Sonic Battle 2

DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee that Sonic Battle 2 will ever be made; this Hub is just fan speculation.

Based off the success of my Sonic Heroes 2 Hub, I decided to try my hand at brainstorming a sequel for the very enjoyable, somewhat forgotten Sonic Battle for Game Boy Advance.

When I first saw the trailer for Sonic Battle, I thought it was one of the greatest ideas for Sonic the Hedgehog yet. Now mind you, this was during the time that Sega was cranking out the Sonic Advance series, which was pretty well received.

I wasn't disappointed at Sonic Battle, but it didn't catch on like I thought it would. There hasn't been any talk of a sequel which is a shame because the original was a very solid, if slightly repetitive brawler in the "pick up and play" vein of Super Smash Bros. I thought it would only be right for it to receive a sequel. And that's why I've written this Hub.

Story

Characters

Stages

Skill Cards

Controls

Styles

Styles (cont'd)

Conclusion

Buy Sonic Battle

Links / News

Comments

Chronologically, Sonic Battle 2 should take place after Sonic Advance 3, but before Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

After the events of Sonic Advance 3, life returns to normal for Sonic and the gang. Gemerl, having been reprogrammed after that final battle, becomes a cheerful addition to the group. He has no knowledge of the past.

Suddenly, a black hole appears over the Earth. A meteor shoots out from it and crash lands in the desert. Sonic and Tails, who were sandboarding at time, decide to investigate.

The meteor turns out to be a small spaceship. They are surprised when inside they find Emerl! Apparently, he wasn’t destroyed like they originally thought. Instead, the resulting explosion sent him spiraling through time and space.

Emerl still remembers his previous adventures with Sonic, but all the Skill Copy Data he absorbed has mysteriously disappeared. He also can’t recall anything that happened to him after the explosion. Ecstatic that he survived, Sonic and Tails decide to take Emerl back to Central City.

Rouge, who was also secretly investigating the meteor crash, reports Emerl’s return back to The President. Fearing the danger of having two Gizoids together at once, he orders G.U.N. to retrieve them both so they can be destroyed.

Eggman, who has moved his headquarters to the Moon, learns about Emerl’s landing and begins to launch an assault to recover Emerl. He is obsessed with exploring the possibility of giving Emerl 7 Chaos Emeralds, and then having Gemerl combine with him to form the Perfect Gizoid.

As if things weren’t complicated enough, a Nocturnus spaceship appears from the same black hole in pursuit of Emerl. They plan on kidnapping him, and using the hidden Gizoid Factories on Earth to mass-produce copies of Emerl in perfect form, with all 7 Chaos Emeralds!

Sonic and Tails arrive at Central City with Emerl just as Eggman, G.U.N. and the Nocturnus do too, and a massive battle begins…

The story of Sonic Battle 2 should follow the same flow of the original, with each main character escorting Emerl around and giving him a Chaos Emerald. Each character has a unique Boss to be fought in their Story Mode, and clearing each one will unlock that character (and Boss) for use in Battle Mode.

Sonic and Emerl avoid capture during the battle at Central City. The Nocturnus end up kidnapping Gemerl instead. Believing Eggman to be solely responsible, Sonic decides to take the fight to his fortress, the Egg Crater. Sonic and Emerl destroy the base and defeat Eggman. Sonic also gives Emerl the 1st Chaos Emerald.

Tails wants to give Emerl his Chaos Emerald so that he can recover his memory. Just as he is about to, Nack shows up and steals it! Tails and Emerl chase after him, cornering him at his hideout. They eventually defeat him and recover the stolen Chaos Emerald. Tails gives the 2nd Chaos Emerald to Emerl.

Emerl’s memory reveals that the Nocturnus want Emerl to merge with the Master Emerald as well, so that they can mass-produce high-powered Gizoids. In order to prevent this, Knuckles scatters the Master Emerald shards all over the Earth. Chaos is released as well, and begins violently hunting for Chaos Emeralds.

Tails builds Emerl a Radar to find the Shards. Knuckles and Emerl search for the Shards before the Nocturnus can find them. The final piece rests with Chaos, who also managed to find the 3rd Chaos Emerald. Knuckles beats him and seals him inside the newly remade Master Emerald. He gives the Chaos Emerald to Emerl, and decides to hide the Master Emerald somewhere other than on Angel Island for the time being.

Eggman somehow succeeds in capturing Sonic, and then sends out Metal Sonic to frame the hedgehog and to capture Emerl. Amy, who is currently Linked with Emerl, has to fight him off and save Sonic. Metal Sonic drops the 4th Chaos Emerald, and Amy uses it to power up Emerl.

Cream gives her Emerald, the 5th one, to Emerl and takes him to search for Gemerl so Tails can reprogram him to be good again. They also have to avoid Espio, who was hired by an unknown client to recover Emerl. It is later revealed that unknown client was the Nocturnus. Cream and Emerl are then captured and taken to the Nocturnus Spaceship.

With Espio’s help, Rouge rescues Cream and Emerl from the Nocturnus Spaceship, and transports Emerl to the G.U.N. base in the desert. She has a change of heart along the way, and chooses not to turn him in. G.U.N. sends out a reprogrammed Omega to capture them, whom Rouge defeats. Omega drops the 6th Chaos Emerald, which Rouge gives to Emerl.

Shadow discovers a Gizoid Factory by chance near the planetarium. He needs Emerl to enter it, so he establishes a Link with him so the two of them can destroy the Factory from within. Emerl then guides Shadow to the other hidden Gizoid Factories, so they can all be eliminated. 

At the last one they have to defeat Shade, who is actually leading the Nocturnus. After defeating Shade, Shadow hesitates to give Emerl his Chaos Emerald, recalling the events that happened last time. Shadow takes Emerl to Tails so he can permanently disable Emerl’s “Link” function. After being reassured, Shadow gives him the 7th and final Chaos Emerald.

The Nocturnus eventually uncover the Master Emerald’s new location, and succeed in having Gemerl absorb it. This surge of power causes him to go haywire, and he merges with the Nocturnus Spaceship as well. He uses the power of the Nocturnus technology to transform all the living creatures and plants into robots, including Sonic and his friends! Gemerl then plots a collision course for the Earth!

Emerl is the only one unaffected by the transformation. He frees Sonic and the rest of the heroes. With all 7 Chaos Emeralds, Emerl reveals that the only way to save the world is for him to merge with Gemerl. That way, the Chaos Emeralds inside of Emerl will neutralize the Master Emerald inside of Gemerl, destroying both Gizoids forever. Emerl flies off into outer space where he battles Gemerl. After defeating and merging with Gemerl, Emerl drags himself and the Nocturnus Spaceship into the Black Hole so the resulting explosion doesn’t destroy the Earth. The planet is saved but both Gizoids are destroyed forever…

The following characters can be unlocked for Battle, by beating Story mode with the available characters:

Eggman – Beat Story Mode with Sonic
Nack – Beat Story Mode with Tails
Chaos – Beat Story Mode with Knuckles
Metal Sonic – Beat Story Mode with Amy
Espio – Beat Story Mode with Cream
Omega – Beat Story Mode with Rouge
Shade – Beat Story Mode with Shadow
Gemerl – Beat Story Mode with Emerl

The Story Mode levels in Sonic Battle 2 should be expanded from the original. Instead of small arena-shaped levels, now they should be like Streets of Rage, where you have to battle enemies as you progress through the stage. In Battle, however, the levels should revert back to their smaller, arena-shaped counterparts. The full list of playable stages is:

Blitz Street (Sonic’s Stage)
This is the highway that leads into Central City.
Launch Base (Tails’ Stage)
This is Central City’s airport.
Red Plateau (Knuckles’ Stage)
This is Angel Island’s current location, amidst a mountain range.
Neo Plaza (Amy’s Stage)
This is the shopping center of Central City.
Bubble Garden (Cream’s Stage)
This is a playhouse built especially for Chao.
Rouge Cruise (Rouge’s Stage)
This is Rouge’s personal resort cruise ship.
Gravity Cell (Shadow’s Stage)
This is a defunct planetarium that Shadow calls home.
Digital Future (Emerl’s Stage)
This is a virtual-reality simulator.

Egg Crater (Eggman’s Stage)
This is Eggman’s current, Moon-based headquarters.
Stone Quarry (Nack’s Stage)
This is Nack’s underground hideout.
Crystal Galaxy (Chaos’ Stage)
This is a frozen wasteland that stretches for miles on end.
Bio Complex (Metal Sonic’s Stage)
This is a toxic waste dump that used to be a recycling center.
Limbo Palace (Espio’s Stage)
This is a rainforest that houses the remains of an Echidna Kingdom.
Dune Barrier (Omega’s Stage)
This is G.U.N.’s desert-based command center.
Techno Planet (Shade’s Stage)
This is the Nocturnus’ Spaceship.
Parallel Fusion (Gemerl’s Stage)
This is the Black Hole that started this entire chain of events.

Emerl should still be able to collect Skill Cards in order to learn new moves and power up his abilities. However, in Sonic Battle 2, Emerl should collect Skill Cards every time an enemy is defeated, rather than at the end of each level.

Skill Cards should also be made available for purchase at a Card Shop in Central City. This would help in finding those extremely rare Cards. You should be able to use Rings (dropped by enemies and found in levels) to buy Battle Cards. Also, you can sell extra Battle Cards for Rings, or trade them in!

Thanks to the added X and Y buttons on the Nintendo DS, Sonic Battle 2 should allow characters to use all of their Skills without having to choose them before each level begins.

The default Controls should be:
A – Jump / Air Action
B – Attack / Combo
X – Power
Y – Trap
L – Guard / Heal / Camera
R – Shot
Start – Pause
Select – Switch Between Emerl and Character (Story Mode only)
Touch Screen / Microphone – Style Change (*explained below)

In Sonic Battle, Emerl was able to hold 3 different Memories, which were essentially Skill sets. That feature should return in Sonic Battle 2, but with a twist. Each character should have 3 different “movesets” that can be accessed by either using the Touch Screen or by saying the name of the moveset into the Microphone! I’ll refer these movesets as “Styles” from now on.

The 3 main Styles in Sonic Battle 2 should be: Speed, Power and Fly. Speed gives extremely quicker, although significantly weak attacks and movements. Power offers stronger attacks but slower mobility. Fly offers strong aerial attacks and attacks that launch enemies into the air for juggles.

For example, Sonic’s default Style is Speed. His attacks for this Style are the same ones available in Sonic Battle, and designed for quickness:

Ground Shot – Sonic Wave
Air Shot – Sonic Storm
Ground Power – Sonic Drive
Air Power – Sonic Meteor
Ground Trap – Sonic Cracker
Air Trap – Sonic Air Cracker

However, changing his Style to Power gives him a completely different moveset that focuses on brute strength rather than agility:

Ground Shot – Sonic Wind (Sonic throws a gust of wind)
Air Shot – Sonic Comet (Sonic shoots a trail of energy)
Ground Power – Sonic Dash (Sonic performs the Spin Dash)
Air Power – Sonic Slash (Sonic performs a Quick Slash midair)
Ground Trap – Sonic Spike (Sonic crouches, exposing his Spikes)
Air Trap – Sonic Buster (Sonic becomes trap, falls down to ground)

Changing Sonic’s Style to Fly gives him Skills that perform well in midair and also launch opponents upwards:

Ground Shot – Sonic Blast (Sonic creates an explosion that launches enemy)
Air Shot – Sonic Boom (Sonic juggles the enemy with aerial energy)
Ground Power – Sonic Peel (Sonic performs the Peel Out; launching enemy)
Air Power – Sonic Chaos (Sonic performs a Somersault in the air)
Ground Trap – Sonic Shuffle (Sonic throws a card that launches opponent)
Air Trap – Sonic Hold (Sonic shoots a trap that suspends enemy in air)

This should apply for every character as well! Imagine all the combo possibilities…

Well, there's my game design idea for Sonic Battle 2. I'd also like to see something down with Chao raising, like in Sonic Adventure. Maybe, Touch Screen activated Chao Battling? Or maybe some kind of Skill Card Battle like Pokémon Cards, except with Skill Cards?

Feel free to contribute in the Comments section!