December/January 2003, when I finished my first ever Sprite Comic, "Battle For The Chaos Emeralds", I set the stage for my very own Sonic Continuity! To celebrate the first anniversary of New Sonic Adventures, I compiled a Guide to what elements went into each Comic and what inspired me to create a whole new universe for Sonic The Hedgehog! - Stuart (SkSpAwN)
Sonic The Hedgehog: Battle For The Chaos Emeralds
NOTE: Some of the Mistakes listed concerning this Comic have been rectified in the Remastered Emerald Edition
Title Inspiration:
A combination of "Sonic Adventure 2: Battle", a picture I once drew depicting Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman and a Grounder Badnik fighting and digging for Chaos Emerald which I titled "Quest For The Chaos Emeralds" and the four-part "Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog" special by the same name.
Plot Inspiration:
"Sonic The Hedgehog 1"- Sonic meeting and fighting Robotnik for the first time.
"Sonic The Hedgehog 2"- Sonic and Tails team up to battle aboard the Death Egg against Eggman; the powers of the seven Emeralds being used to create Super Sonic.
"Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles"- Sonic and Tails meet Knuckles. Eggman travels to Floating Island to steal the Chaos Emeralds to power the Death Egg. Sonic and Knuckles fight the Mecha Sonic. Floating Island's descent into the sea and eventual re-raising back into the sky.
"SatAM Sonic The Hedgehog"- Eggman's Robotropolis, the Knothole Forest was a source of inspiration for the Emerald Heights Village.
"Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie"- Eggman's Land Of Darkness/Eggmanland was the inspiration for Egg Island. Sonic and Knuckles are friends.
"Fleetway's Sonic The Comic"- Eggman starting out as a respected member of the Crystal Island community and being transformed into an evil genius by the Emeralds is similar to the Kintobor/Robotnik origin story of Fleetway. The giant chain, which links the Miracle Planet to Mobius, was a source of inspiration for the Destiny Bridge that links Crystal/Egg Island to South Island.
Goofs:
*Knuckles states there are Seven Chaos Emeralds, indeed my purpose was to have six Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald being the Seventh and this is supported in "Tales Of Shadow #1", however there are clearly EIGHT Emeralds in the Hidden Palace.
*When I did this comic, I didn't know about the transparency option in Microsoft Paint. Thus sprites look a little out of place with the background.
*All the E-1000 Series Robot sprites are actually missing the Gun-Mounted arm and as such appear to be shooting their energy bolts from a gap in their armour.
*Eggman's sprite can't seem to decide which format it is in this comic, as it switches from Advance style to Genesis style, although the Genesis style was my intent for this comic.
Other Notes:
*There is a cameo by Pachacamac, as he entrusts Sonic and Tails with the Red Chaos Emerald.
*An early sprite of Cream was edited to become an extra in the Emerald Heights scene.
Sonic The Hedgehog: The Time Stone Saga
Title Inspiration:
Mainly from the Time Stones of "Sonic The Hedgehog CD" as well as the Sagas of Dragonball Z.
Plot Inspiration:
"SEGASonic Arcade"- The appearance of Ray
"Sonic The Hedgehog 2"- Sonic and Tails travel to Westside Island to fight Eggman, the appearance of the Tornado.
"Martin Adams's Sonic Continuity"- Emerald Hill Zone being on South Island comes from these books, Green Hill was moved to Westside Island in order to include it in my Continuity.
"Sonic The Hedgehog CD"- The appearance of Amy Rose, Metal Sonic, the Little Planet and the Time Stones, Eggman's plan to alter the past to control the future.
"Sonic Advance 2"- The appearance of Cream.
"Knuckles' Chaotix"- The introduction of Mighty, Espio, Vector, Charmy, Heavy and Bomb
"Sonic The Hedgehog: Triple Trouble"- Nack's debut and his plans to steal and sell the Chaos Emeralds.
"Fleetway's Sonic The Comic"- Chaotix have a grudge against Nack, Chaotix and Nack are also very heavily based on the personalities of Chaotix presented in Fleetway. Robotnik's plan to take control of the Little Planet using Metal Sonic as well as the Brotherhood Of Metallix's accomplishment of altering the past to control the present.
"Archie's Sonic The Hedgehog Comics"- Knuckles and Chaotix live on Floating Island
Goofs:
*Where did Eggman get that scroll?
*It is not explained precisely how and indeed why Sonic was whisked away from Egg Island to Little Planet by the power of the Time Stones, especially considering there wasn't a Stone near him at the time. Perhaps Eggman was behind this somehow?
*Although titled "Ambush On Flickie's Island", Part 3 takes place more heavily on the Little Planet, with Flickie's Island being seen for a brief moment at the start of the comic.
*Though they obviously must have used some kind of teleportation device, it is still unclear exactly how Chaotix appeared in the Emerald Chamber.
*Charmy's name is spelt "Charmie", which is not the correct SEGASonic spelling. This is due to the fact that his name has appeared as "Charmy", "Charmie" and "Charmee" and I did not learn that "Charmy" was correct until playing a ROM of "Knuckles' Chaotix"; which was after I finished "Perfect Chaos".
*Sonic's dialogue is a bit scattered in his recollection speech at the start of Part 4, due to my poor proof-reading.
*Another dialogue/grammar error occurs as Metal Sonic replies to Eggman "There was complications"; surely a machine would not make this kind of mistake?
Other Notes:
*Heavy and Bomb are separate machines but are referred to as one under the pseudonym "Heavybomb" as a reference to their partnership.
*In the first draft, Eggman had created three new Metal Sonic's as his generals. This was changed to include Heavy and Bomb
*The new Metal Sonic underwent an upgrade but appears to have suffered a downgrade as it is easily incapacitated this time around. This was actually due to the need to advance the Saga but perhaps Eggman had to exchange defences for intelligence and speed in his new Metal Sonic?
*Bean, Bark and Antoine have cameos as fellow prisoners being escorted off the Prisoner Air Ship that holds Amy captive.
*"Ambush On Flickie's Island" was originally going to be a separate comic altogether starring Knuckles, but was re-written to be included in the Time Stone Saga.
*I did not know that Cream was able to fly by flapping her ears until after I finished the Saga, which is why she hitches a ride with Ray for the entire Saga until her departure from South Island in the Epilogue, also I did not include Cheese simply because I had no sprite of him.
*In the first draft, the final part of the Saga was to include Shadow as the Guardian of Little Planet, who was to appear the fight with Sonic, believing him to be responsible for the Planet's power being misused, the battle was written to come to a draw as Sonic smashed the Stones and fled the Planet as it faded away and thus trapped them all on it. This was written out and later used in "Perfect Chaos" and "Tales Of Shadow #2".
Sonic The Hedgehog: Perfect Chaos
Title Inspiration:
From Fleetway's "Sonic Adventure" adaptation story where one of the final stories was simply called "Perfect Chaos", also, quite obviously, from the final form of Chaos from "Sonic Adventure".
Plot Inspiration:
"Sonic Adventure"- Chaos and his ability to absorb the powers of the Emeralds to grow stronger to his ascension to his Perfect form, the Tornado 2. The debut of Big The Cat.
"Sonic Adventure 2"- The debut of Shadow and Chaos Control, his fights with Sonic and the final battle between Super Sonic, Super Shadow, Super Knuckles and Perfect Chaos was inspired by the final battle against the Finalhazard Biolizard.
"Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles"- Super Knuckles also Eggman's deception of Shadow is similar to how he deceived Knuckles in these games.
"Archie's Sonic The Hedgehog Comics"- The Freedom Fighters work to restore Egg Island back to Crystal Island along with its inhabitants is similar to the Robian-era in Archie. Sonic's mysterious predication to Tails that the young fox will be the only hope if they fail is similar to the prophecy in Archie which names Tails as the future savoir of Mobius.
"Mortal Kombat 2"- Knuckles's ceiling spike trap
"Dragonball Z's Buu Saga"- Chaos's ability to absorb other life forms is reminiscent of Majin Buu, as is his Super Chaos form.
"Dragonball Z Namek Saga and onwards"- The ascension to the Super forms and the energy battles were directly inspired by the Super Saiyan transformations and fights from Dragonball Z episodes.
Goofs:
*Where did the lever Knuckles pushed to release the spikes actually come from?
*Isn't it lucky that Nack and Charmy just happened to come crashing into the room where Sonic, Tails and Amy were?
Other Notes:
*Seeing as no sprites of the actual Perfect Chaos are available for obvious reasons, I had to re-evaluate the growth of Chaos. No Sprites of Chaos 1, 2, 4 and 6 were available so I wrote the story to include Super Chaos (a Genesis style Chaos Zero who appears more powerful than the Advance style) and a sprite of Void from "Sonic Shuffle". This is explained in the story by Super Chaos absorbing the remains of Metal Sonic; by doing this it takes on an appearance to resemble Metal Sonic and is given a streamlined Perfect form, which was required for the final battle.
*Another reference to Majin Buu in my version Chaos is best seen in Chaos Zero's extend-o-arm attack he does to Shadow, which was put together by a re-colouring of a sprite sheet of Kid Buu.
*I purposely left out Super Tails in this story in order to have a basis for a future comic, although looking back it may not have been required to include Super Knuckles.
*In "Dragonball Z" terms of power levels in this comic: Chaos Zero has power equal to Super Sonic, Shadow has power to equal slightly less than Super Sonic. Super Chaos has power to equal Super Sonic and Super Knuckles. Super Knuckles has power to equal that of Shadow. Super Sonic and Super Shadow have power to equal Super Chaos and Perfect Chaos has unequalled power.
Tales Of Shadow #1: Chaos Control
Title Inspiration:
Probably some unconscious link to "Tale From The Crypt" and a definite link to Shadow's patented Chaos Control manoeuvre
Plot Inspiration:
"Sonic Adventure"- Ancient past showing the Echidna civilisation, Angel Island, Tikal and Pachacamac and the creation of Chaos (though his origin differs). The "Seven Servers" speech.
"Sonic Adventure 2"- Professor Gerald Robotnik and his involvement in the creation of Shadow.
"Fleetway's Sonic The Comic"- Responsible for the strong Father/Daughter relationship between Tikal and Pachacamac. Chaos's personality and methods are slightly akin to the Fleetway Chaos.
"Archie's Sonic The Hedgehog Comics/SatAM Sonic The Hedgehog"- The mention of the Overlanders is displayed in this comic
"Dragonball Z's Majin Buu Saga"- In much the same ways as seen in "Perfect Chaos", we also see Super Chaos's ability to sense other life forms and his rampage across the Planet absorbing life forms is akin to Majin Buu's randomly destructive slaughter of Earth.
"Fleetway's Sonic The Comic"- In "The Power Of The Chaos Emeralds" part of Fleetway's Knuckles Saga, the Freedom Fighters captured Robotnik and imprisoned him in a cell in their base until Knuckles rescued him. This was the inspiration for his capture, as well as references to Robotnik's first defeat in Fleetway's "Doomsday" Saga.
Goofs:
*Though technically not a Goof (explained in Other Notes), it seems to take Chaos a lot longer to absorb enough life forms to transform into Super Chaos.
Other Notes:
*The inhabitants of the Planet Mobius are of little energy sustenance (IE: have low power ratings) with only certain individuals providing Chaos with the burst of energy it needs to transform into another form. This is why, in "Perfect Chaos", the absorption of the Chaotix is enough to transform the beast, as they all have unique strengths and talents which equal the amount of individuals absorbed by Chaos in "Chaos Control".
*This was the first of my Comics to feature guest appearances by other Sprite Authors and characters, it was also the first to have a cameo by Spikes The Porcupine; the Sprite I designed to represent me in my comics (though this was extremely brief; Spikes can be seen in the scene where Chaos Zero destroys Gerald's laboratory).
Sonic The Hedgehog: The Chaos Ring Saga
Title Inspiration:
Mainly from the Chaos Rings featured in "Knuckles' Chaotix". "Search For The Rings" owes a small debt to the "Lord Of The Rings" and "Power Awakened" has some inspiration from the awakening of Gohan's Mystical Powers in "Dragonball Z's Majin Buu Saga".
Plot Inspiration:
"Knuckles' Chaotix"- The Chaos Rings
"Dragonball"- The groups searching for the last two Rings is inspired by the continuing search for the Dragonballs.
"Fleetway's Sonic The Comic"- Continued reference to the "Power Of The Chaos Emeralds" part of Fleetway's Knuckles Saga (see "Perfect Chaos").
"Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie"- The name for Metal Sonic, Metallia, was taken from the Japanese version of the movie. Tails's body boarding antics and Sonic's relaxation with his music was also inspired by the Movie.
"Sonic Adventure"- The full debut of Big and Froggy and the appearance of the Tornado 2 X. Red Mountain and Casionopolis are mentioned.
"Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier/Mission: Impossible 2"- Knuckles's mountain hike
"Sonic Advance/Sonic R"- The appearance of Mecha, Metal and Super Metal Knuckles
"Sonic Adventure 2"- The appearance of Rouge and her dialogue and fight with Knuckles is taken from their discourse in SA2.
"Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles"- Super Metal Knuckles's absorbing the powers of the Emeralds is akin to Mecha Sonic from Knuckles' Sky Sanctuary Zone in S3&K. The appearance of Super Tails. The final battle against Super Mecha Robotnik was inspired by S3&K's "Doomsday" Zone.
"Dragonball Z's Frieza Saga"- Tails's anger triggering his ascension to Super Tails in "Nightmare Reborn" takes inspiration from Goku's transformation to a Super Saiyan when fighting Frieza on Namek.
"SatAM Sonic The Hedgehog/The Return Of Superman"- The "Blast From The Past" episodes that showed Robotnik's giant ship polluting and Roboticising the Planet was inspiration for the Robotocisor Bomb. Another inspiration for this came from Mogul's seed bombs that were launched on Coast City to spawn Engine City.
"Dragonball Z's Babidi Saga"- The six-stage battle in "Final Assault" is reminiscent of Goku, Vegeta, Gohan and the Supreme Ki's infiltration of Babidi's ship.
"Dragonball Z's Cell Saga"- The reliance upon Tails to take on the Jet Black metal Sonic is akin to Goku entrusting Gohan to battle Perfect Cell
"Fleetway's Sonic The Comic/Sonic The Hedgehog 2"- Super Metal Robotnik was inspired by a triad of Fleetway Sagas, which saw Robotnik absorbing the power of the Emeralds to become an all-powerful God, and by the Battle Suit from the Death Egg Zone of Sonic 2.
Goofs:
*The "It Doesn't matter" Theme seen in the first part has the word "doesn't" spelt "doens't" in one panel.
*In the On-Line version of "Final Assault", there is colour corruption in the transfer to GIF format which makes Eggman's transmitted speech throughout the six-stage battle difficult to read.
Other Notes:
*The inclusion of "It Doesn't Matter", the Theme Of Sonic, was actually a combination of both the Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 Theme songs.
*In the background of Eggman's Underground lair, slightly hidden behind some E1000 Robots, is Silver Sonic from "Sonic The Hedgehog 2" on Genesis.
*The re-design of Metallia was a Custom made sprite created from a Megaman Forte base.
*Spikes makes another cameo appearance as a resident of Crystal Island, he can be seen looking up as the Bomb bares down to Roboticise the Island.
*This Saga was written for the specific purpose of establishing the main characters with the ability to turn Super at will, like that of a Super Saiyan in "Dragonball Z". Originally this was intended for only Sonic but I expanded it to include Tails and Knuckles to make reference to "Sonic 3 & Knuckles". Although this Saga is very heavily based around the appearance of these Super forms, they will be saved for special situations in future comics so as not to drown their importance and relevance.
*This Saga also allowed for cameos from familiar faces such as Ray, Princess Sally, Bunny Rabbot, Bean, Bark, Billy Hatcher, Mina and Antoine during the Epilogue, as well as using a Gundam sprite for one of Eggman's Guardians and a Custom made Eggrobo Sprite.
Tales Of Shadow #2: Marooned
Title Inspiration:
Mainly from an episode of "Red Dwarf Season Three" by the same name. In post-production this Comic was titled "Entrapment".
Plot Inspiration:
"Robocop Prime Directives"- The name Cable.
"WCW"- The character of Sting (watching from the shadows) as an inspiration for Shadow's character.
Other Notes:
*This Comic was designed with the specific purpose of filling in a bunch of plot holes I had in my continuity, Shadow was chosen because he fitted the plot better and it helped to explain how his character had gotten into various situations and how he'd grown over the years.
*Forte is cast as a Bounty Hunter with the same name and is a simply re-coloured Megaman Forte Sprite, whilst Cable is a slightly re-coloured Megaman X Sprite.
*Sean-O from "Bonus Randomness" has a brief cameo as an inhabitant of Crystal Island and Spikes can be seen dressed in a lab coat in the same scene.
*This is the first Comic I've made where a character has been literally killed off
Bonus Randomness Comics
Title Inspiration:
Originally it was just "Random Comics" and the short Title was "Bonus", then one night I just merged the two on impulse.
Plot Inspiration:
Usually from experiences I've had in the past or in my day-to-day life, chronicling my feelings, hobbies and observations. This applies to my friends and their lives. Inspiration also comes from external sources such as "The Matrix", music, games, films and anything I feel like at the time.
Goofs: *None of the Comics are particularly funny and with a lot of them only I really know what they are about
Other Notes:
*Spikes The Porcupine really was created by me, having been inspired by Fleetway's "Origin Of Sonic" story that showed Sonic as a scruffy brown hedgehog. Spikes originally lived in a volcanic region and could shoot fireballs from his gloves and float using flames form his shoes (ironically this is a similar concept to Shadow's shoes).
*Ali Fox started life as Jimmy Fox, with the exact appearance minus the Nightmare glove. However, Jimmy became Jaymz and the Fox was altered slightly to become Ali Fox.
*$h@d()W(pronounced "Shazzdow") is based off a wrestling persona one of my friends created which he called simply Shadow. The Shazz part I added in after naming my Shadow Chao "Shazz" on Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
*The first concept I had for "Bonus Randomness" was a plot driven story featuring Spikes (as the Author and main star), Jimmy Fox (in a kind of neurotic role), Sid (as a laid back kinda guy) and $h@d()W( a Vegeta type of role) as a group on a mission to rescue the Key of Reality. Called "Key Quest Comics" these were to include many appearances by other game stars such as Sonic, Mario, Kirby, Samus and Sparkster. However, I altered the format when I realised I probably wouldn't be able to maintain the plot.
*Spikes was also drafted in to appear in "New Sonic Adventures" continuity as the star of a comic based off "Dragonball Z: The History Of Trunks", in which Spikes would be guided by Knuckles and Shadow to find the Chaos Emeralds and try to harness their powers to defeat Robotnik, who had killed Sonic twenty years previously. This idea would be similar to an "Elseworlds" story and is still being considered along with many other comic ideas.
