Hyper Sonic (ハイパーソニック[1] Haipā Sonikku?) is a transformation that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is the Hyper State of Sonic the Hedgehog, achieved by harnessing the power of the seven Super Emeralds, the enhanced versions of the Chaos Emeralds.
Appearance[]
Hyper Sonic looks virtually identical to Super Sonic, sharing the same body proportions and raised quills. However, instead of a golden hue, Sonic's body rapidly flashes in pink/bright red, sky blue, lime green, yellow, white and light violet - the same colors as the Chaos/Super Emeralds. He also has large flashing sparks floating around him. When moving, he leaves several after-images.
Overview[]
In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Hyper Sonic is an enhanced version of Super Sonic that can be obtained by collecting the seven Super Emeralds as Sonic. The player can then activate Sonic's Hyper State by collecting fifty Rings and then pressing the jump button twice in succession. While Sonic is transformed, the player's Ring count drops by one Ring every second. When the Ring count hits zero, the Act Boss is defeated (except for the first two bosses in Sky Sanctuary Zone), or if Sonic enters a Bonus Stage, the transformation will deactivate.
During gameplay, like Super Sonic, Hyper Sonic is invincible, and retains the former's abilities such as enhanced running speed and higher jumps. However, Hyper Sonic can perform a powerful special move resembling the Homing Attack, called the Hyper Flash, which can instantly destroy all enemies on-screen except for bosses. In addition, he can now breathe underwater, thus removing the necessity of using air bubbles. However, Hyper Sonic can still die if he gets crushed, falls into a bottomless pit, or the player receives a Time Over.
When the player reaches The Doomsday Zone as Sonic after having collected the seven Super Emeralds, like as Super Sonic with the seven Chaos Emeralds, Sonic will automatically turn into Hyper Sonic for the final battle against the Final Weapon. When beginning this Zone, Hyper Sonic starts out with fifty Rings. More Rings can be obtained throughout the boss battle to compensate for the player's decreasing Ring count. Should Sonic de-transform in the battle, however, the player will lose a life. Although Hyper Sonic is invulnerable to all attacks and obstacles in this Zone, Dr. Robotnik's attacks can still send him reeling backwards for a few seconds from stunning him. After clearing The Doomsday Zone as Hyper Sonic, he will appear during the ending credits.
Powers and abilities[]
As Hyper Sonic, Sonic possesses abilities that far surpass his normal ones. Hyper Sonic is an incredibly powerful transformation, apparently even more so than Super Sonic. His incredible strength allows him, during gameplay, to plow through walls the normal Sonic would not be able to destroy without a Spin Dash (except for walls intended for Knuckles). Unlike in his traditional Super State, Hyper Sonic can also breathe underwater, and perform a devastating attack that will destroy all enemies on-screen (except bosses), and, depending on its usage, allows him to gain more speed or height, similar to the Homing Attack.[2]
Weakness[]
As with similar transformations, Hyper Sonic uses tremendous amounts of energy, and it is maintained by consuming Ring Energy. Upon running out of this energy, Sonic will revert back to normal.
Trivia[]
- Hyper Sonic's name comes from the term hypersonic, which is a speed above supersonic (which is defined as any speed Mach 5 or greater).
- Takashi Iizuka does not believe there is any possible way for Sonic to become Hyper Sonic anymore, giving the explanation why Sonic 3 & Knuckles is its only appearance in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.[3]
- Much like his Super State, when Sonic is in his Hyper State, due to the hardware limitations of the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, certain objects glow in the same colors he is in due to using shared palettes, such as various Flickies and Item Boxes, as well as his life icon in the bottom left of the HUD.
- Like with Tails and Knuckles, if the player turns into Hyper Sonic with S in Debug Mode, when the level ends and quickly turn back into a box, the name "Sonic" in "Sonic Got Through Act 1/2" turns into Hyper Sonic's colors.
- Hyper Sonic can also be used in Sonic & Knuckles, though only by breaking an S monitor in Debug Mode, itself being only usable in the game by performing a glitch in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. However, he still works as normal.
- In the files of Sonic Mania concerning Special Stages, the word "Hyper" can be found. This could mean Hyper versions of characters as seen from Sonic 3 & Knuckles were planned, but were later scrapped during development.
- Ian Flynn pitched Hyper Sonic to be the form used to battle The End in Sonic Frontiers. In this original pitch, Sonic would have initiated the transformation by calling out to the will of all the Ancients and Koco left in Cyber Space, absorbing the remaining energy to transform his Super State into Hyper Sonic. However, this idea was rejected.[4][5]
- Although the pitch was rejected, one of Sonic's lines from it would be kept. As such, in the final game, Sonic still calls upon the Ancients for help prior to his battle with The End.[5]
- It is also possible that Starfall Super Sonic may have been a retool of this idea, and a potential reference to Hyper Sonic.
References[]
- ↑ Sonic Team . Sonic Channel (Japanese). Characters: Super Sonic. Sega. Retrieved on April 19, 2023.
- ↑ Teitelbaum, Michael (November 1995). Sonic & Knuckles. Troll Communications LLC. ISBN 978-0816737819.
- ↑ Game Informer (July 12, 2022). Sonic Frontiers: 123 Rapid-Fire Questions With Takashi Iizuka. YouTube. Retrieved on July 13, 2022.
- ↑ Flynn, Ian (May 5, 2023). Floor it? | BumbleKast Mini! for May 5th, 2023 - Ian Flynn Q&A Podcast. YouTube. Retrieved on May 5, 2023.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Flynn, Ian (June 28, 2023). Eggman NEVER takes a life?! | BumbleKast for June 28th, 2023 - Ian Flynn Q&A Podcast. YouTube. Retrieved on June 28, 2023.
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