Sonic's Greatest Rival

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

You have no proof of that. I can say Shadow can outfight Metal Sonic then, since he's got better feats and powerups. Shadow is said to be Sonic's rival peer in speed as well.

I'm pretty sure Aquaslash was joking when he said that, even he may hold that opinion. Although, I do tend to misread people's posts, so meh.

At the end of the day, I think it goes down to who actually goes head to head in against Sonic during their adventures, which at the time no one other than Eggman fits the bill. Sure, he'll try to kill Sonic when he screws up his plans at the last moment, but other than that I can't think of anyone else.

Shadow was practically brainwashed since his introduction, Knuckles was always being fooled into the fights, Jet...can't fully say, and Metal has gotten so little screentime overall and doesn't hold a lot of achievements under his belt like most other people. I'm not sure if I can put Silver in here, since he was more of the misguided Hero who did what he thought he had to do.

[Kuzu]

I'm pretty sure Aquaslash was joking when he said that, even he may hold that opinion. Although, I do tend to misread people's posts, so meh.

At the end of the day, I think it goes down to who actually goes head to head in against Sonic during their adventures, which at the time no one other than Eggman fits the bill. Sure, he'll try to kill Sonic when he screws up his plans at the last moment, but other than that I can't think of anyone else.

Shadow was practically brainwashed since his introduction, Knuckles was always being fooled into the fights, Jet...can't fully say, and Metal has gotten so little screentime overall and doesn't hold a lot of achievements under his belt like most other people. I'm not sure if I can put Silver in here, since he was more of the misguided Hero who did what he thought he had to do.

But Shadow isn't brainwashed anymore now is he

[Aquaslash]

You have no proof of that. I can say Shadow can outfight Metal Sonic then, since he's got better feats and powerups. Shadow is said to be Sonic's rival peer in speed as well.

Actually I do! Metal Sonic can cause a Sonic Boom. Shadow has YET to do so! Therefore, until that happens, Metal Sonic is faster than Shadow. Chaos Control doesn't count because 1. That's slowing down everything else without increasing your speed at all, and 2. Metal Sonic can do THAT too!

At the end of the day, Robotnik is alive and free and Mephiles is not. I think the fact that he never gets caught or killed, no matter what he does should count for something. Yes, Mephiles was successful for all of five minutes, but he didn't make an improbable escape when things inevitably started to go pear-shaped, and will never have another chance of improving his plans and trying again. Also, SEGA forbids Eggman from winning on any level(no matter what heroic BS they have to pull out their ass), etc.

Well to be fair, Mephiles couldn't prevent his downfall. They kinda went back in time on his ass. Futhermore, Robotnik's got that main character immunity, even moreso than...well any other character that isn't Sonic. He was never gonna go anywhere anyway. Your point is acknowledged though, as a villain in Sonic, you either always lose, or have a deus ex machina pulled on you so your wins are undone.

Edited March 11, 2011 by Aquaslash

[hebitaka]

Isn't chaos boost or inhibitor release Shadow the same as sonic boost?

[Kuzu]

Isn't chaos boost or inhibitor release Shadow the same as sonic boost?

Considering Shadow's never used those abilities while running, its speculation and nothing more.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Isn't chaos boost or inhibitor release Shadow the same as sonic boost?

No, because the Chaos Boost is a teleportation move and the inhibitor rings are a power boost as opposed to a speed boost.

[Kuzu]

No, because the Chaos Boost is a teleportation move and the inhibitor rings are a power boost as opposed to a speed boost.

Actually Chaos Boost was a move that upgraded your attacks(Chaos Spear to Chaos Lance, Chaos Snap etc) and it allowed you to use Chaos Blast. So Chaos Boost and his Inhibitor Rings could be synonymous.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Actually Chaos Boost was a move that upgraded your attacks(Chaos Spear to Chaos Lance, Chaos Snap etc) and it allowed you to use Chaos Blast. So Chaos Boost and his Inhibitor Rings could be synonymous.

I was thinking that Chaos Boost was Chaos Snap. In any case, both are a power boost and not a speed one.

[1991sealedquality]

I think sonic's best rival would be shadow.

[Kuzu]

I was thinking that Chaos Boost was Chaos Snap. In any case, both are a power boost and not a speed one.

Power can mean anything though.

Look at Chaos Boost as Shadow's equivalent to the Kaioken, boosting his natural abilities making him temporarily faster & stronger but at the cost of stamina.

But since he hasn't used it to break the sound barrier yet, its fanon.

[Indigo Rush]

I don't even know what's going on anymore.

Sonic's rivals were revealed in Sonic Rivals.

Gosh.

[hebitaka]

Shadow is the only one who thinks no one can beat him, he also thinks Sonic is his equal for his title of the Ultimate Lifeform. I think that shows who Sonic's biggest competive rival is. Metal wants to destroy Sonic, not compete with him, and just like any other villain wants his power to reign supreme over all.

Shadow knows he's the strongest and sometime is. He doesn't have to prove his power(he does but he doesn't strive to be better), he just simply knows he's that strong.

[Kuzu]

Shadow is the only one who thinks no one can beat him, he also thinks Sonic is his equal for his title of the Ultimate Lifeform. I think that shows who Sonic's biggest competive rival is. Metal wants to destroy Sonic, not compete with him, and just like any other villain wants his power to reign supreme over all.

Shadow knows he's the strongest and sometime is. He doesn't have to prove his power(he does but he doesn't strive to be better), he just simply knows he's that strong.

But the fact that Metal keeps pace with Sonic, says that he is in fact a rival.

Besides Metal thinks he's better than Sonic too.

[Rainbòw Dãsh]

If you think about it, Shadow is cuz he's like the opposite of Sonic 

[DarkDefeater]

I don't even know what's going on anymore.

Sonic's rivals were revealed in Sonic Rivals.

Gosh.

 

You know, going strictly by Rivals, Silver is Sonic's greatest rival; his esp power is significantly more troublesome than the other special moves.

[Sparky]

Shadow's Chaos Boost was the same thing as the Sonic Boost in Generations, so...yeah he broke the Sound Barrier.

[Straw Hat]

Metal Sonic...

He matches Sonic in everyway. He's almost a complete copy, he's got no emotions, and his goal..? Murder the blue fucker at any means necessary.

Sonic's greatest Rival, is basically himself.

That's probably because Jet is a joke. Especially when he uses HOVER BOARD RACES of all things to gauge who is the fastest creature in the universe. Sonic is, hoverboard or otherwise. Kthnksbai. Jet is only a 'rival' when he is cheating. The only reason he 'won' over Sonic in the first Ex World Grand Prix is because Wave made sure he would win.

I do not consider Shadow to be Sonic's ultimate rival purely because Sonic is ALWAYS nerfed to a truly ludicrous degree in fights with Shadow across continuities with the sole exception of Archies 25 Years Later Arc in a misguided and thoroughly unconvincing effort to make Shadow look like more of a badass. Those fights are no material to consider when it comes to gauging rivalry because it is thouroughly unfair to Sonic.

I'd consider Metal Sonic to be the ultimate rival. It's clearly been said that it's able to surpass Sonic's speed, it's persistence and perserverance makes it particularly deadly and whilst it could do with more competence, there's no real doubting that it is an extremely tough opponent for Sonic to outrace or outfight single-handedly.

Actually, that's not true. Jet is pretty much against cheating, especially when it comes to facing Sonic. In Riders he had no idea of Wave's trickery and the same thing in Free Riders. He had no intention of cheating, and in Free Riders he made sure they had a true race that led to absolute victory.

[Clouder]

If you think about it, Shadow is cuz he's like the opposite of Sonic 

Um... Okay? Sounds legit.

[UltDevilDoom]

Shadow all the way.

 

I've stated why before.

[...]

I don't even know what's going on anymore.

Sonic's rivals were revealed in Sonic Rivals.

Gosh.

 

And to think people haven't kept note of this since 2006.

[Vertekins]

Actually, that's not true. Jet is pretty much against cheating, especially when it comes to facing Sonic. In Riders he had no idea of Wave's trickery and the same thing in Free Riders. He had no intention of cheating, and in Free Riders he made sure they had a true race that led to absolute victory.

 

I was arguing against the notion that Jet was a compelling rival because the first competition only had him winning because of cheating and because gauging who the fastest in the world is on airboards is a silly concept. Jet rivals Sonic in terms of Extreme Gear but not in terms of being the fastest creature in the universe.

[Nepenthe]

As I asked before, if Extreme Gear don't count in a competition of speed, despite the fact that racing is their whole point to existence, then what is the basis for including air skates and engines in the discussion which are just as manufactured as air boards? If we're going to be that finicky about it, then Sonic needs a rival that actually competes with him on the basis of running, and he's honestly never had one. Hell, Knuckles was once considered a "rival" to Sonic in a completely different context than running ("He's as strong as Sonic is fast, therefore rival"), yet for the entire time they were frenemies no one really cared to note their dissonance in abilities, at least enough to make a statement about their rivalry. I think it would be more prudent to the discussion if we included rival to mean "someone who has competed with Sonic for a similar goal" rather than "running or GTFO."

[Old dead account]

It's gotta be Metal Sonic. His only purpose in his artificial life is it be better than Sonic and will stop at nothing to do so, hell he even imprisoned his creator to do so. Also, he has all his speed and abilities.

Shadow is arguable but he doesn't care about competing with Sonic and already sees himself as superior to Sonic and everyone else for that matter. Sort of like Blue/Gary, he calls you a loser even when he loses.

Jet. Let's be honest, Jet and the rest of the babylons are nothing without their boards. No competition for Sonic. Going off of extreme gear they seem to be just as good as each other, but I digress. I've hardly played any of the Riders games and I doubt Sonic cares about extreme gear since he can run just as fast if not faster.

Now as for Knuckles, I never understood how he was ever a rival to Sonic. It seems like in S3K he was only going after him because Eggman tricked him into thinking Sonic is evil. And in the rest of the games he's only doing his own thing or guarding the master emerald. Sure tey both run pretty fast but they were never really in competition with each other at all so I don't see how he was ever really a rival.

Edited March 9, 2013 by Prince Solaris

[Tani Coyote]

Shadow hasn't really been a rival since Heroes. He's just the somewhat darker, more reserved version of Sonic now.

Metal Sonic's just a blatant enemy.

Knuckles is always his friend these days.

Really it seems like Sonic has rivals for one game only. Jet the Hawk really is the only one that's consistently been a rival. Every time they meet up there's a competition to be had - this is what rivalry is about. Outdoing eachother. Without being overly friendly (which makes you allies) or extremely overly aggressive (which makes you enemies). It's just someone you coexist with and make a point to defeat, without being chummy nor malicious towards.

 

Eggman could also be seen as a rival. Barring a few moments, it seems like Sonic thinks of him more as a rival than an enemy. While Eggman certainly acts like an enemy, always trying to kill him, Sonic just takes it all as a game he does for fun. So, Sonic seems to view Eggman more as a rival than anything else, only ever so often actually treating him as a nemesis.

[Nepenthe]

You have to admit that Metal's rivalry is undermined by the fact that he has never shown up Sonic, something nearly every other rival can lay claim to, as well as the fact that Sega- for some strange reason- gave him that copying ability I hate so much. It would be in Metal's interests if he could be blatantly visualized as a threat beyond his stated homicidal tendencies.