Sonic Battle »

          Now this obviously doesn't make sense. Why is a Sonic game a moderate plothole? Pretty much all Sonic games that have made plotholes ARE plotholes because, well, jeez, they made the plotholes. But Sonic Battle has made quite a big one that isn't severe — but it is most certainly not minor either. This is a pretty short and sweet plothole, but involves a bit of thought. So let's get right into it.

           So, okay, we know in Sonic Adventure 2's Last Story, Gerald went insane and programmed the ARK to initiate a collision course with Earth should the Eclipse Cannon attempt to be activated with all 7 Chaos Emeralds, right? Gerald went insane because Maria was ruthlessly killed by the military and his life's work aboard the Space Colony ARK was completely shut down, destroyed or stored away, never to be revealed again. But aside from performing that last modification to the ARK, he also managed to reprogram Shadow with the new motive to avenge him and his granddaughter by wreaking havoc upon mankind. Yes, we know this, right? This is Sonic Adventure 2's storyline, and is carved in stone. Heh, NOT according to Sonic Battle. Why? Let's investigate.

           Sonic Battle makes sense until the very end of the game, ironically. This particular plothole of Sonic Battle that we are starting off with comes in the form of Gerald's journal entries. All of them are true to the original Sonic Adventure 2 storyline arc until his 7th one. The 8th (final) one is even worse, though. See for yourself:

Prof. Gerald's Journal 7
I have heard there was an accident at the research facility.

Everything... Everything is gone. My own Maria's name was among the list of casualties. My beloved granddaughter... They say her parting words were, "Bring hope to humanity."

I have decided that the keyword to activate the Gizoid's free-willed emotions-based AI program will be those very words. "Bring hope to humanity." My poor, poor Maria...

            First thing that's wrong is, her last words weren't "Bring hope to humanity." But we can forgive that, since she did indeed want to bring hope to humanity anyway. So that's fine. This journal entry isn't so bad, but what's wrong is, Gerald is supposed to be going insane by now. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Check out the last journal entry in Sonic Battle.

Prof. Gerald's Journal 8
A heritage of the past I dug out, "Gizoid"... And the ultimate life form I created by my own hands, Shadow... I equipped both weapons with "heart."

If all powers are not what is to be obtained for oneself, but what is to be born from hearts that yearn for someone, I believe all conflicts should cease to exist.

Please... If there is anyone listening to my prayers... Bring hope to humanity.

             Okay, what the hell? If there are any HEARTS Gerald gave to Shadow, it was one that would help his blood circulate and that's it. The Sonic Adventure 2 storyline dictates that Shadow was programmed with new feelings of anger and vengeance to rain destruction down upon mankind to avenge Maria's death. I don't think he was equipped with a "heart" until he finally remembered the promise he made to Maria in the last story. If anything, when Gerald found out about Maria's death and went insane, the LAST thing he equipped Shadow with was a heart.

             And last, but most certainly not least, I am quite sure Gerald didn't want to bring hope to humanity when he found out Maria was killed. I think he actually wanted to… ohhh, what was it? Oh yes, now I remember, he wanted to, and I quote, "Make all you ungrateful humans who took everything away from me feel my loss and despair." That's what he wanted to do in the Sonic Adventure 2 storyline. I think that contrasts quite well from wanting to bring hope to humanity. So yes, this right here is quite a continuity error, wouldn't you say? Let's think of some solutions for this.

Solution #1: Ignore this continuity error and just say that Gerald said the right things that submit to Sonic Adventure 2's storyline arc.

Solution #2: For you Sonic X buffs who think Sonic X is canon, do yourself a HUGE favor and go with the Sonic X adaptation to Sonic Battle. It saves you a lot of trouble.

Solution #3: This is the most dramatic solution, and that is to choose which plot you like more and pretend the other didn't happen. I'd obviously go with Sonic Adventure 2's since it is better and is much more important in today's games instead of the storyline of some second-tier GBA title.

             The only other plothole for Sonic Battle is when it takes place, which isn't that hard to figure out, believe it or not. This question as a whole was brought up by Shadow's presence in the game. In Sonic Battle, Shadow's memory seems quite clear since he remembers everything and even talks quite perceptibly about his past and Maria and what not. This is clashing with Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog since in those two titles, Shadow has amnesia and can't remember crap. BUT we have two savers with this. Very good savers which could fix this particular continuity error:

(1). In Sonic Battle, when Rouge encounters the Chaos Gamma robots, she says they look a lot like Omega. Rouge and Shadow encountered Omega in Sonic Heroes, so that means Sonic Battle's plot takes place after Sonic Heroes.

(2). Unlike in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle utilizes all of Shadow's supernatural Chaos powers with his fighting style. This is something that didn't make its console platformer debut until Shadow the Hedghehog.

             With those two pieces of evidence in mind, there is but one single solution for this:

Solution: Sonic Battle takes place after Shadow the Hedgehog (the game). Not only does this support how Shadow has his memory back in Sonic Battle, but Omega is also in Shadow the Hedgehog, AND Shadow uses a bunch of supernatural Chaos abilities in Shadow the Hedgehog. So yes, the best solution would be to say Sonic Battle takes place after Shadow the Hedgehog.