Knuckles' Chaotix, known in-game and in Japan as Chaotix (カオティクス,Kaotikusu?), is a spin-off platform video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was developed and published by Sega for the 32X, an add-on for the Sega Mega Drive, being the only Sonic game for that system. It was released in April 1995 in North America and Japan, with a European release later in June of the same year. It is the only major game to star Knuckles the Echidna, and also introduces Team Chaotix. They replace Sonic and Tails as the main playable characters.
The game's plot is set in Newtrogic High Zone, a mysterious island transformed into a resort by Dr. Eggman to research on the Rings. The gameplay is similar to previous 2D platformers in the series, with the introduction of a partner system where two playable characters are linked to each other via a tether known as "Ring Power", which behaves like a rubber band.
Knuckles' Chaotix was initially developed as Sonic Crackers, a 1994 prototype for the Mega Drive which featured Sonic and Tails in a similar gameplay concept. It was first planned for a Sega Saturn release, but development moved to the 32X. Critics were divided on the game, finding the Ring Power system frustrating despite appreciation for its attempt to innovate. The level design and low difficulty were also criticized, although the soundtrack and the graphics received praise. Due to the 32X's commercial failure, Knuckles' Chaotix sold poorly and is now considered a collector's item. Despite fan interest, the game has not seen major re-releases, although various of its concepts were reused in later entries in the series.
Months after the events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, tectonic movement in the South Sea caused by the Altar of Emerald's energy causes a mysterious island to emerge. The island rapidly transforms into a lush landscape with the Altar's power.[6]
Dr. Eggman investigates the island and learns that it used to be home to a lost civilization after finding a ring with ancient characters inscripted on it. He finds a Giant Ring, similar to the ones on Angel Island, and deduces that it can guide him to the Master Emerald. The mysterious space created by the ring's power is filled with Chaos Emerald energy that has materialized into six objects called "Chaos Rings". Eager to research on the Giant Ring to harness the Master Emerald, the doctor sets up camp on the island, which he transforms into a resort dubbed Newtrogic High Zone. He crystalizes the Chaos Rings' energy into artificial rings called "Dark Rings" and develops a Ring Power to generate a spacetime connection between the Rings.[6]
Meanwhile, Knuckles the Echidna, curious about the island's nature and driven by a sense of responsibility as the guardian of the Master Emerald,[6] arrives on the nearby Isolated Island, where he finds Eggman and Metal Sonic trapping Espio the Chameleon. After warding off the two villains, Knuckles is joined by Espio in search for the doctor. Along the way, they are also joined by Vector, Charmy, Mighty, Heavy and Bomb, who have come to the island for their own reasons. The group travels through the various locations of Newtrogic High Zone, defeating Eggman's contraptions while hunting for the Chaos Rings.
Eventually, the heroes encounter and defeat Metal Sonic. In a last-ditch effort, Eggman uses a Dark Ring to transform Metal Sonic into Metal Sonic Kai, although the robot is once again defeated by Knuckles and his crew. From there, the ending of the game will depend on the player's progress:
If the player has not managed to collect all six Chaos Rings, the unobtained Chaos Rings break down around a Dark Ring, and Eggman is briefly shown laughing. The credits roll over a burning city with Metal Sonic Kai hovering ominously over it.
If the six Chaos Rings have been gathered, they will rotate around a white text saying "COOOOL". The credits roll over background showing Knuckles and his friends with Sonic and Tails in the Tornado.
He is a single-minded and wise person with a strong sense of justice. He is very interested in the legendary civilization and decides to visit the island to investigate its relationship with the Floating Island. For this reason, he is actually envious of Knuckles.[7]
A traveler who finds worth in life by traveling to various places. When faced with a difficult situation, he shows great ability, but he doesn't like being rough and is a calm person. He ends up on this island by chance and gets caught up in the commotion...[8]
An extremely cheerful and optimistic person. However, he actually has a stronger sense of camaraderie than anyone else, and has the strength and kindness to face any challenge. He believes in the existence of God, and comes to the island after hearing the news of an island of miracles.[8]
He was the first insect to cross the speed of sound, and he is so proud of it that he cannot keep quiet when he is denied. What's more, he is quite moody and mature in his words and actions. The self-proclaimed "fastest insect in the world", he flew to the island in search of new flowers.[9]
The same notorious genius scientist as usual. This time he finds ancient special Rings on the island of a lost civilization and plans to obtain the Master Emerald, which can be summoned by them. His goal, of course, is to rule the world.[9]
A Sonic-looking robot created by Dr. Eggman. The main and sub-CPUs were recovered from the main body that had been damaged by Sonic in a previous confrontation. Equipped with a spare unit, he was reborn with Dark Ring power. The newly installed Plasner allows him to perform a Plasma Pulse Attack with his chest.[10]
Knuckles' Chaotix is a 2D side-scrolling platform with gameplay similar to that of previous Sonic games. The main mode of the game, Scenario Mode, is split into five main stages, each of which are split into five Levels, with the fifth one ending with a boss fight. Just like in past Sonic games, the goal of the Levels is to beat each of them in less than ten minutes. Knuckles' Chaotix features seven playable characters: Knuckles, Vector, Mighty, Charmy, Espio, Heavy, and Bomb. Each of these character possesses their own unique abilities in gameplay; Knuckles is able to glide and climb on walls; Mighty is the fastest runner in the game and can use the Wall Jump; Espio can walk upright on walls and ceilings and destroy unguarded enemies by running headlong into them at full speed; Vector can perform mid-air dashes and climb on walls; and Charmy can dash through the air without any limits. Notably, Heavy and Bomb cannot be selected from the character select screen, as they are instead always picked up as partners through the Combi Catcher. Neither of the two robots can attack conventionally; Heavy is heavy and slow, but is indestructible and can destroy enemies and monitors by simply walking against them. Conversely; and Bomb is tiny and quick, but explodes when he is hit.
Unlike other Sonic games, the player does not have an established order for the stages; instead, they will be taken to the World Entrance, where they can see the stages they will travel to next. They are able to choose a partner to play with through the Combi Catcher. Later, they will enter a room with a giant Bumper which, when hit, will stop a selector. The stage the player will play will depend on what area was highlighted by that selector. The first four Levels of a stage end by spinning a Goal Plate at the end of them. The fifth Levels, on the other hand, end automatically upon defeating the boss.
The main feature of Knuckles' Chaotix is the Ring Power, which links both of the playable characters in a Level at all times through Bound Rings, while neither playable character acts as the dominant force to move the game forward. This allows for some new tricks to be executed with the elastic force of the Ring Power. For example, one player can stay put while the other player runs forward, stretching the bond and abusing its elasticity to gain maximum speed. In the air, the bond can even be used to generate an upward momentum. Additionally, players can toss each other toward platforms or use the call-button to reunite, at a cost of ten Rings. Should the player use the call-button so that the Ring counter becomes -99 or below, they are immediately sent back to Newtronic High Zone. Also, if the player takes damage while they have no Rings, they will lose their partner. If the characters take damage while they do not have any protection or their partner, they will be immediately sent back to the World Entrance.
The secondary objective of the game is to collect the Chaos Rings by completing the Special Stages within the levels. If the player manages to gather all six of them and has defeated the final boss, the good ending occurs.
After the player clears Isolated Island and arrives at the World Entrance for the first time, the time of day will be either morning or midday. Every time the player returns to the World Entrance after beating a Level, the clock in the middle of the first area will move forwards one step. Every two steps, the time of day will shift from morning, to day, to sunset, to night and finally back to morning, changing the visuals for the World Entrance and all Attractions.
Although the visual changes between times of day are the most notable ones, the system does slightly affect the gameplay in some areas. For example, certain doors in Botanic Base only open at certain times of day.
Isolated Island: A special isolated area played before the main game to get players acquainted with the game's unique special maneuvers.
Botanic Base: The island's most natural attraction is this giant greenhouse, filled with oddly geometric trees and a jungle of hostile flora.
Speed Slider: A roller coaster, Speed Slider is the fastest attraction in Knuckles' Chaotix. The level moves all the way to a confrontation with Dr. Eggman on his carousel.
Amazing Arena: At the start of this stage, the player is in the dark, but once the light switch is hit, Amazing Arena turns bright and colorful. If the player fails to locate this switch, the stage starts all over again.
Techno Tower: A futuristic-styled tower that the player must climb. In Level 5, the player can hop on a drill machine that burrows through solid walls.
Marina Madness: A cruise-themed attraction with a curious absence of water. The player must jump from ship to ship to complete this Level while dodging flying fish and sailing stingrays.
World Entrance: Between each stage, the player visits the World Entrance. Here, one can choose to end the game, select a new partner, and/or choose a new stage. It is also home to the final boss battles.
The Bonus Stage can be accessed by collecting twenty or more Rings and jumping through one of the Giant Rings found hidden throughout a Level. In the stage, the character free-falls down a long spiral of Rings, power-ups, blocks and exits while the player's Rings gradually count down to zero. The stage ends when the Ring count reaches zero or when the character hits an exit. Possible bonuses include a slow-down at the attraction roulette screen or a free pick from the Combi Catcher.
In the Special Stages, the player moves their character through a hexagonal, fully rendered 3D course to collect a specified set of blue spheres. Rings are collected as seconds and when the count reaches zero or the player falls from the course, the stage ends. When successfully completed, the player is awarded one of the six Chaos Rings. Contrary to earlier games in the series, collecting all Chaos Rings does not award the player with special powers.
Special Stages can only be accessed through a single Giant Ring at the ending of each level, but the player must have collected at least fifty Rings for it to appear, similar to the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog CD. After a player wins all six Chaos Rings, the Special Stages start over in a wire-frame mode. This mode also gives the player 50,000 points for completing the stage.
Knuckles' Chaotix received mixed to somewhat positive reviews from critics, but was a commercial failure due largely to its limited availability via the Sega 32X, which itself was an unsuccessful system. These factors caused Knuckles' Chaotix to become one of the most obscure Sonic games in the franchise's history, although it was the best-selling title released on the 32X platform.
While it was praised for its graphics and music, many criticized the game's bland level design and low difficulty, and believed Knuckles' Chaotix did not push the hardware's power to the top. It was one of the last "classic" 2D-sidescrolling platformers in the franchise before the series moved into 3D with the release of Sonic Adventure in 1998.
Next Generation felt the bond mechanic was tiring and not truly innovative,[20] finding it frustrating and choppy and calling it Knuckles' Chaotix's biggest flaw. The reviewer also found that the bond complicated gameplay and compared it to being handcuffed.[16] In 2008, GamesRadar wrote that Knuckles' Chaotix was the best game for the 32X and was underrated,[21][22] though it still considered the game a "wasted opportunity".[23]
On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the game a 25 out of 40.[14]1Up.com praised the new dimension of gameplay over the Mega DriveSonic the Hedgehog games by having a second character, but criticized how this also slowed down gameplay.[11] Travis Fahs of IGN offered similar sentiments; admiring the attempts to "breathe life into a series that was running out of steam"[17] and the fixing of the lopsided multiplayer aspect of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and 3, wherein Tails would often get lost off-screen. On the other hand, he disliked the clunky "rubber band" physics of the game's buddy system and the lack of variation between Levels of each stage.[17]
Archie Comics published an adaptation of this game in Archie Knuckles' Chaotix. It was only loosely based on the game, however, featuring a new plot integrating the Archie-original characters and replacing Chaos Rings with Power Gems. It featured the first appearances of every Chaotix member from the game, including Heavy and Bomb, whose designs were completely redone for the comic.Template:Clear
The US and European manuals for the game state that the six-button controllers don't do anything, when in actuality they can be used in the game's sound test. Pressing X lets you change the output between stereo and mono, while holding Y and pressing Left or Right lets you change the tempo. These functions are mentioned in the Japanese manual, so it's unknown why the international manuals state otherwise.
Sonic's sprites from the Sonic Crackers prototype, an early version of Knuckles' Chaotix, were the basis of Mighty's sprites in the final game.
This game was originally planned to be included in Sonic Gems Collection, but was cut due to the difficult nature of emulating the 32X software.
This is the only game that uses the partial Ring system and the second to use centiseconds for the time display. The first was Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
Sonic and Tails have a cameo appearance in the good ending, but Sonic's legs are miscolored and match his arms.
Amy also appears in the game's Sound Test via a cheat code.
Knuckles' chest mark is colored yellow in the game. This appears on the Main Menu and during Levels, but in the box art his chest mark is correctly colored white.
The sound effects from this game were taken directly from Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
If the player is idle for too long, Metal Sonic will appear and use his Plasma Pulse Attack on the player. If the player starts moving when Metal Sonic appears, he will chase the player until they stop moving and then proceed to use his Plasma Pulse Attack. The concept of something happening if the player is idle for a certain amount of time is similar to Sonic the Hedgehog CD, but the player won't lose a life or get a Game Over in Knuckles' Chaotix.
The stage on the box art for the American and European version is Speed Slider.
Also, for a brief time while activating the Ring Time Skill, a remix of Tube Panic (Special Stage) can be heard while playing as Classic Sonic.
Unlike Espio, who would appear as a playable character in Sonic the Fighters a year later, Vector and Charmy would not be seen again until Sonic Heroes in 2003. Mighty would not see a return until the release of Sonic Mania's Encore DLC in 2018 - over two decades after the release of Knuckles' Chaotix.
In an interview for Sonic Heroes, Takashi Iizuka stated that Vector, Espio, and Charmy had been "reimagined" and re-introduced as new characters in that game, ignoring their depictions in Knuckles' Chaotix.[24]
Not counting the World Entrance, all of the stage names in the game are alliterations.
