Super Emeralds »

          Ah, the Super Emeralds: the big, bad, brawny jewels, the Creme Da La Creme, the Chaos Emeralds on steroids… yes, they are responsible for a hell of a plothole, they are.

          And you know what? It's kind of ironic too, because the idea behind the Super Emeralds is so simple and so easy to understand. It's just, WHERE they come to be and how. Are the Super Emeralds some second set of Emeralds or are they just the Chaos Emeralds transformed to a higher state? Who really knows? And technically, who really cares? Unfortunately, I do, and apparently you do since you are reading this article. So let's get into some research, shall we?

           By the way, I am not going to assert any logic from Sonic Adventure into this at all. Maybe a slight tinge here and there, but I'm not touching the possibility that there were Super Emeralds in Sonic Adventure or any other new-gen Sonic media. You can go ahead and think those ballooned Chaos Emeralds in the SA flashbacks were Super Emeralds all you want. Or you can bitch and whine to your heart's content that Sonic X's "Nazo" was Hyper Sonic — I don't care. Super Emeralds and Hyper form are unique to Sonic 3 and its bastard child, Sonic & Knuckles, and THAT'S IT.

           Anyway, to scrutinize this obscure-ass plothole, we need to take a looksie at the Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles storylines Sonic Team wrote. So okay, here is Sonic 3. This is ripped directly from the JP manual.

In his previous adventure, Sonic destroyed Dr. Eggman's base, the Death Egg; now the debris has started its fall to Earth. And right in the path of the falling base floats a giant cloud-like mass. The giant shadow of Death
Egg hides the cloud... Towering mountains, a gigantic forest... the cloud is none other than the
legendary Angel Island, suspended in the sky.

The Death Egg became a fireball and hit the floating island; mountains were destroyed, the forests decimated... This disastrous event greatly alters the island's path, forcing it towards the Earth.

The island crashes into the sea surface. The impact creates a gigantic wave, but the island doesn't sink.
The floating island now sits on the sea surface as if nothing happened.

Many days pass...

On an island far from where the floating island hit the sea surface, Tails, a two-tailed fox, read a strong Chaos Emerald reaction on the Jewel Reader, a machine he has developed.

"Maybe this has something to do with that big wave I saw a few days ago..." he said.

Thinking there may be trouble, he decided to consult with Sonic.

At the same moment, while relaxing on the beach, Sonic found a small ring washed up on shore. Sonic looked at the ring carefully, and noticed some ancient characters carved on it.

The ring reminded Sonic of a legend he once heard about a "mystery island."

In an ancient time, the "mystery island" was part of the main continent. A people with an extraordinary culture inhabited it. That civilization had built a peaceful and happy society using the energy of something they called "The Mighty Stone". But at a certain point, a faction of dark-minded elders tried to steal the energy of the stone, and by accident made that energy explode.

The civilization was wiped out in a second, erased from history. Time passed, and a god descended from the sky to the newly created "mystery island". The sky god restored part of the civilization to the island, and threw the "Mighty Stone" into the open sky...

A ring washed up on the shore - the legend of the "mystery island" - Sonic, feeling his excitement build, made his preparations for another adventure.

Dr. Eggman, who managed to escape from the Death Egg before it fell, had heard that Chaos Emeralds are supposedly buried on the floating island. From the crevice created by the fall of the base, a massive presence of Chaos Emeralds is detected.

"If their energy could be utilized", Dr. Eggman
thought, "the Death Egg may be able to fly into orbit again."

Dr. Eggman then quickly built a base on the floating island to harvest the Emeralds. He kidnapped animals and transformed them into robots, and changed the island's environment into a nightmare with his new Environment-Control Machine.

"Yes! Even if Sonic comes to the island, it will be too late! This time the Emeralds are mine!".

The actors and the stage are now ready; here starts Sonic the Hedgehog's newest adventure.

           Yeah, I'm sure your minds are filled with oodles of questions after reading that fresh load, huh? Okay, let's start out with, and I quote, "Tails, a two-tailed fox, read a strong Chaos Emerald reaction on the Jewel Reader, a machine he has developed." Okay, now… now, forgive me if I am wrong, people, but on their previous adventure, AKA Sonic 2, which is hinted right at the beginning of this excerpt… didn't they already HAVE the Chaos Emeralds? Why would Tails' Jewel Reader pick up signals from gemstones he knows Sonic already has in his possession? What's more, it actually SHOWS Sonic in Super Form at the beginning sequence of Sonic 3 and shows him losing all of the Chaos Emeralds he collected from Sonic 2 over to Knux. Haha, it's funny, though. This would've been so much easier if they didn't add that opening sequence. This article wouldn't exist if they stuck to the surfboard.

            And then there's, "Dr. Eggman, who managed to escape from the Death Egg before it fell, had heard that Chaos Emeralds are supposedly buried on the floating island. From the crevice created by the fall of the base, a massive presence of Chaos Emeralds is detected." … … … Damn it, WHAT Chaos Emeralds!? SONIC has them. I swear, what they are saying here BETTER have some meaning and deliberation behind it. So, okay. What do we do now? Sonic 3 also included a back story concerning Knuckles' involvement in the plot. Let's take look.

That day, as he always seemed to, was making his patrol around the alter on the island. Protecting the 7 Chaos Emeralds who sleep and control the power of the "Pillar" is the mission he has been charged with.

His name, Knuckles the Echidna. But to inhabitants of the island, he is an echidna called "Knuckles." Born and raised on the island, all of the nature and the animals that live on it are his friends. And that which protects his friends is none other than the Chaos Emerald's crystalline "Pillar." (The Master Emerald.)

Suddenly something awoke…

Just as he was verifying that that not one Chaos Emerald was out of place, the Chaos Emeralds, right before his eyes, rose and a strange vibration started.

Knuckles was confused by this phenomenon, which had never occurred before. In the blink of an eye, violent shaking occurred within the Chaos Emeralds. Then, as the shaking reached its climax, a "kiiiin" sound was heard along with a brilliant flash. The next thing Knuckles remembered was his own body, seeming to be lightly floating, and at that moment he was interrupted.

When Knuckles regained consciousness, he found his body thrown outside of the altar. He slowly got up, and what entered his eyes as he looked around was the Chaos Emerald altar — partially destroyed. In a flurry, Knuckles flew into the altar. However, in place of the Emeralds that should have been there, were fragments left of what had disappeared...

In a daze, Knuckles left the altar. He gazed off into the distance, powerless... it seemed like a peculiar thing had appeared around the lake. The sight of the giant, round, egg-like body that Knuckles beheld sent a shiver down his spine. (The Death Egg.)

"That big egg is the dragon in the legends...."

That egg appeared in the legend depicted at the Chaos Emerald altar — there was no doubt that it was the egg which would bring disaster to the island.

Some days later, Knuckles was patrolling the altar of the island's seven Chaos Emeralds, but all traces of the Emeralds had vanished. While in his relentless investigation of the island, Knuckles encountered an unfamiliar man in the woods.

The man called himself Dr. Eggman, and already knew Knuckles was the guardian of the Chaos Emeralds. He said to Knuckles:

"I am a scientist who came here to stop (?) that egg. Uumu, since you are the Chaos Emeralds' guardian, I knew I had to inform you. The truth is, there is an evil hedgehog named Sonic that has been interfering in my research, he is the one who has stolen this island's Chaos Emeralds."

"The Chaos Emeralds were stolen....!"

With Dr. Eggman's ingenious lies, Knuckles was very easily tricked. That is how Knuckles' challenge to Sonic was started.

           This is just all-out confusing. If Sonic & Tails had the Chaos Emeralds, then why is it saying Knuckles was protecting them? There are a LOT of ways to patch up this plothole, some more canon than others. So let's try to sort this out. It's just… the plothole isn't so much the concept of the Super Emeralds as much as it is this anonymous set of Chaos Emeralds on Angel Island Knux is guarding and that Tails and Eggman detect.

Solution #1: In Knuckles' back story, when the Chaos Emeralds disappear and Knuckles is knocked catatonic, suppose that this happened around the events of Sonic 2. And the emeralds disappearing means that Sonic & Tails collected them during Sonic 2. Notice that it didn't say how long Knuckles was knocked out. It could've been for a day or two (which is how long Sonic 2's plot must've taken), and when he woke up, they were gone since Sonic & Tails still had them (as seen at the beginning of Sonic 3), thus moving into the Sonic 3 and Knuckles SL with how Knuckles takes them back from Sonic and Sonic re-collects them, turns them into Super Emeralds, etc., etc. Problem with this solution is that all of the Chaos Emeralds disappeared at once. Sonic & Tails collect them one by one. Plus, it would also mean that Dr. Eggman was right when he says Sonic stole them. PLUS, that also doesn't explain the anonymous Chaos Emerald reactions Tails got on his Emerald Reader, nor the detections Eggman got from the crevice when the Death Egg fell, since both of the aforementioned events took place AFTER Sonic 2.

Solution #2: You could say those emerald readings Eggman and Tails got were signals made from the Master Emerald. But then, that doesn't explain the set of emeralds Knuckles was protecting.

Solution #3: This particular solution is actually a very popular one, believed by a few fans… WHY, I don't know. Anyway, the solution goes like this: the apparent set of Emeralds Tails got on his Emerald reader and that Eggman detected in the crevice created from the Death Egg, and this set of Emeralds Knuckles' was apparently guarding is actually an entirely different set of Emeralds, AKA The Super Emeralds. After Eggman detects them from the crevice, he destroys them and eventually tricks Knuckles into thinking Sonic & Tails stole them when in actuality, the emeralds they had were the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic 2. So tying in with the opening sequence of Sonic 3, Knuckles takes them from Sonic and hides them in different dimensions accessible through ring portals, Sonic & Tails re-collect them, etc., etc. and eventually enter the multi-colored ring portal and end up at the Hidden Palace. Their Chaos Emeralds they once again collected rise up and distribute across the 7 pedestals and form into giant colorless emeralds. By traveling through different dimensions, they restore the saturation and thus power of these giant emeralds.

            So say the Chaos Emeralds are what restored the true power of the Super Emeralds, thus validating that they are two different sets of Emeralds. Problem with this solution is that it completely degrades the Chaos Emeralds to a stature that make them look as if they are inferior, which is contrasting to their extremely important position in today's continuity. It completely takes away the luster and uniqueness the Chaos Emeralds are meant to have. Not to mention, this solution is a BIT too puzzled and technical to be something Sonic Team would think up for a game based towards children.

Solution #4: This one is okay, since it stabilizes the storyline and doesn't add any totally unnecessary secondary emerald set. Suppose that the first part of the story description relating to Sonic & Tails is only for THEIR story if you choose to play as them. Knuckles' story is the second one. That would mean that the stories are entirely separate, and you get to choose which one actually happened, depending on who you play as. Problem with this is, it still doesn't justify the emerald readings Tails and Eggman get. (You could combine this with solution #2 and say that the Master Emerald is what they got those readings from.)

Solution #5: This is the only solution that can stabilize the general storyline of Sonic 3 so it can fit in with the rest of the overall Sonic continuity, so in the end, it's the best one. Problem is, it does a lot of modifying to the Sonic 3 and Knuckles storyline.

          But in the end, trying to fix this particular game's SL is not NEARLY as important as trying to fix it so it can fit with the rest of the Sonic series continuity. So for you folks who believe that there should only be ONE set of Chaos Emeralds (like me), this is the solution for you. It goes like this: you can simply ignore any of the assets of the storyline (since, hey, it's not like they are emphasized all that well in the game) that clash and just say this: Sonic & Tails arrive on Angel Island with the emeralds they had from Sonic 2. Knuckles takes them since he was tricked by Eggman into believing Sonic stole them. (Afterall, even in today's generation, the 7 Chaos Emeralds are native to Angel Island as it is, so he has justification for wanting to get to Sonic. You'll just have to figure out another way that Eggman tricked him.) So after that, Sonic & Tails re-collect them through the ring portals on Angel Island. Then after causing the Death Egg to crash into Lava Reef again after the Launch Base snafu, Sonic & Tails land back at Mushroom Hill, notice Knuckles' little secret, get to the Hidden Palace and their Chaos Emeralds are taken from them and they distribute along the altars as colorless, ballooned versions of themselves. So when Sonic & Tails restore their saturation and power, they collect the Super Emeralds.

             This solution proposes that the Super Emeralds aren't a different set of Emeralds, but are instead just the Chaos Emeralds transformed under the influence of the Master Emerald.

            All this solution does is negates the anonymous Chaos Emeralds on Angel Island that Tails & Eggman sensed, which negates the reasoning behind Eggman's tricking of Knuckles. A new reason Eggman tricked Knux can EASILY be thought of (after all, it's incredibly easy to dupe that echidna anyway, so just about anything should work). This stabilizes the continuity just fine and is actually a solution most websites use in their descriptions of the Sonic 3 and Knuckles storyline. Notice most don't implement this anonymous set of emeralds on Angel Island that contrast to the ones Sonic clearly had from Sonic 2 in their storyline descriptions. So it all evens out. Plus, if those ballooned Chaos Emeralds in the Sonic Adventure flashbacks ARE Super Emeralds, that just supports this theory even more since those particular emeralds in the flashbacks, Super or not, are the ones seen in the current-continuity series. That only leaves one more plothole:

            Since Sonic 3 and Knuckles, there have been a ton of games where the Chaos Emeralds have been in the presence of the Master Emerald. So why the hell haven't Super Emeralds been in them? Three solutions:

Solution #1: This is the most sensible solution if you want to keep the whole Super Emerald thing. Just say that the Super Emerald phenomenon occurs only at the Hidden Palace Shrine, which Knuckles doesn't even guard the Chaos Emeralds at anymore in the first place, so there's no proof that it doesn't occur only there. (Even though, the sole fact that Knuckles is at a new shrine heeds evidence that Sonic Team probably cancelled out the entire Super Emerald crap from the new continuity as it is.)

Solution #2: Just say that in spite of all of the times the Chaos Emeralds were in the presence of the Master Emerald, Sonic didn't see it necessary to use Hyper form. (Although, the fact that he doesn't enter Hyper Form in the first place, AND that the Chaos Emeralds don't expand in size at all just proves even more that Sonic Team doesn't do the Super Emerald thing anymore.)

Solution #3: This is a solution for both plotholes. Stick ENTIRELY to the new continuity and say there is no such thing as Super Emeralds, since so far, there has not been any undisputed signs of Super Emeralds in the new generation. It's not like its a big deal, since you still have good ole' Super Form. What's wrong with Super form?

Conclusion:  Overall, the stories between Sonic & Knuckles for this game are so horribly screwed up that it makes this plothole faulty. The solutions offered are very bad, I'll admit, but man, jeez. I honestly can't find a way to fix this one. It all makes sense until they talk about this set of emeralds on Angel Island that Knuckles was guarding and that Eggman and Tails detect. The only way to fix it would be to go with solution #2 on the first plothole and say the Super Emeralds are a separate set of emeralds. But not only is that real dumb and takes the individuality away from the original 7 Chaos Emeralds, but it also completely disorients the current-gen continuity which has so far emphasized there there is only one set of Chaos Emeralds, and in the long run, that is how it should be.

           Odds are, your creation probably won't even have the Super Emeralds or Hyper form in it as it is, so this isn't that big a deal. So unless the translations of the storylines were REAL bad, then this Super Emerald plothole is basically beyond repair and is a perfect example of how absent-minded Sonic Team can be when they create their storylines. And I say that with authentic criticism since with this game, it looks like they actually TRIED to make an appealing plot with all of the detail they put in.