- This article is about the video game character. For other uses, see E-123 Omega (disambiguation).
In other media[]
Books and comics[]
Archie Comics[]
E-123 Omega, from Sonic Universe #61.
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, Omega was activated by Dr. Eggman in order to track down and destroy E-102 Gamma. Omega, the "walking arsenal", battled his predecessor's sleeker "assassin" model. Before he destroyed Gamma, however, the latter uploaded some computer code to him that E-102 referred to as his "soul". The feedback from this transfer made E-123 uncertain of his purpose. He subsequently joined Shadow and Rouge as members of G.U.N.'s Team Dark, dedicating himself to battling the Eggman Empire.
After the Super Genesis Wave re-wrote history, Omega became virtually indistinguishable from his game counterpart. Once sealed in one of Dr. Eggman's bases, the robot decided to rebel against his creator for abandoning him and formed Team Dark with Shadow and Rouge. Since then, Omega has been involved in a few incidents, most of which saw him attempting to dispose of the doctor with little success. Eventually becoming a member of G.U.N., the robot worked with his colleagues to protect Sonic's World during the Shattered World Crisis from threats such as the return of the Black Arms.
IDW Publishing[]
Voice[]
All of E-123 Omega's vocal performances have been edited in post-production to provide a more synthesized sounding voice, usually using techniques like flanging, chorus, pitch-shifting and echoing. Omega and Tails currently have the highest number of English voice actors, with six.
All of Omega's Japanese voiceover has been provided by seiyū Taiten Kusunoki. His already low vocals mixed with the audio editing creates a very distorted voice. He has kept to a very strong sounding monotonous tone with Omega. This is most clearly showcased in 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog where the typical voice effects for Omega were not applied and a simple echo effect was used, making Kusuonoki's natural voice come through much clearer.
Jon St. John provided Omega's first English speaking voice in Sonic Heroes and voice clips from the game were later used for Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games without credit. Behind the scenes footage showed that St. John used a higher pitch than his speaking voice which allowed for an excellent audio contrast between the vocal effects and raw performance. While his delivery was monotonous, St. John also applied touches of a more aggressive personality, switching between slightly different paces of delivery depending on Omega's current emotion. Instructions given by Omega often feel slower and calm whilst combat dialogue is rapid and somewhat excited.
Jeff Kramer took over from Jon St. John following SEGA's decision to replace the English cast at the time with the actors of 4Kids Entertainment. He only recorded for Shadow the Hedgehog but various voice clips from the game were recycled for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games without credit. His performance relied on a very consistent slow but slightly aggressive delivery often utilizing long pauses. Slight differences were made to the vocal modulation to Omega's voice by using a lower pitch than in Sonic Heroes to achieve the chorus effect.
The late Maddie Blaustein replaced Jeff Kramer for 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog. She voiced Omega with a high pitched monotonous tone similar to St. John but she did not receive the same vocal modulation in post-production.[5] This drew negative reception from fans and many attributed this to Blaustein's performance rather than the sound design team. Her performance relied heavily on monotone delivery much like her predecessors with dramatic pauses used for Omega's more emotional scenes. Unused voice clips of Blaustein's performance were later recycled in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games with the pitch edited to be lower, both to better blend her voice lines with Jeff Kramer's and to address complaints about Omega's voice from 2006.
Starting in 2010 Omega was voiced by Vic Mignogna after almost the entirety of the voice actors from 4Kids Entertainment were replaced by voice actors from Funimation Productions. He played Omega with a monotonous, consistent pacing for his tenure. Starting with Sonic Colors the vocal effects changed again to closer mirror Omega's voice from Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog but the effect seems to have been both lower pitched and simplified. For Sonic Forces it seems less layering and pitch shifting was applied, giving Omega an overall lighter tone and allowing for Mignogna's raw voice to come through more.
Mignogna was then replaced by Aaron LaPlante in Team Sonic Racing. LaPlante's delivery is significantly faster than the portrayals from previous games. Much like St. John, LaPlante also changes the pace of his delivery along with elongating certain words to better emote while still staying monotone. While Omega's voice is a consistent pitch during the game's cutscenes, the pitch of Omega's lines is inconsistent with some lines being higher than others for no apparent reason during the in-game races. A possible explanation is some lines were sped up in post-production to stay within allocated time frames; A common side-effect of this is a higher pitch.
Roger Craig Smith originally temporarily provided the voice for Omega in TailsTube No. 6 (Surprise Gift Exchange Bonanza) in the absence of Aaron LaPlante, but has since been made into his permeant voice actor. Smith played Omega with a low but nasal monotonous tone while providing an aggressive and comedic flavor to the character. Simple echo effects were applied to his performance, similar to Maddie Blaustein, but starting in Sonic X Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings, he had been applied with filters similar to previous performances.
Theme songs[]
- In Sonic Heroes, Omega's theme song is called "This Machine". This theme is shared with Team Dark.
- In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Omega's theme song is called "Rival: Omega".[6] This theme is played while going against Omega.
- In Team Sonic Racing, Omega's theme is "Team Ultimate: Omega", a remix of "This Machine" that plays during his Team Ultimate.
Quotes[]
- "Worthless consumer models!"
- —Omega insulting Eggman's robots, Sonic Heroes
- "I am Omega! The ultimate E-Series robot!"
- —Omega getting an A-Rank, Sonic Heroes
- "I couldn't even beat Gamma or Beta."
- —Omega getting an E-Rank, Sonic Heroes
- "Combat ability of these two are beyond my expectation."
- —Omega when standing still, Sonic Heroes
- "Schedule maintenance overdue."
- —Omega when standing still, Sonic Heroes
- "Eggman is mine. Get out of our way!"
- —Omega before fighting Team Chaotix, Sonic Heroes
- "Sensors locked on Eggman. Non-compliant intruders will be destroyed."
- —Omega before fighting Team Sonic, Sonic Heroes
- "New target acquisition! Sights locked on... Metal Sonic!"
- —E-123 Omega, Sonic Heroes
- "Doctor Eggman, I will destroy you and reign supreme."
- —Omega fighting against Eggman, Shadow the Hedgehog
- "Shadow, I hear you're engaged in some training. You know you'll never be stronger than me! If you think so, then I challenge you to find and access all four of the world databases."
- —E-123 Omega, Shadow the Hedgehog
- "ORANGE FOREST CREATURE HAS GONE MAD. RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE DESTRUCTION."
- —Omega stating that Tails is insane for believing that Eggman was being good, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
- "THERE IS NO REASON TO DOUBT SHADOW OR ROUGE. THERE IS NO REASON TO TRUST THE REST OF THESE MEATBAGS."
- —Omega assessing a situation, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
- "My name is E-123 Omega. I am the ultimate robot. All who get in my path will be crushed!"
- —Omega introducing himself, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
- "E-123 Omega here. Extermination proceeding without incident. No problems to report."
- —Omega reporting to Rouge, Sonic Forces
- "Target reconfirmed. Extermination mode initiated. Payback INEVITABLE."
- —Omega interrupting Infinite, Sonic Forces
- "Affirmative! I have never know d-d-d-defeat! I am not defeated. I am not weak, I am not weak, I AM NOT WEAK… I AM NOT WEAK… I AM NOT WEAK…"
- —A Phantom Copy of Omega tormenting Shadow, Sonic Forces (Episode Shadow)
- "Perhaps I should update my driving protocols."
- —Omega after running into a wall, Team Sonic Racing
- "Face me, inferior models!"
- —Omega shooting Egg Pawns, Sonic X Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings
- "I call dibs!"
- —Omega wanting to fight the Egg Breaker, Sonic X Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings
Trivia[]
The metal Omega cheat.
- In Sonic Heroes, Omega has a purple aura around him while jumping. In Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Runners and Sonic Runners Adventure, it is red. In all his other playable appearances, he has no aura and simply jumps without spinning, some times by using his jets.
- In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Omega's hover ability can be exploited to extend his air time almost-indefinitely by repeatedly tapping the jump button instead of simply holding it. Silver's Levitate ability has a similar exploit.
- This is caused by an oversight related to the precise manner in which his descent is slowed. At the start of the hover, Omega's vertical momentum is slowed to the point of nearly halting altogether, before gradually increasing- all without affecting the horizontal momentum negatively. By spamming the ability, only the initial "halting" of vertical movement occurs, allowing the player to essentially "surf" through the air until they choose to land.
- It was explained in Shadow Generations that Omega is not powered by an Animal, Power Core, or something related to the Chaos Emeralds, but is powered by a unique crystal matrix that recharges through movement and absorbing environmental energies.
- In the Xbox 360 version of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), in the scene where Shadow and Omega return from the future, if the player looks closely above the purple portal they can see Omega on top of it before he comes out of it. This is one of the numerous oversights found within the game.[7]
- Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood marks the first time he is ever been playable on a handheld Sonic game, the first time he has not had a voice actor in a game he is playable in, the first time he is ever been playable outside a main series console game, and his first appearance on the Nintendo DS.
- After the player wins a battle with Omega in his/her team in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, he turns his upper body around and the stripe on his torso is replaced by a thin line.
- During any battle in Charyb's lair when it's flooded, the player can see air bubbles coming out of Omega even though he does not breathe.
- The term "meatbag", one that Omega used on several occasions in Sonic Chronicles: the Dark Brotherhood, is well known for being used by HK-47 who debuted in the game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in 2003, another game developed by Bioware. Coincidentally, Omega and HK-47 made their worldwide video game debuts in the same year. They also believe themselves superior to other robots and like to participate in acts of violence.
- Omega is the only "Amigo" character in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) to fight in a boss level (Mephiles the Dark in the Flame Core along with Shadow and the Egg Genesis in White Acropolis in Team Attack Amigo).
- In Sonic Heroes, Omega is the only Power Type character who is not organic, as well as the only playable character who was introduced in the same game.
- In Sonic Chronicles: the Dark Brotherhood, Omega is one of the four characters to not be affected by the brainwashing of the Voxai Overmind, most likely because he is a robot.
- Omega is the only ally in Shadow the Hedgehog which does not appear in the final story or the intro of the game. Subsequently, he is also the only companion character not given computer generated character art.
- According to GamesMaster magazine, Omega was supposed to be playable in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, along with Silver the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, Jet the Hawk, Cream the Rabbit (who was later changed to a referee) and Donkey Kong.[8]
- While Omega is not playable in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, the Mii suit designed after him (which mimics Omega's stats) reveals that Omega would, surprisingly, be classified as a Skill type, despite Omega being faced in a speed-orientated event and being classified as a power character in Sonic Heroes. Interestingly, Omega's stats are the same as Eggman.
- In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Omega is the only character with equipment unique to him.
- In the Nintendo DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, when Omega runs low on stamina, he can be seen sweating despite being a robot and therefore not having sweat. It is most likely used for casually reference, or comic relief.
- Omega seems to have significant knowledge of the Shadow Androids Eggman was employing, as he immediately assumed Shadow was one of them when first laying eyes on him and also told Rouge that they were made through cloning when she discovered a room full of them.
- Omega seems to speak differently in the games. In Sonic Heroes, Omega could speak in complete English. In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), he could speak English, but mostly said computer commands. In Sonic Colors, all he said was computer language or incomplete English. In Team Sonic Racing, he uses a combination of computer language and English (example: "Interrogative: Are you somnolent?", "Situation assessment: Unacceptable!") and is not above taunting the other racers (example: "Statement: Tails, you bite.", "Reclassifying Silver as a doofus.").
- Omega's voice was also significantly different from his previous portrayals in Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog, sounding much more high-pitched and robotic, relying on echoing filters rather than ring modulation and flanging. Many of the Western players of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) blamed this on Omega's new voice actor, the late Maddie Blaustein,[9] and criticized her performance.[10][11][12] Maddie Blaustein later clarified the portrayal change was according to SEGA's direction.[13] Blaustein would later posthumously voice a few select lines of Omega's in Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games with the rest of his voice lines provided by an uncredited Jeff Kramer, whose lines were recycled from Shadow the Hedgehog. Blaustein's lines in this game were much more accurate to the sound of the voices from the previous English voice actors.
- While using a glitch, the player can get Omega into Shadow's section of Wave Ocean, and even complete the stage as Omega.
- Based on Omega's statement in Shadow the Hedgehog, on Expert Mode in the stages Mad Matrix and Lava Shelter, he appears to have a strong desire to prove that he is stronger than Shadow.
- Omega has the capital Omega symbol (Ω) painted on the front of his left shoulder, in contrast to all the other E-100s, which had lowercase Greek letters.
- Omega is one of two characters who have Sonic Channel artwork identical to their first renders, the other one being Gamma.
- When Omega talks in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, his text is all in uppercase letters to convey robotic speech. In other games such as Sonic Heroes, Sonic Colors and the Mario & Sonic franchise, Omega's speech is written in standard text.
- Omega is the character in the Sonic series with the highest revealed weight.
- When looking at the Speed Highway in White Space in Sonic Generations, there is a sign saying "E-123 Omega Road".
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- Omega's rotary cannons are often presented inconsistently. In Sonic Heroes, they are depicted as being silver and short with six barrels. In Sonic the Hedgehog (if they are meant to be the same weapon), they are depicted as being much longer, black with a green stripe and now have only four barrels. In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, they are back to their original length but are now gunmetal grey and only have five barrels. Whether all these depictions are meant to be different weapons or it is simply artistic error is yet to be seen.
- In Sonic Heroes, Omega's armor has a reflective gloss finish to it during the pre-rendered cutscenes and in his official artwork. If one looks closely, they will notice what appears to be a surgical lighthead reflecting off of his chassis. This is likely a model used by the animation team to represent the light sources and was never meant to be viewed on screen.
- In Team Sonic Racing Overdrive, Omega is the only character animated in 3D.
- One of E-123 Omega's lines of dialogue in Team Sonic Racing is, "Chronological update: It's turbo time." This is a reference to the 1996 Christmas comedy film Jingle All the Way; The children's television superhero Turbo Man often exclaims, "It's Turbo time!" as his catchphrase throughout the film.[14]
- The numbers in Omega's name are pronounced differently in Japanese between games. In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), they are pronounced as the Japanese term for the number one-hundred twenty-three (ヒャク-ニジュー-サン hyaku-nijū-san?), while in Sonic Forces, the individual digits are pronounced as separate numbers and use the English names for each digit, one-two-three (ワン-ツー-スリー wan-tsū-surī?).
- Both pronunciations differ from the notation used for the rest of the E-Series in Sonic Adventure, in which the digits are treated as separate numbers but use the Japanese terminology for each of them.
- In Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, Omega's shoulders are incorrectly aligned downwards against his biceps rather than positioned properly against his frame. This same error does not occur with his "Linebacker Omega" variation, which features additional American Football shoulder pads mounted over his original shoulders.
- Omega is the second robotic character to share a voice actor with Sonic the Hedgehog (in this instance, Roger Craig Smith in TailsTube and Sonic X Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings), the first being Ryan Drummond (in English) and Jun'ichi Kanemaru (in Japanese) as Metal Sonic in Sonic Heroes.
References[]
- ↑ ●SonicJPNews● on Twitter (12 November 2019). Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved on 12 November 2019.
- ↑ Sonic Team USA. (6 January 2004). Sonic Heroes. Nintendo GameCube. Sega. "Omega: I am Omega! The ultimate E-Series robot!"
- ↑ Sonic Team (7 November 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."
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Sonic Channel (Japanese). Characters: Omega. Sega. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved on 3 July 2015.
- ↑ Sonic 2006 Omega's Unused Free Mode Voices. YouTube.
- ↑ Screenshot of the icon for music played while fighting Omega from Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.
- ↑ Sonic Team, Blindlight (24 November 2006). Sonic the Hedgehog. Xbox 360. Sega. Cutscene: "Shadow & Omega Return To The Present."
- ↑ "Sonic vs Mario". GamesMaster (189). Archived from the original.
- ↑ Maddie Blaustein, 4Kids Voice Actress - Buzz. 4Kids TV.
- ↑ Maddie's Omega voice. BumbleKing Comics. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015.
- ↑ Maddie's Omega voice. Sonic Stadium Message Board.
- ↑ Maddie's Omega voice. Chaos Sonic Forum.
- ↑ Ask Maddie Blaustein - Q&A With Meowth. Serebii forums.
- ↑ Team Sonic Racing - Omega Voice Clips. YouTube.
