Chaos Emeralds and Super Emeralds
Well...where to start. Chaos Emeralds are probably one of THE most important--and one of THE least understood!--forces in the Sonic universe. They appear in practically every game. They are often your goal, or a side-goal. Without them, you cannot enter certain levels. They have great powers but they only seem to work when seven of different colours are together. (Except for the Master Emerald, which is unique not only for its size, but also because it can act alone). There seem to be lots of them but they are hard to find and even harder to obtain once you know where they are. They seem to reside in some other dimension--whose form is nearly always changing from game to game--yet be able to affect things in OUR dimension. But how did they get there? Were they made, or are they just a natural force that exists in this universe, and if so, how did they develop? And who made the gateways into the other dimension and scattered them all over the surface of Mobius (and the Floating Island)? What do the different colours signify? Last but not least, why are they called "CHAOS" Emeralds as if they were evil or something, when in fact they are just neutral sources of great power that can help good guys as well, and why are they called "Emeralds" when only one out of each set of seven is actually green?
The answers to all of these questions are sketchy at best. But here is what we DO know, mixed with some of my own interpretation:
1. In the first game, Sonic 1, Sonic had a side-goal to get all SIX Chaos Emeralds. That's right, you heard me, six, NOT seven! In that game, the idea of "Super" powers did not yet exist; all that happened was that you got to see the "good version" of the game's ending.
2. According to the "Dr. Kintobor" story that was put out by Disney when the first game came out, the last Chaos Emerald is the Grey one, and it is the most powerful. Without it the others cannot link their magics (or Chaos Energy, as it is called in the game-world--the word "magic" is practically never used but that's what it clearly IS!). So, if this is true, then the reason why nothing happened to Sonic after he got "all" six is because he did not have the seventh, the grey one.
3. In Sonic 2, 3, and Sonic and Knuckles, for example, if Sonic gets ALL SEVEN Chaos Emeralds, something DOES happen to him. The seven Emeralds are: Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple, Blue, Grey. (Not necessarily in that order). He turns into SuperSonic. What is "Super", you may be wondering? Well, it's something that happens to a character when they get all the NORMAL Emeralds--they turn into a more powerful version of themselves, and become invincible to everything but crushing, drowning, and falling off a cliff. Enemies do not bother them, not even most "bosses", they can walk on lava as if it were a sidewalk, etc. Different things happen to different characters when they go "Super". Sonic turns flashing yellow-white, his hair stands on end even more than usual and quivers as if he is SO FULL OF ENERGY he's about ready to explode or something, he gets an almost evil-psychotic look on his face, and suddenly is able to run VERY fast and jump VERY high and far. We're talking like he can just completely bypass the bridge and leap across the entire lake--stuff like that. Knuckles does the same way, except that he isn't quite as fast and flashes from his normal dark red colour to a hot pink.
And then there's HYPER powers. Hyper Sonic and Hyper Knuckles (actually, this picture shows SUPER Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles, from the days in the comic books when they hated each others' guts--Hyper Sonic is WHITE with a faint pink tinge, not yellow. And what is with Sonic pulling Knuckles' HAIR--isn't that considered a "girlie" move in a fight?) are a bit different from each other--they are both incredibly powerful, but now the differences in their natures--speed vs. strength--become more exaggerated. Sonic's Hyper powers have more to do with SPEEEEEDDDDD!!!! and Knuckles becomes more of a basher-and-trasher--he can destroy all the enemies on the screen when he rams into a wall, due to the incredible force behind his fists at this point. (Yikes!) Hyper does NOT happen due to having all seven normal Chaos Emeralds; it happens when you get seven normal ones, one of each colour, AND the seven SUPER Emeralds. As far as I know, there are lots of normal Chaos Emeralds all over Mobius, but the ONLY place you can find the Super Emeralds is on the Floating Island (which also, of course, has the Master Emerald) and there is only one set of seven. (How did the Floating Island become so blessed with these jewels? My guess is it was NO accident or coincidence--either the Echidna-people found them and then just TOOK them and put them in their Hidden Palace to get them away from others, or their scientists were experimenting and somehow found a way to MAKE larger, more powerful Emeralds by...I dunno...fusing the smaller ones together?) The Super Emeralds are SO powerful they are a bit dangerous to use; the Master Emerald should NEVER be actually used, just guarded. If anyone tried to physically use its power their very body and soul might be dissolved until there was nothing left of them BUT the magic...(that's my own, but it's also kinda in the comic books--Enerjak and all that.)
Can ANYONE use these powers? Wellll...yes and no. First of all, as I said earlier, I think there are more than one set of the normal Emeralds scattered around Mobius, so technically there could be more than one "Super" person at a time (only one "Hyper", however.) I don't think only the heroes of the games can use them--HOWEVER, you DO have to already be a pretty tough, dangerous, smart and magical person in order to be able to find and obtain the Emeralds in the first place, so obviously your average "Little Old Hedgehog From Pasadena" isn't going to be able to turn "Super". And Tails, who IS a hero of the games, DOES NOT TURN SUPER when he gets the seven normal Emeralds! He has to get all seven of the Super Emeralds as well, THEN he turns Super. But not Hyper, as anyone else would. He seems to have some strange resistance to magic...no-one knows why...At any rate, when Tails finally DOES go "Super", he jumps in the air and gets the same insane evil look on his face the others do for a moment. Then he starts flashing a bright golden-brown colour and has "Flicky Birds" circling his head, who attack enemies for him. Flicky Birds come from an isolated, primitive, tropical island in the ocean of Mobius where the soil is SO pure and fertile that Chaos Emeralds GROW right out of the ground! Although they do seem to be intelligent, unlike other Mobians, they don't have ANY Humanoid characteristics, never wear ANY clothes, and just completely look like ordinary tropical birds. But don't underestimate them--they have a natural ability to get into the Special Zone where the Chaos Emeralds are hidden. In fact, that dimension is their natural homeland! They just consider Flicky Island a part-time residence. How did they end up helping Tails? Because HE was the first out of "the big three" to help THEM--in his own game, for the Game Gear, "Tails' Adventure". Sonic helped them in "Sonic 3-D Blast" two years later, but the Flicky Birds have still had a strange rapport with Tails ever since. I imagine, now that I've seen "Sonic Adventure" all the way through, that the Flickies will have a connection to Amy Rose now too...
Where can you find Chaos Emeralds? Well, they are in a strange other dimension, whose entrance and form keeps changing from time to time. But some examples would be:
1. From Sonic 1--a strange, drifting maze of walls floating through the ether with a Chaos Emerald hidden somewhere inside it behind barriers. Sonic can only float helplessly and attempt to "jump"--but since the thing keeps rotating, which direction that will take him is hard to determine. The only two ways out are to hit the Emerald (thereby obtaining it) or a "Goal" sphere on the walls. You enter by jumping through a giant gold ring that appears floating in the air at the end of an "Act", but not a "Boss Act"--however, you MUST end that act with at least 50 rings or it will not appear.
2. From Sonic 2--A half-pipe roller-coaster type thing in which you have to pick up a certain number of rings (more on them later) by certain checkpoints to continue, while avoiding bombs that do not hurt you, but they DO make you loose your hard-earned rings. The rings can be anywhere, including way up on the ceiling, and the bombs can be anywhere, and you never know when they're going to appear. The real problem is going around a bend or up over a rise--when that happens, your view ahead is severely cut off and you just have to GUESS where the next thing of rings will be--and you often get a snoutful of bomb for your efforts...
You enter by passing a Star Post, which in this particular game both saves your place on that level AND is the access to the Special Zone--with at least 50 rings.
3. From Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles--you also enter through a giant gold ring that just floats in the air, like with Sonic 1, but this is a bit different. First of all, you DON'T have to have 50 rings to enter, you can jump in at any time. The thing is, they're so hard to find, especially later on, that basically you're being rewarded for even finding it in the first place. (Hint: Climb every mountain..erm...wall, and look for hidden passageways inside them. Slither along the ground, squish against walls, break open rocks, and just generally go the way that it seems the game does not want you to go. Instead of just pressing straight forwards, take a minute to explore around in different directions where you are, go up or down, or even backwards. You won't find the Giant Rings by playing straightforwardly--you have to be experimental, sneaky, and curious about EVERYTHING.) The Star Posts are still in these games, but now, what they do, in addition to saving your place on that Act, they also take you to the Bonus Stage (the three kinds are the Bubble-Gum Machine, the Casino Slot Machine, and the ever un-popular, bizzarre Glowing Spheres Stage)--which is a strange, varied place in which you can earn rings and other goodies, that has NOTHING to do with Chaos Emeralds.
Anyway, the Emeralds are now inside these Giant Rings, and the Special Zone inside them is VERY different from the other games. It's 3-D, and you are...running on top of a large, checkered ball whose horizon curves away from you eerily, like you're on a miniature planet or something. The checkered sphere is studded with four things, in patterns that change from Ring to Ring--blue spheres, which it is your goal to collect all of, red spheres, which you must AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE because the instant you touch one, just ONE!--you're booted out of the Zone and CANNOT use that same Ring to enter again--it has disappeared and you've PERMANENTLY blown one of your all-too-rare chances to get an Emerald, orange "spring" spheres, which can catapult you quite a distance, but whether where you want to go or straight into harm's way is iffy, so be careful, and white spheres with stars on them, which bump you backwards. It's also a good idea to avoid those.
You have to get all the blue spheres while avoiding the red ones--and the blues TURN red when you touch them! However, if you can make a ring of reds (that used to be blues) around more blues, the entire square will turn into rings and you can then either pick them up (50 rings in the Special Zone gets you a continue; getting ALL of them gets you a "Perfect!" and an extra life), or, you can leave them there if you're worried that you might run out of time. The rings are harmless; running into them is only beneficial.
There is not TECHNICALLY a time-limit in this Zone BUT....the longer you stay in there, the more it speeds up! I mean, the ball you're running on starts spinning faster and faster and faster, taking you with it. (While you can go backwards, and jump, you CANNOT slow down or stop yourself, you are constantly moving.) Eventually it gets so fast that unless you are REALLY GOOD, you lose control and cannot turn fast enough to avoid a red and AAAACCCK you have failed. So it behooves you to NOT stop and pick up all the rings, unless (a) you are on an easy one or (b) you are really really good at this. After all, what are a few measly rings when they could prevent you from getting a Chaos Emerald? You can get rings anywhere; Emeralds are much more rare and powerful.
Anyway, if you get all the blue spheres without ever touching a red, you get the Emerald and then get booted out of the stage after having your bonus points racked up.
This is a VERY VERY HARD Special Zone, and the first time I played it I HATED it--the curved horizon almost made me motion-sick, and the speeding-up made me dizzy and get temporarily panicked, but now, actually, unlike most people, I think I LIKE this version best. It's hard, but at least you can SEE what's coming up next--it's more hands-on strategy and skill, rather than just guesswork, like the one for Sonic 2 where you CAN'T see what's coming up around the bend and have to just hope for the best.
(And I also like the fact that I can kick my brother's patootie on this level. Heh heh heh. In fact, he even showed me off to a friend once while I was playing this, as if I was a tourist attraction or something: "Isn't my sister GOOD at this?" That is the ONLY time he's ever complimented ME on my video game skills, so I sorta remembered it!)
Other ways of getting Chaos Emeralds include floating around a truly 3-D environment in which there are five walls, each of which thinks it's the center of gravity (urp...I can feel my motion-sickness coming back just THINKING about that...) and trying to get rings while avoiding bombs again--from "Knuckles Chaotix", and then there's the Genesis version of "Sonic 3-D Blast", in which you are running across a 3-D-ish wooden bridge that twists all over the place while, again, trying to get rings and avoid bombs. And there are others from the many other Sonic games I assume but I don't know what they're like.
But just GETTING the Emeralds is not enough to activate their power. You also have to get 50 rings, and then jump. Then you stay Super (or Hyper) as long as you have any rings at all--however, even though enemies can no longer take them from you, time itself becomes your enemy, as one ring disappears for every second you are Super. If it wears off while you are in outer space without a suit (the Doomsday Zone of Sonic and Knuckles can ONLY be entered by being Super) then you DIE instantly, as an ordinary hedgehog cannot survive in the vacuum of space. I don't CARE if he's blue and he's the "fastest thing alive", it ain't enough.
Since rings are so very often part of the way of obtaining an Emerald, if not THE way, there seems to be some strange link between the two Mobian magics. What it is, however, nobody knows...
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foolish furries have dared attempt to gather all seven Chaos Emeralds since May 17, 1999. Of course, most of them died horribly in the attempt, while the others found out the hard way that being Super and touching electrical equipment does NOT mix...