Sonic Battalion is a platform video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. It was released on December 17, 2024 for Nintendo Matrix, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Sonic Battalion makes several changes to the series. It introduces Sonic's sister, Katie the Hedgehog, it adds an eighth Chaos Emerald, and it makes Knuckles the leader of the Chaotix, as he was in the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie comics. It received generally positive reviews for being a very maximalist approach to a Sonic game. However, some of the changes that it made to the series were criticized.
Plot[]
The game begins with a flashback. Sonic and his sister, Katie arrive on South Island and go for a race and Sonic wins, but that is because Katie was taken away by Dr. Eggman. Sonic runs after Eggman, but Eggman gets away with Katie before Sonic can catch him.
Years later, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles fly on the Hurricane towards a train that belongs to Eggman, on which Katie is apparently captured, with Sally, Nicole, and Rotor behind the scenes on the Sky Patrol. Sonic and Knuckles discuss their plan, but Tails doesn’t pay attention because he is distracted by Nicole the Holo-Lynx, on whom he has had a crush for some time. When they get into the train, they get to the prisoner car and make the conclusion that Katie is not on the train and their mission failed, but really, she is hidden on another secret part of the car. Sonic eventually saves Katie and introduces her to Tails and Knuckles. Once they're done, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Katie return to the Sky Patrol. They meet up with Nicole. Tails asks Nicole if they can hang out together that night and Nicole says yes. After that, Sonic introduces Katie to Sally and Rotor, who get a package with new clothes that can change into other clothing, thanks to Nicole's form-shifting technology. Then, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles split up and branch into different perspectives.
Meanwhile, Eggman is furious that Katie was saved after being in his hands fpr a very long time. He speaks with a few Egg Bosses, including Starline and Fiona Fox about what his new invention to stop Sonic can be, but he gets sucked up by a tractor beam into a mysterious ship. In that ship, he meets Dark Oak, who is the leader of an alien race called the MetaRex. He tells Eggman that he has a plan to turn Mobius into a planet of their own by covering it up with their battleships and altering Cyberspace to be his.
Sonic and Katie arrive at Sonic's apartment, which is currently being changed so Katie can live there. Sonic phones Amy and tells her that he finally found his sister. They go to Amy's apartment, which is in the same building as Sonic's, and Amy is thrilled to meet Katie and is impressed by her. The three of them casually chat while watching TV, but they get a news flash, which tells them that the city is under attack by Eggman robots and mysterious other robots, which have been discovered to be aliens. Sonic, Amy, and Katie defeat all of them and save the city, but the robots have bombs inside of them, so the 3 of them flee the city, but much property is damaged.
Tails and Nicole go on a date at the newly constructed Studiopolis II, where thay have a lot of fun together. Just as Tails is about to tell Nicole how he feels about her, they are ambushed by Eggman robots who want the techno gem, which is the core of the digital world, located on Nicole's necklace. Tails tells Nicole that the reason that he is so smart at such a young age is that his parents once found another techno gem, which made him very intelligent. Nicole tells Tails that there are 5 techno gems and all of them need to be collected before the MetaRex find them. The result is that Studiopolis is destroyed.
Knuckles eventually arrives at the Chaotix's HQ, where the Chaotix have a new recruit, Honey the Cat. Mighty and Ray inform the rest of the Chaotix that their master, Moss the Sloth has been captured. Knuckles leads the Chaotix to the Egg Carrier, where they save Moss, who gives them a mysterious emerald. He tells them that it is the eighth Chaos Emerald, which he has hidden for a long time. The Egg Carrier falls down onto the city, destroying a lot of property.
The next day, the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix go to a court meeting and the result is that they are all placed under house arrest, all of their technology is confiscated from them, and G.U.N. takes over fighting evil threats.
On a field outside of Central City, Shadow and Omega fight against mysterious invaders. After the invaders are defeated, they find a USB drive. A Black Arms ship comes down to Earth and Doom's Eye comes out of it. He tells Shadow that he was just fighting the MetaRex, who have been the enemies of the Black Arms for centuries and have lead them to several false wars on Earth so their army could be shortened and easier to defeat in the real war. Shadow tells Doom's Eye that they were working with Eggman's robots, so they are working with the Eggman Empire. Shadow decides to return to G.U.N. HQ and find out what is on the drive that he found.
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Katie, Sally, Nicole, and Rotor hide out in an alleyway in Central City and discuss a plan to evade the government and stop Eggman. Since government drones are searching every corner of the city, they decide to hide out somewhere that Katie spent many years living at in the arctic. Nicole makes fake passports for all of them and they sneak into the airport and hijack a plane. They arrive at the arctic and realize that their new hideout is an alien spacecraft. In that spacecraft, Rotor fixes it up while everyone else discusses their plan.
Shadow finds out that Eggman and the MetaRex are making a new battleship that can block the sky, called the CyberCloud, at the ruins of Stardust Speedway. Shadow and Omega go there, where they run into a broken down Metal Sonic, who Omega puts back online. He introduces himself as Shard the Metal Sonic and he tells them that his memory has been enhanced by Nicole. He also tells them that Eggman and the MetaRex have a plan to collect the Chaos Emeralds and the Techno Gems so they can alter Cyberspace and control it. They head into the battleship and almost stop it from taking off, but it eventually does.
In their Arctic hideout, the Freedom Fighters see the strange new battleship in the sky. Since he has no plane, Tails uses his full force to fly Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Katie up to the battleship, He eventually gets distracted, which makes him fall to the ground, but they are all saved by Shard the Metal Sonic, who flies them, up to the battleship. At first, they fight with Shadow and Omega because they are fugitives, but Shard breaks up the fight and tells them that they all need to work together to stop Eggman from collecting all 8 Chaos Emeralds and the Techno Gems, one of which Nicole has. The Freedom Fighters, now including Shadow and Omega, discuss their plan.
The Chaotix, who are all at their houses, call each other on Zoom, but an unexpected caller joins their call. It's Sally Acorn. She tells them to go to the arctic to join the Freedom Fighters. When the Chaotix arrive, they continue to discuss their plan. Tails knows Honey because she is the girlfriend of his brother, Kyle O'Meter Prower. Their plan is for Tails and Nicole to find more Techno Gems while everyone else collects the Chaos Emeralds.
Sonic, Amy, Katie, Shadow, Omega, and Shard evade the government's patrol vehicles and eventually arrive at G.U.N.'s vault and almost steal the eighth Chaos Emerald, but they are stopped by one of G.U.N.'s mechs. They eventually defeat the mech, steal the eighth Chaos Emerald, and escape using Chaos Control
Knuckles and the Chaotix arrive at a volcano, where they search for one of the Chaos Emeralds. They find it, but that brings them into a trap set by Eggman. However, Knuckles uses his strength to break them all out. They fight against one of Eggman's mechs and eventually defeat it and take the emerald.
Sally and Rotor go to a place near them in the arctic and they fight against Eggman's robots, who are using one of the Chaos Emeralds to become more powerful. They eventually defeat the robots and take the emerald.
Tails and Nicole sneak into Tails's house to get the Techno Gem that Tails has in his house, but they are interrupted by Tails's brother, Kyle, his sister, Zooey, and his mother, Jessica, all of whom make fun of Tails for having a "girlfriend." Eventually, Jessica leads them to the second Techno Gem, which is broken, but Nicole fixes with her digital powers. The house gets broken into by Fiona Fox, who was recently discovered to be Tails's long-lost sister and was promoted to junior Egg Boss (in the show, Sonic World). Fiona gets the Techno Gem and escapes in her plane, but Tails and Nicole get in the Hurricane, which was turned invisible with its cloaking system by Zooey when the government confiscated all of Tails's equipment. They chase down Fiona and take the gem from her.
Sonic, Amy, Katie, Shadow, Omega, and Shard split up, so they can get more Chaos Emeralds. Sonic Amy, and Katie break into a skyscraper and stop one of the emeralds from being sold at an auction, then fight Metal Sonic to get it, while Shadow, Omega, and Shard go to another G.U.N. vault, but rather than stealing it, they get their fellow G.U.N. agents to give it to them. Also, Knuckles and the Chaotix take one of the Emeralds from underwater, Sally & Rotor go to a jungle and take one of the emeralds, and Tails and Nicole go G.U.N.'s central computer and go inside of that section of Cyberspace to steal another Techno Gem.
Tails and Nicole are the first ones to get back to base. Tails notices that Nicole looks sad and she tells him that she feels like she is not seen as a friend, to anyone, but rather a tool. Tails tells Nicole that he likes her and has feelings for her and that she is loves for being more than just a computer. Nicole gives him a kiss, revealing that she has the same feelings for him, but they are interrupted by everyone else, who arrive and make fun of them, but also feel happy for them. Shadow, Omega, and Shard, now joined by Doom's Eye arrives and Doom's says that the last Chaos Emerald is on the the planet Rex, where the MetaRex are from. Tails, Nicole, and Rotor finish fixing the ship that they're in, but realize that it has no fuel. Fortunately, Nicole's energy scanners pick up some fuel cartridges in a nearby part of the arctic, so Sonic and Knuckles take that fuel. The Freedom Fighters put the fuel in the ship and take off to stop the MetaRex.
They use the ship's hyperdrive to get to the planet Rex, but they are stopped by another MetaRex battleship. Nicole scans the ship and finds that the last two Techno Gems are on that ship, so Sonic and Katie destroy one power core, Shadow and Shard destroy another, and Tails and Nicole take the two other techno gems, but the ship crashes on Rex. Doom's Eye tells all of them that the MetaRex's central castle is on this planet, so Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Katie, the new Team Sonic, head towards the castle with 7 out of 8 of the Chaos Emeralds. When they arrive at the castle, they try to take the final emerald, but Dark Oak takes all 7 Chaos Emeralds from them and takes them for himself, heading towards Mobius so he can put them all in the CyberCloud so he can magnetize many battleships and cover up the entire planet. The Freedom Fighters chase after the MetaRex until they are back at Mobius, where there is a huge fight happening. They all spread out across the city and eventually end up fighting Dark Oak over the Chaos Emeralds. All of them try to defeat him, but they all fail, until Sonic, Shadow, and Katie use their powers, which are linked to Chaos Energy, to call the emeralds over to the Freedom Fighters. The power of eight Chaos Emeralds makes a large group of beings become super. All 17 of them, in their super versions, work together to destroy the CyberCloud, which keeps getting bigger, until Dark Oak absorbs their power and becomes super himself. He targets Nicole, trying to take the Techno Gems from her, but the rest of the Freedom Fighters defeat their friend by using all of their powers, which eventually disintegrate Dark Oak and all of the MetaRex, as well as the CyberCloud. In celebration of their victory, the Freedom Fighters decide to take a relaxing tropical vacation.
On their vacation, Sonic and Katie catch up on what each other have been doing, Tails and Nicole go on a second date on a beach, and other characters hang out. There are many cameos, including Tails's family, Tangle and Whisper, Big the Cat, and Cream the Rabbit. At the end, all of the Freedom Fighters watch Sonic and Katie race across the beach, mirroring what they did in the flashback at the beginning of the game, but this time, with no interruptions. Their race ends in a tie, implying that Katie has gained more skills while Sonic has kept his skills.
Characters[]
Characters
| Image | Character | Description | Playstyle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sonic the Hedgehog | Running | ||
| Miles "Tails" Prower | Flying | ||
| Knuckles the Echidna | Hunting | ||
| Amy Rose | Fighting | ||
| Katie the Hedgehog | Running | ||
| Shadow the Hedgehog | Running | ||
| E-123 Omega | Shooting | ||
| Sally Acorn | Fighting | ||
| Nicole the Holo-Lynx | Flying | ||
| Rotor the Walrus | Shooting | ||
| Shard the Metal Sonic | Shooting | ||
| Mina Mongoose | Running | ||
| Vector the Crocodile | Fighting | ||
| Espio the Chameleon | Running | ||
| Charmy Bee | Flying | ||
| Mighty the Armadillo | Hunting | ||
| Ray the Flying Squirrel | Hunting | ||
| Dr. Eggman | NPC | ||
| Dark Oak | NPC | ||
| Egg Bosses | NPC's | ||
| Commander Abraham Tower | NPC | ||
| President of the United Federation | NPC | ||
| G.U.N. Army | NPC's | ||
| MetaRex Army | NPC's |
Gameplay[]
Sonic Battalion has the same progression system as Sonic Adventure 3, which has 1 story with multiple playable characters and playstyles that branches into different perspectives that a player can choose what order to play them. It also has the same five gameplay styles as Sonic Adventure 3 (running, flying, hunting, combat, and shooting). However, Sonic Battalion has a unique part of the gameplay that some styles sometimes share stages and you switch characters in between, similar to Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). There are 17 playable characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Katie, Shadow, Omega, Sally, Nicole, Rotor, Shard, Mina, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Mighty, and Ray. Each gameplay style has 3 characters, except running has 5 playable characters.
Character Specific Gameplays[]
Running Stages[]
The characters with running gameplay are Sonic, Shadow, Katie, Mina, and Espio. The running stages are much like the previous adventure-styled Sonic games. At the end of the stages, there are Mach Speed sections, similar to those in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) and Sonic Adventure 3 as well as the boost gameplay in Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations.
Flying Stages[]
The characters with flying gameplay are Tails, Nicole, and Charmy. The flying gameplay is much like much like it was in Sonic Adventure 3 and revolves around the ability to fly. It is much like running gameplay, but there are many gaps in the stages that the character flies over. You have 30 seconds to fly, but when you stop flying there is air to boost you, much like Sonic Riders.
Hunting Stages[]
The characters with hunting gameplay are Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray. The hunting gameplay is much like it was in the previous adventure games and revolves around finding 3 to 6 objects in an open stage.
Combat Stages[]
The characters with combat gameplay are Amy, Sally, and Vector. The combat stages are much like they are in Sonic Adventure 3 and revolve around fighting enemies in a platform-based area.
Shooting Stages[]
The characters for shooting are Omega, Rotor, and Shard. The shooting stages are very similar to how they were in the previous games. They are on shooting down enemies and obstacles through linear stages. The characters are all able to shoot bullets, lasers, and rockets out of their guns. Also, all characters are able to glide over gaps in the stages.
Cast[]
- Max Mittelman as Sonic the Hedgehog and Mighty the Armadillo
- Mark Hamill as Dr. Eggman
- Cassandra Lee Morris as Miles "Tails" Prower and Charmy Bee
- Christopher Daniel Barnes as Knuckles the Echidna
- Kimberly Brooks as Amy Rose
- Skye Bennett as Katie the Hedgehog
- Johnny Yong Bosch as Shadow the Hedgehog
- Matthew Wood as E-123 Omega and Dark Oak
- Tara Strong as Sally Acorn and Fiona Fox-Prower
- Ashley Eckstein as Nicole the Holo-Lynx
- Justin Roiland as Rotor the Walrus
- Kelly Metzger as Mina Mongoose
- Alex Hirsch as Vector the Crocodile
- Kevin Conroy as Espio the Chameleon
- Nicholas Cantu as Ray the Flying Squirrel
- Ryan Drummond as Metal Sonic
- Scott Dreier as Metal Knuckles
Development[]
Sonic Battalion's premise had been an idea since the development of Sonic Adventure 3, but that game's idea was used instead. After the success of Sonic Adventure 3, Sora and Bandai Namco wanted to re-explore this idea and make it a reboot of Sonic X's MetaRex Saga with some of the characters added to the games in Sonic Adventure 3.
After the release Sonic Adventure 3, many characters that appeared in that game were added to Sonic Battalion, with larger roles that would expand on their characters. For example, Nicole was made Tails' girlfriend because that would expand how her character was portrayed in the previous game.
Sonic's sister, Katie is based on an unnamed scrapped character, who had only been named "Sister Sonic," from the cancelled RPG of the same name. Since 2018, they wanted this concept to be reality. They eventually left the designing of Sonic's sibling to fans. Katie the Hedgehog was based on a drawing by a fan, and also named after her.
Notes[]
- This is a reboot of Sonic X's MetaRex Saga, although it does not feature Cosmo or any of the Sedrians, who are replaced with the Black Arms from Shadow the Hedgehog.
- Originally, Sonic and Eggman's first encounter was the first boss fight in the original Sonic the Hedgehog. However, this game changes it to being that in the first game, Sonic wanted revenge on Eggman because he stole and presumably killed his sister, Katie.
- Nicole the Holo-Lynx is Tails’ third love interest. His first Cosmo in Sonic X and his second was Zooey the Fox in Sonic Boom.