Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure is a video game that consists of 1 release

Edit Article

EDIT BLURB SUBSCRIBE

Sonic the Hedgehog and friends returned to the spotlight in this 1999 Dreamcast launch title. It was later ported to the GameCube as "Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut".

Overview

After 1994's Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic the Hedgehog sort of fell off the map. Though a number of spin-offs followed for years to come, Sonic Team moved on to other franchises like NiGHTS: into Dreams... and Burning Rangers. Six years after their last Sonic game, Sonic Team returned to the franchise for Sonic Adventure, the first all-3D Sonic game and a launch title for Sega's new Dreamcast console.

In many ways Sonic Adventure subtlety re-wrote the rules in which Sonic games were traditionally played. Sonic now traveled through a number of HUB worlds called "Adventure Fields" that housed NPCs and RPG-lite style quests. "Action Stages" could be accessed from various doorways and gates in Adventure Fields. Action Stages were more traditional Sonic levels, where generally the goal was to reach the end of the level as quickly as possible. Sonic's own base skill set had to be changed to compensate for the new third dimension, most notably with the addition of the "homing attack", that allowed Sonic to lock on to distant enemies and strike them with a mid-air dash.

The roster of playable characters was expanded from three to six total characters, with newcomers Big the Cat and E-102 Gamma appearing along side first-time-playable Amy Rose in addition to Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Rather than each character playing levels the same way with different skills to explore the environment, characters were now given completely separate gameplay styles, divided up similarly to different classes. Sonic focused almost exclusively on speed and platforming, Tails was more about racing another character to the finish line using specific shortcuts to gain an advantage, Knuckles was tasked with exploring wide-open spaces playing a game of "hot and cold" to find three objects in the environment, Amy Rose had to use stealth elements escape capture from the dangerous robot known only as "Zero", E-102 Gamma played like an on-foot version of Sega Saturn game Panzer Dragoon, and Big the Cat went fishing in order to catch a frog that swallowed a Chaos Emerald.

Plot was a much heavier focus this time around, with each character having their own unique plot thread that would often intersect with the other six storylines. Sonic and co. were officially given cutscenes and fully-voiced dialog to help flesh the story out even further. Upon completing all six storylines, a seventh and final story would unlock to tie all the stories back together and wrap the plot up. Rather than start with a base skill set that you kept for the entire game, as you progressed in Sonic Adventure you would find upgrade items located in Adventure Fields and Action Stages that would bestow new abilities upon your character, such as Sonic's "Light Speed Attack", a move with a lengthy charge-up period that could be used to clear out entire rooms of enemies.

Boss encounters were less frequent, and rather than occurring at the end of every stage in the game would instead occur at pivotal points in the storyline.

Plot

Sonic

After finding himself in coastal town Station Square, Sonic encounters "Chaos", a bizarre, nearly-invincible creature made out of living water. After meeting up with Tails, the pair trace Chaos back to Dr. Eggman, who is feeding the monster Chaos Emeralds in order to increase its strength with the eventual goal of using it to conquer the world. Knowing they can't let that happen, Sonic and Tails team up to find the Chaos Emeralds before Dr. Eggman.

Tails

After failing a test flight of a new Chaos-Emerald-powered Airplane, Tails encounters Sonic who tells him about the "Chaos" monster he fought. The pair eventually learn that Dr. Eggman is trying to use the monster's transformations to conquer the world. Both agree that this cannot be allowed to happen, and set off to stop him at all costs.

Knuckles

The last of his kind, Knuckles was entrusted to guard a massive jewel known as the Master Emerald. Centuries ago, his people misused the power of the Chaos Emeralds for greed, and the Gods created the Master Emerald to help control their powers. When things continued to get out of hand, the God of Destruction arose from within the Master Emerald to punish those who wished to misuse its power. When Knuckles learns that Dr. Eggman has shattered The Master Emerald in order to release the God of Destruction, he sets out to find the missing pieces of the Master Emerald in order to re-assemble them.

Amy Rose

Always one step behind Sonic, Amy believes they are destined to be lovers, much to Sonic's chargrin. Upon finding her way to Station Square, she finds a lost bird with a picture of his parents hung around his neck. As she sets off to help the bird find his parents, she encounters ZERO, a dangerous robot bent on capturing her and the bird.

E-102 Gamma

The greatest of Dr. Eggman's E-series robots, Gamma is tasked with completing various tasks for his master. After witnessing the horrible fates of the other E-series robots after they failed to accomplish the tasks Eggman asked them to complete, Gamma begins to question his own programming.

Big the Cat

Big the Cat's life begins and ends with fishing in nearby streams and ponds with his best friend, Froggy. But one night, when Froggy swallows a Chaos Emerald and begins to acting strangely, Big is forced to go on a quest to find out where his friend has gone and why he is acting the way he is.

Levels

Station Square

Emerald Coast
Casinopolis
Twinkle Park
Speed Highway

Mystic Ruins

Windy Valley
Red Mountain
IceCap
Lost World
Sand Hill
Final Egg

Egg Carrier

Sky Chase
Sky Deck
Hot Shelter

Soundtrack

Impressed by his work on Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic & Knuckles, Jun Senoue was given a more commanding presence in Sonic Adventure's soundtrack along side other Sonic Team music artists like Fumie Kumatani, Kenichi Tokoi, Takeshi Taneda, and Yukata Minobe. The game contained six vocal tracks:

"It Doesn't Matter - Theme of Sonic" by Jun Senoue and Johnny Gioeli of the band Crush 40
"Believe in Myself - Theme of Tails" by Jun Senoue, Karen Brake, Terry Woods and Maxine Waters
"Unknown from M.E. - Theme of Knuckles" by Atsushi Kosugi, Marlon Saunders, and John "Dredd Fox" Simpson III
"My Sweet Passion - Theme of Amy" by Atsushi Kosugi and Nikki Gregoroff
"Lazy Days ~Livin' in Paradise~ - Theme of Big" by Atsushi Kosugi and Ted Poley
"Open Your Heart - Main Theme of Sonic Adventure" by Jun Senoue and Johnny Gioeli of the band Crush 40

Additionally, after the release of the game, Sega published a vocal remix album, featuring the talents of bands Transmutator, Spahn Ranch, Sister Machine Gun, and Razed in Black, plus the work of Chris Vrenna, Mark Blasquez, Cevin Key, Kevin Moore, and Steve Tushar.

Development History

After Hirokazu Yasuhara left Sonic Team (due to friction with Yuji Naka), the man he was training as an apprentice took his place: Takashi Iizuka. After his stint as Lead Game Designer on NiGHTS: Into Dreams..., Takashi Iizuka approached Yuji Naka with his idea for a "Sonic the Hedgehog RPG". This sparked rumors of a "Sonic & Knuckles RPG" in the weeks leading up to the game's official unveiling in August of 1998.

During production, members of Sonic Team took a trip to Central America to gain inspiration for some of the game's locations. Many photos taken of the various Mayan Ruins they visited ended up being directly incorporated in to actual in-game textures, and characters like Tikal and Pachacamac were named after locations the team visited.

When unveiled, Sonic Team and Sega held a large public event in Japan, where they debuted the first gameplay footage of the game followed by a live performance of the game's theme song, "Open Your Heart" by Jun Senoue. The evening was topped off by an appearance of Japanese Sega Saturn mascot Segata Sanshrio, who got the crowd to chant for Sonic's return.

After the game's release in Japan, Sega and Sonic Team knew the game was not as finished as they would have liked it to be, so in the year leading up to the September 1999 release of the game they established Sonic Team USA, based out of San Francisco, in order to polish and refine the game further. The American release of Sonic Adventure was later re-released in Japan as "Sonic Adventure: International".

Trivia

This is the final game Naoto Oshima, the original designer of Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman, is credited for. It is rumored he left Sonic Team after a dispute with Yuji Naka over which direction to take the Sonic franchise for Sonic Adventure 2. For unknown reasons, Naoto Oshima's name was removed from the credits for the Gamecube port, Sonic Adventure DX.
Sonic Adventure was originally designed to run at 60fps, but crippling amounts of slowdown meant the game had to be reduced to 30fps instead. Sonic Adventure DX, the Gamecube port, attempted to restore the 60fps framerate, but even then, the framerate is known to fluctuate between 30fps and 60fps depending on what is on screen.
At least one boss is known to have been cut from the game: A giant, three-headed mechanical dragon. Sonic and Tails would face off against it in the Sky Chase Action Stage.
When Segata Sanshiro got the crowd to chant for Sonic's return at the game's unveiling, their chants were recorded and used in-game during the game's final story where the residents chant for Sonic to defeat Chaos.
Chaos was designed specifically to be the sort of creature that would have been impossible to render on the previous generation of hardware.
A number of songs in Sonic Adventure are remastered versions of tracks Jun Senoue composed for the Sega Genesis version of Sonic 3D Blast.
In the Sega Genesis Sonic games, collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds along side 50 rings would transform Sonic in to a Dragon Ball Z parody known as Super Sonic. In Sonic Adventure, Sonic only transforms in to Super Sonic at a pivotal point in the storyline, but a lost tutorial voice clip suggests he was meant to be playable outside of the game's final boss encounter, just like the Sega Genesis games.
Elara Distler, voice actress for Tikal the Echidna, was actually the Sound Engineer's girlfriend.
John "Dredd Fox" Simpson III, who does the rap portions of "Unknown from M.E. - Theme of Knuckles" is the voice actor for Sony's Parappa the Rapper.
This is the first game to use "Doctor Eggman"; previously known as "Doctor Robotnik" in America, he is called "Eggman" in Sonic Adventure in an effort to unify the canon of the games world-wide.

Credits

Product Manager

Youji Ishii
Shuji Utsumi

Director

Takashi Iizuka

Technical Supervisor

Takahiro Hamano

Executive Coordination

Shinobu Toyoda

Technical Staff Coordinator

Masanobu Yamamoto
Kazuyuki Mukaida

Program Coordinator

Takahiro Hamano

Main Programmer

Tetsu Katano

Lead Field Programmer

Akio Setsumasa
Takahiro Hamano
Tetsu Katano
Masahiro Wakayama

Field Programmer

Yoshitaka Kawabata
Takeshi Sakakibara
Akihiko Shinya
Shinya Matsunami
Kouji Ogino
Masakazu Miura

Field Program Support

Hideto Fujishita
Yuuki Hatakeyama

Player Character Programmer

Tetsu Katano
Yasuhiro Takahashi
Masanobu Yamamoto
Kouichi Toya
Kazuyuki Mukaida

"Chao" Programmer

Kouichi Toya

Enemy Programmer

Yoshihisa Hashimoto

Enemy Program Support

Mitsuteru Iwaki
Tohru Mita
Mitsuru Takahashi

A-Life System Programmer

Yoshihasa Hashimoto

Story Sequence Programmer

Yasuhiro Takahashi

Story Event Programmer

Takaaki Saito
Masato Nakazawa

Event Program Support

Koh Midoro
Kunihiko Mori

Camera System Programmer

Takeshi Sakakibara

Visual Memory Programmer

Jun Fukushima

Program Advisor

Yasuhiro Takahashi

Scenario Writer

Akinori Nishiyama

Character Game Designer

Takashi Iizuka
Takao Miyoshi
Yojiro Ogawa

Enemy Game Designer

Takao Miyoshi
Daisuke Mori
Kenjiro Morimoto

"Chao" Game Designer

Takashi Iizuka
Norihito Kato

Visual Memory Game Designer

Shiro Maekawa

A-Life System Designer

Shiro Maekawa
Daisuke Mori

Character Designer

Yuji Uekawa

Enemy Character Designer

Kazuyuki Hoshino
Tohru Watanuki
Satoshi Sakai

"Chao" Character Designer

Yuji Uekawa
Field Designer
Takashi Iizuka
Takao Miyoshi
Yojiro Ogawa
Shiro Maekawa
Yuichiro Suzuki
Shun Nakamura

Character Motion Designer

Yuji Uekawa
Akikazu Mizuno

Event Motion Designer

Naoto Oshima
Tomonori Dobashi

Visual Effects Designer

Sachiko Kawamura

Visual Effects Support

Naoko Hamada

Story Event Director

Akinori Nishiyama

Story Event Coordinator

Naoto Oshima

Event Scene Editor

Shintaro Hata
Kenichi Fujiwara
Eitaro Toyoda

Event Scene Edit Support

Hiroyuki Abe

Art Director

Kazuyuki Hoshino

Art Staff Coordinator

Minoru Matsuura
Atsushi Seimiya
Chie Yoshida

Lead Field Artist

Kazuyuki Hoshino
Hideaki Moriya
Nobuhiko Honda
Michikazu Tamamura
Masamichi Harada
Satoshi Sakai
Hiroshi Nishiyama

Field Artist

Yoshinori Amaike
Satoshi Okano
Kensuke Kita
Kosei Kitamura
Makiko Banju
Akira Mikame
Ai Ikeda
Takayuki Hatamura
Yoshitaka Miura
Kazuko Ito
Yuki Takahashi
Takanori Fukazawa
Yasuhisa Nakagawa

Field Art Support

Miho Takayanagi
Misaga Kitamura
Yoshihito Takahashi
Katsumi Yokota
Wataru Watanabe
Chisai Abe
Maki Kaneko

Enemy Art Support

Satoshi Yokokawa
Masami Hayashi
Satoshi Arai
Takehiko Akabane
Haruo Nakano
Yuichi Ide

Lead A-Life Artist

Tohru Watanuki

A-Life Artist

Sachiko Kawamura
Hiroyuki Watanabe

Modelling Art Support

Shinichi Higashi
Chika Kohjitani
Yuichi Higuchi
Kazuo Komuro
Toshihiro Ito
Toshiyuki Takamatsu
Satsuki Nagano

CG Movie Producer

Naoto Oshima

CG Movie Director

Manabu Kasunoki

Lead CG Movie Artist

Norihiro Nishiyama

CG Movie Artist

Masahiro Kumono
Motomu Hayashi
Tsuyoshi Morimoto
Tamotsu Kushibe
Kouji Kubo
Emiko Hirose
Naomi Honda
Masashi Yamaguchi
Isamu Yamasaki

Opening Movie Editor

Naoto Oshima

Executive Sound Coordinator

Yukifumi Makino

Music Producer

Jun Senoue
Atsushi Kosuji

Sound Director

Jun Senoue

Lead Composer

Jun Senoue

Composer

Fumie Kumatani
Kenichi Tokoi

Sound Effects

Masaru Setsumaru
Tatsuyuki Maeda
Yutaka Minobe
Takashi Endo

Vocals

Tony Harnell
Nikki Gregoroff
Ted Poley
Karen Brake
Marlon Saunders
Johnny Gioeli

Sonic the Hedgehog

Jun'ichi Kanemaru
Ryan Drummond

Miles "Tails" Prower

Kazuki Hayashi
Conner Bringas

Knuckles the Echidna

Nobutoshi Canna
Michael McGaharn

Amy Rose

Taeko Kawata
Jennifer Douillard

E-102 "Gamma"

Jouji Nakata
Steve Broadie

Big the Cat

Shun Yashiro
Jon St. John

Dr. Eggman

Chikao Ohtsuka
Deem Bristow

Tikal

Kaori Asou
Elara Distler

Pachacamac

Tohru Ohkawa

Misc Voices

Kaho Kouda
Lani Minella

General Information Edit

Game Name	Sonic Adventure
Platform(s)	Dreamcast PC
Publisher(s)	Sega
Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Genres	Add a new genre Action Adventure Platformer
Themes	Add a new theme Fantasy
Original US Release	Sept. 9, 1999 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases