G-merl is a new and separate robot based on the data Eggman had on Emerl from his research. He's his own bot. With that said, at the end of Sonic Battle, Sonic and Cream makes a small speech about how Emerl will still be with them in the Emeralds. After they find G-merl washed up on the shore and Tails fixes him up and removes his weapons, they notice how he is peaceful and not attacking anyone. Its nothing directly stated, but that's always how I interpreted it as what remained of the original Emerl's "soul" was inherited into him after the Ultimate G-merl incident through the Chaos Emeralds. Given the whole lesson at the end of Battle was how the world would only know peace once we didn't need weapons, I think it is meant to be poetic in that way. So I would think of it as him having been "reincarnated" if you will, assuming this is very much the intention they had with the writing here.
G-merl is described as a new robot, created by Eggman http://sonic.sega.jp/advance3/ 『ソニックバトル』で登場した“エメル”のデータをもとに、Dr.エッグマンが生み出したロボット“ジーメル”が新登場! アタッチメントをつけることにより 様々な機能を発揮可能。 ソニックたちを待ち受ける! For the IDW comics, Ian Flynn said Sega told him that the character should speak robotically. Emerl, on the other hand, developed "human" speech patterns in Sonic Battle.
I REALLY hate that detail in IDW. It's no fun. Omega already fills that role, except a lot less heartlessly. It's interesting they got away with it in post-252 Archie (and also basically used him as the new version of Shard) but then were told no for the next time. On the note of questioning Gemerl's abilities and the extent of his function, it seems to be a lot of people's assumption that he's a near perfect replica when really he only seems to be a Metal Sonic who can attach himself to machines alongside having a final boss transformation.
Gemerl does describe himself a "learning robot" in the issue where Omega gets repaired... ... unsure whether that's referring to his reprogramming by Tails post Advance3, or if Eggman built him with the copy shenanigans from the start, in addition to his machine bonding and rockets and... teleportation thing. (Is that Chaos Control without any Emeralds? So many question arise from this one robot in this one game. Thread of Love and Gizoids )
I think he was learning in Advance 3, right? He starts off with barely any attacks and gradually gets smarter and stronger. I also figured that’s why he’s attached to Eggman’s machines. He learns from the boss robots’ data and that’s why his final form looks like one.
Why are people writing anything with Knuckles, so fixated on giving him identical looking family members?
No idea. But Semi frequent Sonic facts doesn't post incorrect info from what I've seen up to this point, so... On the other hand, he does post the occasional meme, so there's that to consider too. Really though, do we have a Brazilian triple trouble manual on the site anywhere? That'll answer it easily.
Well at least I can confirm it is written in Brazilian Portuguese with sentences that actually make sense and not some random Google translation. The only miswritten word is "Equídino" (shoud've been "Equidna" - which means echidna in case anyone didn't notice it), but maybe this is just part of his made-up name. And then again, who the fuck knew what an echidna is in the 90's in Brazil? I certainly did not, maybe I still don't.
Did Sonic and Silver not fight in Rivals 2, which acted as the redux for Silver’s introduction into the series? Could that not be what is being referenced? Anyway, I find the idea that Gemerl inherited Emerl’s soul to be intriguing. My on the spot head canon is that throughout the events of Advance 3, Gemerl had an internal struggle because he has Emerl’s combat data and self-aware nature but could tell he was missing a part of himself. Given that Sonic says that Emerl lives on in the Emerald shards, Gemerl could’ve felt a connection to them as representing what was missing, hence why he ended up attacking Eggman and taking the Emeralds for himself. When Super Sonic beat him as Ultimate Gemerl, perhaps that’s when he was finally restored in heart and soul, hence his non-aggressive nature once Tails fixed him. Turning against Eggman could also have been a peak in his journey as a learning robot, deeming that he could do better in defeating Sonic.
SEGA please why must you hurt me so with your waffling on continuity I reckon it’s absolutely Nega’s fault
I think the scene's just meant to showcase Cream's kindness. They've fought G-Merl, but she and Vanilla find him ravaged, destroyed, clearly helpless in the beach- so, being that he's clearly not harmful now, and needs help, she asks Tails for help and then cheers over the fact he's recovered. Also regarding "Brazillian localisation of Triple Trouble", there's no google results for it at all before 2019. Willing to put it as "joke hoax" or at most "hoax the guy running the twitter fell for".