Summary
Sonic the Hedgehoggames may be most well-known for their high-speed gameplay and groovy soundtracks, but they have also featured some admittedly bizarre stories over the years. Not allSonicstories end up being all that ambitious or interesting, but anyone who’s looking for over-the-top narratives packed full of unique characters and crazy scenarios will still be able to find more than a few when flicking through this legendary franchise.
A story being exaggerated doesn’t inherently mean that it’s bad. If anything, it can end up making the game much more memorable, especially in a series such as this, which once had fairly basic and straightforward plotlines back in the early days. It’s time to see how over-the-top theSonicfranchise can really get by looking back at the stories which ended up being much crazier than anyone expected them to be.
Sonic Unleashedkicks off with a bang. In the first 5 minutes, Sonic is mutated into a Werehog, and the planet becomes fractured due to Eggman and his giant Chaos Energy Canon. Things only get weirder whenChip, a mysterious alienwho has no memories of who he is or where he came from, shows up out of nowhere and teams up with Sonic to try and save the world from being destroyed.
While giving Sonic an entirely different, almost evil form is already quite an outlandish idea,Unleashedis packed full of other story shenanigans. As a result, while the gameplay itself would be fairly divisive due to the introduction of the Werehog, many still remember it for its wild and whacky story, which also features one of the most epic endings in the series.
Sonic Forcesis based in a world that has been taken over by notonly Eggmanbut every villain in the series. Metal Sonic, Shadow, and Zavok, all of which are here to put an end to Sonic once and for all, and after succeeding in their mission, the game essentially becomes a gritty war story that feels drastically different from anything else seen in the series before.
Sonic Team went above and beyond to make this feel like a true fight for survival, with Knuckles and the other main characters creating a resistance force that must liberate the world from Eggman’s control. This is admittedly a pretty bizarre and over-the-top direction for aSonicgame to take, but it does at least add some tension to the gameplay by making the stakes so unbelievably high right off the bat.
While mostSonicgames will introduce at least one or two new characters to the cast, Blaze, who appears inSonic Rush, has become a fan favorite since her debut. While she does become one of Sonic’s allies throughout the story, she also hails from an entirely different dimension where she acts as a princess on a mission to retrieve the ‘Sol emeralds’, which are essentially her world’s equivalent of the Chaos Emeralds.
Both the Eggman from Sonic’s world and the one from Blaze’s universe, known as Eggman Nega, also show up to make the story even more mind-bending. Anyone who is a fan ofmulti-dimensional storiesthat incorporate all kinds of strange characters and unpredictable plot twists definitely owes it to themselves to try outSonic Rush,as it certainly ticks all these boxes.
Based in amedieval settingwith knights, wizards, and kings,Sonic and the Black Knightis undoubtedly one of the weirdest but also most intriguing stories in the series. Sonic enters this setting after being summoned by Merlina, thrusting him into a brand-new world he never knew existed. From there, Sonic must visit the knights of the Round Table, find the Lady of the Lake, and perform all kinds of other odd activities which are given to him by his talking sword, Caliburn.
Halfway into the story, a major reveal completely flips the narrative on its head, with one of the game’s central characters revealing that they were really a major villain all along. Pair this with Sonic’s friends all showing up as Medieval knights, and a few references to King Arthur himself, and it all feeds into a quirky story that is much more exaggerated than anyone could have expected.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhoodwas a game developed by BioWare, so the fact it has an incredibly ambitious story should come as no surprise for those familiar with theMass EffectandDragon Agegames. The game is packed full of twists that continue ramping up the stakes. One moment, Angel Island magically disappears, while the next, Knukcles is learning that he’s not the only Echidna still alive, highlighting just a few of the massive lore drops that are scattered throughout the game.
The game’s new villain, Ix, feels so dangerous and overpowered that they may as well be ripped out of a different game entirely. Ix will stop at nothing to become the supreme ruler of his dimension, and that makes him a legitimately terrifying villain who also feeds into the game’s outlandish story and unique tone.
The story ofSonic Unleashed 2starts off fairly simple; Sonic, who is on the run from GUN, stumbles across a black hedgehog who looks just like him. After the City Escape mission officially ends, though, the game’s story jumps into full gear, running through Shadow’s origins as the ‘ultimate life form’, the death of his friend Maria, and the existence of the Eclipse Cannon, which was created to take over the entire world.
If that all wasn’t enough, near the end of the game, Sonic and the gang also run intoan immensely powerful creatureknown as the Biolizard, which they must do-battle with while in their Super forms. This is only the tip of the iceberg of how out-thereSonic Adventure 2’sstory can really get, but when paired with the fast and diverse gameplay segments, it makes for an entry that is still very beloved by many fans even to this day.
After entering the Arabian Nights fairy tail at the beginning ofSonic and The Secret Rings, the Blue Blur embarks on a long and arduous journey which only becomes more exaggerated the longer it goes on. At the core of the story is Sonic’s mission to look for the World Rings, which is the only way to save his life after he becomes cursed upon being shot by an arrow of fire.
Late in his adventure, Sonic even turns into a brand-new form calledDarkspine Sonicafter absorbing the world’s negative emotions, making for a badass but also bizarre sequence. There are also a few key character deaths thrown in to make the story even more unpredictable and intense. Sonic Team clearly decided to get pretty experimental when crafting the story forThe Secret Rings, but it certainly paid off considering how entertaining it is to follow.
The very first cutscene ofSonic the Hedgehog, with its more realistic art style and inclusion of human characters, made it seem as though this was going for a fairly grounded story. This, however, couldn’t be further from the truth. While Sonic is trying to rescue a royal princess,Silver the Hedgehogappears from the future to prevent the world from being destroyed.
Meanwhile, Mephiles, a god-like being with otherworldly abilities, wreaks havoc across the entire planet, even managing to kill Sonic at one point, who is later revived by a kiss from the princess. This isn’t even scratching the surface of how random the story ofSonic 06truly gets, which is what the game is largely remembered for, rather than its clunky gameplay. Simply put,Sonicstories rarely ever get as outlandish as this one.
