What do you trust more when it comes to Sonic's speed? The lore or the games? Also, huge thank you to Surfshark VPN for making videos like this possible. Get Surfshark VPN at surfshark.deals/CHAOMIX to get 83% off and 3 extra months for FREE!
My headcanon was that Sonic is actually a lot faster than everyone else but chooses to go slower so they can keep up like in Sonic 2, 3&K, Mania, Heroes and the opening cutscene to Shadow the Hedgehog. Two examples of Sonic using his full speed would be in the intro to Sonic Heroes where boulders and pillars are collapsing and Sonic grabs Tails and Knuckles and blasts off even faster. The second example is the Sonic CD cutscene. When he goes up the chain to Little Planet, you can see him creating a Sonic Boom in the water (suddenly the song makes a lot more sense).
I think that sonic's friends can also reach surreal speeds but obviously not the same as sonic's. I mean, not everyone can accompany Sonic's adventures, they should be someone strong and resistant, because if a human (for example) tried to run at sonic speeds... he would die instantly because again, he is not strong and resistant, he never trained or has no experience in it. I think Sonic also takes some care in selecting his friends. Maybe it would explain why he didn't like Amy accompanying him.
@@slavishentity6705 Id argue that he could just barrel through walls. Hes fast enough and durable enough to slam through them. Also MUCH faster than sound imo. Especially with feats like CD, Sonic 2(game), secret rings, unleashed, colors, generations, and forces.
@@chriss.249 Im sure he could, and often dust bust down walls, it depends on his surroundings. Eggman facility? Sure no problem. Running through spagonia, sonic is sure to be more careful of his surroundings.
Sonic being the canonically 'fastest character' does not mean he is always going at his top speed 100% of the time. I always imagined Sonic purposefully slows himself down so that his friends can keep up and so he doesn't hurt the environment. I also love how Sonic has speed rivals who can 'almost' move as fast as him but can never quite keep up but only thanks to external help or additional abilities. Metal Sonic has his jet engine, Shadow has his air shoes, Silver his psychokinesis, and Blaze (who is shockingly absent from this video) who propels herself with her flames. Sonic is the only character who's speed is his main ability, a power that he himself uses rather than achieves through additional means. Side note: in the Dark Story final battle against Sonic, Sonic is seen using Chaos Control to teleport ahead if the player gets to far ahead of him and even in the in-game cutscenes Sonic can teleport using a fake emerald so Shadow's ability to teleport is not an ability exclusive to him, meaning it can't be used as reasoning for Shadow to be faster.
This is something I've always thought about ever since I was a kid My headcanon is that Sonic's friends can *keep up* with him, but *aren't faster than him*
You could go one further and say certain characters (E.g Blaze, Shadow, Metal Sonic and Surge) can keep up with a full throttle Sonic while others (E.g Knuckles, Amy, Tails and Cream) can keep up with a standard Sonic in terms of running speed.
I haven't even watched the video yet but let me state my original opinion before watching the video: I like to think Sonic is a considerate friend and slows down for his friend for them to be able to keep up and also i don't think Sonic goes full throtle every single time he runs
honestly that's a good way to explain it. sonic's probably the type of guy to take a minute to enjoy the view on his adventures, something you can't exactly do if you're running at mach 5 all the time
If he was constantly moving at the speed of sound he’d leave a path of destruction behind him because of all the sonic booms he’d create so that’s probably part of it too
This is interesting. I was always under them assumption that characters like Shadow and Blaze could rival his speed while everyone else could keep up but never surpass or rival him. They usually have other abilities to give them a upper hand like Knuckels' strength
Agreed but it's pretty shocking to see folks still forget/don't know most Sonic characters have variable degrees of super speed, e.g: I saw plenty people online and in the cinema being confused at both (Paramount) Tails and Knux having super speed as well as keeping up with Sonic, yet more proof of the garbage treatment most of the extended cast used to receive in Sonic various media (most notably in the 3D videogame titles) before the "new" era.
I always liked Gnoggin's perspective. Comparing Sonic to Superman in the sense that he always holds back his power unless absolutely necessary, mostly in order to protect the people and environment around him
Not only that, but going at that kind of speed in most of these areas would be a bad idea even if you didn't care about the area around you. The Lost Hex, for example, is filled with obstacles such that there's only a few places that are enough of a straight shot for it to be safe to go faster.
A few things 1) Sonic Battle's "Shadow Run" card description, Sonic Rivals's manual and Shadows character description in the Encyclo-Speed-ia all are rather clear about Shadow only being able to keep up with Sonic because of his shoes. 2) A few of the tests here weren't really chosen well. Like the Adventure 1 one just give Tails a huge advantage as a characters weight is taken into consideration for there acceleration and deceleration as well in how boosters and springs interact with them. Tails being a lighter character than Sonic loses speed slower on inclines meaning in this opening segment of Speed Highway did Tails got to keep the speed of the booster for longer making him be number 1. 3) If I recall correctly is the basic idea that most of Sonic friends are also super fast but Sonic is speed wise far ahead of them if he really tries. Tho many can make up the average speed difference by using there other abilities like in the semi-recent Sonic Channel story with Cream were the narrator states that while Sonic is faster can Cream always keep up with Sonic using her flying and clever navigation.
You took the words right out of my mouth. Also, Sonic is jogging is in his card. He's probably be faster than Ultimate Emerl if he tried lol. But I think the Adventure 2 test was fine at very least. It was clearly a case of gameplay first before lore. But hey, maybe Tikal was faster than Sonic in her time, who can say for sure? ;)
That's what I was thinking, the Adventure 2 test was on a kind of janky halfpipe. I feel like Meteor Herd would be a good testing area since it's flat.
@@benhoward3865 I would say the 1 issue with the adventure fields is that most of them aren't really big enough. Maybe a few of the paths in the Mystic ruins but those are rather uneven. Tho that being said could Chaomix totally have used the Adventure fields for 06 as almost everyone is playable on them ones and they were designed for moments of long running in a straight line (especially the forest)
You'd be surprised by how much Sonic holds back just to have fun The only rival is Shadow since he has 4 inhibitor rings that suppress his full potential
Sonic 2: the Movie showed the perfect solution for the fast friends problem. Both Knuckles and Tails showed high speed. And with that they could keep up with Sonic for the most part not making akward moments when blue hedgehog waits everyone on the destination place for hours. Yet I believe that Tails' flight at around the speed of sound and Knuckles' run at round 60 miles per hour are their peak. While Sonic can accelerate himself so much that even rockets are stopped. All of them are fast but Sonic is on the other level
Sonic holds back due to just being a nice person, and I like the belief that he also holds back due to the environment around him (towns and cities, even something like Green Hill could be destroyed by him constantly going his max). Secondly, iirc, Sonic in Sonic Colours DS refers to light speed as small time to him when he exceeds Omega’s records of his abilities.
@@crimsonzone8984 although it's technically canon, the IDW comics are quite inconsistent when compared to the games. A great example would be knuckles and tails needing to team up for chaos 0, even though they both could solo that guy easily in games.
@@crimsonzone8984 True but his fight with surge, she said her speed of light would basically obliterate his speed of sound with sonic basically having a face expression of😶 while simultaneously keeping up with her and at one point in the fight he blitzes her and she couldn't even see him.
@@crimsonzone8984 IDW is sometimes inconsistent, Surge says that Sonic goes the speed of sound. Even though the creator says Sonic goes beyond the speed of light.
I always felt like it should be canon that Shadow's air shoes are powered by his own energy. So its valid to say he is just as fast or faster than Sonic. The shoes just help him channel his power into speed. Similar to how his inhibitor rings help him control his chaos powers.
It makes the most sense. I mean why waste time and research on a power source for his shoes along with the problem of the controlling them when the one wearing them literally has the enough chaos energy to power a large town.
About that. I don’t remember where i saw this info. But apparently, shadow is supposed the same speed as sonic in the comics, but now he’s shown to be just a little slower. If this info is wrong please tell me.
@mistergg9150 From what I recall of the comics, they’re usually shown at similar speeds and keeping pace with each other. Most notable moment otherwise was after Shadow became a Zombot and didn’t use his shoes on that state. Though it also kinda makes me wonder if Zombot Sonic would still access his speed.
I always assumed they have their own ways of keeping up with him, but none of them besides shadow, blaze, maybe silver. Can truly keep up with him when he’s actually trying. But none of them still are faster than him
@@favoriyanda9807 yea that’s why I say maybe. Idk for sure I feel like I’ve seen somewhere silver is also really fast just not faster than sonic but I could be wrong
I've heard theories that he slows down for the sake of others because if he's goes too fast he'd end up hurting the environment and Sonic is a huge nature lover so ya know
Fun fact: Sonic is constantly improving in speed and power, that's a reason why in generations Modern Sonic can defeat bosses he's already faced before without the need for Super Sonic, whereas previously he needed the chaos emeralds to fully defeat them. Perfect Chaos is a great showcase of this, in Sonic Adventure Sonic defeated Perfect Chaos by using the emeralds to calm his heart, but in Generations he didn't need them to do the same, his positive energy alone made up for that, and Super Sonic's power would've just been overkill. The adventure Test was 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙔 scuffed. Metal Sonic is literally the same speed as sonic, he's a reskin. Tails looses speed slower than sonic due to his weight, Knuckles goes downhill faster due to his weight. The Adventure 2 Test is funny cause if you just run in a circle with each character in the Chao Garden, you'd see, no 𝑭𝑬𝑬𝑳 that Eggman is faster than everyone else. (Also Tikal is just broken, pls nerf.) Finally, one last thing, Sonic's speed both in game and out of game is similar to Spider-Man's damage, they're Constantly holding back. At this point, Sonic can run about as fast as light if he really wanted to.
Looking forward to that Frontiers DLC with other playable characters because it's been too damn long since we could last play as Sonic's friends in a mainline 3D title. Sixteen years in fact, going on seventeen.
@@JustAFunnyFella I suppose I kinda borrowed it from the Disney Robin Hood with the little rabbit kid, Skippy, having his birthday party and he says he's "seven, going on eight."
I remember reading a fanfiction where Tails turns fifteen and it becomes clear that he's faster than Sonic. Sonic becomes insanely jealous that Tails has overtaken him so he decides to frame Tails for murder. I don't remember much about what happened after that, but I recall that it ended with Tails having a big shootout with the police out in the middle of the desert. haha good times.
Honestly superhuman physicality (including super speed) is the baseline standard in the Sonic franchise. It just varies on the character archetype (Power, Speed, Fly or Balance) and overall role within the story/world. Think of it like this; Spider-Man and Thor both have super strength however they're clearly in two different leagues of power as well as roles within the Marvel world, Sonic is kinda the same when comparing speed levels among his friends and rivals.
Before watching the video: I've always been of the belief that sonic never really utilizes his full speed. Idk about you, but I would not wanna hang out with my friend if he was constantly *breaking the speed of light* and leaving me in the dust
@@scorch_the_hedgehog Sonic does not slow down for anyone. Sonic is a free spirit, he lives life by his own rules and is not bound by anything or anyone. Nothing stops Sonic from doing what he wants and going where he wants. He will not slow down or stop running for the sake of anyone else. When Sonic first met Tails, Sonic was just living his life and exploring the island on his own whim. Tails just so happened to start following him, but Sonic was not paying Tails any mind. Sonic was not slowing down to give Tails a chance, he just went about his day and let Tails do whatever because he ultimately didn't care much at all. Tails is Sonic's best friend and brother now because he was capable of keeping up with Sonic in spite of all that, and proving himself as capable of helping him out.
In Heroes, the speed formation shows the slower characters following behind the Speed character. I think they may be drafting to keep up instead of straight up matching their speed.
12:46 lore over gameplay. Like you said, it'd be literally impossible to play a Sonic game if he was actually going at the speed of sound. Plus I always figured his friends were CLOSE to Sonic's speed, but not exactly.
I like how Mania handled it, where everyone is capable of going really fast but Sonic is the best at maintaining his momentum with the drop dash, sure they all basically have the same max speed but Sonic felt faster than them since if you know what your doing, you rarely ever lose a lot of speed while Knuckles and Tails have a lot more moments where they slow down a lil bit
I always used to think that Sonic just creates a sort of "air vortex" that increases the speed of his friends who are running near him. Plus he obviously isn't running at his fullest speed to catch up with them
I think that is a large reason Sega won't use the other characters. They all overshadow, (pun intended,) Sonic in terms of abilities and if they are featured in a game, (only Shadow these past few years if at all,) they are usually nerfed as not to be better than the main character.
As many surmised, they can probably keep up with him to an extent. Gameplay wise, it'd probably not do well to have all your cast slow and only one character fast (or four considering Shadow, Metal Sonic and Silver). Another angle of view is to know how often does Sonic actually run at his top speed ? He usually goes fast but does he usually tap into his top speed ?
Y’know it’s kinda like how one of the GOW creators said in an interview, “Kratos, The God of war struggles to open a chest.” He continued by saying that without game play mechanics there is no game basically
About Shadow, I think he’s actually fast on his own like Sonic, and the air shoes merely boost his speed. I was thinking about this the other day, and I came to this conclusion because if it was only the air shoes that made him fast he wouldn’t be able to make all those sharp turns and zig zags at high speeds when keeping up with Sonic. I mean if they operate similarly to aircraft engines like jets and rockets, it wouldn’t be possible (have you ever seen either make sudden maneuvers that fast?). Not to mention he has to have some sort of speed of his own considering he’s even able to operate at high speeds like that in the first place without constantly crashing into walls.
I think '06 actually would've been a pretty important data point here, to reconcile the lore with the games. Sure, comparing the characters head-to-head in normal gameplay, the results probably would've been similar to all the other games, with everyone pretty close together and Sonic not necessarily in first. But Sonic is the only one with Mach Speed. One of the things I really respect about '06 is that Mach Speed represents lore and gameplay fitting together very nicely. Sure, Sonic *can* go this fast all the time. Fast enough that he basically dies if he hits a wall. But most of the time, that's not practical. Tails, Knuckles, and all the other non-speed type characters can match Sonic's practical speed, or even surpass it under the right conditions, but Mach Speed is completely out of their league.
I feel like theres a much easier interpretation of sonics speed. It isnt as scientific as the game evidence, but in games like sonic heroes and sonic 2 where he has allies, sonic moves slow enough for his friends to keep up. in the sonic heroes intro and in sonic forces' double boost that when going faster is requires sonic grabs his allies to pull them faster. With what we know about sonic as a person, seeing tails creatively catching up to his minimum speed would be enough for him to let him tag along even if he could speed up and leave him behind. You cut sonic 06 for good reason, but the mach speed sections kind of support the idea that sonic only kicks it up a notch when he has to. but constantly, why is eggman so fast.
Can anyone confirm if Tails and Metal Sonic actually hover over the ground in-engine (not based on the animations, but based on their physics properties alone) in Sonic Adventure?
As far as I’m aware, characters’ weight is taken into consideration when accelerating and decelerating. So that’s probably what’s causing the difference.
in other games sonic actually manages to catch eggman, perhaps the reason why eggman was faster is because he used shoes to go faster than sonic. even so sonic is faster in later games.
@el equipo SSH It's entirely possible that Robotnik could have been assisted by some sort of technology in this instance. It seems like a good topic for Chaomix to cover in a new video.
@@mistersp3753 or maybe Sonic let him get away so it would be a fair battle? Like, what would Sonic do if he caught Eggman? Beat him up? Stab him with his quills or something?
@Ni Cola So he just lets him burn up in a fiery explosion? Probably. Sonic seems to have a thing for letting him create the tools of his own demise rather than attack directly.
My headcannon has always been that Sonic almost never goes full power because he just likes hanging out with his buds more than going zany miles an hour
They're not just as fast, they are fast enough to keep up with Sonic, with there being a few exceptions like Shadow and Metal Sonic. That doesn't by no means say that they are slow, they are FRICKIN FAST, Tails and Knuckles can easily outrun the Police the same way Sonic did in Sonic X, its just that we never seen Sonic go top-speed fast.
In lore most of the main cast are stated to be faster than light(Sonic Adventure Manual tell that Gamma shots are double the speed of light). In Sonic Are the speed are affected by the terrains, so if the character can't levited, he will have his speed affected.
It doesn't really matter what his speed is , that's just an easy advertisement gimmick. Sonic was about rhythm and flow , what is nowadays called "doing your homework." The problem these days is that the brand needs a NEW unique identity. My idea is having it be a series that can offer a different game , depending on the main(s).
I always thought it felt weird how Knuckles and Rouge felt like they ran so much faster than Sonic and Shadow in SA2. Level design notwithstanding, there's also the factor of how much they accelerate themselves by using techniques specific to them such as the aforementioned light speed moves. One of the things I liked about Sonic Advance 3 was how if you play as a non-Sonic character and partner them with Sonic, they'll be able to go into boost mode like they could in Advance 2, but without him they can't. It's like he's lending them his speed somehow.
I also find it weird that rouge is comparable to knuckles in terms of strength, when knuckles' strength is comparable to sonic's unimaginable speed. Unless rouge is as strong as knuckle in the way as how batman is comparable to superman, then I would buy it.
@@crimsonzone8984 Considering just how much focus is put on Sonic's speed, I wish they'd give Knuckles some more impressive strength feats to back up the two being on par with one another. Considering Rouge's status as a spy and G.U.N. operative she probably is considered an elite in many regards but ever since Sonic Heroes put her in the "Flight" category instead of "Power" we can probably assume her physical strength is meant to be in a tier below that of Knuckles.
Don’t forget that one scene in The sonic movie 2 where sonic, tails, and knuckles were all running at pretty much the same speed. And for sonic friends having almost the same speed as him, my head canon is that sonic is just holding back his true speed and is just suppressing it to match theirs for he could run with them. Because that one time in super smash brothers where everyone was wiped out, it was believed that sonic was slowing down his speed to try and save Pikachu.
I would simply explain Heroes via drafting as in marathons-saving energy by running behind someone and thus reducing the air resistance you have to fight. As shown when you take control of other characters, they can’t run that fast on their own.
In my headcannon: Blaze, Sonic and Shadow are around the same speed but in a dire situation, Sonic can got into 6th gear and toast both of them. Otherwise, Shadow and Blaze with all their extra abilities would wipe Sonic across the floor.
Not really, since Sonic also can use Chaos powers, he just doesn't and with Blaze it's hard to tell In Rush they're kinda going toe to toe, but Sonic is still faster, so I'm guessing Blaze has more destructive power (which she also doesn't use a lot to not cause total chaos)
@@dydy972x4 Not at all since they were both meant to be equally matched and even tied at the end of Rush. Sonic was definitely serious during the fight, even though he didn't want to fight her. The man seriously made tornadoes in space just to stop her, that's definitely him taking it seriously. They canonically ended at a stalemate, and Blaze was tired but it makes sense because she was on the go from the beginning, rushing to get her emeralds and constantly kicking Eggman away. And her ending seems to be the canon one anyway, where she rescues cream. So I wouldn't say Sonic did a number on her or had any power advantage. They're definitely on equal footing.
Just started watching and I have an explanation. All are fast, Sonics faster. But they are just fast enough to match up to him. Plus we’d seen in X that sonic isn’t always full speed.
Also, I personally believe each character has a degree of "super" abilities. Some charcters just have higher degrees of certain abilities. Basically "Sonic also has super strength, but he'll never match knuckels" kinda thing. It seems that a lot of characters....except Big and Amy are gifted with super speed in some manner, but even then, it would appear amy would be faster than any normal person anyway, so who really knows.
@@mgreysanders I do think Amy has some heightened abilities imo. For sure. But I don't think hers are as high as sonic's or knuckles etc. Even Eggman seems to have some...special traits lmao.
I always thought it was weird that Amy was made into a speed type character, even though she's was painfully slow throughout most of the games, and I see her more as a power type character then a speed. If you look at her moveset throughout the games, she could be worked into a power type. Also I don't like that all of the hedgehogs were made into speed types. isn't Sonic and Shadow supposed to be special.
Amy is really more of an All-Rounder in terms of her skills she just keeps on getting labeled as speed type because there isn't a All-Rounder type in the main series.
@@NiCoNiCoNiCola Sonic Generations her race with Classic Sonic has her flying through out the race. Also tech has nothing to due with the character types as it has to due with skills and powers, not tech skill.
Canonically Tails is almost as fast as Sonic, and Knuckles isn't too far behind. But this is why Tails is the only other character in the 2D games (barring Blaze in Rush) who can consistently boost on his own or run on water. Sonic has a higher top cruising speed and can push himself harder, and that difference is what unlocks some of the abilities for him. Also, you could've tried the Advance games.
I'd say she's somewhere near Sonic's speed. She's honestly hard to place. In Rush, she's a little slower than Sonic. In Rush adventure though, she's pretty much Sonic's speed. In 06, I think she actually moves faster than him or about the same. And generations, she can out( fly?) classic Sonic. And she wears high heels which would significantly slow her down (using the same logic of shadow's air shoes making him faster.) I still see her as a bit slower than Sonic, but not by much. Only for the sake of Sonic being the fastest. ( Blaze being super fast makes sense too considering her name )
I'd like to think that Sonic is constantly holding back his speed. Running just enough that his friends can keep up with him. The boost mechanic, even the rocket dash in Heroes, tells me that he always could run much faster if he wanted to, he's just never felt the need to. Hell, Forces shows us that he's apparently fast enough to run out of a whole ass dimension at any point. No point in going in 100% all the time when you can achieve the same result and even hang out with friends going at 50%
My head cannon was sonic was never really going full speed because he didn’t want to just leave his friends in the dust. Same with gameplay. My only real way of giving proof is the scene in the sonic heroes intro where he grabs knuckles and Tails and runs through the falling stones, or the Mach speed sections from 06
Judging by old Canon, yes they were. In certain ways lol. As long as it wasn't a forever straight line. For example, knuckles was considered more agile than sonic. So had higher acceleration than sonic. And he can take short cuts. Same goes for tails. Who apparently had slightly slower speed and less stamina. But can skip obstacles, allowing him to keep up. Oh shadow is also considered to be more agile. Which could explain his speed Stat in sonic battle. Considering agility matters more in a fight than top running speed
This is actually a good argument to keep the boost formula mixed in the new open-zone style of Frontiers moving forward. If we get mutliple characters back, the boost gameplay should be kept for Sonic and Sonic alone to make him distinct from all the others.
Nice video, this one almost felt like an episode of Game Theory xD Very interesting stuff. I don’t know if you’re open to taking video suggestions or not, but I have an idea to pitch for you if you would be interested. I don’t have the time anymore to make a video or the following for it anyway, but it seemed like something right up your alley so I thought I’d at least mention it. What about a video discussing symbolism in Sonic Frontiers and parallels between the narrative and real life? I know that the song “One Way Dream” is confirmed to be a message from Sonic Team to the fans about their commitment to being here for them and making good games in the future, and that got me wondering about the other songs and overall narrative of the game. I think there’s some solid evidence suggesting that a lot of the story is symbolic of the real story of Sonic Team and the handling of the franchise, and I’d be happy to share my thoughts on it if you’re interested but I won’t bore you with them here if you aren’t. Anyway, just let me know if that’s something you want to do. Thanks for all the great content you put out!
Honestly, I think it's cool that everyone has a similar speed to Sonic. I don't think anyone besides Shadow or Metal could potentially be faster, but it's still cool to consider super speed a universal constant on Mobius even if Sonic has the most of it.
I like to think from a standpoint; Sonic Speed has zero limit but rather levels to it. Metal's profile on Sonic Channel mentions he gets updated constantly to match everyone and Shadow is half chaos-energy which naturally and generally amplies users of said Chaos Energy.
The other reason that sonic dont go top speed ever is also kinda explained in the comics. If he truly moved as fast as he could, the wind and sound of him breaking the sound barrier would deafen and even send everything around him flying and causing lots of harm to the environment that he is trying to protect.
I always thought that tails knuckles shadow and blaze were all around the same speed but not quite as fast as sonic but their other strengths levelled the playing field
These game stats are blowing my mind. Also damn. 2003 being the last major game outside Mania to have so many playable characters. I miss that era so much.
Others have said it, but I feel that Sonic holds back most of the time and does not always run at full speed. Simply put, it would be exhausting to run/act at full speed all the time. This has also been shown in other media, as sometimes Sonic will run with his feet fully visible, as opposed to having his feet and legs blur (the round or 8 shaped effect). I remember specifically in AoSTH there would be a distinct thumping sound when he wasn't running at full speed and holding back to taunt enemies, then a revving/whizzing sound when he was running with effort. In the side scrolling games, everyone got balanced out for vs mode to make it more fair and rely on abilities. I'm sure balancing is done across the board for other games. In the end, the lore holds more standing than the gameplay, in my opinion.
I always liked the interpretation/headcanon where Sonic holds back his true potential so that he wouldn't accidentally hurt or destroy things around him while running, since unlike The Flash, Sonic doesn't have an aura that protected him or his surroundings. But it makes the moments where he does go super fast a lot more impactful (imo), how Sonic almost outrun a black hole in Sonic Colors (without boosting), restoring space and time by running (according to Tails in Sonic Generations), escaping dimensions in both Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers (Null space and Cyberspace), and many more
In a real world scenario, Sonic would not be able to travel at or above the speed of light. Sonic's mass would become infinite, along with the amount of energy required for Sonic to run, and an infinite amount of energy is unable to be produced, as any more energy would only add to Sonic's mass and not his speed. However, Sonic is not in the real universe, and his universe is likely susceptible to a different version of special relativity unbound by speed limits in our universe if he is truly able to travel at the speed of light.
I always thought that his friends keeping up with him in games is because he deliberately runs slower so he would not leave them behind. After all, he is someone who values teamwork.
Well than would you canonically speaking be wrong. Sonic battle, Sonic Rivals Manual And the Sonic Encyclo-Speed-ia all mention that Shadow is only able to keep up with Sonic because of his shoes.
@@dissonanceparadiddle Yes Shadow's solo game is as far as I know the only source to claim that Shadow even without his shoes is as fast as Sonic. And nothing to thank me for.
@@rynobehnke8289 You forgot about that one twitter takeover where he says it's not true and then proceeds to use chaos blast cause tails ticked him off some more trust him it's not true
My headcanon is that since the games themselves are canon in canon that sonic is actually the fastest thing alive,but the games just can't show that well without destroying gameplay
My theory is that Sonic is purposefully slowing himself down at times, either to let others catch up with him, or that he doesn’t accidentally hurt himself by crashing into something at high speeds.
Here are some canon characters who can keep up with Sonic and even go past his speed: Keep up: - Tails. (Fun fact the reason why Sonic kept tails around was because he knew tails wouldn't slow him down, and he realized he was the only one (at the time) who was able to keep up with him and deal with his life style.) - Kunckles. - Shadow. - Sliver. - Espio. -Blaze. Besides those characters, everyone is slow. The only reason why everyone is fast is because if everyone was slow, who would want to play as them, you know? So make everyone equally as fast as Sonic but make it noncanon. And only make it 4 gameplay reasons.
Another problem is, just because you can go fast, doesn't mean you always will. For Heroes for example, Sonic could just be going slower so his friends can keep up.
From my memory, canonically, Shadow has been stated to equal to Sonic's abilities in every regard & not inferior in any way, multiple times, since his introduction. Can't say much about Metal & Blaze, but I believe they're up there too.
0/10 Vid Blaze not mentioned smh my head (lol nah i think overall sonic's the fastest. It's just that he isn't going mach 1 all the time so his pals can keep up)
How I see it Metal can surpass Sonic at times, Shadow and Blaze can Rival Sonic's speed on foot, Silver can go faster with ESP and Jet can go around Sonic's speed only on his gear. Emerl also surpasses Sonic's speed, and so does Infinite with the phantom ruby equipped. One thing to note: Shadow and Blaze are hard to place. Shadow seems to only move as fast as he does because of his air shoes. Meanwhile, Blaze is around Sonic's speed ( visibly slower than him in Rush, but the exact same speed in Rush adventure) yet she wears high heels which realistically would slow her down significantly. So by the logic, i'd say Blaze is the second fastest character ON FOOT that isn't a robot nor has an object to upgrade her speed, but rather hinder it.
It never occurred to me that Blaze the Cat might actually be nerfing herself by choosing to run in high heels instead using sneakers or boots like most Sonic characters lol! Then again casually running around at supersonic speeds in heels, is pretty impressive regardless.
@@lynxfresh5214 I like to headcanon that she purposefully slows herself down in order to make more precise movements and attacks. Her fighting style is a lot more grounded and careful than Sonic, so it would make sense she'd try to slow herself down a bit. That and she has pyrokinesis, which if she recklessly throws around at high speeds, can cause more destruction than she'd like. I still see Sonic as ultimately faster, but Blaze isn't at all far behind.
No Blaze is not faster then Sonic she pulls the same trick as Silver in that she uses her power to shoot herself forward faster then she can run. If you watch her feet when she hits Boost Mode but not using her Fire Boost you can see blast of fire coming from her feet.
@@sonamyfan666 Neither one of us actually said Blaze is faster than Sonic, the OP even said Sonic is ultimately faster than Blaze (which I agree with). I don't even know why you felt the need to "correct" us lol!
... no one thinking about how archie sonic is faster since welp he ran across the entire multiverse, ran out a blackhole, and reverse the spin of the black hole so i would assume that he is faster then all of them
I actually kinda like the concept of everyone being capable of keeping up with Sonic, although he is indeed still very much a notch or two above the rest. Going slower just for the purpose of letting his buddies catch up, possibly losing races and getting hit in the pride would be very much against Sonic's character, and i think it truly goes to show how its not just speed that makes Sonic the true hero of the Sonic universe, its his agility and acrobatics, his confidence, his quick thinking, his iron resolve, his mastery at operating the chaos power, everything ELSE other then velocity that makes Sonic...y'know, Sonic. I feel like it shows how Sonic grows and evolves to be a better, more capable person on his own, except of just relying on his primary, natural talent. Its like people get so caught up with determining Sonic's exact statistics and powers to prove their point that they forget that at its core, Sonic's just a lax, fun-loving guy, just like the series itself is supposed to be fun, so yeah, what's the matter with not being the absolute best?
To be fair i might say that Sonic IS canonically fast but in some games such as spin off he's holding back for the competition cause it should be possible to beat him with every character cause otherwise that would be like a hopess battle which isn't fun like image if you play as anyone else and instantly lose against Sonic played by a CPU or unskilled player
This is something I've always though about when I started to join the Sonic Community, My Headcanon is that Sonic's friends can keep up with him, but they aren't faster than Sonic in the Story Part of each Sonic games, but in-game, they are the same speed mostly but I am glad to finally see a video on this topic, and I am looking forward to the Frontiers DLC with other playable characters because it's been too long since We could play as Sonic's Friends in a mainline Sonic 3D title (Sonic 06), but this was a fun video to watch and I hope you make more Sonic videos along the way!!
I always think that sonic just doesn't go full speed which could be why they can keep up but if he would go full speed than he would just be faster than anyone.
To be fair we have never seen sonic at his max, not even in frontiers darkspine sonic, who is weaker than super sonic was able to **REWRITE A WHOLE UNIVERSE** Imagine how powerful and fast would be sonic not holding back anything and totally crushing everyone with no mercy
Besides speed, y'all think Big is quite clumsy and not acrobatic? Yet he can jump up to more than his own height, doing several somersaults in the process, and possibly by jumping with his belly instead of legs. And yeah some other cool things like rail grinding on his butt
And about Metal and Shadow, have ya trough Sonic doesn't use his actual speed against them? Cause after all this hedgehog goes even faster then speed of sound he goes at speed of light sometimes in his base form bruh
What do you trust more when it comes to Sonic's speed? The lore or the games?
Also, huge thank you to Surfshark VPN for making videos like this possible. Get Surfshark VPN at surfshark.deals/CHAOMIX to get 83% off and 3 extra months for FREE!
sonic
Aren't they the same thing? Given that lore you know comes from them.
Lore
Sonic just isn't using all his speed
Lore since they controll the speed ingame
My headcanon was that Sonic is actually a lot faster than everyone else but chooses to go slower so they can keep up like in Sonic 2, 3&K, Mania, Heroes and the opening cutscene to Shadow the Hedgehog. Two examples of Sonic using his full speed would be in the intro to Sonic Heroes where boulders and pillars are collapsing and Sonic grabs Tails and Knuckles and blasts off even faster. The second example is the Sonic CD cutscene. When he goes up the chain to Little Planet, you can see him creating a Sonic Boom in the water (suddenly the song makes a lot more sense).
I was just about to comment this
It's all my friends' fault! They're holding me back!
And the Sonic Unleashed Cutscene
I think that sonic's friends can also reach surreal speeds but obviously not the same as sonic's. I mean, not everyone can accompany Sonic's adventures, they should be someone strong and resistant, because if a human (for example) tried to run at sonic speeds... he would die instantly because again, he is not strong and resistant, he never trained or has no experience in it. I think Sonic also takes some care in selecting his friends. Maybe it would explain why he didn't like Amy accompanying him.
@@cioplasmmajic8327 this must be what shadow meant when he said that sonic's friends make him weak in sonic boom rol.
I'm relatively sure Sonic is straight up holding back on his speed, since in the Sonic CD opening he goes way faster than any game example
Sonic Generations has the hedgehog looking way faster than the opening of Sonic CD.
@@bakedbeans5494 hi again
He would eat walls if he didn't hold back. With enough empty space, he could go at the speed of sound.
@@slavishentity6705
Id argue that he could just barrel through walls. Hes fast enough and durable enough to slam through them.
Also MUCH faster than sound imo. Especially with feats like CD, Sonic 2(game), secret rings, unleashed, colors, generations, and forces.
@@chriss.249 Im sure he could, and often dust bust down walls, it depends on his surroundings. Eggman facility? Sure no problem. Running through spagonia, sonic is sure to be more careful of his surroundings.
Sonic being the canonically 'fastest character' does not mean he is always going at his top speed 100% of the time. I always imagined Sonic purposefully slows himself down so that his friends can keep up and so he doesn't hurt the environment. I also love how Sonic has speed rivals who can 'almost' move as fast as him but can never quite keep up but only thanks to external help or additional abilities. Metal Sonic has his jet engine, Shadow has his air shoes, Silver his psychokinesis, and Blaze (who is shockingly absent from this video) who propels herself with her flames. Sonic is the only character who's speed is his main ability, a power that he himself uses rather than achieves through additional means.
Side note: in the Dark Story final battle against Sonic, Sonic is seen using Chaos Control to teleport ahead if the player gets to far ahead of him and even in the in-game cutscenes Sonic can teleport using a fake emerald so Shadow's ability to teleport is not an ability exclusive to him, meaning it can't be used as reasoning for Shadow to be faster.
Yep
then jet
@@mrme.484 that cock is using a hoverboard
A true fan response
Shadow and blaze aren't " almost as fast" they are as fast
This is something I've always thought about ever since I was a kid
My headcanon is that Sonic's friends can *keep up* with him, but *aren't faster than him*
You could go one further and say certain characters (E.g Blaze, Shadow, Metal Sonic and Surge) can keep up with a full throttle Sonic while others (E.g Knuckles, Amy, Tails and Cream) can keep up with a standard Sonic in terms of running speed.
They can keep up because he lets them. Don't forget the end of colors lol
@@lynxfresh5214 Sonic is still the fastest thing alive
That's what I like to think.
@@thefastcommenter7774 Os Metal Sonic alive?
What does it mean to be Alive?
Let’s ponder this question.
honey, reschedule grandma's funeral. Chaomix just posted
I'd really do that.
💀💀💀💀💀
@@enzo1673 literally
that’s a new one
Yes dear
I haven't even watched the video yet but let me state my original opinion before watching the video: I like to think Sonic is a considerate friend and slows down for his friend for them to be able to keep up and also i don't think Sonic goes full throtle every single time he runs
honestly that's a good way to explain it. sonic's probably the type of guy to take a minute to enjoy the view on his adventures, something you can't exactly do if you're running at mach 5 all the time
If he was constantly moving at the speed of sound he’d leave a path of destruction behind him because of all the sonic booms he’d create so that’s probably part of it too
Sonic actually hates racing beaches he knows he has a big advantage...
Thas the reason metal sonic always wants to race him
@@sirhoopsalot7605 exactly
@@OneAndOnlyDanky yeah lmao
This is interesting. I was always under them assumption that characters like Shadow and Blaze could rival his speed while everyone else could keep up but never surpass or rival him. They usually have other abilities to give them a upper hand like Knuckels' strength
Sonic is has mostly been depicted as being well experienced in Running but not in combat so that makes sense
Agreed but it's pretty shocking to see folks still forget/don't know most Sonic characters have variable degrees of super speed, e.g: I saw plenty people online and in the cinema being confused at both (Paramount) Tails and Knux having super speed as well as keeping up with Sonic, yet more proof of the garbage treatment most of the extended cast used to receive in Sonic various media (most notably in the 3D videogame titles) before the "new" era.
in Lore i dont think they can keep up its just like this to make gameplay fun
The thing is sonic doesn't really have a max speed if they rivals him he's just gonna get faster
@@chaolover3182 I guess not in Frontiers)
Or Battle
Or Fighters
Or Heroes in a way
I always liked Gnoggin's perspective. Comparing Sonic to Superman in the sense that he always holds back his power unless absolutely necessary, mostly in order to protect the people and environment around him
Sonic doesn't hold back his power.
@@bakedbeans5494 pretty sure he does
@Baked Beans why do you think level last more than 3s when in cutscene he run around the earth in 3s
@@bakedbeans5494 I think he goes full power maybe in Sonic 06 when fighting Solaris and that's about it
Not only that, but going at that kind of speed in most of these areas would be a bad idea even if you didn't care about the area around you. The Lost Hex, for example, is filled with obstacles such that there's only a few places that are enough of a straight shot for it to be safe to go faster.
A few things
1) Sonic Battle's "Shadow Run" card description, Sonic Rivals's manual and Shadows character description in the Encyclo-Speed-ia all are rather clear about Shadow only being able to keep up with Sonic because of his shoes.
2) A few of the tests here weren't really chosen well. Like the Adventure 1 one just give Tails a huge advantage as a characters weight is taken into consideration for there acceleration and deceleration as well in how boosters and springs interact with them. Tails being a lighter character than Sonic loses speed slower on inclines meaning in this opening segment of Speed Highway did Tails got to keep the speed of the booster for longer making him be number 1.
3) If I recall correctly is the basic idea that most of Sonic friends are also super fast but Sonic is speed wise far ahead of them if he really tries.
Tho many can make up the average speed difference by using there other abilities like in the semi-recent Sonic Channel story with Cream were the narrator states that while Sonic is faster can Cream always keep up with Sonic using her flying and clever navigation.
You took the words right out of my mouth. Also, Sonic is jogging is in his card. He's probably be faster than Ultimate Emerl if he tried lol. But I think the Adventure 2 test was fine at very least. It was clearly a case of gameplay first before lore. But hey, maybe Tikal was faster than Sonic in her time, who can say for sure? ;)
That's what I was thinking, the Adventure 2 test was on a kind of janky halfpipe. I feel like Meteor Herd would be a good testing area since it's flat.
@@benhoward3865 I would also say that for the most accurate results would Meteor herd's ground properly be the best or lets say fairest testing arena.
@@rynobehnke8289 Yeah, and the adventure fields would probably be the best for Adventure.
@@benhoward3865 I would say the 1 issue with the adventure fields is that most of them aren't really big enough. Maybe a few of the paths in the Mystic ruins but those are rather uneven.
Tho that being said could Chaomix totally have used the Adventure fields for 06 as almost everyone is playable on them ones and they were designed for moments of long running in a straight line (especially the forest)
You'd be surprised by how much Sonic holds back just to have fun
The only rival is Shadow since he has 4 inhibitor rings that suppress his full potential
In the recent twitter takeover, they're the same speed
I thought the ones on his hands were the inhibitors. The ones on his feet are just for style
Those inhibitor ring things were used exactly once during the entire series was it not?
@@hayond656 yea that doesn't make them non canon just because something was used once doesn't affect it
@@hayond656 and it was enough to wipe out an army of Mephiles who had 2 Chaos Emeralds
Sonic 2: the Movie showed the perfect solution for the fast friends problem.
Both Knuckles and Tails showed high speed. And with that they could keep up with Sonic for the most part not making akward moments when blue hedgehog waits everyone on the destination place for hours. Yet I believe that Tails' flight at around the speed of sound and Knuckles' run at round 60 miles per hour are their peak. While Sonic can accelerate himself so much that even rockets are stopped.
All of them are fast but Sonic is on the other level
Sonic holds back due to just being a nice person, and I like the belief that he also holds back due to the environment around him (towns and cities, even something like Green Hill could be destroyed by him constantly going his max). Secondly, iirc, Sonic in Sonic Colours DS refers to light speed as small time to him when he exceeds Omega’s records of his abilities.
I don't know about that. He seems rather nerfed in idw, which turned out to be canon.
@@crimsonzone8984 although it's technically canon, the IDW comics are quite inconsistent when compared to the games. A great example would be knuckles and tails needing to team up for chaos 0, even though they both could solo that guy easily in games.
@@crimsonzone8984 True but his fight with surge, she said her speed of light would basically obliterate his speed of sound with sonic basically having a face expression of😶 while simultaneously keeping up with her and at one point in the fight he blitzes her and she couldn't even see him.
@@crimsonzone8984 IDW is sometimes inconsistent, Surge says that Sonic goes the speed of sound. Even though the creator says Sonic goes beyond the speed of light.
@@crimsonzone8984 Also, there are many cases of characters getting nerfed for the sake of plot.
I always felt like it should be canon that Shadow's air shoes are powered by his own energy. So its valid to say he is just as fast or faster than Sonic. The shoes just help him channel his power into speed. Similar to how his inhibitor rings help him control his chaos powers.
It makes the most sense. I mean why waste time and research on a power source for his shoes along with the problem of the controlling them when the one wearing them literally has the enough chaos energy to power a large town.
About that. I don’t remember where i saw this info. But apparently, shadow is supposed the same speed as sonic in the comics, but now he’s shown to be just a little slower.
If this info is wrong please tell me.
@@mistergg9150 in idw comics shadow is much slower without his air shoes
@@ShaneStapler what about with the air shoes
@mistergg9150 From what I recall of the comics, they’re usually shown at similar speeds and keeping pace with each other. Most notable moment otherwise was after Shadow became a Zombot and didn’t use his shoes on that state.
Though it also kinda makes me wonder if Zombot Sonic would still access his speed.
I've always thought that when sonic is with his friends, he goes slower on purpose so he doesent zoom past them.
Me too
Oh my god same
Exactly.
sameeeee
Same
I always assumed they have their own ways of keeping up with him, but none of them besides shadow, blaze, maybe silver. Can truly keep up with him when he’s actually trying. But none of them still are faster than him
Not silver
@@favoriyanda9807 yea that’s why I say maybe. Idk for sure I feel like I’ve seen somewhere silver is also really fast just not faster than sonic but I could be wrong
@@kuraio3017 well perhaps shadow could if both are trying
@@nathankabambi8792 Yeah shadow is probably one of the few that can really keep up with sonics real speed and surpass him on certain occasions
@@kuraio3017 not when running but sonic 06 silver story cutscenes show him cover crisis city insanely fast
I'm surprised he didn't mention the classic joke of how Eggman outruns Sonic at the end of each classic sonic game
Fr tho
I thought about it but its been done to death lol
Dr.Eggman is faster than the speed of sound confirmed
He's a mad genius, he probably has augmented himself as a cyborg or he's using doombots
@@chaomix Would you say they worked that sucka to death?
I've heard theories that he slows down for the sake of others because if he's goes too fast he'd end up hurting the environment and Sonic is a huge nature lover so ya know
Fun fact: Sonic is constantly improving in speed and power, that's a reason why in generations Modern Sonic can defeat bosses he's already faced before without the need for Super Sonic, whereas previously he needed the chaos emeralds to fully defeat them. Perfect Chaos is a great showcase of this, in Sonic Adventure Sonic defeated Perfect Chaos by using the emeralds to calm his heart, but in Generations he didn't need them to do the same, his positive energy alone made up for that, and Super Sonic's power would've just been overkill.
The adventure Test was 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙔 scuffed. Metal Sonic is literally the same speed as sonic, he's a reskin. Tails looses speed slower than sonic due to his weight, Knuckles goes downhill faster due to his weight.
The Adventure 2 Test is funny cause if you just run in a circle with each character in the Chao Garden, you'd see, no 𝑭𝑬𝑬𝑳 that Eggman is faster than everyone else.
(Also Tikal is just broken, pls nerf.)
Finally, one last thing, Sonic's speed both in game and out of game is similar to Spider-Man's damage, they're Constantly holding back. At this point, Sonic can run about as fast as light if he really wanted to.
Looking forward to that Frontiers DLC with other playable characters because it's been too damn long since we could last play as Sonic's friends in a mainline 3D title. Sixteen years in fact, going on seventeen.
Ditto!
Was that last sentence a reference?
@@JustAFunnyFella I suppose I kinda borrowed it from the Disney Robin Hood with the little rabbit kid, Skippy, having his birthday party and he says he's "seven, going on eight."
Yes it has been far to long even longer for Amy.
@@sonamyfan666 I honestly prefer Amy to be slower and use more of her jumping skills and supernatural abilities.
I remember reading a fanfiction where Tails turns fifteen and it becomes clear that he's faster than Sonic. Sonic becomes insanely jealous that Tails has overtaken him so he decides to frame Tails for murder. I don't remember much about what happened after that, but I recall that it ended with Tails having a big shootout with the police out in the middle of the desert. haha good times.
I'm sorry, WHAT?!
tails in canon is the impostor...from sonic twitter takeover for sonic colors ultimate.
I gotta see this, what the fuck
@@doohickeyhandy758 i already say that in canon tails is the imposter
That went from 10 to 100 REAL freaking fast
Honestly superhuman physicality (including super speed) is the baseline standard in the Sonic franchise. It just varies on the character archetype (Power, Speed, Fly or Balance) and overall role within the story/world. Think of it like this; Spider-Man and Thor both have super strength however they're clearly in two different leagues of power as well as roles within the Marvel world, Sonic is kinda the same when comparing speed levels among his friends and rivals.
True
eggman is on top in all categories though, but he keeps losing lmao
@@Blox117 Because of his ego. He keeps over looking details
Before watching the video: I've always been of the belief that sonic never really utilizes his full speed. Idk about you, but I would not wanna hang out with my friend if he was constantly *breaking the speed of light* and leaving me in the dust
In the case of Tails, the story of how he and Sonic met is that Tails was able to keep up with Sonic, which impresses Sonic.
Because sonic was going slow in the cd opening he was going fast as heck
@@scorch_the_hedgehog Sonic does not slow down for anyone. Sonic is a free spirit, he lives life by his own rules and is not bound by anything or anyone. Nothing stops Sonic from doing what he wants and going where he wants. He will not slow down or stop running for the sake of anyone else. When Sonic first met Tails, Sonic was just living his life and exploring the island on his own whim. Tails just so happened to start following him, but Sonic was not paying Tails any mind. Sonic was not slowing down to give Tails a chance, he just went about his day and let Tails do whatever because he ultimately didn't care much at all.
Tails is Sonic's best friend and brother now because he was capable of keeping up with Sonic in spite of all that, and proving himself as capable of helping him out.
@@thesoniczone11 but Sonic doesn't leave his friends behind and his speed can be damaging to the environment
@@thesoniczone11 then explain how fast is sonic going in sonic cd intro
@@samisky35 Sonic leaves everyone behind after every game. He's always running off to the next adventure.
I always loved how Cream was able to keep up with Sonic in Generations while flying with her ears, and let's not talk about classic Eggman
In Heroes, the speed formation shows the slower characters following behind the Speed character. I think they may be drafting to keep up instead of straight up matching their speed.
12:46 lore over gameplay. Like you said, it'd be literally impossible to play a Sonic game if he was actually going at the speed of sound. Plus I always figured his friends were CLOSE to Sonic's speed, but not exactly.
Don´t forget the seagull from sonic frontiers, the only two beings capable of escaping the cyberspace
I like how Mania handled it, where everyone is capable of going really fast but Sonic is the best at maintaining his momentum with the drop dash, sure they all basically have the same max speed but Sonic felt faster than them since if you know what your doing, you rarely ever lose a lot of speed while Knuckles and Tails have a lot more moments where they slow down a lil bit
Bro what is that profile pic
I always used to think that Sonic just creates a sort of "air vortex" that increases the speed of his friends who are running near him. Plus he obviously isn't running at his fullest speed to catch up with them
So the guy running with Sonic is like a NASCAR car drafting on another?
@@jamiegioca9448 yeah.
That's actually a very good theory, slipstream basically
I think that is a large reason Sega won't use the other characters. They all overshadow, (pun intended,) Sonic in terms of abilities and if they are featured in a game, (only Shadow these past few years if at all,) they are usually nerfed as not to be better than the main character.
As many surmised, they can probably keep up with him to an extent. Gameplay wise, it'd probably not do well to have all your cast slow and only one character fast (or four considering Shadow, Metal Sonic and Silver).
Another angle of view is to know how often does Sonic actually run at his top speed ? He usually goes fast but does he usually tap into his top speed ?
Nah he's a little lazy too, why would he just try si hard to be at his top at all times
Y’know it’s kinda like how one of the GOW creators said in an interview, “Kratos, The God of war struggles to open a chest.” He continued by saying that without game play mechanics there is no game basically
This was a fun video to watch! Never expected Tikal to be the fasted from Sonic Adventure 2 but the more you know lmaooo
Plot twist: sonic is actually the slowest thing alive and everyone else is holding back so he doesn't feel left out
About Shadow, I think he’s actually fast on his own like Sonic, and the air shoes merely boost his speed. I was thinking about this the other day, and I came to this conclusion because if it was only the air shoes that made him fast he wouldn’t be able to make all those sharp turns and zig zags at high speeds when keeping up with Sonic. I mean if they operate similarly to aircraft engines like jets and rockets, it wouldn’t be possible (have you ever seen either make sudden maneuvers that fast?). Not to mention he has to have some sort of speed of his own considering he’s even able to operate at high speeds like that in the first place without constantly crashing into walls.
I think '06 actually would've been a pretty important data point here, to reconcile the lore with the games. Sure, comparing the characters head-to-head in normal gameplay, the results probably would've been similar to all the other games, with everyone pretty close together and Sonic not necessarily in first. But Sonic is the only one with Mach Speed.
One of the things I really respect about '06 is that Mach Speed represents lore and gameplay fitting together very nicely. Sure, Sonic *can* go this fast all the time. Fast enough that he basically dies if he hits a wall. But most of the time, that's not practical. Tails, Knuckles, and all the other non-speed type characters can match Sonic's practical speed, or even surpass it under the right conditions, but Mach Speed is completely out of their league.
I feel like theres a much easier interpretation of sonics speed. It isnt as scientific as the game evidence, but in games like sonic heroes and sonic 2 where he has allies, sonic moves slow enough for his friends to keep up. in the sonic heroes intro and in sonic forces' double boost that when going faster is requires sonic grabs his allies to pull them faster. With what we know about sonic as a person, seeing tails creatively catching up to his minimum speed would be enough for him to let him tag along even if he could speed up and leave him behind.
You cut sonic 06 for good reason, but the mach speed sections kind of support the idea that sonic only kicks it up a notch when he has to.
but constantly, why is eggman so fast.
also in games like heroes sonic uses a jog for his run instead of his standard arms back sprint showing he is slower
Eggman is an absolute unit of destruction and using robots is the only way to make any fight fair for his enemies
Eggman in Sonic 3&k:
Hold my egg"
Can anyone confirm if Tails and Metal Sonic actually hover over the ground in-engine (not based on the animations, but based on their physics properties alone) in Sonic Adventure?
As far as I’m aware, characters’ weight is taken into consideration when accelerating and decelerating. So that’s probably what’s causing the difference.
I always thought Sonic just wasn't going at top speed when with his friends, so he wouldn't just leave them in the dust.
Sonic is almost all the time holding back , mainly bc if he does try to go at his top speed he would demolish everything that was on his way.
I'm surprised you didn't do the Advance trilogy since they have many playable characters to go from
Let's not forget that in Sonic 2, Robotnik actually OUTRAN Sonic. I know this is for story reasons, but still... that might explain White Jungle.
in other games sonic actually manages to catch eggman, perhaps the reason why eggman was faster is because he used shoes to go faster than sonic.
even so sonic is faster in later games.
@el equipo SSH It's entirely possible that Robotnik could have been assisted by some sort of technology in this instance. It seems like a good topic for Chaomix to cover in a new video.
@@mistersp3753 or maybe Sonic let him get away so it would be a fair battle?
Like, what would Sonic do if he caught Eggman? Beat him up? Stab him with his quills or something?
@Ni Cola So he just lets him burn up in a fiery explosion? Probably. Sonic seems to have a thing for letting him create the tools of his own demise rather than attack directly.
@@mistersp3753 yes of course
In games they are the same speed mostly, In the story's he is faster than his friends.
My headcannon has always been that Sonic almost never goes full power because he just likes hanging out with his buds more than going zany miles an hour
They're not just as fast, they are fast enough to keep up with Sonic, with there being a few exceptions like Shadow and Metal Sonic. That doesn't by no means say that they are slow, they are FRICKIN FAST, Tails and Knuckles can easily outrun the Police the same way Sonic did in Sonic X, its just that we never seen Sonic go top-speed fast.
In lore most of the main cast are stated to be faster than light(Sonic Adventure Manual tell that Gamma shots are double the speed of light).
In Sonic Are the speed are affected by the terrains, so if the character can't levited, he will have his speed affected.
It doesn't really matter what his speed is , that's just an easy advertisement gimmick.
Sonic was about rhythm and flow , what is nowadays called "doing your homework."
The problem these days is that the brand needs a NEW unique identity.
My idea is having it be a series that can offer a different game , depending on the main(s).
I always thought it felt weird how Knuckles and Rouge felt like they ran so much faster than Sonic and Shadow in SA2. Level design notwithstanding, there's also the factor of how much they accelerate themselves by using techniques specific to them such as the aforementioned light speed moves. One of the things I liked about Sonic Advance 3 was how if you play as a non-Sonic character and partner them with Sonic, they'll be able to go into boost mode like they could in Advance 2, but without him they can't. It's like he's lending them his speed somehow.
I also find it weird that rouge is comparable to knuckles in terms of strength, when knuckles' strength is comparable to sonic's unimaginable speed. Unless rouge is as strong as knuckle in the way as how batman is comparable to superman, then I would buy it.
@@crimsonzone8984 Considering just how much focus is put on Sonic's speed, I wish they'd give Knuckles some more impressive strength feats to back up the two being on par with one another. Considering Rouge's status as a spy and G.U.N. operative she probably is considered an elite in many regards but ever since Sonic Heroes put her in the "Flight" category instead of "Power" we can probably assume her physical strength is meant to be in a tier below that of Knuckles.
Don’t forget that one scene in The sonic movie 2 where sonic, tails, and knuckles were all running at pretty much the same speed. And for sonic friends having almost the same speed as him, my head canon is that sonic is just holding back his true speed and is just suppressing it to match theirs for he could run with them. Because that one time in super smash brothers where everyone was wiped out, it was believed that sonic was slowing down his speed to try and save Pikachu.
I would simply explain Heroes via drafting as in marathons-saving energy by running behind someone and thus reducing the air resistance you have to fight. As shown when you take control of other characters, they can’t run that fast on their own.
In my headcannon: Blaze, Sonic and Shadow are around the same speed but in a dire situation, Sonic can got into 6th gear and toast both of them. Otherwise, Shadow and Blaze with all their extra abilities would wipe Sonic across the floor.
Sonic probably hold back a lot since he has way more abilities than just speed but doesn't use them often
Not really, since Sonic also can use Chaos powers, he just doesn't and with Blaze it's hard to tell
In Rush they're kinda going toe to toe, but Sonic is still faster, so I'm guessing Blaze has more destructive power (which she also doesn't use a lot to not cause total chaos)
@Ni Cola Yeah in an all out fight Sonic would beat Blaze since in Rush Sonic wasn't even serious and he was completely fine after there fight
@@dydy972x4 Not at all since they were both meant to be equally matched and even tied at the end of Rush. Sonic was definitely serious during the fight, even though he didn't want to fight her. The man seriously made tornadoes in space just to stop her, that's definitely him taking it seriously.
They canonically ended at a stalemate, and Blaze was tired but it makes sense because she was on the go from the beginning, rushing to get her emeralds and constantly kicking Eggman away. And her ending seems to be the canon one anyway, where she rescues cream. So I wouldn't say Sonic did a number on her or had any power advantage. They're definitely on equal footing.
Just started watching and I have an explanation. All are fast, Sonics faster. But they are just fast enough to match up to him. Plus we’d seen in X that sonic isn’t always full speed.
Also, I personally believe each character has a degree of "super" abilities. Some charcters just have higher degrees of certain abilities. Basically "Sonic also has super strength, but he'll never match knuckels" kinda thing. It seems that a lot of characters....except Big and Amy are gifted with super speed in some manner, but even then, it would appear amy would be faster than any normal person anyway, so who really knows.
In one game if you really count it, she chases sonic and can catch up to him. Though it's only one game
@@mgreysanders I do think Amy has some heightened abilities imo. For sure. But I don't think hers are as high as sonic's or knuckles etc. Even Eggman seems to have some...special traits lmao.
I always thought it was weird that Amy was made into a speed type character, even though she's was painfully slow throughout most of the games, and I see her more as a power type character then a speed. If you look at her moveset throughout the games, she could be worked into a power type. Also I don't like that all of the hedgehogs were made into speed types. isn't Sonic and Shadow supposed to be special.
silver is usually a flight/ technique type character,
Silver is Flight character, while Amy canonically trained to keep up with Sonic, so it sorta makes sense for her to be somewhat fast
Amy is really more of an All-Rounder in terms of her skills she just keeps on getting labeled as speed type because there isn't a All-Rounder type in the main series.
@@sonamyfan666 I'd say she's definitely speed and power type, she can't fly and doesn't use technology
@@NiCoNiCoNiCola Sonic Generations her race with Classic Sonic has her flying through out the race. Also tech has nothing to due with the character types as it has to due with skills and powers, not tech skill.
Canonically Tails is almost as fast as Sonic, and Knuckles isn't too far behind. But this is why Tails is the only other character in the 2D games (barring Blaze in Rush) who can consistently boost on his own or run on water. Sonic has a higher top cruising speed and can push himself harder, and that difference is what unlocks some of the abilities for him.
Also, you could've tried the Advance games.
Was really hoping blaze would be here. Still, I loved this video.
I'd say she's somewhere near Sonic's speed. She's honestly hard to place.
In Rush, she's a little slower than Sonic. In Rush adventure though, she's pretty much Sonic's speed. In 06, I think she actually moves faster than him or about the same. And generations, she can out( fly?) classic Sonic.
And she wears high heels which would significantly slow her down (using the same logic of shadow's air shoes making him faster.) I still see her as a bit slower than Sonic, but not by much. Only for the sake of Sonic being the fastest. ( Blaze being super fast makes sense too considering her name )
@@KuromiLaBella thanks for the comment, I totally agree. And yeah. Speed kinda fits with her name.
can you blame him when sega has forgotten about her for like 10 years
@@SonplaysMinEcraft I mean no I can’t but still, would’ve been cool.
@@KuromiLaBellaBlaze is super fast in Black Knight
I'd like to think that Sonic is constantly holding back his speed. Running just enough that his friends can keep up with him. The boost mechanic, even the rocket dash in Heroes, tells me that he always could run much faster if he wanted to, he's just never felt the need to. Hell, Forces shows us that he's apparently fast enough to run out of a whole ass dimension at any point. No point in going in 100% all the time when you can achieve the same result and even hang out with friends going at 50%
My head cannon was sonic was never really going full speed because he didn’t want to just leave his friends in the dust. Same with gameplay.
My only real way of giving proof is the scene in the sonic heroes intro where he grabs knuckles and Tails and runs through the falling stones, or the Mach speed sections from 06
Judging by old Canon, yes they were. In certain ways lol. As long as it wasn't a forever straight line.
For example, knuckles was considered more agile than sonic. So had higher acceleration than sonic. And he can take short cuts.
Same goes for tails. Who apparently had slightly slower speed and less stamina. But can skip obstacles, allowing him to keep up.
Oh shadow is also considered to be more agile. Which could explain his speed Stat in sonic battle. Considering agility matters more in a fight than top running speed
This is actually a good argument to keep the boost formula mixed in the new open-zone style of Frontiers moving forward. If we get mutliple characters back, the boost gameplay should be kept for Sonic and Sonic alone to make him distinct from all the others.
Nice video, this one almost felt like an episode of Game Theory xD
Very interesting stuff.
I don’t know if you’re open to taking video suggestions or not, but I have an idea to pitch for you if you would be interested. I don’t have the time anymore to make a video or the following for it anyway, but it seemed like something right up your alley so I thought I’d at least mention it. What about a video discussing symbolism in Sonic Frontiers and parallels between the narrative and real life? I know that the song “One Way Dream” is confirmed to be a message from Sonic Team to the fans about their commitment to being here for them and making good games in the future, and that got me wondering about the other songs and overall narrative of the game. I think there’s some solid evidence suggesting that a lot of the story is symbolic of the real story of Sonic Team and the handling of the franchise, and I’d be happy to share my thoughts on it if you’re interested but I won’t bore you with them here if you aren’t. Anyway, just let me know if that’s something you want to do. Thanks for all the great content you put out!
Huh, interesting 🤔
I know I’d like to hear more about it, hopefully he notices 😄
Honestly, I think it's cool that everyone has a similar speed to Sonic. I don't think anyone besides Shadow or Metal could potentially be faster, but it's still cool to consider super speed a universal constant on Mobius even if Sonic has the most of it.
I like to think from a standpoint; Sonic Speed has zero limit but rather levels to it. Metal's profile on Sonic Channel mentions he gets updated constantly to match everyone and Shadow is half chaos-energy which naturally and generally amplies users of said Chaos Energy.
You can say that Sonic the hedgehog is “one of” the fastest things alive
The other reason that sonic dont go top speed ever is also kinda explained in the comics. If he truly moved as fast as he could, the wind and sound of him breaking the sound barrier would deafen and even send everything around him flying and causing lots of harm to the environment that he is trying to protect.
sonic and classic sonic ran faster than time itself in sonic generations, i would say he is the fastest thing alive.
I always thought that tails knuckles shadow and blaze were all around the same speed but not quite as fast as sonic but their other strengths levelled the playing field
These game stats are blowing my mind. Also damn. 2003 being the last major game outside Mania to have so many playable characters. I miss that era so much.
8:40 now we know why Eggman could escape Sonic at the end of Sonic 2.
Others have said it, but I feel that Sonic holds back most of the time and does not always run at full speed. Simply put, it would be exhausting to run/act at full speed all the time.
This has also been shown in other media, as sometimes Sonic will run with his feet fully visible, as opposed to having his feet and legs blur (the round or 8 shaped effect). I remember specifically in AoSTH there would be a distinct thumping sound when he wasn't running at full speed and holding back to taunt enemies, then a revving/whizzing sound when he was running with effort.
In the side scrolling games, everyone got balanced out for vs mode to make it more fair and rely on abilities. I'm sure balancing is done across the board for other games. In the end, the lore holds more standing than the gameplay, in my opinion.
I always liked the interpretation/headcanon where Sonic holds back his true potential so that he wouldn't accidentally hurt or destroy things around him while running, since unlike The Flash, Sonic doesn't have an aura that protected him or his surroundings. But it makes the moments where he does go super fast a lot more impactful (imo), how Sonic almost outrun a black hole in Sonic Colors (without boosting), restoring space and time by running (according to Tails in Sonic Generations), escaping dimensions in both Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers (Null space and Cyberspace), and many more
In a real world scenario, Sonic would not be able to travel at or above the speed of light. Sonic's mass would become infinite, along with the amount of energy required for Sonic to run, and an infinite amount of energy is unable to be produced, as any more energy would only add to Sonic's mass and not his speed. However, Sonic is not in the real universe, and his universe is likely susceptible to a different version of special relativity unbound by speed limits in our universe if he is truly able to travel at the speed of light.
I always thought that his friends keeping up with him in games is because he deliberately runs slower so he would not leave them behind. After all, he is someone who values teamwork.
The very first clip I thought you were gonna put in 0:07 was eggman out running sonic in sonic 2😂
Would've been funny lol 😂
I legit think shadow is faster than Sonic even without the shoes. He's based on buffed version of Sonic so it makes sense
Well than would you canonically speaking be wrong.
Sonic battle,
Sonic Rivals Manual
And the Sonic Encyclo-Speed-ia all mention that Shadow is only able to keep up with Sonic because of his shoes.
@@rynobehnke8289 i guess i go off of the shadow the hedgehog manual. But that's cool to know thank you
@@dissonanceparadiddle
Yes Shadow's solo game is as far as I know the only source to claim that Shadow even without his shoes is as fast as Sonic.
And nothing to thank me for.
@@rynobehnke8289 You forgot about that one twitter takeover where he says it's not true and then proceeds to use chaos blast cause tails ticked him off some more
trust him it's not true
My headcanon is that since the games themselves are canon in canon that sonic is actually the fastest thing alive,but the games just can't show that well without destroying gameplay
My theory is that Sonic is purposefully slowing himself down at times, either to let others catch up with him, or that he doesn’t accidentally hurt himself by crashing into something at high speeds.
Here are some canon characters who can keep up with Sonic and even go past his speed:
Keep up:
- Tails. (Fun fact the reason why Sonic kept tails around was because he knew tails wouldn't slow him down, and he realized he was the only one (at the time) who was able to keep up with him and deal with his life style.)
- Kunckles.
- Shadow.
- Sliver.
- Espio.
-Blaze.
Besides those characters, everyone is slow. The only reason why everyone is fast is because if everyone was slow, who would want to play as them, you know? So make everyone equally as fast as Sonic but make it noncanon. And only make it 4 gameplay reasons.
Another problem is, just because you can go fast, doesn't mean you always will. For Heroes for example, Sonic could just be going slower so his friends can keep up.
I just tried Triple Trouble 16 bit and it's a nice-ish experience that demands more from the player than Genesis trilogy.
From my memory, canonically, Shadow has been stated to equal to Sonic's abilities in every regard & not inferior in any way, multiple times, since his introduction.
Can't say much about Metal & Blaze, but I believe they're up there too.
Heyy!!
I wonder how fast Shadow is without his air shoes
to slow
0/10 Vid Blaze not mentioned smh my head
(lol nah i think overall sonic's the fastest. It's just that he isn't going mach 1 all the time so his pals can keep up)
How I see it
Metal can surpass Sonic at times, Shadow and Blaze can Rival Sonic's speed on foot, Silver can go faster with ESP and Jet can go around Sonic's speed only on his gear. Emerl also surpasses Sonic's speed, and so does Infinite with the phantom ruby equipped.
One thing to note: Shadow and Blaze are hard to place. Shadow seems to only move as fast as he does because of his air shoes. Meanwhile, Blaze is around Sonic's speed ( visibly slower than him in Rush, but the exact same speed in Rush adventure) yet she wears high heels which realistically would slow her down significantly. So by the logic, i'd say Blaze is the second fastest character ON FOOT that isn't a robot nor has an object to upgrade her speed, but rather hinder it.
It never occurred to me that Blaze the Cat might actually be nerfing herself by choosing to run in high heels instead using sneakers or boots like most Sonic characters lol!
Then again casually running around at supersonic speeds in heels, is pretty impressive regardless.
@@lynxfresh5214 I like to headcanon that she purposefully slows herself down in order to make more precise movements and attacks. Her fighting style is a lot more grounded and careful than Sonic, so it would make sense she'd try to slow herself down a bit. That and she has pyrokinesis, which if she recklessly throws around at high speeds, can cause more destruction than she'd like.
I still see Sonic as ultimately faster, but Blaze isn't at all far behind.
No Blaze is not faster then Sonic she pulls the same trick as Silver in that she uses her power to shoot herself forward faster then she can run. If you watch her feet when she hits Boost Mode but not using her Fire Boost you can see blast of fire coming from her feet.
@@sonamyfan666 Neither one of us actually said Blaze is faster than Sonic, the OP even said Sonic is ultimately faster than Blaze (which I agree with). I don't even know why you felt the need to "correct" us lol!
@@lynxfresh5214 My bad It came of that way to me and I do apologize for that.
... no one thinking about how archie sonic is faster since welp he ran across the entire multiverse, ran out a blackhole, and reverse the spin of the black hole so i would assume that he is faster then all of them
5:16 I would love if some strange parts of gameplay got added to the canon. Imagine how cool Tails not being able to die would be in the Sonic canon.
In sonic the dark brotherhood, Sonic states that he is faster than shadow, and shadow says that he is stronger.
I actually kinda like the concept of everyone being capable of keeping up with Sonic, although he is indeed still very much a notch or two above the rest.
Going slower just for the purpose of letting his buddies catch up, possibly losing races and getting hit in the pride would be very much against Sonic's character, and i think it truly goes to show how its not just speed that makes Sonic the true hero of the Sonic universe, its his agility and acrobatics, his confidence, his quick thinking, his iron resolve, his mastery at operating the chaos power, everything ELSE other then velocity that makes Sonic...y'know, Sonic.
I feel like it shows how Sonic grows and evolves to be a better, more capable person on his own, except of just relying on his primary, natural talent.
Its like people get so caught up with determining Sonic's exact statistics and powers to prove their point that they forget that at its core, Sonic's just a lax, fun-loving guy, just like the series itself is supposed to be fun, so yeah, what's the matter with not being the absolute best?
To be fair i might say that Sonic IS canonically fast but in some games such as spin off he's holding back for the competition cause it should be possible to beat him with every character cause otherwise that would be like a hopess battle which isn't fun like image if you play as anyone else and instantly lose against Sonic played by a CPU or unskilled player
This is something I've always though about when I started to join the Sonic Community, My Headcanon is that Sonic's friends can keep up with him, but they aren't faster than Sonic in the Story Part of each Sonic games, but in-game, they are the same speed mostly but I am glad to finally see a video on this topic, and I am looking forward to the Frontiers DLC with other playable characters because it's been too long since We could play as Sonic's Friends in a mainline Sonic 3D title (Sonic 06), but this was a fun video to watch and I hope you make more Sonic videos along the way!!
I always think that sonic just doesn't go full speed which could be why they can keep up but if he would go full speed than he would just be faster than anyone.
in the adventure series you couldve spin dashed and won those races easily, HUGE boost in speed
To be fair we have never seen sonic at his max, not even in frontiers
darkspine sonic, who is weaker than super sonic was able to **REWRITE A WHOLE UNIVERSE**
Imagine how powerful and fast would be sonic not holding back anything and totally crushing everyone with no mercy
Now it makes sense why Tikal has a speed stat of 10 in Sonic Forces Speed Battle
Besides speed, y'all think Big is quite clumsy and not acrobatic? Yet he can jump up to more than his own height, doing several somersaults in the process, and possibly by jumping with his belly instead of legs. And yeah some other cool things like rail grinding on his butt
My theory is super speed is not an uncommon thing, and Sonic is just the best at it.
And about Metal and Shadow, have ya trough Sonic doesn't use his actual speed against them? Cause after all this hedgehog goes even faster then speed of sound he goes at speed of light sometimes in his base form bruh
I'VE ALWAYS SAID for YEARS that Knuckles in SA2 is FASTER than Sonic, over 20 years i've said this.
I love being vindicated.
You could have tested the Advance trilogy, since in Advance 2 everyone is super fast
The Waffle House has found it’s new host 🧇