The Sonic Storybook Series is a series of spinoffs to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, whose stories are modeled after classic literature, with Sonic and friends as main characters of the story.So far, two entries in the series have been released on Nintendo's Wii console:
Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007), based on 1001 Nights: Came about due to the time issues with attempting to port Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) for the Nintendo Wii, in time for launch.
Sonic and the Black Knight (2009), based on the legend of King Arthur.
Lots of people wonder where exactly Sonic is crashing at the beginning of Secret Rings' story, considering he doesn't have a house of his own...Except he does.
Taken for Granite: Gargoyles in Secret Rings and and fish-like Knights of the Underworld in Black Knight are capable of turning Sonic to stone. Oddly enough, it's instantly fatal in Black Knight without the Stone Brooch or Petrification immunity equipped, but is not fatal in Secret Rings — you just have to shake the Wii Remote to break free.
Sonic himself does end up playing a role of one of the characters, though he retains his own personality regardless. It's implied in Sonic and the Secret Rings that Sonic is standing in for Aladdin; in Sonic and the Black Knight, it's revealed in the ending that Sonic is the true King Arthur (the one fought earlier was a fake created by Merlin.)
Because You Were Nice to Me: This was likely the reason why Shahra sacrificed herself for Sonic's sake and did not jump to Erazor's defense whilst he was dooming him to his eternal prison. Sonic was probably the first master who treated her with genuine kindness and concern, who didn't disrespect her or treat her like magical property who can fulfill his wildest dreams.
Body Horror: The horrifyingly painful transformation Erazor goes through when he absorbs the world rings.
Book Ends: Sonic's first and last wishes are for handkerchiefs.
Bottomless Pits: Levitated Ruin appears to consist of mostly this, but it's actually pretty hard to fall off due to invisible walls. Oh, you can lose rings alright...
The Cameo: Big the Cat can be spotted in all of the levels in the game. To trigger his appearance, you have to stand still in a specific spot on the level for a couple of seconds. You also get a page of his diary whenever you do so.
Chekhov's Gun: The item Shahra gives Sonic after gaining the World Ring in Levitated Ruin turns out to be Erazor's lamp, which he turns on him in the ending.
Dark Is Not Evil: Darkspine Sonic, the form Sonic takes after unintentionally absorbing the World Rings of Sadness, Rage and Hatred. Whilst his appearance gives off vibes of great evil (Purple-Indigo color scheme, No Mouth, blank pupil-less Glowing Eyes of Doom), this definitely isn't the case regarding his personality and actions. Whilst undoubtedly vicious, Darkspine acts entirely in the interests of the Arabian Nights and even seems to be insecure as he begs for Shahra's power and calls out to her during the battle against Alf Layla Wa-Layla.
Defiant to the End: Erazor's attitude even as he is being sucked into his lamp for eternity is to try and talk Shahra into stopping Sonic and he even insults Sonic by calling him a dirty rat. He even boasts about how the world belongs to him.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: Shahra dies in Sonic's arms after taking the bullet for him. She gets better.
Extreme Melee Revenge: Darkspine Sonic does this to Alf Layla wa-Layla after seeing his only companion in the entire game get temporarily killed. He beats the crap out of Alf Layla furiously with his bare hands.
Fire Of Comfort: Sonic's (Presumed) house has a pretty comfortable-looking fireplace.
Fog Feet: Shahra appears like this for most of the opening cutscene.
Heroic Sacrifice: Shahra dies saving Sonic from being killed by Erazor. Fortunately, she gets better.
Incendiary Exponent: Sonic is literally on fire throughout pretty much the entirety of the game due to the Flame Arrow sticking out of his chest.
Insistent Terminology: Justified: Sonic is most certainly not a rat, regardless of what Erazor might say. This turns into an epic Shut Up, Hannibal! when he's sealing Erazor away.
Erazor: I cannot be denied by the filthy rat! Whyyyyyyyyy?
Sonic:(flips open the lamp to let Erazor in) I told you, I'm not a rat! (closes lamp and raises tip, revealing flame on the end) I'm a HEDGEHOG. (blows out flame)
Instant Waking Skills: Sonic in the opening cutscene, though the shock of seeing Shahra for the first time may have contributed to his sudden wakefulness.
Kick the Dog: Erazor's mocking of Shahra as a "mere Genie of the Ring" moments after murdering her.
Levels Take Flight: Levitated Ruin is set on a flock of rukhs. The stage gets its name because they carry the ruins of small cities on their backs.
Light Is Not Good: Alf Layla wa-Layla note the form Erazor Djinn takes after his botched attempt at sacrificing Sonic's life (resulting in his inability to properly control the World Rings was formed by Erazor absorbing the World Rings of Prayer, Joy, Pleasure and Wishes.
Literal Genie: Shahra is actually this, as shown by Sonic's first and third wish. It's less noticeable because Sonic is probably Genre Savvy, and definitely doesn't care.
Morton's Fork: Basically, no matter what Sonic does, he'll lose. Either he gives the World Rings to Erazor hoping to have his flame arrow removed whilst juggling with the idea that Erazor will use him as a sacrifice to gain true control of the Rings, or he doesn't and the flame arrow kills him anyway. Lucky that Shahra threw a wrench into his works via self-sacrifice, preventing Erazor gaining true control of the World Rings and bringing about a series of events that ultimately worked in Sonic's favor.
Mundane Wish: Sonic's first wish after being asked what he wants by Shahra? Handkerchiefs. Though to be fair, he was in desperate need of some at the time because of a sneezing fit caused by a cold he had come down with a day before.
He makes this same wish in the end, when Shahra is in need of them.
Nintendo Hard: The later missions are all insanely hard, and mostly consist of the Avoid the Pearls/No Damage/X Ring Chain variety with crazy obstacles. They're optional, however.
Oh Crap: Erazor when he realizes that Sonic has his lamp and thus can force him to grant him three wishes.
One-Winged Angel: Erazor has a rare non-inflicted version happen to himself when he absorbs the World rings.
Open Sesame: Sonic tries uttering this at the World Ring door. It doesn't work.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Erazor was sealed inside his lamp by King Solomon some time before the story starts. He manages to escape after granting the wishes of one thousand people, just to cause even more mayhem. Sonic manages to reseal him inside his lamp and finish him off once and for all.
After the initial Lost Prologue missions, where Sonic takes a flaming arrow to the chest for Shahra.
Right before the final fight, where Shahra takes a fatal blow from Erazor's sword to protect Sonic.
The Gloves Come Off: Darkspine Sonic's entire attitude when it comes to fighting Alf Layla Wa-Layla. Not only does he look like Shadow with his quills down, not only does he kick a giant blue ball of Arabian Nights back at his opponent, not only does he pummel the transformed Djinn in the protruding heart with his bare hands, but he does not wear gloves.
The Power of Hate: One of the World Rings Darkspine Sonic used to transform was the Green one, which contains hatred. Therefore, Darkspine is effectively powered by hatred. Considering Erazor just murdered Shahra, Sonic's got plenty of that.
The Worsening Curse Mark: The size of the flame on Sonic's chest is directly proportionate to how much time he has left until it extinguishes along with his life force. Near the end of the game, it is tiny.
Working Through The Cold: Sonic has a cold. At least in the beginning of the story. But it doesn't stop him from going on an adventure to save the Arabian Nights storybook.
Working Title: It was first called Sonic: Wild Fire.
Villainous Breakdown: Erazor when Sonic is permanently sealing him inside his lamp.
Erazor: "Shahra, I know you're there! Please, stop him! We can start over, the two of us! I swear! I swear it! The world is mine! I cannot be denied by that filthy rat! Whyyyyy?!"
Continuity Nod: Black Knight has a few instances in the levels where Sonic talks about past experiences that that something reminds him of.
Crying Little Kid: Played with. Sonic does stumble across a child weeping over her parents and fellow townspeople being kidnapped by a dragon, but it turns out that the child is really Nimue in disguise, employing a test to see what Sonic would do. He passes with flying colours.
Excalibur in the Stone: Subverted: It seems that the two are separate swords at first, but then it's revealed that Caliburn (which Sonic has been carrying around the entire game) is actually the true Excalibur.
My Master, Right or Wrong: The Royal Knights, particularly Lancelot. Gawain and Percival have more reservations.
Mythology Gag: When you are on the character select screen right before starting a level in one-player mode, Sonic's thumbs-up pose looks very similar to his official render in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
No Ending: The story just sorta stops after the final battle with the revelation that Sonic is King Arthur or at least his story book equivalent. Weather this was meant as a Sequel Hook or not remains to be seen.
Noob Bridge: The Will-O-Wisps are glowing blue orbs of energy that explode and can hurt you when hit. You're supposed to use the "kick" mechanic to kick them into things. Thing is, that mechanic is only really used twice in the main game, and those instances are easy to miss, so you might not even know you can when you find the Wisps much more often in the post-game.
Not Worth Killing: King Arthur's reaction to Sonic after their first fight.
Pop Star Composer: Frickin' Marty Friedman from Megadeth does the guitar work for the final boss theme.
Recycled Soundtrack: The Molten Mine background music is a rearranged theme from the obscure shooter Black Dawn. It gets more blatant in the multiplayer mode.
The pre-boss themes of Lancelot and Gawain are "Throw It All Away" from Sonic Adventure 2 and the first Sonic Adventure game's version of "Unknown from M.E." (Knuckles' theme), respectively.
Stab the Sky: Sonic does this upon defeating King Arthur.
Standard Status Effects: Paralysis will prevent Sonic from being able to move temporarily, poisoning will cause ring drainage, freezing has the same effect as payalysis except you have to break free of the ice, petrification equals instant death, and confusion will make Sonic occasionally hallucinate and see enemies as treasure boxes and vice-versa.
Talking Weapon: And does it. Caliburn is amazingly egotistical.
Technicolor Toxin: When a character is poisoned, purple bubbles will appear around them.
Videogame Cruelty Potential: You can actually attack the innocent townspeople. Doing so has a negative impact on your score however and can saddle you with negative titles.
Villain Song: "With Me", the final boss theme, is sung from the perspective of Merlina, the Dark Queen.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Merlina turns out to be one. Her reasons for doing so are so sympathetic that Sonic doesn't hold any grudge against her after defeating her.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Sonic and Merlina take opposite views on this — Sonic would rather make the most of his time, while Merlina would rather not see Camelot face its eventual fall.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: It's stated that King Arthur turned evil due to Excalibur's scabbard of immortality. Judging by all evidence, something similar happened to Merlina as well.
alternative title(s): Sonic And The Secret Rings; Sonic And The Black Knight; Sonic Storybook Series; Sonic And The Black Knight; Sonic And The Secret Rings
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