There’s a bit of irony to the fact that a show called Missing in Action has itself
gone missing...in action.
But what matters is that we’re back, and there’s some unfinished business when it
comes the Sonic the Hedgehog’s missing friends, which we last checked in on nearly two years
ago.
Back then, we focused on the lost members of the Chaotix and Ray the Flying Squirrel.
However, there are still more characters to track down and they’re all connected by
the arcade curiosity known as Sonic the Fighters.
So it’s time to cast the searchlight on these mostly forgotten fighters from Sonic’s
past.
Welcome to Missing in Action where we take a look back at game elements that have mysteriously
gone missing.
Now while Sonic the Fighters might be the starting point for most of these characters,
one of them made their debut two years earlier on the Game Gear in Sonic: Triple Trouble.
Yep, that’s good ol...
Nack the Weasel?
Wait, what?!
Well, as it turns out, Fang the Sniper was renamed to Nack the Weasel to be more child
friendly for his English debut, although every game since has reverted to what’s become
known as his working name, Fang.
And he has appeared in more Sonic games than any other of these forgotten characters
It wasn’t much of a start though.
Despite being one of the billed Troubles in Triple Trouble, Fang only appeared during
the Special Stages and would challenge Sonic for the Chaos Emeralds.
He mostly used his airbike and would attach various weapons in a vain attempt to best
the hedgehog.
Despite only appearing in that limited fashion, Fang would return a year later as a playable
character in the Game Gear racer, Sonic Drift 2.
Here his airbike received its official name: the Marvelous Queen, which could accelerate
quickly, but at the cost of handling.
In addition, Fang’s special ability allowed him to toss out oil in an attempt to spin
out other racers.
But Fang’s final playable appearance was indeed Sonic the Fighters, although this time
without the Marvelous Queen.
He instead relied on a popgun, as he’s not especially strong otherwise except for his
tail which he used for attacks and to spring into the air.
Yet despite all of these appearances, his personality isn’t exactly well defined,
beyond being described as a treasure hunter in the Triple Trouble manual.
But that, combined with having “sniper” in his name has lead many to envision him
as greedy and sneaky.
And yeah, there might be some speciesism mixed in there--he is a weasel after all.
Although from what we see in his debut, he’s more often defeated by his own traps than
anything else.
Maybe he orders his stuff from ACME, which doesn’t have the best track record?
*Wile E. Coyote Clip* That said, in order to be a true fighting
game, Sonic the Fighters was going to need a few more characters, and that’s where
the rest of this forgotten crew comes into play.
The first was Bean the Dynamite, a duck that specializes in bombs...but you had to be careful,
as he’s vulnerable to the explosions too!
Otherwise, he was able to use his beak like a punch combo.
But Bean also has a bit of a unique history himself as he wasn’t an entirely original
design.
Instead, his general appearance is heavily inspired by another Sega AM2 game, 1988’s
Dynamite Dux.
Placed sIde by side, you can see the clear resemblance between Bean and his predecessors
Bin and Pin, only now with green feathers instead of red or blue, and dropping the bowties
in favor of a scarf.
Also, was that the f**cking Colonel?
A-anyway, that uncanny resemblance, not to the Colonel, has since been given an official
explanation, at least according to the official Japanese guide book for Fighters Megamix,
a Sega AM2 crossover fighter for the Sega Saturn where Bean appeared as an unlockable
character.
It states that Bean is the son of one of the Dynamite Dux, Bin, and sure enough, he even
has an unlockable costume that makes him look like his father.
But beyond the family resemblance, he’s never really been given much a personality.
His fast movements and proclivity toward bombs give the impression of a wild card and this
was pushed even further into the fan mindset thanks to the Archie comics.
There, he’s so extremely eccentric that he barely takes anything seriously, even pointing
out once that his word bubbles were upside down.
Oddly enough, the other character that debuted in Sonic the Fighters has a more defined personality...sort
of, because none of it comes from the game itself.
Instead, it all comes from the official guide for Fighters Megamix.
Bark the Polar Bear is described as a nature-lover with a good heart but can be blunt despite
his shyness, and that last trait is one the Archie comics seem to have honed in on as
he’s completely silent.
Like Bean, Bark was an unlockable character for that Sega Saturn fighter, where his alternate
costume was a Santa outfit.
You know, because of the cold, and maybe to emphasize his kind nature.
Despite Bean and Bark’s inclusion in Fighters Megamix, no other Sonic characters made it
into the game, not even as a cameo, which makes sense since Sega AM2 are the creators
of Bark and Bean.
However, only Bean appeared as a special unlockable character in AM2’s Virtua Striker 2, as
part of MVP Yuki Chan’s team and it’s one of the few times Bark and Bean are not
together.
In fact, they’re often paired together in the Sonic comics along with Fang the Sniper
as Team Hooligan, which has become the accepted name for these guys in the fanbase.
But if you want to go truly obscure for Sonic the Fighters characters, it’s hard to top
Honey the Cat, who almost wasn’t a character at all on account of the fact that she was
cut from the initial release of the game.
However, in true cat nature, she eventually landed on her feet when she was officially
reinserted back into the game for the HD re-release 16 years later on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
And like Bean, her design is based off an existing AM2 character, in this case being
Honey--or Candy, as you may know her from the English release--of Fighting Vipers.
Honey shares the same outfit, fighting style, and moves as her human counterpart.
This is because Sonic the Fighters was initially designed around Fighting Vipers, only with
Sonic characters instead.
And she was likely made a cat because many of Honey the human’s moves were named after
cats, like “Cat Scratch” or “Cat Punch.”
Interestingly, this also technically makes her the first Cat character in a Sonic game.
Big the Cat was just too slow.
Strangely, Honey the Cat was able to glide in the game like Knuckles thanks to the wings
on the back of her dress.
It still doesn’t make a lot of sense, but she is basically just a bonus character.
That would also explain why she has no real discernible personality, as there wasn’t
really a reason to give her one.
Although once again the Archie comics help fill in the blanks portraying her as friendly,
yet shrewd when it comes to her fashion business, Honey Brand Clothes and Accessories.
And perhaps unsurprisingly, this is it--she’s made no other appearances outside of Archie
Comics, which makes sense seeing as she is indeed a cut character.
As for the rest of the characters, that was pretty much the end of the line--with one
big exception which we’ll get to soon enough.
Otherwise, the members of Team Hooligan disappeared from the face of the Earth, making only small
cameo appearances for the next 20 years.
One of the first was in the Game Gear exclusive Tails’ Adventure, Fang can be seen on the
icon for the Fang item, which makes every destroyed enemy drop a ring, tying into his
treasure hunting background.
And all of the Sonic the Fighters characters appear as collectible figurines in Shenmue
1 and 2, with the obvious exception of Honey.
As for Team Hooligan, the last time Sonic Team acknowledged their existence was in Sonic
Generations where Wanted posters for all three could be found in City Escape.
Fang’s poster even lists both of his names, suggesting that Nack the Weasel is his real
name while Fang the Sniper is his alias.
It also states that he’s wanted for theft and extortion while Bean and Bark are shown
together yet again and stated to be armed and dangerous.
And that would’ve been it for the Hooligans if it weren’t for Christian Whitehead and
his team bringing them all back in Sonic Mania as part of Mirage Saloon.
Not only can Wanted posters be found for them in Act 2, one of the three, chosen randomly,
arrives to destroy the Tornado at the end of Act 1.
All of them then return as illusions as part of Heavy Magician’s boss fight.
The Fang illusion bounces around on his tail while firing his pop gun, the Bean illusion
tosses bombs, and the Bark illusion pounds the ground to make debris fall from the sky.
And seeing as Sonic Mania is a celebration of Sonic, it was a wonderful surprise to see
these three return...even if these aren’t technically the characters themselves, on
account of them being illusions.
Still, it begs the question, could we actually see even more of the Hooligans in a future
Sonic game?
Could Christian Whitehead’s team possibly bring back Mighty and Ray from our previous
episode?
It’s more than a little shocking that something covered on Missing in Action could actually
return.
Up until now, our subjects have felt like lost concepts that were simply abandoned,
but never count out fans with an affinity for the obscure.
What about you though?
Would you like to see the return of the Hooligans in a bigger role?
And is there anything else that’s gone missing that you want found?
Let us know by posting in the comments below and we may feature it in a future episode.
Thanks for watching, and make sure to click that subscribe button for future Missing in
Action episodes and even more from GameXplain!