8JVVNi8g

1Special Ring Power 
2
3Translated from Japanese manual 
4Chaotix 32X JP manual.pdfChaotix 32X JP manual.pdf 
5 
6(This is the story listed in the Japanese manual for Chaotix. Translation by Kiyo Yamazaki.) 
7 
8In island afloat somewhere in the world 
9 
10A few months have passed since that incident which brought the island within a close brush of the ocean surface. There is a surge of activity deep in the seabed of the Southern Oceans, causing an island to suddenly appear out of it. This was the resulting aftermath of tectonic activity stimulated by the Master Emerald Pillar on the Floating island. What's more, the new island began to alter its shape with incredible speed. 
11 
12The Pillar's energy was changing the island from a mere hunk of rock to a lush tropical Eden. "There's gotta be something on that island..." Knuckles, the guardian of the Master Emerald Pillar is irked with questions about the sudden and ever-ongoing change that the island is experiencing. Could it be that the remnants of the legendary civilization that perished in the distant past, when the Powerstone ran amok? 
13 
14"Something must be amplifying the power of the Pillar." This was the thought that occurred to Knuckles. Duty-bound to his role as Guardian, he heads for the island alone. But he was not alone. The very same thought had occurred to the notorious scientific genius, Dr. Eggman, who was already there investigating the island. There, Eggman found a small ring engraved with ancient text. Now he knew the island was indeed part of the lost civilization. He also finds another ring identical to the Super Ring on the Floating island. And it turned out to be a very special ring, one used in antiquity before the legendary civilization was lost. 
15 
16"With this, I can access the Master Emerald once again" Eggman is elated by the discovery. However, the Powerstone (which the special ring could control) had already been removed to the Floating island by the gods descended from heaven. 
17 
18But the strange dimensional space created by the special ring is filled up with the Pillar's energy, forming a ring-shaped crystal called the "Chaos Ring". 
19 
20"If I uncover the secrets of the special ring, I'll have the secrets to the rings of Sonic and his pesky gang. And I'll have the power to summon the Master Emerald!" With this scheme in mind, Eggman quickly builds a fortress on the island. The resort he has dubbed "Neutrogic High-Zone" is aswirl with Eggman's evil plan. When Knuckles arrived, it was already too late. Eggman had succeeded in crystallizing the energy. He named the artificial ring the Dark Ring. And he was on his way to developing the Ring Power, which would produce time-dimensional connections between different rings. 
21 
22"Once I have this, they'll be able to do nothing. No one will get in my way, and the world will at last be mine!" Eggman was now well on his way to realizing his ambitions. 
23
24In Sonic 3 and Knuckles, the Super Rings on Angel Island lead directly to the 'Master Emerald Pillar', after you collect all 7 Chaos Emeralds in the first half of the game. While you are still collecting the Chaos Emeralds, the Super Rings just take you to the Special Zone, like in Sonic 1. In Sonic 1, 50+ rings opens up a Super Ring leading to the Special Zone, where you can find a Chaos Emerald at the center. In Sonic 2, 50+ rings activates a Star Post which generates an opening into the Special Zone, where you can find the Chaos Emeralds. But also, 50+ rings when you have all 7 Chaos Emeralds activates Sonic's Super State. The Super State being gold in color, like the Rings, and requiring Ring Power to sustain itself. In Knuckles' Chaotix, Eggman finds 2 rings. A small ring with engravings written on it, and a very special ring identical to the Super Rings on Angel Island. It was also stated that the special ring created a 'strange dimensional space' between it and the Master Emerald Pillar, and the immense Chaos Energy in that space crystalized into the 6 Chaos Rings. Knuckles' Chaotix also states that 'Ring Power' produces time-dimensional connections between the rings, and is the power that sparks between them. 
25 
26So apparently, according to all this... the power of the rings sparks a strange time-dimensional space between all the rings, the seven Chaos Emeralds, and the Master Emerald Altar on Angel Island, and that strange time-dimensional space is the Special Zone. In addition, a powerful enough quantity of Ring Power can potentially be used to summon the Master Emerald, as seen in Sonic 3 and Knuckles where the more powerful Super Rings leads directly to the Master Emerald Pillar. You know, this is probably how Knuckles can leave Angel Island to travel with Sonic and Tails. He carries a special ring with him that can lead him back to the Master Emerald Altar immediately. So, Ring Power appears to be the secret to gaining full access to the power of the Emeralds. So the Special Rings' power support the Chaos Emeralds' power... just like how Tails supports Sonic. It should also be noted... that Tails has used ring-based weaponry in Tails' SkyPatrol and Sonic Heroes. Anyways, the rings being the secret to accessing the true power of Chaos Energy would mean absorbing Ring Power sparks a direct connection across space to the power of the Chaos Emeralds. So if someone were to spend most of their life collecting endless amounts of rings around the world, they could potentially become inherently tied to the power of the Chaos Emeralds (or the Special Rings) themselves. Someone like Sonic and Tails... anyways, through their nature of being the link to the sources of Chaos, the Special Rings may also be the secret to a strange form of immortality. Collecting 1+ rings can protect you from taking serious damage, and 100 rings gives you an extra life.  
27 
28So basically, Ring Power from a single ring acts like a protective shield. Ring power from 50 rings either opens a strange time-dimensional space leading straight to a Chaos Emerald, or can unlock the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds. The cummulative Ring Power from 100 rings grants you another life. And a far greater amount of Ring Power can summon the Master Emerald.  
29 
30According to the story behind Sonic 3D Blast: Flickies Island, the Flickies live in another dimension and travel to Flicky Island through Super Rings to gather food and stuff. So the Flickies are tied to the Special Rings as well... The flickies also appear when Tails goes 'Super' in Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and share the super state with Tails. I've always thought that was because Tails was friends with the flickies and communicated with them in Tails' Adventure, but now it seems there is more at play under the surface.  
31 
32Ok, so...I hypothesize that Tails is in some way deeply connected to the special power of the rings. I mean, he supports Sonic, who is like a living embodiment of Chaos and Tails has definitely been absorbing roughly the same amount of Ring and Chaos Power as Sonic has, he's apparently immortal in the sense that he always comes back no matter how 'dead' he should be, going Super with the Super Emeralds makes the Flickies appear, he was apparently friends with the Flickies in Cocoa Island, and he uses Rings as weapons in Tails' SkyPatrol and Sonic Heroes. For a long time, I've thought of Tails as a Kitsune, and now I think even that is in some way tied to the rings. Tails having a second tail like a kitsune may in fact be because of his fate being intertwined with the Rings. It's probably even a possibility that Tails' golden yellow fur and aura are because of this as well. If Classic Tails started out as orange, then it's even more possible that absorbing Special Ring Power is what made him more and more golden in color until he was similar in color to Super Sonic.  
33 
34 
35 
36 
37Ok, so basically: 
38 
39
40The Rings generate a strange time-dimensional space linking every ring, this is the Special Zone 
41
42The Rings are the keys to unlocking the true power of the Chaos Emeralds 
43
44Because of both of these, the Special Rings can lead directly to the Master Emerald, which can control the Chaos Emeralds 
45
46The Special Rings are to the Chaos Emeralds what Tails is to Sonic, and Tails is to the Special Rings what Sonic is to the Chaos Emeralds 
47
48  
49 
50Sonic Lost World was a step towards this, but not completely. The Parkour engine needs to be upgraded so that it literally feels like the videos above. The Sonic Franchise, in terms of gameplay, is all about SPEED, but it's also an action-adventure platformer kind of game. So naturally, the gameplay should feel like super high speed parkour, bouncing off the walls like a spinball and stuff, with a continuous sense of flow. All under the player's control, and not limited to scripted events like in every game pre-Lost World, such as Adventure or '06. This should be the unique gameplay style for Sonic himself so that he could double as the baseline for the overall gameplay for other characters and stand out among them. 
51
52 
53
54
55Image download failed. The Solaris Theory 
56
57Image download failed.Image download failed. 
58 
59The entity known as Solaris began as an apparently sentient peaceful super-dimensional temporal phenomenon known as The Flame of Hope. But it was crazed and corrupted by the lasting effects of the experiments done by the Duke of Soleanna during the Solaris Project, until a spatial meltdown occured and split it into two separate entities: the raw corrupted power forming the Flames of Disaster known as Iblis, and the crazed malevolent and cunning mind and black shadows that was Mephiles the Dark. Before I go on, let me say this as a sub-theory/explanation... in the timeline leading to the creation of Crisis City, the Flames of Disaster grew so powerful that Mephiles would have been unable to join with it. So anyways... when Mephiles joined with Iblis after killing Sonic and triggering it's release, they formed the corrupted, crazed Sun God that wanted nothing more than to devour all of time and space until there was nothing left. But after Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Silver fought against and defeated Solaris, they caused the Sun God to implode and return to it's original, peaceful form before the corruption of the Solaris Project. What all this means is that basically, Solaris was never actually an evil entity. The Flames of Disaster isn't what Solaris actually is, the True Solaris is the Flame of Hope. The Flames of Disaster is only the corrupted form of Solaris brought about by the manipulation and experimented done by the Duke of Soleanna, through the desire of gaining access to the Time Travel capabilities of the flames. The same desire that Eggman wanted when he learned about the Solaris Project, and according to the Sonic '06 Strategy Guide, Mephiles somehow tricked Eggman into facilitating the release of Iblis.  
60 
61Image download failed. 
62Anyways, the Flame of Hope was originally entrusted to the Royal Family of Soleanna. But something else that was located in Soleanna were the seven gems. Seven emerald-cut gems. Look Familiar?  
63 Those gems may be the Sol Emeralds. Meaning that the Sol Emeralds may have possibly been used during the Solaris Project. This could also mean that Solaris may be the Sol Emeralds' answer to Chaos, the being of water connected to the Chaos Emeralds. The Sol Emeralds existing as apart of Blaze's world would make sense if Blaze herself is apart of Sonic's World 200 years in the future with Silver.  
64 
65  
66Blaze, a princess who's soul is alit with flames, was able to be a vessel to seal Iblis. After using the Chaos Emeralds' power to do just that, she then supposedly used Chaos Control to seal herself in another dimension, taking Iblis with her. Meanwhile in the Present, Mephiles joined with Iblis to become a crazed Solaris and the world is pulled apart by a rift in the space-time continuum and the past and future converge into the present. Then stuff happens, and eventually Elise blows out the Flame of Hope that was the True Solaris.  
67 
68...but...., the Flame of Hope was a super-dimensional/temporal phenomenon that apparently exists in all points in time simultaneously, if what was said about the crazed Solaris applies to the purified True Solaris. So, could it have been literally have been erased from existence completely? And what about Blaze, who was in a different dimension that entire time with the future Iblis? The answer is simple, the Flame being blown out by Elise, and Blaze sealing herself and Iblis in a different dimension, lead to the power of Solaris being separated from Sonic's World and moving to the dimension where Blaze sealed herself in. The repairing and rewriting of the timeline also affected Blaze, causing her entire history to be rewritten into that dimension. If the Sol Emeralds are indeed connected to Solaris, then they would have been rewritten into that world as well, and thus Blaze's World is born. But what of Iblis and Mephiles, the disastrous corrupt splinters of the crazed Solaris? Well, Mephiles and the PRESENT Iblis were 'defeated' or 'destroyed' or whatever in the past, present, and future by the trio of super hedgehogs, before Elise blew out the Flame of Hope. Because of the circumstances of how that happened, it is a possibility that some of their essence may have still existed after the space-time reset.  
69 
70What probably happened is that after the different dimension became Blaze's World during the space-time reset, the Flames of Disaster that was sealed within Blaze's soul might have been 'purified' by the power of the Flame of Hope (and also, well, timeline rewrite), with the remains of the corruption merging with the other version of itself that was apart of the corrupted Solaris in another dimension somewhere between Sonic's World and Blaze's World, creating the Ifrit and the Chaotic Inferno Zone. The temporal remnants of Solaris that was Mephiles the Dark could easily have become the Time Eater. What ever happened to the absorbed shadow of Shadow the Hedgehog, and the possibility of the malevolent cunning mind still existing, is unknown. It may in fact be a possibility that a large quantity of Mephiles' character was influenced by the absorption of that shadow, the shadow being comprised of Shadow's "dark side". What I mean by 'dark side' isn't the "Dark" that Shadow is, but the sides of his personality and stuff that he would refuse to accept or whatever. The shadows of his own subconsious.  
71 
72In the new timeline, Doctor Eggman apparently was able to have a child at some point. And that kid had a kid, and that kid had a kid, and that kid had a kid..., ..., ...and that kid had Eggman Nega. Nega existing in Silver's time as the psychic hedgehog's answer to Sonic's Eggman. Yet for some reason, Doctor Eggman Nega had also acted as Blaze's answer to Sonic's Eggman with Eggman Nega being after the Sol Emeralds. But... why and how, if Nega is from Silver's time in Sonic's World? Well, what we know from that is that Eggman Nega travels across space and time a bunch. In Sonic Rivals 2, he was also after releasing the Ifrit, learning about it from Gerald's research (post-spacetime reset, most likely). And we know that Eggman Nega is beyond insane and wants to unleash chaos and destruction upon the world. So what if Eggman Nega knows about the Solaris Project, and wants to re-create the Flames of Disaster that is the corrupted False Solaris? 
73 
74Also, the circumstances of Blaze sealing herself and the space-time rewrite also made Blaze become an embodiment of 'Sol', just like Sonic being an embodiment of 'Chaos', as she is now deeply intertwined with the power of the Sol Emeralds and Solaris, due to having Iblis sealed within her soul, and her inherent connection to the Sol Emeralds.  
75 
76The timeline change goes something like this: 
77 
78Shadow the Hedgehog 2005 - Sonic Battle - Sonic Advance 3 [End of Dreamcast Era] - [Beginning of Modern Era] Sonic the Hedgehog 2006  
79 
80Shadow the Hedgehog 2005 - Sonic Battle - Sonic Advance 3 [End of Dreamcast Era] - [Beginning of Modern Era] Sonic Rush - (Sonic visits Soleanna Sun Festival) - Sonic Rivals - Sonic Rush Adventure - Sonic Rivals 2 
81 
82Meaning that after the space-time reset, Blaze had already experienced Sonic Rush. 
83
84Image download failed. The Fastest Living Being in the Entire Universe (The True SPEED of Sonic) 
85 
86 
87Sonic the Hedgehog is the world's fastest hedgehog. The fastest supersonic hedgehog in the world. The fastest hypersonic hedgehog in the world. The fastest living being in the universe. The Fastest Thing Alive. From the very start of the series, Sonic possessed the ability to instantly accelerate to the speed of sound, with lightning reflexes to match, and could already break the sound barrier to achieve supersonic speeds, up to Mach 5 on average. But that was how fast he already was at the very beginning of the very beginning (Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), the Genesis Era). Naturally, in each later installment, Sonic got a little bit faster and a little bit more agile, developing new skills such as the Super Peelout, the Spin Dash, the Insta-Shield/Twin Spin Attack, and then the Homing Attack.  
88 
89 Sonic is also a master at parkour, as evidenced by the opening animated cutscene for 1993's Sonic the Hedgehog CDfor the Sega Mega CD. His background as a rockstar and his secret life as a DJ both provide the reasons for his excellent (break)dancing skills. In addition, games like Sonic Adventure 1&2, and the Sonic Riders series all show that Sonic is apparently THE BEST skateboarder, streetboarder, and extreme gear rider in the world, only Jet the Hawk (and possibly Shadow) being able to match his boarding skills. And then there's the Rail Grinding introduced in SA2. Obviously, Sonic has all of the skills to use his Speed and Agility effectively.  
90 
91And then in Sonic Adventure, Sonic was upgraded to lightspeed. However, to use his new Lightspeed Dash skill, he needed to use the Spin Charge to absorb light/energy from the environment and build up power until he was pulsating with a blue aura before dashing forward at light speed, usually towards a trail of rings (I theorize that the way it works is that, when he hits the trail of rings at light-speed, he slips through the time-dimensional connection between the Rings, and he basically passes through the Ring Power path). Later on in the same game, he absorbed a ball of energy called the Ancient Light into his body, further strengthening his lightspeed-capabilities, allowing him to focus it enough to attack enemies like a crazy homing spinball at the speed of light, but he still needed to build up power for it. In Sonic Adventure 2, his LSD and LSA are upgraded further, so that he didn't need to build up power for the Dash, although he still did for the Attack (but he did absorb a second Ancient Light). Then in Sonic Heroes, he uses the Lightspeed Dash/Attack a lot more frequently, showing that he's developed a lot more finesse at moving at the speed of light.  
92 
93And then we get to the DS version of Sonic Colors, where this exchange happens...  
94
95Image download failed.According to the blue blur himself, light speed is small time and no longer a challenge. And then there is this... 
96The Sonic the Hedgehog Super Interactive Annual 2014 states ""Sonic runs faster that the speed of light and according the Guinness Book of Records, he is officially the fastest video game character of all time!" Officially stating that Sonic the Hedgehog can run faster than the speed of light. Although his 'average' cruising speed still remains 'supersonic', his full potential appears to be beyond FTL to an unknown degree, most likely limitless. When he uses the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic, his average speed increases to 'sub-lightspeed', which means that his full potential as Super Sonic is MASSIVELY far beyond faster than light.  
97 
98Sonic Heroes shows that Sonic's supersonic speed generates powerful high-speed blue winds that goes beyond the actual winds that a supersonic speeding object would create, crossing into elemental powers. Sonic '06 shows that if Sonic dies, his soul would be within the wind, and Sonic Adventure 2's 2 player mode gives him the "Sonic Wind" technique where he apparently wills a blue whirlwind to surround his opponents even when Sonic himself isn't anywhere near them. Sonic Adventure 2 also gives Sonic the "Time Stop" ability, where he freezes time. We know this isn't Chaos Control because that's what Shadow uses to freeze time in 2player mode. Since Sonic's ability was given a different (and literal) name, it indicates that Sonic possesses the ability to freeze time without using Chaos Control. Sonic and the Secret Rings, as well as Sonic Generations, has Sonic obtaining the skill of "Time Break" where he slows down time.  
99 
100 Sonic Generations also explains that Sonic's speed (both Classic and Modern) affects the flow of space-time when he accelerates. This, along with the Time Stop and Time Break abilities, means that Sonic's speed is deeply connected with the space-time continuum, and it's a possibility that Sonic's speed moves time forward like the Flash. 
101Inserting image... 
102 
103Of course, all of this together means that Sonic's speed is equal to the Flash's speed. However... there's something that Sonic possesses that puts him above the Flash. Barry Allen, the Flash, is actually a slow and methodical guy who prefers to take his time and plan everything out. The fact that he got struck by lightning and became a living generator of the very force of speed is like the biggest irony ever (am I using that word right?). But Sonic, on the other hand, is all about speed from the day he was born. Speed isn't just an ability Sonic is known for, it's in his spirit. He's impulsive, and spends all of his endless freedom running around. Sonic has that "gotta go fast" mentality that, when blended with his free spirit and love of adventure, allowed him to not only get faster over time, but to develop his agility and skills that put that speed to use. Parkour, Breakdancing, Skateboarding, Rail-Grinding, all of which Sonic is skilled at and can infuse his superspeed into (both figuratively and literally). At his very core, Sonic is a living manifestation of 2 concepts: SPEED and CHAOS. With the CHAOS allowing the SPEED to grow to it's full potential and vise versa (just imagine him bouncing all over the place like a light-speed spinball, that right there is a perfect representation of who and what Sonic is). That's why Sonic is like the wind.  
104 
105 
106 
107And all of THAT... is why Sonic the Hedgehog is the FASTEST THING ALIVE. 
108
109 Even Without Wings, The 2ND Fastest Thing Alive (The True FLIGHT of Tails) 
110
111 
112As Sonic's Sidekick, Tails possesses the unique ability to fly through the sky using his twin-tails, and he's a mechanical genius and ace pilot.  
113 
114Tails' first ever adventure was, perfectly named, Tails' Adventure for the Gamegear. Tails first started out as a pretty weak flyer and pretty weak overall, his air time being limited to only 3 seconds. However, it was during the events of the game that we saw Tails grow immensly. With each of the 6 Chaos Emeralds on Cocoa Island that Tails found, his ability of Flight grew stronger. Basically, the entire adventure was filled with Upgrades for Tails, both technologically and physically. He even developed his superspeed, and learned the Spin Dash much faster than Sonic. In fact, one of the upgrades on the island (labelled "Knuckles", probably referring to the Knuckles Clan), is probably what gave Tails the strength to lift about 10 tons. He even had a flying rival in Speedy, further serving to push Tails to strengthen his Flying ability till he was better than an entire armada of BIRDS. (Makes sense anyway, since his only friends at the time were the Flickies).  
115 
116 
117
118 
119When Tails eventually moved to Westside Island, the kids there only served to become bullies for the poor fox due to his genetic abnormallity (and I'm sure his IQ didn't help, in fact I think the Battlekukkus were no better than the bullies). This leads me to believe that Tails probably spent most of his time running from the bullies, further strengthing his flight-speed and agility. By the time Sonic eventually crashed onto the island in the Tornado, Tails was fully capable of using his flight to follow behind the supersonic hedgehog and keep up with his speed. For the next few days and even the entirety of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis), Tails is following Sonic around all the time due to a desire to become as cool and fast as Sonic one day. Whenever Sonic accelerates to even greater speeds, Tails takes to the skies and catches up the very next moment (even if he just got hurt a lot and should probably be dead) by flying over any obstacles in the way like a shortcut. Following Sonic around served to strengthen Tails' abilities even further, until he's literally nearly as fast as Sonic himself with lightning fast reflexes just as good as the hedgehog's. During Sonic 2, Sonic and Tails travel through the Special Zone and collect all seven Chaos Emeralds. Since Tails' physical abilities (most notably, his Flight) grew stronger through collecting 6 of the seven emeralds, finally obtaining the seventh probably had a big effect on Tails and his Flying ability. In Sonic 3, he's strong enough to carry Sonic while flying without much of a problem (he does through the entire Marble Garden Boss), and in his own game Tails' SkyPatrol, Tails is airborne the entire game. His stronger abilities are definitely more apparent in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, where he can fly while carrying Sonic even longer, and can even join his Spin Dash with Sonic for a much more powerful Combo Spin-Dash. 
120 
121And then he, like Sonic, got a few upgrades in Sonic Adventure. Tails' Flight-speed was further upgraded, allowing him to keep up with Sonic who develops lightspeed in this same game, even allowing him to beat Sonic in races multiple times, and Tails second upgrade is for his agility. The Rhythm Badge upgrades Tails agility (probably through enhancing Tails' "rhythm" and breakdancing abilities that he would've learned from Sonic) so that Tails can now perform multiple Tail Attacks with perfect fluidity, agility, and skill. This might mean that Tails is actually much more agile than Sonic himself.  
122 
123 
124Tails has shown that he is fully capable of following Sonic behind no matter what the hedgehog is doing. Parkour, Any variation of Skateboarding, Railgrinding, and even Breakdancing in Sonic Adventure. Sonic may be faster than Tails, but Tails has definitely proved that his Agility may be better than Sonic's. Ultimately, Speed and Flight are cut from the same cloth. Within the universe of the cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, Airbenders have the capacity for either Speed or Flight, as their element of freedom, Air, focuses on agility and quick, fluid movements. Tails' Flight basically allows him to do the same stuff that Sonic can do, except with slightly less speed but slightly more agility.  
125 
126In Sonic Heroes, it's shown or implied that Tails' Flight generates electricity powerful enough to be considered thunder or lightning (ironically, Tails' greastest fear. Although this same game does imply that Tails is getting over his fear to some extent during Final Fortress). The way that it's put to is Tails charging up Sonic and Knuckles with thunder (actually lightning, thunder is just the sound), then he shoots them at the opponents (this ability is aptly named "Thunder Shoot"). It's a possibility that this is the explanation behind the Energy Ball arm cannon in Sonic Battle and the Electric Plug in Sonic Riders, he uses those devices so that he can use his limited electrokinetic ability effectively. This electricity might also be the real reason for Tails' flight and IQ. It's a possibility that Tails' namesakes might generate an electromagnetic field when they spin that, when combined with the helicopter-like spinning of the Tails, generates a strong enough lift and aerial mobility for Tails to fly better than any plane or bird, and nearly as fast as Sonic. It could also be a possibility that this electricity supercharges his brainpower, probably being partially the reason behind his hypercognition and 400 IQ. Which brings me to my next point...  
127 
128Tails doesn't just possess the ability to fly naturally and unassisted, but he is also the best pilot you'll ever meet. He can fly a plane just as well as he could fly, and has even built his own plane from scratch that was far superior to the original Tornado (which Tails mastered instantly in Sonic 2). Just like Sonic and his Speed, or Knuckles and his Power, Tails possesses all the skills that allows him to use his Flight to his full potential (although it's beens said that Tails has yet to reach his true potential). Of course, that means that not only does Tails posses more agility than Sonic, and shares Sonic's skills in stuff like parkour or breakdancing, but Tails also possesses more potential than Doctor Eggman himself in IQ and technological talents. Note, I said POTENTIAL, and Tails has yet to reach his full potential, unlike Eggman who probably has and makes full use and mastery over his talents with many more years of experience behind him. But that's the thing... Tails' youthfulness and childish nature relates perfectly to his ability of Flight.  
129 
130Like I said before, Speed and Flight are cut from the same cloth. The concept of Chaos compliments both of them perfectly. Just like Great Speed brings Great Freedom, so does Great Flight. True Flight allows you to touch the sky, reach new heights higher than all of the heavens, and see the world from above the clouds. With an ability like that, it's no wonder that one of the only characters I can think of that truly represent the power of Flight is Peter Pan, a boy that never grows up. Being a child is an essential part of Tails' character. Although his impossibly high IQ gives the illusion of maturity, he's still a youthful and naive kid. Sonic and Tails share many things, from similar abilities to similar lives and even similar personality traits, because Tails is a character meant to support Sonic, and possibly surpassing him in a potential future. His Flight supports Sonic's Speed. From following behind Sonic, to carrying Sonic in either his hands or the wings of the Tornado, Tails exists to support Sonic the same way the concept of Flight supports the concept of Speed or the way the Special Zone/Rings support the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Or even the way a humble kid can support a cocky teenager.  
131 
132And all of that (which isn't a lot), is why Tails is The Best Flyer and The Most Agile Thing Alive 
133
134One Punch-Knuckles the Worldbreaker Echidna (The True POWER of Knuckles) 
135
136 
137 
138Knuckles' strength is his strength. His power is his power.  
139 
140 
141 
142 
143Super Sonic is easily one of the most powerful beings in the series, commanding ultimate power with access to unlimited energy. His trademark speed is enhanced dramatically (with the additional skill of "run-flight", whatever that means), approaching the speed of light even in the Genesis Era, and is indestructable, virtually invulnerable, and nearly invincible. It would take a being with god-like strength to just harm him slightly. 
144 
145...and Classic Knuckles the Echidna defeated him with ONE PUNCH. Technically one spin attack, but that's beside the point.... 
146 
147 
148Knuckles the Echidna is as strong as Sonic is fast, meaning he matches Sonic's average of Mach 1-5 by lifting and pressing anywhere between 100-500 Metric Tons. Knuckles' strength is so vast that he can break boulders effortlessly, and his fists are noted to be as hard as rock. It may be literal, since he channels the elemental energy of the earth in Sonic Battle for healing and even summoning meteors from space.  
149 
150According to what Sonic Heroes and Sonic Adventure imply, Knuckles' Power can generate immense levels of heat and igniting the air like a meteor smashing through the atmosphere, except it crosses over into elemental powers and not just friction or splitting the hydrogen in the air(which he does in Sonic Battle). In Sonic Adventure, his strength is upgraded so that he can build up enough power to attack multiple tough enemies with the maximum level of heat (Maximum Heat Knuckles Attack), as his equivalent to Sonic's Lightspeed Attack. Meaning that Knuckles would be punching with the equivalent of a white dwarf star, like the Flash's Infinite Mass Punch (without having to run around to build up the speed and momentum).  
151 
152But that was the beginning of the Dreamcast Era. For his rival, Sonic first got his Lightspeed-techniques back then, and continued to get better at it like in Heroes, has stated to Omega that light speed is "Small Time", and by now has been officially stated to be Faster than Light. So what does that mean for Knuckles, who's power is the equivalent of Sonic's speed? Well, that would mean that Knuckles' level of power is the equivalent of surpassing the speed of light. ...whatever that equivalent may be. Knuckles has definitely been 'training' himself, he is a master of multiple forms of martial arts after all. Sonic Heroes had him punching the 'ground' so hard that balls of lava starts spewing out, even in places like blue transparent highways of energy or even battleships high above the clouds. Knuckles' Hammer Punch (which creates a large earthquake) in Rivals is stronger than in SA2, now able to damage airborne opponents far away. In Sonic Rivals 2, he gets a new special move: the Knuckle Slam, which creates a large red field of fire and shockwaves around him when he punches the ground.  
153 
154 
155All that emphasis on massively powerful fire and earth related effects definitely seems to indicate that he is definitely getting stronger and his average strength is approaching Maximum Heat level of Power, and his actual level of Power overall would be practically limitless and through the roof. That potential would increase whenever he taps into the Master Emerald's energy to access his own unique form of a Super State. And since he pretty much has 24/7 access to the Master Emerald's power (...unless it's broken, stolen, or turned into card...), that means he pretty much always has access to beyond unlimited power/strength.  
156 
157Of course, going back to his martial arts skills, that's something that already puts him above any other massively powerful super-strength user. He's not just massively powerful physically, he's a massively skilled fighter/combatant/martial artist. Most Power-types or super strong beings in any medium usually just fight wildly, relying completely on their strength alone and nothing else. Knuckles doesn't do that. He's one of the few that knows how to fight the best and is massively powerful in strength. Not only that, but he's a world-class treasure hunter, using his strength and spiked fists to climb walls and drill through the ground (...and glide through the air), and of course, breaking through barriers. So Knuckles is REALLY versatile in the usage of his greatest strength and superpower, and really knows how to use it. But as we all know, with Great Power... 
158 
159 
160...comes Great Responsibility. Knuckles may be a world class Treasure Hunter, but that doesn't mean he gets to explore ancient ruins and find hidden treasures and lost secrets all the time, because he doesn't really have the freedom to. Since the day he was born, Knuckles had a lifelong duty that he was destined to fulfill: being the Guardian of the Master Emerald and Angel Island, the floating island above the heavens. He has to be there on the island, making sure that the Master Emerald remains at the Altar or Pillar or whatever it is, spreading it's Great Power across the entire island, giving it the energy to remain above the clouds and secluded from the rest of the world... and with it, Knuckles himself. His Guardianship is something that was passed down through his entire bloodline ever since the Perfect Chaos attack 4,000 years ago when the Island was first thrust into the sky. His ancestors, the great Knuckles Clan, were a powerful warrior tribe. All available evidence, such as the items they possessed that eventually ended up in the hands of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy during Sonic Adventure, showed that they focused soley on fighting, combat, and being the strongest and most powerful. Of course, it was that obsession with gaining power that eventually led to the leader of the tribe to setting his greedy eyes on obtaining the power of the Master Emerald. The ramifications of that event probably lead to the next several generations of the remaining members of the Knuckles Clan becoming Guardians in the first place, realizing the responsibility that came with their great power.  
161 
162Knuckles, without realizing it, inherited this knowledge and wisdom since his birth. That he has to remain there on Angel Island as the Guardian of the Master Emerald. It's because of this that Knuckles is the Mountain where Sonic is the wind. He's unmovable and inflexible. The immovable object to Sonic's unstoppable force. It's most likely because of this and his warrior bloodline that he is a martial arts master, spending most of his time on Angel Island doing physical training to keep himself at maximum physicallity, or exploring every hidden route in the island's zones to make sure that he knows the place like the back of his hand. He sees himself as Sonic's rival, perhaps because he dreams of a free lifestyle, but he knows his responsibilities and wouldn't trade it for the world.  
163 
164All of this is what separates him from One Punch-Man or (Worldbreaker) Hulk. The main character of One Punch-Man did a 3-year long training regime that was ultimately... pretty mundane, but he broke his human limitations through sheer determination, dedication, and obsession, and thus he gained the power to defeat anyone with one punch. But still, his background makes it pretty obvious that he isn't much of a master fighter, he uses pretty basic punches and relies completely on his strength. He spends most of his time living like an average man, doing average things, especially since his unbeatable strength takes away the fun of being a 'hero for fun' and he no longer finds any challenge in any opponent he faces. Despite OP-M's status as OP-M (OverPowered-Maincharacter), he's basically just a boring average dude that wanted to be a hero and became too strong to enjoy it. With the Hulk, he's just a big beast of rage. Bruce Banner turns into the Hulk when he gets angry, and that's basically all he is. You know how when your filled with rage, you might want to punch something or beat someone up? Yeah, that's what the Hulk pretty much is. Not really an embodiment of strength, but an embodiment of anger. And his most powerful state of Worldbreaker Hulk is the pinnacle of that, being so angry that he'll break the world. The Hulk is Berserker Rage, and that's how he fights and attacks. Completely wild and out of control. But Knuckles has something that separates him from both OPM and Hulk, and puts him above them. Something to fight for. 
165 
166 
167Knuckles the Echidna is 2 things at his core. Sonic may be SPEED and CHAOS, but Knuckles is POWER and ORDER. Knuckles' strict lifestyle, responsibility, and birthright of guarding the mighty stone that controls the 7 chaos, not only allows his strength to grow, but it's the perfect element to go along with it. The concept of Chaos goes perfectly with the concept of speed, and the 2 compliment each other and can easily become one. But with POWER, it's a different story. Mixing CHAOS with POWER is asking for trouble. That's why the phrase "With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility" exists, because it's true. Anyone with Great Power is automatically put into a position where they have to use it responsibly, or things can go horribly wrong. They eventually have to uphold Order, and keep things under control (including themself), not being able to experience the Great Freedom that would come with Great Speed. In much the same way, developing Great Power and the skills to use it effectively comes from a strict lifestyle and doing specific things in a specific order every single day, whereas developing Great Speed and the skills to use it effectively comes from a free-spirited lifestyle where you can do whatever you want and having fun whenever you want. The Master Emerald is a symbol of Order, meant to counteract and control the 7 Chaos Emeralds. Sonic's destiny is deeply intertwined with the forces of Chaos, and the same applies to Knuckles with the forces of Order. Their rivalry comes down to SPEED and CHAOS vs POWER and ORDER.  
168 
169 
170And all of this, is why Knuckles is the Strongest Thing Alive! 
171
172 The Ultimate Power 
173
174 
175  
176 
177  
178 
179The Chaos Emeralds are seven mystical gemstones containing the Ultimate Power. Each Chaos Emerald contains an unlimited amount of highly potent and powerful Chaos Energy that is said to give life to all things and allow one to control the world. They can turn thoughts into power, and when all seven are brought together, a miracle will happen and the wielder will have access to ultimate power and unlimited energy. The Chaos Emeralds generate both positive and negative energy (the HERO side, and the DARKside), and correspond with the positive or negative emotions and intentions of the whoever wields the emeralds.  
180 
181 
182The living being who holds the Ultimate Power is the Ultimate Lifeform. Professor Gerald was put in charge of creating the Ultimate Lifeform under Project: Shadow, a medical research program under the premise of uncovering mankind's dream of immortallity when in reality it was for the purpose of developing living weapons of mass destruction. Professor Gerald studied the infinite energy of the Chaos Emeralds, developing the Chaos Drives while trying to find a way to apply that energy to living tissue. The end result of the project is Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow the Hedgehog is the Ultimate Lifeform and holds within him the Ultimate Power, which is restricted by his Inhibitor Rings to a certain degree. You'd think that this would make Shadow an unrivaled, unmatched being. But the thing is... Shadow is the spitting image of Sonic.  
183 
184Completely identical in appearance save for Shadow's color scheme, and sharing the exact same speed and agility, Shadow looks like he could be Sonic's own shadow. Sonic can even harness the Ultimate Power of the Chaos Emeralds flawlessly... even better than Shadow himself.  
185 
186Sonic's first experience with the Chaos Emeralds was on South Island, where he had to journey through the Special Zone to collect the 6 Chaos Emeralds that resided within the island in order to stop Doctor Eggman's plans of world domination. After the battle in the Final Zone in the heart of Scrap Brain Zone, Sonic ran back to the Green Hill Zone and met up with the little animals. Immediately after arriving there, the Chaos Emeralds began to glow and rose out of Sonic's hands, responding to his intentions of restoring the island to it's natural beauty in a flash of light washing over the place, and then they disappeared. It appears that Sonic was unconcsiously tapping into the Chaos Emeralds' power through his heart's intent and the Chaos Emeralds responded to Sonic's own chaotic nature and free-spirit.  
187 
188Sonic's second experience with the Chaos Emeralds was on Westside Island, where he met up with Tails and had to journey through the Special Zone to collect the SEVEN Chaos Emeralds that resided within the island in order to stop Doctor Eggman's plans of building the Death Egg for world domination. After Sonic and Tails found all seven Chaos Emeralds, Sonic discovered a new ability. Once 50 rings was collected, Sonic instantly transformed with the Chaos Emeralds power surging through him, gaining golden fur and a bright powerful pulsating aura of the positive power of the Chaos Emeralds. Later on, Sonic began to adapt to this new ability, able to transform at his own by will.  
189 
190He did just that and transformed into Super Sonic to fly straight into the mysterious Angel Island, only be ambushed by the island's Guardian, Knuckles the Echidna, who erupted out of the ground and knocked the Chaos Emeralds' power straight out of Super Sonic before taking the gems and hiding hem away into the island's Special Zone. After he and Tails recollected each Chaos Emerald (for the third time), they eventually landed in the Mushroom Hill Zone. There, they saw Knuckles leaving a secret room and decided to check it out, only to find a Super Ring flashing several different colors. Touching it brought them straight to the Master Emerald Pillar in the Hidden Palace, where the mighty stone reacted to the gems in Sonic's possession. The seven Chaos Emeralds rose out of Sonic's hands and, in bright flashes of light, transformed into greyed out giant Super Emeralds in the seven alters around the Master Emerald pillar. So, for the rest of the adventure, Sonic and Tails began restoring the power of each Super Emerald, presumably re-establishing the connected between the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. Later on, something different happened when Sonic tapped into power of chaos to go Super in order to regain the stolen Master Emerald from Eggman, Sonic instead went even further beyond: Hyper Sonic. It was then that Sonic fulfilled an ancient prophecy foretold in the mural in the Hidden Palace Zone's walls and fought a legendary battle against the 'dragon' that was Eggman to regain the Master Emerald.  
191 
192At this point, something is very noticeable about Sonic's super state and the newly discovered super states of Tails and Knuckles. When Tails harnesses the upgraded power of the Super Emeralds to unlock his super state, he gains a bright powerful pulsating aura of power with the addition of 4 Super Flickies, but his fur does not change color like Sonic's (although his natural yellow-orange-gold coloring gives the illusion of it). When Knuckles taps into the Chaos/Super Emeralds' power to enter a Super/Hyper state, he only gains a bright powerful pulsating auar of power as well, his fur remaining the same shade of red. But with Sonic... his fur gains the same color as the bright powerful pulsating aura, transforming gold when super, and flashing white and the colors of the seven Emeralds when Hyper, similar to the Special Rings and Super Rings colors. This already seems to hint at a deeper unique connection between Sonic and the power of Chaos. 
193 
194Over the next several adventures, Sonic would only strengthen that bond, finding the Chaos Emeralds and using his unique Super state several times. And then, Sonic has to fight Perfect Chaos. the positive chaos power of Super Sonic and the negative chaos power of Perfect Chaos were equally matched and neutralized each other, restoring Chaos to his former self and calming him down. But the guardian water spirit of the Chao is also basically a being of pure chaos itself, hence the name. And yet his power was equal to Sonic's... in fact his color scheme kinda reflects Sonic as well... blue with emerald green eyes. ... the same colors that Shadow glows when he becomes "Hero Shadow". This seems to hint that at some point after saving the Master Emerald and transforming into Hyper Sonic, Sonic's ties to the forces of chaos seemed to grow so much that his fur became a deeper shade of blue and his eyes changed from simple black to emerald green.  
195 
196And then the very next big adventure was where Sonic met Shadow. During that first confrontation, Sonic immediately saw that the black hedgehog looked just like his shadow, and Shadow himself used the 'Jewel containing the Ultimate Power' to warp space-time with Chaos Control. In their next confrontation, they got into a fight against each other, but they both noticed that their attacks were evenly matched, leaving Shadow to wonder just who that 'blue hedgehog' really is. This is verbally expressed during their third confrontation, where Shadow asks directly just "what are you, anyway?", Only to recieve the response of "Just a guy that loves adventure'. By this time, Sonic had flawlessly performed Chaos Control with a FAKE Chaos Emerald, which had only served to heighten Shadow's curiosity of the truth behind Sonic. Eventually, Sonic and Shadow have to harness the ultimate power of the Chaos Emeralds to go super, with Shadow's super state changing color just like Sonic, in order to stop the Biolizard from crashing the ARK into Earth. During that entire long battle, Shadow was slowly having more and more trouble sustaining his Super State, but he also noticed that the entire time Sonic was having no issues at all whatsoever, and was even giving Shadow a ton of advice about how overusing a Super State will make him disappear and to get back to the colony. It was around this point that Shadow finally understood.  
197 
198"Hahaha, Sonic! I think I've discovered what the Ultimate Lifeform is ...it might be you!" 
199 
200It seems to be hinted that when they had to use that final Chaos Control to warp the colony back in orbit, Shadow took his inhibitors off and used his full power. While Sonic was able to make his way back to the colony..., Shadow fell down to Earth and disappeared in a flash of light. Unlike Shadow, Sonic doesn't wear limiters and is fully capable of using his true power without any repercussions, despite the fact that the two of them are completely equal in abilities. This is probably a part of what Shadow realized, and probably why he stated that the true Ultimate Lifeform is Sonic himself. This is best shown in Sonic Battle, where Sonic had to face off against Ultimate Emerl, and beat him in under 30 seconds. This may have been referenced again in Sonic Colors DS, where this exchange occurs between Shadow and Omega.  
201 
202"Omega: Unable to process. According to data, your ability equals Sonic's. 
203Shadow: That just goes to show that data won't tell you everything.  
204Omega: Does not compute..." 
205 
206This may also be the reason behind why Shadow wears his skates. If Shadow using his true power without restrains consumes his stamina and eventually causes him to "disappear", then it's a possibility that his speed ties into that. Meaning that if he were to go "too fast" without restraints, then he'll disappear in a way akin to this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53OyPYa7SEI Which would be why Shadow wears the rings on his ankles as well as the air shoes, they are connected to Shadow's own speed and allow him to move as fast as he wants without any repercussions.  
207 
208Anyways, there is another character that holds 'Ultimate Power' like Sonic and Shadow... Silver the Hedgehog. Silver, like Shadow, is identical to Sonic, as proven by Amy and Elise when they first set eyes on the time traveller. He even has the same height and weight. Another thing he shares with Sonic is flawlessly replicating Shadow's Chaos Control after seeing it done once, something that didn't go unnoticed by Shadow. In addition to that, his powers appear to have an effect on space-time outside of Chaos Control as well, similar to Sonic, as shown by his teleportation. He even has a Super State where he changes to gold just like Sonic and Shadow, and Sonic Generations for the 3DS (as well as Sonic Rivals) seems to show that Silver can indeed match Sonic's speed on foot. Silver and Shadow both have counterparts in the world of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad. Within that game, Sir Galahad was also stated to hold the same power as Sir Lancelot. This of course, is basically explicitly stating that Silver does indeed hold Ultimate Power just like Sonic and Shadow.  
209 
210This means that Silver is in some way tied to either Sonic, Shadow, or both. It's a common theory that, like the real Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad in actual arthurian legends, Silver is the son of Shadow (which makes sense, seeing as Silver has fur on his arms and chest like Shadow does). While that may possibly be true, I think it goes a lot deeper than that.  
211 
212"Ultimate Power" is the energy of the Chaos Emeralds, generated through the hearts of it's wielders and converting thoughts into wish-granting miracle chaos and all that. The Ultimate Power is the power of Chaos. And what is Chaos? Well... in every experiment, in every scenario, there is the factor of chance. The unpredictable--that hiccup on the quantam level that throws everything off. That isChaos! And who has absorbed more Chaos Energy than Sonic? From all of his adventures, shaped by the tests of time instead of the tests of lab experiments, Sonic has become interwoven with the power of the Chaos Emeralds. At some point between the Genesis Era and the Dreamcast Era, possibly before Sonic 4, Sonic had become not only the Fastest Lifeform, but the Embodiment of Chaos. Patently unpredictable, the constant inconsistency, Sonic is the living incarnation of the Ultimate Power, caught in a legendary battle for the world itself against the Eggman. In a way... it was actually Eggman that caused Sonic to become this. Just like his grandfather, Eggman created the Ultimate Lifeform without even realizing it. If Eggman never became a dictator out to convert the world into an industrial robotic empire, Sonic would never have rose up against him becoming Chaos Incarnate in the process.  
213 
214So what happens 200 years down the line, where the world is under the threat of a new twisted member of the Robotnik lineage, Doctor Eggman Nega? Well, the true Ultimate Lifeform would have to be reborn. The reincarnation of the Embodiment of Chaos... is Silver the Hedgehog. Just like how Gerald created Shadow, and Eggman shaped Sonic, Nega caused Silver to exist without even realizing it. And in the original timeline, it was Iblis that caused Silver to exist. 
215 
216And bringing it back to Shadow...even Shadow's very existence may have been caused by Sonic. The reason why may be similar to a certain fact about the Flash. In the DC Universe, When Barry Allen was struck by lightning and got his speed, he created the Speed Force, and the Speed Force rippled throughout time and space originating from that point, so the power now exists in the past. So, when our blue speedster Sonic the Hedgehog became the Embodiment of Chaos, it probably rippled throughout time and space so that it was a fact even 50 years ago, maybe even 4,000 years ago. It may even be why the ancient echidnas were aware of the 'prophecy' to begin with, the same prophecy that Gerald might have saw, inspiring him to use Sonic's image as a basis anyway. But the power of chaos itself may have also had a hand in Shadow's creation, allowing Shadow to become a reflection of Sonic's own appearance and possibly personality, with Black Doom's DNA within him, along with whatever hedgehog dna Gerald may have used. It's also a possibility that Black Doom's blood may have contained Chaos Energy that was negatively charged due Black Doom's own intentions. Thus, Shadow's own 'Ultimate Power' is naturally in the Dark Side of Chaos, something that would only serve to be strengthened when Maria was killed before his very eyes. But of course, Gerald also gave Shadow a heart and mind (and "soul") identical to Maria's, meaning that Shadow also holds Maria in his heart (maybe even very literally, it's a possibility that Maria's soul after her death literally lives within Shadow). This would of course be the source behind the Hero side of Chaos (apparently the source of Chaos Control, as shown in Shadow's own game) existing within Shadow as well. Anyways, all of this basically means that Shadow literally is like Sonic's "shadow". Which is highly accurate, as whenever Sonic's "dark side" shows, he acts similar to Shadow complete with a higher focus on combat.  
217 
218So basically...  
219 
220-Chaos Emeralds = Ultimate Power 
221-Sonic the Hedgehog is the Embodiment of Chaos, and as a result the true real Ultimate Lifeform naturally born from the tests of time, due to his countless adventures and battles against Doctor Eggman 
222-This happened because of Doctor Eggman 
223-It's also because of Sonic that Shadow and Silver exist 
224-Sonic's very existence caused the end result of Project:Shadow to be a success, with the end result being a dark incarnation of Sonic 
225-Silver may be Shadow's son genetically, but he's actually a reincarnation of Sonic and as such is the true Ultimate Lifeform in his time 
226
227 Making Shadow Gameplay Distinct from Sonic Gameplay 
228
229Shadow is the spitting image of Sonic, sharing his Speed and Agility. Shadow is easily capable of all of Sonic's abilities, and this of course can give you the impression that he's just a reskin of Sonic.  
230 
231So how do you make playing as Shadow feel different from playing as Sonic?  
232 
233Building off of this: 
234
235
236Image download failed. Originally Posted by thesoniczone11 Image download failed. 
237 
238Sonic Lost World was a step towards this, but not completely. The Parkour engine needs to be upgraded so that it literally feels like the videos above. The Sonic Franchise, in terms of gameplay, is all about SPEED, but it's also an action-adventure platformer kind of game. So naturally, the gameplay should feel like super high speed parkour, bouncing off the walls like a spinball and stuff, with a continuous sense of flow. All under the player's control, and not limited to scripted events like in every game pre-Lost World, such as Adventure or '06. This should be the unique gameplay style for Sonic himself so that he could double as the baseline for the overall gameplay for other characters and stand out among them. 
239
240Shadow is a dark incarnation of Sonic, so his gameplay should function as like an alternate version of Sonic's core gameplay. So how about taking inspiration from the gameplay of JetSetRadio, since Shadow is essentially a rollerblader? He skates with air shoes instead of running with power sneakers like Sonic, so naturally his gameplay should reflect that. That would put a unique spin on Sonic's parkour mechanic.  
241  
242 
243The Dark Side of the Chaos Emeralds focuses on Destruction. When Chaos became Perfect Chaos with that power, he was known from then on as a God of Destruction. And when Shadow harnesses that power (which I think is the natural state of his own power), he becomes "Dark Shadow" and uses the Chaos Blast. If Shadow's Chaos power is naturally Dark (since it's usually red at it's strongest, and yellow at it's weakest), then that means Shadow himself is innately a being of destruction. At the same time, Shadow is tamed, restricted, and directed as a living weapon, wielded by Gerald in SA2 and by G.U.N. since after Shth (Expert Mode). So naturally, Shadow focuses heavily on combat. Being such a lethal, brutal hand-to-hand combatant, it makes sense for this to carry over into his gameplay.  
244 
245In Shadow's own game, he was given melee attacks. And then in Sonic '06, he was given the "Chaos Attack" and "Chaos Snap" which was meant to deal more damage after a Homing Attack, and when upgraded can allow him to warp between enemies. In Sonic Lost World, Sonic was given the "Focused Homing Attack" which functioned similarly to the Lightspeed Attack. The Focused Homing Attack allowed Sonic to charge up (or "focus") and either speed-blitz through each enemy quickly or perform one supercharged Homing Attack on a single powerful opponent. Shadow's Chaos Attack should be his version of the Focused Homing Attack, performing Chaos-and-Speed-enhanced Melee attacks and teleporting from enemy to enemy in a flash.  
246 
247In addition, Shadow 05's Shooting/Gun mechanic should be retained as well. But instead of actual firearms, he should use the Chaos Spear instead. Having the Chaos Spear function like the Guns can work perfectly. Also, if Sonic can have street/snowboarding segments in his stages, then Shadow should be allowed to have vehicles like his bike.  
248 
249There should also be a gauge for building up power. When enough energy is in the Guage, Shadow should be able to enter a Chaos Boost or become 'Dark Shadow' or whatever it should be called, with the option of using Chaos Control/Chaos Blast. Instead of having a Hero meter and a Dark meter with Chaos Control and Chaos Blast being separate, I suggest merging them together like in Sonic and the Black Knight when Lancelot is equipped with "Ddraig Goch". Chaos Control allowing you to warp time and space to teleport through the level, and stopping near enemies to use Chaos Blast. If it's programmed right, it could work perfectly. 
250
251Tails Gameplay - Finding a Balance between Sonic's Sidekick and Eggman's Rival 
252
253Tails made his first appearance in the series in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis. He was introduced to be Sonic's Sidekick, using his twin tails to fly through the sky and keep up with the blue blur's supersonic speed. Within the game, he plays exactly like Sonic, sharing roughly the same speed and possessing the spin dash and stuff, and he follows behind Sonic throughout most of the Zones. But then in Sky Chase Zone, Tails is piloting the Tornado. The manual states that Tails loves machines and tinkers with technology and stuff, and he really loved the Tornado as soon as he first saw it. So on one hand, Tails shares Sonic's speed and agility, and on the other hand, Tails shares Eggman's love of machines, technological tinkering and piloting skills. But the game focuses more on the 'Sonic' half of his abilities, with the 'Eggman' half taking a back seat. This continues in Sonic 3K, which also allows Tails to fly during gameplay under the player's control, but also has Tails developing a Jewel Radar in the game manual's backstory.  
254 
255But then we have Tails' Adventure, functioning as a prequel taking place before Tails met Sonic. This is reflected in the gameplay by Tails starting out very weak, and getting stronger over time through the collection of upgrades and items. Tails' primary equipped abilities in the game are the use of Bombs and a Remote Robot. His flight is severely weak at the start, and grows stronger with the collection of Chaos Emeralds, and he learns the Spin Dash and stuff later on in the game, but overall those abilities take a back seat to Tails' intelligence, the emphasis instead being on the 'Eggman' half of his abilities. Some levels feature Tails piloting a Submarine called the 'Sea Fox'. A stark contrast to Sonic 2.  
256 
257There's also Tails' SkyPatrol, which has Tails airborne throughout the entire game. There, he has a Flying Meter that is sustained through mint candy, and he uses a special Ring for a variety of purposes, such as attacks or holding onto things.  
258 
259Sonic Adventure has the emphasis back on the 'Sonic' half of his abilities, with his 'Eggman' half taking a backseat and being a fundamental aspect of his story, with the development of a 'Tornado II' that can transform and is overall superior to the original Tornado. In the game, Tails' stages are based around Racing Sonic (and later, Eggman), using his Flight as an advantage for surpassing the blue blur, and his gameplay overall feels similar to Sonic 2 and 3, even retaining the ability to spin but also introducing the Tail Attack. There are also Sky Chase Zones where Tails is piloting the Tornados. But then in the Sequel, Sonic Adventure 2, the emphasis is COMPLETELY on the 'Eggman' half of his abilities, and the 'Sonic' half barely seen in the gameplay or story. Tails' gameplay is based around the Tornado III/Cyclone, which primariy functions as a Walker mech with an emphasis on Shooting. This is an bigger contrast than Sonic 2 and Tails' Adventure, and stands out among Sonic and Knuckles who both retain the same general gameplay 'idea' between both Adventure games. The Advance games place the Emphasis on the 'Sonic' half again like Sonic 2/3K, but then Battle places the emphasis back on the 'Eggman' half in a similar way as Tails' Adventure. Sonic Heroes and Sonic '06 seem to feel more like Tails' SkyPatrol, lacking much of either Sonic/Eggman halves and instead only really possessing Flying and the use of special Ring-based items as weapons, and nothing else. Other than the Sonic Rivals series (where everyone is a Sonic clone), Tails hasn't really been playable in a mainstream Sonic game during the Modern Era after '06. So instead, let's Fast Forward to the Sonic Boom Universe (primarily Rise of Lyric), where he follows the Tails'Adventure gameplay, using technology such as Bombs and a Remote Robot, while also possessing his Flight and Sonic-like speed to an extent but taking a back seat to the Tech and Intelligence. 
260 
261So... Tails' Gameplay in the past has been all over the place.  
262 
263-Sharing most of Sonic's abilities, with the addition of his Flight allowing him to move through the sky and stuff, and maybe even the Tail Attack.  
264-Piloting a Mech such as the Tornado, Tornado II, Tornado III, or the Sea Fox. 
265-Outside of a mech, but relying more on Technology and his Intelligence with his Flight and Sonic-like abilities taking a backseat.  
266-Simply nothing more than Flying and attacking with Rings. No other Sonic-like OR Eggman-like abilities present.  
267 
268So....what should Tails' Gameplay REALLY be like? If they were to make Tails playable again in future titles sucha as the upcoming anniversary title, how should he play?  
269 
270 
271
272
273Image download failed. Originally Posted by thesoniczone11 Image download failed. 
274
275Image download failed.  
276 
277Sonic Lost World was a step towards this, but not completely. The Parkour engine needs to be upgraded so that it literally feels like the videos above. The Sonic Franchise, in terms of gameplay, is all about SPEED, but it's also an action-adventure platformer kind of game. So naturally, the gameplay should feel like super high speed parkour, bouncing off the walls like a spinball and stuff, with a continuous sense of flow. All under the player's control, and not limited to scripted events like in every game pre-Lost World, such as Adventure or '06. This should be the unique gameplay style for Sonic himself so that he could double as the baseline for the overall gameplay for other characters and stand out among them. 
278More specifically, how should Tails play if Sonic himself plays like this? Well... here's what I suggest.  
279 
280First, Take Sonic's Gameplay as I suggested above, and apply it to Tails, but remove a few specific abilities such as the Homing Attack, Bounce, Kicks, and the Lightspeed Dash. Overall, he should be able to Spin Dash and Parkour and stuff, like Sonic. Although, I think the Lightspeed Dash should be kept for Tails, but tweaked so that it's not a Lightspeed Dash but a slower 'Ring Dash' similar to the Green Hover wisp, with an emphasis on Tails' Flight instead of Sonic's speed. The other removed abilities should be replaced with Flying and Tail Attacks.... but also Dummy Ring Bombs (basically powerful Bombs that explode with electricity, in the shape of fake Rings), an Arm Cannon (functioning similar to SA2's Shooting mechanic), and the Remote Robot 'T-Pup' for certain situations. And for his Flying, I think they should draw inspiration from the NiGHTS series in terms of how Tails moves and stuff, to an extent. There should be an Action Guage that slowly drains while Tails is airborne, with stuff like Rings slowly refilling it. While flying, Tails should be able to use an aerial version of the Spin Dash and also use either Dummy Ring Bombs or the Energy Ball Arm Cannon, or both, as projectile attacks. The core of Tails' Gameplay, on top of the overall core Sonic Gameply, should be the Flight and he should be able to function perfectly in a Co-op situation similar to Sonic 2 and 3. 
281
282According to Sonic Battle, Shadow has Maria's heart and soul within him. He even states that he doesn't need a Chaos Emerald anymore because of that. It was also stated that Gerald programmed him with a heart and soul identical to Maria's. However, I think Shadow does have Maria's ACTUAL heart and soul living within him. Shadow himself is a dark version of Sonic. meaning that, at his core, Shadow is essentially this: 
283 
284 
285This would mean that Shadow is literally Sonic's dark side given form, Sonic's own shadow come to life, and this also means that Shadow's chaos power would naturally be "Dark" as well, and his signature chaos ability would be Chaos Blast, pure destruction, rather than Chaos Control. This would make Maria Robotnik the one who'd embody Sonic's light. Like, remove the 'light' from Sonic and he would become Shadow, but the light itself would become Maria. Her heart and soul is essentially this:  
286 
287Maria's Heart and Soul is practically pure positive ("Hero") Chaos Energy, and is what gives Shadow access to Chaos Control, which is a skill that could only be done with a mind set on benevolent thoughts and intentions. Maria is the source of Shadow's Chaos Control. This is the reason Shadow can use Chaos Control in SA2, even though for a majority of the game, his mind is bent on revenge. 
288
289Miracle Flower - The Magical Power of Amy Rose 
290
291
292Image download failed. 
293Rosie the Rascal 
294Real Name / Amy Rose 
295Gender / Female 
296Age / 8 
297Personality / Energetic tomboy. Optimistic. 
298Specialty? / Card Reading - Dousing (*) 
299A bright, energetic girl who likes fortunes and mystic things. She came to the Little Planet by "the order of the cards," but there she has a "destined" encounter with Sonic. And then... 
300 
301(*) - Uncertain translation 
302 
303 
304Amy: Real name : Emii Roozu 
305English name : Amy Rose 
306Nickname : Emii 
307Classification : Hedgehog 
308Gender : Female 
309Height : 90 cm 
310Weight : SECRET! 
311Age : 12 years 
312Favorite things : Soft-serve ice cream 
313Loathed things: Boredom  
314Special skills: Tarot cards * Dowsing * PikoPiko Hammer 
315 
316Persistently crowding Sonic with love, this girl chases after him, falling in love with love. The self-proclaimed girl-friend of Sonic the Hedgehog. An energetic manufacturer of cheerful moods, she strengthens her preminent behavior with more and more determination. At the critical moment, she produces her favorite PikoPiko Hammer out of nowhere carelessly embarassing men with her actions. Sonic is overwhelmed when faced with her wholehearted emotions. 
317 
318 
319Amy's special skills have been described as Tarot Card Reading, Dowsing, and fortunes and mystic things in general including her famous Piko Piko Hammer. Back in Sonic CD, Amy Rose wasn't a playable character, she was restricted to appearing in the story as a damsel in distress, needing to be saved by Sonic from Metal Sonic. It was in this game, her introduction, that Card Reading and Dowsing were first said to be her specialty, with mystical things being what she likes. When Sonic the Fighters rolled around, Amy Rose was included to emphasize her willingness to fight and not being afraid to get her hands dirty, and she was given the Piko Piko Hammer (called the "Magical Hammer" at the time) to reflect this (...supposedly). So, during the Genesis Era, Amy Rose was pretty much the mystical character, although her appearances were limited, until Sonic Adventure happened. 
320 
321Amy was redesigned, made older, and she retained the Hammer. ...however, that last thing was a big mistake, a huge misunderstanding. SEGA based Amy's entire gameplay around the Hammer itself (and escaping Zero), and this continued into Sonic Advance. Amy's entire gameplay was the Piko Piko Hammer, and NOTHING ELSE. There was no sign of her magical abilities outside of summoning the hammer. Of course, signs of it would return over the next few games, but those are largely ignored in favor of the hammer. The signifigance of the Tarot Cards, Dowsing, her Sonic tracking ability, and whatever other magical abilities she displays are largely downplayed or just goes unnoticed by the majorityand it's been largely believed that she's nothing more than a normal powerless (hedgehog) girl wielding a giant hammer.  
322 
323The reality is, Amy's true special talent is, just like Sonic's is speed, is her magic. Once Amy became a true playable character, the focus should have lied in mystical things and stuff, not just the hammer. But once the hammer got the focus, it ruined everything. Now, people think Amy's special talent is "Agility" and the Piko Piko Hammer, which is far from the truth despite the appearances. Yes she is Agile, Yes she is highly skilled in using the Piko Piko Hammer. But Amy's special talent lies in Fortunes and Mysticality, her special talent lies within the realm of MAGIC. Reading Tarot Cards and Crystal Balls, Tracking what she desires to find through mystical radars and stuff, her use of the Mystic Melody in the comics, the "Amy Flash" in SA2:B, summoning magical hammers, turning herself invisible, telling the future and playing with/percieving destiny and fate, all of that is what Amy is where her true talents lie. This is the direction Amy's character should have gone all along. She's energetic, optimistic, willing to fight, loves Sonic and wants to marry him, and is highly skilled in the mystical arts. That is Amy Rose. Not some hammer swinging, Sonic-stalking, short tempered annoyance or whatever. 
3242010 saw the release of Sonic & the Black Knight, where Sonic enters the world of King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table. Within this storybook world, the inhabitants are reflections of Sonic's friends and rivals. Tails is the young blacksmith, forging and fixing swords and other weaponry. Shadow, Knuckles, Blaze, Silver, and Jet, all of whom have been introduced in the past as Sonic's rivals, are the members of the Knights of the Round Table. And Amy Rose? Well... 
325 
326 
327Meet Nimue, the Lady of the Lake. She is explicitly a mystical character. Where every other reflection uses the same exact skillset and abilities as their realworld (Sonic's world) counterpart, Nimue a skilled enchantress and former guardian of the sacred sword Excalibur, she casts illusions, teleports and uses mirror pools (or just magical illusions or something...?) to communicate and all sorts of other magical abilities within the game's story. This says a lot about Amy's own talents and what she is capable of. Taking everything we know about Nimue, and applying that to what we already know about Amy's own abilities, we can get a clearer inidication on what Amy's special talents and true abilities really are and they entail.  
328 
329Within the games and game-related stuff, Amy Rose displays  
330-Knowledge and skill in Fortune Telling via Tarot Cards and Crystal Balls 
331-Dowsing 
332-Summoning magical Piko Piko Hammers, in a similar manner to Kingdom Hearts characters summoning their own magical weaponry. Said hammer can be used for flight, creating pink whirlwinds, causing massive pink shockwaves, etc 
333-Sensing and Tracking Sonic's precise location 
334-Hallucinations of Sonic fighting with her causes an actual 'Sonic' to manifest and fight alongside her (against Rouge in this particular situation).  
335-Invisibility (but may have been a placeholder for something else because unfinished, but eh, it counts) 
336-Paralyzing her opponents via a move called "Amy Flash" 
337-Summoning a whirlwind of pink hearts, a skill called "Storming Heart" (used without her hammer) 
338When you take Nimue's abilities into account, then it's made explicitly clear that Amy Rose herself is a mystical person, a magical girl, capable of summoning magical weapons, casting illusions, predicting ones fortune/fate/destiny/future, sensing one's location, teleportation, invisibility, and so on.  
339 
340But, what's most important, is how would any of this translate into gameplay? Well, you'll have to wait till Part III. 
341
342Team Sonic Heroes - The Unification of SPEED, FLIGHT & POWER (STK V SRM) 
343
344 
345Sonic Heroes was a game about teamwork, and was primarily focused on Sonic, Tails and Knuckles working together as Team Sonic (renamed Team Heroes in future games). That translated into gameplay with the feature of controlling 3 characters at once, each member being classified as either SPEED, FLIGHT or POWER, with each type being representative of the members of Team Heroes, whose' special talents are literally those ability types (Sonic = Speed, Tails = Flight, Knuckles = Power). But... Sonic teaming up with a young yellow flyer and a red rival powerhouse... doesn't that seem a bit... familiar?  
346 
347 
348SEGASonic the Hedgehog Arcade, the debut of characters Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Nowadays, they're largely "missing" from the Modern titles, but they're still heavily prominent in the comics. In SEGASonic Arcade, they worked together with Sonic as a team to escape Eggman's death trap of an island. Although they all played the same, it was made clear through voices and animations that Mighty was the strongman and Ray was a lot younger than the other two, and is of course a flying squirrel. So back then, it's like they were the original members of Team Sonic Heroes before Tails and Knuckles got into the picture.  
349 
350In the Archie Comics nowadays, Ian Flynn seems to write Mighty and Knuckles with the idea of 'Mighty is stronger but Knuckles is the better fighter'. That... that just doesn't feel right, and isn't a proper depiction of Knuckles' abilities. Knuckles is as strong as Sonic is fast, and is Sonic's Rival. Everything about Knuckles is a perfect counterforce to Sonic' own traits. Strong where Sonic is fast, the mountain to his wind, remaining on Angel Island to fulfill his responsibility while Sonic travels the world in endless freedom. Mighty, on the other hand, is just another Sonic in personality, and even closely resembles him without the spikes and such, but ability-wise only has the concept of being strong in and of itself along with the basic speed and agility most characters have, on a level close to Sonic's due to his 2 playable appearances featuring him playing just like Sonic would down to a T.  
351 
352So, Knuckles is THE Power-type of the series, his strength is his defining character trait ability-wise. So, Mighty can't/shouldn't be stronger. But that creates a problem. If all Mighty has is just strength, doesn't that just make him a weaker/stronger version of Knuckles? Well, I have a solution.  
353 
354Mighty's special ability is being invulnerable. Since he is an Armadillo, and the Knuckles' Chaotix manual mentions his pacifistic nature and avoiding violence, and a hedgehog was chosen over an armadilllo as a mascot due to spikes giving an impression of attacking and offensiveness, it all adds up and makes perfect sense. Mighty isn't really like physically strong and powerful the same way Knuckles is, he's actually just super tough and durable at his core, and he has a degree of immense physical strength stemming as a result. There, that way, Mighty can still be "MIGHTY" and still fill in the potential spot of.... '"back-up alternate POWER-type guy"...? And in terms of personality and character, it doesn't really affect the nature of character as it is now in his recent appearances. In the comics right now, Mighty seeked out guidance from "Moss the Sloth" to help him learn to control his immense strength, out of fear that he could hurt someone, and spent quite some time as Moss' student. From my perspective, it's like Mighty is just like Sonic deep down, but the fact he has Power in place of Speed creates a big difference between them, which is Mighty's temper being more visible and apparent than Sonic's, and thus causing Mighty to seek out a way to temper that rage and keep calmer than Sonic would normally be. None of that would change if "physical strength" was replaced with "invulnerabilty/durability".  
355 
356Now, about Ray. Personality-wise and ability-wise, he's pretty much very similar to Tails, except without the genius and instead of looking up to Sonic, he looks up to Mighty. In my opinion, that should create a huge different in Ray's abilities and skills. Flight, in and of itself, is very closely connected to and similar to speed, and Tails reflects that in how he shares a majority of Sonic's abilities and skills and is nearly as fast as Sonic himself. But Ray would be trying to be like Mighty, so instead of using his flight to be fast like Sonic, he would be using his flight to be powerful and strong and tough like Mighty. Like, a Flying Brick-type of character who flies around smashing through and lifting heavy stuff. Basically, using his flight in a manner similar to Mighty's 'might'. That, when you think about it, works perfectly if Ray is going to be the back-up 'other' Flight-type guy who can fill in when Tails isn't around while also expressing a different interpretation of what it means to be a flyer. Since, like, most comic book superheroes who fly are also super strong, for some reason.  
357 
358In conclusion, the way I'd have Mighty and Ray work is: 
359-Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are the representations of the truest idea of "SPEED" "FLIGHT" and "POWER" 
360-Mighty and Ray are alternate back up members who can fill the spot of representation of "POWER" and "FLIGHT" 
361-Mighty being POWER comes from being incredibly invulnerable, durable, and unbreakable, which gives him immense strength as a result, while Knuckles is physically powerful in the sense that he is as strong as Sonic is fast 
362-Ray being FLIGHT comes from sharing some of Mighty's 'might' as apart of how Ray uses his flying, becoming something of a Flying Brick akin to most comic book heroes who have both flight and strength/invulnerability, while Tails is nearly as fast as Sonic and has agility equal to Sonic's speed along with being an ace pilot and stuff 
363
364 
365Silver the Hedgehog: Real name : Shirubaa za Hejjihoggu 
366English name : Silver the Hedgehog 
367Nickname : Shiruba 
368Classification : Harinezumi 
369Height : 100 cm 
370Weight : 35 kg 
371Age : 14 years 
372Favorite thing: A peaceful world 
373Loathed things : Iblis 
374Special Skills : Psychic ability 
375 
376Silver came from the distant future to try to change his ruined future world. As someone who possesses psychic abilities, his special skill is to move various things by psychokinesis. Quiet and able to run swiftly for a little while, however having been raised in the ruined future, his character includes forethought and a strong sense of justice. He battles to restore peace to the world.  
377 
378 
379 
380There's nothing wrong with who Silver the Hedgehog is. In fact, he has a lot of untapped potential if he were to be used again in a main title. What I think they should do is, of course, do something with his rivalry with Sonic. 
381 
382 
383 
384Silver the Hedgehog is treated like another Sonic the Hedgehog, but unlike Shadow, there doesn't seem to be a real theme or idea on what exactly the difference is between Silver and Sonic. Shadow is a Dark-incarnation of Sonic. Metal Sonic is Sonic as an Eggman Robot. Silver is Sonic except.... uh... ???  
385 
386Silver is a mysterious young hedgehog equipped with psychic powers that allow him to move things and confuse his opponents with the power of his mind, and he comes from the distant future to change his ruined future world into a peaceful one. He is an optimist with a strong sense of justice despite living in a world in ruin, and although his character is said to include forethought, he is naive and insecure when he's alone.  
387 
388Silver is similar in appearance to Sonic, and even shares a familar enemy in the form of Eggman's descendent, as well as possessing the ability to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds to use "Chaos Control" and manipulate time and space, along with transforming into Super Silver.  
389 
390Basically, Silver is a psychic time travelling naive and insecure version of Sonic from the distant future. But like I said before, there isn't really a specific name to what he is as an incarnation of Sonic. Maybe the naive and insecure aspect is the main difference, contrasting with Sonic's wisdom and confidence? So where Sonic is saying this wise philosophical speech about his way of life and stuff, Silver is still learning those same lessons Sonic already learned and finding his place in the world. Hmm... this can actually put things into perspective well enough for Silver's character. Sonic's characterization has always been like a guy who already went through a ton of character development in the unseen past and he's long since reached that level where's gained a ton of wisdom and philosophy and stuff and he's the one helping others learn important life lessons. Silver could be the opposite end of the spectrum, a Sonic that has only just begun his adventures and hasn't yet learned all those important life lessons and grew to become a wise legendary hero. A Sonic that is still naive and insecure, with the short-temper and attitude that seems only slightly more visible in Classic Sonic than Modern Sonic.  
391 
392 
393In terms of gameplay, his Rival Battle in Generations is definitey a good starting point. What I envision is him being able to run at pretty much the same speed as Sonic, and pressing and holding the Boost button activates his Psychokinesis and he starts levitating over the ground at Sonic's boosting speeds and all the debris and stuff around the area is picked up in his Psychic field, and can be used as projectiles against enemies while still moving at those high speeds, along with using psychokinesis to affect the environment as well without losing momentum.  
394 
395Since Silver is a time traveller who travels from the distant ruined future to change past events to create a peaceful future, Sonic CD's time travel mechanic can make a comeback as a staple of Silver's gameplay. Traversing between Present and Future versions of Zones, finding and destroying things in the Present version (or something) to change the state of the Future version and create a Good Future in that Zone. Similar to Sonic CD, Time Travel should be tied to Speed, although probably without the Time Plates. I'm not exactly sure what would trigger it, but through certain circumstances you should be able to travel between the Present and Future once you reach a certain speed. And maybe manipulating Time in general (without Chaos Control, like Sonic's Time Stop and Time Break) could become gameplay features as well  
396 
397I like to think Silver is Sonic's reincarnation, Sonic's soul reborn as the Chaos Emeralds choose to bring him back to a world that needs him again. Originally because of Iblis, and then Eggman Nega after '06's reset. 
398
399 Going by some slight implications in Sonic '06, and the old 1992 Shogakukan Manga... I think that there was some sort of spiritual essence that's tied to the Wind that blows freely, a wind spirit of speed and freedom in the form of a blue hedgehog, known as 'Sonic'. Where did it come from? No one knows. But one day, a test pilot lost control of his plane, The Tornado, but the blue wind appeared and guided him safely to the ground, to his future wife. The test pilot was a hedgehog, and so was the girl he met. The two eventually got married, and on Christmas Island, they had a child named "Nicky Parlouzer", who was apparently a normal brown hedgehog. But, within Nicky, was the soul of that spirit of the wind, incarnated into this child.
400 
401Eventually, Doctor Ovi Kintobor came to the island, and met Nicky. They became friends, and with Ovi's help, Nicky ran so fast that he accelerated past the speed of sound, causing a Sonic Boom. Breaking the sound barrier triggered a reaction within him, and his appearance evolved, as the spirit of Sonic was awakened within him. A few lab accidents later, and Ovi Kintobor's invention goes horribly wrong. He's hit with the compressed evil of the world, and this triggers something in his genetic makeup. Ovi Kintobor, was a fake name that he made up, to hide away from his true identity and lineage, Ivo of the Robotnik line. The Robotniks suffer from a curse, that grants them supernatural intelligence and physiology, but at the cost of their sanity and moral compass. The trigger for the curse's effects is a traumatic experience. Professor Gerald, Ivo's grandfather, experienced the curse's effects when his granddaughter Maria was killed. Ovi was trying to run away from this curse, but now... it has been fully awakened, and Doctor Ivo Robotnik is here, and wants to conquer the world, transforming all life into robotic slaves.
402 
403From then on, Sonic the Hedgehog and Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik fought numerous battles against each other, with Sonic always emerging victorious. Sonic eventually inherits the Tornado plane, and leaves Christmas Island in search of adventure. But eventually, Doctor Eggman discovered something, that could allow him to beat Sonic once and for all, and take over the world. The legendary Chaos Emeralds, 6 of them said to be sleeping somewhere in South Island, a landmass that floats across the Pacific Ocean. Sonic comes to the island some time after, only to find that Eggman has converted the island's inhabitants into robots, and is after the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic runs into action, and collects the 6 Chaos Emeralds by using the power of 50 Rings to open a gateway into the warp of confusion known as the Special Zone. With the emeralds, Sonic defeats Eggman and restores South Island's natural beauty, and the Chaos Emeralds disappear in a flash. But during that adventure, Sonic was able to tap into the Chaos Emeralds' power, harness their energy. But the Chaos Emeralds give energy to all living things, so anyone could have done that...
404 
405...but then, after a time-travelling adventure on Little Planet, Eggman follows Sonic to the Island of Illusion, Westside Island. Eggman believed that Sonic would lead him to the Chaos Emeralds, and on this island, is where the 7th Chaos Emerald has been rumored to have been hidden. With the help of his new friend and sidekick, Miles "Tails" Prower, Sonic finds and collects the 7 Chaos Emeralds. When all 7 Chaos Emeralds are gathered, it is said that a miracle will happen, and the one who holds them will gain ultimate power. The energy of 50 Rings is able to unlock the full power of the emeralds,and with it, Sonic is able to transform into SUPER SONIC!
406 
407Sonic defeats Eggman once again, shutting down the Death Egg. But the Death Egg falls, onto the legendary floating isle, Angel Island. Angel Island crashes into the ocean, causing a massive tidal wave. A few weeks later, Sonic finds a ring washed up on the shore, with strange engravings that remind Sonic of a legend, an ancient civilization that was at war, and tried to steal the power of the 'Mighty Stone', but was wiped out by a god. Meanwhile Tails picks up readings of a massive amount of chaos energy, and the two head out to Angel Island. Super Sonic flies from the Tornado straight to the Island, but suddenly...
408 
409He's hit, with ONE PUNCH, and Sonic is depowered back to base form, the 7 emeralds scattered around him. Standing before him is the Island's protector, Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the Master Emerald and last of the Echidnas and the Knuckles Clan. Knuckles was tricked by Eggman into believing that Sonic was a thief out to get the emeralds, so Knuckles took the Chaos Emeralds and hid them in the Special Zone. Sonic and Tails re-collected them, but eventually, they discovered Knuckles leaving a strange room in Mushroom Hill. Sonic and Tails sneak in, and find a very bright and flashing warp ring, that transports them to the Hidden Palace. The Master Emerald reacts to the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic's possession, and they warp onto the 7 pedestals around the Master Emerald Pillar. But they are dark, grey and dim. One by one, Sonic & Tails dive into the Special Zone and re-awaken their true power, reconnecting them to the Master Emerald. Through the 7 Chaos Emeralds, the Special Zone and the Master Emerald united, the 7 Chaos are upgraded into their truest forms, the Super Emeralds. Accomplishing this feat grants Sonic the power to transform into HYPER SONIC, and with that form, a destined moment occurs. The Knuckles Clan foretold that one day, a powerful warrior would come to the island, and battle an evil 'dragon' for the Master Emerald. And this is exactly what happened, as Hyper Sonic chased Eggman through space to get the Master Emerald back. After this moment, Sonic's physiology was deeply affected greatly, and after several more adventures, he evolved once more. His fur became a deeper blue, and his eyes sparkled with emerald green.
410 
411Blue with green eyes... the same colors that one glows when they utilize the 'Hero' polarity of a Chaos Emerald's power. The same colors as the God of Destruction, the water spirit guardian god of the chao, Chaos. One day, Eggman shatters the Master Emerald, freeing Chaos. This brings Sonic and the others on a grand adventure, during which Sonic collected a few upgrades, absorbing a mystical ball of Ancient Light, granting him the ability to harness and absorb light, allowing him to finally reach the speed of light. After absorbing the negative energy of the 7 Chaos Emeralds, draining their power, Perfect Chaos floods Station Square, ready to destroy the world once more. But Sonic, through everyone's hearts beating with positivity, is able to activate the TRUE power of Chaos, and SUPER SONIC neutralizes Perfect Chaos,  restoring him to a peaceful state.  It is at this moment, that Sonic evolved once more, becoming... something greater. Something special and unique. But what.... what is he?
412 
413Over the next grand adventure, this would be something that would be deeply contemplated by Shadow the Hedgehog, Professor Gerald's creation. Project:Shadow, a top secret military weapon, to unlock the mysteries of eternal life, and create the Ultimate Lifeform. A project that the government shut down 50 years ago. Now, Eggman awakens the living weapon, and discovers Shadow the Hedgehog... who looks exactly like Sonic. GUN sees Shadow, and believes that Sonic broke into their base, and when Shadow goes to steal a Chaos Emerald, Sonic is the one that the media sees and blames for the crime. When Sonic first meets Shadow, he is left wondering who this black hedgehog is, and why is he impersonating Sonic? Shadow himself  wonders similar things, but even more so, as he contemplates why this blue hedgehog is impersonating the Ultimate Lifeform? How does he look just like Shadow, and match his ultimate power? He even managed to use a FAKE Chaos Emerald to cause Chaos Control?! Just who is he?! And eventually, he found the answer. When he and Sonic transformed into their super forms, Super Shadow found that he had trouble maintaining his form and sustaining/controlling his power. But Sonic... had no problem. It was at this moment that Shadow realized what Sonic is. Sonic the Hedgehog is the Ultimate Lifeform.
414 
415But... what does that truly mean? The 7 Chaos Emeralds are said to possess the ultimate power. And Sonic, has absorbed countless amounts of chaos energy. So much so, that his Super state is truly golden while Tails and Knuckles only had auras with no actual transformation. After finding the 6 Chaos Emeralds, discovering the 7th and going Super, upgrading them into Super Emeralds and going Hyper, and then neutralizing Perfect Chaos itself, Sonic the Hedgehog has become the Embodiment of Chaos. That is what the Ultimate Lifeform is.
416 
417But eventually, at some point in the future, Sonic's life will end. How this will happen is yet to be foreseen. But at some point, the world will need him once more, and the spirit of the wind will be reincarnated into a newborn hedgehog. With silver fur and psychic power, the embodiment of chaos is reborn as Silver the Hedgehog, who will fight valiantly for the sake of justice and bringing forth a Good Future where the sky is blue and everyone will have a smile on their face. A future world threatened by none other than Eggman's descendant. A man who has grown to resent his ancestor's failures, this hatred awakening the curse that brings forth great madness and insanity, twisting his mind into someone that wants to see the destruction of the world. To represent his hatred for his ancestor and desires to do what he could not, this man will call himself Doctor Eggman NEGA.
418 
419But that's just a theory. My CHAOS Theory.
420 
421By Sparky-the-Kitsune