Difference between revisions of "Sonic Battle"
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Revision as of 19:15, 1 October 2020
Sonic Battle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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System(s): Game Boy Advance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher: Sega (JP), THQ (NA/EU) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Developer: Sonic Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Peripherals supported: Game Link Cable | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre: Fighting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of players: 1-4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sonic Battle (ソニック バトル) is a 4 player isometric fighting game based on the Sonic Adventure era characters, differing heavily from Sonic the Fighters, the first Sonic fighting game. It had a single player story mode which received a great deal of praise from fans; not taking itself too seriously, while at the same time doing a lot to flesh out characters' personalities.
The story centered around the ancient mechanoid Emerl. Emerl could be upgraded, but it was long and tedious to do this, which some gamers found to detract from the game. He gains XPs from each fight, but about 10 fights would need to be completed to gain a new move.
It is also the first Sonic game to feature swearing - in Japan, Rouge calls Eggman a "bastard" for hacking into a computer before she did. The Japanese version actually has an English translation in it which contains the swearing. When the game was released in the US the dialogue was altered.
Contents
Gameplay
Battles are fought in 3D arenas with up to 4 players. Each character has a set of attacks and abilities. The majority of attacks are performed with the button, including the combos (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Attack), Air Attack, Upper Attack (used to knock opponents straight up), Heavy Attack (used to knock opponents away), and Aim Attack (used to home in on an opponent after the Heavy Attack). The button is used to jump, and the button lets the player block attacks, or replenish health if the button is held.
The playable characters also have unique special moves, the three types being Shot, Power, and Set. Shot moves are projectiles which can damage an opponent from a distance. Power moves can deal damage quickly in a single move. Trap moves generally involve using a type of bomb to surprise-attack the enemy. However, only a limited number of special moves can be selected. Shot, Power, and Trap must be allocated to three slots: Ground, Air, and Defend. The special move you set to Ground will be used when you press on the ground. The move you set to Air will be used when you press in mid-air. The last slot, Defend, has a different function; When you set a certain type of special move to Defend, then every time an enemy uses the same type of special to attack you, you'll automatically block it.
Each player has a health bar and an "Ichikoro Gauge". When health is completely depleted, the player is KO'd and loses one life (in a survival match) or the one who KO'd them gets a point (in a KO match). The Ground, Air, and Defend settings are chosen at the beginning of the match, and every time the player respawns. As a player takes damage, blocks attacks, or heals, the Ichikoro Gauge fills up. When it is full, the next special move the player does will instantly KO anyone it hits. However, if they chose to defend against that type of special, or successfully block, their Ichikoro Gauge will be filled instantly. Players healing damage will also slowly fill up their Ichikoro Gauge, but are still vulnerable to attacks.
Battling with Emerl
The main gimmick of the game is called the Skill Capture system. Emerl can imitate the actions and attacks of every other character. He starts out with slow, incomplete captures of Sonic's abilities, which serve as the default moves. As the game is played, the abilities of other characters are recorded as Skill Cards. After each fight, certain skills are captured this way, one card per character per fight (so if Emerl fought Tails, he would get a Tails data card, and if he fought Sonic, he would get a Sonic data card.) The capturable actions consist of not only the attacks and special moves each character performs, but their individual abilities in running, jumping, mid-air actions, and the like. These can be allocated to their corresponding slots in Emerl's ability list, and doing so gives Emerl the new moves to use in battle. (Note: What the charaters do ingame does not determine what the Skill Card will be.) Sometimes you will get a rare skill such as one of the skills on the third page of Emerl's skill-edit list (ex: fight pose, color 1, attack support). There are 309 skill cards to collect in all, though the rarest can't be acquired by fighting combatants in normal battles. Emerl's ultimate battle cards can only be earned through Tails' virtual training in the final chapter of Story Mode. Secret character-centric abilities can only be obtained via passwords.
However, all these abilities cannot be used simultaneously. A limit is placed on the amount of non-default Skill Cards that can be used, in the form of skill points. Each card has a certain number of stars shown on the corner, and for each star, five skill points must be available to use on it. The total number of required skill points of all the allocated Skill Cards cannot exceed the current maximum of skill points Emerl has accumulated. Like the Skill Cards themselves, the skill point maximum is increased slightly with each battle, to a maximum of 500.
Since Emerl is powered by the Chaos Emeralds, there are cutscenes in the Story Mode episodes in which the Emeralds are used to enhance Emerl's abilities. Each Emerald raises the skill point maximum by 10, a rather large amount considering that most of the time, individual battles raise it by 1-5 (depending on performance). The player can choose to replay a Story Mode episode after it's been completed, but the Skill Card/Point data is still saved. Oddly enough, the skill point maximum is raised at the Chaos Emerald cutscene every time the player reaches them. This means the same Story Mode episode can be repeated to raise Emerl's skill points faster than normal.
Mini-games
In addition to the principal Story Mode with overworld exploration and battle arena fights, there are a number of other game modes available in Sonic Battle for single or multiplayer (by connecting the Game Boy Advance with up to 3 others via a link cable). These include "Battle", "Challenge", and "Training" modes, where one can specify the specific characters, opponents, and arenas to spar in, as well as a selection of 2D mini games largely unrelated to the fighting motif. These include:
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Timeline
Despite being created after Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle may not be in the timeline directly after Heroes.
Secret Combo Cards
Combo Cards representing each character can be obtained by entering a code in the Sonic Team building in the Central City area during Emerl's story.
- Sonic: 75619
- Tails: OTrOI
- Knuckles: yU3Da
- Amy: alogK
- Cream: ZAhan
- Shadow: ArmIa
- Rouge: AhnVo
- Gamma: tSueT
- Chaos: EkiTa
Note: Shadow's card code is an anagram of Maria. Knuckles' code is a reference to Takashi Yuda, his designer, and his first game Sonic the Hedgehog 3
History
Legacy
Sonic Battle's storyline was loosely adapted for TV in episodes 45 and 46 of Sonic X, entitled Sonic Battle - Face Off!! and Sonic Battle - Finale!! respectively. Its plot was also heavily referenced in the 2008 Sonic game Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
Manuals
Main article: Sonic Battle/Manuals |
Also released on
- 2 in 1: Sonic Advance & Sonic Battle for the Game Boy Advance (2005)
- 2 in 1: Sonic Battle & ChuChu Rocket! for the Game Boy Advance (2005)
- 2 in 1: Sonic Pinball Party & Sonic Battle for the Game Boy Advance (2005)
Sound test
NOTE: This game's Sound Test does not feature corresponding titles.
# | Title | Usage |
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0 | Title | Title Screen |
1 | Main Menu | Main Menu/Mode Select Screen, Mini Games Select Screen |
2 | Character Select | Episode Select (Story Mode), Link Setup, Character Select (Challenge Mode) |
3 | Challenge | Challenge Mode Demo |
4 | VS Result | Results (Battle & Challenge Mode) |
5 | Record | Continue (Story Mode), Training Mode Setup Screen, Battle Record |
6 | Congratulations | Challenge Mode Clear |
7 | ??? | ??? |
8 | ??? | ??? |
9 | Sonic Stage | Emerald Beach |
10 | Tails Stage | Tails' Lab |
11 | Knuckles Stage | Chao Ruins |
12 | Amy Stage | Amy's Room |
13 | Shadow Stage | Battle Highway |
14 | Rouge Stage | Club Rouge |
15 | E-102γ (Gamma) Stage | Metal Depot |
16 | Cream Stage | Library |
17 | Chaos Stage A | Crater (Holy Summit (Arena)) |
18 | Chaos Stage B | Blackboard Eraser |
19 | Eggman & Emerl Stage | Final Boss (Death Egg (Arena)) |
20 | E-121Φ (Phi) Stage | Colosseum |
21 | Demo 1 | Comedy Demo/Story Demo 1 |
22 | Demo 2 | Shadow Demo/History Demo/Story Demo 2 |
23 | Demo 3 | Confrontation Demo/Story Demo 3 |
24 | Demo 4 | Eggman Demo/Story Demo 4 |
25 | Demo 5 | Emerl Demo/Story Demo 5 |
26 | Battle Start | Character Introduction Demo |
27 | Battle Result 1 | Card Capture Demo |
28 | Battle Result 2 | Rare Card Capture Demo |
29 | New Character | Character Unlock Demo |
30 | Skill Edit | Emerl Customization Menu |
31 | Ending A | Staff Roll (all stories except Emerl), Staff Roll 2 (Emerl Story) |
32 | Ending B | Staff Roll 1 (Emerl Story) |
33 | Emerald Town | Emerald Town (Overworld) |
34 | Night Babylon | Night Babylon (Overworld) |
35 | Holy Summit | Holy Summit (Overworld) |
36 | Central City | Central City (Overworld) |
37 | Gimme Shelter | Gimme Shelter (Overworld) |
38 | Death Egg | Death Egg (Overworld) |
39 | Green Hill Stage | Green Hill |
Production credits
- Producer: Yuji Naka
- Director: Tomoyuki Hayashi
- Battle Mode Planner: Tomoyuki Hayashi
- Story Mode Planner: Asahiko Kikuchi
- Planning Support: Mizuki Hosoyamada, Ai Mashima
- System & COM Programmer: Yoshihiko Toyoshima
- Story Mode Programmer: Takahiro Hamano
- Battle Mode Programmer: Tomoyuki Hayashi
- Mini Game Programmers: Nobuo Nakagawa, Yoshihiko Toyoshima
- Chief Animator: Yasuda Denneikoushi
- Character Animators: Sachi Nakamura, Asao Furukawa, Hiroaki Ishige, Ryuta Kawasaki, Kentaro Sakamoto
- Map Designer: Toru Kawaguchi
- Advertise Designers: Takeshi Ichimura, Miho Hyakutake, Takao Kawase
- Minigame Designer: Takao Kawase
- Illustrator: Hisanobu Kometani
- Design Coordinator: Yuji Uekawa
- Character Design Support: Jupiter Corp., Hiroshi Tanigawa, Tomoki Miyazaki, Arito Chujo, Noriko Shibuya, Norichika Meguro, Masaru Kuribayashi
- Special Thanks: Yasuko Maruyama
- Sound Created By: Wave Master
- Sound Creators: Tatsuyuki Maeda, Kenichi Tokoi, Hideaki Kobayashi
- Character Voices (Japanese): Junichi Kanemaru, Ryo Hirohashi, Nobutoshi Kanna, Taeko Kawata, Taiten Kusunoki, Kouji Yusa, Rumi Ochiai, Sayaka Aoki, Chikao Ohtsuka
- Character Voices (English): Ryan Drummond (Sonic), William Corkery (Tails), Scott Dreier (Knuckles), Jenny Douillard (Amy), Jon St. John (Chaos Gamma), David Humphrey (Shadow), Lani Minella (Rouge), Sarah Wulfeck (Cream), Deem Bristow (Eggman)
Sega Corporation
- Executive Management: Hideki Okamura, Masanao Maeda, Toshihiro Nagoshi, Yukio Sugino
- Marketing Dept.: Mitsuru Takahashi, Naoko Ooka, Mariko Takeda
- Public Relations: Yasushi Nagumo, Youko Nagasawa
- International Business & Product Development: Tatsuyuki Miyazaki, Yusuke Suai
- Product Management: Junichi Shimizu
- Product Support: Akira Nishikawa, Akira Terasawa, Kazuhiko Morii
- Product Test: Yutaka Kawasaki, Daisuke Izichi, Satoshi Yamane, Junko Ota, Sou Ishida
- Package & Manual Production: Yoshihiro Sakuta, Satoru Ishigami, Kazuaki Jikuhara, Hisakazu Nakagawa, Asako Miyajima
- Customer Support: Kazunori Yagi, Shoko Goto
Sega of America, Inc.
- Director of Product Development: Osamu Shibamiya
- Localization Producer: Jason Kuo
- Test Director: Deborah Kirkham
- Project Lead: Shawn Dobbins
- Executive Vice President: Shinobu Toyoda
- Product Manager: Heather Hall
- Senior Media Specialist: Teri Higgins
- Creative Services Manager: Arianne McCarthy
- Public Relations Manager: Bret Blount
- Special Thanks: Yosuke Moriya, Lori Von Rueden, Klayton Vorlick
Sega Europe, Ltd.
- President and COO: Naoya Tsurumi
- Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing: Mike Sherlock
- Executive Vice President, Product Development: Jin Shimazaki
- Localization Producer: Akiko Uchida
- Senior Producer: Matt O'Driscoll
- Technical Producer: Elliott Martin
- European Marketing Director: Matthew Woodley
- European Marketing Manager: Gary Knight
- European Product Manager: Mat Quaek
- Sega Europe QA: Darius Sadeghian, David Smith, Roy Boateng, Chris Geiles
- Executive Producer: Hisao Oguchi
- Presented by: Sega
- Source: In-game credits
Resources
Transcript of Gerald's Journal - The deceased Professor's notes, gradually unlocked while clearing the game a second time.
Artwork
Story mode art
Concept art
Wallpaper
Official wallpapers available from the Japanese Sonic Battle website:
Physical scans
73 | Sonic Retro Average | ||||||||||
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Based on 2 reviews | |||||||||||
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Game Boy Advance, US |
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Game Boy Advance, UK |
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Game Boy Advance, FR |
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Game Boy Advance, DE |
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Game Boy Advance, ES |
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Game Boy Advance, JP |
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Technical information
ROM dump status
System | Hash | Size | Build Date | Source | Comments | |||||||||
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? |
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16MB | Cartridge (US) | |||||||||||
✔ |
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16MB | Cartridge (EU) | |||||||||||
✔ |
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16MB | Cartridge (JP) |
External links
- Sega of Japan catalogue pages: Game Boy Advance (archive)
- Nintendo catalogue pages: JP, US (archive)
References
- ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/THQ-Sonic-Battle-GBA/dp/B0000A1OUL (Wayback Machine: 2007-12-04 00:27)
- ↑ http://www.amazon.de:80/THQ-Sonic-Battle/dp/B0001AUSYW? (Wayback Machine: 2016-03-20 21:16)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://sega.jp/gba/sonicbtl/ (Wayback Machine: 2003-12-08 18:51)
- ↑ [ngc, issue 92, page 71 ngc, issue 92, page 71]
- ↑ [nomuk, issue 139, page 83 nomuk, issue 139, page 83]
Sonic Battle | |
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Manuals |
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Sonic the Hedgehog games for the following systems | |
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2001 Sonic Advance | Tiny Chao Garden 2002 Sonic Advance 2 2003 Sonic Pinball Party | Sonic Battle 2004 Sonic Advance 3 | Sonic X: A Super Sonic Hero 2005 Sonic Advance & Sonic Pinball Party | Sonic Advance & ChuChu Rocket! | Sonic Advance & Sonic Battle | Sonic Battle & ChuChu Rocket! | Sonic Pinball Party & Sonic Battle | Sonic Pinball Party & Columns Crown 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis Demos Sonic Advance 3
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