--
Sonic the Fighters -- Llllet's
get ready to rumbllle! Pinball games and racers seem almost natural
for Sonic, but here's a zinger of a genre-bender. StF's target
audience were the groups who had not previously taken much of an
interest in fighters; namely young children and female players.
AM2's characteristic penchant for gameplay that is simple yet
extraordinarily deep is apparent in all aspects of StF's design. At
the same time, the animated theme allows for humorous, wild-eyed
cartoon moves and effects that couldn't be done in say, Virtua
Fighter (at least not without a lynch mob composed of hardcore
fans).
--
Story -- No sooner has
Robotnik's Death Egg been knocked out of the sky than the doc begins
construction of a superior model: the Death Egg II. Tails'
transformable reconnaissance robot locates the machine in outer
space and relays images to Tails' base. Our fox buddy throws
together a spaceship to reach the Death Egg II, but there are a
couple of problems: the ship requires power from the eight (yes,
there are apparently eight now) Chaos Emeralds to launch, and it
only seats one. The Emeralds are scattered around the planet, in the
possession of eight "guardians." One each with Sonic the Hedgehog,
Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Fang the
Sniper, Espio the Chameleon, Bark the Polarbear, and Bean the
Dynamite. Sonic and Tails meet Knuckles on Angel Island to determine
the best course of action. Knuckles points out that since there's
only room for one, only the strongest should go. Of course, he
decides that he's the logical choice, and demands that Sonic give
him his Chaos Emerald. Sonic, not being particularly fond of
Knuckles' methods, prepares to start a fight. Just as the two are
about to go the rounds, however, Tails interrupts the brawl with an
idea: a fighting tournament to determine the strongest one fair and
square.
--
Gameplay Info -- Like all Sega
fighters, StF utilizes a simple three-button setup (Punch, Kick, and
Guard) with all special moves being combinations of those three. The
way you guard, however, is a new monkey altogether. Each character
starts every round with shield Barriers. These Barriers are depleted
as the match wears on, meaning you can only guard a certain amount
of times. Once the Barrier is worn through, that character can't
guard again until the next round.
There are two different gameplay modes: Manual
and Automatic. Manual is the standard game, whereas Automatic is a
simplified mode where special moves and combos are pulled off
randomly simply by mashing the buttons like a maniac. It goes
without saying that this mode was designed for very young players
and the mentally retarded. And maybe your grandmother, the old
broad's gotta start somewhere.
Meet the combatants and their individual
specialties:
- Sonic the Hedgehog -- Spin Attack
- Miles "Tails" Prower -- Propeller Dash
- Knuckles the Echidna -- Knuckle Glider
- Amy Rose -- Magical Hammer
- Espio the Chameleon -- Tongue Attack
- Fang the Sniper -- Popgun
- Bean the Dynamite -- Bomb Attack (In his alternate costume, he
takes on the form of Bin from the 1988 Sega arcade action title,
Dynamite Dux.)
- Bark the Polarbear -- Throw (His alternate costume is a Santa
suit.)
- Metal Sonic -- All
- Like Dural from the Virtua Fighter series, Metal
Sonic has the moves of every character in the game at his
disposal. To top that off, he takes off alot more damage, and
can attack from a distance with a laser from his stomach.
- Dr. Eggman -- None
- Robotnik is the final bonus round. He has no special attacks
at all outside of a PPP combo and a throw. The catch: you have
to beat him in under fifteen seconds if you want the good
ending.
- Super Sonic -- Super Spin Attack
- Plays exactly like Sonic, except he's faster and can receive
no damage. Super Sonic is only obtainable in round two against
Metal Sonic. You must have first beaten every opponent without
losing a single round.
Here are the arenas, in order of succession, as
well as the fighters you'll face in 'em:
- South Island (Knuckles)
- Flying Carpet (Amy)
- Aurora Icefield (Bark)
- Mushroom Hill (Espio)
- Canyon Cruise (Tails)
- Dynamite Factory (Bean)
- Casino Night (Fang)
- Giant Wing (Sonic)
- Death Egg's Eye (Metal Sonic)
- Death Egg's Hangar (Robotnik)
--
Screenshots --
 
--
Behind the Screens -- Ah, the
ramifications of bored game designers. StF was conceived at the
hands of an AM2 programmer, who worked Sonic into the code of their
recently-completed Fighting Vipers. Yu Suzuki, head honcho at
AM2, got a glimpse of the gag and thought it was a hoot, so he
presented the idea to Yuji Naka over at team Sonic for approval.
Naka-san was as enthusiastic as the AM2 gang, and so development of
Sonic the Fighters commenced.
Sega of America was quite hesitant about
releasing this game in the US. As one Sega rep at the time put it:
"It's like having Mickey Mouse in a fighting game. It just doesn't
seem right." Oookay. The stupidity of that statement speaks for
itself, I think. (And I'm quite certain that particular PR moron is
no longer with Sega.) After some consideration, they did thankfully
end up distributing a domestic version under the title Sonic
Championship. Unfortunately, it got a very limited run,
and you'd be hard-pressed to find it at even the most elite arcade
centers.
For years there was a Saturn version promised.
But alas, it was never to be. The closest to Sonic the Fighters most
US gamers will ever get to play is via Fighters Megamix,
which sports Bark and Bean as well as the South Island and Aurora
Icefield arenas. All we can do is hope and pray for the game's
inclusion in some future classics collection.
More recently, rumors of a sequel began
circulating from whatever source. They were quickly shot down,
however.
--
Trivia --
- StF was the first game to utilize the Model 2: Step 2
hardware. Step 2 allowed for stretching and morphing polygons,
which I guess figures into the animated style of StF.
- A bonus arena, Sunset Town, didn't make it into the final
game. However, the BGM for the stage is included in the StF
original soundtrack.
- In the opening cinema to the US version, Robotnik's name is
misspelled (with a "C" instead of a "K"). Sacrilege, I say!
Gameplay info thanks to "Mr. Dordray" and Heidi
"Zero-chan" Kemps. Screenshots thanks to Jonathan "WB" Gray.
Information compiled and arranged by Jared "Green Gibbon!" Matte. Make
no mistake, this site is a part of SonicNEXT. All Sonic
related materials are copyright Sega
Enterprises. SonicNEXT is created by Zifei Wu. Space provided by
VGHQ.com. Kick, punch, it's all in the mind! Oh sorry, wrong
console...
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