Emerald Coast consists in a series of beaches and islands near the city of Station Square. Most of these islands are connected by wooden bridges. Some aquatic animals, like orcas, inhabit this area as well.
In the Sonic X anime and its comic series published by Archie Comics, Emerald Coast was a beach located on Earth, near Station Square. However, it was eventually invaded by Dr. Eggman, who decided to build a amusement park to his own image, though his plans were stopped by Sonic and Amy.
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, Emerald Coast is a beach region located somewhere in Sonic's World. Some time before the Sonic Adventure events, Nikki and Dr. Ellidy went to the beach for a vacation.
In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), a similar stage called Wave Ocean resembles Emerald Coast in many ways. It also featured an orca chasing the player in Sonic's version of the stage.
There's a real life beach that also has the name of Emerald Coast in Destin, Florida. With its hotels lining the coast it bears a striking resemblance to the one seen in Sonic Adventure.
Tails, Knuckles and Amy can all be playable in Emerald Coast Act 1 using glitches and exploits in the adventure field. However, without modifications, none of these characters will be playable once the player reaches Act 2. The ability to access the stage with Tails was removed in the Xbox Live and PSN re-release, but Knuckles and Amy can still get in.
Big has special music that plays in his level that isn't heard in Gamma's or Sonic's level.
Big loses Froggy to Gamma from his side of the story, but when playing Gamma's story, Big is nowhere to be seen.
Concept art of Emerald Coast in LEGO Dimensions. This particular portion of the level is not visited in the final game.
Emerald Coast appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog Level Pack for LEGO Dimensions. In the level, Sonic is transported there after a "keystone device" found by Dr. Eggman malfunctions and separates Sonic from his friends.
There's a song called "READY!" made by Crush 40 guitarist Jun Senoue and Junko Noda that sounds very similar to "Azure Blue World".
According to Takashi Iizuka, Emerald Coast is the hottest vacation destination on earth.[1]
If the player noclips outside the boundaries of Big's Emerald Coast stage, they will find rendered and unrendered areas of Sonic and E-102's portion of the stage. These include the hotel beach, the boardwalks and the sandbar where E-102 finds Froggy. However Act 2 cannot be accessed from Big's version because the trigger point is not there.
In the Prima guide for Sonic Adventure, Big's Emerald Coast was typed as "Emerald Forest".
↑Brian Shea on GameInformer. GameInformer (10 June 2017). Retrieved on 10 June 2017. “Shea: What's the hottest vacation destination in Sonic's world? / Iizuka: Emerald Coast.”