Sonic Adventure 2

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Sonic Adventure 2
Development staff
Developer(s)	Sonic Team USA
Publisher(s)	Sega
Director(s)	Takashi Iizuka
Producer(s)	Yuji Naka
Designer(s)	Takashi Iizuka Eitaro Toyoda Kazuyuki Hoshino
Programmer(s)	Tetsu Katano
Artist(s)	Kazuyuki Hoshino Yuji Uekawa
Writer(s)	Shiro Maekawa
Composer(s)	Jun Senoue Kenichi Tokoi Fumie Kumatani Tomoya Ohtani
Video game overview
Series	Sonic the Hedgehog series
Release date(s)	NA June 19, 2001 INT June 23, 2001
Genre(s)	Platformer Action Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: E ACB: G USK: 0
Platform(s)	Dreamcast
Media	GD-ROM
Input	Dreamcast controller
Game order
Preceded by	Sonic Adventure

What kind of hedgehog are you?

— Tagline

Sonic Adventure 2 (ソニックアドベンチャー2, Sonikku Adobenchā Tsū^?) is a platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega in 2001 for the Dreamcast, as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is the sequel to Sonic Adventure and was developed to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the franchise, as well as the last Sonic title to be released on a Sega console. The game features two good-and-evil storylines, each featuring three playable characters with whom they share a gameplay style with their opposite counterpart. Sonic Adventure 2 additionally serves as the debut of Shadow the Hedgehog, a black hedgehog that vaguely looks like Sonic, and Rouge the Bat, an enigmatic treasure hunter.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic is arrested by the Guardian Units of Nations military organization due to being the supposed perpetrator of a Chaos Emerald theft. When the hedgehog learns that the true culprit is Shadow, whom he has been mistaken with, and that Eggman is up to no good again and plans to conquer the world using a planet-shattering weapon, he joins forces with his friends Tails, Knuckles and Amy to stop both evildoers and prove his innocence.

Like its predecessor, Sonic Adventure 2 was met with positive reviews, with praise for its gameplay variety, visuals, and music. It nevertheless received criticism for failing to address its prequel's flaws, most noticeably the camera orientations. Due to being released at the end of the Dreamcast's lifetime, it only sold around 500,000 copies. The game was re-released for the Nintendo GameCube less than a year later, under the name Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, with several tweaks to various aspects regarding graphics and gameplay features.

Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot, ending details or any kind of information follow.

Storylines

Hero Story

A fugitive Sonic, having broken free from G.U.N..

A helicopter from Sigma-Alpha 2, a subdivision of the Guardian Units of Nations (G.U.N.) military, is flying over the city, with Sonic the Hedgehog captive inside. Suddenly, Sonic manages to break free and jumps out of the helicopter, using a torn-off piece of the wing as a snowboard, and rushes through the city desperately trying to lose his pursuers. He defeats the F-6t Big Foot mech but soon runs into a black hedgehog named Shadow the Hedgehog, who shares his speed and has stolen the green Chaos Emerald from the national reserve bank. Realizing G.U.N. have mistaken him for Shadow, Sonic attempts to attack but Shadow uses Chaos Control to warp away as Sonic is re-captured.

Meanwhile, in the desert, Knuckles the Echidna and Rouge the Bat are fighting for possession over the Master Emerald. Suddenly, Dr. Eggman drops in and grabs the Emerald using a claw, forcing Knuckles to jump up and punch the Emerald, shattering it into pieces. Rouge is furious, saying that all the world's gems belong to her and now neither of them have it, but Knuckles explains that he can simply find all of the pieces and repair it. The two split as Eggman flies off to his base, and Knuckles finds some shards in a canyon nearby.

The next day, Miles "Tails" Prower is flying to Prison Island in the Cyclone to try and save Sonic when he sees Eggman forcing Amy Rose to the edge of an aircraft carrier at gunpoint, prompting Tails to drop down and engage the plane's mech mode. They fight, and it ends in a stalemate. Eggman decides to let Tails and Amy go this time before he leaves. The two infiltrate the prison, and eventually find Sonic in a cell. Breaking him free, the hedgehog escapes from the harbor and into the jungle. Sonic runs into Shadow again, and they fight before Shadow receives a transmission from Eggman revealing that the time bombs are set to go off soon. Panicking, Sonic rushes through the forest and finds his friends, and they escape in the Cyclone as Prison Island blows up. Meanwhile, Knuckles explores a haunted mountain and finds more shards of the Master Emerald.

As soon as they return to the city, Eggman starts a live broadcast. He proclaims that he is now the ruler of the planet and demonstrates his new power aboard a previously abandoned space colony known as the Space Colony ARK. Using a massive laser cannon installed on it, he blows up half of the moon and gives everyone one day to accept him as his ruler, lest they want the Cannon fired at earth. The heroes are furious with the doctor's plan, but wonder how he could harness such power. Sonic realizes that the Chaos Emeralds must be involved somehow, before Tails takes out the yellow Emerald. He explains that the Chaos Emeralds are attracted to each other, similar to a magnetic force, and using this he can figure out where Eggman is hiding. G.U.N. track them down and order the three to surrender, prompting Sonic to hold them off as Tails and Amy get to safety in the Cyclone. Back with Knuckles, he explores a flooded mine and obtains more Emerald shards.

Tails and Amy hide in a safe area and call Sonic on a walkie-talkie. Tails says that he cannot get a signal on the Emeralds, meaning that Eggman's base is in outer space. Knuckles promptly meets up with them after climbing out of a manhole, saying he got lost in the mines. As Amy pulls him out, Tails manages to track the president's limo by hacking into the US government's computer and finding a call the president had with Eggman. The plan is to trace the limo and the call to find out where Eggman is. On the highway, the president is being driven through the city in a limo while in a call with Eggman. The doctor explains that he wants the president to surrender at his desert base within one day and not try to retaliate, or he will fire the Eclipse Cannon at the United Federation. Suddenly, Sonic and Tails jump into the limo from the sunroof and assure both the president and Eggman that they will intervene. Tails mans the computer and finds that Eggman's transmission is coming from the ARK.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy head for the Hidden Base, Dr. Eggman's secret base inside a pyramid in the desert. Tails blasts through the outer defenses in the Cyclone and Sonic goes through the catacombs to find the launch pad, albeit locked. Knuckles searches the area to find the key, and despite being attacked by King Boom Boo, the king of ghosts, he manages to defeat it and assemble the key. Eggman reveals himself to the heroes and vows to kill them and take the Chaos Emerald to unlock the Cannon's true power. Revealing a newly repaired Egg Golem, Eggman orders it to attack but Sonic defeats it easily. He then races to join his friends aboard a rocket as it takes off for outer space.

They reach the ARK, but the rocket slams into a giant asteroid, damaging it. The Master Emerald shards drift out into space and Knuckles angrily orders the heroes to stop the rocket and let him out so he can get them back. He and Sonic get into a fight over the rocket's controls, causing it to spin out of control. Knuckles promptly bails as Tails manages to make a safe landing. Sonic is angry at Knuckles for doing that as Tails researches the ARK's history. The ARK was the most advanced research center on Earth but shut down 50 years prior due to a horrible accident. He finds that the Eclipse Cannon is impenetrable on the outside, before taking out a convincing replica of the yellow Chaos Emerald he made that has the same properties as the real Emerald but is weaker.

The plan is to insert it into the console with the other Chaos Emeralds, causing the energy flow to reverse and blow up the Cannon. Tails blasts through the ARK and finds the power generator, which he destroys, and Sonic reaches the console for the Eclipse Cannon, but before he can insert the fake Emerald, Eggman approaches Tails, having captured Amy, and demands Sonic meet him in the research facility. Outside, Knuckles and Rouge fight over the shards, but during the battle Rouge slips and falls off the tower they were fighting on. Knuckles catches her before she can hit the lava below, but despite him having just saved her from a painful death Rouge angrily tells Knuckles to get off her. She jokingly guesses that he only saved her just so he could take her hand and calls him a creep. Knuckles is angry at her, saying that the situation is not a joke, and that he wasn't saving her, but the shards of the Master Emerald she is carrying. Regardless, Rouge gives him the shards, saying they stink of echidna. Knuckles says that if she thought that in the first place, they should not have fought. The Master Emerald is restored once again, and Knuckles apologizes to it for what he did before leaving to return it to its rightful place.

Sonic reaches the research facility, where Eggman threatens to kill Amy if he does not give him the Chaos Emerald. Sonic attempts to trick Eggman by handing over the fake Chaos Emerald, but Eggman suddenly springs a trap, locking the hedgehog inside an escape pod set to hurtle down to Earth and blow up. Before Eggman pushes the button, he tricks Tails into confirming the Emerald was fake, as he'd suspected, and Sonic encourages Tails to take care of Eggman and tells Amy to take care of herself. As the pod hurtles into space, Sonic remembers both Shadow's technique and that the Emerald has the same properties as the real one, albeit slightly weaker, and gets an idea. Back on the ARK, everyone present sees the escape pod explode, and Tails and Amy are in dismay, believing Sonic is dead. Eggman then demands Tails hand over the real Emerald, promising to release both him and Amy in return, but the fox remembers Sonic's last words and vows not to let him down. The two fight again, but despite Tails' efforts, Eggman escapes with the last Chaos Emerald.

Meanwhile, as Knuckles tries to find the exit, he feels a strange energy before being blinded by a bright flash. Sonic appears, having used the fake Emerald to perform Chaos Control and escape the pod before it blew up. He asks Knuckles to go save Tails and Amy, while he rushes to slam the fake Emerald into the barrel of the Eclipse Cannon in a final attempt to destroy it. Encountering Shadow along the way, both hedgehogs fight in a climactic showdown, and Sonic slams the Chaos Emerald into the Eclipse Cannon as it charges up, telling Tails and Amy via walkie-talkie to look out the window to see him standing atop the exploding cannon, giving a thumbs up.

Dark Story

Dr. Eggman releasing Shadow the Hedgehog, initially mistaking him for Sonic.

Dr. Eggman breaks into Prison Island and begins storming through the base. He is searching for a top-secret military weapon that his grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, had created. However, the military had shut it down as they feared its power. He eventually finds it encased in a stasis capsule and unlocks it by entering the password "MA-RI-A" and inserting the gray Chaos Emerald into a console. The capsule unlocks, revealing a jet black and red hedgehog. Eggman initially mistakes him for his arch-nemesis Sonic the Hedgehog but realizes that he is different. The hedgehog introduces himself as Shadow, thanks Eggman for freeing him, and tells him that, in return, he will grant him one wish before easily defeating the B-3x Hot Shot mech sent to capture them both. Eggman is astounded by the feat, and asks about the wish, but Shadow simply tells Eggman to gather more Chaos Emeralds and meet him in the control room on the Space Colony ARK.

Meanwhile, in the desert, Knuckles the Echidna and Rouge the Bat are fighting for possession of the Master Emerald. Suddenly, Eggman drops in and grabs the Emerald using a claw, forcing Knuckles to jump up and punch the Emerald, shattering it into pieces. Rouge is furious, saying that all the world's gems belong to her, but Knuckles explains that he can simply find all of the pieces and repair it. The two split as Eggman flies off to his base, and Rouge searches a nearby lagoon for some shards, vowing revenge on both Eggman and Knuckles.

Eggman reaches his desert base and clears out the patrolling G.U.N. forces before going inside. Reaching his computer, he turns it on and finds a news broadcast. It turns out that Shadow has broken into the national reserve bank and stolen the green Chaos Emerald, but the authorities believe Sonic to be responsible. As Shadow watches from the top of a bridge, he suddenly has a flashback of the past. He sees himself and Maria Robotnik, Gerald's granddaughter, fleeing through the ARK from G.U.N. Maria is shot, but before she dies, she seals Shadow inside an escape pod and begs him to share a promise. Shadow remembers this as a promise for revenge and flees across the highway while breaking through G.U.N.'s forces. He then runs into Sonic, who is also trying to evade military capture, and the blue hedgehog angrily realizes what is happening. He attacks, but Shadow uses Chaos Control to warp away and introduces himself as the world's ultimate lifeform before vanishing. Sonic is left to be captured by G.U.N..

Dr. Eggman in Lost Colony.

Back in the desert, Rouge finds Eggman's base and manages to break inside, reaching the computer room. She sees a teleporter to the ARK and wonders what he would be doing there, but regardless she continues trying to work out what he is up to. Up on the ARK, Eggman searches the abandoned research station and finds the main control room, where Shadow is waiting. He explains that the ARK is the first ever space colony, and it was built by Gerald Robotnik, Eggman's grandfather and one of the smartest men who ever lived. However, what people do not know is that the ARK also was the birthplace of many lethal weapons such as himself.

He reveals one – the Eclipse Cannon, a laser cannon built into the ARK that is capable of destroying entire planets. However, the cannon has been shut off for so long that it has run out of energy, and so they need all seven Chaos Emeralds to recharge it. As Shadow plugs the Emerald he took from the bank into the console, he then makes Eggman a deal: if he helps Shadow re-activate the cannon, the doctor can keep it and use it however he likes, telling him that the whole world could be his. Eggman laughs, as he can secure himself a legacy, but Rouge drops down from the ceiling, saying it will not be that easy. Remembering the tracking system he used to find the Master Emerald, she offers to help if she can keep it. When Eggman asks what is in it for him, Rouge explains that she is a treasure hunter that specializes in jewels and could help track down the other Emeralds. Eggman accepts, and Rouge gives him the blue Chaos Emerald.

The trio first go to Prison Island, where the purple, red and turquoise Chaos Emeralds are apparently kept, according to Rouge's intel. They form a plan: Eggman causes a distraction by attacking the military forces, while Rouge enters the vault to get the Emeralds and Shadow places time bombs around the island. Having only 30 minutes and one chance to pull it off, they split up. However, as they run out into the landing zone, Amy runs up to Shadow and hugs him, mistaking him for Sonic. She immediately realizes her mistake and panics. Eggman tells Shadow and Rouge to go and continue the plan as he can take Amy. However, at this moment, Tails is flying past in the Cyclone and sees everything. He drops down onto the runway and engages his mech mode, determined to protect her. They fight, but their battle ends in a stalemate. Eggman decides to let Tails go and runs off to cause a distraction for Shadow and Rouge.

Shadow sets the bombs for 15 minutes as Rouge manages to unlock the vault, only to be attacked by the R-1/A Flying Dog mech. She defeats it and retrieves the Emeralds but becomes trapped inside the vault with only ten minutes left until the bombs detonate. Shadow considers leaving her to die but decides to save her as it would mean his plan would be ruined. He rushes through the rainforest only to run into Sonic again, who has broken free and wants revenge. They fight, but their confrontation is interrupted by a transmission from Eggman, warning him to get off Prison Island before the bombs detonate. Sonic overhears this and runs off to warn his friends while Shadow manages to reach and break open the vault, free Rouge, and use Chaos Control to take them both to safety with only five seconds to spare.

Back on the ARK, Shadow remembers a conversation between himself and Maria about what it is like on Earth, before Rouge snaps him out of it. She is surprised that Shadow saved her, but he denies this, saying he was saving the Chaos Emeralds. As Eggman joins them, he announces that they are ready. Rouge asks if he is sure, as they still need the yellow Chaos Emerald, but Shadow explains that it is enough to demonstrate the Eclipse Cannon's power to the world. Eggman broadcasts an announcement that he is set to rule the world, and demonstrates why resistance is futile by using the Eclipse Cannon to blow up half of the moon.

Eggman then gives the people one day to accept their new ruler, or he will fire the Cannon at earth. Rouge is happy with the success of the presentation, but Shadow says that they have not won yet – the Cannon will take far too long to recharge, and they need the final Chaos Emerald. Eggman angrily asks Rouge where the last Emerald is, and Rouge responds by showing Eggman a newspaper. It says that Tails was given it as a reward for saving Station Square from a missile attack. Eggman and Shadow leave to get it from the fox as Rouge stays for a bit to relay information to the government as she is unable to determine if Shadow is the true ultimate lifeform but her research will continue.

Rouge goes to earth and tracks Tails in her car, finding both him and Sonic tailing the president in the Cyclone to find Eggman's desert base. She alerts Shadow, who races through the mountains to try and stop them but ultimately fails. He asks Eggman on what to do, but the doctor replies he is tracking them using radar and he will be ready for them. In his base, Eggman summons his newly repaired Egg Golem to attack but Sonic manages to damage the restraining mechanism, causing it to turn on Eggman.

The doctor destroys the machine as the heroes manage to hijack a rocket and set off into outer space. With only two hours and eleven minutes until the Eclipse Cannon is due to fire, Eggman alerts Rouge. She promises to stop them before asking for the colony's password. Upon getting it, she chuckles at how easily she tricked him before entering "MA-RI-A" into the console and rebooting the system. She finds files on Project Shadow, revealing that Shadow was created as the ultimate lifeform, but suddenly the computer detects energy from the Master Emerald shards that Knuckles gathered. It turns out that the heroes' rocket hit an asteroid, causing the shards to drift out into space.

Outside, Knuckles and Rouge fight over the shards, but during the battle Rouge slips and falls off the tower they were fighting on. Knuckles catches her before she can hit the lava below, but despite him having just saved her from a painful death Rouge angrily tells Knuckles to get off her. She jokingly guesses that he only saved her just so he could take her hand, and calls him a creep. Knuckles is angry at her, saying that the situation is not a joke, but regardless Rouge gives him the shards, saying they stink of echidna. Knuckles says that if she thought that in the first place, they should not have fought.

The Master Emerald is restored once again, and Knuckles apologizes to it for what he did before leaving to return it to the desert shrine. Back on earth, Shadow and Eggman are in the computer room in the pyramid. Eggman detects energy readings from two separate Chaos Emeralds and realizes that the heroes are attempting to trick him into inserting a fake one. He beams himself up to the ARK, telling Shadow to stay in the computer room and finish the job if he is defeated. He promptly makes his way through the space colony and captures Amy. He then tells Sonic and Tails to meet him in the research center. The two find him, and Eggman threatens to kill Amy if they do not give him both Chaos Emeralds. Sonic hands over the fake Chaos Emerald, before Eggman suddenly springs a trap, locking Sonic inside an escape pod set to hurtle down to Earth and kill him.

Before Eggman pushes the button, Sonic encourages Tails to stop Eggman and tells Amy to take care of herself. The escape pod hurtles outside the ARK and explodes, leaving Tails and Amy in dismay as they both believe Sonic is dead. Eggman then turns to defeat Tails, but the fox remembers Sonic's last words and vows not to let him down. The two fight again, and despite Tails' efforts Eggman escapes with all seven Chaos Emeralds. With 21 minutes until the cannon fires, Shadow watches the escape pod explode from the ARK and decides that Sonic was just a normal hedgehog after all. He goes to the control room, but to his absolute shock he realizes that Rouge has betrayed them, and she is actually a spy for the government. Rouge explains that she figured her part of the deal was fulfilled, so she decided to take the Chaos Emeralds and leave. Shadow calls her pathetic, before Rouge takes out a printed document about Project Shadow; the picture on the document shows an entirely different being as the ultimate lifeform. Rouge then wonders who or what is Shadow supposed to be if the picture shows the real ultimate lifeform.

The two receive a call from Eggman, who has the final Chaos Emerald. He tells them that someone is heading for the Eclipse Cannon and Shadow has to stop them before it fires. Shadow then threatens to kill Rouge if she takes the Emeralds, but says she can keep the fake one. Rouge asks if he really thinks he is the real Shadow and mentions that his memories could be fake. However, Shadow says that even then he is still Shadow as his memories are all he has, and he must fulfill his promise to Maria and that is what matters most. Shadow rushes across the underside of the ARK and eventually finds Sonic, who managed to escape from the exploding escape pod by using Chaos Control. Shadow comments that there was indeed more to Sonic than just looking like him, before vowing to kill him. Both hedgehogs face off for one last time, and despite his best efforts Sonic manages to reach the Eclipse Cannon and slam the fake Emerald into the barrel, destroying it.

Meanwhile, in the control room, Eggman plugs the yellow Chaos Emerald into the console, laughing maniacally at his victory. Suddenly, an alarm begins going off.

Last Story

Super Sonic fighting the Finalhazard.

Kicking off from the end of both the Hero and Dark Stories, Eggman desperately looks through the computer, trying to figure out what is going wrong. To his shock, he finds a video containing Gerald Robotnik. In the research center, Sonic and Knuckles try to investigate the rumbling when Rouge drops in. She reveals that the ARK is now falling to earth at terminal velocity and that they are all going to die. Suddenly, a video is broadcast out to the whole world. It contains Gerald, filming a few days before his death in a cell on Prison Island. He explains that the ARK is falling to Earth and that in 27 minutes it will land; the resulting explosion will destroy the planet and wipe out all life on it. This protocol was activated when Eggman inserted the Chaos Emeralds into the console, and is his posthumous revenge for G.U.N. storming the ARK 50 years prior and killing Maria Robotnik, whose death drove him insane.

Eggman comes into the room and explains that the figure in the video is Gerald. Knuckles angrily believes that Eggman is responsible, but the doctor argues that he would have done it long ago if he could. Noticing Sonic, he grumbles about how persistent he is as the hedgehog states that Knuckles piloting the shuttle was worse than anything Eggman could throw at him. Eggman then hands Rouge a hard drive containing Gerald's diary, which she plugs into the computer and reads.

I don't quite know what happened, or what went wrong. Was it a mistake to create the ultimate lifeform? I thought it would be something that would benefit mankind... But then the military guards landed on the Colony that day. They were sent to destroy the research project that I had been working on. My colleagues at the research facility, my granddaughter Maria, I hope you are all safe.

Rouge then reads the final entry as Gerald's voice is heard:

The colony was completely shut down, probably to prevent the prototype from falling into the wrong hands. The ARK was shut down under the premise that there had been an accident. I found Maria's name among those who died when the ARK was shut down. She meant everything to me! And I couldn't bear the thought that she died because of my research. I lost everything! I had nothing more to live for! I went insane! All I could think about was to avenge her! Somehow, someway, I got scared as I no longer was able to control my thoughts. All I could think about was that I wanted it all to end. Based on my original projections, I was able to complete my project, Shadow. I designed its mind to be perfect, pure... I will leave everything, to him. If you wish, release and awaken it to the world if you wish to fill it with destruction.

Eggman then explains that the energy from the Chaos Emeralds was enough to overcharge the Eclipse Cannon, making the core highly reactive and unstable. If the ARK hits earth, the planet will be destroyed, and so they must stop the energy flow. Rouge remembers that the Master Emerald is stronger than all seven Chaos Emeralds combined, and so they can use it to neutralize the energy. The five rush through to the core in a mad hurry, when Amy finds Shadow 19 minutes before impact. She begs him to help, but Shadow refuses as he has no reason to – the humans will perish, which is what Maria wanted. Amy begs Shadow not to ignore the crisis, as while some people are selfish while most of them have good hearts and do not deserve to die.

This triggers a hidden memory within Shadow, and he realizes that Maria never wanted revenge – Shadow was created to give humanity a chance to be happy, and Gerald simply manipulated this memory to trick him. Shadow vows to fulfill Maria's promise by thwarting Gerald's plans, and he joins the others. They find the core, which was designed after the altar of the Master Emerald. However, they encounter the Biolizard, a prototype of the ultimate lifeform. Shadow engages it while the others get the Emeralds from the control room, and Shadow manages to defeat it as Knuckles uses the Master Emerald to neutralize the energy. However, the Biolizard uses Chaos Control to fuse with the ARK, becoming the Finalhazard. Eggman explains that the creature was also manipulated into serving Gerald, and it is determined to keep the ARK on its collision course.

Sonic and Shadow use the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and Super Shadow, and together they are able to defeat the Finalhazard and use Chaos Control to warp the ARK back into orbit before it hits earth. However, Shadow, unable to maintain his super transformation form any longer, turns back to normal before falling to earth. Before he does, he tells himself that this was what Maria wanted and that he has fulfilled her promise. As humanity celebrates, the others on the ARK look down to the world. When Sonic returns to the ARK, Rouge wonders what happened to Shadow, but Sonic shakes his head to indicate he did not make it, but assures her that he did what a brave and heroic hedgehog did to save the earth. Eggman says that when he was young he looked up to Gerald, and wonders if he really did mean to destroy everything. Tails is unsure, but regardless everyone celebrates. Knuckles asks Rouge what she is going to do next, and she explains that she is not interested in jewels anymore after that hassle but has a new career plan. As Sonic thinks of Shadow, Amy asks him what is on his mind, and Sonic assures her it is nothing. Everybody returns to earth, the charges against Sonic and the others being dropped offscreen, with Sonic promising to remember Shadow's heroic sacrifice.

Characters

Image	Character	Biography
	Sonic the Hedgehog	The fastest hedgehog on earth has a little competition. Mistaken for an escapee, Sonic is being chased by a secret military organization. He'll have to catch up with the mysterious black hedgehog in order to thwart Dr. Eggman's latest plan to conquer the world.
	Shadow the Hedgehog	The black hedgehog that resembles Sonic. Shadow is the ultimate lifeform created by Professor Gerald. Shadow has a special ability called "Chaos Control," which allows him to warp time and space using Chaos Emeralds. After telling Dr. Eggman about the existence of the Eclipse Cannon, Shadow encourages Dr. Eggman to join up and help conquer the world.
	Miles "Tails" Prower	This fox boy with two tails can create mechanical inventions that rival those of made by Dr. Eggman. This time, Tails pilots his latest walker, "Cyclone." He will support Sonic completely with his mechanical abilities.
	Dr. Eggman	Also known as Dr. Robotnik, Dr. Eggman is a self-proclaimed genius. He is an evil scientist with an IQ of 300. A renowned authority on robotics, Eggman joins forces with Shadow and Rouge in a plot to conquer the world. Once he has collected the Chaos Emeralds, he plans to take care of his lifelong rival, Sonic, once and for all.
	Knuckles the Echidna	The guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles takes his residence on the floating Angel Island. He is known as a treasure hunter, but is a skilled martial artist as well. Ever since the Master Emerald was shattered, Knuckles has made it his mission to collect each every shattered piece.
	Rouge the Bat	As a hunter who devotes her life to the pursuit of jewels, Rouge is determined to make herself rich. She is passionate about her work, and once she's set her sights on a new treasure, she stops at nothing until she gets it. In order to collect the many pieces of the Master Emerald, she offers to help Shadow and Dr. Eggman—but her true identity remains a mystery to them both.
	Amy Rose	A cheerful girl full of passion who loves to chase after Sonic wherever he goes. Learning that Sonic was arrested by the military troops, she comes to Prison Island alone. She has a strong sense of intuition and a pure heart.
	Maria Robotnik	A beautiful and mysterious girl that exists in the memory of Shadow, Maria is the granddaughter of Professor Gerald and a cousin of Dr. Eggman.
	Prof. Gerald Robotnik	A brilliant scientist and Dr. Eggman's grandfather. Noted as one of the most brilliant minds of all time, Professor Gerald designed the world's first space colony "ARK." He was also involved in the development of the ultimate life form: "Project Shadow." He later disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Gameplay

As with its predecessor, Sonic Adventure 2 is a 3D third-person action platformer video game. Gameplay takes place between two different points of view storylines, the "Hero" story and the "Dark" story; the player has the option of advancing in either one or the other at any time. The player controls Sonic, Knuckles and Tails in the Hero side of the story, while they play as Shadow, Rouge and Dr. Eggman in the Dark storyline. The characters all play similarly to their opposite counterparts. The game is divided into a series of stages where the player controls one of the aforementioned characters, depending which story they are in. Interspersed between the levels are various bosses, which one particular character must fight. Levels advance in order for each storyline, and come between each of the playable characters. The main story line can only be finished when both Hero and Dark story modes are finished, and an extra story feature is revealed where the player must use almost every characters to beat it.

Similar to past Sonic games, the goal of Sonic Adventure 2 is to get to the end of the aforementioned stages while a timer counts the time spent within each stage, though each character has a different way of passing through them. In these stages, the player might find Rings, which serve as their character's main defense against enemies and obstacles; should the playable character be hit by an obstacle or enemy, they will survive at the cost of losing all their Rings. However, if the player takes damage without having any Rings on them, they will lose a life, or get a Game Over if they do not have any lives left. In the former's case, the playable character will respawn at the latest Point Marker they touched, or at the start of the stage if they did not touch any Point Markers. In addition, there are certain circumstances where the character will be given an instant death, no matter how many Rings they have. These include drowning, being crushed, or falling into a bottomless pit. Also, when passing a Point Marker, the player receives a specific power-up based on the number of Rings they are holding:

At the end of each stage, the player is given a score based on the number of Rings collected and time spent within the level. The less time is taken and the more Rings obtained, the higher the score is. The player is also given a Rank based on their performance, a letter grade that is either A, B, C, D, or E, with A being the highest and E being the lowest. Irrelevant to any other factors, an A-Rank is automatically awarded to players that complete any score-ranked mission with all of the Rings from that level in the player's possession.

There are five missions within each Action Stage; in order to obtain the second mission, the player must complete the first one, to unlock the third, the second mission must be finished, and so on. In order from first through fifth, the missions are: to complete the level, collect one hundred Rings, find a "lost Chao" using the Mystic Melody Level Up Item, finish within a time limit, and complete a "Hard mode" version of the stage.

Emblems are also given within the game, and there are one-hundred and eighty Emblems in total. In order to gain all Emblems, players must complete every mission within every stage, achieve an A rank in all stages and missions, etc. After collecting all Emblems, the player unlocks Green Hill, a remake of Green Hill Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog.

Returning from Sonic Adventure are the Chao, small creatures that can be raised by the player in Chao Gardens, similar to a virtual pet. A new feature introduced is that Chao may change their appearance and alignment depending on what character the player is using and how do they treat them. If a Chao is well treated by a Hero side character or abused by a Dark side one, they will turn into a "Hero Chao," a benevolent and polite Chao. On the other side, well treated by a Dark side character or abused by a Hero side one, they will turn into a "Dark Chao," a rude type of Chao.

Character-specific gameplay

High-Speed Action Stages

• Sonic in City Escape, the first stage in the Hero story.
• Shadow in Radical Highway, the fourth stage in the Dark story.

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Sonic and Shadow's gameplay styles are identical to that of Sonic in Sonic Adventure. The fastest of their respective character roasters, they can perform a Spin Dash to gain instant speed in seconds and use a Homing Attack to target an obstacle or enemy and home in on them for an attack. Sonic and Shadow's stages end by touching a Goal Ring.

In addition, Sonic and Shadow's abilities can be upgraded by collecting Level Up Items; after finding the Light Speed Shoes or the Air Shoes, respectively, they will be able to perform the Light Speed Dash; when they obtain the Ancient Light, they will be able to perform the Light Speed Attack; and by getting the Flame Ring, Sonic and Shadow will be able to use the Fire Somersault.

Lock-On Shooting Stages

• Tails in Prison Lane, the third stage in the Hero story.
• Dr. Eggman in Iron Gate, the first stage in the Dark story.

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Tails and Dr. Eggman have similar gameplay styles to that of E-102 Gamma in Sonic Adventure. In gameplay, they are driving the walker mode of the Cyclone and the Eggwalker, respectively. Unlike other characters, Tails and Eggman make use of a Health Gauge, which can be filled by collecting rings. When the Health Gauge is empty, the player will lose a life, or get a Game Over if they run out of lives. Despite walking slowly and being capable of doing small jumps, they can use the Lock-on to target enemies and obstacles, and the Lock-On Missile to launch missiles to said targets. The Volkan Cannon fires a mini-gun at targets, but is not as effective as the Lock-On Missile.

Tails and Eggman's abilities can be upgraded by collecting Level Up Items; when they find the Bazooka or the Large Cannon, respectively, they will be increase the power of the Volkan Cannon; by collecting the Booster or the Jet Engine, respectively, the playable character will be able to Hover; and the Laser Blaster makes the missiles of the Lock-On Missile release violent explosions upon contact, thus damaging enemies that are near the target as well. Eggman can also collect the Protective Armor, which increases the durability of his Eggwalker.

Hunting Stages

• Knuckles in Wild Canyon, the second stage in the Hero story.
• Rouge in Dry Lagoon, the second stage in the Dark story.

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Knuckles and Rouge have the same gameplay styles as Knuckles in Sonic Adventure. When playing as either of them, the player is required to find three Master Emerald shards or similar objects hidden in the stage to complete it. To facilitate the search of the shards, the player will be able to make use of the Emerald Radar, which will tell them whether or not they are near a hidden object. While slightly slower than Sonic and Shadow, they are able to glide to fall much slower to the ground, thus being able to pass over large pits. If they hit a vertical wall while gliding, Knuckles and Rouge will climb, where they will be able to climb or scale said wall. They can also dig when they are on a solid ground, and thus be able to find buried objects.

Controls

General

Button formation	Movement
	Move
	Jump
/	Action
	Switch Action Window
L / R	Rotate camera
START	Pause

High-Speed Action Stages

Button formation	Movement
	Sonic	Shadow
/	Somersault
Hold / > release	Spin Dash
Jump >	Homing Attack
/ on Rail	Crouch to accelerate
/ near rings	Light Speed Dash
Jump > /	Bounce Attack

Lock-On Shooting Stages

Button formation	Movement
	Tails	Dr. Eggman
/	Volkan Cannon
Hold /	Lock-on
Lock-on > release /	Lock-On Missile
/ near enemy	Propeller Punch	Punch
Jump > Hold	Hover

Hunting Stages

Button formation	Movement
	Knuckles	Rouge
/	Punch	Kick
Hold while midair	Glide
Glide into wall >	Climb Wall
+ / in water	Swim up and down
/ after jumping/while on wall	Dig

Objects

Items

• Air bubble
• Chao Egg
• Chao Key (first appearance)
• Chaos Emerald
• Chaos Drive (first appearance)
• Container (first appearance)
  • Cage (first appearance)
  • Chao Container (first appearance)
  • Steel Container (first appearance)
  • Unbreakable Container (first appearance)
  • Wooden Container (first appearance)
• Emblem
• Emerald Shard
• Floating Item Box (first appearance)
• Gate key (first appearance)
• Goal Ring (first appearance)
• Item Box
  • 1-Up
  • 5 Rings
  • 10 Rings
  • 20 Rings
  • Bomb
  • Health (first appearance)
  • High-Speed Shoes
  • Invincibility
  • Magnetic Shield
  • Shield
• Key Stone
  • Gate Key (first appearance)
• Meteorite (first appearance)
• Outfit (first appearance)
• Ring
• Snowboard

Gimmicks and obstacles

• Ancient Ruin (first appearance)
• Ball Switch
• Bungie Vine (first appearance)
• Dash Panel
• Dynamite (first appearance)
• Egg Beetle (first appearance)
• Gravity Control Switch
• Green energy fluid (first appearance)
• Grind Rail (first appearance)
• GUN Military Truck (first appearance)
• High-speed warp tube
• Hint Box
• Hourglass (first appearance)
• Iron ball
• Jump Plate
• Laser field
• Missile (first appearance)
• Pipe (first appearance)
• Point Marker
• Propeller Spring (first appearance)
• Pulley
• Ramp
• Rocket
• Safe
• Spikes
• Spinning drum (first appearance)
• Spring
• Swing Bar (first appearance)
• Time Switch (first appearance)
• Turtle (first appearance)
• Warp Hole (first appearance)
• Warp Wall (first appearance)
• Weight (first appearance)
• Wide spring

Level Up Items

• Air Necklace (first appearance)
• Air Shoes (first appearance)
• Ancient Light
• Bazooka (first appearance)
• Booster (first appearance)
• Bounce Bracelet (first appearance)
• Flame Ring (first appearance)
• Hammer Gloves (first appearance)
• Iron Boots (first appearance)
• Jet Engine (first appearance)
• Large Cannon (first appearance)
• Laser Blaster (first appearance)
• Light Speed Shoes
• Magic Gloves (first appearance)
• Mystic Melody (first appearance)
• Pick Nails (first appearance)
• Protective Armor (first appearance)
• Shovel Claw (first appearance)
• Sunglasses (first appearance)
• Treasure Scope (first appearance)

Characters

Playable characters

• Amy Rose (multiplayer)
• Big the Cat (multiplayer)
• Chao Walker (multiplayer) (first appearance)
• Chaos (multiplayer)
• Dr. Eggman
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Metal Sonic (multiplayer)
• Miles "Tails" Prower
• Rouge the Bat (first appearance)
• Shadow the Hedgehog (first appearance)
  • Super Shadow (first appearance)
• Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Super Sonic
• Tikal (multiplayer)

Non-playable characters

Chao Dark Chao (first appearance) Dark Chaos (first appearance) Hero Chao (first appearance) Light Chaos (first appearance) Neutral Chao Chao Principal (first appearance) Chaolin (first appearance) Chaoko (first appearance) Chaosky (first appearance) Dinner (first appearance) Happy (first appearance) Omochao Wacky (first appearance) Gerald Robotnik (first appearance) Maria Robotnik (first appearance) President (first appearance) Scorpion Troop (first appearance) Secretary (first appearance) Sigma-Alpha 2 (first appearance) Spider Troop (first appearance) Researcher (first appearance)

Animals Bat Bear Boar Cheetah Condor Dragon Gorilla Half Fish Parrot Peacock Penguin Phoenix Rabbit Raccoon Seal Sea Otter Sheep Skeleton Dog Skunk Tiger Unicorn

Enemies

Artificial Chaos (first appearance) Artificial Chaos P-1 (first appearance) Artificial Chaos P-100 (first appearance) Cell (first appearance) Float Type (first appearance) Guard Type (first appearance) Badniks Buzz Bomber Chopper E-1000 Gola Unidus Kiki Boo (first appearance) Boom Boo (first appearance) Guardian Units of Nations Blue Eagle (first appearance) Bomb Beetle (first appearance) Bomb Wing (first appearance) Gold Beetle (first appearance) Gun Beetle (first appearance) Gun Hawk (first appearance) Gun Hunter (first appearance) Gun Wing (first appearance) Hornet-3 (first appearance) Hornet-6 (first appearance) Hornet-9 (first appearance) Laser Hawk (first appearance) Laser Hornet (first appearance) Laser Hunter (first appearance) Mono Beetle (first appearance) Phoenix (first appearance) Rhino Cannon (first appearance) Rhino Jet (first appearance) Rhino Metal (first appearance) Rhino Spike (first appearance) Shield Hunter (first appearance) Sky Hawk (first appearance) Spark Beetle (first appearance) Spring Beetle (first appearance)

Stages

Story Mode

There are a total of thirty-one stages in Sonic Adventure 2's Story Mode, sixteen from the Hero Story, fourteen from the Dark Story, and a final one from the Last Story. With some exceptions, each of these stages takes place in one of the game's major settings and features either high-speed (Sonic, Shadow), shooting (Tails, Dr. Eggman), or treasure hunting (Knuckles, Rouge) gameplay.

• Hero Story
• Dark Story
• Last Story
• Map

No.	Stage	Character
1	City Escape	Sonic
2	Wild Canyon	Knuckles
3	Prison Lane	Tails
4	Metal Harbor	Sonic
5	Green Forest
6	Pumpkin Hill	Knuckles
7	Mission Street	Tails
8	Aquatic Mine	Knuckles
9	Route 101	Tails
10	Hidden Base
11	Pyramid Cave	Sonic
12	Death Chamber	Knuckles
13	Eternal Engine	Tails
14	Meteor Herd	Knuckles
15	Crazy Gadget	Sonic
16	Final Rush

No.	Stage	Character
1	Iron Gate	Dr. Eggman
2	Dry Lagoon	Rouge
3	Sand Ocean	Dr. Eggman
4	Radical Highway	Shadow
5	Egg Quarters	Rouge
6	Lost Colony	Dr. Eggman
7	Weapons Bed
8	Security Hall	Rouge
9	White Jungle	Shadow
10	Route 280	Rouge
11	Sky Rail	Shadow
12	Mad Space	Rouge
13	Cosmic Wall	Dr. Eggman
14	Final Chase	Shadow

No.	Stage	Character
Final	Cannon's Core	Tails Dr. Eggman Rouge Knuckles Sonic

Other stages

• Chao World
• Green Hill

Bosses

In Story Mode, there are several bosses that the player has to fight after completing certain stages. There may also be times where two bosses are separately fought in a row following a stage.

• Hero Story
• Dark Story
• Last Story

No.	Previous stage	Boss	Next stage	Character
1	City Escape	F-6t Big Foot	Wild Canyon	Sonic
2	Wild Canyon	Dr. Eggman	Prison Lane	Tails
3	Metal Harbor	Shadow	Green Forest	Sonic
4	Death Chamber	King Boom Boo		Knuckles
5		Egg Golem	Eternal Engine	Sonic
6	Meteor Herd	Rouge	Crazy Gadget	Knuckles
7	Crazy Gadget	Dr. Eggman	Final Rush	Tails
8	Final Rush	Shadow		Sonic

No.	Previous stage	Boss	Next stage	Character
1	Iron Gate	B-3x Hot Shot	Dry Lagoon	Shadow
2	Weapons Bed	Tails	Security Hall	Dr. Eggman
3	Security Hall	R-1/A Flying Dog	White Jungle	Rouge
4	White Jungle	Sonic	Route 280	Shadow
5	Sky Rail	Egg Golem	Mad Space	Dr. Eggman
6	Mad Space	Knuckles	Cosmic Wall	Rouge
7	Cosmic Wall	Tails	Final Chase	Dr. Eggman
8	Final Chase	Sonic		Shadow

No.	Boss	Stage	Character
1	Biolizard	Cannon's Core	Shadow
2	Finalhazard		Super Sonic and Super Shadow

Modes

1P Play

Story

• The Story Select menu.
• The same menu with the Last Story unlocked.

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Story is where the player follows along with the plot of the game. There are two stories at first: Hero and Dark. Once these two are completed, a third, final storyline known as "Last" is unlocked. Progressing through this mode unlocks more stages to play in Stage Select. Also, every time the player leaves the game and comes back to this mode to where they left, a short summary of one of the playable characters is played so that they can remember where they left of. When a story is finished, the player unlocks its "Boss" mode and is able to revisit certain points of the plot.

Stage Select

Stage Select is the overall map of the game's settings. Here they can play any stages they have already completed in Story mode. Each of these levels has five separate missions:

• Mission 1: This is the mission that is played in Story mode, where the player must simply get to the ending of the stage or, in Hunting Stages, find the three hidden items. Ranking is given based on score.
• Mission 2 (Collect 100 Rings!): In this mission, the player has to collect one hundred Rings to succeed. Ranking is given based on time.

Sonic having found the lost Neutral Chao in Pyramid Cave.

• Mission 3 (Find the lost Chao!): Here, the player is tasked with finding a Neutral Chao that is hidden somewhere in the stage. Most of the time this Chao is found in an area that is only accessible by interacting with an Ancient Ruin, meaning that the Mystic Melody has to have been obtained beforehand to complete this mission. Ranking is given based on time.
• Mission 4 (Finish the stage in [time]!): The player has to reach the end of the stage under a time limit. Worth noting is that there are no Star Posts in these missions, meaning that they will have to start from the beginning once they lose a life. If the player runs out of time, they will be taken back to the beginning of the stage, but they will not lose a life. Ranking is given based on score.

Comparison of an area in City Escape normally (left) and in Hard mode (right); the path through the staircase has been sealed off; the right side has fewer platforms, the Super Ring Item Box has been removed, and a Gun Wing has been added instead.

• Mission 5 (Clear Hard Mode!): This mission is unique from the others since the player has to finish a much harder version of the stage. Various paths are now sealed off, tougher enemies are more prominent, there are fewer platforms over bottomless pits, enemies sometimes appear out of nowhere, and the player is forced to have already obtained certain Level Up Items to progress. Ancient Ruins now simply spawn 1-Ups or are removed sometimes. In Hunting stages, the three items the player must find are always in the same spot. Ranking is given based on score.

Missions are unlocked once the player beats the one prior; for example, Mission 4 is accessible after beating Mission 3, which is unlocked after beating Mission 2. Completing a mission for the first time awards the player an emblem.

Kart Race

Kart Race is racing mode that is unlocked after beating either Route 101 in the Hero story or Route 280 in the Dark story and plays the same as these two stages. Each of the six playable characters has their own karts.

Boss

Boss is unlocked after beating either the Hero or Dark story. Here the player goes through all of the chosen story's bosses in order, similar to the Boss Sub Game from Sonic Adventure. After beating all of the bosses, the player is awarded an emblem.

2P Play

Sonic and Shadow racing through City Escape.

Unlike its predecessor, Sonic Adventure 2 has a multiplayer mode. 2P Play features four different modes: Race (Sonic/Shadow stages), Shooting (Tails/Dr. Eggman stages), Hunting (Knuckles/Rouge stages), and Random. Each type of stage is played split-screen, except for the shooting stages. The conditions for winning in each type are as follows:

• Race: The player who reaches the Goal Ring first wins.
• Hunting: The first player to find the given amount of Master Emerald shards wins.
• Shooting: The first player to reduce their opponent's HP Gauge to zero wins.

There is also a Kart Racing mini-game in 2P Play mode, but the player will have to clear the Kart stages in the Hero and Dark stories in order to enable it.

Big in the Eggwalker, exclusive to the Dreamcast version.

Along with the six main characters of the game, 2P Play has the following unlockable characters exclusive to 2P Play:

• Amy Rose: Playable after beating all of Sonic's levels with an A-Rank
• Metal Sonic: Playable after beating all of Shadow's levels with an A-Rank
• Tikal: Playable after beating all of Knuckles' levels with an A-Rank
• Chaos 0: Playable after beating all of Rouge's levels with an A-Rank
• Chao: Playable after beating all of Tails' levels with an A-Rank
• Big the Cat: Playable after beating all of Eggman's levels with an A-Rank

Shadow's alternate outfit.

Another exclusive to the two-player mode is alternate outfits. In Sonic Adventure 2, the player can unlock special costumes for each of the six main characters by completing all of their respective missions. Sonic and Shadow's costumes originated from Phantasy Star Online, an online RPG series that was also developed by Sonic Team, while all the other characters had unique outfits. Also on Sonic Adventure 2 were seasonal costumes for Halloween and Christmas, available as DLCs in late 2001.

Extra

The Extra menu holds the following:

• Tutorial: Omochao will explain the game rules and mechanics.
  • Basic Controls:
  • Sonic/Shadow:
  • Tails/Dr. Eggman:
  • Knuckles/Rouge:
  • Chao:
• Emblem Results: Displays the list of emblems collected.
• Download Event: Play downloaded events.

Options

The Options menu is the settings menu for Sonic Adventure 2 which holds the following options:

• Sound Test: Listen to BGM.
• Change file:
• Change Jump Pack setting:
• Change Stereo / Mono:
• Set language for voice and text:
• Change menu screen theme:

Home Page

Home Page brings the player back to the opening sequence for the game.

Cast

Role	English voice actor	Japanese voice actor
Sonic the Hedgehog	Ryan Drummond	Jun'ichi Kanemaru
Miles "Tails" Prower	Connor Bringas	Atsuki Murata
Knuckles the Echidna	Scott Dreier	Nobutoshi Canna
Amy Rose	Jennifer Douillard	Taeko Kawata
Shadow the Hedgehog	David Humphrey	Kōji Yusa
	Ryan Drummond (few lines)
Rouge the Bat	Lani Minella	Rumi Ochiai
Dr. Eggman	Deem Bristow	Chikao Ōtsuka
Omochao	Lani Minella	Etsuko Kozakura
Maria Robotnik	Moriah Angeline	Yuri Shiratori
Gerald Robotnik	Marc Biagi	Chikao Ōtsuka
Chao	Tomoko Sasaki
President	Steve Broadie	Kinryū Arimoto
Secretary	Sue Wakefield	Mami Horikoshi
GUN Soldiers	Marc Biagi	Kōji Ochiai
	Scott Dreier	Tōru Ōkawa
G.U.N. computer	Sue Wakefield	Mami Horikoshi
News reporter	Lani Minella
Space Colony ARK computer	Scott Dreier	Tōru Ōkawa
Default menu theme	Shelly Fox

Development

Background and conception

Sonic Adventure (1998/1999), the prequel to Sonic Adventure 2.

In the 1990s, Sega was amongst the main competitors in the video game market and was able to gain a foothold against Nintendo with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991. The game became a massive success for the company, and quickly spanned a multimedia franchise with video games, cartoons, and comics; in just two years, the eponymous character had gone from being a sketch to being a character more widely recognized by American children than Mickey Mouse. However, in the later years of the decade, Sega began to lose its dominance with the start of the fifth generation of video games, where its Saturn system was overshadowed by the Nintendo 64 and Sony's PlayStation. In a last-ditch effort, Sega released the Dreamcast in 1998 in Japan and 1999 in the rest of the world. It was a new console far more powerful than its competitors with new features like online gaming. Sonic Adventure was one of the release games, and received critical acclaim. However, the Dreamcast ultimately failed against its competitors.

Sonic Adventure was developed by Sonic Team in Japan and was initially released in that country on December 23, 1998. In 1999, several of its members, including Takashi Iizuka and series co-creator Yuji Naka, moved to the United States to develop a Western localization of the game, since the Dreamcast had not yet been released outside of Japanese markets. The team members established Sonic Team USA (later Sega Studio USA) as a US-based division of the group. The subdivision was established so that Sonic Team could have a stricter management over the series' image outside of Japan, since they felt that the comics and television shows that had been produced in North America were off-brand for the series and made Sonic "feel like a completely different character".

The developers of Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Team USA, in San Francisco.

The localized version of Sonic Adventure was released in mid-to-late 1999. Shortly afterwards, Sega demanded a sequel, and work on a new game began soon afterwards. In some ways, this has been compared to Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which was developed by the Sega Technical Institute in the United States, compared to the first game which had been made in Japan. Development for Sonic Adventure 2 began shortly after the American release of the international version of Sonic Adventure in September 1999. Iizuka served as director and art designer, while Naka was the producer.

Gameplay

The first thing the developers did when it came to the gameplay was to recreate Sonic Adventure's structure but making it more dynamic by focusing more on the action. Wanting to go back to the series' roots, the team removed the Adventure Fields from the first game to make the level succession more streamlined. Also, whereas Sonic Adventure featured a mix of action, exploration, etc., for Sonic Adventure 2, the developers separated these sequences according to each character's gameplay.

The development team sought to make the game an impressive experience, and made it run at 60 frames per second with "tempo", giving Sonic a variety of actions rather than focusing on speed alone. Its levels facilitated this flow, making Sonic seem faster than he was. Developing the game was also much easier than Sonic Adventure due to the team's experience with the Dreamcast's hardware. The game would end up having six different playable characters, all of whom were given roughly equal gameplay time, unlike Sonic Adventure where Sonic's story was much longer than the others.

Iizuka described the Chao as a "relative neutral entity" in Sonic Adventure. In the sequel the developers expanded the creatures' presence, adding the ability to raise "Hero" and "Dark" Chao to reflect the conflict between good and evil. In Sonic Adventure 2, Chao have the ability to socialize, so they resemble a "real artificial life form."

Art

The developers of Sonic Adventure 2 used San Francisco, where they were located, as an inspiration for the artstyle of the game. This inspiration is most noticeably in the Hero story's first level, City Escape (pictured).

Since Sonic Team USA is located near San Francisco and its Bay Area, we discovered some magnificent locations. We decided to insert the beauty of these settings into our game.

— Takashi Iizuka on the artstyle of Sonic Adventure 2.

Whereas Sonic Adventure was inspired by Sonic Team's trip through Latin America, the developers sought to give Sonic Adventure 2 an "American atmosphere". They were influenced by San Francisco and other locations in the United States, such as Yosemite National Park (where they vacationed during its development), the Golden Gate Bridge, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Characters

• Early designs of Shadow the Hedgehog.
• Early designs of Rouge the Bat.

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During the development of Sonic Adventure, the team wanted to introduce a new rival for Sonic in a potential sequel, but rarely discussed the idea. The developers eventually found use in this new character when they laid out the "good vs. evil" storyline. The character was co-created by Iizuka and the writer of the story in Sonic Adventure 2, Shiro Maekawa. The rival character's name was originally "Terios" ("reflection of"), a reference to being Sonic's doppelganger, before being changed to Shadow the Hedgehog.

Maekawa was tasked with developing Shadow, whom they wanted to look just as "cool" as Sonic. Maekawa settled on the design of a black hedgehog, but struggled coming up with his personality. One night, while he was brainstorming lines for a scene in which Sonic confronts Shadow for impersonating him, Maekawa came up with Shadow's first line: "Hmph, aren't you the fake one here?" To further shape his "subtle" character, Maekawa envisioned Shadow would refer to himself with the more humble Japanese pronoun boku (僕, boku^?).

Another character, Rouge the Bat, was created to contrast Knuckles. Funnily enough, her original name was "Shadow", before being changed to the current one.

Promotion

Promotional artwork of Shadow and the early logo of the game.

Sega announced a follow-up to Sonic Adventure and a spin-off, which would become Sonic Shuffle, on October 4, 1999. The newly named Sonic Adventure 2 appeared for the first time at E3 on May 11, 2000, with Sonic Team adding the video shown to its website on June 30. Sonic Team posted a trailer and a number of screenshots on May 30, 2001, with Sega promoting Sonic Adventure 2 as the last Sonic game for the Dreamcast and as a celebration of the series' tenth anniversary. Sega held a tenth anniversary party for Sonic in June 2001, at which attendees could compete in a battle tournament, and the winner played against Takashi Iizuka himself.

Sonic Adventure 2 was released worldwide on June 23, 2001, marking the Sonic series' tenth anniversary. A special collector's edition of the game was produced, featuring a large blue case that contained the game, a music CD (featuring tracks spanning Sonic's ten year history), a Sonic the Hedgehog retrospective booklet and a commemorative coin.

Pre-release

Sonic in his normal shoes, from Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial.

A demo version of Sonic Adventure 2, titled Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial, was distributed as a bonus to those who purchased the first copies of Phantasy Star Online. Since Phantasy Star Online was released in late 2000 in Japan and early 2001 in Western regions, this bonus disc served as an excitement builder for the final release of the game just six months later. This version only included one stage (City Escape) and a rudimentary two-player mode accessible through hacks.

While there are many changes between Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial and the final version of Sonic Adventure 2, a key difference is that Sonic is lacking the Grind Shoes in the demo, as Sega's partnership with Soap was made late in the game's development.

Advertisement

Sonic Adventure 2 is known for its infamous commercial which shows a scientist approaching a hedgehog labeled "Good Hedgehog" and petting it. The camera then goes to a tank labeled "Bad Hedgehog" where a cow is being lowered in. Eating sounds could be heard along with screams from the cow until the screen goes back to the "Bad Hedgehog" burping, this being a parody of a scene from Jurassic Park.

Soundtrack

The cover of Multi-Dimensional.

The main theme of Sonic Adventure 2 is "Live and Learn," performed by Crush 40. Some of the character themes were remixes of their Sonic Adventure counterpart. Five soundtracks have been released for Sonic Adventure 2:

• Multi-Dimensional Sonic Adventure 2 Original Sound Track contains all of the sound tracks of the game except for the character themes.
• Cuts Unleashed: SA2 Vocal Collection contains all of the character theme songs and "Live and Learn".
• Sonic Adventure 2 Official Soundtrack is the western-released soundtrack containing all of the character themes and some of the action stage themes.
• Sonic Adventure 2 Battle - Sampler is a promotional disc that only contains the tracks from Cuts Unleashed but all of the track's durations are halved.
• Sonic Adventure 2 Original Soundtrack 20th Anniversary Edition contains both vocal and instrumental music tracks from the game to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Sonic series.
• SONIC ADVENTURE 2 OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK VINYL EDITION is a vinyl album of two records with a selection of both vocal and instrumental music tracks from the game.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	83.3%
Metacritic	89%
Review scores
Publication	Score
Edge	7/10
Famitsu	33/40
GamePro	4.5/5
GameRevolution	7/10
GameSpot	8.6/10 (US) 8.8/10 (UK)
Hyper	87%
IGN	9.4/10
Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK)	8/10
Dreamcast Magazine	93%
SuperGamePower	10/10
Consoles +	92%
MAN!AC	89%
Dorimaga	9.1313
Gamers' Republic

Sonic Adventure 2 received critical acclaim, with scores of 89% and 83.3% from review aggregators Metacritic and GameRankings, respectively. Critics appreciated the game's multiple playing styles. According to Edge and reviewer Four-Eyed Dragon of GamePro, the core game's three styles and bonus features such as Chao gardens made the game engaging to play. Johnny Liu of Game Revolution praised its replay value of multiple playing styles and 180 different goals. Anthony Chau of IGN called it "one of the best Sonic games ever": "If this is the last Sonic game in these declining Dreamcast years, it's satisfying to know that the DC didn't go out with a bang, but with a sonic boom."

Shahed Ahmed of GameSpot criticized Adventure 2's camera for the "cardinal sin" of 3D platformers, as it forces the player to jump to an out-of-frame platform. Ahmed wrote that although a player can re-orient the camera with the trigger buttons, it reverts when the character moves. According to Chau and Liu, camera issues were absent in Tails and Dr. Eggman's levels and insignificant in Sonic and Shadow's, but searching for Emerald Shards and items in cramped sections of Knuckles and Rouge's levels was frustrating. Edge found camera problems permeating the game, with no significant improvement from Sonic Adventure.

Liu called the graphics "sweet, sweet eye-crack". Four-Eyed Dragon wrote that the game "is simply jaw-dropping beautiful," citing its detailed backgrounds and scenery and the playable characters' and enemies' extensive color palettes. According to Chau, the game had "some of the best textures ever seen" and was one of the most beautiful Dreamcast games. Edge was impressed by the texture detail and draw distance, and Chau, Liu, and Ahmed praised its 60-frame-per-second rendering speed.

According to Ahmed, the game's music was a step up from Sonic Adventure's "campy glam-rock and J-pop soundtrack," with less emphasis on lyrics, and Liu appreciated its more "understated" approach. Four-Eyed Dragon praised Sonic Adventure 2's music as "an eclectic mix of orchestrated masterpieces, guitar tunes, and melodic hip-hop voices gracefully fill the game's ambiance to a perfect pitch." Reaction to the voice acting was mixed; although Ahmed said "The voice acting, and the lip-synching in particular, is executed quite well," Liu and Chau thought the English voices were inferior to the Japanese ones.

Ahmed criticized Sonic Adventure 2's plot: "Throughout the game the plot becomes more and more scattered and lackluster," not focusing long enough on one element to execute it meaningfully. Although Liu agreed that despite the game's ambitious scope and themes it failed to advance the series' core plot beyond the Sega Mega Drive Sonic games, Edge appreciated the story's presentation from both perspectives: hero and villain.

Sonic Adventure 2 received several accolades, including the 2001 IGN's Editors' Choice Award. ScrewAttack called it the fifth-best Dreamcast game, and GamesRadar rated it the tenth greatest Dreamcast game out of 25, saying: "Despite trailing off significantly in recent years, the 3D side of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise had a surprisingly stellar start with the Sonic Adventure entries, and the 2001 sequel really amped up the action." In February 2014, IGN's Luke Karmali called the game his tenth-favorite game of all time. Sonic Adventure 2 was placed at the number 1 spot in WatchMojo's "Every 3D Sonic Game Ranked" video; it was also placed at the #4 spot in their "Top 20 Sonic the Hedgehog Games" list.

Re-releases

Image	Game	Platform	Description
	Sonic Adventure 2: Battle	Nintendo GameCube	Sonic Adventure 2: Battle is the enhanced port of Sonic Adventure 2. Released in late 2001 in Japan and in early 2002 in the rest of the world.
	Sonic Adventure 2	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC	Sonic Adventure 2 was re-released in high-definition format via Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and Steam throughout October 2012. It also featured the "Battle" DLC, which included all of the added features present in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

Adaptations

The anime series Sonic X included a six-episode adaptation of the game's events between "Project: Shadow" and "Showdown in Space", known as the Shadow Saga. Like its predecessor, the adaptation was mostly faithful to the game's plot, with the Japanese version even being a word-for-word adaptation at some points. However, parts were written in for characters that did not appear in Sonic Adventure 2 such as Christopher Thorndyke and Cream the Rabbit.

In Sonic the Hedgehog #98, published by Archie Comics, a two-part adaption of Sonic Adventure 2 was presented, written by Karl Bollers and Ken Penders.

Trivia

• The two driving levels in the game's story, Route 101 and Route 280, are named after real-world U.S. highways.
• This is the first Sonic game to have swearing in the English track. Swear words can be heard in the lyrics of the main theme of Knuckles the Echidna and in the lyrics for the background music of some of the stages he goes through (i.e., "Deeper"). This was also the main reason why the GameCube version has a "Lyrics" warning on the ESRB rating.
• In the game, Dr. Eggman blows up half of the moon, but in later games with cutscenes in outer space scenes, most notably Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Colors, it is still perfectly intact. Also, the earth does not appear to have any gravitational stress caused by the destruction. However, as recently confirmed by Takashi Iizuka of Sonic Team at Sonic Boom 2013, in all later games after Sonic Adventure 2, the moon is actually still blown up. However, from Sonic Heroes onwards, the intact side of the moon is shown, while the part that Eggman blew up is on the opposite side of the moon.
• Sonic Adventure 2 is the only game where Sonic wears the Grind Shoes in order to promote the Soap product which the Grind Shoes were based on, along with the new extreme sport, freestyle grinding, that the shoes were made for. There are also many billboards, blimps, and benches in the game that advertised the shoes. The Grind Shoes themselves are a custom version of the Scorcher/Nitro Soap Shoe, while Shadow wears a pair of custom Broadside Soap shoes, as grinding (or "soaping") debuted as an important new gameplay element.
• This is the first non-spin-off game where Dr. Eggman is playable.
• In the first cutscene of the Hero Story, the pilot of the G.U.N. helicopter identifies himself in military talk as "Sigma-Alpha 2", which translates from Greek as "SA2", the game's initials.
• This marks the final Sonic game for the Dreamcast.
• This is the last Sonic game to be featured on a Sega console, as Sega eventually withdrew from the console market after the release of this game.
• If one were to go to the Theme Select in the Options menu and rotate the Control Stick clockwise for a few moments until hearing a chime sound, they would then see a picture of the President's Secretary and will then be able to select the Secretary's menu theme.
• Like Sonic Adventure, in the original Dreamcast version of the game if you insert the disk into a PC, special wallpapers will be available to download as an easter egg. As well as that, there is a list of main series Sonic games prior to Sonic Adventure 2, although Sonic the Hedgehog CD is absent from the list.
• The camera can be used to move objects in the game. This is most noticeable in the Chao Garden if the player has a fruit in front of the camera and they walk away from it. The same thing can be done in the Chao Garden in Sonic Adventure.
• In the first cutscene of the demo version, before the player enters City Escape, the man on the radio says, "What the hell?" in the text. This marks the first Sonic game to have profanity in a character's dialogue, although this is not in the final release of this game.
  • In the final release, the script instead says, "What?!"
• Shadow has the least amount of stages out of all the characters, with only four (Radical Highway, Sky Rail, White Jungle, and Final Chase).
• This is the only Sonic game where Connor Bringas voices Tails.
• The "Chao in Space 2" movie billboard, as well as the billboard advertising for the DVD Edition of "Chao in Space" in City Escape, refers to the "Chao in Space" movie billboard near the entrance of Casinopolis in Sonic Adventure.
  • In the Chao in Space 2 poster, the rating is PG-13 as part of MPAA.
• Sonic features the most Level Up Items out of the playable characters in Sonic Adventure 2, with a maximum of six. Knuckles and Eggman have five Level Up Items, and Tails, Shadow, and Rouge have a minimum of four.
• The Dreamcast version of the game runs a disc check to make sure it is not run from a copied disc. If this check fails, Eggman will fall through the floor when he starts his section of Cannon's Core.

Big the Cat in the Hero story's first cutscene.

• Big the Cat has six known cameo appearances in the cutscenes of Sonic Adventure 2 that can be only seen by pressing , these include:
  • During Sonic's escape from the helicopter at the beginning of the Hero story, Big can be seen in the Dreamcast version holding onto it.
  • During Sonic and Shadow's first meeting, Big can be seen running around Shadow while he is standing over the F-6t Big Foot.
  • In the cutscene after Knuckles fought King Boom Boo, Big can be seen standing behind the entrance to the shuttle once the entrance opens.
  • During the cutscene after Knuckles and Rouge's fight, Big can be seen wandering around the arena.
  • During the Last Story's intro, Big can be seen standing on the computer's platform with Eggman.
  • In the Last Story, before Amy tries to persuade Shadow to help, Big can be seen running right and left in the hallway that leads to main room.
• Shiro Maekawa has stated that he found difficulty in writing the story for Sonic Adventure 2. Despite this, the game's story stands to be Maekawa's favorite as he is emotionally attached to it, as the game is the first story he wrote for.
  • Maekawa has stated that if he had a chance to rewrite it or change something about the game's story, he would only add back the scenes he had to cut.
• According to Takashi Iizuka, Sonic Adventure 2 is the best Sonic game as of July 2022.
• Sonic Adventure 2 is the game with the most original lyrical arrangements in the franchise, with a total of 18.
• Utilizing an exploit, one has the potential to strike the G.U.N. truck during the City Escape stage by employing the homing dash maneuver directly towards the G.U.N. truck.

Videos

• E3 2000 trailer
• Sonic Adventure 2 Trial trailer
• US commercial
• Japanese commercial 1
• Japanese commercial 2
• Japanese commercial 3

External links

• Official Japanese website (Archived)
• Official English website (Archived)
• Product page at the Japanese Sega website (Archived) (archived)

Sonic Adventure 2

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Main article · Scripts (Hero, Dark, Last) · Staff · Manuals · Glitches · Beta elements · Gallery · Pre-releases (The Trial, Preview, TRIAL Version) · Re-releases (Battle, 2012)

*Appears or is playable in only the 2P mode · ^Appears in only the original Dreamcast version
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Sonic the Hedgehog console mainline games

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