Chaos Emeralds
From Sonic Retro
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The Chaos Emeralds are a collection of mystical gemstones that appear in the Sonic the Hedgehog video games, allowing the holder of all seven of them to transform into a faster, more powerful forms. 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'.
Contents
Video games
Sonic 1
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, as Super transformation was not implemented in this game.
Sonic 2
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
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
- 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 revealed to have both positive and negative energies. The 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.
It is stated that 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 to become Super Sonic and Super Shadow 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
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 series
Sonic Drift uses the Chaos Emeralds to denote the difficulty of the Chaos Grand Prix racing competitions. They are Green, Yellow, and Red, in order from easiest to hardest. The sequel, Sonic Drift 2, uses them in the same manner, except they are Purple, White, and Blue. They appear similar to the Emeralds from Sonic 2 and even moreso to Sonic Spinball.
Sonic Blast
The 5 Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Blast are obtained in a mixture of older games: enter the large ring in the stage (as in Sonic 3) and collect enough rings (as in Sonic 2). However, you are only allowed to enter a single stage per level; if you enter another ring you'll be taken to the same stage only able to win an extra life.
If all 5 are obtained, Sonic or Knuckles gets to fight an extra final boss and see the good ending.
Sonic 3D
The 7 Chaos Emeralds in Sonic 3D had a similar purpose as in Sonic 1: collect them all, and get the good ending. Sonic collects rings and brings them to either Tails or Knuckles in the stage. When the ring total is 50 or higher, Sonic will be warped to a special stage. The Mega Drive, PC, and Saturn version special stages are different. In the Mega Drive version, the stage appears different depending on whether Tails or Knuckles takes him there. In the Saturn and PC versions of the game, the special stages are vastly different, and do not appear different whether Tails or Knuckles brought Sonic.
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
Tails Adventure
In Tails Adventure for the Game Gear, there are 6 Chaos Emeralds, scattered throughout the levels. They are colored, in order of appearance, red, green, purple, white, blue, and yellow. Each increases your maximum rings by 10. When all 6 are obtained, maximum rings goes up to 99.
Tails' Skypatrol
In Tails' Skypatrol for the Game Gear, small "Crystals" which appear similar to the Chaos Emeralds from other games appear throughout the game. They do not have any powers, nor do they grant Tails any; they merely serve as a collectible and award the player 1000 points. See Pages 20 and 21 of the Japanese manual for an image and description (in Japanese of course).
Television Shows
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.