic his sidekick, but Sonic reclined the offer. Eventually, his sidekick plans did not work out, which Knuckles told Amy, inspired Amy to try becoming his sidekick. During a visit to Tails' House, Knuckles and his team saw that Sonic and Tails housed Dr. Eggman, Orbot and Cubot while their lair underwent repairs. Two days later though, where Eggman had kept Sonic and Tails up all night, Eggman revealed to the heroes that he lied about his lair so he could exhaust Sonic and Tails, and summoned Obliterator Bot to destroy Team Sonic. However, the robot misheard Eggman and instead attacked his lair. Accepting Eggman's pleas for help, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks distracted Obliterator Bot while the rest reached its kill switches, though they were too late to save the lair.

As Knuckles, Sonic, Amy and Sticks chilled on the beach, Tails showed them his universal translator UT. However, UT created tension between Knuckles and the others by translating their private thoughts from the subtext of their speech. When Tails and UT returned the next day, the latter "translated" their comments into insults. However, as they began fighting, Tails discovered that this UT was a fake sent by Eggman to tear them apart. While Tails went to save the real UT, Knuckles and the others stayed home, not thinking UT was worth it. Later, UT returned to give them a message from Tails and translated it into a call to rescue him from Eggman. Coming to the lair, Knuckles and his team freed Tails and beat Eggman's Mega. While Knuckles had found peace with UT, Sticks quickly threw it into the sea.

When Team Sonic saved the Village from Anti-fire Bot, Knuckles and the team saw Sticks' bad treatment of animals and convinced her to get a pet to learn about compassion. To their surprise though, Sticks chose a disgusting robo-dog named Buster. Over the next week, Buster was an annoyance to Knuckles and the rest which culminated in Buster keeping them from stopping a robbery made by Orbot and Cubot. As Knuckles and the team tried making Sticks give up Buster, Eggman appeared with a gift for Buster. As Eggman revealed he made Buster, his gift transformed Buster into a larger robot who caught Knuckles and the rest. However, they were freed when Sticks assumed control over Buster, who got rid of Eggman. The team then said goodbye to Buster as Sticks released him due to his dangerous nature.

While Team Sonic was in the Village as it was being hit by meteors, Sticks saved them with her defense system. Shortly after, Knuckles and the others heard from Sticks that she had been nominated for an Awardy Award, but refused to go to its associated gala because she feared embarrassing herself. Knuckles thus helped Sticks train to become a proper lady. At the gala, Knuckles made friends with Admiral Beaverton and his cohort, and learned that Eggman was a nominee too (by cheating). When Eggman did not get the award and retaliated, Knuckles tried fighting the doctor's robots, but was caught. As Knuckles got freed by Sticks, he was saved from a laser by his new friends, while his team beat Eggman and saved the gala.

When preparing Amy's decorative lunch, Knuckles played with the food against Amy's wishes, making her feel unappreciated. Eggman then showed up to hire Amy for a redecoration of his lair for Modern Lair Magazine which Amy accepted to Knuckles' shock. Later, Team Sonic began to miss Amy, so they went to Eggman's lair to check on her, where Eggman claimed Amy had chosen to stay. Not believing this, Knuckles and the team broke into the lair, freed Amy from imprisonment and made peace with her. Team Sonic then trashed Eggman's lair and his Badniks on their way out, costing Eggman his place in Modern Lair Magazine.

When at Sonic's Shack, Knuckles found some Evil Cookies and ate one, turning him into a clone of Eggman. Now evil, Knuckles regrouped with Tails, Amy and Sticks (who had also eaten the Evil Cookies) under Eggman's tutelage to plan Sonic's destruction. When Sonic came to save them, Knuckles and the rest cornered him, but then began fighting over who deserved the honor for capturing Sonic. During the fight, Knuckles and the rest were restored to normal by Sonic and Eggman (who Sonic turned good with an Evil Cookie with his DNA). The good Eggman thought they would now work together, but Team Sonic did not like the idea and turned the doctor back to normal.

A while later, Knuckles and Sonic got attacked by Eggman's Badniks and defeated them. One day after, they met Orbot and Cubot who searched for Eggman. Since Knuckles was caught up in his own recollection of their last encounter, Sonic explained where Eggman went. During Knuckles' game of coconut hurl with Sonic, Eggman came by to attack Team Sonic with Cowbot, a robot they could not destroy without creating a massive explosion. Team Sonic thus disabled Cowbot while Tails reprogrammed it, causing Cowbot to target Eggman. Not liking that Eggman would get killed, Knuckles and the team made Sonic go warn him.

While Team Sonic fought Eggman's Octopus Bot, Tails endangered them with a rockslide caused by his untested Unbolterizer. After Eggman fled in defeat, Knuckles scolded Tails, making the fox leave the crew until he had fixed his invention. Not long after, Team Sonic met T.W. Barker and his traveling circus who needed substitute performers, which they volunteered for. The team put up a great show, though Barker revealed afterwards that he planned to keep them as his performers, and imprisoned them. Fortunately, Team Sonic were freed by Tails. After taking care of Barker, Knuckles congratulated Tails for his work.

For a week, Knuckles competed against Sonic many times and lost (with Knuckles blaming it on bad luck), the final straw being in Gopher Ball. Telling Amy and Sticks about this, Sticks told Knuckles the luck balance of the universe had tipped against him. Knuckles thus began causing himself brutal misfortunes to use up his bad luck until Sonic made them have a rematch, which was ruined by Eggman invading the island. Knuckles tried helping stop Eggman, but his bad luck and Eggman's current good luck ruined the team's chances. Fed up with Sonic, Knuckles tried joining Eggman on Sonic's suggestion, but his bad luck made Eggman's Mega destroy itself and Eggman fled. As Knuckles sulked, his team explained they made him join Eggman so their luck streaks would cancel each other out. As they went home, Knuckles noticed his bad luck had been passed onto Tails.

During the night, Team Sonic found a meteor crashing nearby which briefly knocked Sonic and Eggman out when they tried claiming it. Knuckles carried on with his team afterwards until Eggman arrived and claimed to be Sonic, having switched brains with Eggman. Knuckles did not believe it and drove Eggman off, but he soon returned with his army. While fighting however, Knuckles and the rest met Tails who verified that the meteor really had switched Sonic and Eggman's minds, and they restored them to their old bodies. After a battle with Scorpion-bot, Knuckles and his team saw that Eggman was descending into a slump. As Eggman soon lost all motivation, Knuckles was driven crazy by Sonic who grew restless from the peace. Knuckles and the rest thus tried re-motivating Eggman by getting Sonic to fight him. Though Sonic was not tricked as they hoped, their plan still made Sonic and Eggman resume their conflict. Knuckles later joined his team at the pie festival, excluding Tails who had to plant an orchard. When they returned, Tails had left to join the Lightning Bolt Society and the seeds that had been planted turned into mutant flora. Knuckles and Sticks thus held the plants off while the others got Tails back, who destroyed the plants with a machine he had made.

Having helped beat Eggman's Moth Bot, Knuckles was later made Sonic's lawyer on a whim when Eggman sued Sonic for breaking his neck. Regardless, Knuckles only made the case worse for Sonic, who was poised to lose due to Eggman's machinations until Amy revealed Eggman was fine. Knuckles then fought Eggman's Badniks as they attacked. After making Tails take a break from his plane, Knuckles and his team found Eggman selling tomato sauce. When the sauce proved not to be poisoned as they though, they allowed Eggman to keep selling it. Weeks later, while dealing with faulty electronics, Team Sonic saw Eggman reveal on a TV that his sauce cans had turned their electronics into robots to conquer the island. With Tails handling his weaponized plane, Knuckles and the team took the fight to Eggman after beating a small appliance army, but were outmatched by Eggman's robots. Fortunately, Tails saved the team by snatching Eggman's controller and shutting the robots down while Eggman mistakenly foiled his plan by revealing it on live TV.

During a game, Team Sonic were attacked by Crab Bots, but because Sonic had begun making a horrid noise when running, they kept him out. Eggman then appeared, claiming the attack was an accident, and offered Sonic help. Though Knuckles did not trust Eggman, Sonic took Eggman's offer and soon returned with new shoes that seemingly muted his noise. Eggman then attacked with his Giant Robot which Knuckles tried to fight, but it only got stronger the more Sonic ran with his new shoes. However, Knuckles and the team got out of the fight when Sonic overloaded the robot with excessive running. While Knuckles was having a movie night with his team, Eggman attacked in his Egg Tank. There, Eggman had a accident that created a time loop, making the day repeat itself endlessly. While Knuckles was unaware of it, Eggman was not, and enlisted him to contain the loop's reaction with a container. However, Knuckles kept stalling since he had a dentist appointment the next day. After Sticks pulled his bad tooth out though, Knuckles followed the plan and broke the loop.

As Knuckles was parasailing while towed by Sonic, they accidently awoke a Granifier Giganticus nicknamed Rocky. Failing to stop it, Knuckles regrouped with his team as Rocky rampaged through the Village, where they notice Rocky only tried to fall asleep. Once Team Sonic discovered they could make Rocky fall asleep to Sticks' singing, they relocated him when he blocked a road, only for Eggman to try and capture Rocky. Driving Eggman off, Team Sonic noticed Rocky had fled with Sticks. Failing to find her, Tails' Disasterometer located Sticks, and Knuckles helped rescue Sticks and lead Rocky to Eggman's lair where they had him fall asleep to a recording of Sticks' singing. During another battle with Eggman, Knuckles saw Sonic chase Eggman into Buddy Buddy Temple where they were trapped. While Knuckles wanted to rescue Sonic, he argued with Amy over who should lead them. After Orbot and Cubot joined them, the group fell into the temple as it caved in, where they found Sonic and Eggman, who got them out just in time through an escape route. Making (somewhat) up with Amy, Knuckles left with his team.

When Team Sonic was at Meh Burger, they met Orbot and Cubot who had deflected from Eggman to be their friends, though Knuckles tried actively to avoid them. Later, Orbot, Cubot and Eggman came to Team Sonic for help to stop a computer virus named Nominatus who had taken over Eggman's tech to destroy all life forms. Knuckles thus helped keep Eggman's invading robots at bay until Tails, Eggman, Orbot and Cubot stopped Nominatus, and Team Sonic ended their truce with Eggman. Knuckles later goofed off with Sonic until Sonic had to go return a library book. As Sonic then came under attack by Eggman's robots, Knuckles and the team rescued him. After getting rid of the robots, Knuckles "helped" Sonic recover his book and return in time.

When Knuckles met Amy as she was going to Hidden Meadows, Sonic bet with Sticks that he could teach Knuckles better survival skills than Sticks could teach Amy, which were needed for the trip. With Knuckles in on the bet, the duos agreed to a race to Hidden Meadows. However, Knuckles and Sonic arrogantly neglected their training, and when the race began, they quickly fell behind. Stumbling through the jungle, Knuckles and Sonic either rejected or failed to notice the girls' help, before finding them stuck in an abandoned missile silo. With the girls safe there, Knuckles and Sonic took this opportunity to reach the goal, but the girls beat them to it by riding a missile there. As Knuckles then got pranked by his team, they saw Eggman spying on them with Fly Bot. Team Sonic thus fed Fly Bot false info and lured Eggman into a prank which made Eggman give up technology, including his lair. Soon after, Team Sonic tried to stop an random onslaught of Eggman's robots and missiles on the island, started by the Lightning Bolt Society, who had seized Eggman's lair. Changing priorities, Knuckles and the team charged Eggman's lair, where Eggman helped them outsmart the Lightning Bolts and drive them away, while Eggman resumed his old life.

As Knuckles played with his friends, Amy told them she was starting "Chez Amy", a restaurant meant to give better service than the sloppy Meh Burger. Knuckles and his friends helped Amy for a while as her staff, but left as Amy grew obsessed over her rivalry with Dave the Intern at Meh Burger. Regardless, Knuckles still answered Amy's call for help when Chez Amy got attacked by Badniks. However, Team Sonic could not save Chez Amy and they returned to being customers at Meh Burger after rebuilding it from an Eggman attack. While Knuckles was out with his team, they met Swifty the Shrew, whom impressed Knuckles with his street skills. After Team Sonic saw Shifty challenge Sonic to a race where the loser would get banished for the Village, Knuckles did not entirely despise Shifty's attitude, but still rooted for Sonic at the race, which the hedgehog lost. However, Sonic got unbanished after Eggman came and revealed he and his Swifty robots orchestrated it all to take over the village, and Knuckles helped the villagers topple Eggman's dominion while Sonic beat Eggman.

Knuckles soon found himself cornered by traps from Sticks, who tried protecting her team from the "curse of the Cross Eyed Moose." Dismayed, Team Sonic followed Sticks to a marmoset named Monkey-Boy to break the curse, who gave Team Sonic tiresome chores to prove their worthiness. Amidst this, they found Eggman attacking Monkey-Boy. Striking a deal, Team Sonic got rid of Eggman and Monkey-Boy broke their curse in return. While heading home, Knuckles kept Sticks from assuming another curse had befallen them.

Helping prepare the Chili Dog Cook-Off which Knuckles had signed up for, Knuckles showed his team a special pepper he had bought to win with, only to learn it was a phony. Finding and trying a new pepper, Knuckles' efforts were wasted by Eggman's Facepeeler Maximus entry and so set out to find the Lost Pepper of Claggerhorn. Upon finding it, Knuckles agreed to help the Lost Pepper and his people reclaim their ancestral home of Claggerhorn when hearing he was their prophesied oaf. When they attacked the village though, Knuckles refused to fight his team and intervened, leading to a solution where both parties could co-exist and benefit from it. However, Knuckles realized his adventure was all a dream when his team awoke him after he had fainted from the pepper he found earlier.

After foiling Eggman's plans with his Spider Bombs, Knuckles helped with Sticks' forced yard sale. During this event, where Knuckles had to hear Tails' techno-talk, Knuckles found Sticks' Burrow overrun by evil Froglodites which Amy had set free by removing the blockade of their caves in the burrow. When the frogs took Sticks into their caves, Team Sonic went in and rescued her using Sticks' junk. After escaping the caves, the team sealed the Froglodites up once again. Coming to Mayor Fink for a law proposal, Knuckles agreed to approve bylaws for the mayor this day in exchange for getting his law approved. However, Knuckles began approving any permit the villagers had, casting the Village into chaos and bringing him at odds with his team and Eggman. As Team Sonic and Eggman came to stop him, Knuckles tried giving himself ultimate authority, only for his approval stamp to run out of ink which Eggman took to control the village. Knuckles thus helped destroy the stamp and apologized for his mess as Mayor Fink returned.

When Eggman shot a movie with Sonic in it, Knuckles was made Sonic's stuntman, enduring severe injuries from Eggman's robots. When Knuckles came to the movie premiere however, it was revealed it was intended to enslave the audience with hypnotism. However, it failed due to an error on Eggman's part and everyone could leave.

When Knuckles wanted to see a movie with Mike the Ox instead of fighting Eggman, Sonic came to pick him up. There, Sonic upset everyone, including Knuckles, when he said Mike could not join them as he was "just a guy." Much to Knuckles' dismay, he and his team were then dragged into Amy's sensitivity seminar with Sonic when the hedgehog tried to restore his image. Rejoining the seminar with Sonic after he got Mike injured by letting him join Team Sonic's fights, Knuckles came along on a camping trip while Sonic decided to retire. When Knuckles returned, he found Sonic back in action and beloved by the villagers again.

Another time, Knuckles met a wiser version of himself at his team's barbeque, whom they found out was from a Mirror Dimension. While amazed by his counterpart, Knuckles' opinion about him changed when he disobeyed them to get what they needed from Eggman to get him home. Soon after, Knuckles began to weaken and flicker from having two of him in the same dimension, which would eventually destroy both worlds. However, Team Sonic got the alternate Knuckles back, along with the needed tech, and Knuckles helped his counterpart return home. When Knuckles later enjoyed some unintentional commodities provided by Dave the Intern, he and his team had to step in when Dave imprisoned Eggman, seized Eggman's forces, and clumsily used Octopus Bot to attack them. Knuckles thus kept Dave from hurting himself and others until Sonic returned with Eggman and stopped Octopus Bot.

On the day of New Year's Eve, Team Sonic set up the Village party while warding off Eggman's attack with his Ball Bots. As Knuckles kept mixing up New Year with other crazy holidays while partying, Eggman arrived and used his Slow Motion Machine to slow down time long enough for him to beat Sonic in something before New Year. However, Knuckles did not believe Eggman's claims of victory, as it happened too fast for him to notice. As the Justin Beaver fever reached the Village which turned all the females into crazy Justin fan girls, Knuckles and Tails joined Sonic's Dreamboat Express boy band so they could pass off as Justin's opening act to the bouncer Salty at Justin's set and investigate Justin's producer. There, they heard the producer was using music-based mind control to sell merchandise and planned to expand it at Justin's next concert. Unable to convince Amy and Sticks, Knuckles' band faced Justin in a sing-off at his concert and found the frequency to break the mind control with Tails' Measure-o-meter. They then formed Knuckles' dream band Dude-itude and freed everyone's will with their power rock ballet.

After a painful wheelbarrow race with Sonic and helping his team stop Eggman's Decimator Bot from hurting Leroy the Turtle, Knuckles learned that Tails was crushing on Zooey, explaining Tails' recent absent behavior. As Tails sought advise on how to talk to Zooey, Knuckles told him to act manly. However, Knuckles' idea did not work. As Eggman launched an attack though, Knuckles and crew stayed back on Tails' order and watched proudly as he stopped Eggman while winning over Zooey in his own way.

When Knuckles and Sonic got Amy to let them look after her house, they accidentally ruined her couch. Joining Bro-Down Showdown to win a new couch, Knuckles was rejected by Sonic when he got paired with Eggman. Jealous, Knuckles competed against Sonic with Mike, but was eliminated. When Obliterator Bot then attacked the Village, Knuckles almost got killed when he fought it alone. However, Sonic saved Knuckles, though at the cost of being disqualified, and together they beat the robot. Fortunately, a stray missile from the robot destroyed Amy's couch, removing any trace of Knuckles and Sonic's mess. When caught fooling around with a trash can on his head at a photoshoot, Knuckles incidentally began a new trend, his new celebrity status soon going to his head. After rejecting Eggman's sponsorship offer, Knuckles was called in and tutored to be the guest host on the Comedy Chimp Show, only to become the permanent host due to his comical foolery during the show. When Eggman attacked the show, staged by a jealous Comedy Chimp, Knuckles helped his team stop Eggman on Sticks' urging. He then renounced his fame in favor of being with his team.

After visiting Meh Burger, Sonic, Knuckles and Amy met Perci who had a biking accident. Enamored by Perci, Knuckles fought with Sonic over aiding her until they took her to Tails' Workshop to fix her bike. As Knuckles dried Perci's scarf, he squabbled with the other over pampering her as the workshop caught on fire. Once it was over, Tails came and Knuckles gave his own explanation for the mess before Perci corrected it. As Tails saw that his security system caused the fire though, a guilt-free Knuckles left. When Sonic was labeled a thief, Knuckles solely believed Sonic's innocence. He thus offered the angry mob to find Sonic, when he really planned to warn Sonic of the mob. Despite some people following him, Knuckles found Sonic and helped him corner the real thief, Metal Sonic. After beating he robot, the duo brought back the stolen goods, and with timely arrival of Sonic's friend Earl with an inert Metal Sonic, they proved Sonic's innocence and that Eggman was behind this.

While Tails showed his Super Antenna, Knuckles was inspired to begin inventing and tried sharing ideas with Tails. As the Robot Battle Royale came, Knuckles goated Tails into compete with him, but quickly lost with his Vacuu-Fan 2000. When Eggman won by taking over Tails' robot-controlling Hypno-bot in the finals, he used it to seize Tails' inventions. As they fought Eggman, Knuckles inspired Tails to sneak up on Hypno-bot in Knuckles' robot and retake it (while Knuckles protected Tails), as Vacuu-Fan 2000 was too base for Hypno-bot to affect. After Eggman was beaten, Knuckles opted to begin a new hobby while Hypno-bot got blown up. During a heatwave, Team Sonic tried enduring the heat while fighting super-charged Badniks. When the latter began acting weird, Team Sonic went to check on Eggman and saw he had caught the Archipelago Homeowners Association to avoid eviction. After freeing the prisoners, whom Eggman came to an agreement with, Team Sonic left.

Another time, Knuckles and his team learned Amy was playing Fuzzy Puppies and ridiculed her. While carrying on their routines and fighting Eggman though, Knuckles noticed things were off, leading to his team's discovery that Amy and Eggman were "Fuzzy Puppy buddies." Keeping an eye on the pair at Puppy Con, Team Sonic prevented a rockslide seemingly caused by the Lightning Bolts, only to learn it was a distraction Eggman staged so he could steal a rare game piece. Knuckles then stood back while Amy resolved the situation. After foling Eggman's plans once more, Team Sonic agreed to fight fairly with Eggman by facing him one-on-one. On his turn though, Knuckles was tricked by Eggman into finishing a component for him. Although Sonic mocked them as they got tricked, Knuckles and the gang still helped Sonic when Eggman caught him with their own gear. Working together in shifts (as promised) Team Sonic beat Eggman. However, the team still encaged Sonic with Eggman to teach him a lesson.

Upon beating Eggman for the millionth time, Team Sonic received the Greatest Role Model of All Time Award. Since the team still horsed around though, the mayor hired D.B. Platypus to make them better role models, who got Knuckles and his team to follow strict rules that made Sticks leave. The team later tried to stop Eggman's theft of a trophy, but were left helpless when Platypus told them not to use violence. However, Sticks returned in time to get rid of Platypus and the audience, and Team Sonic went back to beating Eggman in their old way. While stuck in Amy's House during a storm, Knuckles, Sonic, Tails and Sticks drove Amy nuts by horsing around. Finding Amy's private script for A Rose Without Thorns, they got upset at Amy for her portrayals of them in it. With Amy also mad at them for reading her stuff, the team fell apart as they all began to argue. While Knuckles, Sonic, Tails and Sticks reconciled after a fight, Amy stayed mad since they had trashed her house, so they put up Amy's play for her as an apology. While it worked, they and the audience still went to Amy's House as a new storm came.

While Knuckles had a stay-awake challenge with Sonic, he was inspired by Counter Productive on the Comedy Chimp Show to make amends with Charlie for his past screw-ups despite Charlie assuring him he did not have to. However, Knuckles' incompetence ended up running Charlie's life, making Charlie become a supervillain who bullied him with an Ancient weapon. As Knuckles refused to fight Charlie in favor of making amends with him, his team told him of a rule in Counter Productive that allowed him to fight back. Beating Charlie, Knuckles made a truce with his wife and took his team out for a snack. Team Sonic later helped Amy built a bookcase when they were attacked by Team Eggman, Eggman's league of villains. Knuckles himself was left to battle T.W. Barker and Octopus Bot alone. After beating Barker and wrapping up the Tree Spy, Knuckles rejoined his team as Team Eggman was defeated to juggle with Eggman as payback.

The Big Boom
On the beach, Knuckles came with Tails and Amy to help Sonic fight Dr. Eggman in his Big Boy. After beating the mech and making Eggman retreat, Sticks came and told Tails' house had been robbed. When the gang got to the site however, they saw the whole house was gone: what Sticks meant was that the house had been stolen by what she described as a "cyborg rock golem", created by Eggman. Though Knuckles had trouble following it, Sticks seemingly caught the scent of the robot. Though it turned out she was only smelling the grass, the group still found the Rock-cyborg by following its footprints. As they set up an ambush for the robot, Knuckles had trouble following the plan which made Amy insult him. Though angry at that, Knuckles helped Amy, Tails and Sticks make the Rock-cyborg fall, allowing Sonic to destroy it and bring Tails' house back on its foundation.

Tired of being ragged on, Knuckles wanted to prove his smarts by faking an alliance with Eggman and then strike, so he went to Dr. Eggman's lair and joined him. When Eggman later attacked the island in his Big Boy again, Knuckles assisted the doctor in fighting and capturing his team, where he claimed he switched sides because of Amy's criticism. In the Big Boy's cargo, Knuckles revealed his plan to his team, but Amy pointed out that he had let Eggman win this way. Knuckles moped over his blunder until Tails and Amy restored his confidence. Knuckles then faced Eggman, got rid of Orbot and Cubot, and made Eggman retreat by destroying the mech. As his team's escaped the Big Boy, Knuckles accepted Amy's apology. After he got rid of Orbot and Cubot again however, Knuckles noticed Amy panicking over losing her piko hammer. At Amy's House, Knuckles tried miserably to calm Amy down, and on Sticks' orders, he, Sonic and Tails began looking for the piko hammer. When he could not find it, Knuckles returned, but got injured by Amy when she tried out new weapons. Fortunately, Sonic returned with the piko hammer and Knuckles could go home for the night.

For a showdown with the Big Boy, Team Sonic agreed to a battle with Eggman, only for Knuckles, Sonic, Tails and Amy to forget about it. Later, Eggman, Orbot and Cubot surprised them in the Big Boy, and though Team Sonic counterattacked, the upgraded Big Boy proved too much for them. Coming to their aid was Sticks, who claimed she had found an all-powerful weapon: the Rock of Justice. Exasperated, Knuckles did not believe a rock was such a weapon and continued the fight. However, Sticks saved them with the Rock of Justice by throwing it at the Big Boy, causing it to ricochet into the mech and destroy it. After scaring Eggman and his lackeys away, Knuckles admired the Rock of Justice, only to hear that its power had been used up, and he saluted the inert weapon.

Boom Shaka-laka and Worlds Unite
When Dr. Eggman attacked Sonic, Knuckles and his team helped defeat Eggman's minions. Though Eggman got away, he soon returned when the team was at Meh Burger to request their aid in operating his rides at the Eggtoberfest, which Eggman hoped to gain the villagers' trust with. Agreeing to it, though to keep an eye of things, Knuckles and his friends soon found Eggman's army attacking the villagers. Swiftly, Knuckles and his friends destroyed the army and was hailed by the villagers.

Not long after, Knuckles saved Sonic again from Courier Robot' assault with his team. Just then, the robot became a video phone which Eggman used to challenge Team Sonic to a fair race in the Go-kart Pan-island Grand Prix. While Knuckles and the team accepted it when Sonic agreed to it, Sticks refused, believing it was a trap. The next day at the Grand Prix, with go-karts provided by Eggman, Knuckles and his team took the lead as the competition started. While racing, Knuckles tried talking with fellow racer Bomb Driver, unaware he was being scanned, but only got the cold shoulder. Enraged, Knuckles punched Bomber Driver, making it detonate and blow him into a body of water. After recovering, Knuckles arrived with Tails and Amy to save Sonic when he fell into a ravine due of Eggman. To Knuckles surprise though, Sonic asked them to wait going after Eggman as he wanted to prove he could beat Eggman fairly in his own race, and Knuckles threw Sonic back on the road with his go-kart. Afterwards, Knuckles and his friends showed up in Tails' Plane to distract Eggman when he kept Sonic from reaching the finish line with his Spider-Kart. After Sonic won the race, Knuckles joined the entirety of his team in making Eggman retreat by destroying his Spider-Kart. Knuckles then received a heartfelt thanks from Sonic, unaware of where Sticks had gone to. After Sticks returned, Knuckles set up a campfire with his team to hear Sticks' story about fighting an evil robot alongside an interdimensional army, though Knuckles had trouble keeping facts straight.

When Knuckles went looking for a hat, a salesman scammed him into buying several. Unbeknownst to Knuckles, he insulted Eggman by mocking a hat he owned, unaware the doctor spied on him.

Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom
In Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom, Knuckles is a playable character who can be unlocked with thirty Red Star Rings. In gameplay, his special power is "Knuckle Slam" which lets him jump up and slam down to unleash a blast that destroys all nearby Badniks.

Personality
Knuckles is described as a "punch-first-and-keep-punching-until-you-need-a-punch-break" kind of echidna, and the best solution to a problem for him is to smash it to pieces. He is determined and strong of character, but tends to be rather cocky and get into trouble. Knuckles also has a huge ego: he clearly think of himself as his team's leader and most capable member, and fancies himself very heroic, although his self-admiration makes him exaggerate his own recollection of his accomplishments to the point of absurdity. Proud of his manliness, Knuckles has a very macho-orientated attitude which at times makes him sound somewhat archaic. Despite his tough personality, though, he is a softy on the inside with some noticeable preferences in particular: he loves nature and is very loyal to his friends. Noticeably, Knuckles has a habit of saying "not cool" to others when they do something he disagrees with.

Knuckles is the opposite of Sonic: he is stubborn, likes to take his time and very naive. He is also far from intelligent, admitting himself that he is "as dumb as a rock," and is a little slow on the uptake, particularly when it comes to elaborate plans and math problems as even simplified explanations takes him a long time to process. He is also a bit goofy at times and easily distracted to the point where he is drawn to things as simple as shiny objects. On a few occasions, though, Knuckles has shown some insight, cunning, witticism, and even strategic resourcefulness in battle.

Knuckles is a little sensitive about his intelligence. While he accepts he is not the smartest, he takes great offense when being called stupid and will go to extreme lengths to prove otherwise. Also, when Knuckles got his team into trouble with a half-baked plan, he sunk into a depression over his imposed stupidity until his friends restored his confidence.

Powers and abilities
Described as the "muscle of the team," Knuckles possesses incredible super strength that lets him destroy virtually anything; according to Sticks the Badger, he is even stronger than his Prime Zone counterpart. He can create large and powerful shockwaves by just punching the ground, tear apart tri-polymer alloy and even swing the colossal arm of the Big Boy mech around without effort. Using the spikes on his hands, Knuckles can climb along walls, across ceilings and scale slippery surfaces. He is as well quite efficient at burrowing.

Knuckles has immense durability that lets him withstand extreme and painful physical punishment. He only got a bump from hitting a falling boulder with his head, got right back up after jumping into a deep rock ravine and survived getting hit by a falling meteor, all while enduring strenuous injuries such as a punctured lung. He also has some skills as a tracker, successfully locating Sonic using his smell and taste senses.

After eating an Evil Cookie infused with Eggman's DNA, Knuckles briefly gained average-level intelligence. However, it dropped back to his normal level after being cured.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is one of Knuckles' teammates and his closest companion, despite them being complete opposites. He considers Sonic his friend and is very loyal towards him, though the two of them are always disagreeing and sometimes fall out. Knuckles in particular thinks of Sonic as scrawny, weak, clumsy and pathetic, and is downright sicken by looking at him. He holds the impression that he is the better of the two of them, often thinking of Sonic as his sidekick, and that he is always bailing him out of jams. Nonetheless, Knuckles sees Sonic as a valuable member of their team.

Deep down, Knuckles and Sonic share a mutual bond of respect, though it was not always like this. During their mission to stop Lyric, Knuckles was quick to blame Sonic for the misfortunes he caused, but was proud of his growth during the venture, eventually making up with him. While Knuckles still does not take kindly to Sonic's snarky attitude, they are overall true friends, referring to each others as "bros." In fact, Sonic is one of the few people Knuckles can really be himself around without trouble, as they spent most of their time together roughhousing and goofing off with various extreme and often foolish activities. Their friendship is especially important to Knuckles, as he does not want to loose Sonic and felt both betrayed and hurt when he felt Sonic chose him over Eggman for Bro-Down Showdown.

Knuckles has a friendly rivalry going on with Sonic and he cannot help competing with him in all sorts of activities which Knuckles always takes seriously in contrast to Sonic's coolness. Knuckles utterly resents losing to Sonic in anything, which he often does, and will rather blame it on luck than admitting Sonic is more skilled than him.

Miles "Tails" Prower
Another one of Knuckles' teammates and close friends is Miles "Tails" Prower. While Knuckles does not have any real issues about Tails, their relationship is at times difficult due to their contrasting qualities, with Tails being a genius while Knuckles is "as dumb as a rock." While this frustrates Tails, Knuckles hardly notices it. Peculiarly, even though he admits that he not very smart, Knuckles thinks himself more capable than Tails; even as a novice inventor (and a bad one at that), Knuckles still considered himself a better one than Tails.

Unlike most of his other friends, Knuckles is more easily impressed by Tails' more questionable inventions (though not always for the desired reasons). However, he never understands Tails' science talk which makes him wonder if Tails talks like that just to make him look stupid. He is also very much against having Tails lead him. While not mean-spirited, Knuckles also likes to tease Tails with his quirks. Despite their differences though, Knuckles values Tails as a precious friend whom he enjoys hanging out with, and they are both faithful and good-spirited teammates. Similarly, Knuckles often has Tails with him and Sonic on their numerous escapades.

Amy Rose
Amy Rose is one of Knuckles' teammates. While the two of them are friends, their relationship is at times strenuous and they often bicker due to their opposing viewpoints. While Amy is elegant, intelligent and thinks strategically ahead, Knuckles is macho-minded, dimwitted and tackles trouble head-on without thinking. Also, when Sonic is out of the picture they usually argue over who should be in charge.

Like his other friends, Knuckles clearly thinks he is more capable than Amy and perceives her as helpless without his guidance. Even more so, he is under the impression that Amy looks up to him and is enamored by his manliness. He is clearly not happy about being bossed around by Amy, to the point where he will obstinately refuse to take orders from her, nor is he very keen on her ideas for group activities. At the same time, Knuckles tends to test Amy's patience with his dimwittedness. While Knuckles often fails to notice Amy's criticism of him, he does not take kindly to it when he does.

Despite their disputes, Knuckles remains loyal to Amy and always has her back. They also work well together in combat, even having their own maneuvers. At the end of the day, Knuckles likewise always makes peace with Amy by apologizing for how they acted (although Knuckles tends to put more of the blame on Amy). Also, while Knuckles may not always treat Amy as such, he appreciates her as both a teammate and a friend, and is willing to help her however he can.

Sticks the Badger
Sticks the Badger is another of Knuckles' friends and teammates. While Knuckles treats Sticks with support and admits she is really nice deep down, he also honestly thinks she is a whack-job. Clearing believing himself to be better than Sticks, Knuckles holds the impression that Sticks looks up to him and is enamored by him.

Unlike his other friends, Knuckles has, on several occasions, expressed genuine belief in Sticks' theories. At the same time, he will also show some skepticism about her more outrageous claims, though he will be remorseful when she proves him wrong. In battle, the two of them also have good collaboration, even having their own throwing maneuver.

Dr. Eggman
Like the rest of Team Sonic, Knuckles' sworn enemy is Dr. Eggman, whom he generally dislikes. However, their relationship is rather complex. In battle, Knuckles fights Eggman determinately to stop his plans and has no issue bashing his face in. Outside that though, they are rather passive, allowing each other to be nearby without beginning to fight. Like most of his friends, Knuckles finds Eggman to be a total joke. In spite of that however, he once tried defecting to Eggman, believing he would appreciate him. Due to his frequent victories over him, Knuckles has a tendency to underestimate Eggman and forget how dangerous he can be.

Being as gullible as he is, Knuckles is easily deceived by Eggman's mind games, more so than his other friends. Once, the doctor tricked Knuckles into trapping himself in a hole without noticing it. While Eggman does not think much of Knuckles, the echidna believes on the contrary that Eggman fears him.

Mike the Ox
Knuckles is good friends with Mike the Ox. The two seem to get along rather well and have met up to hang out or compete together. Knuckles in particular appears to value Mike, as he opted to see a movie with him instead of fighting Eggman. He was also very upset when Sonic insulted Mike.

Friends/allies

 * Team Sonic
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Sticks the Badger
 * Cliff
 * Q-N-C
 * Perci
 * MAIA
 * Admiral Beaverton
 * Mike the Ox

Rivals

 * Sonic the Hedgehog

Enemies

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Orbot
 * Cubot
 * Metal Sonic
 * Lyric the Last Ancient
 * T.W. Barker
 * Lightning Bolt Society
 * Dave the Intern
 * Willy Walrus
 * Weasel Bandit
 * Tree Spy
 * Nominatus
 * Froglodites
 * Charlie

Trivia

 * According to Bill Freiberger, Knuckles is the only member of his team who does not have a permanent residence. Instead, he is a wanderer who lives in nature.
 * Knuckles is illiterate, even though he owns reading glasses.
 * Knuckles claims he cannot brush his teeth or tie his shoes without aid.
 * Knuckles learned how to ride a bike, wrap his sports tape and count from Tails.
 * Knuckles can play the piano.
 * It is implied that Knuckles is allergic to fish saliva.
 * It has been revealed that Knuckles cannot cook.
 * In Sonic Boom #2, Knuckles is shown gliding through midair despite being established as incapable of this skill. According to Evan Stanley, this was because the comic staff was not told by Sega about Knuckles' inability to glide when that issue was written.
 * Knuckles and Sonic's relationship is similar to Ratchet and Qwark's relationship in the Ratchet and Clank series as how Knuckles and Qwark want Sonic and Ratchet to be their sidekick, while they want to be the hero.