Big the Cat

Big the Cat (ビッグ ・ザ ・キャット) is a video game character from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. He is a large, purple, male, anthropomorphic, (loosely) humanoid cat with yellow eyes. He is a fisherman, or, more accurately, a fishercat, and brings his fishing rod with him wherever he goes, often using it as a weapon.

Big lives in a hut at the Mystic Ruins. He first debuted in Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast, which was released in Japan on December 23, 1998. He is 18 years old, weighs 280 kg (616 pounds), and is 200 cm (6' 6") tall), making him the heaviest and largest non-metal character in the series. His character designer is either Yuji Uekawa, Takashi Iizuka or even Naoto Ohshima. His family relationships are unknown, but his best friend is Froggy.

Sonic Adventure
Big was sleeping in his hut one night, when he woke up and saw that his friend, Froggy, had swallowed his lucky charm; the yellow Chaos Emerald. As soon as he noticed that Froggy had grown a tail, Froggy ran off, causing Big to chase after him. After trying to catch him in Twinkle Park, and then in Ice Cap, Big was able to catch Froggy on Emerald Coast, but Dr. Eggman's robot, E-102 Gamma caught him and ran away. Seeing that, Big tried to convince the robot to give him Froggy back, but without any positive results.

Big chased Gamma to Eggman's Final Egg base, where he boarded the Egg Carrier. After finding Froggy on the flying fortress, he fished him in one of the many water tanks on the Hot Shelter. He was then teleported by Tikal into the past for a while, so she could pass him a message, just like she did to the other characters, about Chaos 4. When he got back to the present, he tried to get out of the Egg Carrier, but was caught by Dr. Eggman and Chaos 4, which then evolved to Chaos 6 when he absorbed Froggy (whose tail and Chaos Emerald had disappeared). Just then, Sonic appeared to the rescue. After defeating the God of Destruction, Big found the Tornado 2 biplane and decided to fly home with it, crash landing the plane right next to his house. Later, when Perfect Chaos destroyed the city of Station Square Big gave one of the seven Chaos Emeralds to Sonic in order to let him transform into Super Sonic.

Sonic Heroes
Some time passed, and slightly before Sonic Heroes, Froggy went missing again, and Big teamed up with Amy Rose and Cream to create Team Rose, Big being the "power character", and the three went to find Froggy, along with Sonic and Chocola, a Chao that Cream was looking for. Although Cream and Big try to give up on the middle of the adventure, Amy encourages them to go on. During their adventure they figured out that Dr. Eggman had kidnapped Froggy, and fought Team Chaotix, with Big being angered that they teased his friends. After defeating Dr. Eggman and his Egg Emperor robot, they found Froggy in a puddle of liquid, which they later found out was Metal Sonic (who had used Froggy and Chocola to copy Chaos’s data).

After Metal Sonic transformed into Metal Madness, Team Rose gave their Chaos Emeralds (Cream had the yellow Chaos Emerald, and Big the purple Chaos Emerald) to Team Sonic and stalled Metal Madness by attacking his right side. After Team Super defeated the villain, Big was left standing with Cream waving goodbye as Amy went chasing after Sonic.

Other game appearances
Big is playable in Sonic Shuffle for the Dreamcast as an unlockable bonus character.

Big makes several cameo appearances in Sonic Adventure 2, where can be found in most stages and boss fights, and even some cutscenes. He was also unlockable as a character in 2-Player Mech Battle mode, where he used Eggman's mech. Most these cameos were removed in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (he can still be seen in some cutscenes by pressing A), the GameCube remake, and he was replaced by Dark Chao Walker in 2-Player mode.

Big cameos in Sonic Battle as well. Players can choose to link four Game Boy Advances together using link cables to play multiplayer games with only one game cartridge. In one of these mini games, Big can sometimes be seen fishing as he sits on the platform where the other characters battle, much like in Sonic Adventure 2.

After years of absence from games like Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Riders, Big made a cameo appearance in Sonic Rivals as a collectable card.

Heading back into the direction of his easter-egg cameos in Sonic Adventure 2, Big makes small cameo appearances in some of the stages in Sonic and the Secret Rings. Big appears every so often if you stay motionless in certain areas in specific levels of the game for 5-10 seconds. Once the player stays motionless at the right location, Big the Cat will appear, and an extra page in his diary will be viewable in the extras feature.

Personality
Big is carefree and laid-back. He cares a lot for his friends, especially Froggy. He enjoys fishing and brings his rod with him wherever he goes. Some people think that Big is not very intelligent, because of his voice, but they are wrong, because in fact he just talks very slow, and is very gentle to his friends, but when Froggy or other of his friends is in danger, he forgets the amabilites and will fight against everything to protect them.

Many Sonic fans dislike Big because of his personality and his slow gameplay - which differs a lot from Sonic's fast gameplay -, but strangely enough, he's one of the characters that has been wanted by fans to return in upcoming games..

Abilities and weaknesses
Big's abilities include using his strength to lift, push, carry and throw heavy things, and use his body (usually his stomach) to crush his opponents and objects. Like Knuckles and E-123 Omega, Big is probably one of the strongest characters in the series. In Sonic Adventure, he can use his fishing rod to fish or attack enemies (known as Lure Attack), and its range is increased with the "Power Rod" upgrade. Its fishing power can also be raised with lure upgrades (there are 4 in all). When Big acquires the Life Belt, he can float on water and dive underwater.

In Sonic Heroes, Big can use his rod to attack enemies and objects, or use it to smash Amy and Cream as projectiles when they are in ball form. He is also able to swirl his rod around and when powered up, the lure changes and gains a fire trail. In Sonic Heroes, the rod is also an umbrella which Big can use to float above fans. He can also use the "Flower Festival" Team Blast with Amy and Cream, during which he pushes them up with his umbrella where they unleash an explosion of flowers.

With Big’s size, he does not move as quickly as the other characters, but he seems to have at least some speed in Sonic Heroes. In Sonic Adventure, Big does not have many abilities and his attacks aren't as powerful as the other characters, but despite his size, he can climb up ladders very fast.

Theme songs

 * Sonic Adventure - "Lazy Days ~Livin' in Paradise~". It is sung by Ted Poley.
 * Sonic Heroes - "Follow Me", shared with Team Rose. It is sung by Kay Hanley.

Sonic X
Big has a minor role in the anime Sonic X. Notably, he is the first character to appear in the series, as he is seen sleeping by a river with Froggy in the beginning of episode 1. His most notable appearance was during the Sonic Adventure adaption, where he played the same role as he did in the game. At the start of the series, he was apparently caught in the Chaos Control explosion that transported the main characters from their world to Earth. However, he did not make another appearance until a second Chaos Control event brought several locations from their world to Earth. It is unknown if Big somehow remained on his homeworld until the second event, or if he had been on Earth the entire time.

Sonic the Comic
In Sonic the Comic, Big makes a single-panel appearance when Chaos, drained of power and restored to its original fish form, lands next to Big, who is fishing in those waters, prompting him to turn and mumble "Hmmm?"

In the "unofficially official" continuation of the comic, named Sonic the Comic - Online!, Big has fished out Chaos - who he calls "Buddy" - and the two form an unlikely partnership (a fat cat and a big fish), with Big unwittingly being used to help Chaos regain his powers. This ended after the encounter with The King Of Ghosts in the Haunted Hill Zone mines; Big, having commented several times in the story that he was hungry, finally looks at Chaos while licking his lips and saying "Really hungry...". It is assumed that he ate him, but it is possible that it was simply a joke by the writers and that both Chaos and Big are still around.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie comic)
In Sonic the Hedgehog, the Archie comic, Big makes an appearance during the Sonic Adventure adaptation. While he used to live in Cat Country, he now resides in Knothole as he appears in numerous crowd scenes and also play the role of Eggman in a play.

Sonic X (Archie comic)
In the Sonic X comic book, Big appears in Paris, when Sonic and the rest of the gang are on the World Fair. He punches Dr. Eggman in the face when he recognizes him, and later he helped Sonic and the others defeat Eggman's robots who were on the loose, destroying everything they saw.

As gentle and harmless as Big may appear to be, when Dr. Eggman was threatening to harm Froggy, or certain people Big cared about, Big responded to that with a square punch in Eggman's face, knocking him down and out.

It is likely that he will be back for other stories in the future, in both comic books.

Voice actors

 * Sonic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle - Syun Yashiro (Japan)
 * Syun Yashiro (八代　駿) was also known for voicing Winnie the Pooh in the Japanese versions of Kingdom Hearts. He died on June 25, 2003 after a stroke.
 * Sonic Heroes, Sonic X - Takashi Nagasako (Japan)
 * Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Shuffle, Sonic Heroes - Jon St. John (US)
 * Sonic X, Sonic and the Secret Rings - Oliver Wyman (US)

Reception
Game Informer notes that "heck, Big the Cat is even likable" in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.