Sonic Championship

"Everybody was Kung Fu fighting..."

Fighting games rock. There's something about assuming the role of a character, mastering his moves, and utterly wiping out your foes with the skills you've honed over countless hours of practice. The fighters of today come with a myriad of combatants with truly frightening movelists, requiring more discipline and skill from the prospective gamer. The gaming community has grown to love Ryu, Guile, Jin Kazama, Scorpion, Sub Zero, Cervantes, Terry Bogard, and countless other characters that make up the vast rosters of the fighting games that have been presented to us. But after so many years of playing these beloved characters, you might get tired of them and begin searching for that next great fighting game with a brand new lineup of warriors itching to go. However, combining fighters and video game franchises can make for some truly strange results. Case in point: Sonic Championship.

It's been a while since Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends beat the snot out of Dr. Robotnik. The Death Egg, a massive weapon of incredible power, was finally destroyed for good, and the mad doctor was left to flee for his life. But if there's one redeeming quality about Robotnik, it's his consistency. At out of the rubble of his greatest creation, he's designed yet another space station of doom, and he's preparing to take over the world for the umpteenth time. Recognizing the threat, the Sonic and his friends spring into action. Using his vast technical abilities, Tails has created a rocket to send the heroes to space to combat the evil doctor. Two slight problems, though: the rocket can only be powered by the eight Chaos Emeralds held by Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and a few others in Sonic's group of friends. Also, the rocket can only hold one hero, thus leaving the other seven to sit back on the sidelines and wait. Ignoring any shred of camaraderie and teamwork, the gang decides to hold a fighting tournament to decide whom the most worthy and able hero for the job.

Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Waste time doing a battle royal while your arch nemesis is building a weapon of mass destruction. However, what the Sonic crew lack in logical reasoning, they make up for it with their unique fighting abilities. You'll be able to choose among the likes of standard characters like Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna to relatively lesser heroes like Fang the Sniper and Espio the Chameleon. Each of these characters have their own specific movesets, from long-ranged attack combos to throws, counters, and evades. Not only that, but you'll also get to perform some of the Sonic characters' signature moves, like Tails' hovering abilities or Amy's massive mallet. While some characters possess incredible speed, others specialize in strength or combo hits. But with eight characters to choose from, it's a fair bet that you'll find one that fits your gaming style.

In a gameplay style reminiscent of the Virtua Fighter series, you'll be able to unleash combo after combo, mastering the arts of both offensive and defensive fighting. While these characters may look nothing more than comical renditions of woodland creatures, they are more than capable of kicking your character's ass clear across the arena. Thus, you'll have to learn how to time your attacks, allowing you to spot weaknesses in your foes attack patterns and exploit them accordingly. The game makes use of the Barrier System, which acts as a makeshift shield against a foe's attacks. However, you're only supplied a limited amount of barriers, thus forcing you to fight and think strategically as the game progresses. There's also a Hyper Mode that allows you to perform tons of devastating combos and dish out some truly nasty punishment. Needless to say, these combat systems are a far cry from the classic Sonic battles you had on the Genesis.

Considering that Sonic Championship is arcade game hailing from 1996, you can't expect too much compared with the console Sonic games currently out. But or what it offers, this game doesn't look too shabby. You've got three-dimensional renditions of the classic Sonic crew just waiting to smack around their fellow heroes. Though the characters look horrendously blocky and rough, there's no mistaking Sonic's signature spiky hairdo or Tail's dual tails flowing in the wind. Each character has their level with its own design and feel to it The tournament will start off in a 3D version of Floating Island, the locale where a few of the later Sonic adventures took place. Once you've trounced Knuckles, you'll go flying on a magic carpet to fight Amy, then land on a speedboat to take out Tails, and so forth. All of these levels, from the desolate sands of the desert to the glimmering water to Robotnik's weapon of mass destruction, are depicted in wonderfully vivid color and a fair amount of detail. And if all else fails, your foes will lose rings every time you smack them around, complete with the appropriate classic sound effect. If that isn't a wonderful and hilarious feature, I don't know what is.

Many of the Sonic the Hedgehog spinoffs were doomed to fail, due to a certain lacking in gameplay or shortsightedness. However, you can't deny the fun of Sonic Championship. It takes characters that fans adore and revere, and pits them against each other in a comical fight for supremacy. Let's be honest, who doesn't want to see Sonic get his spiky blue rear kicked back into Green Hill Zone? Not only does it have a mildly amusing concept, but it takes the gameplay engine of one of the finest fighting games to date and meshes it with the signature moves of the characters that have never fought in hand to paw combat. How many fighting games can boast to that? Not many. It's a shame that this didn't get a wider recognition here in the US. I'm sure some Sega fans would be willing to give this aged arcade fighter a go.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/09/05