Sonic and the Black Knight
From Sonic Retro
| Sonic and the Black Knight |
|---|
| System(s): Nintendo Wii |
| Publisher: Sega |
| Developer: Sonic Team |
| Genre: Action/Adventure |
Sonic and the Black Knight (ソニックと暗黒の騎士, Sonikku to Ankoku no Kishi) is an upcoming title within the Sonic the Hedgehog series, to be released exclusively on Nintendo Wii as the second entry in the Storybook series, following Sonic and the Secret Rings.
Set in the world of King Arthur, the game combines Sonic's trademark speed with a new swordfighting system, making use of the Wii Remote's motion-sensing functionality.
Plot
The game begins in the story "King Arthur and the Knights Of The Round Table" when the granddaughter of the legendary Merlin, Merlina, is trying to escape pursuit from a mysterious evil band of knights. Seeing no escape, she summons out a Chosen Hero to save her. This ends up being Sonic the Hedgehog, and, after a sloppy entering, easily dispatches most of the evil creatures. When preparing to face off the Big One, he is pulled back by Merlina and warped to another location. When Sonic asks why she stopped him and who that guy was, Merlina explains that it was King Arthur who, after being corrupted by the Power Of The Excalibur Sword, transformed into The Black Knight, also turning his sword into Deathcalibur. Sonic's speed alone will not put an end to The Black Knight's tyranny, so he must take on a talking, "ancient" sword known as Caliburn. After facing King Arthur another time and fails to defeat him, Sonic must prove himself as a knight and in order to do that, he must get help from the Local Blacksmith (portrayed by Tails), complete tasks from The Lady Of The Lake (portrayed by Amy), and defeat King Arthur's Knights Of Round Table (the Knights appearing in the game's story are Sir Lancelot portrayed by Shadow the Hedgehog, Sir Gawain portrayed by Knuckles the Echidna, and Sir Percival portrayed Blaze the Cat).
After defeating King Arthur in a final confrontation, the King disappears in a puff of smoke. He then meets up with Merlina and The Knights Of The Round Table and Merlina reveals that King Arthur was a mere illusion conjured by her grandfather. She then also reveals her true plan to make the Kingdom eternal by charming herself with the evil power of the Underworld. After escaping the Kingdom, Sonic and the Knights Of The Round Table set off to stop Merlina and must use the Sacred Swords to form a barrier that would presumably defeat Merlina. Before the barrier is created, Sonic confronts Merlina trying to convince the stop all this but she refuses and transforms into The Dark Queen. She brutally beats Sonic, and Caliburn is broke in half in the process. The barrier is later revealed to be too weak and even though the Lady Of The Lake and The Knights Of The Round Table tell Sonic to get out of there, he refuses. Sonic's bravery and courage then revives and transforms Caliburn into the Excalibur and Sonic is turned into a Golden Knight. With his new power, Excalibur Sonic battles The Dark Queen and defeats her. After the battle, Sonic confronts and cheers up Merlina, telling her to live life to the fullest. The Knights Of The Round Table arrive and with King Arthur being an illusion, they must now disband. Caliburn then says otherwise and reveals that the true King Arthur is surprisingly Sonic.
After the credits roll, it is revealed Sonic told this tale to Amy as an excuse for leaving her behind. Amy doesn't believe it and it is implied that she went chasing Sonic with her hammer. As this happens, the book "King Arthur and the Knights Of The Round Table" turns into "Sonic and the Black Knight".
Gameplay
Gameplay for Sonic and the Black Knight differs from traditional games in the Sonic series by mixing in the new element of swordplay, along with the traditional Sonic platforming and speed. Swordplay is implemented through the Wii Remote. Gameplay will be more similar to Sonic Unleashed than Sonic and the Secret Rings; Sonic's movement will be controlled with the analog stick, and gameplay will mainly be 3D, but occasionally the camera will shift to a side-scrolling perspective for traditional 2D gameplay.
Swordplay will be implemented so that players can slice through enemies without slowing down, but when faced with more formidable enemies, players will engage in advanced swordplay, able to thrust, parry, and perform other maneuvers. The sword will not be used just for combat; players may thrust it through a wall while falling to slow their descent.
The stages will feature civilians that the player can choose to help or smite; these actions and the player's deeds will be judged at the end of each stage, updating the player's "knight ranking" accordingly. By helping out citizens, players will be able to purchase new items from them, such as gauntlets, magical tomes, and new swords. There will be about 200 items in the game, some of which can be gained by opening treasure chests in the stages. An online mode will allow treasures to be traded.
The game changes the traditional level items, such as springs and speed pads, into "elements". These elements come in varying colors; red elements will be used as springs, yellow elements will be used as speed boosts, and purple elements will be used to fill up the "Soul Gauge". This gauge is filled by defeating enemies and collecting red fairies, and is used to unleash a speed boost that, when reaching enemies, will inflict a powerful ombination attack, Soul Surge. Additionally, instead of rails from previous games, players will fire a ballista and then grind across its rope.
The mission-based system from Sonic and the Secret Rings will also return, but the missions will be easier to complete. Each stage will consist of multiple missions which feature different stipulations. The skill system from the aforementioned game also returns, but will be reviewed to adjust any problems that were present in that game; the skill system is also being designed so as not to interfere with the game's tempo.
Music
Veteran composer Jun Senoue returns to compose music for this installment, mixing familiar Sonic themes with a Celtic style.[5] In addition, his band, Crush 40, will be returning to perform the main theme of the game, "Knight of the Wind", as heard in the Tokyo Game Show trailer. Tommy Tallarico has the game listed on his website as one of the games he is working on. Finally, Richard Jacques is confirmed to be making the music for the cutscenes by Official Nintendo Magazine.
Resources
Scans
US cover (front)
- Satbk wii jp cover.png
JP cover (front)
Australian cover
Spanish cover
German cover
Artwork
Trivia
- This is the only non-pirated Sonic game where Dr. Robotnik made no appearance whatsoever, aside from pieces of fan art that were featured in the game.
- Caliburn, the sword Sonic wields in the game, is in fact the fabled Sword in the Stone. According to the legend, whomever drew Caliburn from the anvil it was embedded in would be crowned King of England.
| Sonic the Hedgehog games for the following systems | |
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2007 Sonic and the Secret Rings | Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 2008 Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity | Sonic Unleashed 2009 Sonic and the Black Knight | Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games | Sega Fun Pack: Sonic and the Secret Rings & Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz 2010 Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing | Sonic Colours 2011 Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games |