by Knuckles April 26th 2009, 8:10 am
Hmph, you disappoint me, Zezima! :P
Knuckles lives on Angel Island, which hovers in the sky thanks to the power of the Master Emerald. His duty in life is to guard the Master Emerald, and he is the last surviving member of the Echidna people who once inhabited the island.
In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Knuckles thought that Sonic and Tails were attempting to steal the Master Emerald and that the infamous mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (also known as Dr. Eggman) was trying to protect it. However, Robotnik had lied to Knuckles. He was planning to use the Emerald to power his space station, the Death Egg. In the Hidden Palace Zone, Eggman's betrayal was revealed to Knuckles very bluntly, in the form of an electric shock. Since then, Knuckles has joined Sonic and Tails in their quest to stop the villain.
Aside from appearances in the main Sonic series, Knuckles featured prominently in Knuckles Chaotix, a relatively unknown spin-off title developed for Sega 32X. The game also introduced Team Chaotix, a group of comical misfits.
In Sonic Adventure, the Master Emerald shatters when Eggman frees Chaos and Tikal's spirit from within it, causing Angel Island to fall out of the sky. Knuckles's goal is to reassemble the shards of the Master Emerald. These levels are large, explorable areas in which players must hunt about the various Action Stages for three shards per stage.
In Sonic Adventure 2, Knuckles the Echidna is guarding the Master Emerald when Rouge the Bat attempts to steal it. In the middle of their argument, Dr. Eggman snatches the emerald. Knuckles then shatters it in order to prevent Eggman from successfully obtaining it. Knuckles then sets off to find the pieces and restore the Master Emerald once more. The gameplay is similar to the first Adventure title.
In Sonic Heroes, Knuckles joins forces with Sonic and Tails, becoming the power member of Team Sonic. He serves a similar role in Sonic Riders, which also features a rivalry between him and Storm the Albatross. In Shadow the Hedgehog, he assists Shadow in several Hero missions. In Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles appears with Tails as an "amigo" character in Sonic's storyline.
Knuckles is also a playable character in Sonic Rivals. The game starts out with him on a search for the Master Emerald which strangely disappeared. Due to his rivalry with Sonic, once Dr. Eggman reveals he is the cause for the Master Emerald's disappearance, the two begin a friendly competition which expands to include other rivals, namely Shadow the Hedgehog, Silver the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic.
He is a playable character in Multiplayer Mode of Sonic and the Secret Rings alongside Sonic, Tails, Amy, Shadow, Cream, Silver and Blaze. Sinbad the Sailor from the Arabian Nights stories takes the form of Knuckles in the single-player mode.
He will be appearing in Sonic Rivals 2 and the Mario and Sonic crossover game, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, along with Sonic and Tails.
Abilities
Knuckles is physically one of the strongest characters of the Sonic series. His brute strength is often depicted as being equivalent to that of Sonic's speed. His extraordinary physical strength enables him to perform feats such as shattering boulders with his fists, and lifting objects many times his own size and weight. His endurance is also notable. Knuckles is shown to have fire-enhanced punches, as well as earth elemental powers, though these are usually game-specific abilities. He is also an expert of a variety of martial arts, though his sharp knuckle punches are still his specialty.
Like most characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Knuckles is a very fast runner, though not as fast as Sonic or Shadow. He also uses Spin Attacks, which are variations on the tendency for echidnas to roll into tight spiny balls for protection. However, Knuckles is one of the few characters that is able to swim and float along the surface of a body of water. Although his jump height is relatively low, he can glide by, according to the Sonic Heroes manual, trapping air under his dreadlocks. Knuckles is also a proficient burrower, able to dig into nearly any wall or floor, and can use the spikes on his eponymous knuckles to grip and climb walls. As the Guardian of the Master Emerald, he is able to access and utilize its powers, allowing him to use some Chaos powers in an incredible manner, and can sense it from a distance, even in pieces. This comes into play as Knuckles's role in the games sometimes involves tracking down the Master Emerald. Additionally, he seems to be able to sense other energies such as those used in Chaos Control. In Sonic Adventure 2, when Sonic uses Chaos Control to save himself, Knuckles (who was wandering about somewhere else) states that he felt "some strange energy."
Like several other characters in the Sonic games, Knuckles can make use of the Chaos Emeralds to transform into a super form, named "Super Knuckles." In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, he could also use the Super Emeralds to transform into "Hyper Knuckles." The exact powers granted by these transformations vary from game to game.
