Who does Sonic consider as his greatest rival

[chippu]

Sonic the Hedgehog has had bouts with tough and powerful character, but if Sonic had to state who his greatest opponent was, who would he choose?

[speedfreak]

If Eggman would be considered a rival, then Eggman. If not, I'd go with Metal Sonic. Might have said Shadow a while ago but he's basically another good guy now, same with Knuckles.

[Diogenes]

Probably Eggman, as he's the only character he butts heads with often enough.

Metal Sonic's barely ever used, Knuckles has become sidekick #2, and Shadow hasn't acted much like a rival since the old "faker" days of SA2.

[Sean]

If Sonic doesn't stop running for an extended period, he will lose the motivation to live.

His greatest rival is HIS HEART.

[Indigo Rush]

I'd have to say good ol' Dr. Robotnik.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Are we talking Rival... or enemy? There is a very big distinction.

Rival implies someone who isn't trying to destroy Sonic, but wants to be better than him.

Enemy is someone who wants to destroy Sonic, and in turn be better than him.

If we're talking about Rivals, then I'd probably lean towards Knuckles, their initial brawls across all media in the days of Sonic 3 shows that Knuckles is more than a match for Sonic.

Enemy however... it's a tie between Metal Sonic and Black Doom. Black Doom is obvious, Sonic hasn't defeated him, he couldn't even land a single blow on him. Metal Sonic however, just because he keeps returning and coming back for more. But also... Sonic has yet to actually defeat him. Sonic CD, he just beats him to the safe zone, no actual fight... In Sonic Heroes, he has to turn Super along with Tails and Knuckles.

[redmenace]

I like to think that it's a tie between Knuckles and Shadow. I'd like for both to move away from SOnic though. Knuckles should respect SOnic, but still being rivals and Shadow should be a wild card. I'd like to see Metal Sonic come back as well.

[chippu]

My definition of a rival is someone who is the main characters equal and the most respected to a fault in terms of strength and acknowledgement. Which I think Shadow is. Even after SA2, Sonic views Shadow more as a rival to him than he does with Metal Sonic or Knuckles. He toys with those guys, but he never jokes around with Shadow when things get serious. Shadow views Sonic as his rival to. This is my opinion.

Oh and didn't Shadow beat Knuckles amd Metal Sonic in different media's? A rival is portrayed as the second best or second most powerful which is pretty much what Shadow has done since his introduction.

[Dr. Mechano]

Eggman. Who is both his enemy and rival.

He wants to kill Sonic as a necessary step to world conquest, but it goes deeper than that. He sees Sonic as an "admirable adversary" and respects him for his strength and determination. Besting him in battle is, thusly, very personal as a result of this respect.

Eggman always comes back, and more often than anyone else. He may not be like Sonic in battle style, but he's probably the most like him in attitude- Sonic and Eggman. Two egotists who fight for their own principles, who respect one another, but who ultimately respect themselves more.

"Rival" has been used in this context many times. In Sonic X(Both Japanese and dub) they're referred to as rivals of one another. In Super Mario Galaxy, as well, Bowser calls Mario his rival. To be an enemy does not discredit you from also being a rival.

Edited May 10, 2009 by El Gran Gordo

[Flyboy Fox]

Knuckles. To me, he will always be Sonic's number one rival. But also one of his closest friends/allies.

Rival and enemy are very distict and seperate entities, to me. For example, in Pokémon, Ash Ketchum's rival is Gary Oak, but his enemies are Team Rocket.

Sonic and Knuckles have a dynamic that seems to me to be the very epitome of rivalry, constantly bickering and trying to one-up each other. I admit that it's not been as emphatic lately, and I do miss it.

[Gallon]

Sonic's rival is Eggman, from the very begining. Yeah, he fought Knuckles sometimes but he is actually one of Sonic's best friend. Same with Shadow, Sonic faces shadow in SA2 because he was the dark version of him. There was no real reson for them to battle, at least the first time they met. It was like "hey a black hedgehog! He looks like a bad buddy, let's kick his ass!" come on, that was one of the most stupid fights in the whole series. Same in the forest level, they fight again just because they're both hedgehogs...

I think the only time they had a reason to fight was at the end before sonic puts the fake emerald in the canon.

They fought again in Heroes, and again with no reason "Hey that's my line" WTF? also remember that all teams fought against the others...so Heroes won't count

I ShtH Before you get into the highway level, Sonic asks shadow if he wants a friendly fight, which shadow answers "don't waste my time" So I don't think Shadow considers Sonic as a rival.

[Dr. Mechano]

Worth noting is that Eggman is the only one directly called Sonic's rival (Aside from, well, Sonic Rivals which seems to imply everyone is a rival of each other), both in Sonic X("They've always been rivals", Tails says in episode 40) and the Heroes manual ("Eggman now sees Sonic as more of a rival than a threat"). So yeah...

Enemy, rival... I think Eggman manages to be both. And since he does qualify as a rival, I think he's also Sonic's greatest, for the reasons I listed earlier.

Rival and Enemy can be mutually exclusive, but they do not have to be, I think.

Edited May 10, 2009 by El Gran Gordo

[Flyboy Fox]

I just see Sonic's dynamic with Knuckles as being very typically a friendly rivalry, in the sense of "keen competition". Sadly, whereas Knuckles used to be much more this, he has kinda slipped into the less exciting role of 'extra tag-along/side-kick' as of late, and their awesome rivalry dynamic seems to have slipped to the wayside.

So I can see why Eggman might fit the criteria currently better than Knuckles does at the present time, in terms of consistant interaction of the 'rivals' type.

Still, Knux will always be Sonic's number one rival to me

[Thirsty Pocket]

It's a tie between Shadow Eggman and Metal Sonic I'd say.

As for weakest rivals, that goes to Jet.

[Sean]

Jet was mentally deranged.

There's nothing very impressive about a handicapped bird who needs a hoverboard to fly compared to a hedgehog who only needs his feet to run. I couldn't ever take Sonic Riders' plot seriously, because throughout the game it's this convoluted test of speed between the two characters. Why couldn't Jet and the others fly, anyway? Oh right, something about some ancient civilization that I wasn't paying attention to in the plot X-TREME GEAR

[blackherox]

Jet was mentally deranged.

There's nothing very impressive about a handicapped bird who needs a hoverboard to fly compared to a hedgehog who only needs his feet to run. I couldn't ever take Sonic Riders' plot seriously, because throughout the game it's this convoluted test of speed between the two characters. Why couldn't Jet and the others fly, anyway? Oh right, something about some ancient civilization that I wasn't paying attention to in the plot X-TREME GEAR

The thing, is is that out of all of Sonic ''Rivals', Jet is the only one (recently) to display some form of competitive/speed rivalry attitude with Sonic. Knuckles, Shadow, Metal Sonic, Silver and Blaze at this moment int time do not or at least not to the same extent Jet does. He acts more like rival.

[Gabz Girl]

Knuckles is Sonic's true rival. Whenever they bumped into eachother, there was almost always a fight or argument between them. Sadly we don't see that happening much nowadays. Gosh, I do miss Knux's rivalry with Sonic. It was so cool. Now he's just a sidekick like Tails. .3.

Now Eggman is the only real rival of Sonic. Well, an enemy/rival. ^^; And then there's Jet I guess.. >.>

[chippu]

Sonic and Shadow has a Ken vs. Ryu thing going on.

[BlueFox]

Whilst Knucks was the original rival it now appears that they have moved on, I suppose that if I had to choose someone it would have to be metal sonic. It's a shame that we don't see more of him but because Metal is an attempt to exactly recreate Sonic that always makes him want to beat him, but yet again over time they've gone from pure enemies to just rivals (The end of Sonic Heroes where the teams just sort of let him be).

[chippu]

And like I said, Shadow surpassed Knuckles and Metal Sonic in terms of being the strongest rival Sonic has had.

[blackherox]

Whenever they bumped into eachother, there was almost always a fight or argument between them. Sadly we don't see that happening much nowadays.

Granted that only happened twice. And both times were due to Eggman having tricked Knuckles. If it where to happen again, it would make Knuckles more gullible (if not stupid) then he already is.

[Blazey Firekitty]

I do miss the rivalry between Sonic and Knuckles being important. I was at least somewhat consoled by seeing him cast in the role of a knight in Black knight, alongside the two newer characters who were the most derivative of him(Shadow and Blaze), and thus having his rival status and conflict with Sonic explored again. It doesn't matter as much since it was an alternate universe/dream, but it was a nice nod to the past all the same.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Mario...oh wait, we're talking within the series.

Well, Eggman's really the only candidate you could call a rival even though he's someone more than that.

Knuckles has become so flat of a rival he doesn't compare anymore and Shadow doesn't really argue or mock Sonic as he used to.

There's Jet. He's actually the only other one I would consider, all others fall flat on their backs as they go through something different.

[Flyboy Fox]

Knuckles needs to get seriously pissed at Sonic again. Like "I don't care if we're allies I am going to kill you DEAD!" pissed. It makes for fun times.

[Blazey Firekitty]

Knuckles needs to get seriously pissed at Sonic again. Like "I don't care if we're allies I am going to kill you DEAD!" pissed. It makes for fun times.

I think that could be the sort of thing that could be both epic and hilarious if done right.