Fourth wall

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Fourth Wall is a term used to describe the imaginary boundary between the audience and the characters. By breaking the fourth wall, characters either turn to the audience and talk to them directly or acknowledge the fact that they're in a game console, movie, TV show, book, etc.

Common Elements

• Characters tell the player about button commands like "Press the A Button to Jump".
• After finishing a stage, the character(s) will strike a pose toward the player and comment on the rank they receive.
• In the 2D games, Characters will look at the player and act impatiently.

Games

Sonic 1/Sonic the Hedgehog 2/Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Sonic & Knuckles/Sonic the Hedgehog 4

• When the character is idle for a while, the character will turn to the player and perform various actions.
  • If Sonic is idle, he'll turn to the player, giving an annoyed look and start tapping his foot. In Sonic 3, if the player waits long enough, Sonic will look at the player and point in the direction he's facing.
  • If Knuckles is idle, he'll turn to the camera and start punching.
  • If Tails is idle, he'll look at the player and yawn.
• When the player hits Dr. Robotnik, he'll look to the camera with a shocked expression. If he hits the player, he'll laugh directly at the player.
• After finishing the game in Sonic 1 or Sonic 4, Sonic will turn to the camera and strike one final pose.
• After finishing Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, Tails can be seen waving at the player.

Sonic CD

• If Sonic is idle for three minutes, he'll turn to the player and say "I'm outta here!" and jumps off the screen with an annoyed look on his face while still looking at the player. This results in an instant Game Over.
• Before the player is able to control Sonic in the Special Stage, Sonic will turn around, as though saying "Hey! Pay attention!"
• Before Sonic races against Metal Sonic, Metal will do Sonic's finger wave toward the player. If the player loses against Metal, he'll do the same thing.
• In the good ending, Sonic will glance, then turn to the player and pose before the credits play.
• There is an unlockable extra which has a picture of Tails saying to the player "See you next game!".

Knuckles' Chaotix

• When Robotnik is being lifted by Metal Sonic, he is seen laughing at the player.
• Once Vector reaches top speed, he occasionally looks at the player.

Sonic Adventure

• If the player moves the camera around a lot while playing as Knuckles, he'll state that he doesn't want to fall.
• After finishing their respected stories, the character (with the exception of Gamma) will turn to the player and strike one final pose, as though thanking the player for their help.
• In the cutscene of Amy's Story where she sees Sonic at Casinopolis, she turns to the camera and says, "my hero".
• In the CGI intro, Sonic does a quick glance and smirks toward the viewer while running.

Sonic Adventure 2

• During the CGI intro, the various playable characters look at the player and perform various actions like smiling.
• Much of the characters (depending on the character theme) will say a line, which is directed toward the player, like asking the player which stage or story they want to play.
• During the CGI ending for the Hero Story, after shutting down the Eclipse Cannon, Sonic turns to the camera, smiles and gives his patended thumbs up.
• During the title screen, after enough demos play, a character can be heard saying "Sonic Team!"
• During the City Escape stage, there are posters telling players that "Playing SA2 is a habit forming" and to not turn off their Dreamcast. In the remake, the posters say not to turn off their GameCube.
  • There are also posters of Soap shoes, which are what Sega helped promote at the time.
  • Posters of Sonic Team are also present throughout the stage.
• After Sonic beats Shadow at the end of the hero story Sonic says "Game Over Shadow".

Sonic Advance/Sonic Advance 2/Sonic Advance 3

• Much like the other 2D games, if the character is idle, they'll perform various actions toward the camera.
  • If Sonic is idle, he'll motion to the player, as though saying "Let's get moving!".
  • When Tails is idle, he'll look through his binoculars, then turn to the camera and point, telling the player that they need to get moving.
  • When Knuckles is idle, he'll look at the player with an annoyed face, clear his throat, and yell at the player, telling them to "Hurry up!".
  • While Amy is idle for a while, she'll wave at the player, before shouting something like "Hey!", and then repeatedly shout something and she'll continue to do this until the player moves her.
• While Cream is grinding, she'll wave at the player.
• During the Tornado Special Stage, the character will turn to the player and do something like give a thumbs up or wave.
  • After the character gains the Chaos Emerald, they'll show the Emerald to the player.
• When Sonic does some streches, he'll look toward the camera while shaking his hands.
• While Tails is about to start, he'll look around, notice the player and nod.
• When Amy is about to start, she'll yawn but will notice the player and pretend to do something else.

Sonic Heroes

• When Team Chaotix face the Egg Emperor, Charmy asks if it's the final stage, Vector says that it's not (foreshadowing the final battle against Neo Metal Sonic).
• In Team Rose's opening cinematic, Amy is holding a newspaper clipping with a picture of Sonic (Metal Sonic in disguise) carrying Froggy and Chocola. The article on the newspaper appears to be an ad for a portable "Palm" version of Sonic The Hedgehog
• While selecting Shadow or Omega to be Team Dark's leader, if you use the first-person camera to look at Rouge, she will turn her head in your direction and wink at you.
• When playing as Team Dark, after being idle for a while Shadow will often remark (mostly at the start of the game) "no need to rush" which is both aimed at the player and also saying that there is no time limit.

Shadow the Hedgehog

• When touching the Hint Ring during the final stage of Expert Mode, Eggman can be heard telling Shadow (i.e. the player) "This is the final stage!".
• When an ally character appears for the first time, they'll turn to the camera and pose.
• In the Final Haunt level, when Shadow meets Sonic, Sonic will say "Hey Shadow, looks like we've reached the climax of this little game here."
• And just before fighting Black Doom after the Final Haunt stage, Sonic says "Like it or not, the game's over".
• In the cutscene before the Lethal Highway stage, Sonic says "Welcome to the next level."

Sega Superstars

• At the start on the Sonic game, Sonic (or Shadow) will look at the player and give a thumbs up.

Sonic Rush

• If the player taps Sonic with the stylus, he'll swing his arms, as though saying "Come on! Let's go!"
• If Blaze is tapped with the stylus, she'll jump like a scared cat, stamp her foot, and turn her back to the player while tapping her foot.
• When moving around on the map, Tails or Cream will refer to you by the character you're playing as.

Sonic Rush Adventure

• In the final part of the battle against the Ghost Kraken, it will shoot an ink ball at the screen, obscuring the player's vision.

Sonic Rivals

• When Sonic reaches the Sky Park Zone, Sonic will say "Looks like we've been teleported to a completely different location..." in which he possibly refers to him and the player.

Sonic Riders/Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity

• In the animated intro, Sonic gives the player the "Peace" sign just as he's passing the camera.
• After starting a race, the character will turn around and look at the player.
• When performing an "S" trick, the character will turn to the player, as though saying "Good Job!".

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• During Sonic's Side Taunt, he'll turn to the player (possibly the opponent) while saying "You're too slow!"
• During Subspace Emisarry, Sonic appears before the final fight against Tabuu. This could be a nod to Sega's late acceptance to let Sonic join Brawl.
• If the player fights Sonic while playing as Solid Snake and contacts Otacon, Snake will say that he doesn't like Sonic for some reason. Otacon will then state that many fans are happy that he's in Brawl. Snake's unexplained dislike toward Sonic could, among other things, be a nod to the Sonic games selling better than the Metal Gear games.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

• Tails will constantly remind Sonic to save the game before dangerous areas.
• Sonic and Tails cite the credits themselves.

Sonic Unleashed

• After Sonic realizes that Chip lost his memory, he asks the player if he fell on him.
• After Sonic sulks away because Amy didn't recognize him as a Werehog, Chip will offer him chocolate, but Sonic will refuse. Chip will then shrug at the player before flying after him.
• While Sonic is being graded in the 360/PS3 versions, he and Chip will look directly at the results.
• After Eggman fails to kick Orbot and falls flat on his back, Orbot turns to the player, points at Eggman, and chuckles before the Doctor gets back up.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

• During races, Sonic or some of the other characters will look at the player.
• When Big gains first place, he'll put his hand on the camera to stop himself, jump off his bike, and pose.
• In the CGI opening, after just beating Eggman and when gaining first place, Sonic give the player his famous thumbs up.
• At the title screen, various characters will drive up, look at the player, and perform various actions.

Sonic Free Riders

• Omochao seems to be talking as though the player is watching TV.
• During Kinect calibration, characters will occasionally motion towards the player before jumping on their gear.

Sonic Colors

• When Tails corrects Sonic by telling him that it's pronounced "Wisps", Sonic turns to the camera and tells the player, "Yeah. I'll just stick with 'aliens', if that's okay with everybody."
• In the CGI opening, a White Wisp looks at the camera in wonder, as though trying to look at something.
• In one of the cutscenes, Sonic says that Tails missed the "BBBE", which stands for "Best Boss Beating Ever".
• In the DS version, Tails offers Sonic to go over some tutorials.

Sonic Generations

• Both Sonics will look at their score after each stage.
• Classic Sonic will look at the player in annoyance if he doesn't move for long enough.
• When attaining an S rank, Sonic will breakdance and then wink at the player.
• If the player enters the Death Egg Robot boss gate as Modern Sonic, in the cutscene Through The Glass, Modern Sonic will look at the player and say, "Another Sonic! What!?".
• At the start of Speed Highway and some challenges, Modern Sonic will look at the player and give a thumbs up.

Archie Comics

• When Antoine let Pseudo Sonic into Knothole, he blamed the writers for making the panel so dark.
• One comic cover had Sonic and Tails returning from their look at the other comics, telling the potential buyer that "this is the one you want."
• When the Freedom Fighters were looking at video footage of Universalamander, Sonic believed that Jurassic Park has been released for the Genesis.
• When Sonic went into the Special Stage, a prompt appeared at the bottom of the page, telling the viewer to use their Genesis to help Sonic through the Special Stage.
• When Sonic went to the Casino Night Zone, he told the reader to use their Master System to get him there.
• When Sonic rushed off to save Sally from the trees, he uses a full panel to tell the viewer about the story and his hope using all the bad tree puns that haven't been used up to that point.
• One of the early Off-Panels features some "deleted scenes" from the comics.
• In one issue, the reader may choose what Sonic says.
• In a bonus feature, Sonic directly addresses the reader and tells them to help him.
• On the SSS Issue #11 cover, Sonic can be seen saying "Hey! Whose comic is this anyway?!"
• At the end of Sonic X #17, Sonic says "That's all folks!" and then tells the reader what will happen in the next issue.

TV Shows

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

• During the intro, Sonic and Tails give the viewer a thumbs up.
• After changing "Sonic Sez" to "Sonic Says", he'll give the viewer a thumbs up.
  • The entire Sonic Sez segement has Sonic breaking the fourth wall, because he gives advice to the watcher (or audience) to do things like not to smoke, to stay in school, or not to play with guns.
• At the end of Sonic Christmas Blast, Sonic tells the viewer to be on the lookout for more episodes of AOSTH, even though none were released afterwards.
• At the end of Blank-Headed Eagle, Sonic declares that he wants his own television show by the name of "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog".
• In the beginning of Robotnik's Rival, while Sonic and Tails were chased by Robotnik, Tails bumps into the large-fonted title, knocking it over.

SatAM

• At the end of Sonic Conversion, Sonic squeezes through the black cricle (which signifies the end of an episode), turns to the viewer, and says "Seriously!".

Sonic X

• While Sonic is standing on one of the S-Team's racers, the driver yells at him, telling him that there are kids watching, which also brings Sonic to break the fourth wall, and his expression shows that he knows that in which ever dub the viewer is watching, it is unlikely to happen anyway.
  • In the English Dub, Sonic tells the kids not to use speciallly formulated racecars to catch speeding hedgehogs.
  • In the original Japanese Dub, Sonic tells the viewers that they should not stand on top of speeding race cars.
• When Sonic flies over the city and is subsequently about to fall into the pool, he looks at the viewer with an exasperated expression, then falls.
• When Eggman was viewed as a hero by many of the brainwashed civilians, Decoe and Bocoe pitched an idea of a TV show called "Eggman X". A clear nod to the show's title being "Sonic X".
  • Immediately afterward, Eggman tells the audience to "tune in next week"
• When Sonic fails to reach the Egg Carrier, he turns to the camera and says "No way".
• During the ending sequnces in the first season, Sonic will watch footage from the episode.
• When Sonic fell into a small pond/puddle while fighting Knuckles in Cracking Knuckles, he'll turn to the camera and sheepishly say "Good thing I landed in the kiddie pool.", before returning to his fight with Knuckles.
• In the Japanese version of Episode 26, when a card showing a blacked-out E-99 Eggsterminator, Eggman appears and tells the viewer "I'm sorry!" before bringing out the Eggsterminator.
• When Sonic gets an idea to get off the ship in Cruise Blues, he looks at the viewer with a sly expression on his face.
• In one episode, Charmy shows Vector a DVD of Sonic X.
• In the Chaotix's debut episode, Vector and Espio give a description of themselves to the viewer. These descriptions take so long that when Charmy asks if it's his turn yet, Vector informs him that they don't have enough time, and that they have to cut to commercial. Charmy, desperate for some screen time, grabs the camera with a worried look on his face as the scene fades to black.
• In the Japanese version of Unfair Ball, when an Eggman robot was batting and hits the ball out of the stadium, Sonic who was fielding, goes an catches the ball and says, "Out!" but Chuck tells him that if the ball goes beyond or at the end of the stadium then that is a home-run. Sonic then says, "Why should we follow the rules? This is a anime!"
• In the Japanese version of the final episode of Season 3, Charmy reminds Espio that he's acting out of character after the latter begs for more of Vanilla's cake.
• In the Japanese version of Episode 77, Eggman and his crew have an entire argument about whether or not each were properly acting in character.