Characters / Sonic the Hedgehog - Groups

Sonic the Hedgehog characters index
Main Characters (Sonic the Hedgehog) | Recurring Characters (Team Dark) | Eggman Empire (Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik) | One-Shot Characters | Classic Era Antagonists | Modern Era Antagonists 1 | Modern Era Antagonists 2 | Other Groups and Species

The many species and groups of creatures introduced in the main Sonic the Hedgehog continuity.

Flickies and Other Animal Friends

Debut: Flicky (Flicky), Sonic the Hedgehog (Pocky, Ricky, Cucky, Picky, Rocky, Pecky), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Locky, Becky, Wocky, Tocky, Micky)

The original (and current) animal friends: Ricky, Pocky, Flicky, Rocky, Cucky, Pecky and Picky.

Flicky the bluebird and other animals that Sonic recovers from destroying Badniks and containers. Flicky made its first appearance in the 1984 arcade game Flicky, predating the Sonic series by seven years, while the other animals have made their debut in the original Sonic the Hedgehog onwards.

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• All There in the Manual: Generally their names are only seen in tie-in material. Early bios and the original game's bible in the west also stated that each animal mentored Sonic to master one of his special abilities.
• Ascended Extra: Flicky in Sonic 3D Blast (even outright sub-titled Flickie's Island in European languages). The game not only makes the species integral to the gameplay itself, but places the premise of its origin game into Sonic gameplay.
• Beary Friendly: Becky.
• Bluebird of Happiness: Flicky.
• Black Bead Eyes: Becky has these in-game. Not in official art, though.
• The Bus Came Back: Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Sonic Lost World, and Sonic Mania marked the return of Flicky and other animals being trapped inside robots.
  • Before that, they also made a surprise appearance as audience members in the non-canon Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games and its sequels.
  • Sonic Mania in particular brought the return of the five introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, as most of their later appearances had only used the original seven.
• Canon Immigrant: Flicky originates from a 1984 arcade game. Sonic 3D Blast serves as a further Mythology Gag to its premise.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A number of these animals (including a sheep and two tropical fish) only ever appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog CD, and nowhere else. The generic small animals from the Adventure games also vanished completely after Sonic Rush. As mentioned above, the five from Sonic 2 were this for decades until they returned in Mania.
• Damsel in Distress: Their purpose is solely as captives to rescue from Eggman's badniks.
• Demoted to Extra: For Sonic the Hedgehog CD where they can be seen on Little Planet, yet are not relevant to the badniks like in the other classic games (instead, flowers pop out of them).
  • In Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces, they only show up as part of specific missions.
• Dub Name Change:
  • The original animals from Sonic the Hedgehog were renamed in early western tie-in media. In the same order as above, they became Sally Acorn, Johnny Lightfoot, Joe Sushi, Chirps, Tux, and Porker Lewis. Only Flicky maintained its original name in the west, likely due to its origin game doing the same.
  • Cucky, seen more recently as an Unfortunate Name, was notably renamed "Clucky" in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Sonic the Hedgehog Encyclo-speed-ia, and there was at least one instance of "Cookie◊" before that.
• Letter Motif: The animals' names often ends with 'cky'.
• Living Battery: Eggman places them into his badniks en masse as a power source.
• Nice Mice: Micky.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Locky.
• No Name Given: Subverted with Micky, which was the only animal that did not have an official name until it received a designation when it reappeared in Sonic Mania years later.
• Put on a Bus: In the Sonic Adventure duology, these guys were largely replaced by a larger variety of generic small animals that could be given to Chao. From most games Sonic Heroes onwards, the robots no longer contain creatures in them, although they still reappear in later games. After Sonic Rush, these generic animals disappeared from the series, to be replaced by the original seven animal friends again around 2007.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter
• Righteous Rabbit: Pocky.
• Sweet Seal: Rocky.
• Took a Level in Badass: Flicky in the semi-official Game Mod, Sonic 3D Blast: Director's Cut. Not only are they more durable, only scattering one per direct hit, but they actually serve as utility, shielding Sonic from projectile attacks when surrounding him.

Chao

Debut: Sonic Adventure

Left to right: a Hero Chao, Neutral Chao, and Dark Chao

Creatures with a connection to Chaos that are commonly seen accompanying Tikal or Cream.They can also be raised in Chao Gardens in certain games.

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• Airplane Arms: This is essentially the sprinting posture that any Chao will take if its Run is boosted to higher levels in their stats. It's even more appropriate if a Chao becomes a Neutral Run/Run, AKA the Sonic Chao, which is basically a Chibi version of Sonic where it almost seems like a child imitating a parent's trait.
• The Artifact:
  • The Chao are native to the Sonic Adventure duology, where raising these little Mons is the premise of a Virtual Pet minigame. Since then, however, Chao raising has vanished from the franchise, though Chao may still make small appearances here and there.
  • The Hero Chao were almost immediately outdated; while they have a direct association with the heroic characters of the franchise, the same can be said for the standard, iconic, neutral chao, leaving the Hero chao redundant past their status as a branch of Evolution Powerup. This was already the case in Sonic Adventure 2, where Mini-Me Chao of Sonic and NiGHTS were the result of raising Neutral, not Hero, Chao, and the playable Chao in the shooting VS stages were either Neutral or Dark Chao.
• Big Eater: This is one of the personalities a Chao can have - they can obtain it from being born with it or having been starved for too long. These Chao will always wildly wolf down food like a starving Chao no matter how hungry they are, and may be unlikely to ditch food if they're full like most Chao do.
• Born-Again Immortality: If raised properly - a Chao's resurrective capabilities depend on how happy it was when it passes away. In fact, dying and being reborn twice is one of the requirements for a Chao to become a perfectly immortal Chaos Chao. On the Dreamcast games, a Chao does not retain any percentage of its stats when reincarnating just like a fresh-born Chao on the rereleases.
• Breakout Character: The Chao was a huge reason why people got into the modern Sonic games of the 21st Century. So much so that they are seen as the main species mascots of the franchise like the mushrooms/Toads of Mario. Unlike Flicky and the other animal friends.
• Chrome Champion: Jewel Chao are rare Chao whose coat consists of a single color with a metallic sheen. While they've been around since the original Sonic Adventure, the less-radiant Shiny Chao were only introduced in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle.
• Complete Immortality: From Sonic Adventure 2 onwards, Chaos Chao cannot die from any means.
• Cuddle Bug: Chao love to be petted and cuddled. A Chao that is in good terms with a character may decide to skip over to and nuzzle them in an attempt to be picked up.
• Cute Bruiser: A well-raised Chao can certainly gain this trait, though it's only really evident during Chao Karate matches.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Dark Chao look like cute little imps and demons. Newborn Chao can become this way if they're shown affection and treated well by "Dark Story" characters (Shadow, Rouge, Dr. Eggman) or fed Dark Fruits. Despite the name and aesthetic, they remain every bit as sweet and amicable as any other Chao, and those that are interacted with by a character they like show signs of joy and affection.
• Death by Despair: Whether or not a Chao reincarnates at the end of its life depends on how happy it is. In the Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure 2, a Chao that is unhappy enough to die will be standing up and looking downward shaking its head as its cocoon envelops it.
• Diverging Evolutionary Phases: Chao are capable of changing from their default state (typically called "Normal Chao") and can either turn into "Hero Chao" or "Dark Chao" based on what character care for or mistreats them. They are also capable of taking on the rare "Chaos Chao" form if certain conditions are met.
• Dull Surprise: For the most part. Chao who are surprised may have the ball above their head turn into a "!", but otherwise their expressions don't change.
• Eggshell Clothing: If a Chao is given a koala or Skeleton Dog, it will gain the ability to wear hats, including eggshells.
• Eyes Always Shut: Chao can be born with their eyes always locked into "happy" closed eyes.
• Fragile Speedster: No matter how high their stats become, at the end of the day, Chao remain small and fragile creatures. In the original Sonic Adventure, they have health points that are unseen outside of a VMU. Outside of the usual ways to hurt them by attacking or jumping on them, they also took damage from falling fruit and the fights in the Chao Adventure minigame, while most fruits replenished their HP and normal coconuts boosted it. Once a Chao's HP hits zero, it immediately forms a cocoon regardless of age and dies. It was rather easy to kill them in that game - aside from the iffy action button mapping making it easy to accidentally hurt a Chao, a Chao that loses a battle in Chao Adventure and returns to the Dreamcast gardens might die shortly after as a result of having no HP, lose a lot of their remaining lifespan if bred via being fed Lifenuts in the gardens and likely die/reincarnate right after reproducing, and a freshly-reincarnated Chao may die almost instantly after hatching if it is not immediately fed due to the way reincarnation resets stats. Due to Early-Installment Weirdness, the normally immortal Chaos Chao could be killed if they ran out of HP.
• Fog Feet: When a Chao plays with a Bat, one of the traits it may copy is the absence of feet; it'll gain a wiggly little ghost tail and hover above the ground instead. This can prove problematic in Chao Karate, as legless Chao naturally lose the ability to perform kicking attacks, which can leave them vulnerable at times when they otherwise wouldn't be.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Some Neutral and Dark Chao will throw a tantrum and stomp about angrily in place if they're upset rather than starting to cry, which is just as easy to do to them as it is any other Chao.
• Immortal Procreation Clause: Immortal Chao such as Chaos Chao and the official character Chao are incapable of breeding. Heart fruits won't affect them, and they will skip their natural mating seasons.
• Jiggle Physics: Chao are described as having soft, jiggly skin that feels like pudding. When they move, the separate parts of their model tend to bounce around a bit, especially if you pick one up and jump high into the air.
• Killer Rabbit: Quite so in Chao Karate in Sonic Adventure 2. Depending on various media, Cheese is the biggest example of this.
• Light Is Good: The Hero Chao in Sonic Adventure 2 when raised by Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles or fed Hero Fruit.
• Lightning Bruiser: A Chao with high Fly or Run will be able to easily dodge attacks or prepare them respectively in Chao Karate.
• Mighty Glacier: A Chao with high Swim or Power will be able to tank more attacks or use strong ones respectively in Chao Karate.
• Mini-Me: Specific Chao can be raised to look like other Sonic or Sega characters.
  • A Neutral/Run resembles Sonic due to its ears and head spines, though it remains green until it becomes older and won't look like a complete copy of him unless it becomes a Neutral/Run/Run.
  • A Dark/Run resembles Shadow, but with green highlights until it grows older and even moreso if it evolves into a Dark/Run/Run to have its highlights become red and for its spines to assume the shape of Shadow's.
  • In addition to these two, there exist three promotional Chao that imitate Tails, Knuckles, and Amy—they are, intuitively enough, called the Tails Chao, Knuckles Chao, and Amy Chao.
  • Want NiGHTS into Dreams… characters as Chao? A Neutral/Fly has NiGHTS' purple coloration and jester horns, which become more prevalent if it evolves into a Neutral/Fly/Fly, and Reala from the same game has a lookalike in the form of the black and purple Dark/Fly, who though may lack Reala's red in most of its further evolutions, will have its horns grow to match if left to its own devices to evolve into a Dark/Fly/None.
• Mon: The Chao are a race of tiny creatures that can be raised into a variety of breeds with different skills, bred together to create odd colors and inherit a mixture of their parents' skills, and put into competitions like races and karate.
• No Biological Sex: Chao are a primarily genderless species, and, in game mechanics, any Chao is capable of producing an egg with any other Chao, suggesting absolutely no sexual dimorphism whatsoever. However, some games do refer to some Chao with gendered pronouns, such as siblings Cheese and Chocola. That said, recent media has switched to using "they/them" pronouns for the two Chao, and the species in general, to emphasize this trope. Played With, in that this wasn't orginally the case, as Dr. Eggman would discover the Ancients slowly devolved into the Chao from the radiation given off from the Master Emerald.
• No Mouth: Chao can be born without a mouth visible on their face, though one may still appear during certain facial animations.
• Olympus Mons: Chaos Chao are immortal Chao that are created by giving a Chao who has reincarnated at least twice one of every animal available in the game as a child, kept happy and set to evolve into a normal-type adult by keeping their stat sliders equal. Without the worry of reincarnation, a Chaos Chao can easily have its stats maxed out (though, this is easier on the Dreamcast releases due to the lack of grades and levels affecting the stat growth) and become an absolute powerhouse when it comes to competitions. Additionally, the breed's namesake Chaos, of which the neutral Chaos Chao resembles, has been stated to have been a Chao that mutated as a result of exposure to the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Chao are a race of potentially-immortal sixteen-inch creatures with jiggly bodies and the ability to project their emotions with an orb that floats above their head, that are indigenous to a island filled with diverse biomes floating in the sky thanks to a giant emerald (said emerald also being capable of mutating them into destructive water elementals) and who can radically change their appearance by interacting with animals, eating different fruits and drinking the batteries of military robots. They're certainly unique, to say the least.
• Out of Focus: Downplayed. The Hero Chao gets ever-so-slightly less press than the Neutral and Dark Chao counterparts. There are the Chao Walker and Dark Chao Walker, and one of the Dark Chao Walker's attacks indicates there is such a thing as a Dark Omochao, but there are no Hero equivalents for the Chao Walker or Omochao. The Chao in Space special also focuses on a dream battle between a neutral Chao and Dark Chao.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Chao with high Power will be able to easily scale cliffs and shake trees during Chao Races, while during Chao Karate they'll be able to deliver powerful wallops to their opponents and find minimal difficulty in sending them off the arena. They still can't quite defend themselves against bigger creatures, but they're definitely capable of being stronger than what a soft little species barely over a foot tall at adulthood could be assumed to be at first glance.
• Perpetual Expression: Each newborn Chao is given a randomly-selected default facial expression by mixing and matching an eye type and a mouth type. Outside of a reincarnated Dark Chao (whose eyes will retain the angry eyelids they were set to upon evolving into a Dark Chao), the expressionless Chaos Chao and the original Sonic Adventure (where there was a chance for a Chao to change facial expressions after reincarnating), these resting facial expressions will stay with them for as long as they live outside of a few animations that involve facial emoting. They could be a Perpetual Frowner due to having a triangular frown, a Perpetual Smiler due to having a toothy grin or a triangular smile, or view everything with Dull Surprise due to having no mouth and wide eyes, partially closed ones, or evolving into a Chaos Chao and losing most of their facial expressions.
• Pokémon Speak: In Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog, the Chao talk by repeating "Chao". They do this in the original Sonic Adventure duology as well, but they were also quite capable of other childlike gibberish.
• Power Copying: This is how they're able to have their stats boosted by playing with animals according to official guides, both online and in-game. A Chao that interacts with an animal will take on its physical characteristics and have their stats altered to match the animal's own strengths.
• Prone to Tears: It doesn't take much to upset a Chao to the point of tears. Attacking them on purpose or on accident, taking away a piece of fruit they were eating, or having them listen to another Chao who can't sing very well may cause them to cry and remain upset for a while afterward even with lots of petting and snuggles.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: It's what keeps us coming back for them. They're small, childlike and speak adorable gibberish most of the time.
• Slasher Smile: One of the possible mouth styles for a Chao when they're born, including a reversed "Slasher Frown". This type of mouth is associated with Dark Chao in promotional artwork.
• Video Game Caring Potential: In the Chao Gardens, if you are nice enough to a Chao, it will have a big smile on its face and clap whenever your character picks it up. Although it is possible for this to give them a spoiled personality. In Sonic Adventure 2 and the Gamecube games, a Chao will grow up toward the allegiance (Hero or Dark) that is particularly kind to it (in 2) or is linked to the fruits they eat (in DX); keeping a Chao neutral requires roughly equal care from both allegiances.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can also hit them, throw them against walls and put them in water and watch them flail about if they don't know how to swim. In the first game you can even kill them by hitting them enough, and keep in mind they're still newborns. Abuse from a Hero character in Sonic Adventure 2 is an inefficient method of pushing the Chao toward a Dark Chao, and vice versa. Outside of the Chao Garden, Shadow gets the chance to abuse them in his game, which is beneficial if you're trying to fill your evil meter for a Chaos Blast.
• Was Once a Man: As revealed in Sonic Frontiers, they used to be the Ancients, a benevolent alien race that fled to Earth after their home was destroyed by the malicious being known as THE END. After the planet destroyer found the survivors again, a small contingent of survivors fled to what became Angel Island, and steadily devolved overtime into the Chao we know today thanks to the Master Emerald messing with their biology. Chaos, being a former Chao, is the only one who is known to have regain some of its Ancient heritage.

Knuckles Clan

Debut: Sonic Adventure

A group of dreadlocked anthropomorphic animals who were native inhabitants of Angel Island 4,000 years ago.

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• Abusive Precursors: They attacked and conquered other lands and finally attempted to take and use the Chaos Emeralds for their own purposes, but it all came to an end when their greed and abusive behavior led to Chaos wiping them out.
• Asshole Victim: And How! Chaos wiped the clan out because they trampled countless innocent Chao just to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds . It's also implied that they weren't very nice to other tribes either. Couldn't have happened to a nicer clan.
  • As it turns out, under the leadership of Pachacamac's mother, they were fairly chill and peaceful, though maybe they were a Martial Pacifist society, but when she died and her son took over, the Knuckles Clan became greedy warmongers and were soon subjected to this trope.
• Blood Knight: The Knuckles Clan echidnas regularly express their love for fighting.
• Dreadlock Warriors: Knuckles gets his dreads honest. All of their clan had dreadlocks, and all of them are tough warriors.
• Kick the Dog: As ordered by Pachacamac, they trampled Tikal and the Chao just to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds, which invoked the wrath of Chaos.
• Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair: They were the dominant civilization of their era^note Well, one of two dominant civilizations of their era according to the now non-canon Sonic Chronicles until they went a few steps too far over their own princess and her beloved Chao in the presence of Chaos.
• Mayincatec: Their overall aesthetic, with a giant pyramid turned Temple of Doom, stone mosaics everywhere, and Mayan names.
• Posthumous Character: With the exception of Knuckles, all of them have been dead since before the story began.
• Proud Warrior Race Guys: With the exception of Tikal. Most of their dialogue is bragging about their strength, fearlessness, and ambition.

G.U.N. (Guardian Units of Nations)

Debut: Sonic Adventure 2

A military organization dedicated to protecting the peace on Earth.

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• Air Borne Mook: The Beetle, Hawk, and Hornet model robots.
• Animal Theme Naming:
  • Most series of GUN robots have an animal name: Beetle, Hawk, Hornet, and Rhino.
  • There are numerous GUN troops named after insects. The Big Foot and Hot Shot Chicken Walkers belong to the Spider and Scorpion troops, respectively, while Shadow the Hedgehog reveals there is also a Mantis Platoon.
  • GUN's flying mechs all have light animal theming—Sonic Adventure 2 gives us the Flying Dog, while Shadow the Hedgehog has the Heavy Dog and Blue Falcon.
• Armies Are Evil:
  • In Sonic Adventure 2, where GUN are a colossal nuisance at best, abduct Sonic without explanation no less than twice, and in the backstory shot Maria Robotnik, murdered all of the researchers on the ARK, and later executed her grandfather after forcing him to continue research. That said, Eggman and Shadow paint them A Lighter Shade of Black, since their plans for the Eclipse Cannon have a much higher bodycount than anything GUN is responsible for.
  • Downplayed in Shadow the Hedgehog, where the organization's enmity with Shadow is mostly driven by the Commander's personal grudge, and Averted in games set afterward, where Shadow and Rouge are content to work as GUN operatives.
• Big Badass Rig: The GUN Military Truck, which hounds Sonic at the end of the City Escape stage in Sonic Adventure 2 while its personal theme is blaring in the background. This monster of a vehicle fills every lane on the street and pursues Sonic with single-minded fixation so bad that the only way Sonic completes his Indy Escape is when the truck crashes into the entrance of a tunnel. It returns, naturally, in the Sonic Generations remake of the level, where it additionally demolishes structures like catwalks and has new toys like giant buzzsaws and rocket engines.
• Characterization Marches On: When first introduced in Sonic Adventure 2, G.U.N. is portrayed as being pretty ruthless with no sympathetic qualities shown. Their raid on the ARK triggered the events of the game, they relentlessly hunt down Sonic without even attempting to hear his side of the story, and show what seems to be zero concern over any of the potential collateral damage they're causing during their pursuit of him. Come Shadow the Hedgehog, they're shown in a much better light, as while they still antagonize Shadow, they're shown to have the planet's best interest at heart and bravely fight off the Black Arms' invasion. By Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), they're portrayed as being completely heroic and are nothing but helpful to Shadow and his allies.
  • Outside of video games, the version of G.U.N. that appears in the 2022 movie is first introduced as antagonistic towards Sonic, capturing him along with Tails, but when their commander is informed that Robotnik could possibly be back, he takes the news very seriously and clearly considers him to be the bigger threat. Also, unlike their seemingly more Trigger-Happy video game counterparts, the agents involved in Sonic's capture only used non-lethal weapons and even then they still made sure to give their human targets a warning instead of shooting on sight. Once it's clear that Robotnik is indeed back, and more dangerous than ever, they drop their pursuit of Sonic entirely and even help Tom and Maddie get back to Green Hills despite them previously interfering with their mission, making the movie version of G.U.N. sort of an amalgamation of their characterization from Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
• Chicken Walker: The Big Foot series, which consists of Real Robot mecha that are piloted by GUN soldiers. Three individual walkers, the Big Foot, Hot Shot, and Flying Dog^note Which is not, technically, a chicken walker like the other two mecha., appear to each provide a Boss Battle in Sonic Adventure 2, but two variants of the Big Foot appear as Degraded Bosses in Shadow the Hedgehog.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Aside from the return of the infamous G.U.N. truck in Sonic Generations, the organization has not had a major appearance since Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). Well, not in video games, at least . This is due to director Takashi Iizuka wanting to keep the focus off human characters other than Eggman. That being said, the military vehicles Eggman and Sonic deal with in Cyber Space during Sonic Frontiers are directly stated by Eggman to belong to G.U.N., but the vehicles are unmanned drones and a figment of Sonic and Eggman's memories, anyway.
• Conspiracy Redemption: They become less hostile towards the heroes after Shadow the Hedgehog.
• Elite Mooks:
  • The various series of aerial robots have units that are notably faster and more agile than most of the other units: the Bomb Wing and Gun Wing of the Beetle series, the Sky Hawk of the Hawk series, and the Phoenix of the Hornet series.
  • The ultimate member of the Hunter series is the Shield Hunter, which has a laser cannon like the Laser Hunter but also a body-length shield to ward off attacks.
  • The Rhino Metal of the Rhino series is immune to all conventional means of attack and can only be destroyed by Sonic's Magic Hands upgrade, an Invincibility Power-Up, or being lured over an edge.
• Frame-Up: Some theorize that this was their true motivation of arresting Sonic in Sonic Adventure 2, in order to cover up the existence of Project Shadow and, by extension, the ARK raid, and are playing the news networks honestly mistaking Shadow for Sonic to their advantage.
• Fun with Acronyms: Along with the obvious English meaning, gun is the Japanese word for "army".
• The Goomba: The Beetle-series robots and especially the Mono Beetle, which has no armaments and mostly serves as target practice.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The beetle, hunter, and hornet robots each show a glaring red light when they spot a character.
• Heel–Face Turn: After the events of Shadow the Hedgehog, GUN lost most of its Well-Intentioned Extremist characteristics and became much less antagonistic towards Sonic and his friends.
• Hero Antagonist: They served as one to Sonic after mistaking him for stealing a Chaos Emerald. Even in Shadow the Hedgehog, their forces will attack Shadow no matter what side he chooses (though this is more because their commander has a personal vendetta against him).
• Humongous Mecha: Diablon is the biggest of all piloted robots that GUN has at their disposal, and takes the form of the upper half of a humanoid body, with two arms and a head.
• Irony: The GUN Commander—who is piloting a Humongous Mecha called Diablon—routinely calls Shadow a devil during his Final Boss Battle.
• Inconsistent Dub: Sometimes it's simply pronounced "gun" and other times it's pronounced "Gee-You-En".
• Knight of Cerebus: While ultimately heroic, any game that features G.U.N. tends to be Darker and Edgier than Sonic's usual adventures and have far bigger stakes than just Eggman's weekly attempt at world domination.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Even at their most antagonistic, GUN are outclassed in threat and malice both by Shadow and Eggman of Sonic Adventure 2 and by the Black Arms of Shadow the Hedgehog.
• Mecha-Mooks: In Sonic Adventure 2, every GUN unit the characters face (with the exception of the manned mecha Boss Battles) is a robot. GUN also has regular rank-and-file soldiers, but they don't appear as enemies until Shadow the Hedgehog.
• Metal Slime: The Gold Beetle of Sonic Adventure 2, which appears once per stage in an out of the way location for only a few seconds, but destroying it before it vanishes adds a cool thousand points to the player's score.
• Patrolling Mook: Some hunter robots are like this, unlike the ones which swoop down or awaken when a character approaches it. Hornet robots can be found doing this as well.
• Red Ones Go Faster: The Phoenix unit in the Hornet series, which is bright red and moves faster than any other units in the series.
• Shield-Bearing Mook: Some Hunter robots have shields and the characters can't destroy it until it points out their lasers after the character waits for a few seconds (except Sonic and Shadow, who can wipe it out by attacking their unprotected feet with a somersault).
• Spell My Name With An S:
  • In the Japanese Sonic Adventure 2 guide, it's Guardian Units of Nation instead of Guardian Units of Nations, and the helicopter at the start of the Hero story reads Guardian United Nation, at least in the 2012 HD remaster.
  • "GUN" and "G.U.N." are used interchangeably.
• The Spiny:
  • The Rhino Spike is covered in spikes as tall as any of the Funny Animal characters. Homing Attacks won't get you far with these.
  • Spark Beetles periodically emit electrified barriers that will damage anyone who touches them—they typically appear in a chain of targets for Sonic and Shadow to bridge with the Homing Attack, requiring the player to factor the timing in as they advance.
• Thunder Beetle: The Spark Beetles, which emit electrified fields that damage anyone who touches them.
• Uncertain Doom: TailsTube confirms that G.U.N. was defeated by Eggman's forces offscreen at some point during the War to Take Back the Planet and seemingly ceased operations but it's unknown whether or not the organization has recovered since the Resistance's victory.
• Underground Monkey: As a rule, G.U.N. robots belong to various series consisting of a base unit and variants with modular upgrades.
• Villain Has a Point: Although they raided the ARK and either incarcerated or killed everyone involved with Project Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog establishes that Gerald did make a deal with an Obviously Evil alien third party in order to speed research along. G.U.N. obviously wouldn't want anything bad to happen to Earth because of the ARK's actions. Even as early as Sonic Adventure 2, Gerald was an at least highly eccentric weapons-developer and Maker of Monsters.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Could be considered this given their reasoning for the ARK raid and pursuit of Sonic, despite how they went about it. Their later appearances have them not really fit this trope anymore, since their not really extremists in their current actions.
• What the Hell, Hero?: They have gotten this treatment here and there throughout the games. The most prominent example is the Space Colony Ark massacre; while they did have a good reason for shutting down Gerald's facility, their murder of Maria, a Nice Girl completely innocent in all of it, is treated in-universe as one of their most unambiguously awful deeds and is the main driving force of much of Shadow's rage in Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow The Hedgehog.
• The Worf Effect: G.U.N. tends to get easily beaten by the actual main antagonists of whatever game it appears in, even to the point that, according to Tailstube #2, it loses to Dr. Eggman's army in Sonic Forces offscreen.

Boos

Debut: Sonic Adventure 2

The ghostly minions of King Boom Boo that appear in several haunted stages in Sonic Adventure 2.

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• Bedsheet Ghost: With their button-like eyes and stitched up mouths, the docile Boos and Boom Boos look like stuffed cloth dolls. The effect is lost the instant they show their Game Face, however.
• Black Eyes of Evil: The Boom Boos have these which blink every few seconds. However, their eyes will turn yellow once a character attacks it.
• The Bus Came Back: The Boos didn't make any other game appearances until in the Wii U version of Sonic Lost World where they serve as invisible enemies in Sky Road: Act 4.
• Dark Is Evil: The Boos that haunt Angel Island and the Lost Hex will attack anyone they see on sight.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Downplayed, in the non-canon Sonic Runners' Halloween Event, Tails is frightened by the appearance of the Boo, but Sonic assures that ghosts aren't always scary and may turn out to be cool.
• Expy: To the Boos from Super Mario Bros.. They're a race of ghosts and recurring Mooks faced throughout the franchise that frequently appears in the Big Bad's base (Bowser/Dr. Eggman). They even have their own King Mook (King Boo/King Boom Boo).
• Game Face: The Boos start off seemingly harmless with black eyes and stitched up mouths, but they'll reveal their yellow eyes and Scary Teeth once a character attacks it or gets close to it, which they'll get jumpscared in the process.
• Giant Mook: The Boom Boos who have black eyes and stitched mouths. It takes three hits to kill them while they reduce in size.
• Heel–Face Turn: Unlike in canon, they don't appear as enemies in the Sonic Runners Halloween Event; one Boo guides Sonic and co. to the castle to stop Eggman's brainwashing of King Boom Boo and the other Boos. Also, you can have a Boo as a companion character.
• Hidden Depths: In one Sonic Comic Tails is kidnapped by King Boom Boo and the other Boos and forced to repair their hourglass before he is allowed to go home. After Tails does so and gets home, the Boos follow him, not to attack him again but to give him gifts out of gratitude.
• Invincible Minor Minion: Some Boos that are not attack types cannot be attacked; they only grab a character from behind and they will disappear once a character breaks free. They are also this in Sonic Lost World where touching them will cause you lose your rings.
• Jump Scare: Some of the Attack Boos are invisible and will reveal themselves once a character gets close to it, at which they will pop up at a character's face while growing large while dissipating. Some will hide behind walls, inside objects, in the floor, etc, while others will be in their smaller forms where they will scare a character once they get close to it.
• Mini Mook: Some Boos (smaller versions of the Boom Boo) appear in small sizes, although it's purpose is to Jump Scare a character when they get close to it.
• Mouth Stitched Shut: The Boom Boos have four stitches in their mouths which conceal their Scary Teeth.
• Patrolling Mook: The Boos usually wander around certain areas just before they spot a character and chase them.
• Pokémon Speak: As seen in the Halloween Event in Sonic Runners, Boos only communicate by saying "BOO".
• Slasher Smile: Attack Boos have sharped-fanged grins and it makes them look very frightening.
• Scary Teeth: They have sharp black teeth and it makes them frightening to the players.

Black Arms

Debut: Shadow the Hedgehog

The marauding alien minions of Black Doom in Shadow the Hedgehog.

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• Airborne Mooks: The vaguely-draconic Black Wings, Black Hawks, and Black Volts, in increasing order of strength. Black Wings are generally Homing Attack "stepping stones", while Black Hawks and Black Volts can sometimes be ridden in aerial Rail Shooter sequences.
• Aliens Are Bastards: Just like their leader, their goal is to consume the entire human race.
• Alien Kudzu: Glowing red fruits grow almost everywhere the Black Arms are found as a "sign of conquest", according to Black Doom. Shadow will lose rings if he touches them, but can shoot them to fill the Hero side of his Karma Meter / Limit Break gauge. Death Ruins features enormous ones in the background.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The Black Arms have actually been around (at least in some form) as early as Sonic Adventure 2, where a Freeze-Frame Bonus during the cutscene where Eggman finds and unseals Shadow the Hedgehog shows that the rim around Shadow's pit is marked with warnings that "ASTRONOMERS ARE CONCLUDING THAT MONSTROUSBLACKS".
• Elite Mooks: Black Assassins from the Black Comet levels are stronger than run-of-the-mill Black Warriors. They wear golden armor, carry Reflecting Lasers, and move by teleportation rather than walking.
• Giant Mook: Black Oaks are as tall as G.U.N.'s Powered Armor and generally armed with melee weapons. Some can even block incoming projectiles with their bare hands. Black Doom notes that they are "heralded for their pure strength".
• Heavily Armored Mook: Black Volts are stronger versions of Black Hawks with golden armor plating. Some of them can be ridden in aerial Rail Shooter sequences.
• Ray Gun: Unlike G.U.N.'s firearms and explosive weapons, the Black Arms use an assortment of Energy Weapons. Their only non-melee kinetic weapons are "Worm Shooters" that fire small worms as Homing Projectiles.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Their trademark color scheme.
• Sand Worm: The Black Annelid sub-species, prone to popping up when least expected and firing smaller worms as Homing Projectiles.

Wisps

Debut: Sonic Colors

A race of friendly squid-like aliens and the titular colors introduced in Sonic Colors. They're unique in that they have the power of "Hyper-Go-On" energy, which Dr. Eggman wants to use to mind-control Sonic's world.

The wisps that debut in Sonic Colors are:

• White Wisps: In Sonic Colors and Sonic Forces, they give Sonic energy for his Sonic Boost. This is also the type of Wisp that Yacker is.
• Cyan Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Cyan Laser, which allows him to zip through the stage and reflect off cyan diamonds. They reappear in the 3DS version of Sonic Generations and both versions of Sonic Lost World.
• Yellow Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Yellow Drill, which allows him to dig through soft surfaces and dive in water. They reappear in both versions of Sonic Lost World.
• Orange Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Orange Rocket, which allows him to shoot up in the air for a limited time. They reappear in the HD version of Sonic Generations and both versions of Sonic Lost World.
• Blue Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Blue Cube, which can destroy any ground enemies onscreen and turn blue rings into cubes and vice versa. They are exclusive to the Wii version of Sonic Colors.
• Pink Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Pink Spikes, which can climb walls, spin dash, and destroy large blocks. They are exclusive to the Wii version of Sonic Colors. They reappear in the HD version of Sonic Generations.
• Green Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Green Hover, which allows him to hover and Light-Speed Dash on rings. They reappear in the Wii U version of Sonic Lost World.
• Red Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Red Burst, which allows him to jump multiple times in the air and create fiery explosions. They are exclusive to the handheld versions of Colors, Generations, and Lost World, and reappear in Forces.
• Purple Wisps: A Nega-Wisp, they turn Sonic into the Purple Frenzy, which allows him to chomp enemies and large blocks, growing larger as he does. They are exclusive to the Wii version of Sonic Colors.
• Violet Wisps: Another type of Nega-Wisp, they turn Sonic into the Violet Void, which sucks up enemies and obstacles. They are exclusive to the DS version of Sonic Colors.

The wisps introduced in Sonic Lost World are:

• Crimson Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Crimson Eagle, which allows him to fly.
• Indigo Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Indigo Asteroid, which allows him to create a orbiting shield of debris from anything he touches. They reappear in Forces.
• Magenta Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Magenta Rhythm, which allows him to bounce on other music notes to the beat of the music. They are exclusive to the Wii U version.
• Black Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Black Bomb, which allows him to roll around and explode, destroying enemies. They are exclusive to the Wii U version, and only obtainable through Miiverse or through completing the NiGHTMARE DLC.
• Ivory Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Ivory Lightning, which allows him to attract rings and create a larger homing attack chain. They are exclusive to the 3DS version and reappear in Forces.
• Grey Wisps: They turn Sonic into the Grey Quake, which allows him to roll around and create earthquakes. They are exclusive to the Wii U version's multiplayer and 3DS version.

Introduced in Sonic Forces is the Wispon, a gun that the Avatar uses to harnesses Hyper-Go-On energy. The Avatar can use the standard abilities of their Wispon's wisp in addition to a related offensive power that doesn't require having the wisp.

• Burst Wispon: A flamethrower that possesses the powers of Red Burst.
• Lightning Wispon: Allows the Avatar the powers of the Ivory Lightning (which is more akin to the Light Speed Dash/Attack) and gives them a lightning whip to attack nearby foes.
• Cube Wispon: A Humongous-Headed Hammer that freezes whatever it hits in blocks of ice, which shatter into rings upon touching the ground. It can also create block towers that can be used as improvised platforms.
• Drill Wispon: A yellow drill-like lance than can be used as a chargable Dash Attack or a high-speed Wall Crawl.
• Hover Wispon: A green weapon that can fire shockwaves that knock enemies back into each other or be used to to levitate the user upward.
• Asteroid Wispon: An indigo weapon that can attack with homing projectiles or be used to create an Orbiting Particle Shield.
• Void Wispon: A violet weapon that can suck rings and enemies into an Unrealistic Black Hole or be used to teleport in a straight line, ignoring all objects and bottomless pits along the way.

A new wisp was introduced in Team Sonic Racing:

• Jade Wisps: They turn the user into intangible ghosts and steal an item from others. Sonic Colors Ultimate would later have Sonic use them to turn into the Jade Ghost, giving him the ability to float and phase through walls.

Tropes

• All Your Powers Combined: In Colors, the Final Color Blaster, which is all the wisps joining Sonic for a supercharged Homing Attack.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: The Jade Wisp's abilities in Team Sonic Racing are remarkably similar to the Boo item in the Mario Kart series, with the one major difference being that the Jade Wisp doesn't make their user fully invisible.
• Ascended Extra: The Jade Wisp. After making their debut in a spin-off racing game, they later became part of the main Wisp group in the Updated Re Release of Colors, with one in particular being the focus character of the tie-in short Rise of the Wisps.
• The Corruption: Nega-Wisps are normal Wisps that have been corrupted through Eggman's processes into cruel purple monsters. Their corrupted energies can be used for darker things like Frenzy and Void powers, mind control, and pseudo-black holes, but the Wisps themselves act pretty much the same aside from the Nega Mother Wisp.
• Cyclops: Most Wisps have only one eye, while the rest have either two, three, or none.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The Purple and Violet Wisps look terrifying and give Sonic destructive powers, but they are perfectly willing to help him beat Eggman. The Indigo and Black Wisps also are this due to their darker color and destructive powers, but in the case of the latter there's no confirmation if they're Nega-Wisps like the Purple and Violet Wisps.
• Demoted to Extra: The White Wisps in Generations, who just get cameos since Sonic does not need them to boost, and Lost World for the same reason, only being around to give Miiverse items.
  • The wisps in general in Lost World, since there is no explanation for their presence.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Grey wisps turn Sonic into an iron ball that can do Ground Pound and Shockwave Stomp attacks.
• Elemental Powers: Some of the wisps fall under this.
• Extra Eyes: Blue, Red, Crimson, and Grey wisps have three eyes.
• Eyeless Face: Purple, Violet, Black, and Jade wisps have no eyes.
• Fusion Dance: They combine with Sonic to allow him to use their powers.
• Gravity Master: Indigo wisps turn Sonic into an asteroid that destroys enemies that enters its orbit and Violet wisps turns Sonic into a miniature black hole.
• Having a Blast: Black wisps have the Bomb power up.
• Intangibility: Jade Wisps provide this with the Ghost power-up.
• Jagged Mouth: Black Wisps, Purple Wisps, Jade Wisps and Violet Wisps all have these mouths.
• Leitmotif: Each wisp except for Violet has a little repetitive tune associated with them that plays while Sonic is using their powers. ^note Violet Void has a distorted version of the level's current theme. Yellow Drill has two of them, one for digging through terrain and another for speeding through water.
• Light 'em Up: Cyan wisps have the Laser power up.
• Living Battery: Eggman planned to use them as power sources.
• Octopoid Aliens: The Wisps all resemble octopuses, squid, or jellyfish to some extent. They all have a large head on top of smaller, tentacle-like appendages.
• Out of Focus: With the exception of a cameo in one of the Olympic games' Dream Events, Purple Wisps are the only Wisps who have never made a reappearance outside of Colors.
• Playing with Fire: Red wisps have the Burst power up which turns Sonic into a sentient fireball.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: They're like teensy playful little space squids!
• Shock and Awe: Ivory wisps have the Lightning power up.
• Slasher Smile: Purple, Violet and Jade Wisps sport toothy maws that are always bared.
• Starfish Aliens: They're cute, but they come in all sorts of bizarre shapes and colors and grant fantastical powers to those they decide to fuse with.
• Stay with the Aliens: Sonic Runners explains that while most Wisps followed the Mother Wisp back to Planet Wisp after the events of Sonic Colors, some Wisps liked Earth so much that they decided to stay there. They still remember Sonic and will help him whenever he needs it. While Sonic Runners has been deemed non-canon following the founding of the offical lore council and the restructuring of the continuity after Sonic Forces, presumably this is still the case in canon.

Koco

Debut: Sonic Frontiers

Small stone-like residents of the Starfall Islands.

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• Dead All Along: The first time Amy sees some Koco move on to the afterlife, she's under the assumption that they just died in front of her and is appropriately distraught. It's not until later on that she and the others find out that they're the remnants of the long-deceased Ancients.
• Ending by Ascending: The sidequests Amy, Knuckles, Tails and Sonic undertake to help the Koco all end with their souls being called to the afterlife by the Ancients' mysterious creator deity.
• Meaningful Name: "Koco" comes from the Japanese word "kokoro," which means "heart" or "soul." In fact, they are essentially the souls of the Ancients.
• The Noseless: Nothing on their faces but their adorable, beady-eyes and little mouths.
• Not the Intended Use: The Koco were originally just the Ancients' lucky charms. Sonic and Sage speculate that after the Ancients' demise, they were repurposed into Soul Jars.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: They're cute little statue heads that make bell sounds as they walk.
• Soul Jar: They are what remain of the Ancients who could not pass on completely.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the Chao, as a race of small cute things who provide Sonic with sidequests and a use for collectibles, and who are deeply tied to the origins of Chaos.
• Unfinished Business: Many Koco's requests for Sonic allude to a task that they were unable to complete towards the end of their lives as Ancients. Once they're at peace, their souls are able to pass on, leaving behind their stone vessels as inanimate husks.
• Waddling Head: They're stone balls on little legs. Originally, those bodies were ordinary lucky charms used by Ancients, whose thoughts and wishes inhabited them upon death.

The Ancients (Unmarked Spoilers for Sonic Frontiers)

They're...gone. It...killed them.

Debut: Sonic Frontiers

An advanced alien race that lost their homeworld and were nearly driven to extinction due to an Eldritch Abomination known only as THE END. They were the original owners of the Chaos Emeralds and were guided to Sonic's world by their resonance with the Master Emerald, settling on the Starfall Islands and starting development on technology that could put a stop to THE END—but it proved far too powerful for them to destroy, so their only solution was to repurpose some of their technology to serve as an archive for their history and culture for future generations to uncover. Before being wiped out by THE END, they utilized Cyberspace in order to seal away their own essences into vessels called the Koco, and during their last stand against their enemy managed to seal it within Cyberspace as well.

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• Ancient Astronauts: An alien people who came to Earth after their world was destroyed in the distant past.
• Benevolent Architecture: They are greatly implied to be the reason Sonic's world is covered in beneficial and convenient grind rails, springs, and loop-de-loops. One of the objectives in Frontiers is activating the technology they used to grow them from the ground.
• Benevolent Precursors: Ancient as they are, they seem to have been generally benevolent, showing incredible bravery and love for one another in flashbacks. When the horror that destroyed their world followed them to Earth, not only did they stand their ground and fight back rather than abandon the planet, they were willing to sacrifice themselves to seal it away and ensure it stayed sealed.
• Blob Monster: They were beings of living water, like Chaos - which is fitting since the Ancients are the ancestors of Chao, and him by extension.
• Company Cross References: The designs of their technology and language are one to Panzer Dragoon. Said language is also reminiscent of the language spoken by Nightopians.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Compared to previous games' precursors, who caused the plots of their games through selfish needs (Pachacamac trying to gain power from the Chaos Emeralds out of greed, and the Duke of Soleanna messing with time travel out of a desire to see his wife again), the Ancients were victimized by the Greater-Scope Villain, THE END, and were forced to leave their planet when it was destroyed, making them more tragic.
• Doomed Hometown: Their home planet was wiped out by THE END, and their society on the Starfall Islands didn't fare much better.
• Fling a Light into the Future: The Ancients lost their lives and their homeworld fighting THE END but they left the Chaos Emeralds on Earth in the hope that someone can bring down the eldritch planetoid once and for all.
• Formerly Sapient Species: Over time, the Ancients would eventually evolve into the primitive, animalistic Chao, due to the Master Emerald's energy mutating them.
• Greater-Scope Paragon: Their home planet was, as far as can be told, the original resting place of the Chaos Emeralds, (though the Ancients are confirmed to not be the creators of the Chaos Emeralds) which act as the central MacGuffins across the series, used by Sonic to defeat planet-threatening villains, and intertwined with the plot and history of nearly every game. The only part of the Chaos Emeralds' equation left unexplained is their relation to the Master Emerald, as the Ancients seemingly weren't aware of its existence until its energy began pulling them towards Sonic's world.
• Lost Technology: Their tech is even more advanced than Dr. Eggman's, loathe as he is to admit it. It included the alternate dimension known as Cyberspace, a number of Humongous Mecha warriors called "Titans", and some nifty teleporter tech – and that’s just the stuff that still works eons later.
• Mirror Character: "The Final Horizon" elaborates on the Titan pilots similarities to Team Sonic when they're encountered upon the Trial Towers:
  • GIGANTO's pilot is the headstrong sole female of the group like Amy.
  • WYVERN's pilot is a brash but honorable Blood Knight like Knuckles.
  • KNIGHT's pilot is a curious researcher like Tails whose Titan also fights with gadgets.
  • SUPREME's pilot was the hero to the Ancients like Sonic and the leader of the Titan group.
• Precursors: They existed long before the franchise's most ancient of legends, and in fact were responsible for many of those elements. They're the original owners of the Chaos Emeralds, as well as the distant ancestors of both Chaos and the Chao.
• Sole Survivor: The Final Horizon reveals that Ancients were actually one of five tribes that banded together to fight The End. Only a small group of Ancients survived while the other four tribes were completely wiped out. The Ancients would later model the Titans after the fallen tribes in order to honor them.
• Spirited Competitor: Of all things, they liked to hold annual stone-stacking competitions, and not only the size of the towers were evaluated, but also how hard they looked to build, etc. They also liked to see their towers toppling over, because that'd mean they'd get to stack the stones again.
• Time Abyss: It’s never stated how old they are, but the shrine to the Master Emerald they created was long considered an ancient relic by the time the echidna tribes tried to take the Chaos Emeralds thousands of years ago. Eggman claims they long predate the Babylonians or the Black Arms.
• Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to talk about the Ancients without revealing key plot points for Frontiers and their greater impact on the overall story of Sonic as a franchise.
• What the Hell, Hero?: The GIGANTO's pilot calls Sonic out for 'gutting her Titan' and releasing THE END.

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