Sonic Adventure’s subtle connection to Sonic the Hedgehog live film.

Since the Sonic the Hedgehog live action film has been available on digital for some time, I’ve had plenty of time to review the film with several back-to-back screenings thanks to my kids. The very first scene, which starts off Sonic telling us about his childhood, is filled with all sorts of references to the levels we see in the Sonic franchise games. Not only is this smaller scene filled with plenty of throw backs to the games of old with checkerboard-like sidings to the terrain, loops for Sonic to travel through, and patches of green grass perfect for the young hedgehog’s feet to work overtime on, but it also features an interesting concept that the writers may explore in the possible sequel. At one point, Sonic is speaking to his caregiver and guardian figure, Longclaw the Owl, about the impressiveness and scope of Sonic’s power. During this brief description of why others may want the power and how dangerous letting others know that Sonic is capable of such feats is, the viewer is presented with a prime example of Longclaw’s warnings: there are echidnas in the wood line with their arrows trained on the young hedgehog.

The echidnas we see in the background as Sonic holds up his gift of a flower to Longclaw are donned with what looks to be equipment and clothing to signal they are a hunting party of some sort. Though their numbers are small, they quickly outmaneuver the owl and hedgehog who take to the sky in order to escape. For the longest time, when I first saw this movie, I didn’t think anything of it other than this was how the writers were going to portray the echidna race. What hit me after doing my research for the article about what the Sonic Adventure remake needed was that this is not the only time we’ve seen the echidna race act in such a manner.

During the events of Sonic Adventure, we see that the Knuckles clan of echidnas have also sought out ways to increase their power in a warmongering-like way. Led by the chief Pachacamac, the Knuckles clan would seek out ways to increase their potential for war and found a worthy prize: the Altar of the Emeralds. With the seven Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald at their disposal, the Knuckles clan would be unstoppable. Even though they were doomed to failure because of the guardian of the alter, Chaos, the Knuckles clan served as guardians to the Master Emerald in order to prevent further insult to injury until the only remaining member of their culture would be Knuckles the Echidna. Before this, however, the clan appears very similar to what we see in the Sonic the Hedgehog live action film.  

Both clans appear to have white tattoos or markings wrapped around their heads and on the areas of their down-pointing dreadlocks. Under their leather-like armor, or even on top of it, these intricate white markings are also apparent. During flashback scenes in Sonic Adventure, we can see these markings are tribal tattoos that also adorn their torso as well. The live action hunting party seems more armored, with what appear to be blue-feathers lining most of their face masks and headdress. There is one particular member with a more angular mask who has yellow or possibly orange feathers in his or her headdress, possibly signaling a higher rank than the other members? Either way, the gear serves both a protective purpose for their bodies and to shroud these attackers in mystery.

One thing that isn’t a mystery is that these echidnas were hunting down Sonic to use his power. While shooting the objective of their hunt with an arrow seems like the last thing they should do, there are other members of the hunting party that appear with nets made of rope near the hut windows in an attempt to snag the small hedgehog from the protective talons of Longclaw. Just as we later see the potential destructive power of Sonic when his emotions are ramped up, there is no denying that the echidna clan were able to witness this feat along with the simple fact that Sonic can travel at supersonic speeds. If the tribe could harness the power, they could use it to establish dominance or even conquer other tribes in Sonic’s original world. We see what Doctor Robotnik is capable of doing with just one single quill off of Sonic’s supercharged body, so it isn’t hard to imagine the war-like echidnas keeping Sonic around to harvest these as possible weapons or for energy usage.   

With the potential for a sequel revealed from the post-credit scene, I would not be surprised to learn that the movie counterpart of the Knuckles clan is involved with the events that spurred on the plot in the original film. It also seems that a certain side-kick character has more developed technology than what the hunting party uses in their introduction. So it could very well be possible that they kept Longclaw alive in order to find out the power of the rings and use her knowledge to harvest more, maybe even traveling to another world in order to gain their technology before coming back as conquerors who just couldn’t be stopped. Since their original quarry was long gone and in another world across the universe, why not use the next best thing that helped him escape in the first place?

I loved the fact that this connection was both an interesting Easter egg and an intelligent use of the mysterious echidna race within Sonic lore. What do you think about the hunting party? Do you think they will show up in the sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog? Sound off and let us know!