Mighty the Armadillo was one of the earlier supporting characters added to the now ever
blossoming roster of Sonic’s pals.
First introduced in 1993, the character has disappeared from the more recent Sonic games,
much to some devoted followers disdain.
So where did he go?
And why did Sega decide to axe him?
We aim to answer those questions and more with our list of the top 10 Mighty the Armadillo
Shocking Facts.
10 First Appearance Despite being known mainly for his involvement
in Knuckles Chaotix, Mighty’s first appearance was in SegaSonic the Hedgehog.
He was captured by Robotnik and imprisoned on Eggman Island where he was supposed to
be executed along two other Sonic characters – Sonic himself and Ray the Flying Squirrel.
The three worked together to break out, and fought against Robotnik before the mad genius
blew up the Island all together.
9 Knuckles Chaotix In Chaotix, Mighty stumbles upon Newtrogic
High Zone’s island while on his travels.
He’s then captured by Robotnik, who has occupied the island while planning to steal
the Master Emerald.
He ends up being freed by Knuckles and Espio the Chameleon before joining their group to
take Eggman down.
8 Missing After Chaotix, Mighty would appear in three
more games – Sonic Jam, Sonic Gems Collection and Sonic Generations, all of which were only
cameos.
The cameo in Sonic Generations is a pretty one.
The character, alongside Ray the Flying Squirrel, appears on missing posters scattered through
City Escape in the console and PC versions of the game.
The poster features both of their faces and text that reads Missing since 1993.
The character’s name is also spelt wrong – Armadillo is spelt with two d’s and
1 L.
7 Sonic Mania Plus We haven’t seen much of Mighty since his
days in Knuckles Chaotix.
Sonic Generations was the last game the character appeared in, but it won’t be his last.
The character is slated to be playable for the upcoming Sonic Mania Plus, an upgraded
edition of the commercial retro hit Sonic Mania.
In addition to Mighty’s inclusion, Ray the Flying Squirrel will also be a playable character,
there will be an Encore Mode added to the game (which remixes the Zones with visual
changes) and the competition mode will be expanded to allow 4 players.
The expansion will be released on August 28th of this year in the US.
6 His Disappearance We’ve never really gotten an official statement
from Sega concerning the reason why Mighty has disappeared from the Sonic games.
But, Takashi Iizuka, known for being one of the key producers, directors and designers
for Team Sonic, has stated that Mighty is considered to be part of the “classic world”
and the :classic group of characters”.
He went on to say that Mighty still exists in Sonic’s world, and there is always the
possibility of some ‘classic iteration’ of the character, which has come to fruition
with Sonic Mania Plus.
5 The Comics The Sonic the Comic series has taken a bit
of a different approach with Mighty’s character.
Not to be mistaken with the Archie comics, this series featured a version of Mighty that
had him acting as the strongman of the Chaotix Crew, and he would often act without thinking.
He had a rivalry with Espio the Chameleon, and often the two would get into arguments
about who the better fighter was.
4 Blockhead Bill In the Sonic the Comic series, Mighty has
a father, whose named Blockhead Bill.
Bill has been described as a senile ‘super strong superhero’, who constantly mistakes
people for his old foes, including Sonic.
He also mistakes his own reflection in a mirror as being his ‘brother’, despite never
having a brother in the first place.
In the Archie comics, Mighty has a different family origin – he was born into a family
of thieves who were all imprisoned.
When he failed to save them, he exiled himself out of guilt, and later joined the Chaotix.
3 His Creation Mighty’s creator is Manabu Kusunoki, who
was a former developer and designer for the Sonic Team.
He first began designing characters for SegaSonic the Hedgehog.
Of his creation, he stated in 2018, “Yes I designed the armadillo and flying squirrel
characters.
I did come up with backstories for them, but I can’t recall them anymore.
I do recall why I chose those two animals, though in order for them to control just like
Sonic did, they needed to be animals that could have the same proportions, with heads
that were roughly half the size of the body.
And since the game starred a hedgehog, which is a relatively obscure animal, I wanted him
compaions to be equally unusual.”
The squirrel character he is referring to is Ray the Flying Squirrel, who Mighty is
first introduced alongside.
2 Dislikes violence According to the Knuckles Chaotix instruction
manual, Mighty is very much a pacifist, and really dislikes violence or any sort of roughness.
That being said, the character has been known to get past his disdain in times of need and
use his strength whenever there’s trouble around, and no other option when it comes
to taking care of it.
It also states that he prefers his life to be filled with peace, and enjoys activities
that perpetuate that and his love of nature, like forest bathing.
1 Loves to Travel Another fact about Mighty pulled straight
from the Chaotix instruction manual is that he loves to travel.
His goal in life is to travel to all of the places in the world.
Considering he doesn’t seem to hang out with Sonic or Knuckles these days anymore,
perhaps he’s out there living the dream.
There we have it friends!
Are you fans of Mighty?
Are you excited to see him return in Sonic Mania Plus?
Let us know in those comments below!
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