knuckles day

Back Issues & Knuckles: Knuckles’ Chaotix

Dr. KLeave a comment

When Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1994) released on this day in 1994, gamers were introduced to Knuckles the Echidna. Takashi Yuda’s mischievous, dreadlocked antagonist is my favourite of Sonic’s supporting cast so excuse me while I celebrate his debut throughout February.

Published: 9 November 1995 (cover-dated: January 1996)

Story Title: “The Chaos Effect” (Part 1 to 3)
Writers: Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders
Artist: Art Mawhinney

Story Title: “Tag! You’re It!”
Writer: Ken Penders
Artist: Harvey Mercadoocasio

Story Title: “The Hunt is On!”
Writer: Ken Penders
Artist: Ken Penders

Quick Facts:
After publishing a four-part miniseries, Archie Comics spearheaded the longest-running videogame comic book and expanded their reach with a popular Knuckles the Echidna companion series. Prior to that first three-issue series, Archie detailed how Knuckles met his Chaotix running buddies in this loose adaptation of the rare and obscure Knuckles’ Chaotix (SEGA, 1995) and they were by his side even when overly complicated lore and a lawsuit changed Archie’s Sonic comic books forever.

The Review:
“The Chaos Effect” sees the Knothole Freedom Fighters (reckless point man hog Sonic the Hedgehog and his enthusiastic, two-tailed buddy Miles “Tails” Prower, fearless leader Princess Sally Acorn, tech guru Rotor the Walrus, the partially roboticized Bunny Rabbot, and officious Antoine D’Coolette) invited to what was then known as the Floating Island, a near-mythical hovering peninsula held aloft by a Chaos Emerald and known to dislike intruders. When Sonic and his friends arrive, they find a fully decked out carnival theme park populated by their fellow Freedom Fighters (including Sonic’s number one fan, Amy Rose, and his rival, Geoffrey St. John). Surprised that the island’s guardian, super strong loner Knuckles, would invite them much less host such an extravagant attraction, Sonic and the others are introduced to the brains behind the carnival: Renfield T. Rodent, who invites them to try out the Hall of Mirrors. Inside, while the others are startled (or amazed) by their warped reflections, Sonic’s suspicions about the whole thing immediately turn out to be true when the Freedom Fighters are trapped within the mirrors! Knuckles’ shock is doubled when Doctor Ivo Robotnik, the cruel-hearted despot who has conquered and polluted most of Mobius, reveals the entire thing was an elaborate trap to dispose of his hated enemies. When Knuckles attacks, he finds the light has stripped him of his natural abilities and that Dr. Robotnik spared him so Knuckles could witness the madman’s ultimate victory.

When Dr. Robotnik captures Sonic and co, Knuckles reluctantly teams with some new allies to rescue them.

With his dreadlocks pruned and his fists lacking spikes, the handicapped Knuckles ponders how he’s going to save his allies, only for a hyperactive little honeybee, Charmy Bee, to suddenly fly by and offer some advice. Both are startled when Espio the Chameleon reveals he’s been hanging out, while invisible, in the forest and all three ready themselves for a fight when a ruckus storms their way. When this turns out to be music loving, wannabe rap star Vector the Crocodile, Espio relieves him of his headphones before being knocked on his ass, along with the others, when powerhouse Mighty the Armadillo bursts through the mountainside. Although Knuckles is suspicious to see that Mighty is accompanied by two robots, Heavy and Bomb (strangely sporting very different appearances to their videogame counterparts), the duo explain that the “power gems” installed into them by Dr. Robotnik allowed them to develop sentience and a conscience. When they learned of Dr. Robotnik’s carnival-themed plot, they came to help, bringing a cache of power gems and experimental weapons to disrupt Dr. Robotnik’s mad scheme. Encouraged, Knuckles sets to work rescuing the Freedom Fighters and Dr. Robotnik is alarmed when his theme park attractions and rides suddenly activate. As they’re all powered by separated control mechanisms, the semi-cybernetic tyrant correctly surmises that Knuckles must’ve had help to bring them all online. However, Dr. Robotnik quickly adapts and uses his “material transport system” (because “teleporter” would be too simple, I guess) to bring in some reinforcements.

Despite its immense size, Mecha Sonic is reduced to scrap metal by an enlarged Knuckles.

This comes in the form of Metal Mecha Sonic, Sonic’s deadly, robotic doppelgänger. Greatly enhanced since its last deployment, the ever-loyal Mecha Sonic is sent after Knuckles and his new allies and immediately locates them in the heart of the carnival. Immediately taking charge, Knuckles commands they attack preemptively, which sees Charmy Bee fly around Mecha Sonic to little effect and Espio turning invisible to lure the super-fast robot into crashing into a building. Utilising a ring-like tether wielded by Vector, Knuckles dives at his foe, only for Mecha Sonic to switch to infra-red (seems tactically dangerous in the daytime, but whatever…) and snag the energy beam connecting the two rings. However, Vector apparently uses the mysterious rings to teleport or switch places with Knuckles (the art isn’t very clear…) and toss Mecha Sonic towards Mighty, who sends it crashing through a few buildings. While still recovering, Mecha Sonic is surprised when Bomb explodes next to him, only to shrug it off and grow to immense size thanks to a power gem. To face this Kaiju-sized, red tinted goliath, Knuckles utilises one of Heavy’s power gem’s to also become a giant, battling Mecha Sonic Kai on equal ground. Dr. Robotnik’s fears about the volatile nature of the power gems comes to fruition when Knuckles smacks Mecha Sonic Kai into the Hall of Mirrors, freeing the Freedom Fighters and restoring Knuckles. Rather than ponder why he didn’t smash the mirrors when he was in there (could’ve just tossed a rock or something…), Knuckles smashes Mecha Sonic Kai to pieces with his renewed strength. However, Dr. Robotnik makes a hasty exit on a rocket-powered rollercoaster, leaving Renfield to take the fall. Although Sonic encourages Knuckles and his “chaotic” new friends to form a super-team, they all comically disagree and refuse to entertain such an idea.

Once again, Archie wastes time on pointless backup stories that are largely disconnected from the game.

This not-team then appear in the special’s two back-up stories. The first sees Charmy Bee kick off a game of “tag” between the group. While Mighty’s initially reluctant, he quickly participates by shoving Vector into a pool since he doesn’t have anything better to do. Vector’s frustration doubles when Charmy Bee deftly avoids him and Mighty knocks over a tree to fend him off. While hopping aside, Vector trips over the sleeping, invisible Espio, who he quickly tags before racing off. Annoyed, Espio tries to pounce upon Vector, only to crash and burn and briefly meet a mysterious fire ant who quickly disappears in a puff of smoke. When Charmy Bee flutters by to check on Espio, he unwittingly leaves himself open for a tag and the story ends with the game said to continue. “The Hunt is On!” continues Knuckles’ issues with the elusive and mysterious Archimedes, a hitherto-disembodied voice who’s been testing the guardian’s abilities (and patience) over the past few months. The story begins with Knuckles frantically running from an explosive barrage and stumbling upon Charmy Bee, Mighty, and Vector, who are confused by the attack. While gathering his wits, Vector stumbles down a hole and, when the others try to get him out, they’re suddenly attacked by more explosive orbs, which put Charmy Bee down for the count. Knuckles and Mighty are joined by Espio, who’s amazed that Knuckles spotted him during all the commotion. While Knuckles discusses Archimedes with a confused Espio, Mighty is suddenly attacked by a strange robot on treadmills. Relishing a “challenge worthy of [his] matchless strength”, Mighty battles his mechanical attacker, with the two beating each other into submission. Knuckles urges Espio to find the puppet master behind these events, only for a shadowy figure to quietly abduct Espio (since he’s not a ninja yet). When Knuckles notices his friend is gone, Archimedes challenges him to decide whether his friends are more important to him than safeguarding the Floating Island. This ends the story on a cliffhanger that would finally be resolved in Knuckles’ first miniseries the following year.

Final Thoughts: 
Archie Comics strikes again with another meandering, borderline insulting 48-page special that has little to do with the source material and wastes its pages on forgettable backup stories and the asinine Archimedes sub-plot Ken Penders was pushing. As ever, the art in the main story is passable and mirrors the popular cartoon on which the comics were partially based, though things appear much more rushed than usual here, with many characters being bloated and off-model. Things are far worse in the backup stories, with Knuckles appearing like liquid at many points and Charmy Bee seemingly growing and shrinking between panels. “The Chaos Factor” is further hampered by Knuckles magically being physically altered by Dr. Robotnik’s technology (removing his dreads, spikes, and super strength) and the introduction of colourful new characters. It’s bizarre to me that Heavy and Bomb look so widely different; I wonder if Archie had seen any screenshots or artwork of the two when writing this special? Regardless, Art Mawhinney seems to be struggling with the Chaotix, which I kind of understand as they’re more complicated designs than Sonic’s regular crew. Vector and Espio, especially, appear warped throughout and the group’s characterisation is painfully one-dimension. Charmy Bee is playful, Espio turns invisible, Mighty is super strong, and Vector likes music. That’s about all we get here, apart from the random inclusion of the tether rings (which appear without explanation and are only used once, just like in Fleetway’s Knuckles’ Chaotix adaptation). On the plus side, the story seems to insinuate that the Chaotix live on the Floating Island (Espio and Charmy Bee seem to know each other) and the group expands Knuckles’ character, taking him from a loner who protects his residents as part of his duties to a team leader rallying his troops.

The main story pays partial lip service to the videogame but is a poor representation of the source material.

That’s about where the praise for Knuckles’ Chaotix ends, though. Like many of Archie’s videogame adaptations, the story is a disservice to the source material, taking place entirely in and around the amusement part that acts as the hub world in the game. This barely resembles Newtrogic High Zone, however, and is much closer to Carnival Night Zone or a standard amusement park. Rather than capturing Espio, Dr. Robotnik captures (presumably all) the Freedom Fighters with bizarre mirror technology that’s easily undone by breaking the mirrors (though Knuckles is apparently powerless to do this at first). The story does include Mecha Sonic, which is cool, and I quite liked its fight with Knuckles and the Chaotix as it was a good way to show their powers and test their mettle. Sadly, the group don’t overcome Mecha Sonic Kai with the “real superpower of teamwork”. Instead, Knuckles just grows to gargantuan size and fights Mecha Sonic Kai, somehow toppling the monstrous machine despite him lacking his super strength. None of the stories feature the Zones (or “Attractions”) from the videogame which is, again, a massive disappointment. Why not spend the entire 48-pages following Knuckles as he fights through a few locations (like Botanic Base and Speed Slider) slowly learning to co-operate and accept the Chaotix before reaching Dr. Robotnik’s secret base in Techno Tower? Or, at the very least, produce two, far better backup stories set in locations like Marina Madness or Amazing Arena, perhaps including some of the Badniks and bosses from the game. Instead, once again, it seems Archie Comics only had access to a few screenshots and the basic details of the game, meaning the cover art is the best thing about this let-down of a special that’s only notably for half-assing the introduction of the Chaotix.

My Rating:

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Terrible

Did you enjoy the Chaotix’s debut Archie’s Sonic comics? Were you also disappointed by how badly represented Knuckles’ Chaotix was? Did you enjoy the fight between the enlarged Knuckles and Mecha Sonic Kai or would you have preferred to see the team tackle the titanic terror? Whare some of your favourite Chaotix adventures and moments from the Archie comics? How are you celebrating Knuckles this month? Whatever you think about Archie’s Sonic comics, and especially Knuckles and the Chaotix, comment below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Knuckles content!

Back Issues & Knuckles: Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble

Dr. K1 Comment

When Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1994) released on this day in 1994, gamers were introduced to Knuckles the Echidna. Takashi Yuda’s mischievous, dreadlocked antagonist is my favourite of Sonic’s supporting cast so excuse me while I celebrate his debut throughout February.

Published: 3 August 1995 (cover-dated: October 1995)

Story Title: “Tttriple Tttrouble!!!” (includes “Part II: Zone Sweet Zone!”, “Part III: Echidnapped!”, and “Part IV: Blue Blur vs. Rough and Red!”)
Writer: Mike Gallagher
Artist: Dave Manak

Story Title: “Submersible Rehearsal”
Writer: Mike Gallagher
Artist: Art Mawhinney

Story Title: “First Contact”
Writers: Ken Penders
Artist: Jon D’Agostino

Quick Facts:
Following their initial four-part miniseries, Archie Comics began the longest-running videogame comic book and capitalised on Sonic’s popularity with a popular Knuckles the Echidna companion series. Before that convoluted lore and a bitter lawsuit forever changed Sonic’s comic books, Knuckles featured in this loose adaptation of the largely under-rated Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble (Aspect, 1994).

The Review:
Not unlike its videogame source material, “Tttriple Tttrouble!!!” sees ruthless cybernetic dictator Doctor Ivo Robotnik in possession of a Chaos Emerald. Rather than having one of five after his experiments scatter the others across the planet, Dr. Robotnik has one of many Chaos Emeralds, though this is sufficient to power his “mega-engine” and pollute the entire planet Mobius. However, this plan gets dashed due to an oversight by his robotic assistant, Crabmeat, who miscalibrated the machine. The imbalance causes an explosion that breaks the Chaos Emerald in two and rockets each part into orbit, prompting Dr. Robotnik to call “Bounty Hunters ‘Я’ Us” to hire a bounty hunter to retrieve the gems (again, not a million miles away from the videogame). While making a messy chili dog snack (or four…), Sonic is brought to the Freedom Fighters’ control room, where their resident mechanic and scientist, Rotor the Walrus, has detected the erratic energy signature of a Chaos Emerald. The three then watch as the Chaos Emerald shard crashes into the Great Forest, its unstable “magic” creating a “new Zone” (apparently, this is how the game’s environments are integrated into Archie lore). Excited to explore a new area, Sonic speeds off, refusing to wait for Rotor’s analysis and unaware that he’s being stalked by a mysterious, wolf-like figure. Meanwhile, Knuckles finds a rare moment of relaxation under the sun interrupted by the other Chaos Emerald shard, which streaks overhead and crashes into Mount Osohai, the Floating Island’s unconquerable mountain range. Undeterred, Knuckles glides over and is stunned to see the shard burrowing into the mountain, then ends up unconscious and plummeting to certain doom after being struck by a piece of rock.

While recovering a Chaos Emerald shard, Sonic is blindsided by Nack the Weasel.

When Sonic arrives at the crash site in the Great Forest, he’s greeted by a bizarre, fairground like portal leading to “Triple Trouble”. Naturally, he enters without a thought, completely oblivious to his mysterious stalker, whom Dr. Robotnik orders (via “2-way, 3-D holo-wrist radio”) to follow. Exasperated by the rotund dictator’s blustering, the mercenary mutes his employer and heads into the Zone in his sky-cycle, which has been programmed to mimic Sonic’s moves! In a change of pace for most Archie adaptations, we get to see Sonic racing through Triple Trouble’s Zones, but this is reduced to a simple montage of panels that literally just show him bouncing, running, snowboarding, or adventuring across the game’s locations before bopping Dr. Robotnik on the head and reaching the exit. There are no battles against Dr. Robotnik’s enlarged Badniks, none of the game’s power-ups (except the snowboard), and the comic just blasts through them all rather than taking place in one or two of the game’s locations. The snowboard panel is essentially a rip-off of the game’s artwork, there’s no explanation as to how or why Dr. Robotnik or his Badniks are there, and the Chaos Emerald shard is bizarrely housed within a futuristic chamber, which Sonic races into to deactivate before the Zone presumably closes behind him. However, as soon as Sonic retrieves the shard, he’s blasted by his stalker, the infamous bounty hunter Fang the Sniper Jet the Jerboa Nack the Weasel! With Sonic successfully captured, Nack demands Dr. Robotnik pay him double the price to retrieve the other half of the Chaos Emerald and the tyrant, eager to mount Sonic’s head on his wall, begrudgingly agrees.

Despite a disagreement between Sonic and Knuckles, the Floating Island is saved.

Oblivious to Nack’s impending arrival, Knuckles wakes in a hidden cave and is cared for by the Ancient Walkers, mute, masked, enigmatic figures from echidna lore. Astonished, Knuckles interprets their cave drawings as a warning that the Emerald shard will cause Floating Island to explode if it reaches the island’s Chaos Emerald power source. Returned to the surface, Knuckles spots and summarily knocks out the passing Nack, unaware that he’s just knocked Sonic into a lake. This wakes Sonic and, pissed at being blindsided, he bursts from the water looking for payback and immediately assumes that Knuckles attacked him. Attacking without thinking, Sonic is easily overpowered by his super strong rival, who’s driven into a fury after Sonic kicks him in the nose. Going “Hyper-Knuckles” (which sees Knuckles turning his fists into buzzsaws rather than adopting a Super form), Knuckles sends Sonic flying with a haymaker, leading to them flying at each other in a rage. Their scuffle ends, however, when they recognise Dr. Robotnik’s voice coming from Nack’s communicator (…despite him muting it earlier…) This clears up the misunderstanding and sees Sonic direct Knuckles to puppet Nack’s unconscious, battered body to deceive Dr. Robotnik. Retrieving Nack’s Emerald shard, Sonic joins Knuckles in intercepting the other half in the island’s crystalline Chaos Chamber, where they just barely reunite the two in time to save the island. The two frenemies almost come to blows again when the restored Chaos Emerald mysteriously vanishes but part on mostly friendly terms, unaware that the Chaos Emerald teleported into the possession of the mysterious Ancient Walkers.

Tails and Knuckles embark on separate adventures largely disconnected from the source material.

While I’m here, I may as well go over the other  stories also included in this 48-page special. The first is a solo adventure for Sonic’s two-tailed buddy, Miles “Tails” Prower, which features his Sea Fox submarine from Triple Trouble and laid the groundwork for Archie’s Tails-centric miniseries. Unfortunately, “Submersible Rehearsal” takes place in the waters near Knothole Village rather than, say, Tidal Plant Zone and sees Tails confront an enlarged Octobot rather than one of Triple Trouble’s bosses. Though amazed by the Sea Fox built for him by Rotor, Tails is outraged to learn that Princess Sally Acorn has forbidden him from taking it out to sea because of concerns about his age. However, Tails improvises when an injured sea gull washes up warning that Dr. Robotnik is rebuilding his “submerged, waterproof robot maker”, draining the oil from the bird into his tank and setting off to help. When Tails finds the underwater facility guarded by Octobot, he doesn’t hesitate to ram to mechanic cephalopod, rescuing the marine life it held captive before destroying the roboticizer with the Sea Fox’s missiles, making an enemy of the besmirched Octobot in the process. The second story sees Knuckles once again tested by the mysterious Archimedes on the Floating Island, making this story even less connected to Triple Trouble. In fact, “First Contact” has more in common with Sonic & Knuckles (SEGA, 1994) as Archimedes sends one of Dr. Robotnik’s Fire Breath units after him and then makes him battle a Hey-Ho. At first, these robots see Knuckles believe “Archimedes” is Dr. Robotnik pulling another trick, but a plunge into the Chaos Chamber sees Archimedes dispel these accusations and aggravate Knuckles with cryptic taunts about his hot-headed nature. Challenged to solve Archimedes’ puzzle, Knuckles later contemplates the lesson with his friend, rocker Vector the Crocodile, and the mystery of who or what Archimedes is and what he wants.

Final Thoughts: 
As always, Archie’s adaptation of a videogame leaves a lot to be desired and takes the barebones, basic suggestion of the source material and reconfigures it into one-and-a-half semi-original stories set within their convoluted canon. I tried really hard to cut this 48-page special some slack, especially the main story, as it almost mirrored the videogame in a dysfunctional way but then it completely dropped the ball. Although I’ve read all the Archie Sonic comics, I don’t recall it being established that the game’s Zones spring out of thin air (or “magic”), though even if that was established it’s a pretty stupid idea. Mobius is a planet, for God’s sake! You just have the Zones be places in the world, which is what Archie usually does, so this weird-ass funfair-like portal…thing…was ridiculous. It also appears to be temporary, as Sonic must race to the Chaos Emerald Chamber and “shut [it] down” with a lever. How that lever, the chamber, and the technology surrounding it appeared is anyone’s guess (more “magic”, I suppose) but it’s nowhere near as ludicrous as Triple Trouble’s Zones conveniently having Badniks, traps, and even Dr. Robotnik in them. Normally, I complain that these adaptations are limited to a single, barely recognisable location from the videogames but this time, I’m complaining because Triple Trouble’s Zones are reduced to a montage. Sure, it emulates the 2D action of the videogame but it’s very lazy. Why not have Dr. Robotnik’s “secret lab” be in Robotnik Winter Zone or Atomic Destroyer Zone, the Emerald shard land in Great Turquoise Zone or Meta Jungura Zone, “Submersible Rehearsal” set in Tidal Plant Zone and “First Contact” be reconfigured into having Knuckles be tested in Sunset Park Zone? There’s really no excuse for these stories not to be set in the game’s locations and it’s kind of insulting that they’re limited to Knothole and the Floating Island.

Sadly, though it comes close, the comic is a poor representation of the videogame.

As ever, the art is passable, resembling the main Sonic comics and the cartoons that inspired them, except for “First Contact”, which sees Knuckles rendered painfully off-model and Hey-Ho looking like its melting! I can’t say I was massively blown away by the Ancient Walkers, who didn’t seem necessary to the story, but I did like the introduction of Nack the Weasel. It took a little too long for him to be revealed and it’s a shame to reduce him to Dr. Robotnik’s lackey, but it’s a role that suits him and he’s always been a visually interesting character. Although we never get to see what his sky-cycle is capable of, it’s not insignificant that he got the drop on Sonic and was well on his way to succeeding when Knuckles clobbered him. I quite enjoyed the fight between Sonic and Knuckles, which is thematically similar to the videogame and sees them go at it with a bit more gusto than in previous encounters. I do think this special issue suffers from not devoting its entire length to the source material to depict a literal three-way chase for the Chaos Emerald (or its shards, or whatever!) between Sonic, the opportunistic Nack, Knuckles, and Dr. Robotnik. Had Archie done this, we could’ve seen at least three or four locations from the game in more detail, seen Sonic battle Dr. Robotnik’s giant Badniks, and had a more action-packed adventure rather than a middling story that essentially acts as a shameless advertisement for the game. Ultimately, this was a very frustrating issue to read as it came so close to being at least tolerable and was very promising but, once again, the covert is the best thing about this special (aside from Nack) and the backup stories aren’t really worth your time unless you’re really invested in Ken Penders’ awful plans for Knuckles and getting a prelude to Tails’ later solo adventure.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Did you enjoy Nack’s debut in Archie’s Sonic comics? Were you also disappointed by how poorly this adaptation represented Triple Trouble? Did you enjoy the fight between Sonic and Knuckles? How interested were you in the riddle of Archimedes? Did you enjoy Archie’s Knuckles lore or did you find it to be overly complicated? How are you celebrating Knuckles this month? Let me know your thoughts on Archie’s Triple Trouble adaptation in the comments and donate to my Ko-Fi if you want to see more of Knuckles’ Archie adventures on the site.

Back Issues & Knuckles: Sonic & Knuckles

Dr. KLeave a comment

When Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1994) released on this day in 1994, gamers were introduced to Knuckles the Echidna. Takashi Yuda’s mischievous, dreadlocked antagonist is my favourite of Sonic’s supporting cast so excuse me while I celebrate his debut throughout February.

Published: 11 May 1995 (cover-dated: August 1995)

Story Title: “Panic in the Sky” (Part 1 and 2)
Writers: Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders
Artists: Art Mawhinney and Dave Manak

Story Title: “Fire Drill”
Writers: Ken Penders
Artist: Jon D’Agostino

Story Title: “Lord of the Floating Island”
Writers: Ken Penders
Artist: Harvey Mercadoocasio

Quick Facts:
Following an initial four-part miniseries, Archie Comics started the longest-running videogame comic book and capitalised on Sonic’s popularity with a popular Knuckles the Echidna companion series that eventually became tarnished by convoluted lore and a bitter lawsuit that forever changed Sonic’s comic books.

The Review:
The two-part story “Panic in the Sky”, which acts as the centrepiece to this 48-page special, sees the legendary Floating Island (as it was then known) sending the locals in a panic when it descends below the clouds and passes over the Western Coast of Mobius (as Sonic’s world was once called). Naturally, the Knothole Freedom Fighters (engineer Rotor the Walrus, semi-Roboticized Bunny Rabbot, cowardly Antoine D’Coolette, and fearless leader Princess Sally Acorn) are bemused and alarmed by the floating continent, which is heading straight for Knothole Village. When Sally wonders how the island floats (odd, considering a later retcon reveals she knew Knuckles as a child), Sonic and his enthusiastic two-tailed fox pal, Miles “Tails” Prower, fill the gang in on their earlier adventure to the Floating Island and their encounter with Knuckles. Although Sonic left on friendly terms with the echidna, he and Sally ponder Knuckles’ true allegiance and she orders Antoine to investigate any potential threat posed by the island. Sonic’s alarmed when their “turbo-prop” biplane is suddenly attacked by heavy artillery now installed around the island and orders Antoine to fly to safety while he and Tails parachute down to see what’s going on. After being knocked loopy by a pendulum in a vague allusion to the Mushroom Hill Zone, Sonic’s attacked by the axe-wielding Hey-Ho, though a single hit is enough to destroy what’s presented as a mini boss in the videogame. Sonic then runs right into a trap and finds himself hanging on for dear life. He’s therefore glad when Knuckles shows up, only to find the echidna is unimpressed with “trespassers [turning his] home into a war zone” and ready to send Sonic plummeting to his doom.

The hot-headed Knuckles makes a desperate gamble to safeguard his island.

Luckily, Tails is on hand to help but, in his haste, his rock misses its target and both Sonic and Knuckles fell into an underground cavern, eventually ending up on a slab of rock floating in a lava stream (like in Lava Reef Zone). Before the two can come to blows or be boiled alive, Tails swoops in for the save and Sonic makes Knuckles realise that the Floating Island has been hijacked. Angered and concerned, Knuckles leads Sonic and Tails (via “zoot chute”) to the Chaos Chamber, a crystalline cavern that houses the Chaos Emerald that keeps the island aloft. When Knuckles investigates a strange device siphoning power from the gem, he gets a nasty shock that doubles when Mobius’s devious, semi-cybernetic dictator, Doctor Ivo Robotnik, appears (via hologram projection) to spill his latest plot. After discovering the Floating Island, Dr. Robotnik began surreptitiously turning it into his personal battleship, installing engines, a command centre, and weaponry, all powered by the Chaos Emerald and with the purpose of annihilating Knothole Village. Distraught that he was easily duped into fighting Sonic and Tails rather than spotting the takeover, Knuckles smashes the Chaos Emerald, causing the Floating Island to drop from the sky! Panicked, Dr. Robotnik quickly ejects, though his hopes of seeing Knothole decimated by the falling island are dashed when Knuckles busts out a spare Emerald to keep his home aloft (only to later reveal he smashed the spare and replaced it with the original in a double bluff). Though he vows to use better judgement next time, Knuckles refuses Sonic’s offer to join the Freedom Fighters, with Sonic musing that Knuckles is apparently destined to be a loner.

Ever wondered what Knuckles does in his day-to-day? Yeah, me neither…

Accordingly, the rest of the special is taken up with two solo stories for Knuckles. The first, “Fire Drill”, sees Knuckles investigating an explosion at the beach (which borders Sandopolis Zone), finding only a crater and footprints in the sand leading to a nearby bush. Leaping into action, Knuckles is left angered and humiliated when whoever it is disappears and, eager to get his mitts on whoever’s messing with him, Knuckles glides over to the only place they could’ve gone: the ruins of the Sandopolis Zone. Assuming only Sonic could evade him so fast, Knuckles braves his fear of the dark to enter the temple ruins and is further enraged when he’s buried beneath falling debris. Blundering into the maze-like temple, Knuckles barely avoids being skewered by an axe and finds a room full of strange hieroglyphics that momentarily puzzles him before sand pours in. Knuckles easily leaps to safety and smashes his way out of the temple, following “Sonic’s” footprints to the island’s edge and, bizarrely, assuming the hedgehog ran to his death, completely oblivious to the shadowy figure (later revealed to be the fire ant Archimedes putting the young guardian through his paces). “Lord of the Floating Island” closes the special and sees Knuckles rescuing Benjy the Kangaroo during a particularly wild storm as part of his duty to safeguard the island’s other inhabitants. Though grateful, the youngster asks his protector to “bring back the sky”, learning about eclipses from Knuckles before being air-lifted out of the path of a pack of dingoes rattled by the chaotic weather. Although Benjy’s scared by the harsh winds, the weather calms as the eclipse passes and Knuckles returns the youngster to his mother, happy to “protect and serve” his floating home and all its inhabitants.

Final Thoughts: 
Considering how rushed and short Knuckles’ introduction into Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog comics was, Sonic & Knuckles was ideally placed to deliver a more comprehensive adaptation of Sonic 3 or the titular videogame (SEGA, 1994), perhaps something again to the French adaptation published in the year prior to this special. Instead, as Archie (and Fleetway, to be fair) often did, the publisher spread elements of Sonic 3 & Knuckles across multiple stories and specials, meaning the best thing about this one-off comic is the cover, which promises a far more enjoyable story than anything contained in its pages. Like Knuckles’ debut story, “Panic in the Sky” takes place almost entirely in one location, which can only be generously described as the Mushroom Hill Zone. Sure, Sonic hops to some giant mushrooms, flies through the sky using a pendulum, and fights Hey-Ho, but there’s basically no substance to any of this and comic does an awful job of bringing this colourful location to life. I again have to assume that Archie’s writers and artists only had access to very limited materials when producing these stories as everything’s presented out of context or radically altered, such as the lava flow and the “Emerald Chamber”, neither of which evoke the same feeling of grandeur as Lava Reef Zone of the Hidden Palace Zone. Dr. Robotnik’s plot to weaponise the Floating Island is an interesting one but it’s ridiculous that Knuckles prioritises attacking Sonic and Tails over wondering why the stars have changed position and his island is so wildly off course! Rather than Sonic and Tails enduring a hazardous trek across Sonic & Knuckles’ recognisable locations, struggling to talk sense into Knuckles and racing to prevent the launch of the Death Egg, we get a nothing burger of a rematch between Sonic and Knuckles and a lame-ass, childishly simple solution to Dr. Robotnik’s plot.

Sadly, the special fails to deliver an enjoyable or visually appealing adaptation of the videogame.

Incredibly, rather than devote all 48 pages to adapting Sonic & Knuckles, Archie’s one-off special wastes the rest of its pages on meaningless solo stories for Knuckles. On the one hand, I don’t mind this as Knuckles was still new to readers (and gamers) at the time and “Fire Drill” does at least take place in Sandopolis Zone. On the other hand, he’s not fighting any of the Badniks or mini bosses from the videogame or exploring its locations in interesting ways. The Sandopolis Zone temple is a far cry from the haunted pyramid of the videogame, which would’ve made for an awesome setting for a story, and “Fire Drill” seems more concerned with introducing some mystery around Knuckles and his shadowy stalker. “Lord of the Floating Island” is, in a word, ridiculous. All this story tells us is that Knuckles is committed to safeguarding the island, which we already knew, and that Archie Comics decided that the Floating Island should have a bunch of other anthropomorphic inhabitants on it rather than Knuckles literally living in isolation. This would be fine if he were doing something interesting, but all he does is save Benjy, recap Dr. Robotnik’s threat, and teach him/us about eclipses. While the art in “Panic in the Sky” is in-line with Archie’s Sonic publication and mirrors the 1993/1994 Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon on which it’s partially based, the other two stories are awful. Knuckles, especially, looks disgustingly off model and his gliding is constantly depicted as flying, which was a common mistake. I appreciated seeing his climbing and super strength on show, but none of the stories are particularly impressive showcases for Knuckles and the entire special feels like a waste of time as the main story is essentially a repeat of Knuckles’ debut story and the other two are a waste of time.

My Rating:

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Terrible

Were you also disappointed by Sonic & Knuckles, its atrocious art, its pointless stories, and its less than half-assed attempts to adapt the videogame? Perhaps you enjoyed this era in the Archie comics and would like tot ell me why when everything is so cheaply done? Which of Archie’s Knuckles stories and/or characters was your favourite and why? Are you celebrating Knuckles’ debut this month? Comment below with your thoughts and support me on Ko-Fi for more Knuckles content!

Back Issues & Knuckles: Sonic the Hedgehog #13

Dr. K1 Comment

With the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1994) on this day in 1994, gamers were introduced to Knuckles the Echidna. This mischievous, dreadlocked antagonist was created by Takashi Yuda and is my favourite of Sonic’s supporting cast so excuse me while I celebrate his debut today (every Sunday in February!)

Story Title: “This Island Hedgehog” (Part 1 and 2)
Published: 16 May 1994 (cover-dated: August 1994)
Writers: Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders
Artist: Dave Manak

The Background:
When Sonic the Hedgehog made his dramatic videogame debut in 1991, he was an immediate hit thanks to SEGA’s aggressive marketing campaign seeing his debut title being bundled with the Mega Drive. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992) expanded his popularity and, suddenly, Sonic merchandise was suddenly everywhere! He was included not only in the Macy’s Day Parade, but in cartoons and numerous comic books. Following the initial four-part miniseries, which combined narrative elements of Sonic’s cartoon adventures, Archie Comics published what would become the longest-running videogame comic book of all time. In time, to better capitalise on Sonic’s continued popularity, Archie also produced various Sonic spin-off comics, with the Knuckles the Echidna sister series being the most prominent. Long before writers like Ken Penders lumbered Knuckles with a convoluted lore and launched a bitter lawsuit that forever changed Archie’s Sonic comics, Knuckles debuted in this issue as one of Archie’s many loose videogame adaptations.

The Review:
Sonic and his perennial kid sidekick, Miles “Tails” Prower, first encounter Knuckles, the last of the echidna race and guardian of what was then known as the Floating Island, completely by chance. While flying through the skies of Mobius in search of Doctor Ivo Robotnik’s “hovercraft”, the two stumble upon a mysterious island in the sky. Interestingly, unlike in Fleetway’s comics, the two have no knowledge of the Floating Island and can thus only speculate how it stays afloat, with Sonic guessing (correctly, it turns out) that it’s held aloft by one of the (many) Chaos Emeralds. As the two come in to land to investigate further, unaware that they’re being watched by a mysterious, spike-fisted individual, their biplane is knocked from the sky by a literal “unwelcome mat” and Tails is forced to air-lift the duo to the ground. With no choice but to investigate further to find some way back to Knothole Forest, Sonic and Tails venture into a close approximation of Angel Island Zone and are attacked by an “Assaulting Batter Blimp” (essentially the “Fire Breath” mech from Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but with a far less intimidating white paint job). Assaulted by the blimp’s flame bursts, Sonic is randomly shielded by “some sort of energy shield” (visually similar to his Insta-Shield ability, though Sonic seems unaware of how this happened) and forced to dive into the nearby water. Caught in an inescapable current and blasted past spikes and through crumbling walls in what I guess is supposed to be Hydrocity Zone (but which looks more like Labyrinth Zone), the duo find themselves blacking out from the strain and the force of the suction. They awaken in a dark room with their arms and legs bound and are stunned when they’re greeted by Knuckles, who steps from the shadows and introduces himself as the island’s guardian.

After Sonic and Tails prove their innocence, Knuckles joins them in fighting Dr. Robotnik.

Knuckles also reveals that he’s formed a friendship with Dr. Robotnik, who’s fed him lies about the two’s intentions to steal the island’s Chaos Emerald! Dr. Robotnik observes the events with glee alongside his long-suffering right-hand and nephew, Snively, and reveals that he’s misled the naïve echidna in order to steal the Chaos Emerald for himself to recharge his hovercraft. Having successfully duped Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik sits back and watches as the echidna’s riled up by Sonic and Tails’s defiant attitude. Still, Knuckles offers to give them ten minutes to get off the Floating Island before he hunts them down like wild dogs. While Sonic and Tails instead resolve to use the time limit to prove their innocence, Dr. Robotnik berates Knuckles for not finishing off the “jewel thieves” when he had the chance. Thus, Dr. Robotnik moves up his schedule and, after snatching the Chaos Emerald from his minion, Crabmeat, prepares to enact his dastardly plot. Angered that Sonic and Tails are still hanging around, Knuckles takes a short-cut to the Chaos Emerald and is horrified to find it’s been swiped from its simple stone pedestal. When Sonic and Tails arrive immediately after, Knuckles realise that he’s been duped and demands to be taken to Dr. Robotnik. The three arrive just as the semi-cybernetic dictator is preparing to take off and, after swiping the gem, reduce his SWATbot guards to scrap metal. However, Dr. Robotnik manages to elude them by powering up his hovercraft (how he does this without the Chaos Emerald is beyond me) and awkwardly escaping across the sea. To thank his newfound allies, Knuckles gathers the pieces of Sonic’s trashed plane so Sonic can reassemble it at super speed and then sees the two off, sure that it won’t be the last time their paths cross.

The Summary:
My first observation about this story is that the art is pretty atrocious. A lot of it was back then in the Archie comics as their artists opted for a more cartoony approach to these characters, one that emulated the cartoons that inspired them, yes, but which was also somewhat dumbed down and a far cry from SEGA’s official artwork. Most of this criticism is aimed towards Knuckles, who looks decidedly off-model here. Judging by the poses he strikes and the limited exploration of Sonic 3’s environments, I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers and artists only had access to limited materials to produce their story. It seems like they had footage or screenshots of Angel Island Zone (at least Act 1) and Hydrocity Zone and images of Knuckles, and that was it as this story explores even less of the Floating Island than in the Fleetway adaptation! As was the style at the time, “This Island Hedgehog” is seemingly more concerned with awful puns and pop culture references than emulating the source material. While the “unwelcome mat” was kind of funny, ““plane” crazy” was very cringe, Tails’s reaction when Sonic says they should “hit the drink” probably went over most kids’ heads, and “cute” references to Super Mario and the 1960s Batman television show just come across as corny. Sonic’s “energy shield” really bugged me since it appears out of sheer convenience to save him from being roasted, is never seen again, and never gets explained. Again, it’s like the writers just watched some footage of Sonic 3 and had no idea how the Insta-Shield works, making its inclusion even more egregious than how Fleetway handled it. Couple that with the Master Emerald and Hidden Palace Zone shrine being reduced to a simple, run-of-the-mill Chaos Emerald and a pile of rocks, and that Dr. Robotnik’s plot is to power up his hovercraft rather than the Death Egg, and you have a very poor representation of the source material, even by Archie’s standards!

More focused on bad art and worst puns, this story is a poor showing for Knuckles and Sonic 3.

I wish I could say that Knuckles, at least, comes off well, but it’s a bit of a mixed bag, to be honest. I liked that he was kept hidden, seen as merely a fist and speech bubbles for most of Part 1, and that he was shown to be responsible for the traps and pitfalls that deter Sonic and Tails. His reveal was somewhat dramatic, but a far cry from how he made an immediate impact in Sonic 3 and his impactful introduction to Sonic in Sonic the Comic. I will say, though, that I liked Knuckles’ more relaxed way of speaking (he often drops g’s from his words) and that he gave Sonic and Tails a fighting chance to leave the island, showing he has some pride and honour despite being duty-bound to protect his home. He’s still easily fooled by Dr. Robotnik (though we’re not seen how) and quick to assume Sonic and Tails are jewel thieves based on paltry evidence, but he’s also seen to be quite eloquent and intelligent rather than a meathead. However, in saying that, we don’t get to see any of Knuckles’ abilities here: he’s not seen gliding, digging, or climbing and never throws a punch. Sure, he and Sonic trash some SWATbots but the action is obscured by sound effects and dust, so there’s no indication of his physical strength…again, almost as though the writers only had promotional art to work from. Knuckles does part on far friendlier terms with Sonic and Tails than in most adaptations, however, but is a far cry from the character he should be. The story is also an extremely weak adaptation of Sonic 3, serving only to touch upon the most basic of elements and leave the door open for further adventures. Perhaps if Archie has spread the story out across a few issues, or dedicated this entire issue to Sonic dealing with Knuckles rather than wasting pages with a back-up story, things might’ve been different but, as is, this is probably the worst comic book adaptation of Sonic 3 I’ve ever read!

My Rating:

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Terrible

What did you think to Knuckles’ first appearance in Archie’s Sonic comics? Were you also disappointed by how poorly he and Sonic 3 were represented here? What did you think to Dr. Robotnik’s drastically reduced plot for the Chaos Emerald? Which of Archie’s Knuckles stories and/or characters was your favourite and why? Are you celebrating Knuckles’ debut this month? Whatever you think about Archie’s Sonic comics, and especially Knuckles, leave a comment down below and let me know, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Knuckles content!

Screen Time & Knuckles: Sonic Underground & Knuckles

Dr. K3 Comments

With the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1994), gamers were introduced to Knuckles the Echidna. This mischievous, dreadlocked antagonist was created by Takashi Yuda and his debut was made all the more impressive by virtue of the fact that Sonic 3 was too big to fit on one cartridge. This meant that Knuckles was the first of Sonic’s supporting characters to co-star in a main series videogame when Sonic & Knuckles (ibid) was released on this very day in 1994.

Episode Title: “Friend or Foe?”
Air Date: 28 February 1999

Episode Title: “Flying Fortress”
Air Date: 31 March 1999

Episode Title: “No Hedgehog is an Island”
Air Date: 7 April 1999

Episode Title: “New Echidna in Town”
Air Date: 13 April 1999

Directors: Marc Boreal, François Hemmen, and Daniel Sarriet
US Network: BKN Kids II – UK Network: Channel 4

Stars: Jaleel White, Brian Drummond, Garry Chalk, Maurice LaMarche, and Peter Wilds

The Background:
After Sonic the Hedgehog blasted onto the videogame scene with Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991), SEGA’s aggressive marketing campaign paid off dividends. Sonic’s popularity exploded after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992) and, suddenly, Sonic was everywhere, including two concurrent cartoons courtesy of DIC. While Adventure of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993; 1996) is generally criticised for its slapstick comedy, its darker counterpart, Sonic the Hedgehog (widely known as “SatAM”) is regarded as one of the defining cartoons of the nineties for its darker tone and mature themes. Although the cartoon inspired the original Archie Sonic comics, fans were left confused and disappointed when SatAM ended on an unresolved cliff-hanger. When the time came for SEGA to promote their up-coming Dreamcast, a new Sonic cartoon was commissioned, one that oddly took many visual inspirations from SatAM but told an entirely original story, one that owned more to Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983 to 1990) than its fan-favourite predecessor. Although Jaleel White returned to voice Sonic and his new siblings and writer Ben Hurst had some influence on the show, Sonic Underground became notorious for its musical interludes and struggled to find an audience thanks to the episodes being aired out of order. While the concept had even less to do with the source material than its predecessor (Sonic’s sidekick, Miles “Tails” Prower is nowhere to be found) and is widely regarded as one of the worst Sonic adaptations, Sonic Underground featured the debut of Knuckles the Echidna in Western animation and there was a sadly cancelled attempt to publish an epilogue to the much-maligned cartoon in 2013.

The Plot:
Whilst searching Planet Mobius for their mother, siblings, rebels, and rock stars Sonic, Manic, and Sonia (all voiced by White) cross paths with the distrustful and hot-headed Knuckles (Drummond). However, when the dastardly Doctor Robotnik (Chalk) manipulates Knuckles into providing him with a legendary Chaos Emerald, these four conflicting personalities must set aside their differences to oppose the doctor’s latest evil scheme.

The Review:
I watched all of Sonic’s cartoons when I was a kid. I distinctly remember watching Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog every weekend, usually recording episodes for prosperity, and enjoying Sonic’s slapstick antics so much that I was shocked and confused when the entire tone and cast of the show suddenly changed. Sonic was no longer ridiculing Dr. Robotnik (Long John Baldry) and his minions and was instead the point man in an outnumbered resistance movement against a far darker, semi-cybernetic dictator much like in Sonic the Comic (1993 to 2002). I adapted to the new format and found myself enjoying Sonic’s dark escapades, only to be left further confused when SatAM ended on a massive cliff-hanger that teased a larger role for Dr. Robotnik’s long-suffering nephew, Snively (Charlie Adler) and a mysterious, red-eyed figure who I hoped would be Metal Sonic or even Knuckles! Sadly, we never got to see this ending resolved, even in the comics, and I was forced to adapt once again to an all-new Sonic cartoon, one that looked very similar to SatAM but was widely different and made the bold and frankly bizarre choice to lumber Sonic with two siblings. Why Tails and Amy Rose weren’t used in these roles I’ll never know but I was still a Sonic fan so I tried to give it a go, but to be fair I was about fourteen in 1999 so I was starting to veer away from cartoons like this.

After some initial antagonism, Knuckles and Sonic team up to safeguard the Chaos Emerald.

Although “Flying Fortress”, “No Hedgehog is an Island”, and “New Echidna in Town” make up a three-episode story arc revolving around Knuckles and the Chaos Emerald, they were broadcast out of order and the character actually made his first appearance in the standalone story “Friend or Foe?” Following the surprisingly catchy opening theme song (one of the few highlights of the cartoon), the episode finds Sonic, Sonia, and Manic travelling to the “dreaded” Floating Island in search of their long-lost mother, Queen Aleena Hedgehog (Gail Webster, and running afoul of boobytraps laid across the island by its mysterious echidna guardian. As ever, Dr. Robotnik is lumbered with two bungling minions: sleazy-but-cunning wolf Sleet (LaMarche) and the block-headed Dingo (Wilds), who transforms into different forms at the touch of Sleet’s remote controller. The two are ordered to the Floating Island to poison Knuckles’ mind against the hedgehogs, distracting him so they can steal the Chaos Emerald and send the island (and their enemies) plummeting to the ground. Thanks to a hilariously bad holographic fake, Knuckles is easily tricked and takes off to confront the three hedgehogs right as they learn from one of the island’s “sacred pools” that their mother was (and possibly still is) there. Despite Sonia’s best attempts to keep the peace, a sluggish and awkward scuffle breaks out between Knuckles and Sonic, which ends with the Sonia and Manic exploring the island’s underground caverns (in a close approximation of the Hidden Palace Zone) and learning of Knuckles’ deception. Although Sonic talks sense into Knuckles, they’re too late to stop Sleet and Dingo from stealing the Chaos Emerald and endangering the island. Luckily, Dingo is distracted by his lust for Sonia and the baddies are forced to flee without the emerald while the three fend off a contingent of SWATbots. In the aftermath, the siblings make amends with Knuckles, who reveals that he knows Queen Aleena and that she left a message indicating that he would become a pivotal ally in their crusade.

The siblings recruit Knuckles to help defeat the flying fortress, only for Sleet and Dingo to steal its Chaos Emerald.

A few episodes later, the siblings are relaxing at the beach when they’re attacked by Dr. Robotnik’s spherical “Fortress of Altitude” (almost a downgraded version of the Death Egg or the Egg Carrier), a flying fortress capable of bombarding his foes and shrugging off the laser blasts from their magic weapons thanks not only to being comprised of “Mobibindum” but also being powered by a Chaos Emerald, which atomises everything it touches. After fending off Dr. Robotnik’s SWATbots and evading the flying fortress, the siblings seek out Knuckles’ help. Initially reluctant to leave the Floating Island, Knuckles is convinced by their awful song (“No One is and Island”), though his resolve falters when the astral spirt of his great-grandfather, Athair (LaMarche), warns that this will result in a greater calamity. After easily fooling Dr. Robotnik with a decoy, Knuckles and the others slip aboard the flying fortress, avoid the ship’s defences, and burrow their way to the Chaos Emerald thanks to Knuckles’ super strength. However, after being callously dismissed by Dr. Robotnik, Sleet and Dingo claim the Chaos Emerald for themselves to both stand on their own and to try and prove their worth to their master. This causes the fortress to fall from the sky and into the sea below. Crippled by hydrophobia and unable to swim, Sonic relies on his family and friend to help get him to safety, but Sleet is stunned when usually thick-headed Dingo swipes the gem for himself! However, Dingo accidentally drops the Chaos Emerald, shattering it and unleashing a wave of unbridled Chaos Energy across the land that causes storms, earthquakes, and threatens the entire planet.

The heroes forge unlikely alliances to save the planet from being torn apart by Chaos Energy.

After his despair is lifted by another of the band’s terrible songs (“Learn to Overcome”), Knuckles leads them to his great-grandfather, who gifts them a special canister to house the shattered pieces and reveals that the only way to save the world is to ally with Dr. Robotnik. Naturally, Sonic and his siblings are aghast at this, but Knuckles is reluctant to defy his elder, especially with the fate of the world at stake. With the planet literally shaking apart from the rising Chaos Energy, the siblings race to find Knuckles and find another way to solve their problem, only to find that he’s been coerced into capturing them on Dr. Robotnik’s orders in exchange for the tyrant’s help in saving the world. Regretfully, Knuckles betrays his friends, only to be immediately double-crossed when Dr. Robotnik reneges on his promise not to roboticize the hedgehogs. Angered by this, a remorseful Knuckles fights back and frees his friends from their sticky bonds and joins them in searching for the Chaos Emerald, but they’re too late to keep Sleet from finding it and containing it in Dingo. This results in Dingo absorbing a full dose of Chaos Energy and transforming into a mindless, clay-like beast that threatens friend and foe alike. In what could arguably be described as a very loose adaptation of Sonic Adventure (Sonic Team, 1998), Dingo goes on a rampage that not only causes a series of volcanic eruptions but also destroys Manic’s magic drum set before heading to nearby Robotropolis, forcing Sonic to manipulate Dr. Robotnik’s ego to help subdue the beast. Toppled by the band’s music (“The Mobius Stomp”) and Dr. Robotnik’s special glue, Dingo spits out the Chaos Emerald, reverting to normal and saving the world and earning him his master’s ire. Knuckles then delivers the reassembled Chaos Emerald to Athair. Although the old echidna charges him with safeguarding the gem on the Floating Island, but the band promises that Knuckles will always have a place with them whether near or far.

The Summary:
Although the show has little in common with SatAM, Sonic Underground’s Sonic remains the same boastful, reckless speedster. In place of Princess Sally Acorn (Kath Soucie), Sonia acts as the voice of reason and intelligence in the trio, chastising Sonic’s irresponsible nature and emphasising diplomacy over impulsiveness wherever possible. Manic is characterised as a laid-back surfer dude who’s not as reckless as Sonic but still isn’t as attentive as Sonia. However, while Sonia might be the smartest of the bunch, she’s from an entirely different world to both. Sonic was raised to be a Freedom Fighter by his beloved Uncle Chuck (LaMarche) and has been fighting Dr. Robotnik for as long as he can remember, Manic is a streetwise thief, and Sonia comes from a life of privilege and luxury. All three were united by a common enemy when Dr. Robotnik roboticized the only family they ever knew and wield magic medallions that transform into music instruments that act as weapons, but Sonic Underground continuously emphasised their strength as a unit more than any previous Sonic cartoon. While Sonic possesses incredible speed, he’s impulsive and also crippled by hydrophobia. Sonia might have some fancy martial arts moves but she’s often too easily trusting of wealthy folk, who are often in Dr. Robotnik’s pocket. And Manic generally gets himself into trouble since he can’t help but half-inch when the temptation arises.

Though tough and wily, Knuckles is easily duped and fiercely loyal to this duties as the island’s guardian.

Of the three Sonic cartoons that aired in the nineties, Sonic Underground is somehow the most bizarre. Its tone is all over the place, lacking the ominous menace of SatAM but also veering more towards comedy like Adventures. Despite still being lighting fast and capable of bending physics, Sonic is surprisingly weak here. Perhaps because of the need desire emphasise themes of teamwork and friendship, Sonic is not only hampered by recklessness but shows fear when confronted by large groups of SWATbots, sluggishly fumbles through his initial fight with Knuckles, and succumbs to an uncharacteristic panic when left floundering in the ocean. Although the Floating Island is common knowledge in Sonic Underground and easily accessible, it’s far more accurate compared to the small mass seen in SatAM. It’s large, with a variety of different environments and wildlife on its soil, and Knuckles is later seen using a radar and communications system, and anti-aircraft cannons to fend off intruders. Knuckles’ reputation proceeds him to the point where even Sleet is aware of how tough he is and his skill at laying traps, and he makes an immediate impression by capturing the two dolts and roasting them over a spit for the local wildlife! However, as fleet-footed and super strong as he is, and despite showcasing a distrustful and snarky attitude, Knuckles is easily duped by Slate and Dingo and, like every character here, suffers from atrociously bad animation, appearing pudgy and disproportionate every time he moves. Knuckles’ go-to move is to spin his arms like a buzzsaw to rapidly burrow through surfaces. Just doing this is enough to knock Sonic on his ass and impress Manic, and Knuckles proves durable enough to withstand Sonic’s patented “Triple Spin Attack” and wily enough to use his knowledge of the island against his foe. Knuckles takes his role of guarding the Floating Island very seriously, to the point where he’s isolated himself from the rest of the world, but he’s equal loyal to his newfound friends and defies his instincts, and the will of his great-grandfather to aid them even though he’s extremely uncomfortable with leaving his island unguarded.

As if Dr. Robotnik wasn’t bad enough, the siblings must content with Knuckles and a rampaging Dingo.

There are some benefits to this for Knuckles; namely, that he spends more time socialising with his friends and bonding with Sonia, with whom he develops a mutual attraction. However, there are major drawbacks, too. Most notably, Knuckles is naïve and easily fooled; not only does he fall for Sleet and Dingo’s lies about the hedgehogs, he trusts his great-grandfather’s word so blindly that he willingly allies with Dr. Robotnik despite knowing full well of the semi-cybernetic dictator’s malicious nature. While he looks just like SatAM’s Dr. Robotnik (save for sporting two robotic arms) and even resides in a similar citadel in the heart of Robotropolis, this Dr. Robotnik lacks the gravelly, mechanical voice, employs wildly different SWATbots, and often spares the aristocracy the indignation of roboticization in return for hefty bribes. Although Dr. Robotnik appears to be at his most dangerous when he launches his Fortress of Altitude, the airship is as disproportionate and inconsistent as everything else on the show. The Mobibindum apparently makes it super heavy and tough, yet both Sonic and Knuckles smash through its structure without issue and a simple drop in the ocean is enough to trash the fortress and leave it literally blowing up in the dictator’s face. Even when Mobius is being torn apart around him, Dr. Robotnik finds a way to turn things in his favour. He’s willing to see the world destroyed if it means being rid of Sonic and strong-arms Knuckles into doing his bidding so that he can have the final victory of his hated enemies. Honestly, there are only a few episodes of Sonic Underground that are worth watching and these four are a handful of them. The animation and voice acting is atrocious (it’s insane that Jaleel White voices all three siblings), with Knuckles sadly getting the worst of both, but it was nice to finally see him in a Western Sonic cartoon. It’s not enough to salvage the series but it certainly makes these episodes more enjoyable. If only it had been an actual continuation of SatAM, it could’ve been even better.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Were you a fan of Sonic Underground? What did you think of the four Knuckles-centric episodes? Were you disappointed that we never got a continuation of SatAM? Which of Sonic’s siblings was your favourite and what did you think to the use of rock music in the show? Are you celebrating Knuckles’ big day today? Whatever you think about Sonic Underground, and especially Knuckles, leave a comment down below or let me know by commenting on my social media.

Back Issues & Knuckles: Carnival Night Conspiracy

Dr. K3 Comments

With the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1994), gamers were introduced to Knuckles the Echidna. This mischievous, dreadlocked antagonist was created by Takashi Yuda and his debut was made all the more impressive by virtue of the fact that Sonic 3 was too big to fit on one cartridge, which meant that Knuckles was the first of Sonic’s supporting characters to co-star in a main series videogame when Sonic & Knuckles (ibid) was released on this very day in 1994.

Story Title: “Carnival Night Conspiracy” (Parts 1 to 6)
Published: 12 November 1994 to 21 January 1995
Writers: Nigel Kitching
Artist: Richard Elson

The Background:
After Sonic the Hedgehog rocketed to mainstream success and helped SEGA to usurp Nintendo to capture the allure of the videogame industry, SEGA capitalised on Sonic’s popularity not just with videogames but also a slew of merchandise, including cartoons and comic books. About six months after Archie Comics began publishing a weird amalgamation of the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993 to 1996) and Sonic the Hedgehog/SatAM (1993 to 1994) cartoons, United Kingdom publisher Fleetway Editions Limited brought us “Britain’s Official SEGA Comic”, Sonic the Comic (StC), a fortnightly comic book that I collected diligently until its unfortunate end. While StC pulled much of its lore from the now defunct Mobius and Doctor Ovi Kintobor storyline that was popular outside of Japan at the time, StC quickly veered away from the source material to recast Sonic the a mean-spirited leader of a gang of Freedom Fighters made up of both recognisable characters and anthropomorphic characters adapted from the videogames. Like the Archie comics, StC often included some loose adaptations of the videogames that adapted the source material to fit with its noticeably different lore. After his introduction in a multi-part story loosely based on Sonic 3, Knuckles almost immediately graduated to his own back-up stories in the pages of StC. While these initially tied up some loose ends from that story and cherry-picked ideas from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, they soon evolved into their own beast entirely to expand on Knuckles’s vague backstory and craft a version of the character entirely unique to any seen in other Sonic media.

The Review:
Although “Carnival Night Conspiracy” is Knuckles’ first solo story arc in StC, it wasn’t actually his first solo story; the Guardian of the Floating Island first appeared in a short story in a StC summer special, which basically showed how he met Dr. Robotnik and served as a tantalising prelude to his first multi-part appearance in the main Sonic the Hedgehog strip. “Carnival Night Conspiracy” takes place directly after that; thanks to Dr. Robotnik being unable to hide his true nature for too long, Knuckles soon realised that the egg-shaped dictator he had aligned himself with was actually plotting to merge the twelve Chaos Emeralds into six and absorb their powers. Fortunately, Knuckles was able to use the power of the elusive Grey Emerald (also known as the “Control Emerald”, kind of a precursor to the Master Emerald and something commonly found in Sonic lore at the time) to stop Dr. Robotnik. He then aided Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters to repent for exposing their secret base and, after a massive battle, left on frosty terms in one of Dr. Robotnik’s Egg-O-Matics. This is where we find Knuckles at the start of the story, making his way back to the Floating Island (as it was known then; “Angel Island” wouldn’t become its name until 1999), only to have his ride suddenly explode thanks to a self-destruct mechanism triggered by Dr. Robotnik. Thankfully, Knuckles wasn’t too far from his floating island home and bails out, using his unique ability to glide to reach safety. However, from the clouds above the island he spots a bustlingly casino city, one well-guarded by Dr. Robotnik’s Troopers and just one of many outposts and bases the mad scientist secretly constructed on the island without Knuckles’ knowledge. Insulted and peeved by this, Knuckles burrows his way into the heart of the city, confused by the bright lights and the purpose of the casinos and restaurants and unaware that he’s being watched until he’s confronted by a massive construction robot.

Knuckles reluctantly allows the Marxio’s to stay after being won over by their thrilling ride.

However, it’s no match for Knuckles’ super strength and he easily trashes it in one hit, but his heckles are only raised further when he barely avoids a sniper shot! Clambering up to confront his shooter, Knuckles is met by Carnival Night City’s owners and operators, the swindling conniving trio known as the Marxio Brothers. Led by the cigar-smoking Grouchio and made up of underpaid dogsbody Chicio and the mute Harpio, the Marxio Brothers are a composite of the comedians the Marx Brothers and the Super Mario Brothers and first appeared in StC some years prior where they were in charge of the similarly-themed Casino Night Zone. Although he initially demands that they pack up and leave, Knuckles is won over by Grouchio’s silver tongue and the smarmy salesman pitches that their casino will help Knuckles spruce up his island for when his lost people eventually return and easily explains away Dr. Robotnik’s Troopers as being security guards they purchased. Naturally, Knuckles is sceptical, but still somewhat naïve to the wider world and awestruck by the technology and allure of modern Mobius, so he allows the Marxio’s to give him a tour and take a ride on a high-speed rollercoaster, completely unaware that the trio do actually work for Dr. Robotnik. Strapped tightly into the Hell House Ride, Knuckles enjoys the thrill of the rollercoaster and admires the amount of effort the Marxio’s went to make the ride dangerous and exciting, using his super strength to smash through any hazards that come his way and being so won over by the fun and exhilaration offered that he agrees to let the slimy conmen stay on the Floating Island. Overjoyed, Grouchio makes Knuckles a partner in their endeavour, granting him a luxurious office (to the echidna’s chagrin) and the title of “Marketing Consultant” ahead of them opening the park to the public.

Knuckles smashes the Marxio’s craft and then forcibly removes them from the island!

However, when Knuckles leaves to take care of Dr. Robotnik’s Launch Base Zone, the Marxio’s pursue him in their three-seater craft and Chicio accidentally lets slip that the egg-shaped dictator is bankrolling their entre endeavour. Though frustrated by his brother’s stupidity, Grouchio has no qualms about transforming their craft into a heavily-armed combat mech and unleashing its full might against Knuckles, who is summarily beaten into unconsciousness. However, right as the first guest arrive on the Floating Island and Grouchio is regaling Dr. Robotnik with their victory and promises of fortune, Knuckles recovers and redoubles his efforts, easily dodging their missiles and massive mechanical fists and tearing the craft apart with a superpowered uppercut. To stave off Knuckles’ wrath, Chicio redeems himself by calling in and hoard of Badniks and Grouchio wows the park’s guests by spinning the resulting destruction as a performance celebrating Knuckles’ victory over Dr. Robotnik. Unable to destroy the Carnival Night City with so many innocent lives at risk, Knuckles allows the Badniks to close in on him so he can destroy them all in one fell sweep and comes up with a simple, direct, and effective solution to his problem. By striking a fault line with one massive punch, Knuckles just breaks the entire Carnival Night Zone off the Floating Island! Thankfully, this severed chunk of rock contains just enough residual power from the Chaos Emeralds to allow it to slowly drop to Mobius below rather than plummeting down and killing the three, and it crashes before the startled eyes of a young boy who was unable to make the trip. With his mission complete, Knuckles orders the startled guests to vacate his island and stoically prepares to rid the Floating Island of every trace of Dr. Robotnik.

The Summary:
I was super excited about Knuckles at the time; I was so stoked for Sonic 3’s release and absolutely captivated by this grinning, mysterious, antagonistic red echidna (often referred to as a “spiked monkey” in magazines). When he first appeared in the StC summer special, I couldn’t wait to see when he would make his StC debut and it seemed to take ages for him to show up, but boy was it worth it at the time! Then, after proving a formidable foe and a reluctant ally, Knuckles got his own back-up feature in StC beginning with this story and they quickly became my second favourite strip of the comic after Sonic’s. Nowhere is it more evident that “Carnival Night Conspiracy” was meant to be seen as an important feature, one second only to Sonic’s strips, than in the presence of artist Richard Elson, easily the comic’s most talented hand, who had illustrated Sonic’s stories for years and this definitely helps to bolster the tale as being important to the ongoing Sonic 3 adaptation in the comic at the time.

The story went a long way to establishing Knuckles as a bad-ass loner.

Knuckles retains much of his characterisation from his debut appearance; he’s hot-headed, proud, and incredibly naïve, easily awestruck by the ways of the surface world and manipulated by others. He is a little more guarded here thanks to being burned by Dr. Robotnik, but not so much that he doesn’t just forcibly eject the Marxio’s or that he can’t be won over by a rollercoaster ride. His focus is on safeguarding his home, however, and eradicating Dr. Robotnik’s influence from its surface; when the Marxio’s get in the way of that, and his reluctant hospitality, Knuckles doesn’t hesitate to fight back and trash their machine, but he’s not so single-minded in his vendetta as to endanger anyone’s lives. The Marxio’s have always been joke villains in StC but they work here as Dr. Robotnik’s proxies; Knuckles was never the airheaded, gullible fool in StC but many of the comic’s villains did manipulate and betray his trust, though the situation was a little different each time and he generally seemed to learn from each encounter. The primary thrust of this story, though, is to establish that Knuckles is a hot-headed loner who wants to live in peace and solitude on his island and that he’s an extremely tough physical specimen, able to glide, scale walls, and smash an entire chunk off his island with his incredibly strength. Lacking Sonic’s grating arrogance and proclivity for quips, Knuckles comes across as a bad-ass recluse who isn’t to be trifled with and who will unleash an incomparable wrath on anyone who threatens his home or tries to take advantage of him.  

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Have you ever read “Carnival Night Conspiracy”? Did you pick the issues up when they were first released and, if so, what did you think about Knuckles’ first spin-off? What did you think to Fleetway’s introduction and characterisation of Knuckles and the way they handled his backstory? Were you a fan of the Marxio Brothers? What did you think to Knuckles’ early crusade against Dr. Robotnik? Which of Fleetway’s Knuckles stories and/or characters was your favourite and why? Are you celebrating Knuckles’ big day today? Whatever you think about Sonic the Comic, and especially Knuckles, leave a comment down below or let me know by commenting on my social media.

Game Corner & Knuckles: Knuckles’ Chaotix (SEGA 32X)

Dr. K6 Comments

With the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1994), gamers were introduced to Knuckles the Echidna. This mischievous, dreadlocked antagonist was created by Takashi Yuda and his debut was made all the more impressive by virtue of the fact that Sonic 3 was too big to fit on one cartridge, which meant that Knuckles was the first of Sonic’s supporting characters to co-star in a main series videogame when Sonic & Knuckles (ibid) was released on this very day in 1994.

Released: April 1995
Developer: SEGA

The Background:
Following the release of Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, SEGA looked to be unstoppable with their Sonic franchise; the latter title was a huge game for SEGA, backed by an impressive marketing campaign, and the franchise had sold over $1 billion in total revenue by 1994. With the Mega Drive nearing the end of its life cycle, and the videogame industry on the cusp of entering a new generation of 3D gaming, SEGA attempted to prolong the Mega Drive’s lifespan and appeal with a series of expensive add-ons like the Mega-CD and the Mega Drive 32X. Like the Mega-CD, however, the 32X was doomed to failure primarily because SEGA were planning on releasing an entirely new console, the SEGA Saturn, just a few months later and gamers just couldn’t afford the clunky peripheral. With the benefit of hindsight, I truly believe that SEGA would have fared much better had they simply continued with the Mega-CD, producing a combination Mega Drive/CD console and releasing all 32X and Saturn games on this platform rather than wasting time, effort, and money on expensive add-ons. Regardless, one title that sticks out to me from the 32X library is Knuckles’ Chaotix; initially designed as Sonic Crackers, the game’s big mechanic was that players controlled two characters simultaneously and were joined by a special, elastic “Combi Ring”. The game, which was Knuckles’ one and only solo title, also saw the return and redesign of obscure Sonic character Mighty the Armadillo and Vector the Crocodile into fully playable characters. However, thanks primarily to the failure of the 32X, the title has largely been doomed to obscurity and SEGA’s continued refusal to port or re-release the game to modern consoles means that the only way to play the game is by using emulators or spending extortionate prices.

The Plot:
Doctor Eggman discovers the seven Chaos Rings on Carnival Island and attacks alongside Metal Sonic. When Knuckles investigates, he rescues Espio the Chameleon from Dr. Eggman’s Combi Confiner and joins forces with Espio’s cohorts (Mighty, Vector, and Charmy Bee – the titular Chaotix) to put a stop to Dr. Eggman’s schemes using the power of the Combi Ring.

Gameplay:
As is to be expected of a classic Sonic the Hedgehog title, Knuckles’ Chaotix is a 2D, sidescrolling action/platformer that is heavily geared towards speed but, in a change of pace, actually has far more emphasis on vertical platforming and progression that any of its predecessors. The game takes place in Newtronic High Zone and is comprised of six stages referred to as “Attractions”; each Attraction is made up of five levels (called “Acts”) rather than the usual two or three, and each of these pushes you to run up loops and walls or jump to higher areas in order to reach the end goal. In another change of pace, the game immediately begins with a practice area, in which you play as Knuckles. After scaring away Dr. Eggman, Knuckles rescues Espio from the mad scientist and players can choose to play through a quick tutorial to familiarise themselves with Knuckles’ Chaotix’s new mechanics.

Knuckles and his new friends are inexplicably tethered together for some clunky gameplay.

All of the basic controls of a classic Sonic remain intact and as you’d expect; players can run, jump, and perform a Spin Dash to speed ahead with all but three of the available characters, and you’ll find that each playable character has their own unique qualities. Knuckles, for example, can glide and climb walls as in his previous appearances; Espio spins like a top instead of Spin Dashing and can cling to walls but cannot climb them; Vector is the biggest character and so has a greater chance of hitting Badniks or taking damage but he can also perform a double jump or mid-air dash; Mighty is basically a thinly veiled stand-in for Sonic and can perform a wall jump; and Charmy is the smallest and fastest character and constantly flies about but at the cost of severely reduced visibility. Players can also be impeded by Heavy and Bomb, two Badniks who cannot Spin Dash or climb walls, explode on contact or severely weigh you down, and you’ll have to leave it up to a mixture of fate and luck as to which character you get as your partner as the main Scenario Quest forces you to pick one at random using the “Combi-Catcher”, a mechanical claw game like you see at seaside amusements. Of course, the unique selling point of Knuckles’ Chaotix is the frankly bizarre decision to tether two characters together using the Combi-Ring. This means that there are always two characters on screen at once, and you can choose to play either with a computer-controlled partner or with a human friend. Players can call their partner to them at any time with the A button or hold down B to “hold” their partner in place to activate switches; when they stand in place, you can also build up a head of steam to blast ahead, which is honestly more beneficial than the Spin Dash in this game. This also allows you to grab your partner and fling them at switches, Badniks, bosses, or up to higher areas; however, it can be extremely clunky trying to slingshot your way up to where your partner is, and more often than not you end up hanging in place or ricocheting about like a pinball just trying to progress upwards. Furthermore, calling your partner back costs you Golden Rings, the lifeforce of the series, and you can even drop the Ring counter into negative numbers as a result of this.

You’ll must master (or bungle) the Combi-Ring and make use of gimmicks to progress ever upwards.

While each character is very visually interesting in their own right and the idea of working together to progress is an interesting one, tethering the characters together is extremely restrictive in practise; the majority of the time, your biggest struggle won’t be with the game’s Badniks or the tedious nature of the gameplay, it’ll be with trying to navigate the environment using this clunky, awkward mechanic and getting frustrated when you finally get where you need to be only to drop down a second later. Indeed, the level of difficulty in Knuckles’ Chaotix is extremely low compared to the games that came before it; the life system and checkpoints are now gone, there are no bottomless pits or bodies of water to worry about falling or drowning in, and you don’t even need to worry too much about being hit without any Rings as you’ll either lose your partner for a short time or be booted out to the main hub world to try again. Like Sonic 3, the game comes with a save system that allows you to have three saved games, though the only way you can replay the game’s Attractions is to play through the Training Mode. This mode also allows you to set your playable character and partner, which is more freedom than the main Scenario Quest offers, but the most tedious aspects of Knuckles’ Chaotix come from how unnecessarily long and annoying some of its gameplay elements are. While the Attractions are a visual eye fest there’s not much to distinguish each Act from the other within a set stage (I swear some of them have exactly the same layouts bar some very minor changes), there’s next to no hazards or Badniks to worry about, and you don’t even really need to worry all that much about the time limit.

Most stages are painfully barren and linear, but there are some instances of variety.

Instead, the game is built around randomness; it’s pot luck that you’ll pick a decent partner (I recommend a Knuckles/Espio team, personally) and as to which Attraction you’ll play. Between each stage, you’re returned to the hub world and must hit a bumper to randomly select your next area, meaning that you’re literally bouncing all over the place and will most likely play the game’s Attractions out of order. This may go a long way to explaining the uniformity and ease of the game’s stages, however, as it wouldn’t be fair to be randomly dropped into a tough stage before you’re ready, but it does make playing through the Scenario Quest quite a long old slog. While the basics of the gameplay are very much familiar to anyone who’s played a Sonic game before, Knuckles’ Chaotix feels very slow and sluggish at times and you won’t really find much here you haven’t seen both. Sure, there’s a few more switches and a bit of variety in the likes of Marina Madness and Amazing Arena (you can hop on a rising/falling ship in the background in the former and must light up each Act to get a successful clear in the latter) but, for the most part, you’re just running up walls, hopping over spiked balls, bouncing off springs and bumpers, and scaling upwards (always upwards) on platforms and elevators. The Acts do eventually appear to become more dangerous as you progress, but by then it’s too little too late and I can’t help but feel that things would have been much better if there had just been three Acts per Attraction and then a final area to play through before battling the final boss.

Graphics and Sound:
If there’s one area where Knuckles’ Chaotix excels, it’s the presentation; the game is undeniably gorgeous to look at, and easily the most vibrant and colourful Sonic title of its era. Each of the playable characters (with the exception of Heavy and Bomb) has an idle animation unique to them (Knuckles twirls his Combi-Ring in boredom, Espio cycles through different colours, Vector jams to his music, Mighty impatiently taps his foot like Sonic, and Charmy looks at you incredulously) and are some of the finest sprite work in the series. It’s such a shame, then, that Charmy is so goddamn small; obviously, he’s a bee and is supposed to be tiny but half the time you can barely see him, which is almost as disappointing as Mighty being a simple sprite swap of Sonic. Still, Espio and Vector look fantastic; each has unique and quirky running and jumping animations, and Knuckles’ sprites have been completely overhauled to make him more detailed and expressive than ever.

Sprites and environments are extremely colourful and detailed, sometimes to a fault.

Sadly, the game is let down by how bland and uninteresting its level design is. Knuckles’ Chaotix is very similar to Sonic the Hedgehog CD (SEGA, 1993) in a lot of ways but primarily in how confusing and clumsy its stages are laid out; when Badniks do appear, it seems completely at random, and the few hazards you come across are so oddly placed that it’s easy to run head-first into them. Stages are also extremely cluttered at times; there’s often too much colour, too much sensory overload, and it makes everything blend together or difficult to look at, which really doesn’t help when you’re trying to figure out where the hell you’re supposed to be going. The game’s Attractions play things extremely safe with the likes of Botanic Base being a lush forest, Speed Slider being an amusement park, and Techno Tower being Dr. Eggman’s industrial blemish on the natural environment, much like the classic Green Hill, Star Light, and Scrap Brain Zones. The aforementioned Marina Madness and Amazing Arena thus stand out even more thanks to the their unique gameplay mechanics and presentation, and the game does get extra points for featuring different colour palettes for each Act to indicate a different time of day (morning, noon, evening, and night), though this really doesn’t help to stave off the recycled nature of each Act.

Sprite manipulation, isometric graphics, and some funky effects hint to the 32X’s potential.

Also like Sonic CD, Knuckles’ Chaotix makes an impact with one of the best of the classic Sonic’s soundtracks; there are so many jaunty, catchy tunes peppered throughout this game that it really helps to take your mind off how empty the stages are and how monotonous the gameplay can be. Since it’s running on 32-bit hardware, the game also features a great deal of isometric 3D graphics; Dr. Eggman shields himself being a polygonal diamond, some lifts and bosses are built out of the same graphics, and you’ll find the bonus and Special Stages also contain a fair bit of this technique (and suffer from jerkiness, slowdown, and perspective issues as a result). There’s also a big emphasis on sprite manipulation; characters can grow or shrink with monitors, and bosses, Badniks, and sprites will fill up or fly into the screen. Unlike Sonic CD, however, the game doesn’t feature any anime cutscenes; in fact, even sprite-based cutscenes are few and far between here, relegated to the opening and before the final boss, and although the bosses are proceeded by a short cutscene, the game prefers to just show a partially animated image of the main cast for the title screen and credits. This is a bit of a shame, really; I wasn’t expecting full blown animated sequences but both Sonic 3 and Sonic CD featured more sprite-based cutscenes than Knuckles’ Chaotix, so the game ends up feel quite rushed and a bit of a step back.

Enemies and Bosses:
Dr. Eggman hasn’t really tried to reinvent the wheel in Knuckles’ Chaotix and is still using his tried-and-tested robotic creations, the Badniks, to hinder your progress. Unlike in the majority of other 2D Sonic titles, destroying Badniks doesn’t free a cute little woodland critter; instead, an uncollectible Dark Ring will drop out and disappear soon after, meaning that the few times Badniks do appear you’re robbed of any sense of satisfaction from destroying them. These Badniks are some of the oddest in the classic series, resembling a mish-mash of insects, tanks, and other creatures and mostly just floating around here and there. The only real standouts for me were Burboom and Blitz; Burboom can catch your partner and hold them captive and Blitz target you with homing missiles that fly across the immediate area to hurt you. While in Amazing Arena, you’ll also have battle a sub-boss, which is a massive mechanical version of Dr. Eggman that stretches its fists at you. The only way to damage it is to toss your partner into the head, which routinely floats back and forth at the top of the screen; although you can simply wait it out and the boss will deactivate, you won’t get the benefit of the Ring Monitors defeating it bestows upon you.

Bosses can be either stupidly simply or needlessly frustrating thanks to the Combi-Ring mechanic.

Since you’ll play the game’s Attractions at random, the main five bosses can be fought in any order, and you’ll probably tackle them at different times each time you play through the game. It’s also worth noting that you must play each Attraction’s entire fifth Act to reach the boss, and if you fail you’ll be kicked back to the hub world and have to play through the whole Act all over again, which can make these battles very tedious. I fought the Botanic Base boss first; in this fight, Dr. Eggman holds your partner in a mechanical claw and shields his craft with electrical currents, meaning you’re left frantically trying to figure out how to bounce around using the bumper and ram into the craft. After that, I took on the Amazing Arena boss, which sees Dr. Eggman spawn in Badniks using a projector screen and protecting himself with a sphere. Simply fend off the Badniks, avoid his mace-like arms, and toss your partner up into him to take him out. I then fought the Marina Madness boss, which sees Dr. Eggman hide behind a polygonal shield and then protect his craft with slivers of it, not unlike the Metropolis Zone boss, forcing you to time your attacks to avoid damage. The Speed Slider boss is one of the trickiest in the game as Dr. Eggman essentially commands a huge, dangerous carousel; the floor constantly moves you towards the spiked cups that rotate around the main machine, so you have to fight against the inertia, avoid the spikes, and ram the blue spherical weak spot of his machine. Contrasting this is the Techno Tower boss, which is easily the game’s simplest boss by far; despite the lasers and the swinging arms of Dr. Eggman’s rotund mech, I was able to batter the red sphere that is its weak spot in no time at all thanks to simply taking advantage of invincibility frames.

Metal Sonic transforms into a massive mechanical monstrosity for the finale.

Once you have defeated all five of the main bosses, you’re returned to the hub world, where Metal Sonic takes over the stage select machine. Just as you need to hit a bumper to select a stage, so to do you have to hit the bumper to try and deal damage to Metal Sonic; if the indicator lands on the X, one of the other numbered panels will be destroyed and the hub world will become more and more damaged. However, if you land on one of the numbered panels, you’ll have to dodge one of four different attacks as Metal Sonic tries to force you into spiked walls, rains missiles down on you, sends buzzsaws across the floor, and tries to hit you with bouncing tentacles. You’ll need to avoid these as you can only take two hits in this boss battle due to the lack of Rings; the first hit will cost you your partner, and you’ll need to wait for him to respawn or you’ll be kicked back to the hub world and have to start over. With Metal Sonic heavily damaged, Dr. Eggman repairs and powers it up with a huge Dark Ring, transforming it into the massive, monstrous “Metal Sonic Kai”. This is a three-stage boss battle in an enclosed, cyberspace-like arena, where you’re afforded ten Rings and must avoid its huge claw arm to strike its chest, then Spin Dash into its remaining arm while it hovers in the background, and then avoid its massive near-screen-filling chest beam to finish it off in a pretty simple, but surprisingly impressive, final battle.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Pretty much all of the classic Sonic power-ups are available to you in Knuckles Chaotix; while there are no Elemental Shields or extra life monitors, you can grab ten Rings, a speed up, a one-hit shield, and an invincibility from the different monitors you can find in each Act. There are some new power-ups here as well, though: you can briefly switch your playable character (or switch your partner to a different one depending on whose face is on the monitor when you smash it) and either grow to plough through the few enemies onscreen or shrink to find your jump and abilities painfully stunted for a short time. Perhaps the most useful item is the Combi-Ring Monitor, which stays with you until you’re hit; then, when you are hit, one large Ring is thrown from you rather than all of them scattering around and collecting that one Ring restores all of your Rings. Another interesting twist is that your partner can also collect and be affected by the monitors, meaning they could be invincible, big, small, or protected by a shield while you are not.

Additional Features:
As you might expect, finishing any Act except the ones containing a boss while holding fifty Rings or more spawns a Big Ring. Entering it takes you (or your partner, if they enter or are thrown into it) to an isometric Special Stage where you continuously lap the environment until you have collected enough Blue Spheres to proceed. Collecting Rings will afford you more time to do this, and you must dodge buzzsaws and spiked balls and the myriad of gaps in the floor in order to reach your goal. While these aren’t necessarily the worst Special Stages I’ve ever played, they can be extremely difficult; it’s very hard to see what’s coming ahead of you or to anticipate which “lane” you need to be in to find a Blue Sphere, and all too easy to slip to failure. On the plus side, there are only six Special Stages; you’ll be awarded one of the six coloured Chaos Rings upon completion and will be treated to a slightly different end credits screen that adds Sonic and Miles “Tails” Prower to the cast and avoids Metal Sonic Kai wrecking havoc.

Snag the six Chaos Rings for the good ending, or mess about with the game’s debug mode.

Unfortunately, there are no Super transformations or additional bonuses; however, if you enter a Special Stage after collecting all the Chaos Rings, you’ll simply challenge them again in an even more headache-inducing wireframe mode. If you’re holding twenty Rings or more, you may encounter Big Rings hidden within the Acts; these transport you to a bonus stage that sees you constantly falling and trying to hit blocks for points and Rings. However, your Rings are constantly being drained in this stage, making it more of a hinderance than a benefit. Outside of the regular game, you’ll find a sound select and “colour test” in the main menu; messing around with this allows you to activate a debug mode, have Amy Rose appear in the sound test, activate a stage and character select, and even play as a glitched version of Knuckles. Since the only way you can play Knuckles’ Chaotix is to emulate it, you can obviously also make liberal use of the save state features included in most emulators to make the game a bit less annoying to play through.

The Summary:
Knuckles’ Chaotix is such an oddity to me. The entire game feels like a barely finished proof of concept, with empty environments and clunky mechanics that all needed to be addressed before the game was completed, and yet it’s such a lush and stunningly well-presented package that I find it all the more disappointing how lacklustre the actual gameplay and content are. Rather than trying to emulate the size, scope, and variety of Sonic 3, Knuckles’ Chaotix takes a step backwards for a far more linear and mundane experience and hedges all its bets on the unique Combi-Ring mechanic and the random, amusement park-like structure of the main campaign. Sadly, neither are all that much fun to play; five Acts per stage would be a lot to get through even in a traditionally paced Sonic title but the lack of enemies and variety are a real issue, despite how pretty the game looks. It’s a shame as the character designs are really unique and it could have been a really good continuation of the classic Sonic series, but it’s just lacking in a lot of ways that make it inferior to Sonic 3. The bosses aren’t too bad, especially the final battle, but the Special Stages are extremely disorientating and I can’t imagine the game is very enjoyable in two-player. At the same time, though, I’d love to see this get a remaster or a port to modern consoles with a few quality-of-life fixes, and it boggles my mind that we haven’t seen it re-released in all this time, but I can decisively say that you’re really not missing out on much by skipping over this one.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Have you ever played Knuckles’ Chaotix? If so, did you play it on the original hardware or, like me, did you discover it through emulation? What did you think to the Combi-Ring mechanic, and which combination of characters was your favourite? Were you a fan of the random aspects of the game and the five-Act structure? Did you ever collect all the Chaos Rings and what did you think to the Special Stages? How are you celebrating Knuckles’ big day today? Sign up to leave your thoughts on Knuckles’ Chaotix down below or drop a comment on my social media, and check back in for more Sonic content a little later in the year.

Back Issues & Knuckles: Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis: Knuckles

Dr. K4 Comments

With the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1994), gamers were introduced to Knuckles the Echidna. This mischievous, dreadlocked antagonist was created by Takashi Yuda and his debut was made all the more impressive by virtue of the fact that Sonic 3 was too big to fit on one cartridge, which meant that Knuckles was the first of Sonic’s supporting characters to co-star in a main series videogame when Sonic & Knuckles (ibid) was released on this very day in 1994.

Writers: Mike Kanterovich and Ken Penders – Artist: Art Mawhinney

Story Title: “Rites of Passage, Part One”
Published: May 1996

Story Title: “Rites of Passage, Part Two”
Published: June 1996

Story Title: “Rites of Passage, Part Three”
Published: July 1996

The Background:
When Sonic the Hedgehog blasted onto the videogame scene in 1991, he was an immediate hit thanks to his debut title being bundled with the Mega Drive and SEGA’s aggressive marketing campaign. His popularity exploded with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992), however, and Sonic merchandise was suddenly everywhere: not only did he feature in the Macy’s Day Parade and in cartoons but he also starred in a number of comic books. Following the initial four-part miniseries which mashed together narrative elements of Sonic’s cartoon adventures, Archie Comics  began regular publication of what would become the longest-running videogame comic book ever. In time, to capitalise on Sonic’s continued popularity, a number of spin-off comics were produced, with one of the most prominent being the Knuckles the Echidna sister series. What began as a simple enough three issue miniseries soon expanded into a convoluted lore that eventually became the subject of a bitter lawsuit between Archie and writer/artist Ken Penders that forever changed the way subsequent Sonic comic books were handled.

The Review:
Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis: Knuckles begins by first promoting the “mystery of Archimedes” and then giving a very brief rundown on Archie’s take on Knuckles, the downfall of the Echidna society, and his floating home. In these early appearances, Angel Island was known by the Western name of Floating Island and, in Archie Comics especially, was held aloft through the power of just the one Chaos Emerald (and not even the Master Emerald at this point) and incredibly advanced technology. With the Echidna’s long gone, nature has reclaimed much of the island, leaving it in disarray and causing long-forgotten secrets to be buried. Knuckles pays a visit to Mount Fate in search of his missing friends, Mighty the Armadillo, Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy Bee (collectively known as the Chaotix), who he strongly suspects are being held captive there by the mysterious Archimedes. Archimedes has been making Knuckles’ life a bit of a misery in recent issues and stories, taunting him with riddles about his past, and led Knux to discover that, generations ago, the Echidna brothers Edmund and Dimitri tried to use the Chaos Emerald to return Floating Island to Mobius and, in the process, Dimitri became the evil entity later identified as Enerjak, the “Harbinger of Chaos”. The entire experience caused the Echidnas to renounce technology in all its forms and bury their secrets away beneath Mount Fate and, when Knux arrives, he finds that the chamber is well guarded by a number of electronic lasers, booby traps, and other obstacles specifically designed to keep out (or kill) any intruders.

Knuckles’ reunion with Chaotix is cut short by the sudden appearance of the all-powerful Enerjak.

As Knuckles explores his surroundings, he arms himself with a concussive blaster (because that’s what I always think when I think of Knuckles: guns!) and forces his way into the grand observatory at the heart of the temple…only to find that his friends are being treated to a glorious spread as guests of Archimedes, who is revealed to be a weird-looking anthropomorphic fire-ant (yeah…I don’t know, either). Considering all of the games, subterfuge, and questionable behaviour shown by Archimedes, Knuckles is understandably enraged and demands answers but any hostilities between the two are interrupted by the arrival of Enerjak, who broke free from his prison when Knuckles triggered Mount Fate’s traps. Although Knuckles dismisses the Pharaoh-esque madman as a fraud, Enerjak boasts the incredible, unmatched power of eleven Chaos Emeralds (Archie Comics had an almost incalculable number of the gems at the time) and proves his power (and to be more than a match for the combined might of Knuckles, Chaotix, and Archimedes) by overpowering them all, taking Chaotix captive, and blasting Knuckles and Archimedes to the blazing hot desert of the Sandopolis Zone. As the two begin the bleak, day-long journey across the outback, they are attacked by a giant sandcrawler. However, the beast is easily defeated and turned into late-night kebabs for the two when Archimedes uses himself as bait (and his ability to teleport) to trick it into colliding head-first with a stack of rocks. Afterwards, Archimedes regales Knuckles (and bores the shit out of me…) with the story of how his people watched as the Echidnas harnessed the power of many Chaos Emeralds to move the entire city of Echidnapolis out of the path of an incoming comet (why they didn’t just evacuate is beyond me) thanks to the fire-ants performing the “ground-breaking ceremony” to effectively birth Floating Island. Archimedes then recounts, in a little bit more detail, how Dimitri later fashioned the “Chaos Siphon” to absorb the power of eleven Chaos Emeralds and ended up burying himself in the process.

Stuck in the boiling desert, Knux is subjected to endless exposition and visions of his father.

Since then, generation after generation of Echidnas were named Guardian of the Chaos Emerald and the fire-ants watched over them, testing them with a rite of passage to ensure that they would be read to combat threats such as Enerjak. While Knux and Archimedes resolve to work together to face Enerjak, they still need to cross the boiling desert; in his desperate hunger, Knux amusingly tries to eat Archimedes and ends up getting his mouth burned as a result. Later, while succumbing to the heat, Knuckles has a vision of his long-dead father, Locke, who does his best Mufasa (James Earl Jones) impersonation and gives him not only the resolve to continue onwards but also a cryptic clue as to how to defeat Enerjak: “The key to your present peril is in our past!” After reinvigorating himself at a mysterious oasis, Knuckles and Archimedes forge onwards towards Nekronopolis, a mighty city erected by Enerjak’s vast Chaos powers. The city, which Enerjak has built as a dark and corrupt reflection of Echidnaopolis, is home to an army of disposable mechanical minions (known as “Mecha-Nauts”) and Enerjak’s imposing citadel. Knuckles decides that the best approach is to tackle the Mecha-Nauts head on, which earns him Archimedes’ disapproval until he reveals that it was part of a plan to lure the machines to a gate so that he could crush them all (or, at least, a lot of them) in one move. However, while they manage to get into the citadel with a minimum of fuss, inside he is confronted by the Chaotix, who have been brainwashed by Enerjak’s magic and attack the two on his command. The fight (which includes a timely reference to The Mask (Russell, 1994) and even, surprisingly, The Shadow (Mulcahy, 1994), two films that both released in the year prior to this issue) goes poorly for the Chaotix; despite them having the numbers advantage, Knuckles and Archimedes are able to hold them off, forcing Enerjak to intervene and render them both unconscious using his powers (kind of making controlling the Chaotix a waste of time…) With Knuckles and Archimedes helpless against Enerjak’s powers, the would-be tyrant recaps his origins again just in case we didn’t realise how he came to be what he is.

Enerjak’s power may be awesome but the fight ends unresolved.

Despite acknowledging that the Guardian and his newfound fire-ant companion are the only two who could possibly oppose him, Enerjak prefers to boast and monologue rather than destroy them while he has the perfect opportunity. Indeed, Knux goads him into releasing them from his energy field, which gives Archimedes the opportunity to contact his fellow fire-ants. While Knuckles creates a distraction by taunting Enerjak and absorbing the brunt of his anger, Archimedes is able to teleport them out of danger so that Knux can (literally) get the drop on him and, though stunned to learn that he is Knuckles’ great-uncle, Enerjak attacks with a ferocity that is only matched by his augmented strength. Still, the two are relatively evenly matched, potentially because Knuckles has successfully goaded Enerjak into a straight-up fist fight and continues to chastise his great-uncle for his selfish ways and lack of honour. Their fight is cut short when Enerjak’s citadel suddenly transforms into a rocket and blasts into space; Knuckles and Archimedes escape thanks to the efforts of the fire-ants and Chaotix are freed from their pointless mind control. In the aftermath, despite Knuckles not really learning anything from him or really acting in a way that’s that impressive, Archimedes gives Knux his respect. Although Enerjak escaped to live to fight another day, the group is victorious and decide not to worry too much about the mysterious happenings that they experienced along the way (such as the oasis disappearing and the aforementioned rocket) but the story concludes with the revelation (to us) that Locke is actually alive and actively monitoring and assisting Knuckles from a hidden, high-tech bunker.

The Summary:
Jesus, what a slog. I’ll be the first to admit that Knuckles is my absolute favourite Sonic the Hedgehog character and I remember being so excited when he debuted in Sonic the Comic (1993 to 2002) and to learn that he was a prominent feature in the Archie comics, which were seen as kind of a continuation/parallel to Sonic the Hedgehog/SatAM (1993 to 1994). Knuckles the Echidna was one of the longest-running spin-off of the Archie Sonic comics, which is a testament to the character’s appeal and popularity, but every time I read his solo run I can’t help but be astounded at how boring and preposterous it is. I don’t usually lark to harp on about this sort of thing but my God is the art terrible in these issues! The covers, drawn by the always amazing Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante, are the best part of the artwork in this miniseries as, while Knuckles generally looks kind of okay, a lot of the characters just look really weird and disproportionate. I can kind of understand it as the majority of the Chaotix are really weird character designs already but Archimedes and the rest of the fire-ants just look ugly, man. Environments are very bland and nonsensical as well and all three issues suffer from the same artistic inconsistency that plagued the Archie Sonic comics for about fifty issues or so. There are, however, some impressive moments in the issues, though. In the rare instances where Knuckles is gliding or in action, he looks suitably bold and striking and, while Enerjak’s design is a bit “busy”, he looks pretty distinct and intimidating and I love how he has all this Egyptian-inspired apparel on his armour. Thanks to having absorbed the powers of eleven Chaos Emeralds, he can fly, wields Chaos energy, and is able to render targets under his control or unconscious and seems to have enhanced durability and strength, and can even erect a fully-functional city and robot minions in just a few panels.

Enerjak has a striking design and is certainly powerful but this was a poor outing for him.

Yet, the exact limits of his powers remains a mystery; he is regarded as a bogeyman-type figure by Archimedes and, as we learn, the reason why the Echidnas eventually renounced technology and he’s certainly a maniacal force but the story ends before we really get to delve into exactly what he wants. And that’s interesting because Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis: Knuckles is about 75% dialogue and exposition. Look, I get it; you can’t assume that people who read issue two or three will have read issue one but every issue starts with a bit of swirling text recapping the previous issue’s events so I really don’t think it was necessary to recap the (literal) rise and fall of Echidna society or Enerjak’s origin three Goddamn times! Sure, have Archimedes explain the fire-ant perspective on it all and introduce the idea of Dimitri there and yeah, Enerjak could share his perspective as well, but they’re largely the same and it just felt like needless filler. Add to that the fact that neither Knuckles nor Archimedes ever shuts up and constantly narrates his every thought and action and you have a story that is more a chore than a thrill to get through, which is a shame as I find Enerjak to be a compelling villain and his slug-fest with Knuckles was gearing up to be something good. It doesn’t help that Archie constantly shoe-horned the Chaotix into Knuckles’ stories, bloating the cast to kind of make it like an alternative to Sonic and the Knothole Freedom Fighters and, considering how useless the Chaotix were in this miniseries, it might’ve been better to omit them entirely and focus solely on Knuckles (and Archimedes, I guess, even though I am not a fan of the character) and his efforts to prove himself a worthy Guardian and oppose Enerjak’s ambitions.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Have you ever read Sonic’s Friendly Nemesis: Knuckles? Did you pick the issues up when they were first released and, if so, what did you think about Knuckles’ first spin-off? What did you think to Archie’s introduction and characterisation of Knuckles and the increasingly-complex depiction of the Echidna society? Were you a fan of Archimedes and Enerjak? Did you like the Chaotix being Knuckles’ running buddies? Which of Archie’s Knuckles stories and/or characters was your favourite and why? Are you celebrating Knuckles’ big day today? Whatever you think about Archie’s Sonic comics, and especially Knuckles, leave a comment down below and let me know.