Sonic: Angel Island Onslaught

"The doc has stolen the Master Emerald, and he’s not giving it up. I’m going to get back my emerald even if I have to tear up every single robot of his."

- Knuckles

Sonic: Angel Island Onslaught is a concept for a new Sonic the Hedgehog adventure and platforming adventure designed to be played on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. The game re-introduces long-lost characters Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel alongside Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. The game features both hyper-fast 3D and 2D gameplay used in past games for Sonic and Tails and combat and exploration in 3D for Knuckles and Mighty. Knuckles and Mighty roam about and explore in a refined and more exciting version of Sonic Unleashed’s werehog gameplay. Players can rush through huge environments as Sonic and Tails or exercise combat as Knuckles and Mighty. Most of the stages are re-imaginings of old stages from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles similar to how stages were made modern in Sonic Generations.

Sonic and Tails
Sonic is paired with Tails and is able to utilize his moves from the recent adventures such as the Homing Attack, Sonic Boost, Sonic Drift, and Quick Step. Sonic is faster than his yellow sidekick, but is a little more uncontrollable and is not very useful in intricate platforming situations. Sonic can bounce off of obstacles and enemies to run up vertical pathways and reach new areas. Sonic’s slide has been replaced with the classic rolling and is able to spin-dash from a stand-still. In addition, side scrolling gameplay has been adjusted to play like Classic Sonic did in Sonic Generations, albeit modified to remove any glitches and to speed Sonic up a little more. In addition to the homing attack, there are several unlockable abilities that utilize Sonic’s speed for more interactive combat.

Tails is the more stable of the two and has less extreme abilities. Tails can boost and drift like Sonic, but cannot use Quick Step or Homing Attack. Tails can fly using his tails as rotors and carries Sonic in the air. To compensate for his lack of Homing Attack, Tails can use the Thunder Shoot to catapult Sonic at enemies from a distance. He can also lob dummy ring bombs at obstacles to destroy them and at enemies to stun them. Tails has an overall slower gameplay, but this helps within the more intricate platforming sections. Tails cannot unlock any moves, but can upgrade his speed and control.

Knuckles and Mighty
Knuckles finally returns as a playable character in a style similar to what the Werehog was in Sonic Unleashed. Knuckles can execute various attacks and combos, some of which require Mighty to help. Knuckles can glide over gaps and climb walls with Mighty on his back, and can use various other powers after buying or discovering certain pieces of gear. Knuckles is very strong and has good speed compared to his armadillo partner, and is a very good choice for beginners. Knuckles uses energy quickly compared to his partner by using moves such as Deep Impact and Shatter Slam. Knuckles can also use the spin-dash for his more platforming-type sections.

Mighty is a bit more dangerous in combat but is not as mobile as Knuckles. The armadillo strongman can rip rocks from the ground and swing them around or use them as shields. Mighty can also curl into his shell to deflect energy attacks and to roll around at high speed. Mighty can also spin-dash and can perform a special air-maneuver to slam his shell into the dirt and dig through tunnels. Mighty relies heavily on his environment to get an edge.

Plot
A short time after the attack of the Time Eater, Sonic has decided to go on vacation with Tails and Amy to visit Knuckles on Angel Island. Using the Tornado, the trio lands on the island in the forest valley. Sonic and Tails go out for a run while Amy sets up camp and starts a fire. Sonic and Tails make their way up to the Master Emerald shrine and talk to Knuckles. Sonic and Tails reminisce with their friend a little while and then decide to go back to camp. Dr. Eggman, though, uses his massive Egg Fleet to swarm the island. Amy is in shock while viewing the invasion from the campfire. A swarm of Egg Pawns attempts to capture her and eventually she is overwhelmed. Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails desperately fight off the innumerable robots but can’t beat them all as the Master Emerald is clamped with a mysterious robotic generator. Sonic and Tails try to persuade the guardian to retreat, but Knuckles refuses and is eventually shot off into the icy summits off in the distance by a cannon. Eggman laughs at Sonic, telling him his forces are upgraded with superior designs and are very tough. Sonic remarks that it’s not over and races back to the camp.

Sonic and Tails reach camp to find Amy missing, and they immediately head off to find her. After a long trek through the robot-infested mushroom hills, they save Amy by defeating the protecting robot. Tails discovers the entrance to the underground water systems of Angel Island, convincing Sonic to go explore it. Amy decides to follow, believing she’d be safer if she was with Sonic. Meanwhile, Knuckles awakens in the freezing ice caps on Angel Island’s colder region. After climbing out of the crystal-lit cave, he discovers that he has been surrounded by Eggman’s drones. Before he can fight them off, two mysterious people destroy the robots. The two reveal themselves to be Mighty and Ray. Knuckles is curious as to how they got on the Island, since Mighty had disappeared years ago and he wasn’t quite sure who Ray was. Mighty explains that Ray was his buddy from when Sonic saved them from Dr. Eggman’s prison way back when they were younger.

Mighty continues by saying that Knuckles didn’t keep much of a watch over the island during their time interacting with the humans, so they hitched a ride and built a house in the ice-cold region of Angel Island without much notice from Knuckles. Knuckles remarks that Eggman is back to ruin the day again, so the two decide to work together to find Sonic. The duo decides to take out the generators at Ice Cap and discover that Eggman is draining the energies of the Giant Rings so he can reach the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles and Mighty decide to head into the deserted echidna mines to get down to the mushroom hills, but end up in the nearby Marble Gardens. They proceed from there to the outskirts of the carnival ruins. At the same time, Sonic and Tails take down Eggman in the water systems, causing the whole place to flood. Sonic, Tails, and Amy find themselves catapulted into the desert through an oasis, and Sonic accidentally stumbles on a giant ring. Sonic receives a chaos emerald (the only mandatory to obtain emerald in the game) while in the special zone, and Tails decides that the generators they’d seen earlier were running off the chaos energy that escaped through the open giant rings. Sonic and Tails decide to take out the existing generator nearby, nearly taking out an entire palace ruin in the process. After the battle, they head for the ruins of the carnivals that used to run on the island, and a painstaking battle with Metal Sonic follows. At the same time, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray explore the various underground temples in the desert, but are unable to go outside when the exit is blocked by a sand avalanche. They decide to head deeper into the temples and, after encountering another generator, enter the underground watering systems. After this rigorous journey and more generator smash-and-grab, the trio finds themselves back at the surface, and in the carnival no less. After more exploring, they meet up with Sonic, Tails, and Amy, who had recently finished off Metal Sonic. Sonic decides to they should head for the altar, but Tails explains that the altar is blocked by a force field and without taking out the lava chamber generator, they wouldn’t be able to continue.

Sonic, Tails, Mighty, and Knuckles decide to explore the lava chambers, fighting off enemies before warding Eggman off again. The resulting battle forces the mountain to erupt, destroying the generators and enabling Tails to prep the Tornado for flight. The team flies through the crumbling remains of the Sky Sanctuary and reach the altar, which is now enshrouded in a metal base that houses all of Eggman’s forces. Through an arduous exploration of the base, they reach the chaos vortex which Eggman has created using the Master Emerald. Sonic demands that it be shut down, but Eggman refuses and enters into the portal. Sonic and Tails head into the portal to stop him, with Knuckles and Mighty following. The true ending (which features Super Sonic and Super Knuckles) shows Super Sonic, Super Knuckles, Tails, and Mighty destroying the robot and freeing the Master Emerald. Eggman decides that messing with Knuckles is even more dangerous than it was when he was younger, so he takes his crippled fleet and few remaining robots to repair.

With the day saved, Sonic enjoys his vacation with Tails, Amy, Ray, Mighty, and Knuckles.

If the player obtains all the Chaos Emeralds and beats the final boss a second time or beats the final boss the first time through with all the emeralds, the player unlocks seven more levels in the Chaos Vortex to obtain the seven Super Emeralds. If the player succeeds, they unlock four more super forms to use in-game.

Playable

 * Sonic the Hedgehog/Super Sonic/Hyper Sonic
 * Miles “Tails” Prower/Super Tails
 * Knuckles the Echidna/Super Knuckles/Hyper Knuckles
 * Mighty the Armadillo/Super Mighty

Non-Playable

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Amy Rose
 * Ray the Flying Squirrel
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (cameo)

Enemies
Sonic and Tails

Generic Enemies Mushroom Hill Ice Cap Hydrocity Marble Garden Sandapolis Lava Reef Sky Sanctuary Chrome Gadget
 * Egg Pawn
 * Egg Flapper
 * Buzz Bomber
 * Motobug
 * Mushmeanie
 * Dragonfly
 * Penguinator
 * Orbinaut
 * Clamer
 * Blastoid
 * Chopper (Big and small)
 * Slicer
 * Bubbles (big and small)
 * Sandworm
 * Skorp
 * Sol
 * Fireworm
 * Egg Robo
 * Nebula (Tails’ Tornado gameplay only)
 * Turtloid (Tails’ Tornado gameplay only)
 * Spiny
 * Spikebonker
 * Slicer

Knuckles and Mighty
 * Egg Fighter
 * Egg Hammer
 * E-2000
 * E-2000R
 * Egg Gunner
 * Egg Walker
 * Egg Lancer
 * Egg Rounder
 * Skorp

Items
All items in Sonic and Tails’ gameplay are in item monitors. Knuckles and Mighty share the shields and the various ring and life monitors, plus invincibility. In addition to the various items are various environmental objects such as cannons, ascent cables in Marble Garden, dash pads, launch pads, springs, vines, and other objects to use to get around more creatively.
 * Super Sneakers
 * Shield
 * Bubble Shield
 * Fire Shield
 * Lightning Shield
 * Rocket Sneakers
 * Snowboard
 * Slow Sneakers
 * Eggman Symbol
 * Invincibility
 * 1-Up
 * 3-Up

There are also three red rings in each level that can be collected to unlock bonuses.

Stages
The stages are accessed by an overlook map of Angel Island. If the player’s console has internet connection, the island can be seen with various kinds of weather. Otherwise, the island simply appears over various locations from past Sonic titles. For example, the player will sometimes float near by Empire City or through Rail Canyon. There are a total of nine individual zones.

The very first level of the game is a lush forest with bouncy mushrooms and swinging vines. Massive trees and branches become platforms for the speedy exploration of Sonic and Tails while the massive tree trunks and overgrown tunnels become the basis of Knuckles and Mighty’s generator searches. Sonic and Tails start off in this level, whereas Knuckles and Mighty must make their way there through Marble Garden.
 * Mushroom Hill

The icy landscape serves as a tutorial ground for Knuckles and Mighty. The spiraling ice slides and frost-coated bridges serve as puzzling robot ambush points for Knuckles and Mighty, while the eye-boggling landscape provides the ideal daredevil track for Sonic and Tails. Ray and Mighty’s serves as the game’s shop where skills, items, and gallery unlockables can be purchased and bought.
 * Ice Cap

The underground waterworks for the ancient echidna civilizations. With the remains of badniks from past adventures cluttering the walkways and unstable hydro pumps at every turn, the underground water park is truly something to be explored. Mighty and Knuckles stumble on the water systems after their trek through the mountains, and Sonic and Tails encounter the area much earlier after saving Amy.
 * Hydrocity

The hanging mountain ledges and passages of the scenic gardens provide exciting, on-the-edge-of-you-seat moments with the blue blur and his sidekick as they jump and dash at breakneck speed over dangerous ledges and through collapsing tunnels. Knuckles and Mighty explore the various inscribed alcoves and the highest reaches of the endless hillsides to destroy the generators.
 * Marble Garden

The dry and windswept dunes of the desert palaces. Sonic and Tails must outrun sand avalanches and rip through unstable sand walls to defeat Eggman’s cronies. Scorpion robots and quicksand passages are par for the course as the fastest thing alive tests his endurance in the heat. On the flip side, Knuckles and Mighty explore the numerous underground temples and ancient ceremonial grounds while avoiding the slowly rising sands that Eggman plans to bury his adversaries with.
 * Sandapolis

The unstable and highly volatile insides of the main mountain on the island. Whether the heroes are dodging waterfalls of lava or trying to claw their way out of collapsing lava chambers, Eggman’s relentless forces keep coming. The difficulty shows that the game’s end is coming; of course, the more experience can also be fun to play with. The dangers can be a challenge to explore, but pay off as you dash through magnificent crystal cave and over burning bridges and robotic remains.
 * Lava Reef

The game’s semi-final level that does not involve the final boss is also an exhilarating modern take on the bi-plane hopping adventures of Sky Chase. With the ability to switch characters, players can blast down the crumbling sky-high ruins as Sonic or switch to the shooting and destroying fun as Tails uses the Tornado to defeat airborne enemies under a unique Tornado control system that is completely different than his on-foot moveset. Note that switching to Tails as Sonic is a little more difficult than normal, as Tails goes under AI control when switched out from, and Sonic must use special beacons to call him and switch out. Knuckles and Mighty take a more direct approach though, and make it their mission to activate all of the warp pads so they can get to the altar.
 * Sky Sanctuary

Eggman’s industrial mass of traps has turned the lush altar on Angel island into a deathtrap filled with flamethrowers, spike pits, and electrically charged roadways. Sonic and Tails are on their toes as they burst through the tough locations, and Knuckles and Mighty are on their mission to stop Eggman once and for all. With the world at stake, the heroes leap from electrical tower to electrical tower and dash through oil slicks and saw blade loop-de-loops.
 * Chrome Gadget

The portal generated by Eggman’s clamp on the Master Emerald has generated an apocalyptic energy field. With the nearby factory created by Eggman almost ripped apart around the portal, the metal pieces now act as the heroes’ platforms to defeat Eggman. The portal isn’t going to hold long, so the heroes take Eggman on the final battle! Also, if the player collects all seven Chaos Emeralds, they unlock seven bonus levels set in the Hidden Palace that is shared in the Chaos Vortex. If the player dominates these seven challenging acts, they get the seven Super Emeralds!
 * Chaos Vortex

All the stages above, once selected, will take the player to the stage-specific area map. Each area map has multiple acts for both duos of heroes and a boss selectable. Each small red dot on the map changes from red to bronze, from bronze to silver, and finally from silver to gold as the rank on the stage increases.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer for Sonic and Tails, two players can take control of either Sonic or Tails and race together competitively or cooperatively. This allows both players to either work together and get through fast or split up and explore alone. Of course, in competitive mode, the players are encouraged to explore a bit, especially if one is lagging behind a bit, so they can find a warp monitor and switch places. And in competitive mode, it can be easier to collect rings and points when split up than when together.

In multiplayer for Knuckles and Mighty, the concept is the same. In co-op, the heroes can explore on their own or work together to defeat as many enemies and collect the most rings as possible. Competitive mode pits the heroes against each other to defeat the most enemies and get to the end first. Due to Knuckle’s limited energy meter and Mighty’s limited mobility compared to Knuckles, this generates interesting face-offs.

In both styles of play, the opponents in competitive mode can damage each other to get an edge, and Sonic’s combat abilities remain locked in basic mode due to his various upgrades that put him way above Tails. All the levels in multiplayer are recreations of several multiplayer levels from Sonic 3, and the levels have their own mini-map separate from the ones in the main game. Each zone has two acts.

The multiplayer zones are:
 * Desert Palace
 * Endless Mine
 * Balloon Park
 * Azure Lake

Trivia
Video Games Godzillabrawler
 * Similar to its predecessor Sonic Generations, Angel Island Onslaught redesigns past levels and enemies for a new adventure.
 * Although it is not certain, Godzillabrawler believes he is going to design a second Sonic game for the main series.
 * This is the return of Mighty and Ray after their long absences from game continuity.