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We all want to travel on our own once in a while...


— Japanese manual, Tails' Skypatrol[2]

Tails' Skypatrol (テイルスのスカイパトロール Teirusu no Sukaipatorōru?) is a spin-off game of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by JSH and published by Sega for Sega Game Gear. It is one of two handheld games on the Game Gear to feature Sonic's sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower as the main character. The game follows the adventures of Tails as he tries to save an island from Witchcart, who claims to be able to turn dissenters into crystals with her magic.

It was originally released on 28 April 1995 as an exclusive game to the Japanese market. However, Tails' Skypatrol later saw an overseas release as it was included as an unlockable mini game in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for Nintendo GameCube and PC, and was re-released as one of the featured games in Sonic Gems Collection.

Plot[]

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

The title screen of Tails' Skypatrol.

One day, Tails sets off for his own adventure without the company of Sonic. However, he does not have a destination in mind, instead wanting to have a little adventure that is different from his usual ones. He flies aimlessly across the sky until he spots an isolated little island underneath the clouds in the middle of the sea. Hoping to find something interesting there, Tails lands on the island. To his surprise however, he sees that the terrain on the island is covered by steel rails and devoid of Animals. As Tails ponders about how it cannot be possible for Dr. Eggman to be behind this, he feels a vibration in the rails under his feet. Scared, he hides in the grass nearby. He then sees a shadow moving across the rails. This shadow eventually turns out to be a trolley with a female human figure in it. The figure reveals herself as Witchcart, who proclaims herself the ruler of the island and threatens to turn strangers into crystal. She then sends her minions, Hocke-Wulf, Bearanger and Carrottia, to do their respective patrollings on the island. After the henchmen obediently leave in their flying machines, Tails decides to free the island from Witchcart's rule and energetically takes off.[2]

Exploring the island, Tails defeats Hocke-Wulf, Bearanger, and Carrottia. After that, he ultimately encounters Witchcart, whom he defeats as well. With the island freed from Witchcart, Tails takes his leave, flying happily through the sky as he departs.

Gameplay[]

Railcanyon

Tails in Rail Canyon, the second Area in the game.

Tails' Skypatrol is a 2D side-scrolling video game, with a notably different gameplay from that from the traditional Sonic games. The player takes control of Tails, who is constantly flying. Areas are cleared simply by completing each course from left to right. Automatic scroll constantly moves Tails along the level; if he falls, bumps into objects or touches the ground, the player will lose a life.

Across each stage Tails carries the Boomering with him, which he can throw as a projectile to defeat enemies or break walls. Using the Boomering, he will also latch on to any number of devices the player will encounter in each Area, ranging from gymnastics bars to railcarts. It is Tails' only form of attack to damage enemies and it can even be used to grab bosses and other items in the area.

In order to stay afloat, the player must constantly watch Tails' flight meter, which slowly drops to zero. Scattered across the map are Mint Candies, which Tails can collect to replenish his stamina.

Scoring system[]

Controls[]

Button formation Movement
Directional buttons up/down/right Fly around
Directional buttons left Slow down
Hold 1/2 Swing the Boomering further forward
1/2 rapidly Stop descending after taking a hit
START Pause

Objects[]

Items[]

Gimmicks and obstacles[]

  • Pole (first appearance)
  • Bar (only appearance)
  • Catapult (only appearance)
  • Daruma Block (only appearance)
  • Switchbolt (only appearance)
  • Switch
  • Weight (only appearance)

Characters[]

Playable characters[]

Non-playable characters[]

Enemies[]

Bosses[]

  1. Hocke-Wulf (Rail Canyon)
  2. Bearanger (Ruin Wood)
  3. Carrottia (Metal Island)
  4. Witchcart (Dark Castle)

Areas[]

  1. Training Area
  2. Rail Canyon
  3. Ruin Wood
  4. Metal Island
  5. Dark Castle

Development[]

Tails' Skypatrol was originally developed by JSH as a game completely unrelated to the Sonic series. It was planned to be a launch title for another company's monochrome handheld video game system. The system was intended as a cheaper alternative to Nintendo's Game Boy, but with a more educational focus. However, the system was canceled before the company even put out a press release.

In order to recoup some of the costs of making the game, which had been completed, the developers were asked if they could get the game running on Game Gear, which had similar hardware specifications and screen resolution to the canceled system. JSH's business team approached Sega, who decided that Tails should be the star of the game. The gameplay remained the same, for the most part, but changes were made to the world design to better fit the new license, character graphics were redrawn and the game balance was adjusted for the new hardware. A training stage and demo scenes were also added.[3][4]

Disney Connection[]

The April 1995 edition of Sega Video Magazine featured gameplay footage of a prototype version of Tails' Skypatrol. In the footage of the second stage boss, Tails is shown fighting the popular Disney cartoon villain Pete, rather than Bearanger.[5][6] This suggests that the original version of the game used a Disney IP, such as Mickey Mouse.

In response to a comment on Twitter, observing that Tails' Skypatrol's villains look more like Disney characters than Sonic characters, programmer Alice Kagamino stated that they could not go into specifics, but that the enemy designs carry the same impression as the originals.[7]

In the released version of the game, the boss characters Hocke-Wulf and Witchcart bear a resemblance to the Disney villains the Big Bad Wolf and Mizrabel.

Re-releases[]

Tails' Skypatrol was included alongside 11 other Sonic Game Gear titles in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, released for Nintendo GameCube and PC in 2003. A new Game Gear game is unlocked after collecting 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 110, 120, and 130 Emblems and completing 20, 40, and 60 missions. After a game has been unlocked, it is available in the Mini-Game Collection, accessible from the main menu. Tails' Skypatrol is the 10th game in the sequence to be unlocked.

Tails' Skypatrol was also included in Sonic Gems Collection, a compilation of Sonic games, released for Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 in 2005.

Tails' Skypatrol was once again included with all the other Sonic Game Gear titles in Sonic Origins Plus, which released on June 23, 2023 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch, & PC.

Reception[]

 Reception
Review scores
Publication Score
Famitsu 22/40[8]
Sega Saturn Magazine 6.5/10[9]

Upon its release, Tails' Skypatrol received mostly unfavorable reviews. A reviewer for Sega Saturn Magazine rated it a 6.5 out of 10, citing the game as one of the weakest entries in the Sonic franchise. They criticized the high difficulty and controls, but praised the gameplay for being unique and interesting. Video game magazine Famitsu rated Tails' Skypatrol a 22 out of 40.

Following its inclusion to Sonic Gems Collection, Louis Bedigian of GameZone stated that Tails' Skypatrol is "the most interesting of these [included Game Gear games], as it’s entirely airborne with Tails collecting rings and solving simple puzzles." Jeremy Parish of 1Up.com called both this game and Tails Adventure "garbage that I wouldn't even want to play on Game Gear, let alone on GameCube."

Retrospective reviews for Tails' Skypatrol have also been unfavorable. Review website USgamer ranked the game the 26th of 28 Sonic the Hedgehog games, just above the 2006 video game Sonic the Hedgehog and the 2005 video game Shadow the Hedgehog. Nadia Oxford referred to Tails' Skypatrol as "adorable", but difficult due to the large sprites. A USgamer editor, on the same list, called the game "a pretty obvious cash-in on the brand." Retro Gamer's Kim Wild criticized the controls and camera angle, stating that they made playing the game "frustrating."

Hardcore Gaming 101's Apollo Chungus was more positive about the game, acknowledging the high difficulty because of Tails' hitbox and the lack of teaching in the Training Area. He praised the graphics and sound, but criticized the short length and repetitive boss battles. He called the game as a whole "a decent romp that’s worth checking out for fans of Tails and the curious."

Staff[]

  • Character design: ©Sega
  • Game design: Kenichi Ono ("K3"), LR
  • Graphic: Mt. Emerald, Show
  • Sound: Chikayo Fukuda ("Chikayo"), Kazunechan
  • Programming: AT-AT, Alice Kagamino ("Captain Alice"), Bryan
  • Thanks to: Monty, Ezachan, Mr. Rental, Fine-Twig, SIMS All Staff, JSH All Staff, and You


Trivia[]

  • Tails Skypatrol holds the distinction of being one of the very few games in the Sonic franchise where Dr. Eggman does not appear in any way (Sonic Eraser, Tails Adventure and Sonic And The Black Knight being the others). He only receives an offhand mention in the games manual, and he is completely unaffiliated with Witchcart and her minions. It is also one of the very few games in the franchise where Sonic is completely absent (Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Tails Adventure being the others, though his likeness makes a cameo as an item in the latter game).
  • The games villain, Witchcart, holds the distinction of being the only human (or human-like) character besides Dr. Eggman to appear in the Classic-Era Sonic games. She also has the distinction of being the first character in the series who directly relies on supernatural powers (notably without the aid of the Chaos Emeralds, which are completely absent from the game), predating the more significant use of such a distinct antagonist in the context of the series with Chaos in Sonic Adventure.
  • The game has a stage named Rail Canyon, which would coincidentally become a name of an otherwise unrelated stage in Sonic Heroes years later.

Gallery[]

[]

Artwork[]

Gallery

References[]

  1. テイルスのスカイパトロール (Japanese). Sega.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Tails' Skypatrol (Sega Game Gear) Japanese instruction booklet, pgs. 4-5.
  3. GDRI (Game Developer Research Institute). Retrieved on 26 February 2019.
  4. A timeline of Twitter posts by @alice_kagamino relating to Tails' Skypatrol (Japanese). Twitter. Retrieved on 26 February 2019.
  5. Sonic The Hedgeblog. Tumblr. Retrieved on 26 February 2019.
  6. Sega Video Magazine April 1995 (Japanese). Youtube. Retrieved on 26 February 2019.
  7. Alice Kagamino on Twitter (Japanese). Twitter. Retrieved on 26 February 2019. "そうして出来上がったX版はもちろんキャラクターはテイルスではなく… あんまり詳しく書けませんが、敵のキャラデザはわりと印象が残っているのであとはご想像におまかせします。"
  8. https://web.archive.org/web/20200920163804/https://www.famitsu.com/cominy/?m=pc&a=page_h_title&title_id=16038&redirect=no
  9. https://retrocdn.net/images/6/67/SSM_JP_19950901_1995-09.pdf

External links[]

Tails' Skypatrol

Main article · Manuals
Sonic the Hedgehog handheld games

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