Super Sonic

This page is about the video game character Sonic the Hedgehog. For an entry on high-frequency sound waves, see supersonic.

Super Sonic is an in-game form of the video game character Sonic the Hedgehog. In Super Sonic form, Sonic is faster, tougher, and near invincible. To reach this form, Sonic must first collect all of the Chaos Emeralds on Emerald Isle, and harness their power with Golden Rings.

Overview

Sonic began as a video game on the Sega Genesis console, and later became an animated series. In many versions of the game and television cartoon series, Sonic's main objective is to collect all of the Chaos Emeralds to prevent the evil Dr. Robotnik from harnessing their energy to destroy or conquer the world. In the early Sega Genesis original title Sonic the Hedgehog, there were 10 chaos emeralds, all of which are different colors; this number was later reduced to 8. In some versions, there is a 'Master Chaos Emerald' which contains great energy and can power entire doomsday devices on its own. These Chaos Emeralds are what provide the energy for Sonic to become Super Sonic.

Sonic collects the Chaos Emeralds by entering into special stages in which he must collect all of the golden rings before the time runs out (in the first version of the game, Sonic does not need to do this; he must merely break through the walls of the dimension and reach the Emerald before the time is up). Once the player has accomplished entering and finishing the special stage 8 (or 10) times, he must collect 50 rings in the real world and jump (double-jump in later versions) to activate the temporary power called Super Sonic.

The Abilities of Super Sonic

Sonic the Hedgehog possesses the ability to run very fast, jump into a spiked ball to attack, perform 'spin-dashes,' and (in later versions) perform a 'super-spin' to rev-up for a spin-dash (see Sonic the Hedgehog). Becoming Super Sonic enhances Sonic's abilities in many ways:

1. Sonic is invincible

In the Sonic games, to be 'invincible' is a temporary condition which means that Sonic is, for the duration of the invincibility, immune to the attacks of enemy 'badniks' (Robotnik's robotic creations from the good animals of the Chaos Isle). It also allows Sonic to destroy most badniks by simply touching them ('bosses' like Robotnik himself always take multiple hits to defeat, but the amount of hits that they must take is probably reduced as well). Sonic is still susceptible to death by drowning, falling off-screen, smashing between objects, etc. Normally, Sonic is never invincible except when he picks up the temporary Invincibility Box.

2. Sonic's Abilities are Enhanced

Which is to say that all of Super Sonic's movements, including running, spin-dash, jumping through the air, flying, swimming, climbing walls (with a rope), etc. are sped up to the max. This often means a total inability for the beginner to control Sonic's movements due to his flying through the air so fast and often getting himself killed by leaping off cliffs by mistake. Luckily, this is countered by an increase in Sonic's agility: Super Sonic can easily switch directions or stop himself, especially in the air. Sonic also jumps much higher and remains in the air for an abnormally long time (allowing for the flying-off-cliffs incidents).

3. Sonic transforms

Super Sonic has long, spiky yellow hair. It resembles Sonic's normal, spiky blue hair, except that it glows and flashes a bright white-yellow light. It has been proven that this appearance, as well as Super Sonic's enhanced abilities and the very idea of Super Sonic itself, derives from Super Saiyan, the highest form of a Saiyan in the television series Dragon Ball Z as well as its subsidiarie Dragon Ball GT. Like Super Saiyan form, Super Sonic is also temporary in most cases: he must continue to collect Golden Rings for the duration of Super Sonic, as his rings steadily decrease to fuel his power. When his rings reach zero, Super Sonic morphs back into Sonic, and Sonic is left without any rings to protect himself from the attacks of badniks. Additionally, Sonic must again collect 50 rings in order to re-activate the Super Sonic form.

Hyper Sonic

Hyper Sonic has only appeared in Sonic and Knuckles when using the combined Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles cartridges. His abilities are the same as Super Sonic's, with the added ability of the 'lightning flash'. It is used in the same manner as the Lightning Shield: he emits 4 sparks, and jumps 2-3 times higher than normal, meanwhile killing all enemies in sight.

The Comics

In Sonic the Comic published by Fleetway Super Sonic was an evil version of Sonic that manifested itself in Sonic's body when Sonic was under extreme stress or anger. Unlike his game counterpart, STC's Super Sonic had no qualms about injuring innocents after he had disposed of a threat. As time went on Super Sonic became stronger, he developed the ability to fire energy out of his eyes and in a dream sequence was shown to have the power to move Mobius' moon out of orbit.

During the coarse of the comic Sonic and Super Sonic became separated and Super Sonic was hurled into the Special Zone. Eventually there was a showdown but a character known as the Omni Viewer froze him inside of himself. Eventually Super Sonic escaped as part of the biggest event in STC history (issue 100) he caused an EMP Pulse which shut down every machine on the planet, inadvertently completely shutting down all of Robotnik's robots and machines. However Super Sonic lost his memory and became good for a short while. (Although Sonic and Co. hand no clue where he was) He reappeared later very much weaker due to the lack of Chaos Energy in his body. He absorbed Chaos's power and regained his strength, however this also brought back his former memories and with it his evil self. Eventually Sonic absorbed Super Sonic back into his own body and pushed him far down into his subconscious.