Video Game / Sonic and the Black Knight

Are you worthy?

Merlina: If you remove that sword and defeat King Arthur with it... You shall forever be the worst of knights, slayer of kings...
Sonic: Guess I can't be the hero every time.

Sonic and the Black Knight is the second and final installment in the Sonic Storybook Series and the second Sonic the Hedgehog game released exclusively on the Nintendo Wii. It is based off the Arthurian Legend.

One cloudy day, a young sorceress is shown running away from a mysterious group of monsters, after being surrounded by them and using the magic she has, she summons a portal, bringing over the likes of a very surprised Sonic (and a couple of chilidogs) into the world of Camelot. After making a quick escape, the young sorceress, named Merlina, explains to Sonic what is going on...

The once good King Arthur has gone mad thanks to the power of the scabbard of Excalibur, with its power corrupting the king and turning him into a mad tyrant known as the Black Knight, leading him to summon the demons of the underworld and enslave the kingdom of Camelot with his Knights of the Round Table, with Merlina having summoned the blue hedgehog in hopes of ending his reign of terror. Sonic being the good freedom loving guy he is, agrees to the quest. However, Merlina explains that he needs to use the special talking sword, Caliburn, in order to defeat the corrupted king. The two however, get off onto a rocky start, as Caliburn is dismissive towards Sonic and his abilities, much to Sonic's displeasure. Nevertheless, Sonic and Caliburn must work together and embark on a quest through the kingdom of Camelot in order to end the Black Knight's reign, finding out in the process that there might to be more to this story than it seems...

Much like its predecessor, Sonic and the Black Knight is an linear on rails platformer that takes full advantage of the Wii's motion controls, this time however, you're not controlling Sonic with the motion controls, but the sword he's carrying, as Black Knight infamously adds swordplay to the Sonic gameplay, with you controlling Sonic with the nunchuck and the sword he's wielding on the Wiimote, as you use it to slash enemies while running at high speeds.

The game was released on March 3, 2009 in North America, March 12th, 2009 in Japan and Austraila, and March 13th, 2009 in Europe.

This is notably the last Sonic title for several things: it was the last to be written by Shiro Maekawa, the last (until Team Sonic Racing) to have vocal themes by Crush 40 and, perhaps most notably, the last game in the franchise to feature the 4Kids Entertainment English voice cast, which would be replaced with the current Studiopolis cast in 2010 (bar Mike Pollock as Dr. Eggman).

The game features the following tropes:

• 11th-Hour Superpower: Like Secret Rings, Black Knight has a unique super mode for Sonic introduced at the very end of the game: Excalibur Sonic. This form is given to him after being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle by Merlina, with the Knights of the Round Table providing him the powers of their Sacred Swords. In a Transformation Sequence, he dons a set of Golden Armor, red cape, and repairs Caliburn (who was just destroyed by Merlina) restoring him back to his true form, Excalibur.
• 100% Heroism Rating: Successfully completing missions will cause Sonic to gather a number of followers proportional to how well he does in the mission (each mission has a specific total number of followers you can collect).
• Aborted Arc: In Sonic Unleashed, Sonic can (optionally) ask Amy out on a date. Black Knight implies he was about to go on said date before the events of the latter game derailed it, further implying a possible Relationship Upgrade between Sonic and Amy. This plot point was dropped in subsequent games and never referenced again, with Sonic and Amy reverting to their usual one-sided dynamic.
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Boasted by Caliburn, stating "There's nothing Excalibur can't cut through," which is the finishing blow on the final boss.
• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Knight's Passage.
• Adaptational Abomination: King Arthur is a mere human in the original legend, here he's a Humanoid Abomination.
• Adaptational Badass: Well, only by comparison. While they were very strong, this game ups the Knights of the Round Table by giving them the abilities of Sonic's friends, giving Lancelot Chaos powers, Percival pyrokinesis, and Galahad telekinesis, as well as (presumably) giving Gawain super strength and the ability to glide.
• Adaptational Heroism: The Lady Of the Lake.
• Adaptational Villainy: King Arthur of all people. Although justified in that he was corrupted in the game's storyline.
• Adaptational Weapon Swap: In the original stories, Sir Percival wielded a lance rather than a sword. In this game, she wields a sword like the other knights in the game. That being said, the use of a long and skinny rapier is comparatively closer to a lance than than Lancelot and Gawain's blades.
• Adapted Out: There are no Sonic characters cast as Arthur's wife Guinevere or Morgan le Fay.
• Alternate Self: The blacksmith, Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, Sir Percival, (Sir Lamorak and Sir Galahad in the multiplayer), and the Lady of the Lake are all Arthurian counterparts of someone Sonic knows from his home world.
• Ambiguously Human: The game never makes it clear what Arthur and his surrogate parents are. Even the townspeople, the main race of the World of Camelot, have Pointy Ears.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Sir Gawain proclaims a knight who fails their king is unfit to live, Sonic asks him "Isn't there more to being a knight than just serving a king?"
• Artifact of Doom: The scabbard of Excalibur has a remarkable habit of serving as The Corrupter. After receiving it from Nimue, King Arthur became a power-hungry tyrant. Merlina's efforts to depose the king were actually to take the scabbard for herself.
• Artistic License – History: While the game attempts to discuss the European warrior code chivalry, it soon becomes apparent that the ethical ideas the game debates come from the Japanese warrior code, bushido.
  • After Sonic bests Sir Lancelot, Caliburn questions Sonic as to why he didn't slay Sir Lancelot outright and instead insulted him by showing him pity. In actual chivalry, mercy to one's enemies was a virtue.
  • Sir Gawain is so humiliated by losing his Boss Battle that he tries to commit Seppuku. Suicide has always been unlawful in Christianity, which as the dominant religion in Europe was a major influence in the development of chivalry.
  • Early on, when Gawain shows doubts about attacking Merlina, Percival states that "Without loyalty to the king, we are nothing." While bushido would heavily emphasize loyalty to a master in such a manner, chivalry would consider ignoring immoral orders to be the correct choice.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: The "King Arthur" Sonic was fighting against was nonexistent. Sonic turns out to be the realm's King Arthur with the Knights kneeling before him.
• Bested by the Inexperienced: Sonic, an apprentice knight, manages to defeat a trio of Knights of the Round Table. The humiliation of being beaten by a "mere apprentice" is enough for Knuckles to be Driven to Suicide.
• BFS: King Arthur's sword, the Deathcalibur, which is actually produced by the Scabbard of Excalibur itself.
  • The final boss, Merlina/The Dark Queen, has four gargantuan swords used to fight Sonic. They're gargantuan Deathcaliburs.
  • Whilst Sonic, Gawain, Percival, and Lancelot's swords are normal-sized, they're still longer than the characters are tall (since Sonic characters are usually between 3' and 3'6", making their swords about three feet in length from tip to hilt, which is about average for a normal blade). Excalibur is even bigger.
• Big Fancy Castle: Camelot Castle, Knight's Passage and Faraway Avalon.
• Big "NO!":
  • Sonic does this when Caliburn is bisected by the Dark Queen and when he loses his chili dog at the beginning.
  • King Arthur, after being weakened by the Sacred Swords, shouts this as he falls in defeat.
• Black Knight:
  • Sir Lancelot wears dark gunmetal-grey armor to go with his black-furred body.
  • King Arthur himself as the titular "Black Knight," although it's actually a very dark shade of gold.
  • Dark Queen Merlina's battle form is a giant blue-and-black-armored spectral King Arthur. When she Turns Red, the armor goes completely black.
• Blade Brake: All the player characters can do this.
• Brick Joke: A very long one that is All There in the Manual. The instruction booklet says Sonic was whisked away to Camelot while waiting for a "potentially stressful encounter with Amy". Come the very end of the game, and Amy thinks the adventure was just an excuse for why he forgot their date.
• Cassandra Truth: Amy doesn't buy Sonic's excuse that he missed their date because he was sucked into the Arthurian legend.
  Sonic: No, no! It's true, I tell ya! (Beat) YIKES! NO! AMY, WAIT! PUT DOWN THAT HAMMER!
  Amy: Hey! You get back here, Sonic! (Chases after him with her hammer) SONIC!!!
• Cavalier Consumption: Sonic seems more interested in eating his Chili Dog(s) than taking Arthur and his Mooks seriously.
• Chest Monster: In various levels, the red chests (which usually contain loot) can suddenly transform into hostile, sharp-teeth monsters that flee when you get close.
• Continuity Cameo: Silver and Jet also have Round Table alternates, but they only appear in multiplayer.
• Continuity Nod: Black Knight has a few instances in the levels where Sonic talks about past experiences that something reminds him of.
  • Sonic is reminded very strongly of Shadow and Knuckles when he encounters Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain.
  • Several themes from previous games are also used in shortened forms for characters, including Unknown from M.E. for Knuckles.
• Crush Blush: Percival (represented by Blaze) blushes lightly after Caliburn says "Save the hugs and kisses for later" towards her and Sonic.
• Cutting Off the Branches: In Sonic Unleashed, an optional dialogue choice with Amy gives Sonic the choice of either asking her out on a date or rejecting her outright. Amy's comments about missing their date in the ending heavily implies Sonic asked her out.
• Dark Is Evil: Merlina, the game's actual villain, dons a darker coloured costume after her betrayal.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Lancelot is, in Sonic's world, Shadow. Much like Shadow, Lancelot acts as a somewhat condescending, but honorable foe, and joins Sonic after the Disc-One Final Boss.
• Dark Reprise: "With Me", the Dark Queen's battle theme, is both this and a Boss Remix for Merlina's Leitmotif heard throughout the story.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Caliburn is a Gentleman Snarker who makes his utter lack of regard for Sonic obvious from the beginning.
    Caliburn: ...Onward, young knave!
    Sonic: Stop calling me "knave"!! I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!
    Caliburn: Very well, then. I shall call you Knave the Hedgehog.
  • Sonic has this part of his personality turned up a few notches, too, but it notably tapers off by the time he encounters Sir Percival.
    Lancelot: Will you abandon your sword and flee?
    Sonic: Sounds good to me!
• Depending on the Writer: As written in the main story, Sir Gawain tries to commit Seppuku for failing to carry out King Arthur's orders. As written during the introductory cinematic, however, Sir Gawain is the first to question King Arthur's orders and protests when the others insist on blind obedience to them.
• Determinator: Despite Sonic being on the backfoot and nearly beaten to an inch of his life, to the point even the other Knights of the Round Table advise Sonic stop fighting Dark Queen Merlina, Sonic stands up and says that he's "gotta do what I've gotta do," and stands up again. His resolve is so powerful that it summons a bright light, allowing the other Knights to transfer their swords to him, unlocking the power of Excalibur.
• Disc-One Final Boss: King Arthur, after beating defeated, plays a credits sequence, until it is revealed that the player has only beaten half of the game. In his place, Merlina takes the scabbard and reveals herself to be the true Big Bad and take over as the main villain from there.
• Dragons Versus Knights: Fittingly, the first and penultimate boss is a winged dragon, each protecting a magical sword Sonic needs to complete his quest of knighthood and save Camelot from dark magic.
• Driven to Suicide: Sir Gawain (the Knuckles-lookalike Knight), after losing to Sonic in a duel. Sonic confiscates his sword before he can go through with it.
• Dual Wielding: Sir Gawain employs two swords at all times (as does Knuckles in the multiplayer).
• Eccentric Mentor: Nimue, the Lady of the Lake.
• Establishing Character Moment: The game is often commended for demonstrating Sonic's personality very well.
• Evil Costume Switch: As the Queen of the Underworld, Merlina dons a dark green, purple, and gold Pimped-Out Dress rather than spoiler:her usual pink color scheme.
• Evil Versus Evil: Downplayed but still present between King Arthur and Merlina. One has become Drunk on the Dark Side and terrorizing the kingdom he's supposed to rule with monsters from the Underworld. The other wants to stop him... but only so that she can get her hands on the scabbard with which to enact her own scheme to make the kingdom eternal to prevent its eventual destruction, which as a consequence warps the land with dark magic and releases the armies of the Underworld as well.
• Excalibur in the Stone: Double Subverted. Merlina sends Sonic to retrieve a sword from the stone so that he can fight King Arthur, who wields the sheath of Excalibur, but the sword Sonic draws is a stern Talking Weapon named Caliburn. Then it turns out that Excalibur is actually Caliburn's Super Mode, which he enters when combined with the legendary swords of the other knights.
• Fake-Out Fade-Out: The game rolls the credits after you defeat King Arthur, but the game is nowhere close to over.
• Fake Shemp: Sir Galahad and Sir Lamorak, who don't appear in the main story, only reuse their counterparts' voice clips from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) and Sonic Riders.^note Interestingly, Jet's English voice actor, Jason Griffith, is already in the game as Sonic and Shadow. Though the reuse of voice clips is likely due to Jet not sharing voice actors in the Japanese version.
• Final Boss, New Dimension: Dark Hollow isn't featured anywhere on the map before the Final Boss.
• Fish out of Water: Sonic has no idea how to wield a blade or how to behave chivalrously and must learn to do both as he progresses through the story.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Merlina takes a moment early on in the game to pick a small flower and quietly muse to herself the futility of their blooming when they're destined to wither, though upon noticing Sonic staring at her she quickly brushes it off. This shows the core of her villainy and her desire to find a way to stop this end from happening to Camelot.
    • She also says "I wish to preserve this world". Interesting choice of words.
  • Only with all of the sacred swords together can Sonic nullify King Arthur's scabbard-induced immortality. This is because the swords contain the power of and are actually derived from Excalibur itself, which is the magical Absurdly Sharp Blade that can penetrate the defense of the scabbard.
  • Caliburn’s own name is a clue to indicate that he is the true Excalibur, because in real-life, "Caliburn" is what the sword was originally called before European authors changed it to "Excalibur."
  • At the beginning of the game, when Sonic pulls Caliburn out of the stone, it’s an obvious reference to King Arthur pulling out the sword in the stone. And at the end of the game, Sonic is revealed to be the true King Arthur.
• Gender Flip: Sir Percival is flipped to female, due to his role being occupied by Blaze the Cat.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Merlina becomes the Dark Queen after getting hold of Excalibur's scabbard.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Merlina's dress and hair become purple after she becomes the Dark Queen.
• Green Hill Zone: Misty Lake, Titanic Plain, and Great Megalith.
• Hard Truth Aesop: Living in a world that continues without end, at the risk of disrupting natural order, isn't a great way for one to live their life, and they should instead make the most out of their time before the end comes.
• Harmless Freezing: Characters don't take damage from being frozen, they are merely immobilized until they break free.
• Hero vs. Villain Duet: "With Me", the final boss theme, is sung from both Sonic and Merlina's perspectives. Sonic's parts are about how one must accept the fact that everything must come to an end, regardless of how much it hurts while Merlina's parts are about how she can keep anything she wants from ending.
• Humble Hero: Surprisingly, Sonic reveals himself to be this in the end. When trying to comfort Merlina about the end of Camelot, he tells her to live life to the fullest in the time left, but admits that's just his perspective. This is consistent with his Image Song, It Doesn't Matter, where he admits he can't tell what's wrong or right.
• Immortality Inducer: The scabbard of Excalibur does this to whoever holds it. It seems to act as an advanced Healing Factor that fixes wounds in seconds while keeping the wielder alive regardless of damage. It's Merlina's goal to obtain it and grant the world itself the scabbard's blessing. The only thing that can nullify it is Excalibur itself, and by extension the four Sacred Swords when all are brought together.
• Informed Flaw: Merlina fears that the rift between Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain will tear the round table apart, but the only time those two characters are ever shown disagreeing about anything is about when Gawain balks at following My Master, Right or Wrong during the opening cutscene, which is a very different characterization from the Sir Gawain of the story, who nearly kills himself over his loyalties.
• Instant Armor: Excalibur Sonic gets a Golden Set of armor that appears within a few seconds during his transformation.
• Interface Spoiler: The pre-level menu has the name "Sonic" on the list, and with his big hedgehog head in a portrait beside it. At first, it can't be selected. This dramatically lessens the surprise that later on, you can change characters by selecting his name.
• Ironic Echo: At the beginning of the game before drawing Caliburn, Merlina tells Sonic that if he accepts this role and defeats King Arthur, there's a good chance he'll be seen as a king-slayer and no hero, to which Sonic replies "he doesn't mind being the bad guy." Come the final battle, and Sonic repeats the same sentiment as Dark Queen Merlina tries to call him out on trying to stop her plans for an eternal kingdom.
• Kid Amid the Chaos: Invoked. Sonic stumbles across a child weeping over her parents and fellow townspeople being kidnapped by a dragon, and decides to go clear up the mess himself. However, it turns out that the child is really Nimue in disguise, employing a Secret Test of Character to see what Sonic would do. He passes with flying colours.
• Lava Surfing: In The Cauldron stage.
• Leitmotif: A few that crop up through the game:
  • Mixed with Recurring Riff, "Knight of the Wind" is Sonic's leitmotif in this game, usually appearing whenever Sonic does something heroic or when he's on-screen. The main riff of "Knight of the Wind" also appears in the game's ending theme, "Live Life," which serves as a direct anti-thesis and answer to Merlina, telling her to live life to its fullest in the time that they have.
  • King Arthur also has his own bombastic, dark, orchestral motif whenever he appears, though it crops up less.
  • Merlina's theme. It first plays when she plucks the withering flower, and can be heard a couple of times after her Face–Heel Turn, including when she reveals her true colors and when she discusses the nature of her plan with Sonic before their final battle. When she becomes the Dark Queen, her motif is included in the song, "With Me," which serves as her Villain Song and Image Song during the Final Boss fight, since the sinister nature of the lyrics give it the interpretation of being sung primarily from Merlina's point of view.
• Lethal Lava Land: Molten Mine and The Cauldron.
• Lost Aesop: The game debates what it means to be a knight, and criticizes the answer of King Arthur's Co-Dragons, but falls short of providing its own definite answer. Sonic rejects the Honor Before Reason that leads Caliburn to claim letting Lancelot live is a Fate Worse than Death and Gawain being driven by My Master, Right or Wrong to nearly kill himself... but despite posing Gawain an Armor-Piercing Question about whether there's more to being a knight, Sonic never answers his own question. The Lady of the Lake alone proposes an ideal of knighthood—being virtuous and protecting innocents, which is echoed when Percival rallies the Co-Dragons at the Darkest Hour by shifting their loyalty from the king to the Protectorate^note "For the kingdom and its people!". But when Sonic confronts the True Final Boss, the ideal is forgotten—indeed, the whole question is forgotten save for Gawain arguing that Sonic being The Determinator has nothing to do with chivalry and Sonic arguing that it does, which falls flat due to the game never establishing what "chivalry" means (worse, as per Artistic License – History above, the game also accidentally confuses chivalry with bushido).
• The Lost Woods: Deep Woods and Shrouded Forest.
• Meaningful Name: Caliburn. The fact that his name sounds a lot like Excalibur isn't a coincidence, because at the end of the game, it's revealed that Excalibur is Caliburn's true form. Also, "Caliburn" is what Excalibur was originally called in real-life before its name was altered in later versions of the Arthurian legends.
• Medal of Dishonor: Several of the unlockable emblems in the Treasury can only be obtained through dishonorable acts or screwing up especially hard:
  • Despised One: Attack multiple townspeople in a single level.
  • Chicken: Repeatedly attack enemies from behind.
  • Weakling: Get hit by enemies several times.
  • Coward: Repeatedly commit dishonorable behavior.
  • Ruffian: Destroy a lot of property such as barrels or pots.
• The Middle Ages: The game's setting is in a fantasy version of Medieval England.
• Mono no Aware: What this game's twist on the King Arthur story ultimately boils down to. Merlina, knowing that the story will end with the kingdom in ruin, wishes to use her magic to make the kingdom eternal, but Sonic doesn't see the point in a world that lasts forever, and thinks instead that we should just let things be and live life to the fullest in the time we have.
• Multi-Slot Character: Zig-zagged. Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot, and Sir Percival are all playable alongside Knuckles the Echidna, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Blaze the Cat in the game's multiplayer battle mode. The latter three use the same models as the Knights, just without their armor, share the same moveset with one another. That said, they are classified as different characters in the battle mode with different slots, and in-universe, the knights are Alternate Selves of Sonic's friends who hail from the Arthurian-based world and not Sonic's.
• Musical Nod:
  • The pre-boss themes of Lancelot and Gawain are "Throw It All Away" from Sonic Adventure 2 (Shadow's theme) and the first Sonic Adventure game's version of "Unknown from M.E." (Knuckles' theme), respectively.
  • "Blacksmith Menu" is a rearranged theme of "Believe in Myself" from Sonic Adventure.
  • The electric guitar intro to the first version of "It Doesn't Matter," Sonic's Image Song from Sonic Adventure, comes blaring in as a prelude to Sonic achieving the game's Super Mode. Similarly, the second version of "It Doesn't Matter" from Sonic Adventure 2 can be heard when looking through the gallery.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: The Royal Knights, particularly Lancelot. Gawain and Percival have more reservations, but Gawain has the strongest reaction to failing in his duties.
• 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.
  • Whenever Sonic gets a one-star on any level, he'll dejectedly say, "Shoot, not my day", just like when he gets an E-Rank in Sonic Heroes.
  • The Knights of the Round Table, save for King Arthur, are all played by characters that have clashed with Sonic in the past, with Knuckles the Echidna as Sir Gawain, Shadow the Hedgehog as Sir Lancelot, Blaze the Cat as Sir Percival, Silver the Hedgehog as Sir Galahad, and Jet the Hawk as Sir Lamorak.
• No Sympathy: In the ending, Amy doesn't buy Sonic's reasons for why he missed out on their date because he was being sent to the Aruthurian times, and proceeds to chase him with her hammer.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: Caliburn and Sonic, respectively, but Sonic is also the Roguish Male to Lanelot's and Gawain's Noble. Sonic has little regard for the Honor Before Reason attitudes of the other three, but after he completes the Lady of the Lake's three tests he starts behaving more appropriately for a knight.
• Nominal Hero: Inverted. Sonic is essentially a nominal villain; Merlina warns him that setting out to defeat King Arthur and becoming a "king-slayer" is not the work of heroes and Sonic says "he doesn't mind being the bad guy", but this is never explored aside from a brief Ironic Echo during the final battle when Dark Queen Merlina tries to talk down at him and he repeats the sentiment. The fact that the game employs a 100% Heroism Rating mechanic also makes things strange.
• 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.
• Oh, Crap!: Sonic gets a big one when, at the very end of the game, Amy accuses him of forgetting their date and breaks out her hammer. Sonic promptly runs away, screaming for mercy.
• Our Dragons Are Different: This game features two of them; The Mist Dragon and the Earth Dragon.
• Palmtree Panic: Misty Lake.
• Palette Swap: Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, and Sir Percival all use the same models as their alternate selves from Sonic's world—in the multiplayer, Shadow, Knuckles, and Blaze are playable, and use the same models as the three knights from the story campaign without the armor.
• Perfection Is Static: Merlina, having learned that Camelot is destined to fall, decides the best thing to do is to reclaim Excalibur's scabbard, which grants immortality to those who'll use it, and the power of the Underworld to keep Camelot in a permanent state of unchanging beauty. During the Final Battle, Sonic tells Merlina off for this line of thinking.
• Pimped-Out Cape: Merlina.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Amy's dress as the Lady of the Lake.
• Pop-Star Composer: Frickin' Marty Friedman from Megadeth does the guitar work for the final boss theme.
• Pragmatic Hero: Sonic was fully willing to allow The Grand Kingdom to come to an end rather than allow Merlina to use her magic to make it eternal and plague it with the denizens of the Underworld. His quote pretty much sums this up:
  Sonic: I don't mind playing the bad guy once in a while.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Sonic, when he first encounters Sir Gawain, causes things to get off on the wrong foot, but rather than have Sonic apologize, the scene is framed as if Sir Gawain just takes himself too seriously.
  • Sonic, after making the observation that Sir Gawain isn't about to let him pass by, goes on to insult the knight by comparing him to a certain "knucklehead" he knows, which naturally offends the latter, and then, when Sonic realizes Gawain has become hostile, balks and claims he wasn't trying to start a fight and was really on a heroic mission. All of this is true, but Gawain has no reason to believe him and, after that opening insult, no inclination to do so, either, and once he makes this obvious, Sonic makes the observation that he really is just like "that knucklehead" before Gawain goes on the attack shouting about how Sonic is going to die for defying King Arthur.
  • After the fight, Sir Gawain is so ashamed that he attempts to commit Seppuku, only for Sonic, who has only added to his humiliation with repeated insults, to insult him yet again by accusing his suicide attempt of being pointless drama.
• Recurring Riff: The opening bars of the game's Theme Tune, "Knight of the Wind," appears a few times throughout the soundtrack, not only as Sonic's leitmotif, but also in other tracks. For example, the music for the Deep Woods stage includes a wistful arrangement of the melody.
• Recycled Soundtrack: All of the tracks credited to Tommy Tallarico are reused from previous projects his audio studio worked on. The Molten Mine background music is a rearranged theme from the obscure shooter Black Dawn, The Great Megalith stage features another track from Black Dawn as its background music (and unlike Molten Mine, is a straight reuse), and "The Cauldron" is an arrangement of a theme from Adrenix.
• Reverse Grip: How Shadow/Lancelot prefers to wield. Sonic also holds his own sword like this when grinding.
• Rhyming with Itself: The chorus of "With Me" rhymes "curiosity" with "me", then the other lines also end with "me".
• Rōnin: Sonic (Knave) the Hedgehog is the only one of the knights who has no master, though once he starts being a proper knight, he presents himself as having "no master except the wind which blows free."
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: King Arthur, both the fake and the genuine article, Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Save the Villain: Sonic to Percival when she stumbles and nearly falls off a crumbling cliff into lava due to being exhausted from their fight, though calling her a villain is a bit of a stretch.
• Self-Inflicted Hell: Implied with Merlina as the Queen of the Underworld. She looks pale, cold, and sad, as though she is becoming undead herself.
• Ship Tease:
  • While initially startled into fleeing from the Lady of the Lake (Amy Rose's Alternate Self), a few seconds into the conversation, he cozies right up to her until Caliburn tells him off. Also, Sonic was apparently scheduled for an actual date with the real Amy Rose.
  • After the fight with Sir Percival (an Alternate Self of Blaze the Cat), Sonic rescues Percival from falling off of a cliff, prompting stunned silence from Percival. Caliburn attempts to nip the Rescue Romance in the bud, which only makes Percival blush.
• Shout-Out: The sequence where Sonic transforms into Excalibur Sonic is reminiscent of a Gold Saint wearing its Cloth in Saint Seiya, complete with a red cape and the armor's pieces attaching themselves to Sonic's body.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When the main villain claims Sonic could never understand their sorrow, Sonic simply retorts "Good, 'cause I don't ever want to know such one-sided sadness."
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Shrouded Forest.
• Surprisingly Gentle Song: Live Life, compared to most of Crush 40's typical hard rocking songs for the Sonic series, is a slow, optimistic rock ballad about living life to the fullest.
• Stab the Sky: Sonic does this upon defeating King Arthur.
• Status Effects: Paralysis will prevent Sonic from being able to move temporarily, poisoning will cause ring drainage, freezing has the same effect as paralysis 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.
• Stood Up: Apparently Sonic's adventure in Arthurian times sidetracked him from going on a date with Amy.
  Amy: (After Sonic explained what happened) That's the lamest excuse ever! You just forgot about our date!
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Played with. Merlina is obviously this to Shahra from Secret Rings, and is made out to fill a similar role in the story. Then it turns out she's the game's main villain.
• Sword of Plot Advancement: Happens literally at least four times in the game, as Sonic needs the sacred swords together in order to nullify the power of Arthur's scabbard.
• Talking Weapon: And does it. Caliburn is amazingly egotistical.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Sonic and Caliburn snark at each other a lot even when they team up.
• Technicolor Toxin: When a character is poisoned, purple bubbles will appear around them.
• Thematic Sequel Logo Change: The "Sonic" is a metallic gray to represent the gameplay emphasis on swordplay, while the rest of the logo is black to represent the titular Black Knight.
• Through a Face Full of Fur: When Sonic saves her from falling to her death after her boss battle in Molten Mine, Sir Percival (an alternate Blaze the Cat) can be seen blushing in this manner when Caliburn makes a teasing remark about the two "[saving] the hugs and kisses for later". And it's adorable.
• True Blue Femininity: Amy/Nimue's dress.
• Underground Level: Crystal Cave and Dragon's Lair.
• Video Game Caring Potential: You can perform Acts of Chivalry by giving rings to the townspeople (provided that you have 20 to give) and in return (if you succeed on the Quick Time Events) said towns-person will give you an item. Doing this will also add to the Knight's Honor bonus.
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Sonic is initially terrified of Amy Rose's Alternate Self Lady Nimue until Caliburn chides him for being rude. Once he determines she's not after him, he grows more comfortable around her (to the point where Caliburn has to chide him again) — something he's very rarely able to do around Amy.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can actually attack the innocent townspeople. However, doing so has a negative impact on your score and can saddle you with negative titles.
• Warrior vs. Sorcerer: The final battle of the story is between Sonic and Dark Queen Merlina. Sonic is a Knight in Shining Armor who wields a sword, while Merlina is an Anti-Villain sorceress fighting to save her world.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Merlina turns out to want to ensure the kingdom lasts forever... by using the Underworld's evil magic. Her reasons for doing so are so sympathetic that Sonic doesn't hold any grudge against her after defeating her.
• Wham Line: Two, courtesy of Merlina, which changes the relationship of her motives and what's she been scheming before her Face–Heel Turn:
  • "There was never any King Arthur." — which is said after she tells the Knights of the Round Table that the king was only an illusion, confirming that the "King Arthur" that the player has seen was nothing more than a fake created by the scabbard's magic.
  • "With this scabbard, I shall undo my grandfather's greatest mistake." — with Merlina saying this right after Sonic presents said scabbard to her and channels its powers, completely flipping what the player knew about her and becomes the game's true villain, wishing to use its magic to make Camelot eternal.
• Wham Shot: There is a cutscene that plays after the first credits sequence rolls. The defeated King Arthur disappears in a heap of black smoke, with the only thing remaining his scabbard, changing the nature of the King Arthur the player has been fighting against this whole time.
• 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.
• A World Half Full: Seems to be Sonic's main argument against Merlina's ambition to freeze Camelot in stasis forever. The kingdom may be destined to fall someday, but good people can and do make a difference.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: After King Arthur is defeated, Sonic triumphantly shouts that he won, with the credits cuing up and playing. However, it turns out, the King Arthur was a fake and not the Final Boss. You still got half a game to go.

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And I live, to rule, by the sword!
Slashing through the—
Every inch of the power
The power in you!
As I sit, as I stand!
By the Table I command
My kingdom
I'm the Kni-i-i-i-ght of the Wind!

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