User blog:Sclera1/E-102 Gamma

E-102 Gamma (E-102ガンマ) is a fictional robotic character who primarily appears in the 1998 video game Sonic Adventure. He is a red, bulky robot with a powerful gun built into his arm. Gamma was created by Sonic the Hedgehog series antagonist Doctor Eggman as part of the "E-Series" line. However, Gamma turns against his master after a heartfelt conversation with Amy Rose, who becomes his friend. He offers shoot-'em-up gameplay to a largely platforming-focused game.

While Gamma's main role in the Sonic series lies within Sonic Adventure, Gamma has also appeared in Adventure adaptations in the Sonic the Hedgehog comics and the Sonic X anime, and has had cameo appearances in a few other Sonic games. He has garnered mixed to positive comments from critics. While they have typically commended his story, they been more divided on his gameplay, generally praising the diversity it brings to Adventure but criticizing its slow and repetitive nature.

Design and characteristics
Named after the Greek letter gamma (γ), E-102 Gamma is part of the "E-100 Series", a subset of the "E-Series" of armed robots created by Sonic series antagonist Doctor Eggman. He is the second such creation, after E-101 Beta. As the E-100 Series robots are similarly designed and were created around the same time, Eggman refers to them as male and calls them brothers. While a robot, Gamma exhibits the ability to change his morality and rebel against Eggman, as well as to form a friendship with Amy Rose and experience flashbacks of unpleasant events.

He has a large, bulky, red body, standing 215 cm (7'1") tall and weighing 825.256 kg (1,819 lbs). There is a powerful laser gun built into his arm, with which he can lock onto enemies and fire small missiles in shooting-based gameplay. He is also able to hover over short distances and, when walking at high speeds, extend wheels from his body to roll across the ground. Via his special access privileges, he can mentally unlock doors aboard Eggman's airship, the Egg Carrier. Like the other E-100 Series robots in Sonic Adventure, Gamma has a bird trapped inside his body, which cannot escape unless he is fatally damaged.

Appearances
Gamma is one of six playable characters in Sonic Adventure, along with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and fellow introduction Big the Cat. Gamma's story in Adventure opens with a training exercise as instructed by Eggman, including fighting Beta. He passes and is instated as a guard aboard the Egg Carrier, and instructed to recapture Froggy, Big's frog who has swallowed a Chaos Emerald that Eggman wants. He succeeds, and Eggman exiles Gamma's younger brothers E-103 Delta, E-104 Epsilon, and E-105 Zeta for coming up with other frogs. Eggman then tells him to retrieve a bird held by Amy, who is imprisoned aboard the Egg Carrier. Gamma is disturbed when he sees Beta being disassembled in a room on the way to Amy's, but continues on. In conversing with her, he realizes it is wrong to keep the two there and sets them free. Gamma is then called onto the ship's deck to fight Sonic, but Amy steps in and saves him before Sonic decides to leave. Gamma realizes that Eggman is evil and vows to find and destroy his brothers to free the birds trapped inside them. He returns to the Egg Carrier to fight the last of these, Beta. He fatally wounds Beta, but before dying, Beta inflicts a similar injury on Gamma. Seeing Beta's bird emerge from his body, Gamma realizes he needs to die as well, so he lets himself fall asleep for the last time and succumb to his injuries as he savors his memories. Amy later finds his bird when it reunites with hers and Beta's, and the three depart into the sky as she waves goodbye.

Gamma is an unlockable character in the 2000 party game Sonic Shuffle. He uses his gun as a special attack accessible with a rare "S" card. He can also hover over "minus" spaces on the game's board if the player scores a die roll of 4, 5, or 6. In addition, his likeness appears on collectible stickers in the games Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which also include non-Sonic characters. Several main characters in Sonic Battle mistake another Eggman-created robot called Chaos Gamma for Gamma. However, Rouge the Bat suggests that Chaos Gamma's design simply uses similar components.

Gamma reprised his role in Adventure for an adaptation hosted in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series published by Archie Comics. He also appears in a similar story arc of the Sonic X anime with a different ending: Gamma and Beta fight hand-to-hand, but clutch hands together as they die. Amy sees Gamma's death and tearfully states that she will never forget him.

Reception
Gamma has received mixed to positive opinions from critics and the Sonic fanbase; one writer summarized him as "a very popular one-shot character". Several writers commented on his gun, noting that he was the first Sonic character to have one. Rich Knight of Complex ranked Gamma as the 21st coolest robot character in video games, commending the diversity he and his shoot 'em up-style levels brought to Adventure's largely platforming-based gameplay, while Francesca Reyes of the British Official Dreamcast Magazine said that, in playing as Gamma, players would be "guaranteed a satisfying thrill ride". Richard Coombs of Blistered Thumbs praised Gamma's storyline and motivations, which he considered "actually pretty dark for the Sonic series", and staff of Xbox World mentioned having cried at the end of his story. Nonetheless, Gamma's gameplay in Sonic Adventure was criticized by IGN's Levi Buchanan for slowing down the pace of an otherwise mostly fast-paced game. Official Dreamcast Magazine's Jem Roberts called Gamma's gun "lame" and overall design "clunky", finding his overall gameplay difficult as a result. Brian Dumlao of Worth Playing disliked Gamma's repetitive and basic gameplay but found him easy to control. Jahanzeb Khan of PALGN summarized that "his story is probably the most interesting [of all the Adventure characters'] but his levels are too short and too few to make him memorable."