Adventures with Chaotix

Because A) the shot of neutrogic high zone in the background isn't always visible and my memory isn't great
B) because neutrogic high zone is also an island, and in the US manual they never talk about two islands
C) because when the merry go round launches in speed slider zone, you don't see any near by islands around
D) none of the backgrounds in the game depict another island in the ocean, and we see many shots of the water around in multiple levels.
E) The island shown also has a prominent Ferris wheel, which is never shown in any other depiction of neutrogic high zone.

It does not make specific at all which it is talking about. There is a zoomed up image of metal sonic on the page, but the depiction doesn't match. For example, it explicitly states Metal Sonic Kai has a new weapon called the "Plasma pulse attack" from it's chest. The Blue Metal Sonic does not have that.

 

Well, alright, I suppose that's fair.

He does, actually. If you go idle for a few minutes in one of the stages, Metal Sonic will show up and attack you. Sometimes he does a charge attack, but sometimes he fires a white laser from his chest. Footage can be seen in this video at 22:15:

 

What the fuck? I've had this game since the day it's released and I've never seen this before. Amazing.

 

Also, in the Japanese version of Sonic Gems Collection the blue Metal Sonic's Chaotix artwork is labelled "Metal Sonic (Kai)".

 

I think the starting level/Isolated Island is intended to be Angel Island. Explains why it starts with Knuckles alone there, as well as the name. Angel Island is isolated from the rest of the world by virtue of being a mythical floating island. It also kind of goes with the Japanese manual, which implies that Knuckles sees Newtrogic High Zone's island from Angel Island and goes investigate it.

It brings up some questions though, such as to why Eggman was there with a captured Espio, or why the island is on the sea.


Those may be explained by looking at the Japanese manual though, whose story section starts by referencing Angel Island:

"A floating island somewhere in the world. It has been several months since an incident caused this island to graze the surface of the ocean."

I originally assumed it was referencing the events of S3K, but what if it's instead implying that AI fell to the sea again, months ago?

So at some point after it fell for whatever reason, Espio and Eggman might have gone there to check it out separately, met each other there, and Eggy captured the chameleon. This is supported by the Japanese manual implying that Espio has an interest in Angel Island and the ancient civilization.

 

I don’t think Isolated Island is supposed to be Angel Island.

The manual says, “With that thought and with a sense of responsibility as a guardian, Knuckles went to the island alone.”

Then there's the part about Espio: “He is interested in the legendary civilization and decides to visit the island to investigate its relationship with the floating island.”

And later: “And when Knuckles arrived near the island, it was all too late. Eggman succeeded in crystallizing the energy.”

In the game, Knuckles meets Eggman and ends up saving Espio there.

To me, that suggests Knuckles was watching things from Angel Island and then went out to investigate—rather than just walking to the edge of Angel Island that happens to face the landmass or Newtrogic High Zone and having Espio and Eggman already there.

I always took Isolated Island to be either a fragment of that mysterious landmass that rose from the sea, or a separate island that was already there and was the closest point to the new island that appeared.

Kind of like how the Mystic Ruins connect to Angel Island and the broader Echidna homeland.

Maybe they were going for that theme: Angel Island, Isolated Island, and the new mysterious island were all one landmass in the past.

One floating in the sky, one sitting in the ocean, and one submerged beneath it.

Not denying the possibility that it could be Angel Island, I guess you could say it fell to the ocean because of the Chaos Rings sort of how it fell during Sonic Adventure towards the end in the Super Sonic/Perfect Chaos segment.

But I feel like Angel Island falling to the ocean again and being there for months is a big detail to leave out and not make it clear that's what happened.

I would argue that it was referring to the events of S3&K and the island/Master Emerald being in the ocean during that adventure caused the Chaos Rings/new landmass to "activate."

 

Yeah I think things are being overthought here. There's a big island called Newtrogic High, and right near it a small island called Isolated Island. It's not uncommon for bigger islands to have smaller islands around and it's not like the smaller islands are then not considered part of the whole area- take it from someone who's lived in islands lol

 

Another thing to add to just how weird Chaotix is. We only hear the first 10 seconds of Tribute, while the main part of the song goes completely unused in-game.



There must have been plans for a more substantial good ending cutscene.

 

Considering how much more detailed and fleshed out the bad ending is, I think it's pretty much guaranteed the good ending was heavily cut. It's honestly the worst ending in the entire series, even the master system sonic games had more fleshed out endings.

 

It’s ironic that the aesthetic placebo that good endings serve as in games, meant as a reward for dedicated play got the shaft. I suppose they figured with no time left that players were more likely to see the bad ending. :P

 

It took me a very, very long time to pass the 5th special stage, so they were right.