Sonic the Fighters, also known as Sonic Championship, is a 1996 arcade fighting game starring the ever-lovin' cobalt-furred insectivore and his pals.
Detective Espio sends a message to Tails detailing mad scientist Dr. Eggman's new plan to Take Over the World: launching a robot invasion on the earth, via his newly constructed super weapon, the Death Egg II. Fortunately, Sonic and Tails have built a one-seater rocket that will take them directly to the Death Egg II. There's just one problem — it needs eight Chaos Emeralds to power it. The emeralds are scattered around the world, guarded by Sonic and his friends (with the exception of Fang the Sniper, who stole his emerald from one of those guards). A fighting tournament is started to determine who gets to fly the rocket and save the world.
The game, made by Sega AM2, is more-or-less a stripped-down and very goofy Dolled-Up Installment version of Fighting Vipers. For years, it remained an obscurity, as it was only widely released in Japan with a very limited overseas release, with Bean and Bark also being included as bonus fighters in Fighters Megamix on the Sega Saturn. Fortunately, a direct home port of the game made it onto Sonic Gems Collection in 2005. In late 2012, the game received an Updated Re-release on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade with online play, as well as the ability to play as the previously Dummied Out Honey the Cat, alongside bosses Metal Sonic and Robotnik, for $5 as part of Sega's Model2 Collection series of games. It is also a playable Game Within a Game in Lost Judgment (as part of Sonic's 30th anniversary) and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, using the same version from Model2 Collection.
This game provides examples of:
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Two variations:
- Super Sonic, assuming the conditionsnote are met, is only usable during the second round with Metal Sonic and against Dr. Eggman.
- Hyper Mode is permanently enabled for the final fight against Dr. Eggman.
- Achievement Mockery: The PSN/XBLA versions give you a trophy/achievement just for being Squashed Flat.
- Agony of the Feet: One of the attacks many of the fighters have is a foot stomp.
- All in the Manual: The game's story
is described in detail in issue 173 of the Japanese gaming magazine Gamest. - Ambidextrous Sprite: Cleanly averted by Fang, whose characteristic fang is only visible when he's facing left. Otherwise, it uses the 3D invoked variation; the characters' Cheeky Mouths always appear on the side closer to the camera.
- Amusing Injuries: The violence of the game is very lighthearted and cartoony, with lots of slapstick attacks.
- Ass Kicks You:
- Amy makes use of this a little, and Honey, being a Moveset Clone of her, does much of the same.
- Bark has a variation of his jumping attack where he butt-stomps the opponent.
- Attract Mode: Wait a moment after the intro and you'll see a short match with the computer.
- Beak Attack: Bean the Dynamite can dash forward to jab his opponents with his rather pointy-looking bill.
- Bears Are Bad News: Bark the Polar Bear, who can be quite ferocious in the arena. Subverted personality-wise, though, as his character profile says he's a shy and gentle fellow.
- Cartoon Bomb: Bean's Cherry Bombs, of which he can pull out and throw an unlimited number of while fighting. A certain throw lets you use them against him — by way of stuffing one in his beak — however.
- Character Select Forcing: In a roundabout way, at least; though you can pick any of the game's eight characters (plus Honey in the HD release) to tackle the campaign, the clear intention is to play as Sonic, since he's the final opponent before facing the Death Egg II and he can use his Golden Super Mode at the game's climax, while every other character just enters their Hyper Mode state instead.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: This was the last game appearance of Fang the Sniper and only game appearance of Bark the Polar Bear and Bean the Dynamite in the Sonic series for over 20 years, other than their cameos on wanted posters in Sonic Generations.note Bean and Bark resurfaced in the crossover fighting game, Fighters Megamix as the sole playable Sonic characters before disappearing altogether. Eventually, the three of them finally resurfaced in Sonic Mania as illusions created by the Heavy Magician. Fang would later appear in Sonic Superstars, now going by the title of Fang the Hunter.
- Collapsing Lair: The Death Egg II, which apparently is set to self-destruct just because Metal Sonic was defeated in Death Egg's Eye.
- Combos: Each character has wide array of moves and combos you can perform.
- Comeback Mechanic: The game has a balancing mechanic colloquially referred to as "catchup", which increases the damage of a losing player's moves the further behind in health they are, which is intended to give struggling players a fair shake. At maximum effect, some of Bark's moves can KO in two hits.
- Cool Plane:
- A brief glimpse of Tails' Tornado plane in the opening.
- Sonic's stage, Giant Wing, takes place on one.
- Disc-One Nuke: Sonic's Spin Dash. It's a very fast, hard fitting, rapid fire attack that literally knocks enemies right off their feet and delivers a large chunk of damage each time, it can mow right through several opponent shields at a time, and it even deflect Fang's popgun corks. And it's a default move.
- Dolled-Up Installment: This game is essentially Fighting Vipers with Sonic characters. It actually started life as one of the designers placing Sonic and Tails in Fighting Vipers as a joke before it became a full-fledged game of its own.
- Excuse Plot: The plot makes little sense whatsoever when you try to analyze it. It's really just a way of giving Sonic and company a reason to fight each other.
- Expy:
- Bean the Dynamite is based on Bin from Dynamite Dux. Officially, they're father and son which also means they have a Strong Family Resemblance as well.
- Honey the Cat is a Funny Animal version of the Fighting Vipers character Honey (also known as Candy). She was dummied out of the initial release before being reinstated in the HD version.
- Family-Friendly Firearms: Fang the Sniper's cork-guns.
- Family Theme Naming: Bean's character profile for Fighters Megamix confirms that he's the son of Bin from Dynamite Dux.
- Fighting Clown: Amy uses a hammer toy as her weapon of choice, can drop items like hamburgers and ice cream cones onto her opponents to squash them flat, can make horse kicks and ass kicks, and she can distract her enemies simply by pointing her finger.
- Fungus Humongous: Espio's stage, Mushroom Hill, takes place in a forest of massive fungi.
- Funny Background Event: In the Magic Carpet stage, there's a Sphinx that inexplicably has Sonic's face carved onto it, as well as vending machines in the oasis below.
- Gentle Giant: Bark is described as this in his official bios.
- Going Commando: Unlike in later games, Amy doesn't wear anything underneath her skirt; but since she's a Funny Animal, it's not sexual or comedic. The same goes for Honey in the Updated Re-release.
- Golden Super Mode: Super Sonic, if you make it through the game without losing a single round until the second round with Metal Sonic and immediately enter the Back+P+K commands. If you pull this off though, the rest of the game is a cakewalk.
- Good Versus Good: Among Sonic's opponents are his own allies, including Knuckles and Tails. The latter is particularly strange since the opening implies that Tails was already helping out with Sonic finding the emeralds.
- Green Hill Zone: The South Island stage, which is presumably set in Green Hill Zone.
- Guest Fighter: Honey the Cat, who is a Funny Animal version of Honey/Candy from Fighting Vipers. She was not officially playable in the arcade version (you have to hack the game to play as her) but became a full-fledged playable character in the digital distribution re-release of the game. She went on to show up as a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) series, and subsequently has become an official part of the "classic" Sonic canon.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: One command throw for characters makes them use certain characters' weapons against them, such as bopping Amy with her own hammer, capping Fang with his own popgun, and stuffing one of Bean's own bombs in his mouth.
- Home Stage: In single player mode, the player always fights the same characters in the same arenas, and always in the same order.
- Knuckles is fought in South Island.
- Amy is fought in Flying Carpet.
- Bark is fought in Aurora Icefield.
- Espio is fought in Mushroom Hill.
- Tails is fought in Canyon Cruise.
- Fang is fought in Casino Night.
- Bean is fought in Dynamite Plant.
- Sonic is fought in Giant Wing.
- Metal Sonic is fought in Death Egg's Eye (though he isn't playable - the stage can be selected as an arena for player vs. player matches in the re-releases, however).
- Dr. Robotnik is fought in Death Egg's Hangar (again, not playable).
- Hyperspace Mallet: Amy's weapon of choice, the Piko Piko Hammer, makes its first appearance here, along with its characteristic property of being held in hyperspace until she needs it. Other characters can even use it against her!
- Inconsistent Spelling: The intro of the English version says the main villain is Dr. Robotonic, even though Robotnik is spelled correctly in his unused character card (underneath Dr. Eggman).
- The Informant: Espio plays this role in the game's story by sending a video to Tails detailing Eggman's latest evil scheme. This makes sense considering Espio is a detective.
- It's a Wonderful Failure: Fail to defeat Robotnik's E-Mech in the final battle, and you'll be treated to a cutscene of the Death Egg II blowing up... with you in it.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Some of the characters' moves can hit downed opponents. Some of them can home-in on them unless they recover and dodge the incoming attack.
- Kill Sat: The Death Egg II.
- Let's You and Him Fight: The very modus operandi of the game. The plot doesn't remotely make sense — the only reason this game exists is so you can have Sonic and his friends slap the shit out of each other for laughs.
- Load-Bearing Boss: Beating Metal Sonic triggers a self-destruct countdown, which sets up the Timed Mission fight against Eggman.
- Long Song, Short Scene:
- The Death Egg's Hangar theme isn't played in any version of the game (and even if it had would have been used in a thirty second max face-off), though it was eventually used in the pre-race cutscene of the Death Egg track in Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing. Two other tracks (an early version of the Character Select theme and the theme for an unused stage, Sunset Town) are only heard on the OST.
- The theme that plays if you transform into Super Sonic, titled "Everything", will likely only be heard for a very short time in regular gameplay. Not only can it only ever be heard for only one round, - as Super Sonic can only be activated against the second round against Metal, if at all - Super Sonic is obscenely powerful, meaning that unless you're actively trying to listen to the theme, you'll likely trash Metal in no time flat, causing the game to progress to the fight with Robotnik, which has its own music. What's more is that since Super Sonic is exclusive to the single-player mode, it's impossible to listen to it in Vs. Mode.
- Dynamite Plant seems to be this in the Sonic Gems Collections version. Because they used the music from the soundtrack CD instead of taking the truncated versions from the arcade release, it takes nearly 30 seconds for Dynamite Plant's BGM to get to the good part where it started playing originally. Rounds in this game (by default) last no more than 30 seconds, so if you're whooping Bean's ass, the music will never really have a chance to pick up the slack.
- A similar timing issue affected the intro music in Sonic Gems Collection, whereas on the arcade version, everything that was happening was mostly synced up to the music.
- The Updated Re-release for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network allows you to select any song as the Main Menu theme with the Left and Right triggers, including the unused tracks.
- Look Behind You: One of Amy's special attacks, which can confuse your character momentarily.
- Magic Carpet: Amy's stage, the Flying Carpet, naturally takes place on one.
- Mascot Fighter: A prototypical instance, predating the Trope Codifier Super Smash Bros. 64 by three years.
- Mecha-Mook: Eggman launches an invasion of earth by sending a fleet of them from the Death Egg II, but they're only very briefly seen in the opening. You don't get to fight them at all.
- Mighty Glacier: Bark is pretty much the game's equivalent to Jeffry or Sanman, since he's slow, but packs a punch.
- Mini-Mecha: Dr. Eggman uses one as a boss character.
- Mirror Match: Whenever two of the same character fight, the second player controls a grayscale Palette Swap. In Arcade Mode, Dr. Eggman appears and creates an Evil Knockoff to be fought by player 1, save for Honey in Model2 Collection re-release, since she is never fought in any of the eight stages. Honey's second player palette isn't grayscale, but rather references her human counterpart's alternate color scheme in Fighting Vipers.
- Moveset Clone: The bosses and Honey, after some close examination:
- Metal Sonic naturally borrows some of Sonic's moves, as well as one of Tails' throws.
- Dr. Eggman has some of Bark's moves and Bean's bomb attacks.
- Honey the Cat takes most of her moves from Knuckles and mixes in a few from Amy.
- No Campaign for the Wicked: In the Model2 re-release, while you can play as Metal Sonic and Eggman in multiplayer mode, they're not allowed in single player mode, as they're the final two bosses (as well as their movesets being ridiculously powerful).
- No-Damage Run: Transforming into Super Sonic requires first making it to the second round against Metal Sonic without losing a single round. While you haven't strictly finished the game at this point, there is very little left, particularly considering that Super Sonic is immune to damage and has endless Hyper Mode.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Honey the Cat is the only character in the Sonic series who has a Furry Female Mane as opposed to a Tuft of Head Fur. This is likely due to her being an anthropomorphization of Honey from Fighting Vipers.
- Offstage Villainy: Aside from a very brief glimpse at Eggman's monitor in the opening, we don't see any of Eggman's robot invasion.
- Original Generation: Bark the Polar Bear and Bean the Dynamite are original to this game, and the only Sonic characters to be creations of AM2. This is reflected in their playstyles: Bark is a heavyweight grappler akin to Sanman from Fighting Vipers, while Bean has a knack for explosive projectiles due to being based upon Bin from Dynamite Dux. Also original to this game is the secret fighter Honey the Cat, a Sonic version of Honey/Candy from Fighting Vipers.
- Perpetual Frowner: Espio and Bark both rarely smile.
- Powered Armor: The E-Mech, a human-sized robotic suit which Eggman uses in the final battle.
- Punched Across the Room: Some particularly hard-hitting moves are capable of doing this.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Pretty much everyone that isn't Metal Sonic and Eggman, though Tails, Amy, and Honey all stand out especially.
- Ring Out: Downplayed example. Although you can't do it while they still have health left — they'll just bounce back in off the fence if they do — you can launch your opponent out of the ring altogether if you finish them with a move that throws them particularly high, such as Sonic's Ballet Toss or Knuckles' Rising Uppercut.
- The Rival: Sonic and Knuckles to each other; a unique theme plays if the two are fighting.
- Scenery Porn: The stages themselves look particularly nice for the era, with plenty of bright colors, sprawling views and classic Sonic-esque things to see. Standouts include South Island, Canyon Cruise and Giant Wing.
- Secret Character: Depending on which version of the game you're playing, this is either downplayed or played straight:
- If you're playing the original, it's downplayed. Super Sonic can be considered a secret character, as nothing hints at him being in the game, but he can only be used in the final stretch of the single-player mode. Additionally, he's more of a variation of Sonic (naturally) than his own character, so he's more of an 11th-Hour Superpower than an actual secret character.
- If you're playing the HD re-release, this is played straight, as the previously unused Honey the Cat and AI-only characters Metal Sonic and Eggman are all playable by pressing the start button on certain charactersnote . Only Honey can be used in single-player, however.
- Send in the Clones: Depending on who you play as (save for Honey in the Model2 Collection re-release), Eggman will create monochromatic clone doppelgängers in their respective levels to fight you.
- Series Continuity Error: Eight Chaos Emeralds instead of the series standard of seven? Oddities like this and "Dr. Robotonic" can be explained by the game being developed by Sega's arcade division, AM2, rather than Sonic Team.
- Shoryuken: Knuckles' and Honey's Rising Uppercut move.
- Shout-Out: Bark has one of Sanman's throwing moves where he rolls his opponent like a bowling ball, although in Bark's case, he causes bowling pins fly out when they hit the wall along with the sound effect.
- Slapstick: The cartoon violence pulls no punches for any playable fighter, and that includes Amy and Honey in the Updated Re-release.
- SNK Boss: Metal Sonic. He has many cheap attacks which shred through your health, even more so when he's low on health thanks to the game's "payback" system, recovers incredibly fast, and he has the quickest reaction time of any fighter. Break all his shields? He flips his shit and starts using his unblockable corkscrew attack, which hurts like hell. Even on the easiest difficulty, he's a major pain in the ass. That said, if you manage to fulfill the conditions to use Super Sonic, then the tables flip and you become the boss.
- Spin Attack:
- Sonic's signature Spin Dash is an extremely powerful attack. He also has the most techniques that involve spinning.
- Like Sonic, Tails and Knuckles have the Spin Dash.
- Espio has his horizontal variant of the Spin Dash from Knuckles Chaotix.
- Amy and Bark are equipped with a spinning hammer attack and a spinning lariat, respectively.
- The Stoic: Super Sonic, in what little screen time he has. During the cutscene in which the player is lowered into the Death Egg Hangar, every other character will show surprise on their faces, what with Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises. Super Sonic, on the other hand, retains the same serious look on his face for the cutscene.
- Super Mode:
- Hyper Mode, in which one barrier is expended for temporary increased attack speed and access to unique moves.
- Sonic also has exclusive access to his Golden Super Mode by meeting certain conditionsnote . Super Sonic retains all of his usual moves and becomes completely invincible, staying that way until the end of the game.
- Teleportation: Espio and Bean gain the ability to warp when in Hyper Mode.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Transforming into Super Sonic in the fight with Metal Sonic replaces the background music with a unique theme, simply known as "Everything".
- Time-Limit Boss: Dr. Eggman in his E-Mech in the Death Egg's Hangar. You've got fifteen seconds to beat him, lest the Death Egg II explode while you're still on it.
- Turns Red:
- The game has a sort of "payback" system that causes damage to increase based on one character's remaining health relative to their opponent's. For example, if player 1 knocks off about 75% of player 2's health to start, player 2's attacks will be stronger and they can cut player 1's health down to half in as few as two hits depending on the character and attack used. It's meant to make comebacks more feasible and keep the dominant player on their toes. At the maximum difference, some of Bark's moves come close to one-hit KOs.
- Metal Sonic is known to do this as well; get his health down below 50% without getting hit and not only will he begin spamming his best moves, but his next attack can take your health down by about half in one hit.
- The Twelve Principles of Animation: Lots of exaggerated squash and stretch is displayed in the game.
- Updated Re-release: The Model2 Collection re-release has enhanced HD visuals, selectable Arcade difficulty, online multiplayer, three of the dummied out characters (Honey, Metal Sonic, and Dr. Eggman) as playable characters, and a sound test feature in the main menu that lets you listen to the game's music by pressing the trigger buttons. This version of the game would be playable in both Lost Judgment and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential:
- By making use of the aforementioned Ring Out trick, you can launch your beaten opponent out of the arena. Not so bad if it's got a visible floor outside, but if it's very high up (Flying Carpet, Giant Wing) or surrounded by water (Canyon Cruise, South Island)? Then yup, it's a perfect extra bit of humiliation for the unlucky loser.
- With a special command throw, you can take certain characters' weapons and use them against them, complete with them panicking in humorous ways. This includes bashing Amy over the head with her own hammer, shooting Fang in the head with his own popgun, pulling on Espio's tongue and snapping it back in his face like a rubber band, and stuffing one of Bean's own Bombs in his mouth.
- Wake-Up Call Boss:
- Amy is the second opponent of the game and marks where the game's difficulty really starts to rack up. While not as brutal as the later opponents, she knows how to use barriers, she can distract your character to combo it, and she can still pack a nasty punch for those who are unprepared.
- If you manage to get past her without much trouble, Bark will force you to be more strategic, as he's even better to defend himself than Amy, won't miss any opportunity to grab and slam your character, and he only needs one hit to reverse the battle at his advantage.
- Warm-Up Boss: Knuckles, the first opponent of the game, is basically the game's equivalent of Glass Joe. It is very easy to get Perfect rounds against him, and it is entirely possible, even on the hardest difficulty, to take him down before he even has the chance to attack you.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Whatever happened to the Rocket Metal Sonic from the opening? Looking through the game's files seems to indicate that he was playable/intended to be fought at some point (he even has a unique name card, unlike other characters who just default to Dr. Eggman), but was cut for whatever reason.
- Wingding Eyes: Characters attacked by Sonic's Dizzy Spin move will get spiral eyes, indicating dizziness. This is averted by Metal Sonic, whose pupils are replaced with the word "DAMAGE" when beaten down.
- Your Size May Vary: During the final battle against him, Eggman is inexplicably smaller than Sonic.
