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Sonic the Fighters

From The Sonic the Hedgehog Wiki

Sonic the Fighters (ソニック・ザ・ファイターズ Sonikku za Faitāzu?), also known as Sonic Championship on Western cabinet releases, is a fighting video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega. It was released in 1996 for arcades in Japan and saw limited releases in North America and Europe later that same year. The storyline revolves around Sonic and his friends as they compete in a fighting tournament to see who will save the world from Dr. Eggman's wrath.

In November 2012, a digital high-definition port of the game was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, simply titled Sonic the Fighters.

Plot[edit | edit source]

Spoiler warning: Plot, ending details or any kind of information follow.

The story begins with a large quantity of destructive robots suddenly appearing in places where peace has reigned supreme thanks to Sonic's frequent actions. Tails suspects that Dr. Eggman is behind this, but cannot figure out where all the robots are coming from. It is then that he receives an emergency message from Espio. In this message is a video showing that Eggman is dispatching his robots from a giant orbital space fortress: the Death Egg II.[3]

Sonic decides to travel to Death Egg II alone using the Lunar Fox, a single-seat space rocket that Tails invented. However, in order for the Lunar Fox to fly, eight Chaos Emeralds must be inserted to act as the ship's power supply. Meanwhile, Sonic's friends, who are spread throughout the world, are guarding the Chaos Emeralds separately so that they are not misused by Eggman, although one of them ended up being stolen by Fang.[3]

For their first stop on their journey to get the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic and Tails head over to Knuckles. However, after hearing about what is going on, Knuckles begins provoking Sonic by stating that if the Lunar Fox is a single-seater, then only the toughest among them should go. When Sonic, who believes that he is the strongest, accepts Knuckles' challenge and gets ready to fight him, Tails forces his way in-between the two. Tails then proposes fighting fair and square in the ring, and the one who is victorious against all of those holding the Chaos Emeralds will ride the Lunar Fox to the Death Egg II.[3]

One of the fighters, the player's choice, eventually makes it to the end of the tournament. Here, Eggman appears and creates a clone of the fighter to defeat them with. However, the fighter is able to defeat their clone and head to the Death Egg II in the Lunar Fox.

After arriving at the Death Egg II, the fighter gets a surprise visit from Metal Sonic, who challenges them to a battle. After defeating him, the Death Egg II begins to fall apart as Dr. Eggman, in his E-Mech suit, challenges the victor. Using the Chaos Emeralds' power, the fighter defeats the doctor, and subsequently escapes the Death Egg II in the Lunar Fox before it explodes. However, the post credits scene shows that Eggman and Metal Sonic also escaped the explosion and head back to the planet.

Gameplay[edit | edit source]

Sonic fighting Knuckles in South Island.

Sonic the Fighters is a pseudo-3D fighting game with gameplay similar to Sega AM2's Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter 2, as the game was built on the engine of the former. Two characters brawl from a dynamically-shifting 2D view in a 3D arena, each using a variety of attacks and maneuvers to gain the better of the opponent. The first player to drain the other's health bar to zero wins the current round, and the first to win two (sometimes three) rounds wins the entire match. The rounds are timed, and if both characters are still standing when the timer reaches zero, the player with the most health is chosen as the winner.

Sonic the Fighters is controlled with the joystick and three buttons; punch, kick, and barrier.

Controls[edit | edit source]

General[edit | edit source]

Button formation Movement
Joystick Jump
Joystick Down Squat (except Bark)
Joystick / Move forward/backward
/ Quick move
Tap / > hold / Run
Barrier
+ K + (close range) Slip-Around
+ K + (mid-air) Safe Landing
/ (on ground) Get up
/Down (on ground) Roll up
> + K (with at least one Barrier) Activate Hyper Mode
Hold > + K (with at least one Barrier) Activate Hyper Mode while midair

Character specific[edit | edit source]

Button formation  Movement[4]
Punch
K Punch-Kick
Double Punch
Triple Punch
Punch Rush
Super Rush
Down Rush Spin
(close range) + K + Punch-Spin
(close range) + K + Twin Punch-Spin
Scissor Punch
Down-right Volley Toss
Down-right Toss & Attack
Down-left Down Down-right Windup Punch
Down Spin Attack
Down Down Spiral Spin
Down Down Spiral Feint
Down Down Double Feint
K Kick
K K Double Kick
K K K Triple Kick
Down-right K Side Kick
Down-right K K Double Side Kick
Down-right K K K Triple Side Kick
Down-left K Leg Throw
K Horse Kick
K + Smackback Kick
Down + K Turnaround
K (back to wall) Spin Rocket
+ (close range) Head Spin
Down + (close range) Weapon Grab
Down Down K + Foot Crush
Down-left Down Down-right + (close range) Dizzy Spin
+ K + Dodge Spin
+ K + K Dodge High Kick
+ K + Dodge Spin Dive
(running) Dash Spin
K (running) Drop Kick
(from behind) Back Punch
K (from behind) Back High Kick
Down K (opponent downed) Stomp
Hold Down-left Down Down-right (opponent downed) Double Spin
Hop Punch
K High Kick
K K Double Jump Kick
K K K Skip Kick
K (midair) Hop Kick
Hold Spin Dive
Hold K Stomp Dive
Hold (midair) Air Spin
Hold K (midair) Air Kick
(on wall) Wall Spin
K (on wall) Wall Stamp
Down-left Down Down-right + K (Hyper Mode) Emerald Dive
(squashed) Wimpy Punch

Button formation File:Tails pose 47.gif Movement[5]
Punch
K Punch-Kick
Double Punch
Pummel Combo
(close range) + K + Punch-Spin
(close range) + K + Twin Punch-Spin
Scissor Punch
Down-right Windup Punch
Down-left Down Down-right Pummel Punch
Down Spin Attack
K Kick
K K Double Kick
K K K Triple Kick
Down-right K Spin Kick
Down-right K K Spin Double Kick
Down-right K K K Windup Kick
K Horse Kick
+ K Propeller Dash
+ K Propeller Dash-L
+ K K Propeller Dash-R
+ K + K Propeller Dash-F
K + Smackback Kick
Down + K Turnaround
K (back to wall) Rocket Missile
+ (close range) Airplane Drop
Down + (close range) Weapon Grab
+ (close range) Airplane Throw
Down Down K + (close range) Foot Crush
+ K + (close range) Turnaround
+ K + Dodge Punch
+ K + K Dodge High Kick
+ K + Dodge Spin Dive
Down K (opponent downed) Stomp
(running) Push Away
K (running) Horse Kick
(from behind) Back Punch
K (from behind) Back High Kick
Hop Punch
K High Kick
K K Double Jump Kick
K K K Skip Kick
K (midair) Hop Kick
Hold Spin Dive
Hold (midair) Air Spin
Hold K (midair) Air Kick
(on wall) Wall Spin
K (on wall) Wall Stamp
(squashed) Wimpy Punch

Button formation File:STF-Knuckles.gif Movement[6]
Jab
K Punch-Kick
Jab, Straight
One-Two-Uppercut
(close range) + K + Jab-Reversal
(close range) + K + One-Two Reversal
Scissor Punch
Headbutt
Down-right Uppercut
Down-right Down-right Rising Uppercut
Down Spin Attack
Down-left Down Down-right Windup Punch
K Kick
K K Double Kick
K K K Triple Kick
Down-right K Side Kick
Down-right K K Double Side Kick
Down-right K K K Triple Side Kick
K Horse Kick
+ K Knuckle Glider
K + Smackback Kick
K (back to wall) Rocket Missile
+ (close range) Shadow Punch
+ (close range) Shadow Followup
+ (close range) Knuckle Special
Down + (close range) Weapon Grab
Down Down K + (close range) Foot Crush
+ K + Dodge Punch
+ K + K Dodge High Kick
+ K + Dodge Body Dive
Down K (opponent downed) Stomp
(running) Push Away
K (running) Drop Kick
(from behind) Back Punch
K (from behind) Back High Kick
Hop Punch
K High Kick
K K Double Jump Kick
K K K Skip Kick
K (midair) Hop Kick
Hold Body Dive
Hold K Stomp Dive
Hold (midair) Air Spin
Hold K (midair) Air Kick
(on wall) Wall Spin
K (on wall) Wall Stamp
Down Down-right (Hyper Mode) Hyper Uppercut
Down Down-right (Hyper Mode) Dual Hyper Upper
(squashed) Wimpy Punch

Button formation File:STF-Amy.gif Movement[7]
Hammer Attack
Double Hammer
Triple Hammer
Hammer Dive
Spin Hammer
Head Slide
Down-right Hammer Uppercut
Down-right Hammer Spin
Down Magical Hammer
Down Down-right Hammer Throw
Down Head's Up!
K Kick
K K Double Kick
K K K Triple Kick
Down-right K Spin Kick
Down-right K K Spin Double Kick
Down-right K K K Roundhouse Kick
K Hip Attack
K + Horse Kick
K (back to wall) Rocket Missile
+ (close range) Vaulting Horse
Down + (close range) Weapon Grab
Down Down K + (close range) Foot Crush
+ K + Dodge Hammer
+ K + K Dodge High Kick
+ K + Dodge Dive
Down K (opponent downed) Stomp
(running) Head Slide
K (running) Hip Attack
(from behind) Back Hammer
K (from behind) Hip Attack
Hop Hammer
K High Kick
K K Double Jump Kick
K K K Skip Kick
K (midair) Hop Kick
Hold Hammer Dive
Hold K Stomp Dive
Hold (midair) Air Punch
Hold (before landing) Air Hammer
Hold K (midair) Air Kick
(on wall) Wall Hammer
K (on wall) Wall Stamp
Down (Hyper Mode) 16t
(squashed) Girly Punch

Button formation File:STF-Epsio.gif Movement[8]
Slap Attack
K Slap Kick
Double Slap
Double Upperslap
Tongue Punch
Headbutt
Down-right Espio Chop
Down-right Down-right Backhand Chop
Down Espio Spin
Down-left Down Down-right Long-Tongue
K Kick
K K Double Kick
K K K Triple Kick
Down-right K Side Kick
Down-right K K Double Side Kick
Down-right K K K Triple Side Kick
K Horse Kick
K + Smackback Kick
K (back to wall) Rocket Missile
+ (close range) Tabletop Flip
Down + (close range) Weapon Grab
+ (close range) Tongue Throw
+ + Tongue Throw +
Down Down K + (close range) Foot Crush
+ K + Dodge Tongue
+ K + K Dodge High Kick
+ K + Dodge Body Dive
Down-right (opponent downed) Tongue-Down
Down K (opponent downed) Stomp
(running) Dash Tongue
K (running) Drop Kick
(from behind) Back Punch
K (from behind) Back High Kick
Hop Punch
K High Kick
K K Double Jump Kick
K K K Skip Kick
K (midair) Hop Kick
Hold Body Dive
Hold K Stomp Dive
Hold (midair) Air Espio Spin
Hold K (midair) Air Kick
(on wall) Wall Dive
K (on wall) Wall Stamp
Down Down + K + (Hyper Mode) Espio Warp
(squashed) Wimpy Punch

Button formation File:STF-Bean.gif Movement[9]
Beak Attack
Double Beak
Triple Beak
Beak Rush
Rapid Straight
(close range) + K + Beak Slip
(close range) + K + Double Beak Slip
Spin Punch
Spin Punch Bomb Throw Combo
Three-Bomb Toss
Down-right Swing Uppercut
Down-right Spinning Uppercut Bomb Throw Combo
Down Bomb Toss
K Kick
K K Double Kick
K K K Triple Kick
Down-right K Side Kick
Down-right K K Double Side Kick
Down-right K K K Triple Side Kick
K Bomb Shoot
K Horse Kick
K + Smackback Kick
K (back to wall) Rocket Missile
+ (close range) Beak Shot
Down + (close range) Weapon Grab
+ (close range) Fierce Attack
Down Down K + (close range) Foot Crush
+ K + Dodge Beak
+ K + K Dodge High Kick
+ K + Dodge Beak Dive
Down K (opponent downed) Stomp
(running) Dash Peck
K (running) Horse Kick
(from behind) Back Low Punch
+ K + (from behind) Back Punch
K (from behind) Back High Kick
Hop Punch
K High Kick
K K Double Jump Kick
K K K Skip Kick
K (midair) Hop Kick
Hold Beak Dive
Hold K Stomp Dive
Hold (midair) Aerial Bomb
Hold K (midair) Air Kick
(on wall) Wall Beak Dive
K (on wall) Wall Stamp
Down Down + K + (Hyper Mode) Bean Warp
(squashed) Wimpy Punch

Button formation  Movement[10]
Bark Punch
One-Two Punch
(close range) One-Two-Throw
Down One-Two Wham!
Scissor Punch
Double Scissor
Triple Scissor
Hold Low Punch
Hold Low Hook
Guard & Attack
Down Crush Punch
Down Crush And Wham!
Down-right Bark Uppercut
Down-right Down-right Sit Punch
Bark Elbow
Bark Elbow Combo
K Bonk Kick
+ K Wheel Kick
(guarding) + K + Barrier Walk
+ (close range) Strike
+ (close range) Biff-Baff
Down-right Down-right + (close range) Bark Strike
Down + (close range) Head Throw
Down Down + (close range) Holding Punch
Down-left Down Down-right + (close range) Giant Swing
+ K + Dodge Punch
+ K + K Dodge Bonk Kick
+ K + Dodge Lunge
Down K (opponent downed) Stomp
(running) Push Away
K (running) Drop Kick
(from behind) Back Punch
K (from behind) Back High Kick
Hop Punch
K Hop Kick
K (midair) Hop Kick
Hold Twin Hammer Dive
Hold K Hip Dive
Hold (midair) Air Hammer
Hold (before landing) Fist Drop
Hold K (midair) Air Kick
(on wall) Wall Twin Hammer
K (om wall) Wall Stamp
+ K (Hyper Mode) Wheel Dash
(squashed) Wimpy Punch

Button formation File:STF-Fang.gif Movement[11]
Cork Shoot
Double Cork
Triple Cork
Blind Fire Dash
Sniper Set!
Snipe 1
Snipe 2
Snipe 3
Snipe 4
Rapid Shoot
Submarine Sniper
Down-right Volley Toss
Down-right Fire 'Em Up!
Super Cork
Down-left Down Down-right Blind Fire
K Kick
K K Double Kick
K K K Triple Kick
Down-right K Tail Kick
Down-right K K Double Tail Kick
Down-right K K K Triple Tail Kick
K Tail Spring Kick
K + Tail Attack
K + K Double Tail Whap
K + K K Tail Combo
K (back to wall) Rocket Missile
+ (close range) Tabletop Flip
Down + (close range) Weapon Grab
K + (close range) Tail Throw
Down Down K + (close range) Foot Crush
+ K + Dodge Snipe
+ K + + K + Twin-Dodge Snipe
+ K + K Dodge High Kick
+ K + Dodge Body Dive
Down K (opponent downed) Tail Down Attack
(running) Push Away
K (running) Horse Kick
(from behind) Back Low Punch
+ K + (from behind) Back Punch
K (from behind) Back High Kick
Hop Punch
K High Kick
K K Double Jump Kick
K K K Skip Kick
K (midair) Hop Kick
Hold Body Dive
Hold K Stomp Dive
Hold (midair) Air Snipe
Hold K (midair) Air Kick
(on wall) Wall Dive
K (on wall) Wall Stamp
+ K + (Hyper Mode) Cannon Barrage
(squashed) Wimpy Punch

Characters[edit | edit source]

All playable characters, as seen in the game's opening.

Playable characters[edit | edit source]

Sonic is able to become Super Sonic in story mode if the player reaches the second Round against Metal Sonic without losing any prior Rounds.

Hackable characters[edit | edit source]

Arenas[edit | edit source]

  1. South Island
  2. Flying Carpet
  3. Aurora Icefield
  4. Mushroom Hill
  5. Canyon Cruise
  6. Casino Night
  7. Dynamite Plant
  8. Giant Wing
  9. Death Egg's Eye
  10. Death Egg's Hangar

Development[edit | edit source]

Masahiro Sugiyama,[12] a character designer at AM2, added Sonic and Tails into the fighting game Fighting Vipers as a way to cure his boredom.[13] Yu Suzuki saw this and decided to present the idea of a 3D Sonic fighting game to the head producer at Sega AM2, Hiroshi Kataoka. Suzuki then presented the idea to Yuji Naka.[12] At first, Kataoka was worried because of the concept of child-friendly Sonic characters beating each other up, and feared that Yuji Naka would not approve. However, Naka was actually very receptive to the concept, commenting that "I couldn't think of Sonic as a fighting game and was worried whether he could really fight with his short hands and big head. But Mr. Yu encouraged me... We were delighted."[14] At that point nobody had yet attempted to present Sonic in 3D, so Sonic the Fighters was Sonic's 3D debut and had Naka's full support. Developers were worried about rendering Sonic in 3D at first, so Naka gave the team a Sonic figure to work off of. The game was released in Japanese arcades in May 1996, running on Sega Model 2 hardware.[15]

Cancelled Sega Saturn version[edit | edit source]

There was a planned Sega Saturn version to the game advertised in various gaming magazines, but was quietly cancelled. No explanation has ever been offered for the port's cancellation.

Merchandise[edit | edit source]

Promotional photo of the plush toy set, excluding Super Sonic.

A set of plushies were made to promote the game, but they were only available in Japan and had to be won out of UFO captures. There was a plush toy of all eight main playable characters, as well as Dr. Eggman, Metal Sonic and Super Sonic. This set contained the first ever plush toys of Metal Sonic, Espio, Bean, Bark, Fang and Super Sonic, making them very sought after.

Other merchandise for the game included a CD release of the soundtrack, a T-shirt, a 12-inch plaque, a phonecard and mini doll keychains.

Re-releases[edit | edit source]

Sonic the Fighters was included in Sonic Gems Collection for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 under its original title.

It was also released for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, with a free demo available on the Playstation store and Xbox 360 marketplace.

For a limited time, PS Now subscribers could stream the PS3 version of the game on PS4. However, it was removed later on, along with all the other sonic games that were removed.

Adaptations[edit | edit source]

While an adaptation of Sonic the Fighters was not made for this, Bark and Bean were introduced into the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by Archie Comics starting with Sonic the Hedgehog #160 and were later revealed to have participated in underground fighting tournaments. However, an official Sonic the Fighters adaptation was eventually made, covering Sonic the Hedgehog #268-#271 as a part of the "Champions" story arc. This adaption introduced Honey the Cat into the comics, along with Breezie the Hedgehog, who in the comics was one of Sonic's oldest friends, despite them rarely keeping in touch. However, this story only involved one Chaos Emerald.

Staff[edit | edit source]

  • Director: Hiroshi Kataoka
  • Game Coordinator: Daichi Katagiri
  • Programmers: Daichi Katagiri, Susumu Morii, Eiji Ikuta, Hiroshi Masui
  • Character Designer: Masahiro Sugiyama
  • Stage Designers: Yasuko Suzuki, Wataru Kawashima
  • 2D Graphic & Model Design: Takako Kawaguchi
  • Graphic & Model Design: Kazunori Oh
  • Motion Designers: Daichi Katagiri, Hiroki Iwasaki
  • Sound Designer: Maki Morrow
  • Special Thanks: Original Sonic Team, Katsunori Itai, Goho Ogura, Syuji Takahashi, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Susumu Takatsuka
  • Producer: Yu Suzuki
  • Presented by: Sega

Trivia[edit | edit source]

"Robotonic", from the game's intro.
  • A special theme plays when Sonic and Knuckles fight each other in Versus mode.
  • Although the game received a western arcade cabinet release, it had very minimal distribution across the United States, leaving very few arcades to actually receive the game. The Palisades Center Ice Rink at the Palisades Center in West Nyack, New York was known to have the game since its opening in 1998 until it was replaced with Area 51 in late 2013.
  • In the English version of the game's intro, Dr. Robotnik's name was misspelled as "Robotonic". However, in the final battle the character is named Dr. Eggman, and his Vs. Card reads "Dr. Eggman" with "Robotnik" written underneath.
  • In Sonic Gems Collection, the lighting was broken and there was a considerable amount of input lag added in the game. The HD release corrected both of these issues.
  • Honey the Cat was a character who was going to be in the final game, but was scrapped for unknown reasons. Before the 2012 re-release of Sonic the Fighters, she was only playable through hacking in the original arcade version.
  • There is an otherwise unused song in the game's sound test called "Sunset Town". There is no stage with this name in the game as released.
  • Eight Chaos Emeralds appear in this game, whereas the majority of other games in the series include only seven.
  • The VS. art of of Sonic features a gold buckle on his shoe, but the promotional art of him in the same pose does not This is due to it being an unfinished version of the art.
  • The character select icons of Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Fang are all taken from their Sonic Drift 2 artwork.
The Sonic Championship arcade cabinet cameo in Wreck-It Ralph.
  • In the Dreamcast game Shenmue, characters from Sonic the Fighters appear as collectible capsule figurines that Ryo Hazuki can buy from a dispenser. Also, figurines of Super Sonic and Metal Sonic can be won in a lottery.
    • The Fang figurine erroneously has five fingers on its right hand, while the left hand has the correct four digits.
  • A Sonic Championship arcade machine appears in the beginning of the Disney film, Wreck-It Ralph.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Sega Arcade Game History. Sega.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Flynn, Ian; Sega (8 December 2021). "Sonic Arcade Classics". Sonic the Hedgehog Encyclo-speed-ia. Dark Horse Books. p. 20. ISBN 978-1506719276.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Sonic the Fighters" (in Japanese) (PDF). Gamest (173): 40-43. June 1996. Archived from the original. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
  4. Sonic Team (16 August 2005). Sonic Gems Collection. Nintendo GameCube. Sega. Content: Sonic the Fighters. Area/Level: Pause menu, "Commands for SONIC."
  5. Sonic Team (16 August 2005). Sonic Gems Collection. Nintendo GameCube. Sega. Content: Sonic the Fighters. Area/Level: Pause menu, "Commands for TAILS."
  6. Sonic Team (16 August 2005). Sonic Gems Collection. Nintendo GameCube. Sega. Content: Sonic the Fighters. Area/Level: Pause menu, "Commands for KNUCKLES."
  7. Sonic Team (16 August 2005). Sonic Gems Collection. Nintendo GameCube. Sega. Content: Sonic the Fighters. Area/Level: Pause menu, "Commands for AMY."
  8. Sonic Team (16 August 2005). Sonic Gems Collection. Nintendo GameCube. Sega. Content: Sonic the Fighters. Area/Level: Pause menu, "Commands for ESPIO."
  9. Sonic Team (16 August 2005). Sonic Gems Collection. Nintendo GameCube. Sega. Content: Sonic the Fighters. Area/Level: Pause menu, "Commands for BEAN."
  10. Sonic Team (16 August 2005). Sonic Gems Collection. Nintendo GameCube. Sega. Content: Sonic the Fighters. Area/Level: Pause menu, "Commands for BARK."
  11. Sonic Team (16 August 2005). Sonic Gems Collection. Nintendo GameCube. Sega. Content: Sonic the Fighters. Area/Level: Pause menu, "Commands for FANG."
  12. 12.0 12.1 ; Kemps, Heidi The Last Arcade Crusaders Sega-AM2 Interview. 1UP (31 March 2006). Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved on 12 February 2022. "I think Honey's character designer probably slipped her in there. He's actually the one responsible for the whole concept"
  13. https://tcrf.net/Fighting_Vipers_(Arcade)#Sonic_and_Tails
  14. Hickman, Sam (February 1996). "Sonic Revival". Sega Saturn Magazine (EMAP) (4): 6,16. Archived from the original. Retrieved on 27 February 2022.
  15. SEGA MODEL 2B CRX HARDWARE. System 16.

External links[edit | edit source]


Main article | Manuals | Beta elements | Gallery | Re-releases (2012)
Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off games

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