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The Crabmeat[1] (ガニガニ[2],Ganigani?) is an enemy that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is a mass-produced, crab-based Badnik created by Dr. Eggman. Crabmeats are slow-paced Badniks that are capable of shooting projectile balls or homing missiles from their pincers.
Crabmeats, as their name implies, are inspired by real life crabs. The original Crabmeat models had red cephalothoraxes with gray underbellies and four gray and short crustacean-based legs with claw-like feet, which allowed them to scuttle around. They also had gray eyestalks protruding from an oblong hole in their cephalothoraxes with two cartoonish photo receptors located on top of each of them, and two short antennae above their eye stalks. They also had two cable-like gray arms with large and round pincers on the end of each arm. Hidden inside their pincers are also devices that let them fire either laser spheres or missiles (depending on their model).
Starting with the Wispincident, the Crabmeats were given sleeker designs with yellow underbellies. Sometimes, starting with the Lost Hexincident, they were instead given a cartoonish design similar to their original appearance, although they come in two variations: regular red types and sleeker orange types.
In gameplay, Crabmeats slowly move back and forth. When they spot the playable character though, they start charging up their attack. Once ready, they will stop up, extend their claws, and fire two balls of energy from inside their pincers to the sides, which cause damage upon touch. These projects will fly diagonally into the air when launched before dropping to the ground. However, while the Crabmeats charge up their attack, they are sitting ducks. The player can easily defeat these Badniks with a Spin Jump or Spin Attack as they ware vulnerable on all sides. Also, upon their defeat, they release an Animal and award 100 points to the player.
In the 8-bit version, the Crabmeats appear as enemies in Green Hill Zone and Jungle Zone. In gameplay, they usually act like their 16-bit counterpart; they scuttle slowly sideways and will fire projectiles from their claws that will slowly drop to the ground. They are also easily destroyed with a Spin Attack or Spin Jump. However, Crabmeats, like other Badniks in the game, do not have Animals inside of them. Still, they reward the player with 100 points when destroyed.
Sonic Blast[]
In Sonic Blast, Crabmeats only appear as enemies in Blue Marine Zone, where they slowly scuttle back and forth, making no effort to attack the player. They also sport a different design in this game, which features a larger body, and smaller claws. Upon defeat in this game, they reward the player with 100 points, but do not drop an Animal.[3]
Sonic Rivals[]
In Sonic Rivals, the Crabmeat appears on a collectible card.
Sonic Colors[]
In the Wii version of Sonic Colors, and the remaster Sonic Colors: Ultimate, the Crabmeats reappear again. In this game, they are featured as enemies in Aquarium Park and eventually in other Areas. In gameplay, instead of shooting energy balls, they fire homing missiles from their claws at Sonic.
Sonic Generations[]
In the console/PC version and the Nintendo 3DSversion of Sonic Generations, Crabmeats from somewhere across spacetime appear as enemies. In these games, they retain their modernized design from Sonic Colors.
The Crabmeats appear in Green Hill, and occasionally in Planet Wisp Act 1. In gameplay, they attack the player with homing missiles fired from their claws, like in Sonic Colors. If a Crabmeat manages to hit the playable character, it will fall over in laughter at its accomplishment for a while.
In the Wii U and PCversion of Sonic Lost World, the Crabmeats appear as an enemy. This time around, they have received a cartoon-like design that is similar to their look from earlier games. During the game, Dr. Eggman's Badniks, including the Crabmeats, got hijacked by the Deadly Six. Tails later put Cubot's head on the body of a Crabmeat which caused him to attack Tails. However, Eggman blocked the attack and Sonic kicked Cubot's head off of the body.
In this game, there are two types of Crabmeat. The first type being regular Crabmeats from the earlier games, possessing a red color scheme as well. Crabmeats can be found at Tropical CoastZone 1 and 4. In order to defeat a Crabmeat, the player has to use the Flying Kick to flip them over and make them vulnerable to attack. Trying to attack them without kicking them first will cause them to counter Sonic's attack with a punch. The second type of Crabmeats is a new variant of them called Missile Ganigani, and are featured in Frozen Factory Zone 2 and Lava Mountain Zone 3, which are loosely similar to ones from Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, but with an orange color scheme to help distinguish them from the regular Crabmeats.
Sonic Mania[]
In Sonic Mania, and its expansion Sonic Mania Plus, Crabmeats are enemies found in both Acts of Green Hill Zone. In gameplay, they slowly move back and forth. When they spot the playable character though, they will start charging up their attack. Once ready, they will stop up, extend their claws, and fire two balls of energy from inside their pincers to the sides, which cause damage upon touch. These projectiles will fly diagonally into the air when launched before dropping to the ground, although can be deflected by using Shield-derived power-ups or through Mighty's Spin Attack. The player is able to destroy Crabmeats by attacking them with a Spin Attack-related move. Upon their destruction, they will release an Animal and award the player with 100 points.
In Team Sonic Racing, the Crabmeats return with their appearance from Sonic Colors. In this game, they appear on the Whale Lagoon and Lost Palace tracks. In gameplay, they series as moving obstacles, moving right or left across the road. If a racer hits one, they will take damage and spin out. They can be destroyed with Wisp power-ups or Power-Type characters without the player taking damage.
In Sonic Frontiers, Crabmeats are present as uncommon enemies exclusive to Cyber Spacestages, while retaining their appearance from Sonic Colors and the console/PC version of Sonic Generations. In gameplay, they are encountered in Cyber Space stages 1-4 and 1-6, with their attack pattern of firing missiles when being approached by Sonic is nearly identical as it was in Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. The Crabmeats also share the same laughing animations they had in Sonic Generations as well.
Despite consisting of multiple hit points, Crabmeats can be easily taken down with a single hit by using one of Sonic's basic moves such as Spin Jump, Homing Attack, Spin Attack or Slide. Being digital replicas of Badniks in Cyber Space, Crabmeats get disintegrated in digital pieces into the air after being defeated without containing an Animal inside it.
Crabmeats reappear in Sonic Superstars, where they can be found in Bridge Island Zone and Lagoon City Zone Act 2, with pixelated Crabmeats being encountered in Cyber Station Zone as well. Crabmeats act the same as they do in previous 2D titles, as they scuttle on small platforms and shoot projectiles. They can also be encountered standing idly on moving platforms while shooting projectiles, similar to the Ridal Tap from Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble. Like in previous titles, a Crabmeat can be easily destroyed via any attack method, making them release their Animal and give the player 100 points in the process.
A Crabmeat can also be seen as one of the Badniks destroyed by Sonic in the game's opening animation.
Sonic Dream Team[]
In Sonic Dream Team, Crabmeats utilize their design from Sonic Lost World. In this game, they only appear in Scrambled Shores where they behave entirely different, scuttling around aimlessly until the player approaches. They will charge at the player, pinching their claws rapidly. Otherwise, they are easily defeated with a Homing Attack.
Other game appearances[]
Sonic the Hedgehog (2001 Sonic Cafe)[]
In the 2001 Sonic Cafe version of Sonic the Hedgehog, the Crabmeats appear as the only enemies encountered in the game.
Sonic the Hedgehog Level Creator[]
In Sonic the Hedgehog Level Creator, the Crabmeats would appear as enemies that users could insert into their custom Zones. The appearance of the Crabmeats is identical to their original appearance from Sonic the Hedgehog.
In gameplay, Crabmeats slowly move back and forth. When they spot the playable character though, they start charging up their attack. Once ready, they will stop up, extend their claws, and fire two balls of energy from inside their pincers to the sides, which cause damage upon touch. These projects will fly diagonally into the air when launched before dropping to the ground. However, while the Crabmeats charge up their attack, they are sitting ducks. The player can easily defeat these Badniks with a Spin Jump or Spin Attack as they ware vulnerable on all sides. Also, upon their defeat, they release a Ricky and award 100 points to the player.
In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, the Crabmeats appear as a moving obstacle on some of the Sonic the Hedgehog-themed race tracks, such as Whale Lagoon, where they try to block the racers' way. In gameplay, they can be destroyed by drifting into them or by using a Pickup item on them, causing them to disappear.
In terms of appearance, they have cartoony-moving eyes and they also exhibit more real-life crab movements.
Sonic Unleashed (mobile)[]
In the mobile version of Sonic Unleashed, Crabmeats appear as enemies in Apotos.
In Sonic x Vapor, The Crabmeats and the Choppers are the only two enemies.
Sonic Jump[]
in the 2012 remake of Sonic Jump, the Crabmeats appear as enemies in Green Hill Zone. Crabmeat moves normally on platforms and the only way to attack them is to jump towards their underside.
Sonic Dash[]
In Sonic Dash, Crabmeats make an appearance as enemies. They have their design from Sonic Lost World, but prior to the 4.12.0 update, their design was from Sonic Generations. In gameplay, they only stand in stationary positions without attacking, often appearing in rows to cover all three lanes in the Zone, or lined up one after another on a single lane. The Crabmeats can only damage the playable character if the latter runs into them without attacking. Regardless, the player can easily destroy the Crabmeats by hitting them with a Spin Attack and Dash Boost. Alternatively, the player can avoid them by either jumping over them or switching lanes. As the player starts to run faster, dodging or destroying Crabmeats might become harder.
Crabmeats also make a cameo appearance in Temple Zone, where they appear as objects the player has to remove to build homes for the Animals.
Sonic Runners series[]
Sonic Runners[]
In Sonic Runners, the Crabmeats appear as enemies. In this game, they retained their design from Sonic Lost World. They are also some of the more common foes encountered in the Power Type characters' stages. In gameplay, there are only the regular red types of Crabmeats, which do not fire projectiles from their claws, but instead move quickly back and forth or stand still, either separately or in groups.
The player can destroy the Crabmeats with any move or offensive power-up in the playable characters' arsenal. When destroyed, a Crabmeat will grant the player 100 points.
Crabmeats in Sonic Runners come in three types. Aside from the regular Crabmeats, there are golden ones which grant 300 points when defeated, and silver ones that grant 200 points when eliminated and which only Color Powers, Invincible and the power type characters' dash attack can defeat. All three variations also contain Animals that are released when they are destroyed. The Crabmeats also appear as part of several episodes' narrative, which features them being defeated time and time again by Team Sonic.
In Speed Sphere Challenge, Crabmeats are present as common enemies that walk around a set path. Like most of the other Badniks in the game, they cannot harm Sonic and can easily be defeated by simply rolling over them. Like the other Badniks, the Crabmeats release an Animal upon being killed.
Personality[]
While built to serve as work drones, Crabmeat badniks possess a degree of sentience and personality traits. These traits include fawning over Dr. Eggman and celebrating his birthday on their own volition.[5] Additionally, in Sonic Generations and Sonic Frontiers, Crabmeats are shown to laugh occasionally right before shooting their missiles. If a Crabmeat manages to hit their target with their missiles, they will laugh and topple over before going back to their usual attack pattern. In Fast Friends Forever, it is shown that the Crabmeats can do things under their own volition unrelated to helping Dr. Eggman, such as building a sand castle just for fun.
Powers and abilities[]
Despite being far less advanced than other Badniks like those in the E-Series, the Crabmeats' design allows them to perform tasks flawlessly.[6] They can build up their store of concentrated energy inside their pincers, which they then can release as volatile balls of energy. Later Crabmeats had their trademark energy weapons replaced with homing missiles.
The Taraban is a variant of the Crabmeat that is half red and half blue. Despite this, they do not behave differently, although they will only attack if the player is close. It only appeared in the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
The GamiGami is a Badnik that is very similar to the Crabmeat both in appearace and features, albeit much more aggresive than a regular Crabmeat. It first appeared in Sonic Advance.
A Crab Bot, from the Sonic Boom television series.
In the Sonic Boom televisions series, the Crabmeats are referred to as Crab Bots. In this media, they are a mass-produced robot model created by Dr. Eggman, serving as both Eggman's sentries and foot soldiers, which the doctor uses for his frequent attacks on Team Sonic and the rest of Seaside Island. However, they are not very powerful and easily destroyed in combat.
Crabmeat appears in Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic manga. In the Vol. 2 story, "Clash!! South Island", Picky explains to Sonic that Ricky and Cucky have been trapped by the Badniks and so Sonic heads to the rescue. In Sparkling Zone, he confronts Crabmeat and Newtron who attempt to attack him. Sonic defeats them easily and finds out that Ricky and Cucky were inside of them.
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, the Crabmeats were one of the Classic Badniks-the first generation of robots produced by Dr. Ivo Robotnik. One Crabmeat unit in particular served as the doctor's first loyal lackey for some time during the comics' early run. Eventually though, the Crabmeats were rendered obsolete by more advanced robots and got decommissioned.
After the Super Genesis Wave re-wrote history, the Crabmeats' history became virtually identical to their game counterparts'.
In the Sonic the Comic series published by Fleetway Editions, the Crabmeats are a part of Dr. Robotnik's Badnik army and some of the oldest models in service. They appear in a few of the early issues during the comic's run. In later issues, parts from some of them were used to create some of the Seven Badniks.
In The Official Sonic the Hedgehog Yearbook from 1993, a Crabmeat makes a brief appearance along with a Spikes in the Spring Yard Zone. The Crabmeat and Spikes were quickly defeated by Sonic. Another Crabmeat also attempted to attack Sonic later in the zone, but they would also get destroyed by the hedgehog.
In the Sonic X comic series published by Archie Comics, the Crabmeats appeared as digital enemies whom Sonic encountered in a virtual reality Dr. Eggman had trapped him in.
After the Badniks were called back to base by Dr. Eggman when attempting to destroy Sonic as a birthday gift to their boss, a Crabmeat would be among the Badniks that the doctor scolded for their carelessness. Although it regretted its actions, the robot nevertheless cheered in approval of Heavy Rider's proclamation that Eggman's deserved nice things on his birthday.[5]
Post-Eggman War[]
A model of a Crabmeat was shown to Dr. Starline by Dr. Eggman when the latter showed the former the Badniks and models he had created over time.[7]
Eventually, a global beacon signal would compel the Crabmeats from around the world to travel to Eggperial City. While the Crabmeats would ignore those along the way, they eventually began attacking Sonic, Tails, and Belle not too far from Eggperial City when they tried to stop Motobud. However, they abandoned their attack after Belle cut Motobud's power, and continued their march towards Eggperial City.[8]
In Fast Friends Forever, a singular Crabmeat makes a small cameo in the "Flight Envy" strip, where they can be seen happily building a small sand castle. Interestingly, the Crabmeat in this strip is much smaller compared to how they are usually portrayed, being more comparable to the size of an actual crab rather than being slightly shorter than Sonic.
The toy company TOMY released a Crabmeat action figurine during the release of Sonic & Knuckles.
A 2.5" figurine of Crabmeant was made by Jakks Pacific in 2022. The figurine actually uses the design from Sonic Lost World, however, it is painted to resemble the design used in Sonic Mania.
Trivia[]
The Crabmeat's Japanese name, GaniGani, is derived from "kani," meaning "crab."
The original Crabmeat design is almost identical to crabs that appeared in Yatterman.[11]
In the Ristar video game, there's a lobster-like enemy in the Planet Undertow level which can shoot fireballs from its pincers, much like Crabmeat.
In the Sonic X episode "Depths of Danger", there is a single crab that resembles a Crabmeat. It keeps causing trouble for Sonic, who is trying to find a Chaos Emerald throughout the episode.
↑Sonic Team (November 7, 2017). Sonic Forces (Episode Shadow). Nintendo Switch. Sega. Area/Level: World Map. "Infinite: Hahah. The world's most powerful robot is no more a challenge than Crabmeat. As I suspected, this power is without peer, It's the ultimate strength."
