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Fang the Hunter
Fang is a treasure hunter out for cash. Since Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble, he made a few cameos, mostly in spinoffs, before making his return in a mainstream title in Sonic Superstars.
Debuting as "Fang the Sniper" in Japan and "Nack the Weasel" in North America and Europe, Sonic Superstars onwards gives him a new name: "Fang the Hunter".
- Artifact Name: With Fang being definitely confirmed as a jerboa, "Nack the Weasel" no longer makes sense as his old name. This is lampshaded in the Superstars prologue comic, where Fang berates Eggman for accidentally using the wrong name.Eggman: I need someone to hunt down any beasts, treasures, or people that will help me conquer the world. And that someone... is Nack the Weasel!
Fang: You keep doing that! I dropped that fake name ages ago! - Bad Boss: Fang often mistreated his sidekick, Trip whenever she made a mistake. And when she manages to do something right, he just casually dismisses her.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Fang is a small-time crook who tends to bite off more than he can chew. His Establishing Character Moment in Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble shows him trying and failing to operate a trap like Knuckles, only managing to set himself on fire.
- Bullying a Dragon: You know what the Chaos Emeralds can do, as seen in Trio of Trouble and heard in Eggman's briefings, right? So go ahead. Kick Trip with all your might while she's picking them up from your downed hoverbike. See what happens. For extra points, Trip's Golden Super Mode is an actual dragon. It doesn't even end there, as even after Trip glares him down and makes clear enough is enough, Fang angrily curses the whole squad and tries to attack them in a giant mech, summoning her to demonstrate her power.
- Bumbling Henchmen Duo: He has this dynamic with Trip while working for Eggman in Sonic Superstars.
- The Bus Came Back:
- After only appearing on a "Wanted!" Poster in 2011's Sonic Generations, he makes an cameo appearance as an illusion during boss fight in the second act of Mirage Saloon of 2017's Sonic Mania.
- He makes the first appearance in the flesh since Sonic the Fighters in 2023's Sonic Superstars.
- Butt-Monkey: Things often doesn't goes out his way and even chews himself on occasions.
- Cartoony Tail: His tail occasionally acts like a spring that he can bounce around or even rest on.
- Catapult Nightmare: Wakes up from a vicious nightmare of Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles delivering a nasty Curb-Stomp Battle to him during Sonic Superstars: Trio of Trouble.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He was completely absent from the series between Sonic the Fighters and Sonic Superstars, although he made a cameo on a wanted poster in Sonic Generations (which lists both names together, suggesting that they are aliases). Fang eventually showed up again in Sonic Mania, albeit mostly as an illusion used by Heavy Magician, and then Superstars featured his proper return in the flesh.
- Climax Boss: Serves as this in Superstars. After (possibly) unlocking the Super form for a couple levels, he takes the Chaos Emeralds and fights the team in a multi-stage boss battle. Afterwards, Trip completes her Heel–Face Turn and uses the Chaos Emeralds to destroy the mech he planned to use as his trump card.
- Co-Dragons: He shares the role of Eggman's Dragon in Superstars with Trip, where they both are enlisted to delay Sonic and his friends from stopping Eggman. Eventually Trip loses her role as Eggman's dragon once Fang pushes her one too many times, fully enacting her Heel–Face Turn and joining the heroes.
- Combat Pragmatist: Heavily relies on dirty tactics in all of the games he appears in:
- His first fight in Triple Trouble has him attempting to activate a flame trap. In his fourth fight, he fires a heat-seeking missile at you.
- In Sonic the Fighters one of his attacks is stomping on the opponents foot, which leaves them open for another attack.
- Constantly Changing Name: Superstars reconciles the Dub Name Change by making his official name "Fang the Hunter" and implying that "Fang the Sniper" and "Nack the Weasel" are aliases he uses due to being a wanted criminal. Other aliases he has gone by are also discussed in the Fang's Big Break prologue comic.
- Cool Bike: His airbike, the Marvelous Queen. Not only does it hover and can fly through the air, it also has a drill built into the bottom, can bounce around, and fire homing missiles.
- In Superstars, it gets upgraded to make it a bigger threat than when it was introduced, being more bulky due to the amount of weapons it comes with, such as energy pellets, lasers, missiles, and deadly laser walls. Fang makes use of the bike in Speed Jungle Act Sonic, Golden Capital Act 2, and the first phase of Trip's Story's Final Boss.
- Dimensional Traveler: He hails from an alternate dimension (implied to be the Special Stages' setting), a place the Japanese manual for Sonic Triple Trouble called "Subspace". He does appear in the Special Stages of Triple Trouble to get in the way.
- Dirty Coward: Oh boy, where to start. He runs away from you every time you defeat him in his debut appearance for one thing.
- The Dragon: Serves as this for Eggman in Superstars, being the most recurrent boss battle after the doctor himself.
- Dub Name Change: From "Fang the Sniper" to "Nack the Weasel" in the international versions of Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble, with some pre-release material also going with "Jet the Jerboa/Sniper" for the Western release (predating the Sonic Riders character). He was actually supposed to be named Nack in Japan, but it was changed due to it being pronounced too similarly to "Knuckles" in Japanese. Naming him "Nack" wasn't an issue for other languages, but later games went with Fang in all languages for consistency. Superstars changes his title to "Hunter" instead of "Sniper."
- Evil Laugh: He has a knack to let out a hearty cackle whenever he shows up.
- Family-Friendly Firearms: His popgun. It was originally going to be a full-on revolver with bullets.
- Fangs Are Evil: Why else do you think his name is Fang?
- Fighting Clown: One wonders why he chose a cork gun of all things instead of actual firepower. His cork cannon on his giant mech on the other hand, is anything but a joke.
- Four-Fingered Hands: He's depicted with four fingers on each hand in most early media he appears in, unlike everyone else in the series. His character designer, Touma, revealed that this was because real world jerboas have four digits on their paws. In later media (such as the IDW comics and Sonic Superstars), he is depicted with the same five-fingered hands as everyone else.
- Greed: A treasure hunter who's only in it for the money. The only reason why he wants the Chaos Emeralds in Triple Trouble is not for their power but because they would fetch him a hefty profit. In the prologue comic, Fang's Big Break, he believes it to be an easy job since he was asked to scope out the Northstar Islands, wanting to pocket any treasure he finds along the way for himself. When Eggman tells him off to do his job, he notes to himself he's billing the doctor extra for his sarcasm.
- The Gunslinger: Though he uses a popgun rather than an actual firearm, he otherwise evokes the look with his cowboy attire and Spaghetti Western-esque music in Triple Trouble.
- Harmless Villain: In Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble, he serves as the boss of the special stages but is not particularly effective:
- In his first boss fight, he presses a button to set a flame trap on you but then accidentally unleashes it on himself somehow.
- In his second boss fight, he bounces around on a spring but his panicking facial expressions indicate he has little control over his ride. The spring bounces low to the ground, making it easy to jump on top of him.
- In his third boss fight, he cackles villainously as he flies around in his airbike, which gets smacked into the sky after just three hits.
- In his fourth boss fight, he once again cackles villainously as he sends a heat-seeking missile to hurt you. After about fifteen seconds, the heat-seeking missile changes targets and hits him instead, ending the bossfight.
- In his final boss fight, he attempts ramming you from above with the drill of his airbike. After a few attempts, the drill gets him stuck into the ground, allowing you to push him down further, all while he has a panicked facial expression.
- Towards the finale, he reappears again prepared to fight you... and then promptly runs away in terror when Eggman approaches.
- When Fang shows up, he is usually sleeping
. - When he runs away, he has a tendency of tripping over his own two feet before picking himself up and continuing to run.
- Hired Guns: Eggman hires him for this purpose in Superstars, continuing the trend started in the Sonic the Comic series, Archie comics and picked up in the IDW comics depicting Fang/Nack as a mercenary for hire.
- Humongous Mecha: He gets one of his very own designed by Dr. Eggman. While it first appears in the main story, it's quickly dispatched by Trip's Super form. It is used as his last trump card against Trip in the second phase as of her story's Final Boss fight. Naturally, it's made exactly in his image, where it can shoot out Badniks, explosive barrels, electric webs, and a giant cork that can instantly kill Trip.
- Hypocrite: He constantly chews Trip for her clumsiness and incompetence despite not being the most competent person himself.
- I Have Many Names: The Sonic Superstars official website and Fang's Big Break prologue comic confirm that his various name changes are due to him deliberately changing his name to avoid the law. Eggman even accidentally calls him by one of those old aliases when he's introduced in the the comic. His confirmed list of previous fake names include Nack the Weasel, Jet the Jerboa (the name he was originally revealed with in English magazines), and Fang the Sniper. Eggman lampshades the inconsistency of the names makes it "needlessly confusing."
- Inconsistent Dub: He's called Nack for the western release of Sonic Triple Trouble, but keeps his final Japanese name in later appearances — even in those that change "Eggman" to "Robotnik". His wanted poster in Sonic Generations lists both names for him. Superstars would later do this once again, with his name changing to "Fang the Hunter", with the website and prologue comic confirming that his constant name changing is due to him previously using fake names to avoid law enforcement.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: The Trio of Trouble short for Sonic Superstars characterizes Fang sympathetically, showing him having a nightmare where he's on the receiving end of a frightening Curb-Stomp Battle from the heroes, and then failing to earn respect from Eggman for his actions. This gels with his previous Harmless Villain characterization in Triple Trouble, suggesting that even though he's a petty thief, he's ultimately just an opportunist looking out for himself, compared to the true evil of Eggman's ambitions.
- Improbable Weapon User: From Sonic the Fighters onwards, his signature weapon is a cork gun.
- Irony: Fang gets visibly frustrated at Trip's clumsiness and tendency to accidentally activate traps in Sonic Superstars; he acted similarly to her during his debut in Sonic Triple Trouble.
- Kick the Dog: He is constantly belittling Trip around whenever she made a mistake, but especially when he quite literally kicks her when the latter tries to prevent him from taking the Chaos Emeralds after his boss battle in Golden Capital Zone. It comes back to haunt him big-time.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Fang's character designer, Touma, has stated that he was designed as a jerboa (explaining his features, tail shape and bounce, and number of fingers), and clarified that "weasel" was an overseas change. Japanese sources like the Sonic Jam Official Guide state that he's a jerboa-wolf hybrid, which apparently trickled down to Sega of America's Sonic Central website once calling him a "wolf weasel". Some later materials also describe him as a jerboa-wolf, but Superstars definitively confirmed that he is just a jerboa, making Nack the Weasel an Artifact Name (and one of his previous aliases).
- Mythology Gag: Due to Ian Flynn's involvement with both, Fang takes elements from his Archie comics counterpart, being a very smug but Not-So-Harmless Villain, and a mercenary hired by Eggman. In particular, Archie's Running Gag of Fang seeking grudge matches against female characters for dolling out a Curb-Stomp Battle to him previously is also retained via Trip.
- The Napoleon: An artifact of his design is that he is intended to be a jerboa (kangaroo mouse), and thus, one of the smallest characters in the series — around the size of Charmy Bee. His love of guns, motorcycles, and money was supposed to be him Compensating for Something. Unfortunately, the tiny screen resolution of the Game Gear and Master System would make it difficult to distinguish such a small character against the already-scaled down 8-bit Sonic sprites, so he was made to match most of the other anthropomorphic characters in height.
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Fang is the in-between, he’s not as kind, or sweet as Trip, with him generally showcasing Jerkass tendencies. However, he’s not nearly as narcissistic, evil, or cruel as Eggman, as his crimes are more along the lines of theft and bounty hunting, crimes he commits for financial gain.
- Non-Indicative Name: He's not a weasel like his old name of "Nack the Weasel" would suggest, and he's not exactly a sniper since his weapon of choice is a cork gun, making "Fang the Sniper" inaccurate as well. This might be why his name was tweaked to "Fang the Hunter" come Sonic Superstars.
- Nonstandard Character Design: He was initially designed with Four-Fingered Hands rather than the usual five, because jerboas have four toes on each foot.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Despite being the butt of the joke most of the times, Fang proves himself to be a legitimate threat on occasions.
- While never particularly difficult, his boss fights do get progressively more challenging throughout Triple Trouble.
- You face him rather late in Sonic The Fighters, where he provides a reasonable difficulty spike.
- The Sonic Superstars: Trio of Trouble animated short has him demonstrate his cleverness, where he manages to defeat a giant snake using the same battery switch method he suffered from in his nightmare!
- In Sonic Superstars, he viciously punts Trip out of his way when he tries to take the Chaos Emeralds, and despite facing terrible retribution for it after, he in turn ends up being the Final Boss of her story mode, with the lengths he goes to making it clear he intends to outright kill her out of petty revenge for going Super and making a fool out of him at Golden Capital.
- Only in It for the Money: Fang's general M.O. He goes after the Chaos Emeralds in Triple Trouble so he can pawn them off for cash, most spin-off media depicts him as either a greedy, traitorous thief or a mercenary for hire, and his appearance in Superstars has him acting as a hired gun for Eggman.
- Prehensile Tail: One of his moves in Sonic the Fighters has him somehow grabbing the opponent and throwing them with his tail.
- Ret-Canon:
- The Sonic the Hedgehog Encyclo-speed-ia would canonize Fang's gang, the Hooligans, which included him, Bark and Bean. This would be backed up by TailsTube and the IDW comics which would show he, Bark and Bean do indeed work together.
- Starting with Superstars, Fang's regional names (including his very early Western name of "Jet") are explained to be different aliases he uses as a wanted criminal.
- Retcon: Introduced as half-jerboa and half-wolf, Sonic Superstars definitively states that he is a full jerboa.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Well, toy revolvers if that's your thing. He was originally supposed to have an actual revolver in his debut appearance but it was scrapped later in development.
- Running Gag: As of the release of Sonic Superstars, Fang has inherited his Archie counterpart's tendency to get beat up by women. His nightmare/flashback sequence in the Trio of Trouble promotional short ends with an extended shot of Amy bonking him on the head with her hammer, and he gets thoroughly beaten up by Trip towards the end of the game. Fang's revenge match in Trip's own campaign serves as an Adaptational Badass subversion however, being a legitimately grueling Final Boss battle that is near enough impossible to convert into a quick Curb-Stomp Battle, even with Trip's Super Form as a failsafe.
- Shout-Out:
- The shape of his head was inspired by the design of Opa-Opa. This is made a lot more prominent in Superstars, especially with the updated design for his Marvelous Queen hoverbike which now looks even more like Opa-Opa.
- His wild west-style design, use of a popgun, tendency to run away, and tendency of working in a united front (usually a group of two or three depending on the game) is one to Hol Horse.
- The shape of his head was inspired by
- Token Evil Teammate: In the story of Sonic the Fighters, each of the game's Chaos Emeralds are guarded by one of Sonic's friends with the exception of Fang, who stole his emerald from one of those guardsnote .
- Too Much Alike: This might be why he's so hostile with Trip, as he was just as clumsy and accident prone as her in his debut.
- Took a Level in Badass: In both of his appearances as antagonist, Fang becomes increasingly more deadly and persistent the more his pride gets wounded:
- In Triple Trouble his earliest faceoffs start out pitiful, setting off traps that backfire or commanding vehicles he can't quite control. He becomes progressively more dangerous and active in persuing you with each fight.
- While his attempts to capture Sonic and his friends are still pretty inefficient, Fang is generally much tougher with his boss battle in Sonic Superstars and even serves as the Final Boss in Trip's Story.
- Vague Age: A notable case of this, as he is one of the only major classic era characters that has never been given a definitive age in official sources.
- "Wanted!" Poster:
- He cameos on one of these posters in Sonic Generations for his theft and extortion crimes. It also lists both his "Nack the Weasel" and "Fang the Sniper" aliases.
- The Superstars prologue comic confirms that Fang has had three of these taken of him, each sporting a previous alias that he went by.
- Wild Card: While he is a bad guy by default, Fang would fight anyone if there's cash involved or met with certain situations. Sonic the Fighters shows him fighting against Eggman during the final level while Sonic Superstars has Fang working for him.
- Would Hit a Girl: Not only he doesn't hesitate to beat up any girl character that oppose him, but he also gives a nasty kick toward Trip when the latter prevents him from taking the Chaos Emeralds.
Witchcart
Debut: Tails Skypatrol
The main villain of Tails Skypatrol, which is her sole appearance. Her goal is to take over an island with her three henchmen and turn anyone who opposes her into crystals. She rides in a mine cart and attacks with magic sparks.
- Big Bad: Of Tails Skypatrol. Eggman is completely absent from the game and she's the driving threat in his stead.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Her name is just Witchcart, and no real name was given to her in the games.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: She is given no characterization at all beyond "Evil witch who wants to take over an island and turn people into crystals".
- Haunted Castle: Her lair is the final level of the game, DarkCastle Area.
- Meaningful Name: She's a witch who rides in a cart.
- Mecha-Mooks: She has a modest army of machines at her command along with her henchmen and the obstacles set up to counter Tails.
- Minecart Madness: Villainous example, since a cart is Witchcart's ride of choice.
- Offstage Villainy: We don't get to see her turning anyone into crystals.
- Outside-Genre Foe: Witchcart is more like a villain out of a fairy tale than the supervillain-level threat Eggman posed; she was the first antagonist in the series to directly use magic instead of just robots to accomplish her goals, predating the more significant use of this kind of threat with Chaos in Sonic Adventure. Most notable is that her use of magic does not involve the use of the Chaos Emeralds, which are completely absent from Tails Skypatrol.
- Punny Name: Her name is a portmanteau of Witchcraft and Cart.
- Sinister Schnoz: Has one on loan from Mizrabel.
- Taken for Granite: What she threatens Tails with — she claims to have the ability to turn people into crystal. In-game, the only magical prowess she displays is shooting magic sparks at Tails.
- Terrible Trio: Her minions.
- Token Human: Before Sonic Adventure, she was the only human (or human-like) character that appeared in the games besides Eggman.
- Villain of the Week: A minor oneshot villain who had the merit of being in one of the very few games in the franchise where Eggman is completely absent. Tails defeated her, and she was never seen in the games again. However, unlike her fellow villains who fought Tails, she would make a reappearance in the IDW comics.
- Witch Classic: She wears black clothes and a pointy hat, uses magic as her primary method of attack, and has three henchmen.
- Wicked Witch: The very picture of one.
Trip the Sungazer
Click here to see her unarmored (SPOILERS)
Debut: Sonic Superstars
A sungazer lizard living on the Northstar Islands, discovered by Fang to help him and Eggman navigate the islands and their secrets, as well as to assist the former in attempting to capture Sonic and his friends.
- Affirmative Action Girl: While the Modern Era has plenty of heroic female characters, the Classic Era only had Amy and Honey. Of course, Amy and Trip become best friends after they meet.
- All Your Powers Combined: A downplayed example: Trip has Amy's double-jump and extended attack reach in midair together with Knuckles' wall-climbing (in addition to having the ability to cling on ceiling), but doesn't have Knuckles' glide, Amy's ability to safely attack spiked and electrified enemies, or any abilities from Tails or Sonic. Discounting her super form, which can fly like Tails, but her flight controls are very different from how Tails flies.
- Anti-Villain: Of the “In Name Only” type as her involvement can be surmised as being stuck in a hostage situation.
- Badass Adorable: It might not look like it at first due to her clumsiness, but once she removes her armor, Trip is capable of busting up badniks as much as the other characters.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Amy cheering her up in Lagoon City Zone is a contributing factor towards her Heel–Face Turn. This also affects the gameplay, as Amy is the only character who has a mandatory Solo Act in Lagoon City that must be completed that has her saving Trip after she falls into the underwater city.
- Being Evil Sucks: Trip wants nothing to do with Eggman's latest scheme and only put up with it because Fang threatens her animal friends' safety and continually bosses her around to keep her in line. And after falling in her own trap in Lagoon City Zone, she just breaks down crying.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Trip is a very kind and demure girl, but push her too far and she will retaliate in kind. Fang learns the hard way, after suffering his abuse through the entire game.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: She notices you in both the title screen and her idle animation once she's unlocked, leading to her either hiding behind Knuckles or putting on her helmet respectively.
- Bumbling Henchmen Duo: She has this dynamic with Fang, as they work together for Eggman in Sonic Superstars.
- Bumbling Sidekick: Her name is literally "Trip", and as you'd expect, her clumsiness frequently impedes both herself and Fang at various points.
- Butt-Monkey: Fitting her name, she's prone to tripping on her own feet due to how heavy her armor is, and it seems like she can hardly do anything without accidentally hurting herself.
- Co-Dragons: Albeit reluctantly, shares the role with Fang, where both are trying to delay Sonic and his friends from stopping Eggman's plans of taking over the Northstar Islands. She loses the position of dragon once Fang kicks her one too many times and joins Team Sonic. Bonus points when it turns out her Super Form is an actual dragon.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Superstars, in particular the Trio of Trouble short, emphasize Trip being one to Knuckles in Sonic 3. Both are coerced into helping Eggman, but where Knuckles was duped, Trip has no illusions of what Eggman's plot is and merely forced into helping it by Fang. And where Knuckles is brash, confrontational, and wears his name on his fist, Trip is empathetic, timid and hides her face behind a helmet. Knuckles capably laid traps and impeded Sonic and Tails until his boss battle, while Trip is a Bumbling Sidekick to Fang who once needs Amy's help to escape danger. Their games both have a mural regarding the power of the Chaos Emeralds, but where Knuckles believes Eggman to be defending the Master Emerald, Trip sees a mural of the Black Dragon. Pointedly, Knuckles finds the mural showing the Chaos Emeralds and their powers, finds the Chaos Emeralds that the team haven't found yet, loses the Chaos Emeralds soon after, in the same stage that Trip has her Heel–Face Turn by using the Chaos Emeralds to defeat Fang in her Golden Dragon Super Mode and return them back to the gang afterward.
- Cornered Rattlesnake: Why she fails to make much of an effective villain. Trip is by default meek and pacifistic and only attacks in self defence. Even after Fang pushes her too far, it is only after he tries to attack her with a giant mech that she resorts to violent measures against him.
- Cowardly Lion: Trip is an incredibly shy and anxious person, yet she not only stands up to Fang and defeats him twice, she even helps seal away the game's true final enemy, the Black Dragon, a giant monster which proved to be a match for Super Sonic himself!
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Trip might appear to be a typical clumsy and shy girl who is prone to tripping over herself and prefers to hide her face behind her helmet at a first glance. But when push comes to shove and her armor is removed, she's actually quite capable in action like the other playable characters and her super form is a golden dragon.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Her entire character can be summed up with her name, "Trip," where she can't go five seconds without accidentally tripping herself up and causing some sort of problem, thanks to her heavy armor. Her attempts to set off traps made to impede Sonic end up backfiring on her and Fang, which endears her to the player, but annoys Fang that he berates her every time she fails. When she sheds her armor and retaliates against Fang in Golden Capital Zone, she becomes a lot less clumsy, managing to go Super and destroy his mecha. She's also just as capable as Sonic and friends in her own story mode, where she can fight through hordes of Badniks.
- Death Glare: After Fang kicks her in a rage, Trip finally snaps and takes off her helmet specifically to give him one and make clear she's had enough. When he doesn't take the hint and tries to attack her with a mech, she trashes it in response.
- The Dog Bites Back: After Fang is defeated at Golden Capital Zone, he kicks Trip when she tries to stop him from reobtaining the Chaos Emeralds, the former having dropped them moments before. Trip then proceeds to, in the following order, tear off her armor, roar at him, and go Super (becoming a dragon in the process), and as Fang proceeds to ride his prototype giant robot with the Marvelous Queen, she proceeds to destroy it while in said form, all as payback for all the times he put her down in an
epic Heel–Face Turn. - Expy: An Affirmative Action Girl who is a clumsy reptile and might be the Last of Her Kind? Sounds fairly similar to Dulcy. Made more obvious in the ending where Trip reveals her Super Power is to literally become a super-strong golden dragon.
- Establishing Character Moment: The Fang's Big Break prologue comic shows Trip's meek personality and klutzy characterization, along with how she was coerced into helping Fang and Eggman. When Trip tries confronting Fang with a spear, she is noticeably nervous, indicated by her shaking, and her clumsiness causing her to trip over a branch. Once Fang breaks her weapon, she is then threatened to guide him and the doctor through the islands.
- Extreme Doormat: Trip is rather meek, as she easily lets Fang bossing her around after their first encounter and ends up dragged into his scheme with Eggman. For a time.
- The Faceless: All of her body except her tail and arms is concealed by armor. Subverted when she takes it off to exact revenge on Fang for everything he put her through.
- Forced into Evil: She is a genuinely kind girl who, while protecting a giant Flicky Fang had captured, ends up becoming an unwilling ally to Fang and Eggman in their search for the Northstar Islands' secrets.
- Friend to All Living Things: She has a very strong bond with the Northstar Islands' animals, and they are all incredibly friendly with her.
- Gender-Blender Name: Trip is traditionally a masculine name, though it's a fitting one for her all the same.
- Golden Super Mode: Not only she's capable of going super with the Chaos Emeralds, but she gets a unique design in the form of a golden dragon. A honor Tails, Knuckles and Amy still haven't been able to pull off.
- Good Costume Switch: After she stands up against Fang and joins up with Team Sonic, she ditches the armor almost entirely (though she still occasionally pulls out her helmet due to her shyness), with her unarmored appearance reflecting her newfound growth.
- Grew a Spine: Thanks to her friendship with Amy, Trip manages to stand up for herself against Fang for all the abuse he gave her as she prevents him from reobtaining the Chaos Emeralds and personally deal with him herself.
- Harmless Villain: To an even greater degree than Fang, as her attempts to stop Sonic generally end up screwing Fang over instead. Though calling her a villain is a stretch either way.
- Heel–Face Turn: Though already established as not being a villain in the common sense, after beating Fang in Golden Capital Zone, she switches alliances to be with Sonic and co. as well helping them to take down Eggman.
- Hired Guns: Technically, to the same extent Knuckles was in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, albeit against her will. She's helping Eggman navigate the islands and Fang in impeding Sonic, but it doesn't go well due to her clumsy nature.
- Informed Species: When unmasked, she looks more like a hedgehog than a sungazer lizard, complete with a little spike for a nose, a mammalian muzzle and a pair of bumps where her "ears" would be. Subverted with her super form, which looks closer to the real animal, aside from the wings.
- It's Personal with the Dragon: In her story mode, her final battle is not with Eggman, but Fang, as he's the one who abused her constantly and forced her into evil. The Curbstomp Battle she delivered on his mech earlier also leaves Fang in turn with a wounded ego and just as eager to get payback.
- The Klutz: Her name is literally "Trip". If she isn't tripping over her own feet, she's unintentionally tripping up Fang instead.
- Last of Her Kind: Both Superstars and its supplementary material imply that Trip is the only one of her kind left in the present day. She appears to be the only sungazer alive on the Northstar Islands, guarding it and its inhabitants from danger. The mural Eggman finds in Trio of Trouble implies she is from a species of ancient sungazers who had some sort of connection with the Chaos Emeralds, where they sealed away a great evil in the past.
- Meaningful Name: As her name implies, she is extremely clumsy and prone to tripping over herself.
- Minion with an F in Evil: Not only is she too clumsy to be of any actual help to Eggman and Fang in battle, but as Trio of Trouble indicates, she's a genuinely nice girl who has empathy toward her surroundings.
- Nice Girl: She's generally nice to everyone, even toward Eggman and Fang despite unwillingly being pulled into their scheme. That is until Fang pushed his luck...
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Trip is the Nice Girl of the group, being sweet, shy, and generous. The only reason she stuck around with Fang and Eggman is because Trip was forced to by Fang.
- Nonstandard Character Design: Trip normally looks like a cutesy Cartoon Creature reminiscent of a sungazer lizard, but her Super form turns her into a quadrupedal lizard with dragon wings and sharp teeth. As such, she looks quite out of place compared to previous supers in the series that merely change color and get spikier.
- Playing with Fire: As part of her draconic motifs, she has capability of spitting out fire by either using the white emerald power or when she goes super.
- Promoted to Playable: Beating Superstars for the first time lets you play as her in standard gameplay. She even has own solo campaign just like Knuckles did in Sonic 3, where she's also menaced by an Eggrobo. And just like in Sonic 3, she has has her own exclusive final boss against Fang in his upgraded Marvelous Queen and a powered mech that was teased in the main campaign.
- Punch-Clock Villain: As shown in Trio of Trouble short, Trip is generally a gentle and nice girl who happens to be working with Eggman and Fang.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: She's a sungazer lizard, with her layered tail and spiked lizard-like mask, and she's an antagonist in Sonic's journey on the Northstar Islands, though it's very downplayed since she's not really evil to begin with and is later fully subverted when she becomes an ally to Sonic and his friends.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Although Trip is already endearing with her klutzy and shy disposition, her real face shows her to have big expressive eyes and little horns that amp it up even more. Especially so when she finally gets to smile after defeating Fang and saving the animals of the Northstar Islands in the main game, and when she adorably blushes in her own Story Mode ending.
- Samus Is a Girl: Subverted. Although her design while armored doesn't really indicate any particular gender, she's openly referred to as female even in the promotional material leading up to Superstars' release.
- Scaled Up: Despite being reptilian already as a sungazer, her Super Mode has her turn into a golden dragon.
- Shown Their Work: Not only Trip's spin jump animation being reference to Vector's from Knuckles Chaotix, but it's also how real life sungazer lizards curl themselves up when biting their own tail as a defensive posture.
- Shrinking Violet: Trip is extremely bashful and wears awkward, cumbersome armor partially to hide her appearance from others. While she seems to overcome this to some degree after defecting to Team Sonic, she still maintains a degree of shyness towards strangers, which is reflected with her idle animation.
- Signature Style: She is the first character designed by Naoto Ohshima — Sonic's original character designer — since he directed character design and did touch-up work on the Chaotix in Knuckles' Chaotix. This can be seen through her Rubberhose Limbs and proportions consistent with the classic Sonic style, as well as her arms being skintone rather than the same color as her head and tail.
- Sixth Ranger: Becomes this to Team Sonic after her Heel–Face Turn.
- Spikes of Villainy: Justified Trope given her biology is naturally spiky and is used as a weapon. Subverted as Trip is actually very kind hearted.
- Token Good Teammate: Among the three main antagonists in Sonic Superstars, Trip appears to be the least villainous, getting caught up with Eggman and Fang simply because they dragged her to help them. She later becomes an ally to Sonic and his friends after getting rid of Fang in Golden Capital Zone, even becoming a playable character.
- Weapon Grip Failure: In Fang's Big Break, while confronting Fang over capturing one of the Northstar Islands' giant animals, she ends up tripping and drops the spear she was holding.
Black Dragon (Unmarked Sonic Superstars Spoilers)
Debut: Sonic Superstars
A great, dark dragon who serves as the True Final Boss of Superstars. It suddenly appears out of a portal after the events of the main storyline and starting the Last Story.
- Ambiguous Gender: There's no confirmation as to what its gender is or if it even has one.
- Ambiguously Related: It is a giant, indigo dragon, that has a long spiky scaled tail, wears gray spikey bracelets, a belt, and shoes. The armor it wears and tail it has is similar to the individuals depicted in the mural found in Trio of Trouble, suggesting it once was a sungazer lizard like Trip, but the game never directly spells it out.
- Breaking Old Trends: This creature marks the first time where Dr. Eggman doesn't serve as the True Final Boss in a plot he is actively involved in the Classic Era, as well being the first supernatural entity chronologically that he actively seeks out, but does not find or get to control at all for the entirety of the game's plot. It just appears completely out of left field and has no connection to him at all, acting on its own accord.
- Dragons Are Demonic: An evil dragon that has dark purple scales, with its appearance looking more demon-like than other dragons seen in the series. It can breathe fireballs, shoot meteors, and even create black holes that can kill Super Sonic instantly if he doesn't boost out of it.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: It is a mindless beast that has no personality or characterization whatsoever to speak of and only seems to know destruction and nothing else.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Hints of its existence only appear in the game's metaplot and supplementary materials. If a player goes into the game blindly, they'll likely have no idea of this thing's existence until it suddenly appears in a cutscene after selecting the Last Story.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Of Sonic Superstars. It is a monstrous dragon-like creature that Dr. Eggman had sought after thus leading to the events of the game.
- Outside-Genre Foe: This thing not only looks more like it stepped straight out of a JRPG, but gameplay-wise it acts like it came from a completely different game genre altogether, feeling more like a Bullet Hell boss instead of a platformer boss.
- Purple Is the New Black: It's called the Black Dragon, but its scales and overall appearance is more dark purple, though it has horns and talons that are black.
- Purple Is Powerful: It glows with a purple light, has purplish-black scales, and is arguably the toughest foe Sonic has faced up to this point during the Classic Era, requiring a difficult fight as Super Sonic to weaken it enough to seal it away.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Trip seals it inside the Black Onyx after Super Sonic beats it back enough times.
- Spikes of Villainy: The Black Dragon has a very jagged design with its scales, along with spikes protruding from the top of its head and on its armor.
- The Spook: Absolutely nothing is known about just what it is, where it comes from, its motivations, or even if it has any motivations at all. It just...exists.
- True Final Boss: It serves as one in Sonic Superstars after collecting all the Chaos Emeralds alongside completing both the main and Trip's story modes.
Battle Kukku Army
Great Battle Kukku XV
Debut: Tails Adventure
The main villain of Tails Adventure, which is his sole appearance. He is the evil ruler of the imperial Battle Kukku Army, and led his forces to Cocoa Island in the hopes of seizing the legendary Chaos Emeralds and using their power to Take Over the World.
- Big Bad: Of Tails Adventure.
- Combat Stilettos: Strangely, he has high-heeled shoes.
- Evil Laugh: Lets out a good one at the beginning of the fight with him.
- Evil Overlord: He is described in the manual as a maniacal dictator.
- Mad Bomber: He attacks by tossing bombs.
- Super-Strength: He can easily Neck Lift Tails if he gets too close and hurl him across the room.
- Verbal Tic: He has no dialogue in game, but the Japanese manual says that he often ends his sentences by crowing like a rooster.
- Villain of the Week: A one-shot villain who only appears in Tails Adventure, and another rare case where the major villain isn't Eggman (who is absent from the game).
Battle Kukku XVI / "Speedy"
Debut: Tails Adventure
Son of the Great Battle Kukku and heir to the position of the Battle Kukku Army's leader.
- Eggshell Clothing: He appears to be wearing one as part of his uniform.
- Overlord Jr.: The son of Great Battle Kukku XV, and one of the main villains of the game.
- Recurring Boss: He's faced twice; once in a race on Polly Mountain, and later as the penultimate boss in the Battle Fortress.
- Villain of the Week: Like his father, he is a one-shot villain whose sole appearance was in Tails Adventure.
- Villain Respect: His first boss fight consists of Tails trying to reach the top of the stage while Speedy constantly divebombs him. If he can make it up, Speedy awards him with a Chaos Emerald and leaves.
Dr. Fukurokov
Debut: Tails Adventure
A scientist who works for the Battle Kukku Army.
- Beard of Evil: A truly immense one, about the size of his entire body.
- Mad Scientist: He's evil, and is the scientific head of the Kukku Army.
- Meaningful Name: Fukurou is Japanese for owl.
- Ominous Owl: Well, not really ominous, but still evil.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: He wears a pair very similar to those of Dr. Eggman.
- Villain of the Week: Like his leader, his sole appearance was in Tails Adventure.
