Summary
Alongside the high-speed gameplay and exciting selection of stages, theSonic the Hedgehoggames have also become known for their vibrant cast of characters. However, while there are certainly plenty of lovable individuals who have won over the hearts of fans over the years, it’s not always a guarantee that each of them will be able to make an appearance in a brand new mainline game.
There have been a few occasions where Sonic Team has decided to create a game with a story that’s more self-contained, only focusing on a handful of key characters such as Sonic, Tails, and maybe two or three others. On the other hand, though, there have still been plenty of installments which allow fans to meet and interact with a plethora of fun and quirky characters, and it’s these games that this list will be taking a closer look at today. Before jumping in, we will only be focusing on mainlineSonicgames rather than the spin-offs, and will be analyzing the number of characters as a whole rather than only playable characters.
It’s not unusual for a new mainlineSonicgame tointroduce a new villain, but forSonic Lost Worldfor the 3DS, Sonic Team took this idea to a whole new level. After crash landing on a mysterious planet, it’s not long before Sonic runs into the Deadly 6, a group of dangerous aliens who are all vastly different in their personalities and fighting styles, yet all similarly pose a serious challenge to Sonic as he navigates through each of the worlds.
Many of the classic characters might be missing fromLost World, but the inclusion of the Deadly 6 ensures that there are still plenty of new characters to interact with, and because of how vibrant and intriguing they all are, it makes them a pretty memorable group overall.Lost Worldcame out at a time when the developers were really focusing on creating smaller self-contained stories, but they at least tried to include a nice variety of characters in this specific title to freshen things up a little bit.
As manySonicfans will be well aware,the Blue Blur’s transition over to 3Dwasn’t exactly an easy one. However, the developers did at least get off to a decent start with the much-lovedSonic Adventure,whichnot only features a much more ambitious story than what the series was known for, but also a nice collection of classic characters for players to control and talk with over the course of their journey. Side characters like Tails, Amy, and even Big the Cat all make an appearance here, with many of them being playable at certain points of the game.
There are also some very unique new characters who have been thrown into the mix, such as the absurdly powerful Chaos, who has become a recurring villain since it first debuted inAdventure. Considering this was the first mainlineSonicgame that really took the dive into the 3D realm, it’s understandable why Sonic Team couldn’t pack in as many characters as possible, since this would take too much development time, but the game still stands out for having a delightful mixture of series icons to partake in the adventure.
Once Sega took notice of how immensely popularShadowhad become after his introduction inSonic Adventure 2, they decided it was best to make a standalone title dedicated to exploring his character in a little more depth. Whilst this game revolves around Shadow and his attempt to restore his memories while fending off an army of aliens, in each of the game’s six main missions, he will also have the opportunity to team up with a character from the series.
This can actually result in some pretty bizarre team-ups, such as Shadow begrudgingly allying with Charmy the Bee or even asking for help from none other than Sonic himself. The game also marked the debut of a few other notable characters in the franchise who are directly related to Shadow, primarily GUN commander Tower and Black Doom, the latter of which reappears in theSonic X Shadow Generationsremaster.
While it was clear that Sonic Team wanted to try something different when creating the story for the firstAdventuregame, to say they went all out with the plot ofAdventure 2would be an understatement. With such anambitious and grandiose storycame a gigantic cast of characters that players will run into and control at certain sections of the game, and there’s a really nice mixture here of classic characters and newcomers to keep things exciting.
In the game, which contains plenty of cutscenes, a lot more than the average Sonic game, it’s nice to be able to see so many characters with unique personalities bouncing off one another to keep the story unpredictable.Adventure 2would also be the game that introduced characters who have now become synonymous with the series, including Rouge the Bat, and of course, Shadow the Hedgehog.
ThoughSonic 06has garnered apretty shaky reception among the fan base, one area of the game that can’t be criticized is the cast. There was clearly a real attempt here to flesh out the number of characters that could be included within aSonicstory, so while the gameplay may have been a bit disappointing, it was still always a lot of fun watching the cutscenes to see what this gigantic roster could get up to when on screen together.
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow all make an appearance here, but there’s also the brand new hedgehog newcomer named Silver, and even Blaze the Cat, who returned from Sonic Rush. There are also a few humans who play key roles in the story, too, primarily princess Elise, who comes to spend a lot of time with Sonic over the course of the game’s lengthy story.
Sonic Heroesis quite a bit different from what many fans were used to. Rather than just controlling one character, players instead are able to freely switch between three at a time, with the story being split up between four teams who all have similar abilities, but slightly different playstyles. For example, while Team Dark, which is made up of Shadow, Rouge, and Omega, is often seen as the hardest campaign of the bunch, Team Chaotix’s missions include small extra minigames that must be completed throughout each stage.
The team-based nature of the game means that there’s inevitably going to be plenty of characters featured in the game, and it’s a real treat to meet them and share dialogue throughout the story. There are even points where two teams will bump into each other, resulting in a chaotic all-out brawl. While many fans loveSonic Heroesbecause of its innovative gameplay mechanics, what also helps it stand out is the staggering number of characters that the developers chose to include as part of the numerous teams.
Sonic Forcestakes a pretty big risk by keeping the blue hedgehog out of the spotlight for a good portion of the story. After Sonic is captured in the first hour of the game, his allies band together to create a resistance army that can fend off Eggman’s swarms of robots that are taking over the planet. However, it’s not justEggmanwho shows up to ruin the day, as the majority of Sonic’s villains also partake in the chaos, including Shadow, Metal Sonic, and even a brand new antagonist by the name of Infinite.
Considering the game is presented as a gigantic conflict between the animals and robots, it only makes sense that the developers decided to bulk up the cast as much as possible. This helps to make the overall plot feel a lot more intense and high stakes, as it truly feels like everyone is giving their all to not only save Sonic but also protect the world from being annihilated.
The originalSonic Generations, released in 2011, felt like one big celebration of the franchise. As a result, while players are able to sprint their way through many familiar stages, they’ll also be running into some nostalgic faces along the way too, ranging fromwell-known individuals like Knuckles, Tails and Amy, all the way to some slightly more obscure members of the cast such as Espio and Cream.
Needless to say, the game was already rich with characters, but the cast only grew with theSonic X Shadows Generationsremaster, which dropped in 2024. Not only does Shadow become a playable character in this extra story, but a plethora of other characters partake in the fun too, including Black Doom, Mephiles, and even Maria and Dr Robotnik, who are very important to Shadow’s personal journey. This isn’t even mentioning the abundance of character cameos that show up in the background of the stages. To put it simply,Sonic X Shadows Generationsis the best way to interact with the franchise’s lovable cast of characters.
