Sonic Heroes
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| Sonic Heroes |
|---|
| System(s): Gamecube, Playstation 2, Xbox, PC |
| Publisher: Sega |
| Developer: Sonic Team |
| Genre: 3D Platform |
Sonic Heroes is the third 3D game to hit the Nintendo GameCube. Sonic Heroes is also the first game to go multiplatform for all systems. It was released on January 6, 2004, for the Gamecube and on January 27, 2004, for the PS2 and Xbox. The phrase "Sonic Heroes" refers to the uniting of the protagonists of the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
The game introduces several new gameplay elements. Unlike past Sonic games, which have all been single player, the player is able to control three characters at a time, switching the party's leader. Each character has a unique power which it contributes to the team. There are three types of characters that are used in gameplay. One party member is a "fly" type, able to ascend short distances with the other party members. The second type is "speed." This character can move faster than the other two and has a homing attack. The final brand of hero is "power," the character who has the most strength. Also included is a Team Attack feature that allows you to destroy all enemies on the field when your energy gauge is filled.
This game also marked the return of the Chaotix, a group last seen in Knuckles' Chaotix on the Sega 32X (except for Espio the Chameleon, who became playable in Sonic the Fighters), Shadow the Hedgehog & Rouge the Bat from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Cream the Rabbit from Sonic Advance 2, Big the Cat from Sonic Adventure and Metal Sonic, who, prior to this game, had not played a major role in the series since Sonic CD.
Even though it is the first multiplatform Sonic game, it is least recommended for the Playstation 2 Version because of clipping and graphics faults during gameplay. But Sonic Heroes Playstation 2 Version has sold 2.8 million copies worldwide.
Story
Robotnik has come back to challenge Sonic and crew again to defeat his new scheme. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles gladly accept and race off to tackle the doc's latest plan. Meanwhile, Rouge the Bat swings in on one of Robotnik's old fortresses and discovers Shadow in capsule. After an odd encounter, Rouge, Shadow, and E-123 Omega join up to find out what happened to Shadow and to get revenge on Robotnik. At a resort, Amy looks at an add that shows Sonic in it with a chao and a frog. After getting over boredom, Amy, Cream, and Big decide to find Sonic and get what they want back. Elsewhere, in a run down building, the Chaotix get a package that contains a walkie talkie. Tempting them, Vector, Charmy, and Espio decide to work for this mysterious person, so they can earn some money.
Levels
- Seaside Hill
- Ocean Palace
- Grand Metropolis
- Power Plant
- Casino Park
- Bingo Highway
- Rail Canyon
- Bullet Station
- Frog Forest
- Lost Jungle
- Hang Castle
- Mystic Mansion
- Egg Fleet
- Final Fortress
Bosses
Cheat Codes
Cheats
- Holding 'A' [Jump] and 'Y' [Switch formation] during 2 player level loading gives you metal character versions.
Unlockable Items
The further a player progresses in Sonic Heroes, the more gameplay and extra options become available. Those include:
- 2 Player Team Battle Mode: Collect 20 emblems
- 2 Player Special Stage Mode: Collect 40 emblems
- 2 Player Ring Race Mode: Collect 60 emblems
- 2 Player Bobsled Mode: Collect 80 emblems
- 2 Player Quick Race Mode: Collect 100 emblems
- 2 Player Expert Race Mode: Collect 120 emblems
- Super Hard Difficulty: Collect all 141 emblems with all A-rankings
- Last Story: Complete all 4 other stories and collect all Chaos Emeralds
- 'Sonic Heroes' - Main Theme: Unlocked at start
- Team Chaotix Movie: Beat Story Mode with Team Chaotix
- Team Chaotix Theme: Beat Story Mode with Team Chaotix
- Team Dark Movie: Beat Story Mode with Team Dark
- 'This Machine' - Team Dark Theme: Beat Story Mode with Team Dark
- Team Rose Movie: Beat Story Mode with Team Rose
- 'Follow Me' - Team Rose Theme: Beat Story Mode with Team Rose
- Team Sonic Movie: Beat Story Mode with Team Sonic
- 'We Can' - Team Sonic Theme: Beat Story Mode with Team Sonic
- 'What I'm Made Of' - Ending Theme: Beat the LAST story
Trivia
Appearances
- Cream the Rabbit was originally designed to first appear in Sonic Heroes, however, when 2002's Sonic Advance 2 was announced, Sonic Team decided that it would be a good idea to introduce her there first, as to make Sonic Advance 2 feel fresher.
- This is the first game Chaotix has appeared in since 1995. Takashi Iizuka has been quoted saying he considers this new, re-designed Chaotix his creation, as the original Chaotix from 1995 was created by a different artist at Sega.
- An early version of Vector the Crocodile was originally slated to appear in the original Sonic the Hedgehog, on the Sound Test screen as part of a "Sonic the Hedgehog Band". Unfortunately, this animation was removed to make room for the Sega Chime at the beginning of the game.
- Sonic Heroes was combined with Super Monkey Ball Deluxe for Xbox as a Platinum Family Hits.
Plot
- Although the plot for Sonic Heroes is somewhat sparse, a large portion of it is a set-up for 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog, especially Team Dark's story.
In-game
- In the opening scene of Team Chaotix's story, there are pinned papers on a notice board behind Vector, showing concept drawings of the robots used in the original Sonic game.
- The stage "Frog Forest" is very similar to the Sonic & Knuckles stage, Mushroom Hill Zone. Knuckles points out one of the similarities; during flight with the flower on that stage, he mentions that there are also large mushrooms on Angel Island, but that they are smaller than those of Frog Forest.
Voice acting
- This is one of the final Sonic games in which the voice actors from the Sonic Adventure games recorded their voices. Newer games in the series, from Shadow the Hedgehog on, are recorded by the cast of Sonic X. Many Sonic fans were angered by the change and have sent demands to Sega to rehire the original voice cast from this game and the Sonic Adventure series. Some people say this, however, is unlikely to happen, especially considering the passing of Deem Bristow who voiced Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik in this and all previous 3D Sonic games.
- In both the English and Japanese versions, the same actor who portrays Sonic portrays Metal Sonic.
Multi-platform
This was the first brand-new Sonic game planned to be launched on multiple consoles since its inception. It was designed using Renderware technology, making porting between systems easy. Primary development was done on the Nintendo GameCube, and then ported to the Xbox and Playstation 2. The PlayStation 2 version, however, suffered from problems such as clipping and graphic faults during gameplay, along with long loading times.
Past References
As characters interact, they sometimes make references to past Sonic games:
- Amy: "This weather reminds me of our last attack on the Egg Carrier!" (allusion to Sonic Adventure) in Final Fortress.
- Amy: "This place reminds me of Casinopolis!" (allusion to Sonic Adventure) in Casino Park, even though in Sonic Adventure she never actually entered the Casinopolis level.
- Knuckles: "We have jungle mushrooms on my island too, but not this huge!" (allusion to Mushroom Hill Zone from Sonic & Knuckles) in Frog Forest.
- Shadow: "Space? Did you say SPACE?" when replying to Rouge who said, "We might even be at the edge of space." (allusion to Shadow's "fatal fall" from space in Sonic Adventure 2) in Egg Fleet.
- Metal Sonic: "I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you," when addressing Sonic (allusion to Sonic CD) in Metal Overlord.
- Knuckles: "The Egg Carrier is nothing compared to this!" (allusion to Sonic Adventure) in Final Fortress.
- Big: Big's quest for Froggy is reminiscent of his story in Sonic Adventure. In addition, the giant frogs in Frog Forest and Lost Jungle appear to be the same as Froggy.
Production Credits
Sonic Team
Executive Producer: Hisao Oguchi
Producer: Yuji Naka
Director: Takashi Iizuka
Art Director: Kazuyuki Hoshino
Main Programmer: Tetsu Katano
Main Game Designer: Shiro Maekawa
Sound Director: Jun Senoue
Player Designer: Nobuhiko Honda
Player Motion Designer: Atsushi Saito
Player Programmer: Tetsu Katano
Level Designers: Takashi Iizuka, Eitaro Toyoda
Stage Programmers: Takeshi Sakakibara, Makiko Nishimura, Tomoyuki Naito
Field Art Director: Hiroshi Nishiyama
Field Artists: Yoshitaka Miura, Takahiro Kudo, Michikazu Tamamura, Daizo Kinoshita
Enemy Game Designers: Shiro Maekawa
Enemy Designer: Kazuyuki Hoshino
Enemy Programmers: Masato Nakazawa, Makiko Nishimura, Makoto Suzuki, Tetsu Katano
S‑Stage Game Designer: Kenjiro Morimoto
S‑Stage Artists: Kaori Hitsuda, Michio Abe
S‑Stage Programmers: Shinya Matsunami, Hiroshi Iwasaki, Masatoshi Shitara
Scenario Writer: Shiro Maekawa
Event Scene Artist: Nobuhiko Honda
Story Event Programmer: Takeshi Sakakibara
Menu Screen Programmer: Makoto Suzuki
Menu Screen Artists: Yuji Uekawa, Takeshi Ichimura, Ryutaro Ishihara, MEDAL co. ltd.
Multi Platform Programmer: Makoto Suzuki
Multi Platform Artist: Ryutaro Ishihara
Development Support: Yoshitaka Kawabata, Shinya Matsunami, Tomonori Fukazawa, Shun Nakamura, Soosa Kim
CG Movie Producer: Keith Palmer
CG Movie Director: Takashi Iizuka
Story Board Designers: Shiro Maekawa, Kazuyuki Hoshino
CG Movie Production: Vision Scape Inc., Clayt Ratzlaff, Tammy McDonald, JS Lennox, Michael J. Sherak, Dave Riewald, Andrew Wilson, John Giordano, Ryan Benjamin, Bryan Pritchard, Steve Lennox, Paul Anderson
Sound Designed by: Wave Master Inc., Dolby Digital Pro Logic 2
Executive Coordinator: Tatsuya Kouzaki
Lead Music Composer: Jun Senoue
Music Composers: Naofumi Hataya, Yutaka Minobe, Tomoya Ohtani, Keiichi Sugiyama, Hideaki Kobayashi, Mariko Nanba, Teruhiko Nakagawa, Fumie Kumatani
Sound Effects: Jun Senoue, Takashi Endoh, Tomonori Sawada, Tatsuyuki Maeda
Technical Supervisor: Shigeharu Isoda
Theme Songs
- SONIC HEROES: Crush 40
- WE CAN: Ted Poley, Tony Harnell
- THIS MACHINE: Julien-K
- FOLLOW ME: Kay Hanley
- TEAM CHAOTIX: Gunnar Nelson (from the NELSONS)
- WHAT I'M MADE OF: Crush 40
Coordination Supervisor: Kazuo Koizumi
Recording Coordinators: Jun Senoue, Atsushi Kosugi (Beat on Beat inc.)
Recording Engineers: Stan Katayama, Masahiro Fukuhara, Hirokazu Akashi, Yoshitada Miya
Surround Mixed at: Wave Master Studio
Japanese Voices: Jun'ichi Kanemaru, Ryo Hirohashi, Nobutoshi Kanna, Kouji Yusa, Rumi Ochiai, Taiten Kusunoki, Taeko Kawata, Sayaka Aoki, Takashi Nagasako, Kenta Miyake, Yuki Masuda, Youko Teppouzuka, Etsuko Kozakura, Chikao Otsuka
Voice Recording Producer: Hiroyuki Inage (TOHOKUSHINSHA)
Voice Recording Director: Eriko Kimura (TOHOKUSHINSHA), Lani Minella
Recording: STUDIO UNI
Recording Coordinator: Akinori Nishiyama, Keith Palmer
English Voices: Ryan Drummond, William Corkery, Scott Dreier, David Humphrey, Lani Minella, Jon St. John, Jenny Douillard, Sarah Wulfeck, Marc Biagi, Bill Corkery, Emily Corkery, Deem Bristow
Voice Recording Editors: Rick Bowman, Lethal Sounds
Voice Files Operation: Attic Arcade Inc.
Assistant Producers: Miyoshi Takao, Kenjiro Morimoto
Product Support: Akinori Nishiyama, Yuji Uekawa, Masanobu Yamamoto
Multi Platform Library: Criterion Software Ltd., Render Ware
Middleware Support: Cri Middleware Co. Ltd., Masao Oshimi, Katsumi Yabuno, ADX, Sofdec
Sega Corporation
President: Hisao Oguchi
Consumer Division: Hideki Okamura, Masanao Maeda
Development Division: Toshihiro Nagoshi, Toshiro Nakayama, Yusuke Asano
Marketing: Naoko Ooka, Mariko Takeda, Hideki Youkaichiya
Public Relations: Yasushi Nagumo, Yoko Nagasawa
International Business: Tatsuyuki Miyazaki, Yusuke Suai
Creative Center: Takashi Ando, Kazuyoshi Hara, Ryo Suenaga, Tooru Sasaki, Yuki Kobayashi, Noriyuki Tarumi
Customer Relationship: Yutaka Shoji, Nobuyuki Inoue
TEST Department: Junichi Shimizu, Akira Nishikawa, Akira Terasawa, Satoshi Kuwano
QC Department: Kazuhiko Morii, Yuji Nakamura
Sega of America, Inc.
President and COO: Hideaki Irie
Localization Producer: Yosuke Moriya
Director of PD Osamu Shibamiya
Sr. Release Manager: Andrei Belkin
Product Manager: Noah Musler
Marketing Consultant: Lori Von Rueden
Advertising Manager: Teri Higgins
Creative Services: Arianne McCarthy
Public Relations Manager: Bret Blount
Director of QA: Deborah Kirkham
Offshore Project Manager: Shawn Dobbins
Sega Europe, Ltd.
President and COO: Naoya Tsurumi
Executive Vice President: Jin Shimazaki, Mike Sherlock
Senior Producer: Matt O'Driscol
Localization Producer: Kuniyo Matsumoto
Technical Producer: Elliot Martin
Marketing Director: Matthew Woodley
Marketing Manager: Gary Knight
Product Manager: Mathew Quaeck
Translators: Giuseppe Rizzo, Brigitte Nadesan, Marta Lois González, Zuzanna Zabkova
Quality Assurance: Darius Sadeghian, David Smith, Roy Boateng, Chris Geiles
Special Thanks: Shinobu Toyoda, Yukio Aoyama, Atsushi Kanno, Masaya Amano, Mizuki Hosoyamada, Sachiko Kawamura, Yasuko Maruyama, Tomomi Siverman, Mizuki FriedMan, ESP Guitars, LINE 6
Resources
Box Art
Gamecube
US cover
EU cover
EU Player's Choice cover
- Heroes gc jap.jpg
JP cover
PS2
US cover
EU cover
JP cover
Xbox
US cover
US Platinum Hits cover
EU cover
JP cover
PC
EU cover
JP cover
Artworks
- Rouge heroes.png
- Metalsonic heroes.png
Template:SHTeams Template:SonicGamecubeGames
| Sonic the Hedgehog games for the following systems | |
|---|---|
 |
2003 Sonic Heroes 2004 Sonic Mega Collection Plus 2005 Sonic Gems Collection | Shadow the Hedgehog 2006 Sonic Riders | Sega Genesis Collection 2008 Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity | Sonic Unleashed 2009 Sega Fun Pack: Sonic Mega Collection Plus & Shadow the Hedgehog |
