Surprisingly Strong Sonic Characters

The Sonic series has generally been all about speed, but it’s full of characters who have pulled off some pretty powerful moves. Shadow has blown up comets and kaiju-sized beasts, as has Sonic, who’s taken down gods, genies, wizards, and more. Though he usually did this in his Super form, which Knuckles managed to beat on his debut with one surprise uppercut.

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The Sonic franchise has many strong characters, with these in particular standing out among the most powerful.

But while they tend to get the lion’s share of opportunities to prove their power, they’re not the only tough cookies in the franchise. Though their friends, rivals, and frenemies might not have blitzed Black Doom, or blasted through moons, they’ve had moments where they’ve been surprisingly strong.

6

Tails

The Two-Tailed Fox Is Tougher Than He Looks

• Debut: Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
• Abilities: Flight, speed, strength, genius intellect and a top-notch engineer.

Miles ‘Tails’ Prower is more of a thinker and a tinkerer than a fighter, as his nerves often get the better of him on the field. Yet he’s tougher than he lets on. For one, he managed to save Station Square from Dr. Eggman in Sonic Adventure. He didn’t even have any gadgets to rely on then either. He just had his two tails, which could move fast enough to slice through metal. They’re better known for helping him fly, though he can also spin them on the ground so he can keep up with Sonic while running.

They can help him swim in the water too, unlike the Blue Blur who sinks like a blue stone. Though even if he was forced to fight, he might do better than people think, as Tails’ Sky Patrol showed, it took a 10-ton weight to get him to strain, and even then, he could still drag it on the ground. This meant that it wasn’t Sonic and/or Knuckles’ weight tiring him out when he carried them. On top of his confidence, he needs to work on his cardio too. Then he could break the games without needing a mech (Sonic Frontiers) or an army of Super Flickies (Sonic 3 & Knuckles).

5

Emerl

Unassuming Robot May Be the Strongest Machine on the Planet

• Debut: Sonic Battle.
• Abilities: Infinite capacity for learning, replicating combat moves perfectly, detecting and using Chaos Emerald energy.

The biggest Sonic fans may already know how strong Emerl can be, but there are many who might only know the Gizoid from the Sonic X Shadow Generations ‘Dark Beginnings’ shorts. That’s because he made his debut in Sonic Battle, a Smash Bros clone for the GBA that wasn’t all that great. Still, it gave Emerl an intriguing background as a robot made by an ancient civilization, which was later unearthed by Prof. Gerald Robotnik. He surmised the Gizoid could destroy the world all on his own if he reached max strength.

At his base level, he could go toe-to-toe with Shadow. Once rediscovered in Battle, he grew even stronger as he learned more moves from Sonic and his friends. Unfortunately, he was prone to power overloads, which made him go rogue and join Dr. Eggman’s side. By the end of the game, it took all Sonic had to bring him back to his senses. But in doing so, he discovered Prof. Gerald put a self-destruct program in him to prevent him from threatening the planet. After one last farewell, Emerl activated it, and made his debut game his last one as well.

4

Rouge

Chatty Bat Turns Out to Be a Proficient Fighter

• Debut: Sonic Adventure 2.
• Abilities: Flight, sneaking, treasure hunting, sensitive hearing, hacking, spying.

Rouge the Bat is known for a lot of things, but strength isn’t usually the first thing that comes to mind. She’s better known for sneaking, stealing, making catty remarks, and flying aimlessly around Mad Space in SA2. Yet she’s taken on Knuckles, an echidna who can punch through boulders, and managed to bring him to a standstill in a head-to-head fight. That’s because her legs pack a mean kick, being able to blast through walls and kick foes off into the horizon.

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Whatever Knuckles can do with his punches, Rouge can do with her kicks. She’s just able to do it with more finesse, as she can be delicate enough to cut open glass, as opposed to Knuckles’ more tour-de-force approach. She hasn’t been skipping her other gym days either, given her core strength is still strong enough to carry Shadow and Omega in flight formation in Sonic Heroes. So, while she’d prefer to achieve her goals without needing to throw hands (or feet), she’s quite capable of doing so if need be.

3

Amy Rose

Sonic’s #1 Admirer Swings a Mean Hammer

• Debut: Sonic CD.
• Abilities: Speed, strength, invisibility, Tarot card manipulation, hammer swinging, Chaos energy manipulation.

One of Rouge’s feats was also being able to stand up well against Amy Rose, which may not seem like a big deal. But Rouge only managed to stop Knuckles in his tracks. Amy knocked him flat on the ground with a single-hand shove in (the original PS3/360 version of) Sonic Generations. Silly as it seems, it makes sense, as she developed that strength from carrying her giant Piko-Piko Hammer around everywhere. It’s not just for show either, as she knows how to use it.

When she isn’t using it to smash badniks into bits or off into the sky, she’s blasting gales at foes with it, or knocking them off their feet with its impact tremors. Without it, she can still throw a mean jab, hook, or uppercut, as Sonic Battle saw her take up kickboxing as a form of exercise on the side. She’s even been able to use the Chaos Emeralds to go super or pull off a Chaos Control to freeze her foes in place. She’s come a long way from being the lovesick hedgehog in Sonic CD.

2

Chip

Tiny Confectionery Addict Turns Out to Be a God

• Debut: Sonic Unleashed.
• Abilities: Flight, light powers, telepathy, immortality.

Yes, really, Chip the tiny flying chihuahua-looking thing is actually one of the Sonic series’ most powerful figures. At first, it might be from how testing he can be, as his hyperactive personality and love of chocolate and other sweets can rub players up the wrong way. But as time goes on in Sonic Unleashed, he begins to realize who he really is: he’s Light Gaia, a primordial entity tasked with protecting the planet from his evil counterpart, Dark Gaia.

His light powers are enough to amplify his strikes and protect himself and others with forcefields. They were enough to help put the planet back together after Dr. Eggman broke it too, let alone turn him into Gaia Colossus, a temple-based mech fast enough to keep up with Super Sonic, and strong enough to soften Dark Gaia up for Super Sonic’s finishing strike. If that wasn’t enough, being a god means he’s also immortal. He could possibly be beaten but never killed.

1

Cream & Cheese

Tiny Rabbit and Chao Are Strong Enough to Nuke Eggman’s Biggest Mechs

• Debut: Sonic Advance 2.
• Abilities: Flight, speed, strength, co-ordinated co-op skills.

Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao aren’t at the top because they’re somehow stronger than a literal god or a world-breaking robot. Neither can swing a giant hammer around, or kick through mountainsides. They’re at the top because their strength is the most surprising as, despite being some of the tamer characters in the series, they broke their debut game in half with their co-op skills. On her own, Cream can run, burrow, spin-dash, and homing attack with the rest of them, and fly by flapping her long ears.

She’s tough enough to carry Amy and Big the Cat in Sonic Heroes, which already requires quite a bit of power given Big is, well, big. But with her little friend, she becomes a force to be reckoned with. Not just because they could bodyslam people or form tornadoes in Sonic Battle. It’s because Cream could send her Chao friend out to attack enemies from afar for her. As simple as it sounds, it was enough for her to beat all the bosses in Sonic Advance 2, finishing them faster than Sonic and with the least risk. No wonder the Chao is called ‘Cheese’.

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