Shugo-hei
From Sonic Retro
| Guardian |
|---|
| Game: Sonic Riders |
| Level: Babylon Guardian |
| Hits to defeat: 3 |
Shugo-hei (守護兵) is the boss of Sonic Riders. He appears in the final level, "Babylon Guardian", where he safeguards the mysterious treasure of Babylon Garden from within the floating city's strange, dimension-defying core.
The Guardian's nature is something of a mystery. When Sonic crashes into him with Extreme Gear during the boss fight, the level's hellscape scenery dissolves into a clearly technological black-and-white pannelled matrix, suggesting the whole area may be some kind of holographic simulation of which the Guardian is merely a part of. Nevertheless, he seems to be at least crafted in the image of the ancient Babylonians given his passing resemblance to the Rogues - although crossed with obvious genie-like features.
After his mobile lamp takes three hits from Sonic, the Guardian fades out of existance, to be replaced by a treasure chest which contains the Magic Carpet Extreme Gear.
The Guardian's subsequent fate is unknown. He may have been entirely destroyed in his encounter with Sonic; he may have been destroyed in the Lightless Black during Zero Gravity; or he may continue to reside in Astral Babylon.
References