In a series filled with homicidal scientists, superpowered ancient leviathans, and, well, Shadow the Hedgehog, it’s saying something that one of the more morally grey players of the Sonic world is the agency GUN. Ostensibly a guardian unit to preserve world peace, they’ve arguably started more messes than they’ve cleaned up.
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GUN have been a prominent staple in Sonic games since their transition (rough or otherwise) to 3D, and have even started popping up in the theatrical films. Their story dates back over 50 in-universe years, and has touched numerous characters’ lives on its meandering path to the present. Let’s dig in, commanders!
Quick warning: this article gets into some major spoilers for the 3D Sonic games, as well as his trilogy of box-office-shattering movies. We wouldn’t want to send a particular GUN soldier in to sort things out if you got spoiled…
What Does GUN Do?
GUN, which is a handy acronym for Guardian Units of Nations, are a military organization that have a significant presence in Sonic’s world. In particular, they involve themselves with the continents that have a large human population.
According to series lore, islands such as South Island and West Side Island are where the likes of Sonic and his fellow animal buddies hail from, whereas the mainlands are where you’ll find regular people, as seen in such games as Sonic Unleashed and Sonic ’06.
Established to respond to major criminal cases and domestic conflicts, GUN have a wealth of technological marvels and weaponry at their disposal – thanks in no small part to the discovery of Chaos Energy by Professor Gerald Robotnik, Dr. Eggman’s grandfather. This energy, concentrated into ‘Chaos Drives’, powers GUN’s mechs; and in fact, you can pop the robots open and collect the Drives to boost your Chao’s stats in Sonic Adventure 2!
GUN is led by Commander Abraham Tower, who has been in the position for several decades. Before Tower, GUN answered directly to the President of the United Nations (the Sonicverse equivalent of the USA) – a chain of command that led to the catastrophic incidents aboard the Space Colony ARK, and therefore the genesis of Shadow the Hedgehog as an antihero.
GUN’s Role In The Sonic Games
What Role Does GUN Play In Sonic Adventure 2?
GUN’s most significant role to date remains their turn in Sonic Adventure 2, and it’s also the game in which they make their first formal appearance.
A military group of some kind appears briefly in Sonic Adventure 1 to attempt to combat Chaos Zero, but they’re not labeled as being GUN troops… and are pretty ineffective, to boot.
Chronologically, their first action in the series was to raid the aforementioned ARK, where Gerald Robotnik was conducting research alongside his ailing granddaughter, Maria, and his new creation, the ‘Ultimate Lifeform’ Shadow. Shadow and Maria had developed a sibling-like bond, while Gerald continued to pursue a cure for Maria’s illness – but the tranquility was not to last.
Alarmed by the lengths Gerald was going to in order to complete Project Shadow, the President ordered GUN’s deployment to the ARK. The soldiers ransacked the base mercilessly, shooting anything living on sight – including Maria, who tragically got between one soldier’s bullet and Shadow. The loss of his dearest friend would go on to shape Shadow’s worldview and blacken his heart with vengeance, even after being cryogenically frozen for fifty years.
In the present, Dr. Eggman liberates Shadow, and GUN are on the case to recapture him. From here, their main significance in the game is as a hindrance to Sonic, whom the organisation (somehow) mistakes for Shadow and repeatedly imprisons. GUN sees the error of their ways when Sonic and Shadow band together and turn Super to prevent the ARK from impacting Earth as part of a revenge plot by Gerald.
What Role Does GUN Play In Shadow The Hedgehog?
With Shadow’s burgeoning popularity among fans, it was inevitable he’d get his own spinoff title eventually. 2005’s Shadow the Hedgehog delved deeper into Shadow’s history with GUN, Maria, and a mysterious alien named Black Doom, who claims to have been involved in his creation.
GUN spend most of the game responding to Black Doom and his Black Arms troops as they invade. Throughout the levels, you’ll find GUN soldiers trying to repel the ghastly extraterrestrials, and part of the gameplay loop is deciding whose side you want to play for. Feeling heroic? Bop the Black Arms. Fancy being villainous? Finish off GUN.
In some story paths, Commander Tower enters the fray personally as he’s got a vendetta against Shadow, blaming him for the death of Maria. It transpires that Tower also grew up on the ARK, and considered Maria to be like a sister to him. Depending on your actions during the adventure, you might end up battling Tower in a series of boss fights.
In the game’s true, final ending, Black Doom looks to be finalizing his conquest of Earth; only for a posthumous message from Gerald to reveal that the ARK’s Eclipse Cannon was designed to blow the aliens’ nomadic comet to smithereens. Shadow obliges, turning Super to finish the job – while Tower recognizes his heroism at last and decides to bury the hatchet.
What Is GUN’s Role In The Other Sonic Games?
Post-Shadow the Hedgehog, GUN and Commander Tower play a lesser role in the series’ narrative, but are still called upon occasionally to combat assorted threats. In Sonic ’06, Shadow (who’s now working with the agency) and Rouge the Bat are summoned by GUN to look into the matter of Mephiles and Iblis, two time-bending beasts up to no good in the waterfront kingdom of Soleanna.
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In Sonic Forces, which sees Dr. Eggman finally conquer the globe, GUN are one of the first factions to attempt to stand against his machinations. Unfortunately, they’re swiftly crippled by Infinite the Jackal, a new mercenary working for Eggman’s army, who uses the reality-warping Phantom Ruby to upend the war effort. With GUN out for the count, nothing stands in the way of Eggman’s regime… short of a rag-tag resistance.
Elsewhere, GUN make cursory appearances in Sonic Rush, the Sonic Riders subseries, and the non-canon RPG Sonic Chronicles. Most recently, they appear in Shadow Generations, wherein Shadow revisits the ARK to investigate a strange biosignature emanating from there. A series of journal entries you can collect provides more insight into GUN’s past with Gerald.
GUN’s Role In The Sonic Movies
GUN also feature in the trilogy of theatrical Sonic movies, their prominence steadily increasing with each new installment. In Sonic 1, we meet Commander Walters, the filmic equivalent of Commander Tower. Walters has a seat in the US Department of Defense, and is part of the Pentagon meeting that sees Jim Carrey’s Eggman being assigned to track down the Blue Blur.
GUN itself is first designated as such in Sonic 2, however. As part of a scheme to capture Sonic, who they class as an ‘uncontrolled extraterrestrial’, they arrange for one of their agents, Randall Handel (rhyming is fun!) to seduce Rachel, the sister of Sonic’s adoptive human mom, Maddie.
This subterfuge is exposed during the couple’s wedding, when Sonic crashes it with Tails, but Randall admits he really did fall for Rachel and the two reconcile. Commander Walters, meanwhile, is successfully convinced of Eggman’s return and that Sonic and co. are on the side of good. He and the rest of GUN aid in the final fight against Eggman’s gigantic Death Egg Robot.
Sonic 3 brings us GUN’s starring turn in the movies. Walters regales Sonic with the history of Shadow, who in this continuity arrived on Earth via a meteorite and was exploited for his limitless reserves of energy.
The same tragedy with Gerald and Maria still plays out as in the games, though. Some things are just canon events!
In a skirmish with some reactivated Eggman drones in Tokyo, Walters is killed, but not before passing the keycard to the Eclipse Cannon to Team Sonic. For the remainder of the film, GUN function as another antagonistic force to our heroes, after Walters’ second-in-command, Rockwell, mistakes Sonic and his friends for Walters’ killers.
In this regard, movie GUN are even more morally questionable than the game version, and it remains to be seen whose side they’ll be on in Sonic 4!
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