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It's time to take back the world one more time.
Original poster by TBSF.

"The Phantom Ruby has been 'Overclocked'. With its power, we can succeed where the doctor failed, and bring an end to that little resistance. You will never need that bulbous fool ever again."
Neo Metal Sonic

Sonic Forces Overclocked is a fan-made sequel to Sonic Forces, created by The Duck Dealer, Mikester, and Brandon Jones.

Two months after the Resistance defeated the Eggman Empire, Infinite returns with the assistance of Neo Metal Sonic. With both villains in the possession of an Overclocked Phantom Ruby, they will stop at nothing to ensure the Resistance's demise.

The fangame has an official YouTube channel, which provides previews of the levels and cutscenes. The voice acting was provided by Adrenaline Dubs, a group of creators who dubbed the Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) comics. The mod released on December 23, 2023, and can be downloaded from GameBanana here.

This game mod provides examples of:

  • All for Nothing: Sonic's reaction to Mystic Jungle being turned back into a casino; showing how easily Infinite redid everything that the Resistance has worked to undo.
  • All the Worlds Are a Stage: The final boss fight has you chase after and attack Neo Metal Sonic and Overclocked Infinite in various settings from across the game.
  • Alternate Continuity: Zig-zagged. The deviations between this mod and canon can be chalked up to how this mod was in development since 2018, before the IDW comics and subsequent games were released.
    • The mod takes place a few months after Forces, where Eggman’s empire is still active and he tasks Metal Sonic with recovering the Phantom Ruby after his defeat. This deviates from the IDW comics continuity, where Eggman was left with amnesia after being defeated at the end of Forces, and his army being left to run amok without leadership. As such, the mod ignores IDW's continuity entirely, though the IDW comics are currently considered Loose Canon to the mainline games anyways.
    • The mod is also a different continuity from the mainline games, namely due to how the real Phantom Ruby remained in the Mega Death Egg Robot's wreckage, whereas in Forces and Sonic Mania Plus, the Phantom Ruby returned with Classic Sonic to their world (originally it was stated to be Classic Sonic's dimension, though after the release of Sonic Frontiers, it has been clarified that the Classic and Modern timelines are a part of the same timeline, which means it simply went back to the past—in either case, it wouldn't be in Eggman's robot).
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Infinite and Neo Metal Sonic.
  • The Bus Came Back:
    • After being nothing more than an illusion in Sonic Forces, Metal Sonic returns for real, in the metaphorical flesh, and in his Neo form from Sonic Heroes to boot.
    • An early build had a boss fight against Black Doomnote . Considering the nature of the Phantom Ruby's powers, this could just be an illusion, like Chaos, antagonistic Shadow, Metal Sonic, and Zavok were in Sonic Forces. In the final mod's release, Black Doom doesn't appear at all.
  • Call-Back:
    • Episode Metal (this being a call-back to Sonic the Hedgehog 4's own prequel playable segment) ends with Metal Sonic finding the Phantom Ruby in the wreckage of the Mega Death Egg Robot, the final boss of the original Sonic Forces.
    • During City Siege, right before the stage ends, Sonic has to run on water similar to some of the Daytime stages in Sonic Unleashed before destroying an elongated Infinite illusion, similar to how you damage Perfect Chaos in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Generations.
    • The ending has Infinite and Neo Metal Sonic trapped in a void with no way out, similar to the ending of Sonic Generations.
    • Neo Metal Sonic once again says "all living things will kneel before their master!" just like in Sonic Heroes.
    • Tails appears in his cybernetic enhanced form from Sonic Lost World, when he initially faked being turned into a cyborg by the Zeti.
  • Dual Boss: The final boss fight against Neo Metal Sonic and Overclocked Infinite have them attack Sonic and The Kid in alternating phases, with them eventually trying to destroy them with their own version of the Double Boost, only to fall once their power source has been hacked by Tails.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Infinite did not take being backstabbed during the climax of Sonic Forces very well, and has turned against Eggman as a result. The second cutscene shows Sonic charging into a confrontation between Infinite and Eggman that ends with Infinite opening a mysterious void that drags Eggman inside.
  • Dragon Ascendant: Infinite, who was The Dragon of Dr. Eggman in the original Sonic Forces, becomes one of the main villains of the mod, thanks to Metal Sonic reviving him with the power of the Overclocked Phantom Ruby. This also applies to Metal Sonic, who is Eggman's right-hand man, and thanks to the Ruby's power, is able to transform back into Neo Metal Sonic and go against his master, enlisting Infinite's help in destroying the Resistance. Once Infinite regains his power, the first thing he does is send Eggman straight to Null Space.
  • Foil: Sonic & The Kid's relationship is contrasted sharply with Metal Sonic & Infinite towards the end of the story. Whereas Sonic is self-aware enough to understand that he's causing friction between himself and The Kid through his stubbornness and makes the effort to apologize, Metal Sonic refuses to take active responsibility for his actions and — while never placing any blame on Infinite — merely pretends his setbacks and shortcomings are either part of a grander scheme or not worth fretting over and belittles Infinite in the process all the same. In return, Infinite has little else but contempt for his cohort by the end of the story as he realizes that too much of Eggman's procrastination and short-sightedness rubbed off on Metal's programming, even in his Neo state.
  • The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The autosave, of all things.
    This game supports an autosave feature.
    But it cannot save you from me.
    I will end you again and again.
    Just like your world.
  • Game Mod: Of Sonic Forces, obviously. It overhauls the original game to feature eight brand-new levels, new costume pieces, as well as a prequel episode starring Metal Sonic.
  • Hologram Projection Imperfection: When Eggman reveals that he lent a hand in defeating Neo Metal Sonic and Overclocked Infinite, Sonic notes that he'll be going away for a long time despite the help. Eggman then notes that he wouldn't be stupid enough to tell them in-person, which immediately shows that the doctor is projecting himself using a Badnik, with his holographic image already starting to fade and become staticky.
  • Level in Boss Clothing: The final level and singular boss fight against Neo Metal Sonic and Overclocked Infinite has the duo attacking in alternating phases, though they are also separated by platforming sections that contain regular obstacles and bottomless pits, with players requiring to hit either Infinite or Neo Metal Sonic in order to progress. The final phase is a direct final hit where the player must use a Double Boost to overpower Infinite and Neo Metal Sonic's own Double Boost.
  • Make Way for the New Villains: Once Metal Sonic takes hold of the Phantom Ruby, he returns to his Neo Metal Sonic form, revives Infinite, and has the Jackal banish Dr. Eggman to Null Space in order for the both of them to take control of the doctor's army. Eggman didn't take to kindly to both betrayals, and worked from within Null Space to sabotage their efforts, putting himself back on top of the villain totem pole once Neo Metal Sonic and Infinite are defeated.
  • Mission-Pack Sequel: To Sonic Forces. While there is less content than the original (8 stages and 1 boss compared to Forces's 30 stages and 7 bosses) and the stages are remixes of existing levels, they are changed to the point that they are practically entirely new levels.
  • Motion Comic: Unlike in the original game, Overclocked has its cutscenes done in a motion comic-style, not unlike the Sonic Storybook Series.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • When Sonic meets Neo Metal Sonic for the first time in the mod, their exchange is very similar to their initial confrontation from Issue #7 of the IDW Comics. Likewise, the cutscene recreates their battle from the same issue, complete with the shot of Neo Metal Sonic holding Sonic up by the throat.
    • City Siege features a giant snake-like Infinite illusion that towers over the Resistance, shaped like Perfect Chaos from Sonic Adventure. Sonic defeats the illusion in the same way, where he builds enough speed to run through its head and destroy it.
    • In Episode Metal, Eggman refers to Metal Sonic as Hyper Metal Sonic, the name of Sonic's metal doppelganger in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.
    • During the final boss battle, both Sonic and the Kid use the double boost against Neo Metal Sonic and Overclocked Infinite, with the latter using a similar move. Their head-to-head boost battle is reminiscent of the Boost clash between Blaze and Sonic from Sonic Rush.
  • No Cutscene Inventory Inertia: Unlike the original game, which features real-time rendered cutscenes to include the player’s customizable avatar, this mod only features pre-rendered Motion Comic-style cutscenes. Due to the nature of this change, the custom avatar shown in the cutscenes is always the default Red Wolf (Gadget the Wolf) regardless of what the player customized their avatar to, along with the Wispon changing out depending on the cutscene. This also extends to the dialogue in between stages, where the characters sometimes refer to the kid as "him" despite the player possibly having their current avatar as female.
  • No Ontological Inertia: Once Neo Metal Sonic and Overclocked Infinite are defeated, the illusions and robotic armies they created dissipate as the Phantom Ruby is destroyed, with Tails stating specifically that "reality is returning back to normal" in the following cutscene.
  • Power Echoes: Overclocked Infinite's voice has a more pronounced echo than before.
  • Series Continuity Error: During one of the Resistance's mission briefings, Sonic describes Neo Metal Sonic as being the fault of Eggman giving Metal Sonic an upgrade and it backfiring. This directly contradicts the original Sonic Heroes, where Metal Sonic himself told Sonic that he had snapped following his constant defeats at Sonic's hands, and thus "transformed [his] own body with [his] own hands" in a plot to take Sonic down himself.
  • Shout-Out: One panel in the pre-fight cutscene between Neo Metal Sonic and Sonic has Sonic drawn very similarly to a render of Goku from Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, which was a meme based on how oddly angry Goku looked.
  • Take That!: The mod is not above mocking its source material.
    • As Sonic passes through Green Hill, he starts to make a variation of his infamous "Sand Hill" joke like he did in the first stage of Forces before stopping himself.
    • In Sunset Hill, Sonic mocks the design of Forces's Badniks, saying they were much more visually interesting in the past.
    • When Sonic and Knuckles formulate a plan to invade the Death Egg, Silver mockingly calls it "Operation Big Wave 2.0". Knuckles proudly boasts that he thought of it in two minutes this time, before telling Silver to shut up.
    • In Jungle Inferno, Sonic notes that the whole forest is on fire, then lampshades how obvious that statement was.
    • When Sonic makes an unfunny quip, he dejectedly admits that his sense of humor has become washed, which might be a jab at the Denser and Wackier writing of Sonic's games during the 2010s.
  • The Starscream: Metal Sonic betrays Eggman in order to help Infinite get his revenge.
  • Super Mode: Infinite's new form is officially known as "Overclocked Infinite", and Word of God states that the prior limitations of the Phantom Ruby — namely, requiring a recharging period between large-scale uses and only being capable of projecting illusions instead of properly creating things — no longer apply, making Overclocked Infinite a much greater threat than he was before.invoked Likewise, Neo Metal Sonic gets red lines along his body while he's powered up with the Overclocked Phantom Ruby.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Metal Sonic and Infinite are cooperating purely as a means to an end, and otherwise can barely stand each other. That being said, they are still self-aware enough to realize that they can't afford to actively turn on one another as their plan goes south.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Metal Sonic deconstructs this, saying that Infinite was the reason Eggman was able to conquer the world; and that by betraying Infinite, Eggman failed.

Infinite darkness rising from the deep
Unleash a mystery, a secret he will keep
Eternal rivalry
Like a looming dusk!
Well, my friend
You're Overclocked and out of luck!
(You're Overclocked and out of luck...)

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