Barrel (object)

For gimmicks with the same name, Barrel (gimmick).

The barrel^[1] is a recurring object in the Sonic the Hedgehog series that first appeared in Sonic Adventure. It is standard barrel that has been used for various purposes.

Description

Barrels are identical to that of the real-world wooden objects. Regular medium-sized barrels can be found littered throughout the different levels in the games where they can be destroyed with a single damage-inducing attack. Usually, they serve no other purpose than being expendable and non-vital objects in gameplay, though they have played different roles throughout the series, such as hiding objects inside them, weapons against enemies, or even indestructible obstacles.

Games appearances

Sonic Adventure

The barrels first appeared in Sonic Adventure and its remake Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut. In this game, they resemble wooden barrels with a bomb symbol painted on them. They mostly appear in groups in Twinkle Park.

The barrels in this game are mostly hazardous objects which will inevitably explode upon contact. While their explosions are small, they can still damage the player. They explode instantly when enemy opponent touches them, but when the player touches then, their fuse will ignite before exploding shortly after. A variant of the barrels are the Drum Cans which the player can hide under to avoid being spotted by enemies, although they are not very useful.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), the medium-sized barrels can be found in both the game's Action Stages, Town Stages and Town Missions. In gameplay, the player can use Silver's Psychokinesis to pick up barrels and throw them to attack enemies. It should also be noted that when barrels are destroyed, they usually leave behind apples that can Silver can pick up, although these are less useful in combat. Special barrels also appear in Town Mission 1: Soleanna's Apple Festival, where the player must put apples into them to complete the mission. In some Town Missions, they will contain Rings.

Sonic Rivals 2

In Sonic Rivals 2, the barrels are larger than the characters and can be used for transportation in certain sections of the Acts. They only appear in Blue Coast Zone.

When finding a barrel, the playable character will enter it and be forced to roll it down the course. While rolling inside the barrel, the playable characters gain some speed, especially when rolling downhill, but colliding with Containers will decrease their speed. The player thus has to dodge Containers by jumping by pressing . The barrel sections will end when the barrels crash on a wall and return the playable characters to normal gameplay. It should be noted that the playable character cannot utilize any moves while using the barrels.

Sonic Unleashed

In both versions of Sonic Unleashed, barrels appear in both Stages and Town Stages, though most frequently in the latter, and usually hide Medals or other items. In the nighttime Stages, the player can pick up medium-sized barrels as Sonic the Werehog with Grab and use them as projectiles against enemies. Some medium-sized barrels also contain water, which makes them effective against fire-based enemies like the Fire Masters and the Dark Gaia Phoenix when thrown at them. On some occasions, such barrels will regenerate at the location they were picked up from.

On the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version of the game in the nighttime version of Rooftop Run Act 1, the player can use Levers to release large, indestructible barrels that will roll down hills and open paths

Sonic Generations

In the console/PC versions of Sonic Generations, barrels appear as both the normal breakable objects in Stages, as well as giant obstacles used by Egg Fighters in Rooftop Run and its associated Challenge Acts. In the case of the latter, whenever Sonic gets in front of a giant barrel, the Egg Fighters will send it rolling at him, causing damage upon contact with Sonic, before falling into a bottomless pit and respawning. However, the giant barrels can also used by the player by pushing them into enemies while they are standing still.

In the Barrel Ring Bonus Challenge Act, there are special golden barrels that release Rings which are instantly collected when destroyed.

References