The Story of Sonic Rush

One of my personal favorites. It's unfortunate that these Sonic games often get glossed over because they're "just" handhelds games. Especially when I'd argue that they are overall quite a bit better than most console Sonic games.
I may have gotten a little too personal there. But I felt it added to my analysis as I can understand Blaze's struggle in this story a little better than most. If you want to see a fantastic story that tackles this kind of topic with much more nuance, I highly recommend the series My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. That series connected with me on a very deep level, and was actually very important in helping me start to heal.
Hope you liked my little bit of diving into Sonic's character here. I plan to eventually do a whole video going in-depth on him and his meaning as a character.
Did not expect this video to be this long. But I've said that too many times already by this point. I should just expect it, no matter how small a Sonic story might be.
You can support me here if you want. ko-fi.com/pariah695

[@joshhacker8503]

Eggman is an evil Scientist, so his counterpart should have been an evil Wizard!

[@randocommando7945]

Considering Blaze being a princess, while Sonic is just a cool kinda "modern" guy, it would've been interesting to push a more "fairytale" type of theme with Blaze the princess and her enemy being an evil wizard. You could have this wizard Eggman inject magic into og Eggman's machines and be able to transform them in wild ways during boss fights. Heck, for the zone with GUN robots, you could turn it into a distraction wizard Eggman came up with on a whim, and having Sonic and Blaze only realize that after the fact. There's definitely potential with this kind of counterpart to Eggman.

[@aubueruser7228]

TLDR, ixis naugus.

[@jammychoo]

"Sorry but I kinda need to go do something." _Shuts door_ *"Oh it's fine. Don't worry. Just relax and have some, tea."*

[@lasercraft32]

THIS is the whole "multiverse/alternate dimension" thing done RIGHT. I just _love_ the idea of parallel worlds in this style. Instead of _literally_ being the same person, Sonic and Blaze are two completely different individuals but they share the same role.

[@uboa8060]

God, I hate how badly writers misuse the multiverse. It's literally the perfect way to make *literal* narrative parallels and explore them in different ways

[@rainopaino]

They really loved using Cream a lot in these side-games. I think they actually use her well too. I think I remember Cream and Omega teaming up in the comics once or something, which is kinda funny to me because they have serious conflicting personalities lol. I don't remember much about it though.

[@hiddenflare6169]

It’s actually interesting, Cream is used in a quite a bit in Spinoffs, but isn’t used in the main series much.

[@shadamyandsonamylover]

In the old Archie comics, yeah. Omega wanted to eviscerate her and when she asked what eviscerate meant Amy had to say she’d tell her later 😂

[@jackaltamer2792]

I believe in at least some of the comics Omega actually managed to find her really cute. Even the destructive robot cant hate the cute bunny. He also had a crush on Blaze for her destructive power. I wish these interactions were canon honestly because Omega has hardly any other character interaction (much as I LOVE Team Dark).

[@kingovhartz1148]

2 Eggmans, 2 sets of emeralds, 2 screens. Man was right, it just writes itself💀😂. Love this guy and his story telling. Be safe everyone and be well. ☺️❤️

[@Tom-rd8dd]

2 stories

[@leadubois6079]

I was at my lowest a few years ago and I was pushing everyone away. I was alone and felt like I didn't need anyone and that no one was there for me at the same time. And Sonic got me out of there. Sonic got me into playing games again and silly corny phrases and moments like "I have no master, except the wind that blows free", "You know me, never a dull moment", "Nothing starts until you take action", or even sillier things like just Sonic screaming mid-gameplay "FEELIN' GOOD!" in Unleashed. Not only that, but the songs! Endless Possibility, Reach for the Stars, etc. This overwhelming amount of positivity allowed me to start seeing the bright side of things, it motivated me to start running irl, and, slowly, all of the things that seemed so gloomy started feeling brighter. I didn't even know anything about this game's story, but it really did hit me hard. Sonic is a truly special character and despite all the controvery there may be around him or the franchise in general some times, I will never not show my love and appreciation for him. "NEVER FEAR THE FALL!" :)

[@alescano3504]

Oh buddy i feel so identified with this

[@djlanner1174]

💙

[@odd-eyesvon]

I had a few friends ask me if it was ok to say Eggman "Nega", and I seriously had to explain why that word and the word they were thinking of, was completely different. LMAO.

[@NoHandle44]

Lol

[@Robot257onlinehue]

You just made me realize something I didn't think of when I first beat Rush; Blaze and Elise are princesses that have to protect and deal with (a) relic(s) that has/have something to do with the sun... Protecting the Sol Emeralds... Keeping Solaris sealed... Seems like Blaze, her character, wasn't the only thing the Sonic 06 Team took from her.

[@djlanner1174]

exactly - glad im not the only one who realizes this!

[@crimsonzone8984]

Just one of those reuse assets that pariah mentioned. They kinda make reuse assets like this a lot of the time.

[@AstroIsAlive]

...REPLACE ELISE WITH BLAZE AND THAT WOULD'VE BEEN SO INTERESTING

[@seematahir5970]

What I love about Blaze as a character, and just this story in general, is that she slots in perfectly with the themes of the Sonic franchise. At its core, this series is built on thematic inversions. Nature vs Technology. Speed vs Strength. The Original vs the Copy. Experience vs Naivete. The Past vs the Future. Blaze here represents Isolation, while Sonic & Co. represent Teamwork. Cream and Blaze work as well as they do because they are built on this same principle. It's this universal cohesion between almost every Sonic story that keeps me sane throughout this completely fucked continuity. Hell, even later, shitter stories like Sonic Forces follow this pretty well. Sonic's kindness and heroism inspires a nobody, the Avatar, to become a hero, while Shadow's violence and brutality turns a nobody, Infinite, into a villian. Incidentally, this is also why I enjoy Silver and Blaze as a pair. I know you really hate 06's story and that the rant at the end was mostly a joke, but honestly shipping aside these two just have really great rapport. Silver is an extrovert who in in his later incarnations is portrayed as an adorkable cinnamon roll who just wants to be friends with everybody. Blaze is a stoic introvert who's quite experienced and no-nonsense. She works quite well as an almost mentor to Silver, and many extraneous stories flesh these two out in really compelling ways. Great video as always, and I appreciated you giving us some more Pariah lore. Glad you were able to leave that shell.

[@randomairbreathingman8927]

While i agree that blaze works well as a mentor to modern silver, silver's personality in late 2000' and early 2010' was arguably the most inconsistent the series has seen so far. 06 silver is completely different from rivals silver, who is nothing like archie silver, and none of them are similar to modern silver. Silver and blaze can be a good team, but only time their dynamic was done right, ever, was in that one minicomic from idw annual about silver trying to learn gardening. Also, i think that espio makes better mentor for silver, but its not that big of a difference.

[@seematahir5970]

@@randomairbreathingman8927 That's fair, though I would argue they did have something in 06. The biggest problem with 06's story, aside from the fact it didn't make it past the first draft, is that it really doesn't take the time to flesh out its characters or creative concepts, aside from a few select moments. But between Silver's voice direction and a handful of decent scenes, I feel like his naivete and dorkiness do come across a bit. It's clear he is socially awkward based on his interactions with Amy and Mephiles, and Blaze feels most like a mentor or older sister figure to Silver here. If she had more of a character in this game it would've been a lot more effective, but for it's worth I think they work well enough in 06, and the bittersweet ending still kinda works despite little setup. It feels earnest and I can appreciate that.

[@AFeralTrout420]

True

[@crimsonzone8984]

@@randomairbreathingman8927 don't you think that silver had been growing and maturing throughout the timeline changes in the franchise?

[@crimsonzone8984]

@@seematahir5970 anyone can be a mentor figure for silver. It really doesn't have to be blaze. She was clearly shoved into the game for poor fan service. I think mecha Sally could have worked better and they could have actually included Sally in the mainline as the big sister robot figure for silver.

[@user-fh7di8st6l]

I think the mystery of how Eggman Nega transitioned from another dimension Eggman to a descendant still brings great chaos to the series.

[@isaacargesmith8217]

Whats even weirder is how they reput blaze back to being a sol character after 06 tried to retcon that, yet nega just STAYS with that retcon. Super weird. Also its still funny how his last canonical appearance is him streaming for help while being crushed by rubber while espio and silver just kinda dont care.

[@galten7361]

They just retconned his background.

[@cellperfecto421]

To be fair, there are small subtle details in both Rush games that imply that Eggman Nega is a bit more ruthless, determined, and sure of himself in comparison to the original Eggman. There are situations where Nega wants to keep fighting to the end while Eggman just wants to cut their losses and ran away. Small irrelevant tidbits, but I thought they were interesting.

[@galten7361]

"Eggman but more murderous" is not a well made character idea.

[@lukescrew1981]

Bringing Blaze to 06 is like what Dave Filoni is doing by bringing Legends characters to Canon but changing them so much that they might as well be a new character

[@sonicwhite91]

I’d like to point out even in Sonic ‘06’s beta script it says Blaze is from the Sol Dimension, there was originally going to be an explanation according to Maekawa (I think it was him?), but it got abandoned.

[@shadamyandsonamylover]

I always just thought Blaze was visiting silver in the future somehow 😅

[@SonicLegends]

Yeah you're right. If you search up "Clearing up the confusion in the fanbase regarding Sonic 06" spiritsonic's tumblr there's hard evidence supporting it. But also I would even say to Pariah it isn't the first time Sonic Team has made a continuity error because in Sonic Battle when Rouge comes across a Gamma robot she says it reminds her of Omega, despite the fact Heroes actually came after Battle if you look at the releases dates but chronologically that line can only make sense the other way around and had to be intended that way.

[@galten7361]

Ian Flynn talked about how there is an actual explanation for Blaze's presence in 06 but he's not allowed to say. Not yet.

[@aramiswhitehouse]

​@@galten7361 For real!?

[@stardust-reverie]

@@galten7361 you better not be telling lies on the internet because this has my interest

[@rynagon_]

You just perfectly described why Silver and Blaze never worked together in that last section (plus why I never liked them together either) I played Rush first when I was a kid, saw her in 06 afterwards and immediately knew something was off

[@ScrapsandSlaps]

“Have a nice fall, you stupid bi-“ cut to victory screen

[@GamingintheAM0801]

Sonic Rivals tried to "fix" the Blaze discrepancy by saying that the Sol dimension *is* the future and that Nega is Eggman's descendent rather than his counterpart. Which is actually kinda worse than just having two versions of the same character.

[@SonicLegends]

If you search up "Clearing up the confusion in the fanbase regarding Sonic 06" from spiritsonic's tumblr there's a lot of evidence that does support that Blaze was originally going to be from the future but got sent to a different dimension which ends up being her backstory.

[@crimsonzone8984]

@@SonicLegends I heard that the creators abandoned the idea of blaze having this extra backstory due to it being more convoluted.

[@silveramyknux241]

33:13 I like how slow Blaze was and how fast Sonic was with the handshake. It shows how introverted she is and how extroverted he is.

[@spritvio639]

I'm impressed with the level of mental gymnastics some fans are willing to go through to explain an inconsistency.

[@CrownRock1]

51:26 "You don't just appear in a different dimension, and now you are the princess." Princess Peach has entered the chat.

[@zjzr08]

Interestingly this was a notable story issue of the Mario movie where many asked why they made a non-Toad their monarch with not much explanation.

[@charmyzard]

I don't know if we should be grateful or mournful that Blaze wasn't really touched in the 2010s. On the one hand, we never saw more of her character, or even her world after Rush Adventure which is depressing, but on the other she wasn't ruined as characters like Shadow (which SEGA would no doubt do, given Blaze has actual character.)

[@sonic5993]

I see it like this; it's better to be infamous than to be forgotten.

[@train4292]

That part where you mentioned that Sonic stories don’t need to be “big”, that was a bit liberating to me to be honest. I’m a fan of Adventure 1 and 2’s stories, but like…what I’m not a fan of is how people treat them (and even some dark age titles now that I think about it) as the end all be all of what a Sonic story is “supposed to be”. They criticize some of the modern games for all sorts of problems, and I like some of the newer games stories (except for Forces.), and I’ll admit that they aren’t high art, but that doesn’t mean the older games were squeaky clean either. As good as Adventure 1 and 2’s stories are, they don’t always need to be these big epic adventures, where the world’s at stake all the time. They can be smaller, and less ambitious in scope, and STILL be good. Rush is like this where you have Blaze’s development and how she learns to open up to others throughout the campaign, and how she bounces off of the usual cast of characters. It’s not crazy storytelling, but the interactions are fun, and Blaze’s story stands out as something REALLY great. I think that’s why I gravitated to media like Sonic X and Battle (even though Battle has continuity problems.) they have the bigger layered storytelling of the adventure games, but they also have time to tell smaller stories that are just as good as the larger narrative going on. (Like for Battle, you have Cream and Knuckles’s campaigns in those games, juxtaposed to Emerl’s backstory.) It strikes that perfect balance y’know? I dunno if anyone’s going to get what I mean, but still, not every story needs to be like a big epic :p

[@themissingbits6375]

Eggsactly. And that What Ruby of blue has to learn. Jokes aside, While i do like the Bigger Epic anime storys, i do Think they makes the Universe of Sonic a little bit dirty. What i mean is that they add some things that i dont Think gives sense in the Sonic Universe, Why are there basic ass Citys in the same world as Spring yard zone and Casino night zone, Was there a giant godly monster under the Earth This entire time, i did not expect that and the god monster looks nothing like Those cute animals i see in South Island, Yup it very normal that Bean the dynamite Trhow bombs like a Warner brother cartoon which same world where A Girl get shot by a gun, Ah yes Chasing the President, that What i expect from every Sonic game. I mean they great stories but i do Think that they could make the World of these games more like “Sonic” While still having A serious tone, that possible, SEGA!

[@train4292]

@@themissingbits6375 huh?

[@themissingbits6375]

Basically, What Im saying is that when the Series get serious they add some stuff that is not very Sonic, and i Think there is a Way to make the serious storys and make Them more “Sonic” like it takes place in your normal Sonic areas however the tone is serious. I Think you where confused because of my awful humor

[@sonic5993]

Its nice to see you be so emotionally open behind all of that biting dry wit of yours lol. But yea, I 100% agree with you on Rush as a story. It touches all of the emotional beats a Sonic story should hit, but never feels too over the top or out of place. While it might be disappointing that Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Cream play smaller roles here, its not without a reason and it serves a purpose. Blaze is a fantastic character with one of the more well executed character arcs in the series and earns her place in the series; in many ways, I honestly feel like she's a better-written character than Knuckles and Shadow at times, two characters who had similar arcs. Sure, they might be more popular and get more attention from fans and the devs, but Knuckles never really felt like he had much of a character arc so much as his character just abruptly changed as the series progressed, and while I love Shadow's story to death, it goes without saying that said story kind of pushes what's generally acceptable for a children's series like Sonic and that's not even getting into all of the dumb shit that came later for him. Blaze's story though is to the point and never feels out of place nor does it overstay it's welcome. And it reflects very well on Sonic's character too; while he is a snarky hero who loves adventure, he does sincerely wanna help people too when they need it. Some don't like how he feels like some type of Messiah figure who just has all of the answers all of the time, but honestly for a long-running series like Sonic where he continuously meets new characters in his travels, it's a perfect role. Of course Sonic is going to know his shit as the years pass on. Sonic Rush deserves it's praise.... So now this is the part where I bitch and moan at how Sega completely, utterly kneecapped Blaze as a character. I cannot tell you how upsetting it was for me to see what happened to Blaze after this game. Its not so much she's not relevant anymore like the rest of the supporting cast, so much as the entire story and dynamics that got me invested into her are basically gone now. Almost all of the fan content and official media run with Blaze being Silver's sidekick/Pseudo-Love Interest and that is such a disgrace to her character man. At the time Blaze came out, the only major female characters at the time were Amy, Rouge, and Cream who while aren't bad characters and I like a lot of things about them, aren't well-represented females; Amy's main schtick is literally being possessively in-love with the main hero Cream never really had much of a role to begin with, and Rouge's entire design is to highlight her sex appeal, and both of them play second fiddle to Sonic & Shadow respectively in most media. Blaze had none of that shit; aside from being a princess, there is nothing overly feminine about her and she stood completely on her own as a character alongside Sonic. She had her own agency basically and could carry a story by herself if they felt so inclined (she literally has entire world that we still don't know about to this day). And they threw all of that away just so they can make another Hedgehog rival for Sonic, and have Blaze play second fiddle to him, fuck off. And it's stuck because Silver somehow still ends up being featured more than Blaze; Silver gets the rival boss fight along with Metal Sonic and Shadow in Generations, and Silver gets to be in Forces while Blaze is absent. In all fan-related content, Silver always gets treated as a 1/3rd to Sonic and Shadow, while Blaze is relegated with the other female characters. Its so fucking aggravating as someone who really loves Blaze, and in many ways it pisses me off more than what they do with the likes of Knuckles or Shadow nowadays, because at least those are acknowledged as problems by the fanbase, but everyone just kind of accepts Blaze as Silver's Tails because fuck a female character who can stand with the main hero I guess. It completely undermines Blaze as a character and her dynamics with Sonic And Cream are basically nonexistent outside of a few instances. But damn, that Rush OST be boppin though.

[@Pariah6950]

Damn. Such passion. But I totally agree about Blaze. You see a lot of love for Blaze these days. But it seems to boil down to just the fact that she's cool and has fire powers. And that people like her pairing with Silver... for some reason. It's been decades since I actually watched the story of the Rush games. And I didn't really care too much for Blaze before. But now that I've gone through them again, she's easily become one of my favorite Sonic characters. And she desperately deserves better treatment. This is a spoiler for my Rush Adventure story video, but I say screw Adventure 3. I want a Sonic Rush 3. I want to see the day where the real Blaze gets her reunion with Cream, and a grown Marine gets to show off how far she's come to Sonic. And as for Silver... I have thoughts about him. I'll talk about it in the Rivals story video.

[@sonic5993]

@@Pariah6950 Bro, I love Blaze so much. Top 5 character for me. Its been years since I've played Rush, but I can still vividly remember how it made me feel. So yea, what happened to her really hurts on a personal level lmao. Its hurts on another level too because unlike say; Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Eggman or even Shadow, all of whom have firmly established places in the unofficial hierarchy of characters, Blaze never got a chance to establish herself like that because she debuted right around the time when the opinions about the supporting cast flipped and its been that way since. So its highly unlikely she'll ever get that chance anytime soon. And its kind of made me resent Silver a little bit ngl. I try not to hold it against him too much because I recognize he's a well-loved character who is also a victim of Sonic Team's bullshit, but I also kind of feel like he never really earned his place that the fanbase has given him. Say what you want about Shadow, but he's got quite a few games of buildup to justify his place in the franchise and like I said, Blaze never had the chance. But Silver in his debut game gets put on the same level as Sonic and Shadow, for no reason than because he's also a Hedgehog. It never sat right with me. He's basically MGS2 Raiden...which is a pretty funny given they shared a voice actor for a few years.

[@skunthundler]

They do go to Blaze's world in Rush Adventure, but it's only a small pocket of it from what I remember.

[@crimsonzone8984]

I'm fine with blaze not appearing much in sonic's world. I'm okay with her mostly appearing in little spinoffs like team sonic racing. And thank God she wasn't in games like sonic forces. I want blaze to have her own series as in her own version of the sonic series as well as other sonic medias like the movies, tv shows and comicbook series and have a cast of her own and be this parallel sonic that she's meant to be. Silver being featured more than blaze doesn't really bother me at all. In fact, I'm honestly glad that silver will be the one to be featured in sonic prime(s2) instead of blaze because I don't really like the idea of blaze being the dimension hopping export to guide sonic in the shatterverse which isn't even related to her dimension. I prefer blaze to stand out as a main character of her own world/series. People need to stop pairing silver with blaze like these two have something special which they actually don't. Silver only needed a companion for him to be comforted with and get away from his insecurity of being alone, which is the comfort he gets when being with other characters like amy and espio. For me, silver's relationship with blaze is the exact same with everyone he meets and this is probably what establishes the special friendship between silver and blaze so pariah695 might want to debunk that. Everybody is special and valuable to silver. Blaze's relationship shouldn't be different from others. Sega also has to stop mixing silver's world with blaze's. They need to stand out on their own worlds and have supporting casts of their own. And if they want to make silver good. They need do it in the way the archie comics did it. Just look at archie silver. He has more world building, had his own team, had a better established role as a time traveler, he wasn't too serious like in rivals nor was he too adorkable like in idw (and I just love how powerful he is). A lot of people may consider idw silver as the best incarnation, but for me it's really just super silver that's great. He's goofiness is over exaggerated to being too soft and dorky which is no different to shadow being too hard and edgy. For me personally, archie silver is the best silver. (But archie silver does have some parts of his personality that makes him less accurate to his main counterpart so we shouldn't take too much influence from this version of silver)

[@spritvio639]

Damn I did not expect an hour on just Rush's Story. Even with Adventure I was thinking 30 minutes at most.

[@JonyPlayz1]

This story is really peak. Blaze is the best female character tbh

[@jackaltamer2792]

I think that's why I like Nega's new backstory after Rivals. He doesn't really fit the similar but different style of the Sol counterparts so him just being yet another Robotnik Fam member makes a lot more sense. I also like that they started differentiating him at least somewhat with a more destructive style and goals compared to Eggsys comparatively less evil dreams of authoritarian conquering.

[@porygonlover322]

The thing about Blaze in 06 is that like... if they had given it a bit more thought or even literally talked to the Rush team at all, they could have turned Sonic's story in 06 into a Rush sequel? Blaze could fill Elise's role perfectly, with it fixing a lot of the issues you mentioned in the 06 video about the character with her not having agency due to not having a playable character. You could even keep the general arc, because while Blaze _does_ learn to open up more in Rush, she still never cries and remains overly composed even through to the ending, so 06 could have worked as a thematic followup to that. Plus, this would set 06 in Blaze's dimension, neatly cleaning up a lot of the inconsistencies related to the Chaos Emeralds by just swapping them out for the Sol Emeralds. Incidentally - Soleanna, Sol Emeralds? I almost have to wonder if there was some draft of the story where this was the plot, even though that makes no sense with Blaze's final role as literally a completely different character than she was in Rush. Granted, this is probably for the best anyway - with 06's generally sloppy writing I see pretty much no way this wouldn't have ended up being character assassination on an even greater level than what the game actually had for her. Still, it's an interesting thought.

[@JustJohn43]

32:43 might be my favourite character interaction in the series. And I know I was like "KISS!" too, totally guilty of being a Sonic/Blaze shipper, but a moment like that needs to be earned. Wish we got more Blaze and Sonic by the same writers. The easiest way to explain 06's inconsistencies: it was envisioned as a reboot (to justify their not caring about continuity)

[@creepy.bstanbtsbtw]

The ending of Rush is highkey my most favourite emotional moment in the entire series fr. Something about the serene, almost romantic music paired with the actions of Sonic and Blaze. Blaze who is so shy and new to this whole "friendship" thing, slowly approaching Sonic, unsure of what to do. Sonic, super confident as always, moves towards her quickly. The long pause before the handshake before being physically pulled apart. And in an unforseen turn of events SONIC of all people is the first to show that he wants to stay with Blaze longer by grabbing on to her with boths hands, eventually being pulled apart. Blaze reaching out after, realising she wants to be with him too. Dammit how the fuck do Sonic and Blaze have more romantic chemistery and implication in one game over the several games with Sonic and Amy? Just saying Sega, if you're gonna seriously pair the blue rat with anyone? It's gotta be Blaze, i'm just saying.

[@Tom-rd8dd]

@@creepy.bstanbtsbtw I am not even into shipping but that scene caught me off guard

[@markofthewolvessucks8930]

@@creepy.bstanbtsbtw Sonic and Amy's "relationship" isn't written well anyways excluding boom

[@creepy.bstanbtsbtw]

@@Tom-rd8dd Right? I think the thing that really sells me on it was the fact it was Sonic who reached out first. It's very a emotional reaction for someone like Sonic to do. Like he consistently NEVER shows that much emotional connection to...well literally ANY character. Emerl was the only other instance before Blaze where I felt Sonic showing off some of his emotional side. Blaze, someone he just met not too long ago, struck something inside him enough to hold on to her desparately with both hands while being literally pulled apart by dimensions?? Yeah that's wild. That's something I could only see as a sign of him having a thing for her, because that's definitely not something he would normally do.

[@creepy.bstanbtsbtw]

@@markofthewolvessucks8930 That is true. It's honestly sad ( especially now after playing frontiers) that trying to push sonamy as "canon" now....feels incredibly forced because there is really no build up at all. Sonic has never actually shown to have an emotional nor romantic interest in Amy in the actual games. It's just Sega SAYING he does but in these 30 years where is the proof? "Oh Sonic has the OPTION to go on a date with Amy in unleashed" And then what? He misses the damn thing in SATBK. Speaking of SATBK there are Sonamy fans who for some reason say "Sonic flirts with Nimue" and i'm still scratching my head wondering where tf he does that because not even in the JP script does he say or do anything remotely flirty with her. ( On the contrary it's jokingly stated in JP that Sonic flat out flirts with Percival. ) Sega is terrible at writing Sonamy. The only way they know to do it is by completely changing the characters and their dynamic, and by that point why even bother attempting to make them a couple? I mean even Flynn who does write them much better, still makes Amy feel like a different character in order for it to work. 🗿

[@numbug1234]

There WAS intended to be a direct connection between Rush and 06, as confirmed by Maekawa, but it didn't happen because of 06's extremely troubled and rushed development.

[@markofthewolvessucks8930]

Blame Yuji Naka for that blunder

[@SonicLegends]

Yeah spiritsonic's tumblr "Clearing up the confusion in the fanbase regarding Sonic 06" explains it. Somehow not surprised as back in Battle there's a line from Rouge that doesn't make sense in that she says the Gamma robot reminds her of Omega despite the fact Heroes released after Battle but it clearly means timeline wise intended the other way around and mind you for Japan it was a 26 day difference between those titles where as North America it's literally by 1 day but still stands. Suffice to say Rush and 06 did it by a far worse amount being by a year.

[@spritvio639]

Man this game really leans on that power of friendship theme. Everyone is talking about Sonic to Blaze. "Oh you should see Sonic." "Ask Sonic fir help." "Why didn't you ask Sonic fir help?" Sonic, Sonic, Sonic, Sonic, bro if I was Blaze would be annoyed too. Blaze is being a total loner and everyone us just like shoving Sonic down her throat and friendship honestly I kind of find it funny how aggressive this game is with its message.

[@EWOODJ]

I would be too… *IF* I knew the guy and didn’t like him.

[@___8241]

fuck. i'll never get tired of the way you break these games down. you really opened my eyes to the beauty of rush's plot. i never realized why i liked or could relate to characters like blaze as much as i do but the way you worded her internal conflict just put it all into perspective for me. also excellent rant at the end there about 06.

[@Zejgar]

The story of Sonic Rush definitely deserves better presentation than just VN cutscenes. There are numerous moments where it's not quite clear to me what's going on because of the limitations of the format, and it can lead to different interpretations (for example, you're saying that Blaze "dodged" Knuckles' attack, while I interpreted it as Blaze grabbing and throwing him, Smash Bros. style; and I never even considered that Vanilla shut the door in front of Blaze, I thought Blaze just bumped into the door frame in her hurry and fell back). That said, I think Rush is the best story in the series, on the merit of being complete, clear, and rich in tone. This, coupled with very fun gameplay, great graphics and music, makes Rush nearly perfect in my eyes, and I wish it had a remake with proper cutscenes.

[@spritvio639]

Blaze in 06 is just another reminder that that game was originally made to be a full scale reboot for the franchise. That's why she's there originally the game was supposed to reset the entire sonic lore with characters from Adventure 1 up.

[@leonardoalvarenga7572]

In Kingdom Valley, Sonic says that "Riding the wind brings back fond memories" which could be a reference to either Windy Valley in Adventure 1 or Sonic Riders.

[@aarondoesyt3194]

There's consistency with Shadow (maybe Rouge as well) from the previous 3 games but other than that the writers were just lazy

[@markofthewolvessucks8930]

@@leonardoalvarenga7572 good memory you have there

[@crimsonzone8984]

06 is actually more of like a loop that Sonic enters but gets stuck in it and that loop becomes it's own universe that is extremely small. (Yeah, the Solaris scaling isn't really as impressive as people claimed it to be.) And Sonic doesn't get out of that loop until he gets something right in it.

[@lavender317]

Huge missed opportunity in this game not to have Amy grab Blaze again mistaking her for Sonic tbh

[@tonycorona8501]

Alright, Pariah.I knew the lenght of the video was gonna be a 06 rant. I love it. I absolutely despise what 06 did to Blaze's character, as it not only harmed her perception, but her character as well. Everyone but hardcore Sonic fans know what Blaze is about, because the fanbase pretends Blaze is nothing but Silver's love interest, and the casual crowd even thinks she is from the future, something not even Sonic Team attempts to lie about anymore (Iizuka infamously said everyone in 06 had amnesia). I'm going so far to say Silver has all the traits of a baddly written Sonic OC: looks like Sonic for no reason, has unexplained powers that make him more powerful than Sonic, and is friends/has a love interest in the most popular female Sonic character. And what's worse, Shiro Maekawa explained that the ending of 06 was done ON PURPOSE as a way to tie in 06 with Rush, meaning he intentionally did nothing with Blaze's character except to prepare her to die so Silver (the OC) to feel bad. This is the point one remembers Shiro Maekawa is not a writer, but a programmer, for he has done the most insulting treatment for a competent female character. And we should have seen this trope coming, for he did this same crap with Shadow and Maria, and later with Sonic and Sharah. Regarding Eggman Nega, he is a character I have total assurance was created out of necesity and not out of creativity. After all, the game needed to recycle Eggman boss battles, so they just created a second Eggman and didn't bother writing him. Takashi Iizuka would later retcon him to be Eggman's descendant just so Silver (seeing a pattern?) could have an enemy. At least the retcon would explain why Eggman Nega shares his name and appearance with Eggman. I despise Silver for what he did to Blaze, and It's a shame I cannot relate with their fans. Then again, many of the fans just appear to be shallow shippers, and who the hell wants to talk with that kind of fan. Let them enjoy their fun, but don't get involve with them.

[@djlanner1174]

wow ive never heard any hate or criticism for Shiro's writing. can you tell me more please? i always kinda thought it felt sorta off and out of character how he wrote Sonic at times (even in Black Knight which people say was the best Sonic).

[@djlanner1174]

also i agree. shallow shippers suck. 👎

[@tonycorona8501]

@@djlanner1174 I respect Maekawa because he had a genuine passion for writing, but my criticism of him comes from how he wrote after Adventure 2. He only appeared to write with that level of interest when it came to Shadow as a character, while everyone else were there just to be there. All the criticisms of the core 4 characters started with him, not after him. Many of his pitfalls as a writer, though, were put to the test in 06: random things happening, characters showing up for no reason, disposable female characters for the male character to brood. I honestly loathe Silver because he is everything wrong with introducing new characters as, like a magnet, forced others to be alongside him for no reason whatsoever. And I sincerely doubt 06 being rushed is to blame for this, nothing in the game files suggest Blaze was gonna be her Rush counterpart, meaning most of the cut content in 06 is level dialogue. And while he managed to write two good stories with the Storybook titles, I feel that came out as an accident, as the two stories only had Sonic and original characters, meaning he wasn't hold back by mandates, guidelines or character guides.

[@purpleboye_]

Just sayin, if you replace Elise with Blaze and set Soleanna in the Sol dimension or something, a lot of issues with Sonic Team's schizoid writing and world building would just go away. Not saying it would be a bandaid fix, this is more of a foundational thing I wish they had started with.

[@TheDogSlog]

God why didn’t they just do this. I’ll never understand making Elise when they literally had Blaze and a “Sol” kingdom already. Replace Elise and Soleanna with Blaze the Sol Empire and you fix all the non-gameplay issues right there.

[@djlanner1174]

*gulp* lol Blaze and Elise are really similar huh! 💙🤣

[@SweaterSwagg]

Didn't remember/realize how fitting tonally and enjoyable Rush's story was. Great video!

[@thesoniczone11]

Sol Emeralds Solaris Soleanna Sol Dimension Flames. FIRE. "SOL". THE SUN. Space and Time. Time Travel. Alternate Dimensions. It's the exact same pool of ideas. This can not be a coincidence.

[@Pariah6950]

Don't overthink it. Rush and 06 were being made at the same time by different teams. And with fire being a big motif in both games, they naturally came to similar ideas.

[@thesoniczone11]

@@Pariah6950 The way I see it, they have to be connected. I have a whole theory that's similar to what you brought up as crazy nonsense at the end of the video. What I've always thought is simple. The Sol Emeralds and Solaris are linked. Solaris is to Chaos what the Sol Emeralds are to the Chaos Emeralds and what Blaze is to Sonic. The Gems that Sonic collects in '06 have the same designs as the Sol Emeralds, so they must be the Sol Emeralds. The Sol Emeralds are from Soleanna. When Elise blew out the Flame of Hope and caused a time reset, this "purged" all of the "Sol Energy" from Sonic's World. But, it had to go somewhere, so it went to Blaze. Whatever pocket dimension she was sealed in is where all the Sol power went, because Iblis and Blaze herself are sources of that same energy, so BOOM. That pocket dimension was a prison for Blaze to be sealed in outside of time as you suggested, but it was this specific circumstance that completely transformed it into what we call the "Sol Dimension". It's entire history, Blaze's new life as a princess here and everything, is all a result of what I like to call "the Solaris Paradox". Also, Maekawa did say at some point that Silver's story ending in '06 WAS intended to tie back to Sonic Rush. He said it on twitter when asked about it. This is what was said: Manaita: “As Maekawa-san is Blaze’s creator, I think it’d be interesting to hear about how Rush and 06 fit together (chronologically).” Maekawa: “No no, Blaze’s creator is Nishiyama-san who wrote Sonic Adventure 1’s story*~. The truth is, when writing Sonic 06 we wanted to add the sense of a connection between Sonic Rush and Sonic 06, but I don’t think that’s ever been officially stated.” So the intention was there to be a connection. Another minor thing I want to add is that in regards to Silver & Blaze and Blaze & Cream ... I like Silver & Blaze, because they're both alternate Sonics but in different ways. Blaze is, as I like to call her, "Sonic Nega". Nega, as in negative, as in the direct polar opposite, as Sonic Rush establishes and emphasizes. I think of Silver as "Light Sonic", like a reverse of Shadow as a a "Dark Sonic". So overall I see the dynamic between Silver and Blaze as like a parallel of Blaze's dynamic with Sonic, with the difference being that I view Silver as an ideal Sonic-esque partner for Blaze in a way that Sonic himself just can not fill due to Sonic being Sonic. Blaze's entire fight with Sonic in Rush is in part centered around Sonic being such an inspirational figure that everyone looks up to, and that challenges Blaze's worldview as such an independent person who is the equivalent of Sonic for her own world. But Silver is like a version of Sonic without that same wisdom, instead he's naive and lacking in that. This simple difference, among other factors, feels like a perfect complimentary person for Blaze much like Sonic is, but with the naivety complimenting Blaze's personality, but also allowing them to remain on equal level as partners unlike Blaze's dynamic with the Tails-alternatives of Cream or Marine. And on the subject of Cream... what I don't like about Rush is how their attempt to have the Alt-Sonic & Tails made them pair her up with Cream... when Cream was made to be paired with AMY. Cream is AMY'S Tails. And, with that comes another problem. Even before Rush, Cream's presence had a direct affect on Amy, and Rush itself is a good example of this. Tails-parallels aside, the way Cream is written for Blaze's story actually feels a bit out of character for Cream herself, but it is exactly what would normally be expected of Amy. I mean, a pure-hearted girl going out of her way to befriend a reserved, stoic and isolated ice princess is the exact situation that Amy Rose should be in. But no, instead, all of Amy's traits gets thrown onto Cream and so Amy is left as a gag character with her Sonic love being amplified to a full on obsession yet again because the writers fail to account for having two characters with a similar trait of having pure hearts. Between Amy and Cream, Amy's supposed to be the older and more energetic one and Cream is the calmer, polite but more naive one to counterbalance that energy. But after Heroes, they've failed to execute that correctly and THAT is the specific reason Amy gets mistreated and turned into a one-note joke with aggressive obsessive issues. And in regards to Amy, the "Sonic Radar" is NOT a joke. Amy Rose has a literal, actual superpower to track Sonic's location. It's brought up multiple times before. It's in her set of skills established in Sonic CD. Amy has a specialty for mystical things. Specifically Tarot Cards and Dowsing, and ESPECIALLY her "Intuition", and those set of skills allows her to feel Sonic's presence. She mentions this several times in Heroes, even in gameplay, and also in Sonic '06 when she's looking for him with Silver. Amy Rose can literally sense Sonic's location, just as her hammer is a magical item in the form of a squeaky toy, and her ability to turn invisible in '06, and why she's a character in SA2's two player mode that may be slower than Sonic, Shadow and Metal but she's the one who has the special attacks that can be used with much fewer rings which in-turn makes her very powerful. Amy Rose doesn't get enough respect. Her Pure Heart, love and compassion, and magical girl powers is exactly what gets overlooked in favor of everyone seeing her as nothing more than a crazy psycho stalker with a bad attitude.

[@telekinesticman]

Dang I forgot how sweet this story is. Blaze is one of my favourite characters in this series and I really, truly miss when Sonic was this optimistic, inspirational role model. Hits me in all the right places. Totally agree about the Eggman/Eggman Nega stuff too, I always found it weird that Blaze is her own unique character but Nega is just another Eggman with a suffix added.

[@johnsmit3928]

I was just pulling up your channel to listen to something in bed. I was heading for the 06 review since it’s been a while but I’m glad to see this. Killing it lately, Pariah. Keep at it!

[@DannyBenS94]

One good thing about Blaze after Rush is she is still a very likeable character, even after Sonic Team rewrote the characters to be as bare bones and not very good. She was one of the only characters in Team Sonic Racing that I didn't want to tear the head off of. I mean she couldn't save that game, but she was one of the best parts about it. Anyway, Rush did have a good, simple (sometimes cheesy) story. Also cats are great and Blaze is no exception lol

[@cumradej]

This is my first sonic game, let alone one of the first games I’ve ever played. Going over the story and the game really brought me back lmao

[@andtrees3192]

this is so beautiful. i’m going to show this to every person i meet

[@EWOODJ]

Everything from 45:37 onwards will only lead people to make this statement: *_“Call it “bullshit” all you want, I’m sticking with that Blaze story.”_*

[@EWOODJ]

19:04 If Blaze would have explained what the Sol Emeralds were to Knuckles in the first place instead of being stubborn with the whole *”go look for them elsewhere”* bit, shit wouldn’t have hit the fan the way it did. Also, Amy is the last person that deserves chew anyone out.

[@LeafRazorStorm]

23:41 "You might know everything I'm going to do, but that's not going to help you since I know everything YOU'RE going to do! STRANGE, ISN'T IT????" I'm sorry, I had to get that out of my system.

[@yall_girl_eve]

I love when your videos come out, i just put them there to play and have a good time hearing what you have to say about the game while i do something or when i'm lying down on bed i know it's a bit out of nowhere, but since the first ones i seen, I've been appreciative of your videos and waiting for the next to come out ❣

[@aPonderousChain]

You are spoiling us with all these recent uploads. Thank you for your work, it's enjoyable

[@Olivadababa]

So many videos, how can you pump out so many like this it’s honestly incredible with the quality you bring to them.

[@Mew4U]

Oh interesting. So blaze is like the ice queen, except she is a fire princess.

[@anothernoise216]

For so long i used to believe that Knuckles was just hanging around not in Angel Island because in Sonic Battle we see Emerl destroy the Master Emerald in the Death Egg what always made me think that this made it's pieces fall back on earth but they scattered even further that usual from it happening in space and all that, but then i remember Sonic Advance 3 is a thing and the Master Emerald it's completely ok there so i guess he's in vacation from the guardian duty he promised to do for his entire life?

[@dawnkist1456]

Ok so the whole aoi thing. Since Blaze calls silver naive that way a lot, maybe silver said aoi meaning blue, and Blaze said aoi meaning naive. Kind of a wordplay thing. Silver probably wouldn't catch the double meaning in the scene because he is actually a bit naive and is focusing on the new information

[@creepy.bstanbtsbtw]

except the theory that Blaze thinks the "blue hedgehog" is "naive hedgehog" in Japanese isn't true because in the JP script itself, she is clearly referring to a literal blue hedgehog and not "naive". A lot of non japanese speakers are the ones spreading false information that she meant "naive" when she was actually referring to Sonic. ( a literal blue hedgehog ) Yes, she does also use ( 青い) aoi to describe Silver, but it is more that there is a similarity to Sonic and Silver. They are both "blue" hedgehogs.

[@sonicwhite91]

Now that Sonic Rush has been finally translated by Windii (Just Sonic's story for now though), there's 2 things I wanna bring up. 1. The error in 5:07 is due to bad translation, Sonic is just saying he's curious about Blaze in the Japanese version, he doesn't say "you" at all. 2. In Japanese, in the ending scene where Tails congratulates Sonic, it's not just Tails saying it, the Japanese version says "Tails-tachi" or "Tails and others" while showing him and the small animals. So I'm pretty sure this is the only instance in modern Sonic where the small animals ever talk and it's completely omitted in the English version.

[@FattyFatMatt]

Imagine if they reboot the ENTIRE series and start again with the classics but build it like sonic mania then moves on with sonic adventure and onwards but remake it to todays visuals and graphics and make the story MAKE SENSE and HAVE CONTONUITY that could be cool

[@themissingbits6375]

But Then they Will likely Retcon a lot of shit in This reboot Because Sega does not give a ….

[@FattyFatMatt]

@@themissingbits6375 yeah SEGA when it comes to stories is like “UHHHHHH let’s put gameplay first then uhhhh make sonic say BALDY MC NOSEHAIR and uhhhhh DONE

[@themissingbits6375]

@@FattyFatMatt The “Baldy MC nosehair” is not that bad, Eggman is just as silly as “Baldy MC nosehair”. And really i dont understand the hate for American Sonic g’ets. A lot of people act like that he is an bad guy and he hates his friends. Which is not the case, They just gave him more attitude and made him cocky. And Sonic does take things seriously sometimes. SA1-2 as an exampel.

[@MetaKnuxXbeats]

Blaze to me is one of the best Sonic characters. Her story in Rush I think is very relatable and her characterizaion being this introvert that has a strong sense of duty but also needed to realizes that she needs to open up to the ones who are willing to help is a compelling one. In my opinion, I think she makes for a better rival then Shadow. Kind of a hot take but it is one I stand by. Then again, I even think Knuckles is a better rival then Shadow. I don't even hate Shadow, I just think having characters like Knuckles and Blaze being Sonic's rivals is more intresting then a darker Sonic, both in abilities and relationship.

[@Metal_Overlord]

You are one of my favorite KZbinrs!!

[@Dar-oi3tw]

Your continuity error rant in this video has made me very excited to see the one you will do when you get to Sonic Generations since the cutscenes in that game at first make you think that Blaze is from Sonic Rush until you free her after beating the 06 levels which then makes you then think that it is 06 Blaze and then when you see the final boss cutscene with Blaze both with Silver and Cream you go wtf which Blaze is it its like they embraced that stupid Blaze got reborn into the Sol Dimension theory you mentioned earlier in the video.

[@leonardoalvarenga7572]

The theory is stupid but it's the best fix there is for that problem.

[@soulbound2]

The theory is not stupid Edit: I am so sorry for adding that emoji now that was stupid

[@Dar-oi3tw]

@@soulbound2 what emoji?

[@soulbound2]

@@Dar-oi3tw the emoji I deleted Edit: honestly it's been so long I forgot

[@Dar-oi3tw]

@@soulbound2 Its O.K, it happens and I really did not see the emoji so no harm, no foul.

[@timisdor]

I’m going to be so sad when he just… runs out of sonic games to talk about

[@timisdor]

I like your other videos just as much I just unhealthily like sonic

[@sonic5993]

Well he's not even half through the series at this point.

[@Pariah6950]

Don't remind me lol.

[@sonic5993]

@@Pariah6950 Don't forget, you're here forever :)

[@johnnycakemusic4069]

@@Pariah6950 dude, sonic videos or not, I'm here to stay. Dude, you introduced us to new unknown games like Rodea the Sky Soldier and allow us to be better equipped with knowing what to expect from each game when going in head first because of our experience with your insight on the sonic series. That, and your other non-sonic videos are amazing too, like the video about why lives are bad. That was amazing, and I'm interested to see your insight on game bosses since you don't seem to be a huge fan of them. Listening to your videos is relaxing and therapeutic, and it's slower more detailed pace is a breath of fresh air in the vaccum of KZbin creators. I'm here to stay all the way Pariah!

[@Amsel_616]

At this point Tailstube is the only way we can get a fucking consistent timeline

[@themissingbits6375]

Do not really. They use the English translations of the Japanease dub, As an exampel, The “Robotnik is his real name and Eggman is a nickname” does not exist in Japan he was always known as Eggman. They also dont Call Robotnik robots “Badniks” in Japan etc. And even do Tailstube is trying to fix the cannon. The next day they are just going to Call Mecha Sonic, Silver Sonic Again

[@leonardoalvarenga7572]

@@themissingbits6375 The Robotnik thing was embraced by the Japanese canon in Adventure 2.

[@train4292]

Thank god for that, I’m ALL for it.

[@djlanner1174]

Tailstube Evan supports Sonaze. Go crazy! 💙💜

[@theprincess3872]

Your rant about Blaze making no sense in 06 no matter what theories this fandom tries to create was already fantastic, but I just wanted to note a couple more details which make things make even less sense. The reason Iblis could be sealed inside Elise was because she was part of the royal family (and apparently nobility in 06 just have different souls than the rest of every living being), and it was sealed with a process that only required one emerald, and notably didn't kill the frail human child it was sealed inside. The reason the game gives for Blaze being able to seal it inside of her (at least in English) is because her soul is already "lit with flames", meaning apparently fire powers can also do the trick? It could also be that she's a princess, but a) that isn't confirmed for 06 Blaze specifically and b) even if it is the case then the game should have brought it up. Additionally, the process of sealing it inside someone requires two chaos emeralds now, and also IMMEDIATELY kills her (slash dissolves her slash seals her in another dimension whatever). Even if this Blaze had none of Rush Blaze's abilities aside from generic fire powers, she's been fighting Iblis all her life apparently and is just infinitely more powerful and durable than a powerless child who survived the same being inside of her for ten years and showed no indication of any kind of negative effect on her, it makes absolutely no sense. Maybe Iblis could have gained more power over the 200 years it was released, but I think an Iblis that was only barely being restrained by Silver in the past would have killed Elise at some point in the ten years it was sealed inside her. Actually, considering that sealing Iblis inside a child for ten years kept it fully restrained, there's no narrative justification given to why anyone even had to be sealed in an alternate dimension, just seal Iblis inside a suitably emotionally closed off person and then make sure no one chops onions anywhere near them until the time comes for Iblis to be transferred to a new person, rinse and repeat. And if 06 Blaze is the Blaze from the Rush game, just transported to the future somehow, that makes everything make even less sense, because Blaze should realistically be concerned with both getting back to her own dimension and the future version of Sonic's dimension, but she never mentions anything to do with Rush, never mentions the Sol Emeralds or her Burning form (which could be a massive help), never mentions being a princess (nobility, which was the original requirement for being a living Iblis container), and she and Sonic never EVER talk to each other. Hell, I'm not even sure that they notice each other, because they share two scenes together (Team Sonic noticing Silver, Blaze, and Mephiles in the computer room in the future, and the bit in-between the Egg Carrier getting exploded by what I can only assume to be the poor physics engine of the game and Sonic traveling back in time to save Elise) but never acknowledge each other. Blaze has that bit about "blue hedgehog" but never says a word to him, and Sonic never says a thing about her being in the computer room and when he's talking to Silver about traveling through time to save Elise and the future and all that, he exclusively addresses Silver despite Blaze being literally right there. And Blaze never says a word at all in that cutscene. I can only assume this is a result of Blaze being added late in development or something, because regardless of whether they knew each other or not it's so strange that Sonic would literally only notice Silver's existence, and up until it's time for her to get fridged for the plot/for Silver to feel sad she does absolutely nothing in the story. Hell, having Silver be able to sacrifice himself for the future would be a far better ending to his character than him just standing there and watching his friend do all the work to kill herself, and you can easily justify it with the power of the Chaos Emeralds. You could fully remove her character up until that moment and nothing changes plotwise. Granted you could do that with a number of other 06 characters, but that just shows how atrocious the writing in that game was overall.

[@Lira_orpheus]

This is my suggested head cannon: Blaze from 06 is Blaze from the Chaos Dimension and Blaze from Rush is Blaze from the Sol Dimension. And Blaze is Sonic's equivalent not because she is Sonic in another dimension but because she carries the same title, she is the incarnation of good in her world, the protagonist. Like those 2 random worlds where aunt May is Spiderman instead of Peter Parker.

[@Captain.Mystic]

Its interesting to note just how much calmer the world is compared to how blaze is used to, she also clearly never actually cared about eggman unless hes after the emeralds. Which is visible in how nega acts, hes a lot more agressive because hes never had to deal with consistent failure like our eggman does. It also explains how nega would be able to open a hole to pull our eggman through, where sonic would already be off to punt him into the stratosphere the moment he caught whiff that eggheads up to something in order to keep harm to a minimum. It really shows that while blaze is mostly a mirror sonic, she never really took on the same sort of guardian role given all she was taught that matters were that the sol emeralds were what needed protecting, and her world suffered and became a far less safe place as a result (which is why shes so confused about why everyone is so chill, because she was the only one not clued in that sonic was on it without even really needing to be asked). Which leads into adventure, where blaze is clearly a lot more amicable to the idea of having a tagalong and helping those in need, while pursuing a relic she doesnt specifically need to defend(because clearly, the sol emeralds are themselves a tool to protect the world and not just something that needs to be defended on their own). (Also as someone who has never played 06 im suprised noone has ever actually mentioned she was in there. i was wondering why people were saying they were mad she was tied to silver nowadays when ive never seen her in anything outside the rush games and idw)

[@KidAL0]

The bravery to deny Silver and Blaze friendship 🫡

[@spritvio639]

The games did it first. After 06 Blaze and Silver aren't even in a scene together. Not even in Generations where they were both in the game.

[@KidAL0]

@@spritvio639 very true, I just meant within the fanbase. They never really let it go, not to mention the comics doubling down on it

[@creepy.bstanbtsbtw]

I'm brave, i'll deny it too. I like Silver, I really do, but Blaze's character suffers a lot when she is paired with him. Meanwhile her character really shines when she's with Sonic, Cream, Amy and potentially Marine if she's brought back ( which she should be).

[@tonycorona8501]

Before starting the video. How is Rush an hour episode where it has a simpler story than Battle? Because of 06? Ok, I'm gonna start.

[@spritvio639]

Because it has less fluff probably.

[@fandomlover6778]

I can’t wait for more

[@jacklong7386]

From what I heard about the Blaze continuity situation, they originally planned to have a connection to Rush with Blaze in 06 but then forgot or canceled the idea but kept her just because.

[@leonardoalvarenga7572]

You're forgetting that Sonic and Blaze see each other in 06 when the Egg Carrier crashes killing both Eggman and Elise who were aboard it. Sonic and Blaze didn't share a single word during that scene, implying that they really didn't know each other at that point and 06 really is a prequel to Rush.

[@Pariah6950]

I mean, that's more just a product of how Blaze is not relevant to Sonic's story, so the writer's just don't have them interact. It's just trash in general.

[@leonardoalvarenga7572]

@@Pariah6950 I agree that 06's writing is pretty bad, but looking at it with the preconceived notion that 06 takes place after Rush makes that even worse. Judging 06 purely by what it presents sure makes it far more likely to be a prequel (which makes it a little contrived) rather than a sequel (which makes it completely absurd).

[@creepy.bstanbtsbtw]

I mean if you say that, then I can point out how Blaze somehow managed to go burning blaze ( not her full form for some reason) in 06 at the end of Silver's story. HOW would she be able to do that if Rush didn't come first and if she wasn't a sol native? Makes no sense. Besides SEGA has already confirmed numerous times that Blaze is indeed from the Sol dimension and always has been.

[@leonardoalvarenga7572]

@@creepy.bstanbtsbtw 06 taking place before Rush doesn't stop Blaze from being from the Sol Dimension, though?

[@patrickbrown8228]

Now that you mentioned it, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the zelda series (even if its been done to death), you generally have a unique view on a lot of the content you review and go in depth with the mechanics more than most.

[@Pariah6950]

I'll talk about Zelda one day. But it probably will be a much more surface level discussion of each game. They're not exactly the most mechanically intricate games, you know?

[@patrickbrown8228]

Thats true, and if mechanically deep games are more up your alley, especially movement mechanics, then I’m looking forward to whatever you decide look into next.

[@maroonkennedy6213]

@@Pariah6950 I've been renting Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart from Gamefly since I just got a PS5. Maybe you can talk about the Ratchet & Clank series along with other Playstation platformers like Jak & Daxter or Sly Cooper, especially since you already mentioned Jak 2 a bit in your Shadow video

[@tivvy2vs21]

I love ys 8, that's kinda like Zelda, but with better combat

[@kelpyg9856]

It’s worth noting that Blaze’s Japanese bio for Sonic 06 outright states she’s the guardian of the Sol Emeralds and that she met up with Silver. So Sega did sorta try to tie the two backstories. It’s just not present anywhere in Sonic 06’s story lol

[@salem2772]

Nice review I love Blaze in this game. I recall Eggman Nega being used a bit better in Rivals 2 at least.

[@yuzuichikawa]

TORNADOES IN SPACE!! Sonic made TORNADOES in SPACE!

[@Master-e99]

Okay two things to say 1. I just played sonics story because it's SONIC rush...while i am like the idea of having another story like in other games like SA2 (even if SA2 came after) I just think that the main protagonist should win, aka the guy that asks for help when he needs it instead of pushing others away and -as the big man sonic says himself- carries the world on their shoulders. It also just feels right to see sonic win like he did in his story. And finally... 2. Racist eggman...that's it...eggman nega....Great.... Oh and one last thing, nice video!

[@pjunderrated]

44:41 had me completely STUNNED 😂😂😂😭😭💀💀💀

[@Cinnamon1161]

Something I find funny is that technically like sonic adventure the stories are out of order cause I’m pretty sure the story starts with blazes story cause after you beat leaf storm blaze says that she already has two emeralds but then again I could just be making things up which is completely possible

[@Amgitstigma]

I finished Rush back to front, always regarded it as 'the only good boost game', never absorbed the story at all apparently, damn. I already liked Blaze but total newfound appreciation for her. And also less appreciation for 06, as if it already didn't have it bad enough lol.

[@silveramyknux241]

44:29 I think this is why they retconned Eggman Nega to a descendent of Eggman. And since he hates Eggman in Rivals, Eggman Nega, as a name, could be seen as the opposite. Eggman is a failure while the Nega of that is a succeeder.

[@isaacargesmith8217]

I wonder if that multi-character story structure comes as an evolution on how S3&K did the knuckles stuff. If I recall knuckles got his own campaign right that told a slightly different story with his own exclusive stuff like a new final boss, new routes, and I think a new level? I could be mistaken on some of that but I do wonder if that's where that multi-character story idea stuff started before being fleshed out more by later games like SA1 and such. Also I still say its wasted potential that in 06 they didnt just make silvers companion in the future a metal sonic. Like tie it in with the time stones and CD. You beat him in the bad future in that game and it'd be VERY easy to just say eggman left that one in the future and just built another with the memories or something. I will never get why they had to choose blaze. You LITERALLY have amy as one of his amigos, go full in and make it a CD reference blaze barely even matters in the story anyways.

[@magolor-3100]

The canon reason why eggman nega is called that is because he lied about his origins and that's just a nickname he made. He's from the future and likes to travel to other dimensions and always lies about his name and origins. also, according to ian flynn in a bumblekast, that transparent blaze in the ending of 06 is somehow burning blaze

[@abyss-aster8748]

Honestly, I kinda would want to see sonic rush get some remaster or some reboot of the game cause it would be interesting if they would, try to fix the mistakes, specifically the story or whatever they feel like would be, right

[@justinc.5591]

The good thing about 06 is that the game retconned itself out of the continuity with its ending, so we can ignore it and just accept Rush as canon.

[@buttsbrown2442]

A real easy thing they could have done for blaze was simply that after the events of Rush blaze either ends up back in Sonic's world in the future through dimensional shenanigans, or 06 blaze could have been original blazes descendant who migrated over or something like that.

[@sb6196]

One thing I'm curious about is when you eventually get to the story of sonic colours which version will you be talking about. Because the ds version and the Wii version are somewhat different and the ds version actually has more story in some parts.

[@Pariah6950]

Both.

[@spritvio639]

The Colors video is going to be interesting because there are 3 versions of the story. The Japanese script, the English script and the DS story.

[@sonicwhite91]

@@spritvio639 I don’t think Pariah will cover the English script, and especially with that game, I wouldn’t blame him in the slightest.

[@sb6196]

@@Pariah6950 That's what I was hoping. most people only play the Wii version and don't even think about the ds version but they are pretty different games and I'm interested to see how you'll Handle them.

[@LeafRazorStorm]

Unfortunately, Colors and Lost World are in an awkward position where all the cutscenes were written and produced in English first, then the Japanese translation had to play damage control. A reverse-4Kids dub, if you will.

[@BlackFrostYT]

definitely my favorite sonic game

[@rufixlegacyproductions2001]

Eggman Nega really needs to make a return in the main series. This way it will give Blaze and Silver a better story arc so it's not limited.

[@Angel-ek4kl]

I have a theory of why Eggman Nega's name is the way it is, because in Sonic's dimension canon, Eggman's name is not his real name, but a nickname that Sonic gave him to make fun of his appearance, and Maybe, that's the case for Eggman Nega. My theory is that he, opposite to the original Eggman, didn't hear what Blaze called him very well, and assumed what she said, was based on his negative personality and embraced the name

[@pharaoh_of_chaos7755]

Amazing game and music 😄

[@NoHandle44]

This was my first Sonic game that I've finished. I really loved Blaze and was hoping to find her in a future mainline game. But was disappointed to find that never happened except for Sonic 06. Sad really.

[@jaxixteen]

Okay interesting, this was quite the fun video, Sonic rush is quite an interesting game I'll say that much, the story being friendship focused is pretty neat because Heroes kinda set that standard, ironic this game launched with Shadow the hedgehog in 2005 Also sorry about your whole Blaze thing, if it helps I don't think you're a pariah, just a funny guy.

[@Pariah6950]

It was years ago. I'm good now. And I don't wish it didn't happen. It was a tough time, but I grew a lot because of it. That's why I still use the name.

[@jaxixteen]

@@Pariah6950 nice, embracing the past but not defining yourself on it, glad things are alright for you

[@deltacosmic5358]

Eggman nega has to be the best villian name ever

[@StarForce99]

Funny about Eggman Nega is that he's from Sonic's universe, but in the far future, which explains why Silver knows him from his canon appearance: the Sonic Rivals games. And he also travels to dimensions because ofc he can. Oh and he hates Eggman because he thinks he can become better than him even dressing somewhat like him. Crazy and sadistic as well lol I like it 😆

[@Pariah6950]

That's just more stupid retcons. Eggman Nega was created to be Eggman's Sol Dimension counterpart.

[@FlergerBergitydersh]

As you pointed out, Blaze is from another Dimension in Rush Adventure, but even Colors DS, and I don't think 06 isn't a retcon at all. They just never got to write in how she got to the alternate future. Its not just in the story cutscenes that she mentions the blue hedgehog. She even says, in her Wave Ocean stage, that she has to warn Silver fast after thinking about the fact that that the person Silver is chasing is a blue hedgehog, but then seems to completely forget about it and do nothing, because the story wasn't finished, obviously. The original reason Mephiles sent Silver and Blaze to two completely different places was probably because as soon as Silver found Sonic, Blaze would recognize him. But again, that was written out, as well as most of what Blaze does, as she does practically nothing at all the whole damn game until the end, which is pretty suspicious, as every other character at least does SOMETHING. Amy may have not been the one to stop Silver from killing Sonic; it could have originally been Blaze. But either way, they would have had to write and animate and make gameplay around the fact that Blaze knew Sonic, which they didn't have time to do, so they didn't. Blaze isn't the only thing that makes no sense in 06, so it probably wasn't disrespect for the character as much as time constraints. So, in the end, the story was probably going to be more convoluted than it already was, but probably at least make way more sense. I honestly am not sure she acts that "different" in 06, but many things in 06's story and writing are bad, so any discrepancies could probably be explained away by that, if there are any. This original vision for 06 Blaze may further be backed up by the Sonic Rivals games, actually. You seem to know them better than I do, but I have a few theories. I forgot which one, but Silver was first introduced outside of 06 in that game, coming to the past due to future troubles, so it has to be canon (otherwise how is he in Generations and Forces?) AND I think Eggman Nega is also involved in that game too, which really confused me, but I began wondering if there was something linking Sonic's Future and Blaze's present. I'm not sure if that particular game fully explains everything either as I don't remember how much I completed of either Rivals game (as far as I remember, it doesn't), but Eggman Nega might very well have originated from Sonic's Future, getting the name some other way, and, after that Rivals game, went to Blaze's Present at some point in the future, only to encounter Sonic again, in Rush. He may have even sent Blaze to the future he was originally from, a future he originally left before the Flames of Disaster occured, so he wouldn't be affected by it, or the timeline changing. Sure, it sounds convoluted, but I don't know how else to explain it, but they already made it convoluted by making multiple time travel plots, especially multiple plots across multiple timelines, in a game, or possibly even 2, that had massively unfinished stories.

[@TronicSSJ07]

33:10 GODDAMN IT, PARIAH!💀

[@FlergerBergitydersh]

I'm not sure that Knuckles leaving Angel Island is a continuity error as much as a completely unexplained hole in the overall story across the games. In Adventure 2, the Master Emerald is clearly portable, and can be carried around. What IS never explained is how he gets away with Angel Island falling in his absence. In Adventure 2, I think we got to the Knuckles and Rouge scene after it was stolen by Rouge, and Knuckles caught up to her at that Egyptian-looking site, and he has no time to go back to the Island the whole game. But, then again, why even care about it flying? Maybe it's not the Island that's the problem, and that keeping it floating was originally a defense mechanism to keep people away from the Master Emerald and Its shrine. Which worked, until someone actually flew to the island and took it. And that kept happening. Maybe Knuckles was taught by the last of the Echidnas that the proper place for the Master Emerald is the shrine (a shrine that does work with the other emeralds). But with Sonic protecting and gathering the chaos emeralds all the time when they are taken from him, and Knuckles protecting something that is interfacing with no other emeralds, maybe the shrine is pointless now, and he has to slowly grow to accept it as the games go on, making excuses like "following strange energies" in Frontiers (his following of energies may have also led him into Rush's plot, with either Sol emeralds or splitting realities, who knows?). I doubt he left the island at all until the end of Adventure 1, but after seeing the outside world, and how the island was fine even without the Emerald, he began going out more. He even promises to leave the island more often at the end of Frontiers. But also, in the end...he maybe not be guarding the Master Emerald at all anymore; just the ruins of his fallen society. And Angel Island falling does put them more at risk to attack or investigation. He reacts so strongly to the ruins in Frontiers that resemble ruins on Angel Island, wanting to protect them at all costs. But maybe he just has to learn to let them go...both his ruins, and his fallen brethren. And start leaving every so often, not because the world is at risk, but because he wants to. Now if Sonic Team could just directly address this in the next game, or that "Big One" coming later that the Frontiers director was talking about, that would be great.

[@NIGHTBLOODUSAGI]

tbh i might be looking into this too much(is that even possible with sonic?) but when you said sonic and blaze were holding on to eachother as hard as they could that wasnt really so. sonic was the one who used both hands to hold onto blaze tighter but blaze only reached out to sonic when the handshake broke. i think story wise or however you say it blaze was more open to leaving while sonic wanted her to stay. it was kinda parallel though as sonic was holding blaze while blaze kinda let go while vice versa happened afterwards

[@creepy.bstanbtsbtw]

It's more like they both wanted to stay with eachother. Sonic, surprisingly, was the first one to show that he desperately wanted to hold on and stay with Blaze longer. Blaze who is new to any sort of friendship or affection, didn't know how to react. But it is shown by the visual of her reaching out after being pulled, that she realised that she wanted to stay with him too. I always took it as a visual representation of that of the chaos emeralds and sol emeralds. How they can "attract" and "repel" eachother. Two completely different entities that can be brought together and not want to let go, but eventually can get pulled apart.

[@NIGHTBLOODUSAGI]

@@creepy.bstanbtsbtw ooooh! i like that interpretation, real cool! maybe if there was a remaster or something they should make facial espressions for the cutscenes though cause i had no idea what you thought at the beginning was possible to think-

[@ChevySamk]

Another thing is that there is actually supposed to be a connection between sonic rush and '06, but remember that '06 didn't just get its gameplay half finished. Silver's antagonist in Sonic Rivals is Eggman Nega after all, and in that game he's stated to be Eggman's descendant from the future. I know some things the writers do overlook, but it's really coincidental that those three are mixed in together with that whole overarching, now unfinished plot. If I recall correctly though, there was supposed to be a Sonic '06 sequel and Silver standalone game as well, maybe to connect that all together. Oh well, after Yuji Naka left I reckon they just soft rebooted everything.

[@ChevySamk]

last part of my novel/thesis here is, correct me if I'm wrong, no one in the game or even Nega himself states that he's from the Sol Dimension.

[@bathilra5364]

i cant belive you achtully said the name of subtractive eggman

[@crimsonzone8984]

I have 3 theories for blaze being in silver's place in the 2006 video game. Theory 1.) Blaze is a ghost, a supernatural/metaphysical being that only a psychic user like silver can see. She died in past inline with the chaos dimension and she can't remember who sonic is. Theory 2.) Future blaze is different from princess blaze, and so it's like the honkai series where the developers can get away with reusing characters by having them come from a different era or from another world. This could actually be a great way to bring back the classic characters like ray and mighty, then give them silver's abilities to fit into his era. I've read a wiki about silver's era where telekinesis is their norm, which could imply that everyone in that era has PK. Theory 3.) The connection between the chaos dimension and the sol dimension works similar to a cartesian plane or coordinate system where both the sonicX-axis and the blazeY-axis intersect equal to each other into a sonic rush game. But in this case, there has been a possibility where the intersection between the sonicX-axis and the blazeY-axis are not equally paired, and so sonic rush never happened. Instead, the blazeY-axis coordinated beyond its equivalent. Thus blaze's arrival was beyond sonic's present, which is how blaze ended up in silver's future. And I guess she straight up gets hakaied like in dbs. Either way, it could all just be some kind of random timeline variant that shouldn't happen in any other timeline.

[@ChevySamk]

funny when people complained about the stories being overdramatic and complicated when Sonic's campaign in these games was pretty simple. Probably because he's usually the first option you choose and you need the narrative to hold your hand a little bit while getting used to the gameplay.

[@lukescrew1981]

I assume you're going to talk about sonic riders

[@worstness8259]

Woahhhhhhhhh eggman who now?

[@TheDiego908]

Should have pronounced it "Eggman Nayguh" just in case the video gets demonetized lol

[@jasonnguyen1072]

#CancelPariah

[@odd-eyesvon]

*Magnifying Glass emoji*