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What's the darkest moment in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise?


Rabbitearsblog

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The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is no stranger when it comes to dark moments and there were many moments throughout this franchise that were surprisingly dark.  What are some of the darkest moments for you in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise?  It can include moments from the games, the comic books, the TV shows and the movies.

Here are some of my darkest moments from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise:

 

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Dr. Gerald Robotnik's Execution: This moment really took me by surprise when I first played Sonic Adventure 2 as I never would have thought that I would see an execution scene in a Sonic game. But not only was this scene so dark, but it was probably one of the most tragic moments in the franchise as we are basically seeing a scientist reach his despair breaking point after losing everything that he holds dear.

 

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Metal Sonic Kai destroys Knuckles' home: Now, I can't exactly remember if this is Knuckles' home being burned down in this game, but the fact that Metal Sonic actually destroys a city in the bad ending of this game was really shocking at the time. 

 

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Video games or everything? Because Archie comics had few nightmares. And there was that scene in Sonic X season 3 with vines.

From games I'll give it to Gerald. Listening to last world of good man driven insane is chillin experience, unmatched by Frontiers, Shadow 05 or Sonic 06. (Granted, some can argue definition of "darkest").

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Gerald having a psychotic breakdown and then dying in an implied execution via firing squad is probably the darkest the series ever got without having to heavily rely on fantastical elements. 

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12 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Video games or everything? Because Archie comics had few nightmares. And there was that scene in Sonic X season 3 with vines.

From games I'll give it to Gerald. Listening to last world of good man driven insane is chillin experience, unmatched by Frontiers, Shadow 05 or Sonic 06. (Granted, some can argue definition of "darkest").

From everything, including the TV shows, the movies, the comics and the games.  What scene with the vines happened in Sonic X?

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Screenshot_20230522_094636_GooglePlayBooks.thumb.jpg.a614eeb43074b796a2634693ed520b4f.jpg

I'll never forget how close sonic and silver was to losing every thing to zavok and the zombot virus. And the way silver described what the future was like when they lost was very dark. He describes it like everything just...stops and disintegrates. There's nothing left on the planet so that means zavok would've eventually died too. The bottom right panel really sells how sonic was close to dying and it showed us through his eyes. That's freaking creepy.

And it didn't happen, but the "what if" idea that sonic would outrun the virus and outlive all of his friends because he's the only one fast enough, he would probably blame himself a hundred times over because he showed Eggman mercy. That would probably be enough to break him and let the virus take him over.

 

Edit 2: Also, the original diamond cutters getting masacared by shadow androids freaked me out.

Another dark moment from the games I have to agree with the OP is Gerald and Maria dying.

Then, there's also this video that describes the sonic adventure novels:

 

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For me It’s the Sacrificing an Infected Citizen for the Common Good (IDW)

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Another dark moment from IDW's Metal Virus Saga, this scene in particular is inspired by one of the most effective tropes in zombie apocalypse films. The entire saga, of course, draws inspiration from the overall genre, but this scene with Vector the Crocodile and an infected citizen tops the list in the entire arc for how well it mimics these types of horror flicks. The fear that a certain citizen experiences after getting infected with a virus that will turn her into an aptly called "zombot" is just too perfectly executed, and the fact that the hero Vector the Crocodile has to make a rather brutal choice for the benefit of everyone else that further traumatizes the victim just adds to the dark atmosphere that saturates the scene.
 

I’ve taken this from article Screenrant that’s my darkest moment from the Metal Virus arc.

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There are a couple of dark moments, though there were some on the top of my head from the games includes: Professor Gerald and the ARK incident in Sonic Adventure 2. Shadow the Hedeghog game last scene before the final battle with Sonic and allies frozen and was about to be devoured by the Black Arms. Sonic got killed by Mephiles in Sonic 06. And I believed Tails was killed off in the bad ending of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit version).

IDW: OG Diamond Cutters got killed by the Shadow Androids. The whole entire Metal Virus saga.

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4 hours ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

What scene with the vines happened in Sonic X?

Season 3, don't remember which exactly episode, has humans getting killed with vines going under their skin. Ian Flynn keeps mentioning that one scene when talking about Metarex Saga being too dark.

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Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

jokes aside. I have to agree with OP, SA2 was really dark going into the end. Gerald Robotniks mental breakdown and execution was heavy, Shadow the Hedgehog only topped that when they showed the cutscene were the GUN Soldier shot Maria. Generally speaking the whole SA2/Shadow stuff was really dark.

Sonic getting killed in 06 was also kinda dark, it was obvious he would come back..but seeing this the first time was rough.

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Going to go with IDW #24 myself. I’m sure there’s comparatively darker moments, but I think the issue compiles together to show real hopelessness. It’s personally the moment where IDW because really good to me. Everything leading up to Tangle’s tragic loss to the Zombot Virus compiled everything from previous issues together to be a very bold point of absolute failure to the heroes. Tangle is ultimately lost, and it amounts to nothing as all of the heroes still lose the village and are put on the backfoot all over again. I don’t think it gets much more darker than the heroes needing to stop Whisper from losing it and attempting to join Tangle.

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Personally, I think this is one of the darkest panels ever done in a Sonic comic. There’s no words to it, no triumphant context to it, no heroic consequence or save to it. Tangle put on a brave face, but she was distraught when Sonic left. All we see is her fighting a pointless, never ending fight until the bitter end, until her fists stop, and we straight up see the loss of Tangle. We see the very moment the transformation finally steals Tangle’s sense of self, and replaces it with the programming of the Zombots. If I’m not mistaken, I think it’s even the first time we see a transformation play out without it being off-screen.

And then, as soon as her transformation is done, the next panel just…shows her slumping into the Zombot hoarde. Another brainless, faceless member of the numerous infected legions we’ve seen. Despite such a brave, heroic move to try hold the Zombots back for everyone else, Tangle just becomes another one of them, another shuffling, mindless robot that only wishes to spread the infection further. It’s one of the most downright depressing visuals in all of Sonic, and unlike a lot of them, there’s nothing that really tries to lighten the atmosphere. 

That’s how the issue ends. With everything lost, Tangle’s last fight being for nothing, and the heroes being absolutely demolished as they realise everything they fought for has been lost, and the world below is outright uninhabitable now, forcing them to retreat to Angel Island. It’s the lowest point of the Metal Virus arc, and for good reason.

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Archie Comics also had a couple of dark moments during its run.

Knotholedestroyed.webp

Knothole Village Destroyed: I will admit that it was quite shocking seeing Knothole Village, Sonic and the Freedom Fighters' home for most of the comic's run, being destroyed by Eggman and of course, the ensuring fight that happened between Dr. Eggman and Sonic.  It was one of the rare times where Sonic actually lost a fight against Eggman and it really changed things up for the comic from that point forward.

 

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Mecha Sally: Another dark moment in this comic was Sally Acorn being transformed into Mecha Sally. The fact that one of the main characters of the comics actually being roboticized was quite a shocking moment in this comic's run and we get to see how this event had hurt Sonic so badly.

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Eggman trying to force a teenager into a sexual relationship with him in the Sonic OVA.

"Is this a serious reply or a troll reply?" Probably both.

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Sandopolis Act 2....that got pretty dark, and pretty quickly too at times. 

Shout out to lost labrynth Act 2 on the consoles too. That got pretty dark at times too. 

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On 5/22/2023 at 12:47 PM, FReaK said:

Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

jokes aside. I have to agree with OP, SA2 was really dark going into the end. Gerald Robotniks mental breakdown and execution was heavy, Shadow the Hedgehog only topped that when they showed the cutscene were the GUN Soldier shot Maria. Generally speaking the whole SA2/Shadow stuff was really dark.

Sonic getting killed in 06 was also kinda dark, it was obvious he would come back..but seeing this the first time was rough.

Yeah, Sonic 06 was probably the first time that Sonic ever got killed in a game and it was pretty shocking.

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