Sonic Battle
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life

Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, on the 20th anniversary of Sonic's last fighting game, Paul looks back and wonders why Sonic hasn't in two decades...

In the early- to mid-2000s, Nintendo handhelds were home to many Sonic the Hedgehog games that players couldn’t find anywhere else. One of the most unique of the lot was 2003’s Sonic Battle, the franchise’s second attempt at tackling the fighting game genre following 1996's Sonic the Fighters.

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Unfortunately, as of this writing, it’s also its last. It was 20 years ago today that Sonic Battle hit the Game Boy Advance, and despite becoming a mainstay on the Super Smash Bros. roster not long after, Sonic hasn’t had a fighting game to call his own since then. It’s a tremendous shame, since Sonic Battle, despite not quite lighting up the sales charts, laid a fantastic groundwork for potential future Sonic fighting games to build off on.

For a cartoony handheld fighter from 2003, Sonic Battle offered a fairly hefty story mode. After failing to activate an ancient robot he recently discovered, series villain Doctor Eggman unceremoniously dumps the unresponsive piece of tech on the beach, where it’s discovered by Sonic. Naturally, the robot activates, and on taking it to Tails’ workshop for examination, they learn that Chaos Emeralds can enhance both the bot’s cognitive functions and fighting abilities.

Ever the adventure-seeker, Sonic jumps at the chance to create the ultimate sparring partner (this is a fighting game, after all), and heads off with the newly dubbed “Emerl” to find the gems and see just what his new friend is capable of. But as multiple factions reveal that they are on the hunt for the enigmatic robot, it becomes clear there is much more to Emerl than just being a simple fighting partner.

The plot’s not about to win any awards for complexity—again, fighting game—but what really carries it is the rich tapestry of personalities that the Sonic cast offers. Emerl himself grows from a virtual blank slate to a surprisingly multifaceted character in his own right, a charming mixture of Sonic and crew’s best (and admittedly, sometimes worst) personality traits. Seeing him grow and change as the story progresses makes his ultimate fate at the game’s end all the more poignant.

Of course, what’s a fighting game without lots of punching and kicking? Sonic Battle delivers on that front, with ten playable characters from the typical Sonic lineup: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Cream, Chaos, E-102 Gamma, and newcomer Emerl. Battles feature two to four fighters duking it out in 3D arenas. In addition to the standard punches and kicks that you’d expect, each combatant has a variety of special moves that feel natural to their characters. Sonic can shoot out waves of wind energy, Amy smacks opponents around with her hammer, Knuckles throws rocks and punches really hard, and Shadow utilizes his chaos-based energy powers, among many others.

The true star of the show, though, is Emerl. As you fight characters throughout the story mode, you earn skill cards for each of their moves. There’s a skill card for every single action a character can do—punching, kicking, even how they run and jump—and every one of them can be integrated into Emerl’s move set, provided you’ve found the corresponding card. Want Emerl to shoot off a shockwave of Sonic energy while airborne, then follow up with Shadow’s chaos energy burst on the ground? Maybe throw in Cream’s happy skipping animation to add insult to your opponent’s injury? The customization options are enormous, and there’s lots of fun to be had in cherry-picking your favorite moves and creating the ultimate fighter that suits your personal style.

Speaking of style, Sonic Battle oozes it from every crevice of its cartridge. The characters are rendered with sharp angles and extra thick outlines, giving the game a bold, edgy look that really hammers home the fact that Sonic and crew are ready to throw down. I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the game’s brilliant sprite work. Using the sprites from the Sonic Advance games as a base, every character is intricately and beautifully animated with a fluidity not seen in Sonic titles before or since.

That isn’t to say that Sonic Battle didn’t have its flaws. Arguably the most notable brought up by game journalists at the time and fans alike was the game’s focus on repeat battles to pad out play time, which is certainly a warranted criticism. Unfortunately, the flaws were apparently enough to garner the game generally lukewarm reviews, and as mentioned at the outset, lukewarm sales to match.

So, is that the reason why we haven’t seen a new Sonic fighting game in 20 years? Any attempt at answering that question would be conjecture, but it’s certainly a possibility that Sonic Team is hesitant to tackle the fighting game genre again after Sonic Battle’s less-than-stellar sales. The game also came out during a time when Sonic Team was willing to be a bit more experimental with the Sonic brand, and having a dedicated handheld like the Game Boy Advance provided a great opportunity to do that with a smaller-scale title.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t an audience for it. Even if Sonic Battle tends to be overlooked by the larger gaming populace, many hardcore and casual Sonic fans still look back on the title fondly and clamor for a re-release, whether via Nintendo Switch Online or other means.

Whatever the reason the game continues to languish in obscurity, even a cursory glance at Sonic Battle showcases the tremendous amount of heart the developers put into it. From the frantic fighting gameplay that complimented Sonic’s style, engaging narrative, intricate spritework, and bold art style, the game has a lot to love, even by today’s standards. Several elements may not quite be knockouts, but the potential it showcased could easily be built on to make Sonic a true contender in the fighting game genre if Sonic Team ever sees fit to let him back into the ring.

Sonic Battle
Image: SEGA