Everyone knows Sonic the Hedgehog.
He’s such a gaming icon that even Sonic’s supporting cast is pretty well known by mere
association.
People remember Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Dr. Eggman, Shadow, Silver, Blaze, Cream,
Big, Omega, Phew!
Metal Sonic, Rouge, Jet, the Chao, Orbot, Cubot, and even the Chaotix, Vector, Espio,
and Charmy.
And who could forget the rest of the Chaotix crew: Mighty the Armadillo, Heavy the Robot,
and Bomb the, uh, Bomb?
Okay, so maybe not every Sonic character is that well-known.
With so many, a few managed to slip through the cracks over the years and have almost
entirely...disappeared.
It’s time to cast the searchlight on these forgotten characters from Knuckles’ Chaotix.
Welcome to Missing in Action where we take a look back at game elements that have mysteriously
gone missing.
Although Knuckles’ Chaotix might not be the most well-known game in the Sonic series,
it did introduce Team Chaotix, which of course consisted of Knuckles, as well as brand new
characters including Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy the Bee, all
of whom have reappeared throughout the series.
But there is one more Chaotix who, although he might have seemed new at the time, actually
predates even Knuckles himself.
And that’s Mighty the Armadillo.
He first appeared 2-years earlier in 1993’s SegaSonic the Hedgehog, an arcade game that
was controlled with just a trackball and a single jump button.
And along with Sonic, he was joined by another brand new character, Ray the Flying Squirrel,
who, surprisingly enough, can’t actually fly.
Maybe that’s why he’s the comic relief in the game.
His design is very similar to Sonic, right down to his shoes.
Really, the only difference is his yellow fur, slightly darker skin tone, and the fact
that he uses his tail as a third hand in many of the animations of SegaSonic, including
as an attack when performing his spin jump.
But an arcade game isn’t really the best place for character development so not much
is known about Ray besides his more goofball portrayal.
Maybe that’s why he has been almost entirely forgotten.
Mighty, however, has a bit more history to him.
Because before Sonic even existed, one of the initial concepts for Sega’s then-unnamed
platformer was an armadillo character.
This was eventually changed to a hedgehog, since the developers believed its spines made
more sense for attacking enemies.
Because of this, it’s likely that Mighty’s design was based on those early ideas and
updated to better fit the Sonic aesthetic.
Which would explain why, like Ray, he looks so similar to Sonic.
I mean, they’re practically twins except for the black fur, pointier nose, and longer
ears.
Oh and, you know, the trademark red armor on his back.
I mean, he is an armadillo.
His personality in SegaSonic is as limited as Ray’s, though he appears to be the most
serious of the three playable characters.
Now while Mighty did go on to reappear in Knuckles’ Chaotix, Ray wasn’t as lucky.
At the time, it seemed like Ray might have had a future, as he actually cameoed as a
keychain the following year in the Sega Saturn game, Gale Racer, along with Mighty and other
Sonic characters.
And yet, this was the end of the road for Ray’s career as he’s never returned since.
C’mon Sega, why’d you leave him hanging?
Anyway, while Ray promptly disappeared into obscurity, Mighty returned for 1995’s Knuckles’
Chaotix on the Sega 32X.
The Japanese manual even elaborated on his personality, describing him as a gentle and
caring pacifist who only commits violence when there’s no other option.
In reality, he’d prefer to simply travel, dreaming of one day seeing every corner of
the world.
His abilities were also expanded with a spin dash like most of the other characters, and
a unique wall jump that allows him to scale certain shafts or reach higher platforms.
But it’s his continued connection to Sonic that’s the most interesting.
In a prototype of the game, Sonic was actually supposed to be playable.
For whatever reason, the hedgehog was dropped and replaced by Mighty instead.
In a way, it mirrors how Sonic replaced Mighty in the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
And when you compare the animations that were in place for Sonic in the prototype to Mighty’s
animations in the final version, we can see that they’re exactly the same.
But, sadly, this is the last time Mighty would be seen in the Sonic series.
As for the other Chaotix members, Vector, Charmy, and Espio, they would all return eventually.
However, there were still two other members of the group.
At least technically.
The first was Bomb...the Bomb.
He’s a bomb.
Moving on, the other is Heavy the Robot who was originally built by Dr. Eggman and claims
to have defected to the Chaotix in order to help them.
However, he seems to be more of a hindrance than anything.
Yes, he can destroy most enemies just by touching them, but he’s so heavy, naturally, that
he’s slow and just can’t jump very high.
Although it’s not explicitly stated, the manual does suggest that Heavy and Bomb, who
is also said to be a defector, are not actually traitors to Eggman at all.
Instead, they were designed by the Doctor to hinder Knuckles and the Chaotix.
It’s not spelled out either way, but it makes sense considering that Heavy does slow
down the character he’s paired with and Bomb, despite being fast and able to jump
high, explodes when hit, damaging anyone near him--including his partner.
Hmmm.
Heavy and Bomb are also the only two that cannot be paired together making their allegiance
to Chaotix even more suspicious.
But Heavy can be made useful when paired with Charmy as the leader.
Between Heavy’s destructive ability and Charmy’s flight, Heavy can become a literal
wrecking ball.
But Heavy and Bomb never appeared again and haven’t even been mentioned in ages.
In fact, they’re not even really considered part of the Chaotix due to their unknown loyalty,
instead being listed as the Mechanix.
It wasn’t until Sonic Heroes released in 2004 that any of the Chaotix returned.
But why were the other Chaotix members, specifically Mighty, dropped?
Yes, there were only three spots available, so why was it decided that Vector and Espio
would be included when Mighty could’ve filled in either of their roles.
Could it be because of how similar Mighty is to Sonic in design?
At any rate, while Sonic games have a huge cast of characters that are well-known, these
four just aren’t.
But as it turns out, Sega hasn’t completely forgotten about them...or rather, they remembered
that they had forgotten about them.
In the City Escape level of Sonic Generations, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel
both made cameo appearances, fittingly enough, on missing posters, which both say “Missing
since 1993.”
Although that’s technically incorrect for Mighty.
After all, we just went over how he appeared in 1995.
So maybe Sega doesn’t remember them THAT well.
And nobody cares about Heavy or Bomb since they were considered to be more booby prizes
than anything else in Knuckles’ Chaotix.
But beyond these small references, and non-canon appearances in the Archie comics, all of the
forgotten Chaotix are completely missing in action.
So where did Mighty and the others go?
Maybe we should ask the hedgehog himself.
Hey Sonic!
#WhereIsMighty?
So will he and the rest of these missing characters ever be found?
All we can do is wait and see.
What about you though?
Would you like to see the rest of Chaotix return?
And is there anything else that’s gone missing that you want found?
Let us know by posting in the comments and we may feature it in a future episode.
Thanks for watching, and make sure to stay tuned to GameXplain for more Missing in Action
and other things gaming.