Nerd Mentality

End Boss 2006, Day 25: Doctor Robotnik (Sonic Mega Collection)

Posted June 24th 2006 by Gareth Trinkwon.

Some of my associates here at N-Philes were rather skeptical at the idea of including a Sonic Mega Collection game in our GameCube-based End Boss Month. After all, it's technically a Genesis game. To them I say: stop being a friggin square. All of the current-generation 3D iterations of Sonic had giant monsters as end bosses. Poor Robotnik has been reduced to a mere second-tier boss fight, and to add further insult, they've stuck with calling him "Eggman" to boot. Bah. No, Dr. Robotnik will reclaim his throne, but until then, he'll be featuring in End Boss 2006. Besides, it's Dr. Robotnik, dammit. DR. EFFING ROBOTNIK. How can you have an end boss month and leave out the greatest videogame villain OF ALL TIME? You can't. That's how.

Ahem.

Being the world's sole evil genius can be hard work. You're expected to come up with new twisted schemes, build your evil headquarters in ridiculously dangerous places, and kick cute, cuddly animals on a daily basis. And with his attention focused on the construction and repair of the second Death Egg, poor Dr. Robotnik doesn't need pesky hedgehogs interfering and messing up his plans.

With the Death Egg in orbit, the nefarious villain is unfortunately unable to prevent the blue speedball's efforts in sneaking aboard and bringing it down. The colossal space station begins to explode and its orbit deteriorates as Dr. Robotnik and Sonic make a break for the exit. That exit being the harsh vacuum of space. Fortunately for Sonic, he'd managed to reacquire the seven chaos emeralds that had been previously stolen by that knuckle-head, Knuckles. Sonic powers up, transforms into Super (or Hyper!) Sonic and blasts through space as Robotnik makes off with the Master Emerald in another ship: A bright blue space cruiser armed with assault cannons and missile launchers.

Replaying this boss fight was actually something of a revelation for me. When I was younger I was absolutely convinced that Robotnik had died onboard the Death Egg, and the following battle was one of his loyal EggRobo assistants trying desperately to continue his work. I was always in awe of the utter epicness and beauty of the story. And what? I'm wrong? It's just Robotnik in another robot suit? That is super, super lame.

Anyway.

With a limited supply of rings that's depleting fast, Sonic flies at breakneck speed, dodging asteroids and incoming missiles as he attempts to catch up with the vessel. Upon reaching it, he tries battering the cockpit while evading the barrage of incoming fire, but his attacks don't seem to be causing any noticeable damage. With a moment of genius, Sonic dodges the missiles homing in on him and redirects them towards the ship's cockpit. That hit the spot.

Like every other Super Sonic boss fight, the only real threat to Sonic is running out of rings. The result of which is reverting back to regular old blue-face, which usually wouldn't be a problem, but, uh, we're in space. So we definitely don't want that to happen. With his rings in short supply, Sonic continues to trick the clumsy doctor into shooting his own missiles at himself. After a few hits, the ship's hull gives out, explodes, and a huge flying mech, vaguely resembling the giant robot Sonic battled at the end of Sonic 2, escapes the flaming wreckage and continues moving, with the Master Emerald still in its possession. Sonic continues pursuing the stubborn villain, evading missiles and collecting rings to keep his energy up. After eight successive hits, the mech explodes and the giant emerald that it was carrying plummets back towards the planet.

With Robotnik in traction, his precious Death Egg in ruin and the Master Emerald returned to its rightful resting place, Angel Island returns to the sky and Sonic and Tails say farewell to Knuckles as they head back to the Green Hill Zone they call home. Not before a quick pose for the camera, though.

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