[[quoteright:275:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_2006_275px_2864.jpg]]
'''''Sonic The Hedgehog''''' ([[FanNickname referred to as]] "Sonic 2006", "Sonic '06", "Sonic Next-Gen", "Sonic 360" , or "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG") was a game released near the end of 2006 for the {{Xbox 360}} and the {{PlayStation 3}}, made to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the franchise.

Mad scientist [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] has a new plan to TakeOverTheWorld: to capture Princess Elise, the ruler of the country of Soleanna and the MacGuffinGirl to the "[[SealedEvilInACan Flames of Disaster]]", and combine her power with the seven [[MineralMacGuffin Chaos Emeralds]] so he can rule over all time and space. {{Chronic Hero|Syndrome}} Sonic the Hedgehog just happens to be passing by and decides to rescue Princess Elise from the clutches of Dr. Eggman before he can release the Flames of Disaster upon the world.

Meanwhile, a [[PsychicPowers telekinetic]] hedgehog from the future named [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience Silver]] has [[TimeTravel travelled back in time]] with his best friend Blaze. His goal is to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and prevent his BadFuture by destroying "The Iblis Trigger", which he believes to be Sonic The Hedgehog. While this is happening, local AntiHero Shadow The Hedgehog must contend with a mysterious [[EvilCounterpart evil]] {{Doppelganger}} calling itself "Mephiles The Dark", who seeks to activate "The Iblis Trigger" and plunge the future into despair.

''[[RecycledTitle Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' was an attempt by {{Creator/Sega}} to undo the PolygonCeiling that the [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog series]] had been struggling with for some time, such as [[CameraScrew camera issues]] and occasionally wonky controls and physics. However, [[ChristmasRushed by forcing the game out for a Christmas release]] and developing it for ''two'' advanced, brand-new consoles, what we got instead was a ''very'' ObviousBeta that not only failed to address the flaws the franchise was hit with in the 3D realm, but actually ''[[UpToEleven accentuated]]'' them. The controls were slipperier than ever, the camera was [[CameraScrew even more offensive]], the [[WreakingHavok Havok physics engine]] was clearly implemented for the sake of having a physics engine, and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading the loading times]] were some of the worst to ever hit a console game, compounded with a particularly glaring case of the IdiotPlot. To add insult to injury, this was the title that marked the hedgehog's [[MilestoneCelebration 15th anniversary]], with the [=PlayStation 3=] port (released six months later) failing to correct the game's numerous flaws in any significant way.

With ''Sonic'' being a certified [[LongRunners Long Running]] CashCowFranchise, however, the game still sold well enough to be inducted into the Xbox 360's Platinum Hits line. And despite the critical panning, there are quite a bit of vocal fans defending it against all the criticism. The one thing most people agree on is that while this game had some potentially great ideas and concepts going for it, most of them were not implemented ''well'', and that they alone were ''[[MemeticMutation insufficient]]'' to save the game.

An extremely popular LetsPlay video marathon session of the game was done by SomethingAwful goons LetsPlay/{{pokecapn}}, LetsPlay/{{Kung Fu Jesus}}, LetsPlay/{{medibot}}, and [=IlluminatusVespucci=]; to view the tropes used in those videos, [[LetsPlay/SonicTheHedgehog2006 visit here]]. Additionally, a Let's Play by the ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'' is currently ongoing.

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!!This game exhibits examples of:
* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The Egg Carrier mkII, which looks more like a scaled-up fighter-style vehicle in this than the bulky flying base from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''.
* AnyoneCanDie: Let's see the death count for this game; Duke Soleanna, his fellow researchers, [[spoiler:Princess Elise and Dr. Eggman (until Sonic goes back in time to avert the disaster that kills them), and even Sonic himself in the last episode]].
* ApatheticCitizens[=/=]TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Apparently, it's a better usage of the Soleanna city guards' time to concoct inane "figure out who our Captain is!" puzzles for Sonic to solve rather than, y'know, ''searching for the [[DistressedDamsel captured princess]] they're supposed to protect.'' As far as Soleanna's police force is concerned, it's [[ItsUpToYou entirely up to Sonic]] to save their princess. [[spoiler:For extra idiocy, the Captain in the aforementioned puzzle? He's the one who gives you the mission in the first place; that is, ''the one you talk to first.'']]
* ApocalypseHow:
** In the future, Iblis pulls a Class 4 on the world, reducing it to lava-filled ruins.
** [[spoiler:At its revival, Solaris pulls a Class X-5, and intended to pull a Class Z.]]
* ArcWords:
** "Don't cry, no matter what happens"
** "Just smile!"
* ArtificialStupidity: The partners tend to fall and ''constantly'' die.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: A few bosses.
* AttackOfTheTownFestival: How Sonic's part of the game begins.
* AwardBaitSong: ''Sweet Sweet Sweet 06'' and ''My Destiny'' the most egregious examples. ''Dreams of an Absolution'', though slighty less so.
* BadFuture: Silver's future has been devastated by Iblis [[spoiler:who was released due to the death of Elise in the present.]]
* TheBadGuyWins: Although previous Sonic games starting with Sonic Adventure have the last story being a final boss fight with the main villain due to implied success in the villain's goals, Mephiles takes the cake as he [[spoiler:murdered Sonic to make Elise cry, and then merges with the newly released Iblis alongside the Chaos Emeralds, Mephiles, as Solaris, manages to destroy the entire planet and severely damage the entire timestream shortly after merging with Iblis, with the time stream also dying shortly thereafter. It was only after Sonic was revived and Sonic, alongside Shadow and Silver in super forms that Mephiles ended up stopped, and even then it was a BittersweetEnding as they had to also reset the timeline so that Solaris, and by extension Mephiles and Iblis never existed, and thus Elise and Sonic never met.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Sonic.]]
* BaldOfEvil: The removal of Eggman's goggles played up his chrome-dome.
* BarrierMaiden: [[spoiler:Elise and Blaze take turns being Iblis' living seal.]]
* BeehiveBarrier: Some of the enemies can occasionally shield themselves this way from attacks that would otherwise stun them.
* BehindTheBlack: A cutscene has Eggman literally hiding Elise there, pulling her on-camera from just off to the side after a wide shot showing only him, and nothing she could be hiding behind.
* BigBadEnsemble: Dr. Eggman for Sonic, Mephiles for Shadow, and Iblis for Silver, [[spoiler:and Solaris (the complete form of Mephiles and Iblis) for the Last Episode.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: In his first two confrontations with Silver, Sonic is ultimately incapacitated and at Silver's mercy, only for one of his allies (first Amy, then Shadow) to arrive just in time and distract Silver long enough for Sonic to get away.
* BigNo: Shadow and Silver exclaim this whenever they fall down a BottomlessPit during gameplay.
** Elise also delivers one as a SkywardScream during a cutscene in the Last Episode when [[spoiler:Mephiles kills Sonic]].
* BlackoutBasement: Lighting up purple gems help provide light in Flame Core.
* BloodlessCarnage: [[spoiler:When Mephiles stabs Sonic through the abdomen from behind, there's not one speck of blood to be seen during or after.]]
* BookEnds: The game begins and ends with Soleanna's Festival of Light.
* BossSubtitles
* BottomlessPits: A number in the game, some in very inconvenient places and some in ridiculous places.
* BullfightBoss: Egg Cerberus, the first boss in both Sonic's and Shadow's story.
* BridalCarry: Sonic is frequently shown carrying Elise in this manner.
* CameBackStrong: The controversial kiss from Princess Elise [[spoiler:not only revives Sonic from dead-but-not-really-death, but also]] transforms him into Super Sonic for the final boss.
* CameraScrew
* CanonDiscontinuity: The game's ending [[spoiler:erases the storyline from the Sonic canon]].
* CaptainObvious: Downright ''full'' of them--at points; the script appears to have been written in tribute to ''{{Rejected}}''.
* CharacterTitle: Same as the first game.
* CheckPointStarvation: The End of the World, which only provides them after each individual character segment.
* CherryBlossoms: They foreshadow [[spoiler:Sonic's death in the Last Episode.]]
* ChristmasRushed: It was rushed into production for a Christmas release to mark it as the 15th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog.
* CompleteImmortality: Iblis literally ''cannot'' die, as he instantly regenerates from any wounds he suffers. [[spoiler:The only way to completely destroy him is is to make it so ''he never even existed''.]]
* ComplexityAddiction: Mephiles' entire scheme [[spoiler:to become Solaris again]], especially jarring in that all he really needed to do was ''one simple task'' in order to [[spoiler:make Elise cry and release Iblis]], and he seems averse to the idea of [[spoiler:just killing her outright]].
* ContinuityNod: Several in regards to the past 3D Sonic games.
** Parts of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure's'' whale chase and snowboard level are replicated in Wave Ocean and White Acropolis, respectively.
** [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 Green Forest's slingshot-esque vine]] makes a reappearance in Sonic's Tropical Jungle.
** The Egg Carrier in this game is essentially a fancier, redder upgrade to the ''Adventure'' Egg Carrier. Similarly, [[spoiler:the Egg Wyvern seems to take a few cues from the Egg Viper in terms of battle strategy]].
** Notably the last game in the series to continue the [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure Chao]] [[RecycledINSPACE In Space]] billboard RunningGag, at least until ''SonicGenerations''.
** Tails' line "Whoa! My head's spinning!" when he's running a large loop returns from ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes.''
* ContinuitySnarl:
** [[VideoGame/SonicRushSeries Blaze the Cat]]. A common fan theory is that Blaze's world in the ''Rush'' games is merely the "good" future, while the Blaze in this game is from the "bad" future. This doesn't hold very much ground, since ''Sonic Rush Adventure'' went into further detail about the nature of Blaze's dimension. The game explains that Blaze's world is bound parallel to Sonic's via the "Power of the Stars" contained within [[CosmicKeystone the Jeweled Scepter]]. It's pretty clear that it's intended to be more than merely the future of Sonic's universe.
** Silver's ending does mention that Blaze sealed herself in another dimension in an attempt to rid her and Silver's future of Iblis, which may explain why she was in another dimension in Sonic Rush.
** She does make note of Sonic when Silver says "A blue hedgehog" after Mephiles shows him the "Iblis Trigger," as if she knows who Sonic is already, making this even more confusing.
** And now a Sega executive has [[WordOfGod stated in an interview]] that Sonic '06 is ''not'' Blaze's backstory, and to [[CanonDiscontinuity disregard it completely]].
* CosmicRetcon: Pretty much the entire game's plot is eliminated with [[spoiler: the time paradox created by killing Solaris]].
* ConvectionSchmonvection: Flame Core, Crisis City and the final scene where [[spoiler:Sonic and Elise unsuccessfully escape an exploding Egg Carrier only for a particularly large explosion to end up shooting him and Elise up to safety]].
* CrateExpectations: In addition to the star-labeled wooden and metal boxes from SonicAdventure2 onward, [[ExplodingBarrels combustible and shockwave-inducing crates]] are also available for [[DieChairDie abuse]].
* CueTheSun: After Iblis' defeat at the end of Silver's story.
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: Shadow's intro, as well as the rest of the game.
* DeadHandShot: [[spoiler:When Sonic dies.]]
* DeathIsCheap: [[spoiler:Sonic's death; he gets revived one level later.]]
* DecapitatedArmy: Certain groups of {{Mooks}} have palette-swapped commanders; if Sonic kills the commander, everyone else dies instantly, presumably due to a spontaneous lethal power vacuum.
* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:Elise feeling "Sonic's presence in the wind" ends up saving reality.]]
* DevilInPlainSight: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mephiles The Dark]].
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: With a game as infamous as this, it's hard not to think of ''{{VideoGame/Superman 64}}'' when first sidequests the player takes involves [[PassThroughTheRings going through rings]].
* DontTouchItYouIdiot: Said by Shadow when Rouge tries to retrieve the Chaos Emerald in Flame Core.
* DownloadableContent: Very Hard missions for each zone (most of which are vastly different, such as doing dusty Desert sans Elise), a Boss Rush for each team and a [[MarathonLevel Team Attack Amigo stage that spans short snippets from each stage]] (played with Tails, Blaze and Omega). The funny part? It's all [[BestLevelEver remarkably decent]], considering the game.
* DullSurprise
* DummiedOut: A number of features that were scrapped due to time or technical limits, some revived in later project:
** A power gem to allow the player to become Super Sonic in general play stages (revived for ''VideoGame/SonicColors'').
** A Day/Night feature (revived for ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'').
** Whatever purpose the Medals of Soleanna served isn't known. The Medals for some reason weren't dummied out altogether, though, as you can still pick them up in stages and in the HubWorld.
** Based on the [[AllThereInTheManual the manual]], it appears Tails and Omega would have some limited Flight Meter, there would be [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 Chaos Drives]] and something referred to as Light Cores for some sort of Level-Up Mechanics (also revived for ''Unleashed'').
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The Aquatic Base, which in it self doubles as AbandonedLaboratory and a ShoutOut to ''PhantasyStarOnline: Episode II.''
* EldritchAbomination: Iblis, Mephiles and [[spoiler:Solaris]].
* EscortMission: Several short and almost random ones, some of which are required for the player to move on to the next level. All of them are simple enough; the people in question don't run towards the enemies and cower and hide until the next section has been cleared.
* EternalEngine: Aquatic Base.
* EvilLaugh: Mephiles has a big one when he [[spoiler:kills Sonic]].
* EveryCarIsAPinto: Any vehicle that Shadow drives. The Armed Buggies respond to flipping over by exploding, taking the Hovercraft over a ramp may cause it to explode upon landing (potentially leading to an entirely unpredictable death), and the Bike spontaneously explodes immediately after its fuel runs out.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: There are far, far more things in the environment that will damage you than things that won't. Enemies can spawn at any given area, random elements of the levels may blast down on you without any warning, and sometimes it seems the level geometry itself is trying to throw you into the perpetual bottomless pits. This is exemplified in [[ScrappyMechanic Sonic's Mach Speed sections]], where brushing up against ''anything'' -- the side of the road, environmental objects that would otherwise be perfectly harmless, robots that spawn right in front of you with barely any time to react -- will send Sonic spiraling along the ground.
* ExplosionPropulsion: Happens at the ending cinematic of Sonic's part of the story.
* ExtremeOmnivore: [[spoiler:Solaris]].
-->'''Eggman''': [[spoiler:He eats dimensions for lunch!]]
* FakeDifficulty:
** Silver throwing you just to catch you, giving him a one-hit kill.
** In the last Rouge level, there's a structure far off in the distance that looks like you can go to it. You can, but you fall right through.
** In the last Shadow level, almost all sand is quicksand, even in places where all logic suggests it would be harmless.
* FallingIntoHisArms: At one point, Elise jumps out of the Eggmobile and Sonic [[BigDamnHeroes catches her in the nick of time]].
* {{Flashback}}: Most of them are about times when Elise was young and Duke was alive.
* FateWorseThanDeath: After once again being recaptured by Eggman, Elise tells him that she would rather die than be his prisoner.
* FineYouCanJustWaitHereAlone: Knuckles says this to Rouge when she expressed disdain about capturing the Chaos Emerald inside the volcano. She eventually goes along with the group, though.
* {{Fireballs}}: Iblis' minions like to fire these.
* FireForgedFriends: Sonic and Silver after the latter discovered the truth about Mephiles' lies. This wasn't done possible if Shadow and Silver, who are also an example of this trope, went 10 years back into the future to discover the origins of both Mephiles and Iblis in the Solaris Project.
* FollowThePlottedLine: When characters get teleported through time, they'll always end up in proximity of where they need to go.
* FungusHumongous: Seen in jungle levels.
* FusionDance: [[spoiler:Solaris is reborn through the fusion of Mephiles and Iblis.]]
* GameMod: The game is written entirely in the Lua programming language, making the entire code accessible by hackers and the modding potential ''huge'' for a console-exclusive game. Before interest died out, a few modders successfully swapped characters around and modified Sonic's running and jumping speed.
* GameBreakingBug: Depending on their position beforehand, the hedgehogs can easily enter a scripted sequence only to end up flying off the expected route, often straight into a BottomlessPit. [[FakeDifficulty This can prove especially problematic during]] [[ScrappyMechanic Mach Speed sections]].
** During the fight with Silver, he can fling you around telekinetically. If you hit a wall and one of your rings flies into it, every time he picks you up, you'll collect the ring. Which means, since he'll constantly pick you up before you can recover from the throw (it's how his AI is programmed to finish you off), the game becomes trapped in an inescapable loop.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The shops have equipment for Silver, despite the fact that he won't exist for another 200 years.
* GameplayRoulette: In a similar way to ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', the game rotates through playable characters within each story added to the three main story lines already plus the final level.
** Sonic-Tails-Silver
** Shadow-Rouge-Omega
** Silver-Amy-Blaze-Sonic
* GoThroughMe: Amy, defending Sonic from Silver.
* GuideDangIt: One of the criticisms of the game is that in some sections, there's no clear indication of what you're supposed to do or where to go. In some cases not even the ''official game guide'' is much help!
* HamToHamCombat: Any conversation between Shadow and Mephiles. They get cheesy lines, but they act the hell out of them -- and the bombastic orchestral music backing them makes ''everything'' dramatic.
* HaveWeMetYet: When Shadow first meets Mephiles after the latter is released from the Scepter of Darkness, Mephiles is already familiar with him. Later on, [[spoiler:Shadow travels back in time to the Solaris Project disaster and finds himself sealing Mephiles into the Scepter, prompting Mephiles to memorize him.]]
* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: Sonic vs Silver and Silver vs Shadow, with the latter in each match emerging victorious regardless of the outcome of the fight.
* HeKnowsAboutTimedHits
* HellishPupils: Mephiles, especially in his crystalline form.
* HeroAntagonist: Silver to Sonic.
* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Sonic temporarily dies in the Last Episode.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: A rare ''non''-death example. [[spoiler:Blaze seals Iblis inside herself, then seals herself in another world.]] Immediately before [[spoiler:she]] did become the sacrifice, [[spoiler:Silver was trying to do the same thing, only to find that he wasn't an acceptable vessel.]]
* HubLevel: Soleanna.
* IndyEscape: In Sonic's White Acropolis stage, you have to escape a giant snowball towards the end of the [[UnexpectedGameplayChange snowboarding section]].
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Princess Elise admits as much in a cutscene late in Sonic's story, and expresses relief that Sonic's adventure has allowed her to be "just myself... a girl."
* InconvenientlyPlacedConveyorBelt: Found in Radical Train levels, which can switch directions on a whim.
* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Any bridge with a Soleanna guard standing in front of it is most likely going to be accompanied with an invisible wall earlier on in the game.
* InterspeciesRomance: Princess Elise, a realistic-looking human, and Sonic, a cartoon hedgehog.
* InvisibleWall: In Soleanna, especially during missions.
* IrrelevantSidequest: Townsfolk have quite a lot sidequests to offer. However, each comes complete with its own set of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading four ten-second-long loading screens]].
* ItsUpToYou: AI partners won't do anything more than follow you. They won't attack nearby enemies, they'll jump as little as possible (leading to several falls down bottomless pits [[MostAnnoyingSound while they yell the same annoying death cries]], only to reappear a few seconds later), and they don't even have their animations when on the stage results screen.
* JungleJapes: Tropical Jungle.
* KnightOfCerebus: Mephiles, due to having no sympathetic excuse for his actions or any comedic quirks, and simply doing evil because it's ''fun'' for him. He is also one of the first villains in the entire franchise to actually murder a canonical character.
* KnightsAndKnaves: The [[ApatheticCitizens "find the captain" game]] you play early on; all the police officers will give you hints, but at least one is lying (hint: [[spoiler:It's the guy who tells you to find the captain in the first place, better known as "the captain, sending you on a wild goose chase"]]).
* LampshadeHanging: The "Sonic Faceplanting" RunningGag gets averted when Sonic, Tails and Knuckles arrive in the future. Sonic ends up this close to kissing the floor but he corrects himself just in time. Knuckles, however, does not.
* LargeHam: DanGreen as Mephiles, and JasonGriffith as Shadow.
* LastDitchMove: After defeating it, the Egg Genesis pulls this in an attempt to land on the player.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Sonic has "His World," Shadow has "All Hail Shadow," Silver has "Dreams of an Absolution" and Elise has "My Destiny". The {{Big Bad}}s have their own leitmotifs as well, with Eggman's being carried over to ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' and ''VideoGame/SonicColors''.
* LensFlare: Most notably seen when Elise jumps out of the Eggmobile.
* LethalLavaLand: Flame Core.
* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:Solaris is supposed to be a god of light and time. He's also completely insane.]]
* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: The humans are rendered in a realistic style, while the animal cast are anthropomorphic, and their existence is treated as normal.
* LiteralSplitPersonality: An accident ten years ago caused Solaris to split into two entities: [[spoiler:Mephiles and Iblis]]. In the Last Episode, they recombine for the TrueFinalBoss.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: A good chunk of the game is spent waiting 10-20 seconds at a time staring at a blank loading screen. Incidentally, the rather dull loading screen from this game is the trope's page image.
* LullDestruction: CaptainObvious is here because Sega wanted the characters to say ''something'' during each level, no matter how pointless or obvious it was.
-->'''Sonic''': The whole city is on fire!
* MacGuffinGirl: Princess Elise.
* ManipulativeBastard: Mephiles.
* MarathonLevel: The End of the World featuring six of the characters with [[CheckPointStarvation no check points]].
* MetaphoricallyTrue: Mephiles is telling the truth about Sonic being the Iblis Trigger. [[spoiler:What he conveniently left out is that killing Sonic would ''cause'' Iblis' release, instead of preventing it.]]
* MilestoneCelebration: One of the very rare cases where such a thing went [[GoneHorriblyWrong terribly wrong]].
* MilkingTheGiantCow: There is at least one talking animation with ridiculously over the top hand gestures.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Characters use the Chaos Emeralds for purposes that are never seen again, including TimeTravel and [[spoiler:interdimensional transportation]]. Additionally, Amy's gameplay revolves around her [[StealthBasedMission turning invisible]] for no explained reason.
* NietzscheWannabe: Mephiles.
* NoEscapeButDown: Elise jumps off the Eggmobile to escape from Eggman.
* NoMouth: Mephiles.
* NumberOfTheBeast: [[spoiler:Solaris's initial form has 6 horns, 6 fingers, and 6 stones behind his back. Making 666.]]
* ObviousBeta: Nowhere near at the same level as ''BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing'', but still a blatant example from a big-name company who really should know better.
* ObviouslyEvil: ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mephiles the Dark]]''.
* ObviousTrap: Tails says that it's most definitely a trap when Eggman wants to meet Sonic so he could give him a chaos emerald.
* OminousLatinChanting: Heard when fighting with Solaris.
* OneWomanWail: Features prominently in the music for [[http://youtu.be/ZCldwJwf1Ss Kingdom Valley]].
* PaletteSwap: Several different ones for the more dangerous versions of Eggman's robots, while stronger Iblis monsters all keep a dark purple skin as opposed to their regular orange bodies.
* PalmtreePanic: Wave Ocean.
* PerpetualMolt: Eagles in Kindgom Valley seem to scatter feathers constantly.
* PimpedOutDress: Elise's dress, with the [[FluffyFashionFeathers feather trim]].
* PinballProtagonist: Sonic. He has his own storyline, but it's Silver and Shadow that actually do the plot related stuff, whereas Sonic doesn't even ''meet'' [[BigBad Mephiles]] directly. Sonic has more relevance in the Last Story, however.
* PlotlineDeath: [[spoiler:Sonic the Hedgehog himself, in the Last Episode.]]
* PowerCreepPowerSeep: Amy can inexplicably [[{{Invisibility}} turn invisible]] in this game.
* PowerLimiter: As with ''Anime/SonicX'', the rings around Shadow's wrists -- [[spoiler:he removes them in his episode's ending in order to take on the army of Mephiles clones.]]
* PowerTrio: Team Sonic (Sonic, Tails and Knuckles), Team Silver (Silver, Blaze and Amy), and Team Dark (Shadow, Rouge, and E-123 Omega). Also, [[spoiler:Sonic, Shadow and Silver when they go super to stop Solaris]].
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "[[http://youtu.be/_r6pFhdo2h4#t=0m20s Let's. Get.]] '''[[http://youtu.be/_r6pFhdo2h4#t=0m20s MOVING!]]'''"
* QuicksandSucks: One entire desert level has nearly every sand area as a giant [[BottomlessPits bottomless sand pit]], most notably in the beginning of Shadow's [[AlliterativeName Dusty Desert]] which requires you to navigate tricky terrain in a hovercraft with little room for error.
* RealIsBrown: Most of the time, the game is dominated by its "realistic" look.
* RecurringRiff: "His World" motifs in various songs.
* RecycledTitle: As this was intended as a rebirth of the series.
* RedOniBlueOni: Iblis is destructive and completely mindless. Mephiles is calm, cunning, and manipulative. [[spoiler:They are two halves of the EldritchAbomination known as Solaris.]]
* ResetButtonEnding
* TheRival: Mephiles, to Shadow.
* RoarBeforeBeating: Iblis and Egg Cerberus.
* RuinsForRuinsSake: Kingdom Valley. While the presence of the ruins is explained in-story (they're the old castle, abandoned after the Solaris Incident ten years ago), they still don't make any sense as buildings that the royal family would live or hold court in.
* SanDimasTime
* SandIsWater: Dusty Desert.
* SayMyName: Sonic calls out Elise's name [[spoiler:after the Egg Carrier explodes]].
* SchizophrenicDifficulty: Due to CutAndPasteEnvironment, most of the stages in each route don't seem to follow any consistent pattern in difficulty.
* ScratchDamage: Vulcan Cannon fire will only take away one ring at a time and won't cause knockback, while missiles or actively touching an enemy makes you lose all your rings.
* SealedEvilInACan: Iblis. He can be released by killing his host, [[spoiler:or making the host cry.]]
** Mephiles as well: he was sealed into the Scepter of Darkness [[spoiler:by Shadow the Hedgehog himself]].
* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: Iblis is sealed inside Elise [[spoiler:and later Blaze.]]
* SendInTheClones: Shadow's story ends with [[spoiler:Shadow, Rouge and Omega surrounded by Mephiles clones. The intro to the Last Episode reveals Shadow made short work of them.]]
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong[=/=]MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: Both Sonic and Silver are trying to set the present right and avert Silver's BadFuture. Silver, UnwittingPawn that he is, nearly ends up ''causing'' this future instead.
* ShaggyDogStory: Several levels don't actually have much point to them other than simply forcing the characters to go through every one. Generally, if the characters return to Soleanna after completing a level, they haven't accomplished much unless that was their goal in the first place (i.e., traveling back in time from the future). For example, Sonic doesn't even catch up to the Egg Carrier after Wave Ocean; Tails simply tells him "We've lost it. Let's go back to town and get some more information!"
* ShiftingSandLand: Dusty Desert.
* ShoutOut: The music from [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEHzaHO7U9Y "Town Mission 4"]] sounds [[{{Plagiarism}} dangerously]] close to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsW3oYwD2oM "Flashman's Theme"]] from ''VideoGame/MegaMan2''.
* ShutUpHannibal:
-->'''Mephiles the Dark:''' It's futile. The world will betray you. Why fight at all? Why risk your life for those who will persecute you later?
-->'''Shadow the Hedgehog:''' If the world chooses to become my enemy... I will fight like I always have!
* SuperTitle64Advance: [[FanNickname Unofficially]] the game is often refered to as ''Sonic 360'', thanks to the Xbox 360 tech demo shown at E3 2005 which provided the first glimpse of the game. It was also known as ''Sonic Next''/''Sonic Next Gen'' before its formal reveal at E3 2006.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: White Acropolis.
* SlowMotionFall: Sonic gets one at the beginning of the final story.
* TheSlowPath[=/=]WriteBackToTheFuture: Rouge tells Omega, in the present, to help Shadow, in the future, [[spoiler:against Mephiles]] this way and gives him a Chaos Emerald to help him. Omega gets written back into the story when he travels ''back'' to the present with Shadow, along with the Chaos Emerald.
* SomeoneHasToDie: [[spoiler:The end of Silver's story has Blaze becoming the new vessel for Iblis and sealed in another dimension.]]
* SpacetimeEater: [[spoiler:Mephiles, as part of Solaris, plans to devour all of existence.]]
* SpaceWhaleAesop: Be a strong leader who never cries in the face of adversity and trials... because otherwise, [[spoiler:you'll release a [[EldritchAbomination demonic monstrosity]] that was sealed within you and tear apart the space-time continuum]]... wait, what?
* SpiritualSuccessor: To VideoGame/SonicAdventure.
* SuperDrowningSkills: Of the {{Bottomless Pit|s}} variety.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: One part of [[http://youtu.be/hEHzaHO7U9Y "Town Mission 4"]] appears to contain a section similar to ''VideoGame/MegaMan2''[='=]s [[http://youtu.be/UV6Y59-jYhE Flashman theme]]. Additionally, Silver's ImageSong, [[http://youtu.be/Md5IXNdRV44 "Dreams of An Absolution"]], sounds a lot like [[http://youtu.be/4YCoSF-voHY "Music Sounds Better With You"]] by Stardust.
** Many are quick to point out the similar arrangements between Crisis City and ''SuperMario64''[='=]s Bowser stages.
* TechDemoGame: Sega attempted to shove every "next gen" feature they could think of into the game, such as motion blur[[hottip:*:even though the game is designed to run at 60 frames per second, so you usually can't even see it]], real-time shadows[[hottip:*:an important step towards having a day-night cycle, though Sega abandoned that]] and a physics engine. Unfortunately, people weren't impressed so much as annoyed by the primitive lighting, broken physics and the massive slowdowns in Soleanna.
* TennisBoss: Silver's battles with Iblis and the Egg Genesis.
* TempleOfDoom: Dusty Desert.
* ThreePointLanding
* TimeTravel
* TrueLovesKiss
* UnexpectedGameplayChange: Worse than in most other Sonic games: you'll frequently be switching characters (and thus playstyles) mid-level.
* {{Vaporware}}: There was originally meant to be a PC version, which was never released. A {{Wii}} version was also planned but abandoned.
* VideogameCrueltyPotential: You can hurt the citizens of Soleanna, forcing them to stumble around briefly.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Mephiles to Shadow.
* WeirdCurrency: Rings can be used to buy stuff, like equipment for a hedgehog that won't even exist for two hundred years. GameplayAndStorySegregation, but still.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Silver in the beginning of the game. He legitimately wants to help the world have a better future that doesn't contain Iblis, but he goes about it the wrong way by trying to kill Sonic.
* WhatTheHellHero: Amy calls out Silver for trying to destroy the "Iblis Trigger", aka ''Sonic.''
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: [[spoiler:When Mephiles's plot to have Silver kill Sonic fails, he decides to do it himself. It takes him all of about five seconds.]]
* YouLookFamiliar: Mephiles, who's very similar to Shadow in appareance, with grey streaks instead of red, and [[NoMouth no visible mouth]]. Knuckles even acknowledges this in one cutscene and when Shadow confronts Silver, Silver mistakes him for Mephiles.
* YouNeverAsked: Amy did not know for a long time that both Elise and Silver were actually following Sonic.
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: "It looks like the Princess was moved to another location."
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