Sonic Heroes

Not to be confused with Sonic-Man Heroes or Sega Heroes.

Sonic Heroes (ソニック ヒーローズ, Sonikku Hīrōzu^?) is a 3D platformer video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, released in late 2003 in Japan and Korea, and in early 2004 in the rest of the world. It is noteworthy for being the first multi-console Sonic title, following Sega's transition to a third-party developer after the Dreamcast's discontinuation.

The game introduces a team-based gameplay mechanic where players control three characters from a team, each with unique abilities: Speed for high-speed platforming, Fly for aerial navigation, and Power for combat. Four different teams are featured, each with distinct level styles: Team Sonic (Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles) offers standard difficulty levels; Team Rose (Amy, Cream, and Big) provides beginner-friendly challenges; Team Dark (Shadow, Rouge, and E-123 Omega) includes more challenging levels focused on combat; and Team Chaotix (Espio, Charmy, Vector) involves missions centered around finding specific objects. The narrative unfolds with Dr. Eggman's plan to conquer the world with a secret weapon, with Team Sonic trying to thwart him, Team Rose searching for their missing friends, Team Dark uncovering Eggman's secrets, and Team Chaotix investigating various occurrences for a mysterious client.

Heroes began development in late 2002, led by Takashi Iizuka and Yuji Naka. The project was handled by Sonic Team USA (later Sega Studio USA), a San Francisco-based division of Sonic Team. The shift to multi-platform development presented numerous challenges, including adapting to different hardware and managing tight deadlines. The team utilized the RenderWare engine to facilitate porting across platforms.

Despite polarizing critics, who praised the style and concept but criticized unsolved problems from prior games and voice acting, Sonic Heroes was a commercial success. It sold over five million copies and was a best-seller on all of the consoles it was released on. As part of the PlayStation 2 Classics program, the PlayStation 2 version was re-released digitally for the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network in September 2012 in Europe, and January 2014 in Asia.

Plot

Sonic meets Tails and Knuckles, who show him a letter from Doctor Eggman claiming that he will conquer the world within three days with an "ultimate weapon." The three heroes band together as Team Sonic to foil the doctor.^[11] Meanwhile, while looking for treasure, Rouge finds an amnesiac Shadow stashed in an Eggman base^{[note 1]} and frees him and E-123 Omega, who seeks revenge for being sealed. The three join forces as Team Dark to find the doctor.^[12] At the same time, Amy, looking for Sonic, finds Cream and Cheese looking for the latter's sibling Chocola, and Big looking for his missing pet Froggy. They become Team Rose to find their friends together.^[13] Also, Team Chaotix receives a walkie-talkie from a stranger who promises a hefty pay if they follow his instructions.^[14]

Despite their differing objectives, all four teams travel through similar locations. In Seaside Hill, they defeat Eggman in the Egg Hawk. Teams Sonic and Rose, as well as Dark and Chaotix, then cross paths in Grand Metropolis and engage in brief battles due to misunderstandings. After traversing Casino Park, the teams individually destroy the Egg Albatross at the Rail Canyon, with the Eggman piloting it revealed to be a fake: Team Sonic discovers that Eggman had distracted them to launch the Egg Fleet, while Team Dark finds a broken Shadow Android and questions whether Shadow is a replica of himself. Teams Sonic and Dark, and Rose and Chaotix then briefly fight at the Frog Forest due to similar misunderstandings.

The groups eventually infiltrate the Egg Fleet, board the Final Fortress, and defeat the Egg Emperor. Team Rose reunites with Chocola and Froggy, while Amy gives chase after Sonic. Team Dark discovers a warehouse stashed with Shadow Androids, making them further question Shadow's identity. The Chaotix also discover that their client was actually Eggman, who is revealed to be imprisoned at the Final Fortress, and attack him after deducing that he will break his promise.

It is revealed that Neo Metal Sonic, the true mastermind behind all of this, betrayed Eggman to conquer the world himself. Having gathered the lifeform data from each team during their adventures, Neo Metal Sonic becomes Metal Madness. The teams reveal that they have collected the seven Chaos Emeralds along their respective journeys. While Team Sonic gets ready to use their full power, the other groups confront Metal Madness, who eventually completes his transformation and becomes Metal Overlord. Team Sonic achieves their Super States and ultimately defeat Metal Overlord, returning him to his regular form.

Characters

Gameplay

Sonic Heroes is a 3D platformer with a team-based mechanic: players switch between three characters, each with their own abilities, to navigate stages.^[20] The game has four teams to choose from: Team Sonic, Team Dark, Team Rose, and Team Chaotix. The level design is slightly different for each:^[21] Team Rose's campaign is designed for beginners, while Team Dark's is aimed at more experienced players. Team Chaotix's stages require players to complete an objective, like collecting items, to progress.

Teams have three character types: Speed (like Sonic), Flight (like Tails), and Power (like Knuckles). Speed characters possess the Homing Attack to lock on targets and can form whirlwinds to traverse poles and stun enemies, among other abilities. Flight characters can fly and stun enemies. Power characters can destroy obstacles, deal more damage to enemies, and glide on fans. Each character can level up up to three times using Power Cores to be stronger, but lose these levels if a life is lost. Teams can also charge and use a Team Blast skill that destroys all enemies on screen.^[20]

As with the tradition, players can collect Rings for protection from enemy attacks and most hazards. Whenever the playable characters take damage, they'll lose all of their Rings. And receiving damage without Rings results in the player losing a life and respawning at either the last Checkpoint or at the beginning of a stage. Additionally, falling into a bottomless pit also counts as a loss of life. If all lives are lost, it is a Game Over. Upon beating a stage, the player is given a rank based on their performance, with A being the best and E the worst. The player can also complete optional second missions in all stages: Team Sonic's secondary missions involve reaching the goal within a time limit, Team Dark's involve defeating 100 enemies, Team Rose's consist of collecting 100 Rings, and Team Chaotix's are a harder version of the normal objectives, such as interacting with twice as many targets or completing the mission without being seen by the enemies. Getting all A ranks grants access to Super Hard Mode, where the player traverses through much harder versions of the levels.

Scoring system

Main article: Point#Sonic Heroes

Controls

General

Formation specific

Objects

Items

Capsule Car Casino chip (only appearance) Castle Key (only appearance) Cell key (only appearance) Chaos Emerald Container Cage Case (first appearance) Steel Container Unbreakable Container Wooden Container Emblem Engine Core (only appearance) Floating Item Box Goal Ring

Hermit crab (only appearance) Item Box 1 UP Barrier Fly Charge (only appearance) High Speed Invincible Rings (first appearance) Power Core (only appearance) Team Blast Ring (only appearance) Light spider marking (only appearance) Power Core (first appearance) Ring Special Stage Key (first appearance) Sphere Torch (first appearance)

Gimmicks and obstacles

Ball Switch Bingo Bobsled (only appearance) Bomb Bumper Bumper wall Cannon Check Point Conveyor Belt Dash Panel Dash Rail (first appearance) Dash Ring Detonator Switch (only appearance) Drop Target

Fan Fireball Flipper Flower (only appearance) Formation Change Gate (only appearance) Giant Frog (only appearance) Giant Switch (only appearance) Grind Rail Hint Ring (first appearance) Iron ball Jump Panel Kao (first appearance) Laser field Mushroom

Orb switch (only appearance) Pole Power Gong (only appearance) Propeller (only appearance) Pulley Rainbow Ring (first appearance) Slot machine Spring Target Switch (only appearance) Trolley (only appearance) Vine Warp Flower (only appearance) Weight Wide spring

Characters

Playable characters

Team Chaotix Charmy Bee Espio the Chameleon Vector the Crocodile Team Dark (first appearance) E-123 Omega (first appearance) Rouge the Bat Shadow the Hedgehog Team Rose (first appearance) Amy Rose Big the Cat Cheese Cream the Rabbit

Team Sonic (first appearance) Knuckles the Echidna Super Knuckles Miles "Tails" Prower Super Tails (first appearance) Sonic the Hedgehog Super Sonic

Non-playable characters

• Chao
  • Chocola (first appearance)
  • Dark Chao
  • Hero Chao
• Dr. Eggman
• Froggy
• Metal Sonic
  • Neo Metal Sonic (first appearance)
    • Metal Madness (first appearance)
    • Metal Overlord (first appearance)
• Omochao
• Shadow Android (first appearance)

Enemies

Stages

1P Play

2P Play

Action Race

1. Seaside Hill
2. Grand Metropolis
3. BINGO Highway

Battle

1. City Top
2. Casino Ring
3. Turtle Shell

Bobsled Race

1. Seaside Course
2. City Course
3. Casino Course

Expert Race

1. Frog Forest
2. Rail Canyon
3. Egg Fleet

Quick Race

1. Road Rock
2. Mad Express
3. Terror Hall

Ring Race

1. Egg Treat
2. Pinball Match
3. Hot Elevator

Special Stage Race

1. Special Stage 1
2. Special Stage 2
3. Special Stage 3

Other

• Sea Gate

Special Stages

Main article: Special Stage (Sonic Heroes)

Special Stages in Sonic Heroes are a series of optional levels that take place inside of circular tubes with the playable character running forward. To enter them, the player has to find a Special Stage Key and finish the Mission without having lost it. The Special Stages themselves are divided into two types: "Bonus Challenges", which allow the player to get more points; and "Emerald Challenges", in which the player can get a Chaos Emerald. There are seven Special Stages for both types, which makes a total of fourteen Special Stages overall.

In Bonus Challenges, the player has to gather the most amount of points before they run out of time, this is done by collecting spheres that will add to their score tally. They can also get Power Spheres to fill the Power Dash Meter, with which the player can Dash to gain more speed at the cost of draining the meter. Emerald Challenges play similarly, except that the player has to reach the Chaos Emerald before the gem itself reaches the end of the tube. Obtaining all seven Chaos Emeralds with any team and completing all four stories will unlock the last story of the game.

Bosses

Sonic Heroes features seven main bosses in the four main stories, which are fought after beating the even-numbered stages. Most of these bosses are Eggman's mechs, which vary in difficulty depending on the team the player is controlling. There are also two battles against other playable teams.

The final story consists entirely of two bosses, fought one after another in the same level: Metal Madness and Metal Overlord. Overlord is encountered with Super transformed versions of Team Sonic, while Madness is fought by the other teams.

Development

Background

During the early 1990s with the Sega Mega Drive console, Sega was one of the largest companies in the video game industry, largely thanks to the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, which became one of the most popular franchises of the decade, despite having intense competition in North America with Nintendo's Super NES console, specifically challenging against the Super Mario series. However, in the 32-bit era, the company suffered from significant losses due to the failure of its Saturn console against its competitors by its heated rival and the newly risen Sony, the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, respectively, prompting them to release the Dreamcast in 1998 as a last-ditch effort to stay on the hardware market. Despite critical acclaim, the new console was a commercial failure like its predecessor, and in just January 2001, Sega announced that they would be retiring from the console business and becoming a third-party game developer instead. Despite its short lifespan, the Dreamcast helped revitalize the Sonic brand's image, which had suffered for years from a lack of major games after Sonic 3 & Knuckles (1994) until the release of Sonic Adventure (1998) and Sonic Adventure 2 (2001), both of which received positive reviews from critics.^[22][23]

The decision from Sega to go third-party surprised many developers, Sonic Team included, many of whom fought to make the company's executives change their minds, to no avail. After the Dreamcast's production was discontinued in 2001, Sega mostly released ports of its games to its former rivals' consoles. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, a port of Sonic Adventure 2, was released for the Nintendo GameCube and attracted new fans to the series. Around the same time, Sonic Advance, a 2D side-scroller developed by Dimps, was released for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. This marks the start of a new era where Nintendo and Sega end their once fierce company rivalry.^[22]

Conception

In late 2002, Sega decided to make a new Sonic game for all major platforms. Takashi Iizuka and series co-creator Yuji Naka decided to make all versions have the overall same content, with no exclusive features, so that players could have the same experience regardless of the console.^[22] The developers then began brainstorming for ideas for the new title, seeking to innovate with a new gameplay style. What would become Sonic Heroes was the first multi-platform game in the series. The new hardware that was available allowed multiple playable characters to be controlled at the same time, so the team became interested in making a gameplay based on that idea.^[24]

Naka wanted Sonic Heroes to be developed by Sonic Team USA (later Sega Studio USA), a now-defunct subdivision of Sonic Team based in San Francisco, California which had previously made Sonic Adventure 2. This allowed them to interact more closely with the Western market and run tests with American players.^[22] Naka and Iizuka served as producer and director respectively of the new installment.^[25] Rather than making a "Sonic Adventure 3", the development team conceived Sonic Heroes as a standalone game that is not part of the Sonic Adventure series, one of the reasons for that being they were feeling unimpressed by the amount of numbered sequels that were on display at E3 2003. Additionally, Iizuka felt that such a game would only appeal to core gamers rather than casual audiences and children.^[24][26] The development team was composed of nineteen members and it took twenty months to complete the game.^[22]

Gameplay

The Sonic series has been mainly associated with the concept of speed. For Sonic Heroes, Iizuka thought of combining Sonic's trademark speed with Tails' flying abilities and Knuckles' strength and make a unique game combining all of these mechanics at once. Multiple teams, each with three characters, were introduced with similar base gameplay; each team was given their own scenario and gameplay style for more variety.^[24]

The Sonic Adventure games were more story-driven and had more variety in gameplay; for Sonic Heroes the developers opted to stick to the team-based gameplay. The Chao features from the previous games, such as the Chao Garden, were not featured to avoid breaking the pace. Neither were the Animals, as the team felt that they would make the player think that a Chao Garden was featured. Conversely, the Special Stages were brought back for the first time since Sonic 3 & Knuckles to refresh the player's mind after the levels.^[27]

Characters

With 2003 marking the twelfth anniversary of the release of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, it was eventually decided to feature twelve playable characters from the previous games in the franchise.^[24] One of these was Shadow the Hedgehog, who, though had seemingly died in the ending of Sonic Adventure 2, was brought back after developer meetings due to his popularity among fans.^[28] Team Chaotix, whose members had by then only appeared in Knuckles' Chaotix (1995), was featured due to their dynamic and uniqueness as a group compared to the other teams.^[24] However, these characters were re-imagined since the fast action they had in Knuckles' Chaotix made them "somewhat similar to Sonic". Characters like Mighty the Armadillo were not brought to this game for this reason.^[27] A new character, Cream the Rabbit, was originally created for this game as a member of Team Rose, but instead made her debut in Sonic Advance 2 to make that game feel more unique in comparison to Sonic Advance, its prequel.^[29]

According to Shiro Maekawa, who served as designer and writer of the game, six teams were planned during the early stages of development, with a total of eighteen playable characters;^[30] time constraints and a desire to keep the gameplay balanced caused many of these teams to be modified or removed.^[27] Originally, four out of six teams were planned to be:^[30]

• Amy, Cream, and Rouge
• Chaos 0, Gamma, and Big
• Fang, Bean, and Bark
• Metal, Ray, and Mighty

Conflicts

As the first multi-platform title in the series, Sonic Team USA faced several challenges in development. Until then, the developers had been able to work closely with Sega's hardware teams to make the games they desired, such as the conception of lock-on technology for Sonic 3 & Knuckles and the Dreamcast's capabilities being made specifically for Sonic Adventure. With Sega going third-party, however, they no longer enjoyed such luxuries.^[31] Sonic Team partnered with Criterion Games to make use of the RenderWare engine, which allowed for easy programming and porting for each of the platforms Sonic Heroes was released on.^[32]

Iizuka remembers the development of Sonic Heroes as the most stressful period of his career, partly due to strict deadlines and mismanagement coming from much of the original Sonic Team still being based in Japan.^[31] According to him, some of the developers were reportedly unhappy with the new multi-platform approach.^[24] Level design was solely handled by him and Eitaro Toyoda;^[25] at the later stages of development, Toyoda became ill, leaving Iizuka to make all of the later stages on his own. He recalls having overworked so much that he lost around 22 pounds (roughly 10 kg) and suffered from insomnia.^[31]

Soundtrack

Main article: Complete Trinity: Sonic Heroes Original Soundtrax

Complete Trinity: Sonic Heroes Original Soundtrax is the soundtrack of Sonic Heroes. It features in-game music on two discs and was released on March 2004. Triple Threat: Sonic Heroes Vocal Trax is the vocal soundtrack of the game, which contains the themes of the game and characters and was released in February 2004. Another album featuring the music of Sonic Heroes titled Sonic Heroes Original Soundtrack 20th Anniversary Edition was released in August 2011 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Sonic franchise.

The in-game music was composed by Jun Senoue.

Cast

Reception

Reviews of Sonic Heroes were mostly mixed to positive, though this is dependent on the platform; Metacritic averages range from 64% for the PlayStation 2 version (based on 29 reviews) to 73% for the Xbox version (based on 28 reviews).^[34] GameRankings averages ranged from 60% for the PC version (based on 18 reviews) to 74.5% for the GameCube version (based on 96 reviews).^[33]

Reviewers noted several positive aspects to the game. These included the gameplay style; whilst the transition to 3D has been noted as rough for the Sonic series,^[39] Sonic Heroes came close to the series' 2D roots.^[39] Sound design was also praised, described as "inexorably linked" to the experience ^[39] and "at least very pristine" with "perfectly implemented" sound effects, running in Dolby Pro Logic II.^[41] Graphics design and environments were also highlighted, described as colorful, vibrant and cheery,^[39] with consistent art design and an exceptionally vibrant color palette.^[41] Framerate was also noted for being consistent for the GameCube and PC versions, although a drop in framerate in the multiplayer component was noted.^[41][39]

It also attracted several negative criticisms. Often cited were the game's camera control system, described as "uncooperative"^[39] and "terrible".^[36] Camera control compounded an additional problem regarding the controls relative to the camera's position, such that pushing forward may or may not move the character in the same direction the camera is facing.^[39] Falling from the level's platforms into the deep pits below was also criticized.^[39][36] The game's voice acting also came in for criticism, described as "horrendous" ^[41] and "the biggest misstep in the sound design" such as the infamous line, "What are we gonna do Sonic?" and Tails' "helpless" personality.^[39] Also, the third Chaos Emerald (yellow) has proved extremely difficult to get compared to the others. Some reviewers found the controls a negative feature, and the combat heavy sections were also cited as a negative point.

In addition, the PlayStation 2 version received lower average scores.^[35][47] Clipping and graphic faults were cited, whilst the framerate was also lower than the other versions.^[41]

In 2004, Sonic Heroes was the sixth best-selling game in the United Kingdom overall, and a full year after its release, was still at number eight in the all-price chart.^[48] The game ultimately sold well enough to enter all three consoles' "best-sellers" lists: Greatest Hits/Platinum for the PlayStation 2, Platinum Family Hits for the Xbox, and Player's Choice for the GameCube.^[49] The game was also released in a package with Super Monkey Ball Deluxe on Xbox.^[50] The game has sold 5.46 million copies worldwide.^[51]

Trivia

Characters

• All the characters speak one at a time by team formation during the stages or bosses, for example: first Sonic talks, then Tails, and finally Knuckles.
• Knuckles is the only Power character who uses two hands to operate a pull switch, while the others only use one hand.

• While selecting Shadow or Omega to be the leader in Team Dark, if the player stops and uses the first-person camera to look at Rouge, she will occasionally turn her head towards the player and wink at them, breaking the fourth wall.
• In the English version of Team Dark's final cutscene, Rouge tells Omega that Shadow is a robot. In the Japanese version, she tells him that she believes Shadow is an android.
  • The Team Dark ending leaves it ambiguous as to whether Shadow himself was the real Shadow or an android, although Neo Metal Sonic's statement of copying the data of the Ultimate Life Form after the Egg Albatross boss fight was defeated strongly implied the former.
• In the opening scene of Team Rose's story, Amy is seen with a newspaper clipping showing a photograph of Sonic carrying Chocola and Froggy. The article on the newspaper appears to be an ad for a Palm OS port of the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog.
• In this game, Sonic's arms are not outstretched behind him while he runs, as he is always swinging his arms.
• Sonic Heroes is the first time Metal Sonic has used a voice actor for dialogue, which is actually Sonic's under many filters. Metal Sonic also spoke in Sonic Pinball Party and Sonic Generations, but both games contained no audio.
  • Metal Sonic speaks again in Shadow Generations as Metal Overlord, having his own individual voice actor for the first time.
• This is the only main series Sonic game released on consoles in which Shadow is playable but does not transform into his Super State, besides the Episode Shadow DLC in Sonic Forces.
• The pose of Team Sonic at the ending of the final cutscene of the game as Sonic declares them as Sonic Heroes is the same as shown in the game box art.
• Cream the Rabbit was originally planned to debut in this game, but Sonic Advance 2's development team decided to introduce her in the Game Boy Advance title as a way to make herself become familiar with players, make its story feel fresh, and specifically serve as a character for beginners, similar to how Team Rose is intended.
• Team Chaotix is the only team without a hedgehog, or any other anthropomorphic mammal for that matter, on the team, seeing as Vector and Espio are reptiles and Charmy is an insect.
• In the opening cutscene of Team Chaotix's story, there are papers pinned on a notice board behind Vector that show concept drawings of the Badniks used in the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Although the player with any team can obtain any of the seven Chaos Emeralds during gameplay, the Last Story's opening cutscene shows said teams separately have only a few each; Team Sonic got the blue emerald (1), Team Rose got the yellow and purple emeralds (2), Team Dark got the green and white emeralds (2), and Team Chaotix got the red and cyan emeralds (2).
• Amy will sometimes exclaim, "Oh my God!" upon entering a certain section of Bullet Station and Final Fortress or when Team Rose discovers a hidden power-up.
• Sonic Heroes marks where Tails and Knuckles' respective Super States were completely changed to have simple golden invincibility shields rather than their original super transformations seen in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, due to Takashi Iizuka's now established rule of having only male hedgehogs able to transform. This has been met with significant backlash among fans who were familiar with the older Sega Mega Drive games, believing only Sonic was actually transformed during the Last Story's climax. Their classic transformations would return in Sonic Mania and Sonic Origins, however.
• The final boss battle with Metal Overlord in Sonic Heroes is one of the only two times so far in the Sonic series where three Super States are required to defeat the powerful foe, under Team Sonic. The other game with this rare feat is Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), with Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Silver teaming up against Solaris.

Differences between platforms

• There are few technical differences between each version (as well as bugs) of Sonic Heroes:
  • The PlayStation 2 version does not support progressive scan video and runs at 30 frames per second with some minor instances of slowdown. This version is the only one to contain freely selectable languages in-game, and the player is able to switch the voice and text languages separately (however Japanese voice and text support is absent in PAL releases). The USA version also has the Select and Cancel button reversed. This version supports "Dolby Digital Pro Logic II", with Dolby Digital for FMV cutscenes only, and Dolby Pro Logic II everywhere else. This version also has the most balanced audio mixing, though a small handful of sound effects are either too quiet or absent. The PAL release has an exclusive "TEST" screen for 60hz support. This is also the only console version to receive a Korean release.
  • The Xbox version (and "Originals" release) supports 60 frames per second, but has a few drops throughout, it also has the fastest loading times, contains dual languages dependent on the Xbox system settings, and has a higher video resolution (480p, mistakenly noted as 720p on the cover). This version uses Dolby Digital 5.1 for both gameplay and FMV cutscenes.
  • The Nintendo GameCube version suffers from control issues, having reduced camera rotation to half the speed of the other versions, and analog movement snapping to 8 directions due to the controller’s design, making smooth turning unnecessarily harder. However, this port is able to maintain a decent framerate of 60 frames per second, and has a unique Anti Flicker option, but only has one voiced language available, this being Japanese in the Japanese release and English everywhere else, due to disc size constraints. This version only features Dolby Pro Logic II for the sound. The "NOW LOADING" text during loading screens is also missing in this version. For some reason, characters' eyes also glow in the dark.
  • The PC port that was released months later contains some tweaks to the gameplay. There are only a few differences of its own, such as a new feature that allows the player to switch camera modes between Auto Camera and Free Camera, though this option is not always available. For the most part, it has a higher video resolution than the other versions and features slightly enhanced shading. The downside is that it has problems with certain gamepads, similar to the PC version of Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut. This version only contains one voiced language due to size concerns at the time. This port also suffers from audio mixing issues, but is somewhat remedied with the ability to adjust the music and sound volume, but the sound and voices share the same slider so it doesn’t do much to fix it.
• Big's character model in the PC version is missing its stripes in-game due to a graphical error.
• Metal Madness/Metal Overlord is shiny blue on the Xbox and PC versions, while on other versions he is just blue.
• The Speed Type characters lack the falling animation in the PC version and only lose Rings, making it harder to defeat them in Team Battles.
• Some glitches are only possible for the consoles versions, like the Team Blast glitch.
• In the PC version, Cream's A-Rank line and four of Amy's voice clip files for are empty.^[52]
• The PC version's "formation" screens are clear, while in the other versions they are disarrayed.
• In the PC version of the game, the "All" selection in Multiplayer was supposed to play all the courses listed on each type of Multiplayer game mode, but instead it only plays two of them.
• When playing the Xbox version on the Xbox 360, during the Credits, the FMV cutscene audio will play back. This makes the credits roll slower due to the game's frame cap during FMV cutscenes. However, FMV cutscenes may stutter.

Gameplay

• While battling another team, if the player looks at them with the first-person camera, the characters will be doing random things like spinning around in circles or star-jumping. However, they have to be on the platforms to do this, as by flying and looking down, they will only see the character on their foot, and not those on the ground. This can be worked around though if the characters aren't directly under them.
• In Final Fortress with Team Chaotix, the player's mission is to collect five keys to free the client. However, in the last cutscene, Vector opens the door by simply breaking it.
• Strangely, during the Special Stages, there's a slight chance that the player will clip outside the tube and move in an uncontrolled state.
• Getting an A-rank on every level in the game unlocks Super Hard Mode, a mechanic that would be used again in the form of Shadow the Hedgehog's Expert Mode.
• While other Sonic games usually perform slower in 50hz mode, Sonic Heroes was sped up to compensate for it. A 60hz option was added as well. However, while 60hz mode runs like normal on PlayStation 2 and Xbox, the GameCube's 60hz mode just takes the 50hz mode and speeds up the game by 20%.
• This is the first main series Sonic game where the Spin Dash cannot be performed since its introduction in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Errors

• Tails incorrectly states, "Look at all those Eggman's robots!", along with E-123 Omega who says "Must eradicate all Eggman's robots!".
• In the cutscene before playing Robot Carnival as Team Chaotix, when Dr. Eggman says "You've made quite of a mess here," the subtitles read "You've made quit of a mess here".
• In the cutscene that plays before the fight between Team Rose and Team Chaotix, Big says, "It's not nice to tease my friends!", but in the French version of the game, the subtitles are mistranslated as, "J'adore taquiner mes amis!" which humorously translates to, "I love to tease my friends!"
• No matter which team the player is playing as, specifically Team Dark and Rose (as they have female members), after Robot Carnival and the Robot Storm, Eggman will say, "Don't get too excited, boys! Those were the easy ones!"
• When entering Final Fortress as Team Sonic, Sonic will say "This must be Eggman's headquarters!" while the subtitles read "This must Eggman's headquarters!"
• A misprint of certain English manuals state that Sonic is only 8 years old rather than 15.
• In Seaside Hill and Grand Metropolis as Team Chaotix, at one point when encountering Eggman's robots, Espio will say, "Are those Eggman's robots?" while the subtitles read, "Are these Eggman's assassins?" or "Are they Eggman's robots?"
• In Grand Metropolis, once at the cannon that leads to a rail section as Team Chaotix, Espio will say, "I'll handle it." while subtitles incorrectly read, "Leave this to me!"
  • This also happens in Frog Forest when the player reaches the section with three Giant Frogs, a bunch of Egg Pawns, and an Egg Knight.

Miscellaneous

• In the 2008 edition of Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition, Sonic Heroes is awarded for most playable characters in a platform game.
• In the PlayStation 2 version, the menu actions of and are switched; typically is select and is back. This is due to the Japanese versions of games doing this, and the American Sonic Heroes simply did not swap the buttons while localizing.
• This is the first Sonic game to have a simultaneous first-run release on more than one console.
• The game's sound test classes some of the levels as "zones".
• A remix of the "Battle: City Area" music can be heard in the Special Stages for the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors.
• Demo versions of the game are featured in PlayStation 2 Official Magazine discs #46 & #55, Xbox Demo Disc #31, and a bonus disc included with Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.
• Sonic Heroes was the first Sonic game to support High Definition display along with 5.1 Surround Sound, as these are in the Xbox and PC versions.
• This is the only Sonic game to have its theme song named after the game's title.
• A remix of the Quick Race music can be heard during Cream: Chao Hunt mission in the console/PC version of Sonic Generations.
• The 9/28/03 prototype of the PS2 version showcases a lot of changes that occurred before the final release, such as different graphical effects and unfinished level layouts. Certain features were also cut like the ability to copy data in-game or Korean text being removed from non-Korean releases.. The later 10/08/03 build of the GameCube version adds additional work-in-progress tracks that have missing instruments in some background themes, such as Casino Park's.
• When using the Metal Heroes cheat, the hems at the bottom of Amy and Cream's dresses, along with the buckles on Big's belt, become spiked.
• After clearing the Final story and as the credits begin to roll, the background of the image that displays "Get all A-ranks!" is actually the title screen of the game's beta version.
• Prima's Official Strategy Guide's recommended order for playing the teams is: Team Rose, Team Sonic, Team Dark, then Team Chaotix.
• Sonic Heroes marked the first time that Crush 40 recorded more than one song for a single game.
• In the Japanese version, the characters' lip syncing noticeably does not match the spoken language. This is because the pre-rendered cutscenes were designed with American English in mind, and it would be cheaper to have uniform visuals than to render two separate renditions of the same storyline. This is in contrast with the Sonic Adventure games, where their cutscenes were designed with Japanese in mind, and English would become the standard for the rest of the series.
• An F-Rank was supposed to be in the game, but was scrapped for unknown reasons, therefore, the final game uses "E" as the lowest rank, similar to Sonic Adventure 2.
• The teams and ability formations featured in Sonic Heroes would return in future installments of the series, although the ability to control three characters at once in normal gameplay would not.
  • An exception to this is made in the final boss of Sonic Forces, where the player is able to control three characters all at once, possibly in reference to this game. The "tag" gameplay that is also present in Sonic Forces shares similarities to the three-character team gameplay as well.
• Two different classic Hanna-Barbera sound effects are used in Team Chaotix's intro. When Charmy comes rushing in and collides with Vector, the sound effects "Broken Skid" and "Boom Crash", according to the Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Sound FX soundtrack by Rhino Records, are paired and used in that order. The sound effect library is available.
• Most of the textures come from the Japanese stock image library, this includes the sky background used for the title screen.

Metal Heroes

• Using these codes allows the player to become metal versions of their selected team in 2-Player Mode:
  • PlayStation 2: Hold + after selecting a level.
  • Xbox: Hold + after selecting a level.
  • Nintendo GameCube: Hold + after selecting a level.
  • PC: Hold [A] + [Y] after selecting a level.
• Ian Flynn, the former head writer of the IDW Publishing's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series, stated that the metal skins served as inspirations for the Zombots.

Videos

See also

• Sonic Heroes Puzzle
• "Sonic Heroes" (song)

Notes

References

External links

• Official Japanese website
• Official Korean website (archived)
• Sonic Heroes Music Website (archived)