Chaos Emeralds

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A Chaos Emerald, as it appears in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut

The Chaos Emeralds are a collection of mystic gemstones that appear in the Sonic the Hedgehog video games, allowing the holder of all seven of them to transform into a "super" form. Each Emerald is composed of positively and negatively charged materials which make them an everlasting source of energy and allow them to float. This energy also makes their possessors faster than normal.

The Chaos Emeralds can be anywhere, usually located in a "Special Stage". Even alone, their power is unmatched by anything else in the universe; however, their power can be halted at any time by the Master Emerald. With the exception of Sonic Heroes, nearly every mainstream Sonic Game has revealed something new about the Emeralds — one could say the series is somewhat centered around them.

The number, color, and shape of the Emeralds were at first inconsistent between games, but from Sonic 3 onward, they were 'finalized' as being 7 brilliant cut gemstones, colored red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, and grey. These represent the 3 positive and negative primary colors, and grey, the color 'in between'.

Video games

Sonic 1

Sonic 1: Got them all!

First introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Mega Drive, 6 Chaos Emeralds were located in the 2D rotating Secret Zone. The US Manual states:

"Chaos Emeralds: These come in six different colors: yellow, pink, blue, green, red and white. You'll find one in each Secret Zone. Collect all of these!"

Obtaining all 6 Emeralds was necessary to obtain the "Good Ending". Their purpose was not explained during the game, and Super forms was not implemented in this game.

Sonic 2

File:Chaos Emeralds Sonic 2.gif

Sonic 2: Got them all!

Sonic 2 for the Mega Drive was the first game to feature 7 Chaos Emeralds. This number has been used by the majority of the games since. They appear different, however: They now have 6, rather than 8, sides (from the 2D viewpoint of the player). The 7th Emerald was given the color purple. The others are the same color as the ones in Sonic 1 (see above), with the exception of the blue Emerald, which is now a lighter color.

In this game, the Emeralds are central to the plot: Dr. Robotnik has taken control of much of the island, and Sonic must obtain them before he does. Sonic and/or Tails must go through a pseudo-3D half-pipe Special Stage to get them this time.

This time, getting all 7 Emeralds not only unlocks the "Good Ending", but it also enables Sonic to transform into Super Sonic, who has been featured in many games, and virtually all other Sonic-related media since then. Tails is unable to transform.

Knuckles in Sonic 2

Upon obtaining all 7 Emeralds, Knuckles can transform into Super Knuckles.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Sonic 3: Got them all!

A direct sequel to Sonic 2, this Mega Drive game once again has the Chaos Emeralds at the center of its plot. Interestingly, the Emeralds have changed color and shape once again, even though they are stated to be the same Emeralds as those in Sonic 2.

Sonic and Tails, with the 7 Emeralds from the end of Sonic 2, come to Angel Island when they see Robotnik has crash landed there. Robotnik tricks resident echidna Knuckles into stealing the Emeralds from Super Sonic. Knuckles (or Robotnik) proceeds to hide the Emeralds in 7 pseudo-3D Special Stages, which rotate when you turn. You must collect all the Blue Spheres located in the stage to earn the Emerald.

Upon obtaining all 7, Sonic may transform into Super Sonic, as in Sonic 2, while Tails again cannot transform. Knuckles can also transform into Super Knuckles upon obtaining all 7 Emeralds.

Super Emeralds

Knuckles got them all!

Main article: Super Emeralds

Sonic and Knuckles are later given access to the Hidden Palace Zone. Upon entering the zone with all 7 Chaos Emeralds, the 7 gems will fly up and give their power to 7 larger Super Emeralds. The Hidden Palace also contains the Master Emerald. The new Super Emeralds are located in 7 new Special Stages.

Upon obtaining all 7 Super Emeralds, Sonic can transform into Hyper Sonic, Tails into Super Tails, and Knuckles into Hyper Knuckles. These new forms, as well as the Super Emeralds themselves, have not been seen in any game since.

Sonic Adventure

In Sonic Adventure, the Chaos Emeralds were collected by Dr. Eggman in order to feed Chaos, a water beast that changed form every time it received a Chaos Emerald. With all 7 it became Perfect Chaos, and used all of the negative energy in the Emeralds before dropping them onto the ground. Sonic then picked all 7 up and used the positive energy to become Super Sonic and defeat Perfect Chaos.

Sonic only uses the positive charged part of the Emerald to transform, which is demonstrated by Sonic at the end of the game.

Sonic Adventure 2

In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic and Shadow had the ability to use the Chaos Emeralds to perform "Chaos Control": alter time and space to teleport or freeze time. Shadow collected the Emeralds for Dr. Eggman to power the ARK, at which point Biolizard took over the station. It became FinalHazard, and then Sonic and Shadow had to team up and use the Chaos Emeralds (it is believed Sonic used the positive energy and Shadow used the negative, but no proof has been given) to become Super and defeat FinalHazard.

Other games

Sonic CD featured the Time Stones as a power item, rather than the Emeralds. Likewise, Knuckles' Chaotix had the Chaos Rings. Sonic Heroes revealed nothing new.

Sonic 1 8-bit

The Sega Game Gear and Master System version of Sonic 1 had the Emeralds scattered in certain acts of each zone; the Special Stage of the game was used to obtain rings, score, and continues. All 6 Emeralds are light blue in this game, due to hardware limitations. The manual states:

"Chaos Emeralds: These appear in every zone. Collect all six and see the real ending!"

Sonic 2 8-bit

The Game Gear and Master System versions of Sonic 2 are more similar to Sonic 1: There are only 6 Emeralds, they are all the same color, are scattered in the zones, and there's no Super transformation. The manual states:

"Chaos Emerald: Search for these in the Zones. Collect all six to rescue Tails and see the real ending!"

Sonic Spinball

Sonic Spinball: Emerald Power!

Both the Mega Drive version and Game Gear/Master System versions of Sonic Spinball feature a record total of 16 Chaos Emeralds. They are scattered across the levels in the game, and require doing certain precision pinball tricks to obtain. They are all blue, and are similarly shaped to the Emeralds in Sonic 2 (see above).

As with most other games, the Emeralds are central to the plot. The US Mega Drive manual states:

The Chaos Emeralds

Chaos Emeralds stabilize the Mt. Mobius volcano on which the Veg-O-Fortress stands. Without the Emeralds, a massive eruption would blow the Fortress to pieces!

You must spin, bounce and bump through the Pinball Machines to snatch all the Chaos Emeralds on each of four levels. When you've collected all the Emeralds, the Veg-O-Fortress will explode!

Sonic Drift

Under construction

Sonic Blast

Under construction

Sonic 3D

Under construction

Sonic Chaos

Under construction From Sonic Chaos and beyond, the Emeralds would be found in special stages like in the 16-bit games.

Sonic Triple Trouble

Under construction

Tails Adventures

Under construction

Television Shows

The Chaos Emeralds as seen in AoStH

In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, their are only four Chaos Emeralds, and only exist in certain time zones. Once collected, the holder has ultimate power, and becomes like a god.