Gold Beetle

The Gold Beetle^[1][2] (ゴールドビートル^[3], Gōrudo Bītoru^?) is an enemy that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is a mass-produced, beetle-based robot model created by the Guardian Units of Nations, and is a part of the Beetle Series.

Appearance

Nearly identical to Mono Beetles design-wise, the Gold Beetle resembles a golden ball with dark blue and red outlines, and armor on the front. On top of them, they have a sharp golden cap with a dark blue-striped edge. Below this cap, reaching from just behind the edge of their front armor to far behind their back, they have a horizontal turbine disk with a blue-striped frame. On their "face", they also have a single lens.

Game appearances

Sonic Adventure 2

In Sonic Adventure 2 and its enhanced port Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, the Gold Beetle appears once in every stage, except for Route 101, Weapons Bed, Route 280 and Green Hill. Additionally, due to a bug, it does not appear in Pumpkin Hill in all versions of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

Unlike most other G.U.N. robots, the Gold Beetle does not have any method of attack, nor does it even attempt to attack the player. Instead, they appear for few seconds when a character comes close, before disappearing permanently. They will only reappear if the player loses a life or restarts the stage. Destroying a Gold Beetle will award the player 1000 points.

Most of the time their locations in Hard mode are the same as Normal mode, but there are several cases where they shift positions slightly, such as in Prison Lane, or are moved to a different place like in City Escape. Rarely, though, they will disappear entirely, much like in Dry Lagoon. Sometimes, it is obligatory for the player to use the Gold Beetle to proceed forward, like in Radical Highway.

Shadow the Hedgehog

In Shadow the Hedgehog, the Gold Beetle appears again as an enemy. In this game, they appear in hidden positions in Westopolis, Air Fleet, Iron Jungle, Death Ruins, Prison Island, Digital Circuit, Circus Park, The Doom, Lost Impact and The ARK.

In gameplay, the Gold Beetles can move slightly faster than the Gun Beetles and are twice as resilient, requiring two Homing Attacks to be defeated instead of one. However, they cannot teleport and their coloration is not as golden as before. The Gold Beetles can either have fixed positions or fly from afar and toward the screen. Like the Mono Beetle, the Gold Beetle can track the player's movements precisely, and fire almost consecutively at the player while following them.

Defeating a Gold Beetle will award the player 1,000 Dark points.^[2] Curiously, in Dark missions where the player has to kill G.U.N. enemies (like Westopolis), the Gold Beetle adds to the needed number of enemies to defeat, meaning that they make it possible to complete the mission without actually killing all the G.U.N. enemies.

Sonic Generations

In the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Generations, Gold Beetles from somewhere across spacetime appear as enemies in Radical Highway.

In gameplay, they have reverted back to their behavior from Sonic Adventure 2, as they appear in places where the player can use the Homing Attack on them to reach higher paths. If given the chance to disappear, the player will lose their chance to reach the new path. One of the unlockable missions requires the player to destroy three of them within the time limit.

Powers and abilities

Like most other robots in the Beetle Series, the Gold Beetles are capable of flight. Additionally, they are equipped with a teleportation device that allows them to infiltrate enemy territory and leave undetected, making them valuable reconnaissance troops.^[3]

In other media

Animation

Sonic X

Main article: Gold Beetle (Sonic X)

In the Sonic X anime series, the Gold Beetle appeared during the Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation saga. In this media, they were constructed after the Perfect Chaos incident to combat Dr. Eggman's forces. A handful of them served as guards of Prison Island.

Gallery

Artwork

References