Game Over
From Sonic Retro
Game Over[1] (ゲームオーバー[2]) refers to the video game feature where the player is unable to continue the game, usually after losing all of their lives or failing a critical objective. In most cases, the words "Game Over" are displayed on the screen.
| “ | You have three chances to complete the game. If you lose all three chances, the game ends. | „ |
| — Sonic the Hedgehog US manual[1] | ||
In Sonic the Hedgehog games
The way that a Game Over is handled differs across many of the games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. In earlier games, getting a Game Over would return the player to the title screen, forcing them to restart the whole game from the beginning. However, games with save features such as Sonic the Hedgehog CD and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will allow the player to reload their save file and continue from the first Act of the Zone where their game ended. Some games award Continues which will allow the player to continue after a Game Over if they have at least one, though some Game Over screens in later games like Sonic Adventure offer this feature anyway.
Some Sonic games, such as Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) do not display a Game Over screen when the player runs out of lives, but will still end the game and return to the main menu. Some Sonic games eschew Game Overs entirely, such as games where the player has infinite lives by default such as Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers. In Chaotix, dying will always send the player(s) back to the World Entrance. In Shadow the Hedgehog, getting a Game Over is referred to as a "black out".
The 8-bit versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are an unusual case in which the Game Over screen will be displayed after the game has been completed and the ending has finished, an occurrence which usually happens in arcade games.
