I’m not usually one to come up with parallels between various games or cartoons but this one jumped out at me one day. Now the Sonic and Mega Man games alone possess very few similarities, and those that exist are just coincidences. But the old Captain N shows and the newer Freedom Fighter Sonic cartoons and comics really seem to be peas of the same pod. I thought I’d mention the similarities, since it seems that nearly every major character and concept has a direct parallel, which is unusual.
(Please note that for some of these parallels, I am taking the liberty of acknowledging all “universes” including video games and comic books.)
For instance:
- Mobius = Videoland
- Though Mobius deals generally with just Sonic games, whereas Videoland is many various video games, both universes are made up of many different worlds (called Zones in Mobius) which often have their own people and laws of physics.
- Freedom Fighters = N-Team
- Both are teams that were formed by the below Princesses for the purpose of fighting back against an evil bad guy trying to take over their worlds. Both are made up of a small band of specialized warriors.
- Princess Sally = Princess Lana
- Both are princesses who are ruling in the absence of their father, the king, who is the rightful ruler of the throne but was banished somewhere by the big evil bad guy. Both have formed a small of team of rebel warriors to try to keep their kingdom from being overrun by above-mentioned big evil bad guy. Both are sad about losing their fathers and want to find said fathers.
- Sonic = Kevin
- Both are the main heroes of their respective teams. They were both late-comers, who joined their team when most of the other members were already a part of the team. Both quickly built themselves to being the “hero” of the team, and mostly in charge though the Princesses mentioned above of course have final say. Both are in love with their respective Princesses.
- Antoine = Simon
- Both were part of the team before above-mentioned Heroes came along. Both have egos and are insanely jealous of the Heroes. Neither does much in most of their respective cartoons except provide comic relief. Both are in love with the Princesses.
- Tails = Kid Icarus
- Both are small, young, and can fly. Both have orange hair/fur. They are regarded as “children” by the rest of their teams, and are therefore usually given lesser tasks that aren’t as dangerous, such as spying or guard duty. Both are more or less left out of most of the cartoon plotlines, acting more as bit characters than anything else.
- Bunny = Mega Man
- Both are part robot, and get their incredible strength and other abilities from being half robot. Like Tails/Kid Icarus, both are also somewhat left out of the cartoon plots, except in those episodes where they are purposefully given the spotlight.
- Rotor = Dr. Light
- Both are mechanics and scientific. Neither do much fighting but instead act as more of the science head of the team.
- Knuckles = Proto Man
- Even though Proto Man isn’t in the Captain N shows, and Knuckles isn’t in most of the Sonic cartoons (he’s in the comics), this parallel was just too strong to ignore. So if you consider all forms—games, comics, and cartoons—you get:
Both are red and white, are similar to the main characters of their respective games in some way (Knuckles is an animal similar to a hedgehog; Proto Man is Mega Man’s prototype), can perform most if not all of the same moves as these main characters, came in during the third game, were thought to be evil when they were first encountered, and in the cartoons remain evil (though in some cases, the truth is used instead, which is that they are both good). Both are mysterious types who do things their own way, yet they acknowledge that the above-mentioned Teams are trying to accomplish good things. So though not members of these Teams, they often pitch in to help. - Dr. Robotnik = Dr. Wily
- (I list this because this parallel is stronger than the “Robotnik = Mother Brain / Wily = Snively” parallels that you get if you consider the cartoons alone.) Both are evil scientists who are trying to take over their respective worlds, and do so by creating hordes of robots. Both have mustaches.
Both have primary antagonists in the form of a little blue dude, but also have to occasionally deal with the entire Team as well.
Some ideas about Knuckles from Jonathan Leung.
Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are trademarks of SEGA.