Knuckles' Chaotix

Knuckles' Chaotix, the only Sonic related game whatsoever to ever be released for the Sega 32X. For the longest time we never knew that this game ever existed, and we're sure that most of you didn't know of this game's existence either. But if you did, then pat yourself on the back, because this is one hidden gem of a game that we wished we had known about when we were growing up. Wow talk about alliteration with the letter "w", that sure was a tongue twister.

Knuckles' Chaotix was released in 1995 for the Sega 32X, which was just an add-on to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, that allowed the console to display games in 32 bits rather than the original 16 bits. As stated earlier, it was the only game to be released for this expansion that had anything relating to Sega's mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. Knuckle's Chaotix introduced three new characters to the Sonic family; Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy Bee. The game also featured a returning character from SegaSonic the Hedgehog, an aracde game released in Japan in 1993, Mighty the Armadillo. Alongside Knucles the Echidna, all these characters together formed what is now known as Team Chaotix.

Though we have never had the chance to play this game, we still had to talk about it in hopes that some of you have heard about or even played the game. We have watched reviews, walkthroughs, and let's plays of this game in order to get familiar with the game mechanics so that we could talk a little bit about the game. In essence it's a Sonic the Hedgehog game. You still have to collect rings, defeat Dr. Robotnik's enemies, and reach the finish line within the 10 minute time limit to get a great score. Except that this time around you have one of your team members attached to you at all times. Yes you read that right, attached. Unlike in Sonic 2 where Tails was free roaming the screen and got occasionally lost,Knuckles' Chaotix had you magically attached to your partner by a rubber-band-like substance. This seemed to make game play really unique and challenging, and it added a whole new style of play to the already popular Sonic the Hedgehog side-scrolling platformer. One day we will get our hands on this game and give it the play through that it deserves from ChrisCrossMedia, because from the looks of it, it looks like an amazing game.

But the main reason that we wanted to write this article was to talk about the characters that debuted in Knuckles' Chaotix. Chris and I, for as long as we can remember, have hated Vector, Espio, and Charmy. When we first saw them in Sonic Heroes as Team Chaotix we were instantly disgusted at the unoriginal, which is what we thought at the time, design that these characters had. We were under the impression that these characters were just created on the spot and put into the game as filler characters. Characters for the sake of characters so to speak. Boy were we wrong. After recently finding out that these characters debuted in 1995 we have found a new love for them. We no longer dislike or hate them, but instead praise them. This goes to show the large gap that we had with Sonic related games during our childhood, and you have games like Mario and Zelda to blame for that. We're not saying that we are disappointed that we played Mario and Zelda rather than all these other Sonic games. We just wish that we would have been exposed to both worlds just as much. 

You might have noticed that there is one member of Team Chaotix not pictured above in 3D, not including Knuckles of course. That character would be Mighty the Armadillo. Mighty hasn't been in a game since Knuckles' Chaotix, and has yet to receive the 3D treatment that all his other companions have already received for sometime now. He does however have a cameo appearance in Sega's latest game, Sonic Generations. There are "missing since 1993" posters of Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Squirrel, also a character from the 1993 arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog, throughout Sonic Generations. It's interesting to note Sega's mistake here, because Mighty's last appearance was really in 1995, not 1993, in Knuckles' Chaotix. Maybe they don't consider this game canon? We may never know.

I wouldn't mind a new game that just featured the fabulous five members of Team Chaotix. If this were to happen we may finally see the 3D version of Mighty the Armadillo, which is something that we are dying to see. These characters have now grown on us, especially now that we know they are old school characters, not the unoriginal ones we thought they were back when Sonic Heroes launched. Did you know about Knuckles' Chaotix? Did you know that Vector, Espio, and Charmy debuted in 1993? Are we the only two people that had the same thought when Sonic Heroes launched? Please leave your stories and comments down below.

Here is our first episode of our Sonic Generations Let's Play, if you haven't watched it yet of course. Thanks for ready, and you have just been ChrisCrossed!