E-102 Gamma

E-102 Gamma/E-102 Γ
Sonic the Hedgehog series
E-102 Gamma as seen on the Sonic Channel website.
First appearance	Sonic Adventure
Created by	Doctor Robotnik
Voiced by (English)	Steve Broadie (Game) (1999) Jon St. John (2004) Andrew Rannells (TV) (2004)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Jyoji Nakata (Game) Naoki Imamura (TV)
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Species	Robot

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E-102 Gamma (ガッマ, Gamma), or technically E-102 Γ, is a fictional robot in the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games. It is 215 cm (7' 1") tall, weighs precisely 825.256 kg (1819.378 lbs), and has a 15.5 cm missile launcher attached to its right wrist. Its character designer was either Yuji Uekawa or Takashi Iizuka. Gamma was first introduced as a as a playable character in the game Sonic Adventure, first released in Japan on December 23, 1998. Being a robot, Gamma has no gender, but is generally referred to as male. Gamma's gameplay involves the player utilizing his missile launcher to destroy enemies and eventually reach a boss/target within a given time limit. The more enemies the player destroys, the larger the score and extension of time are for the given level.

The symbol in E-102 Γ's name is sometimes mistaken for an Latin "r", but it is actually the symbol for gamma in Greek.

Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode.

History

Though originally a single unit of Dr Eggman's E-Series, E-102 Gamma has became a mass-produced robot line in it's own right. As such, it's name can refer to many characters in the Sonic universe. Nearly all Gamma models are identical in design, par slight modifications such as expanded weaponry. While they vary in rank, Gammas are considered a profound model by Eggman, and thus usually have a close role with their master, (somewhat replacing the traitrous Metal Sonic as a right-hand minion or personal muscle). Because of their form and origin however, nearly all E-102s play a tragic role in their starring game.

Original E-102 Γ (Sonic Adventure)

E-102 Gamma, the second robot of the E-100 series line (technically third including E-100 Alpha ZERO), was created by Dr. Eggman. E-102 Gamma is powered by (and later influenced and ultimately controlled by) a captured pink bird held inside the robot. Although E-102 Gamma was created by and made to work under Dr. Eggman, assisting in empowering the Chaos creature, he gains a sentience unique to the other E Series, turning against his maker's will, and devoting his short existence to freeing the animals contained in the other E-100 units.

E-102's story begins with him being activated by his creator, Doctor Eggman, in the Final Egg base located in Mystic Ruins. The doctor pits Gamma through a training course and against his older 'brother', E-101 "Beta" for a place as a crew member on his newest flying fortress, the Egg Carrier. Gamma defeats Beta, who is granted "special permission" on board as spare parts, and is ordered along with his younger 'brothers', Delta, Epsilon and Zeta, to find a tailed frog containing a Chaos Emerald and Chaos's tail.

After finding the frog, Gamma is mysteriously sent several thousand years into the past, where he encounters a young girl named Tikal, who tells him about Chaos and the Chao. He is then sent back to the present, where he apparently shrugs off the experience and hands the frog to Dr. Eggman. Displeased with the other three robots, Eggman demotes them from his crew, sending them away to be remodelled for generic 'Badnik' duty in undisclosed locations (Gamma is distinctly haunted by the memory of Delta turning to look at him as he was warped away; this memory comes up several times later in the game).

Eggman then tells Gamma, now the sole elite robot, to acquire a bird from a girl held captive in a prison cell on the Egg Carrier. Upon searching for the cell, Gamma discovers E-101 Beta in a lab undergoing a torturous remodelling process. Though somewhat disturbed by this, he quickly disregards this and returns to his mission. After finding the prison cell containing Amy Rose, Gamma demands the bird only for Amy to bluntly refuse, her affection toward the animal confusing him. He quotes himself, "Why save that which is useless to you? Does not compute." The bird then flies up close to Gamma. Somehow affected by this, Gamma suddenly experiences an unbearable pain, before suddenly freeing both Amy and the bird from their cell, urging them to leave. Surprised and touched by this, Amy exclaims that Gamma must be different from the other robots.

Gamma has little time to deduce what he has just done before he is called up to the deck to dispose of the trespassing heroes Sonic and Tails. A grueling battle ensues, though Amy stands in between them, begging them to stop and explaining to Sonic that Gamma is a friend. Both reluctantly submit to Amy's pleas and back down. As the Egg Carrier begins to lose altitude and slowly fall to the earth below, Amy encourages Gamma to free himself, explaining the virtues of friendship before they evacuate. Gamma flies to the Mystic Ruins and relooks his past and the words of Amy. After overlooking memories from his 'life', Gamma determines that Dr. Eggman is his enemy, and deletes his master registration program. He then decides to begin a 'rescue' mission, locating his newly registered "friends" (the rest of the E-100 series) and 'freeing' the birds trapped inside them.

Gamma first finds and destroys E-103 Delta the Windy Valley in Mystic Ruins, then locates E-104 Epsilon in Red Mountain on Angel Island, and destroys him as well. Afterward, he returns to the Egg Carrier to find E-101 Beta and E-105 Zeta. After destroying an upgraded (and much more heavily fortified) version of E-105 Zeta, he overlooks his progress, locating the final two E-series models; E-101 Beta and E-102 Gamma, himself. He goes to the deck for the final confrontation with an improved version of E-101 Beta, E-101 Beta mkII, his rebuild now complete. Gamma destroys Beta, but is severely damaged in the process. When Beta falls and stops moving, Gamma approaches him lying on the ground. Beta, although he appears to be finished, gathers up a last ounce of strength and shoots Gamma at point-blank range. As he limps away from the battle field he inputs a final image, that of the family of Flickies located in the locket around the neck of the bird that Amy had. With that, Gamma deactivates and explodes, freeing the pink Flicky inside himself, while Beta's explosion frees a gray Flicky. After that, they reunite with the blue Flicky that had accompanied Amy.

It is truly unknown why Gamma deactivated himself. In Sonic's story, after he fights Gamma, Gamma collapses from receiving heavy damage. Sonic is about to deliver the final blow (shown in a cutscene) when Amy stops him, telling him that Gamma is her friend, and that he isn't like the other evil robots. When the player takes control of Sonic again after that cutscene, Gamma is standing on the deck, and he is able to be spoken to. If Sonic talks to him, he replies with "Auto Recovery System, activated." If Gamma was indeed equipped with an Auto Recovery System within himself, he should have been able then to recover from Beta's shot. His remembrance of the picture of the Flicky family in the locket (it was never actually shown to him during the course of his or any character's story) means that somehow he determined there was a Flicky inside him depicted in the picture. This suggests that, instead of healing himself, he intentionally deactivated himself to free the Flicky and reunite it with it's family. If this was the case, then it confirms that Gamma really did have the potential to feel emotions of regret and empathy and was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of his own life for the Flicky within him. Although this is a very viable theory that goes along with the mood of his story well, the exact reason is not known.

The pink bird later follows Amy to Station Square after it is destroyed by Perfect Chaos. Gamma is the only playable character in the game that did not show up at Station Square during the final battle due to his destruction. However, the bird making an appearence represents him in spirit.

Gamma is not initially playable, and his story is unlocked after the player meets him in one of the other characters' stories, namely Sonic's, Tails's, Knuckles's, Amy's or Big's. An odd effect takes place in Gammas adventure mode in Sonic Adventure upon completing his story, creating a consistant night-time effect in the Adventure Fields. This happens also in Sonic Adventure DX, but resets upon entering Mission Mode.

Gamma is notably the first playable character in the Sonic game series to die onscreen. This is often considered by fans to be the most poignant moment in the series, having been deemed so in a recent poll in the Green Hill Zone forums, (which can be considered somewhat ironic, seeing as it is basically a dramatised enactment of an average Badnik death).

Despite Gamma's betrayal of Eggman, the doctor continued to build robots based on the E-102 model after Gamma's demise.

Sonic Shuffle

Gamma is one of the secret characters in Sonic Shuffle, in which the game's description listed him as "revived with the power of dreams". This is therefore perhaps the only true reincarnation of the original, unlike the below "rebuilt" Gammas. Like all players he holds a unique playing ability. If he plays a 4, 5, or 6 card, he'll change into wheel mode which will negate the effects of minus ring spaces. If he plays a special card during a battle, two roulettes will spin, and the sum of the two numbers will equal the damage done to an enemy. Gamma is unlocked (somewhat suitingly) after obtaining the final image in Amy's room.

E-1000(Sonic Adventure 2)

The game Sonic Adventure 2 and its GameCube remake Sonic Adventure 2: Battle presented the E-1000. The E-1000 was a mass-produced variant of E-102 Gamma that served as a normal Badnik-style enemy, sporting a pair of cannon arms. Despite being paired for what may seem like double the firepower, the E-1000 line's weaponry, with low-velocity projectiles, a low rate of fire, and no homing feature, was generally far less effective than E-102's single missile launcher. As far as can be assumed by its actions, the E-1000 are not sentient. Despite utilizing E-102's lock-on gameplay, neither E-102 nor the E-1000 are playable in the games' Shooting Battle mode, which can be considered odd, due both versions' use of obscure or irrelevent characters, such as Big the Cat or the Chao Walkers.

E-102 Chaos Gamma, as seen in Sonic Battle

"Chaos Gamma"(Sonic Battle)

In Sonic Battle several used robot parts, including those of E-102, are used to create a new robot named E-102 Chaos Gamma, a "Frankenstein" of robotics powered by a Chaos Emerald shard. However this utility was posponed shortly, due to Dr Eggman using Gamma's intended shard to activate the Gizoid, Emerl. The new Gamma has several new weapons, such as a grenade launcher and an electric dagger, but does not have E-102's cannon or the 'headlight' mounted on his chest (this was likely done to allow his sprites to face both left and right without needing new sprites for both directions). During the game, Chaos Gamma makes numerous attempts to capture Emerl, the game's main character, for his master.

After finally absorbing it's own Emerald shard, Chaos Gamma confronts Emerl and beats him to a pulp (currently being unwilling to battle), now able to express its bitterness and jealously for stealing its intended shard. However, upon regaining his fighting spirit, Emerl challenges Gamma once again, this time proving the victor. However, as Chaos Gamma mourns his loss, Cream however reasons with the robot and, after some long thought, it sacrifices its shard to Emerl. In the final chapter of the game, Emerl can train with Chaos Gamma as a sparring partner before the final challenge. It is unclear if this is because Chaos Gamma has become good again and turned on Eggman, or if like many characters bested by Emerl, he feels the need to pass along his fighting skills to him. All Gamma himself says is that he is ready to begin a training sequence.

Chaos Gamma is unlocked as a playable character for Battle and Challenge modes after defeating him in story mode.

Also throughout the game the player would encounter and fight "Guard Robos", who are identical in equipment to Chaos Gamma, but are gray, notably less intelligent, and cannot teach fighting techniques.

Interestingly, other characters seem to know Gamma personally and treat his 'rebirth' as uneventful. Even characters who had little interaction with the original seem to acknowledge him as a friend. (It is possible they weren't aware that Gamma had blown up, and believed he had been alive this whole time, but that's only a theory.) Notably, he no longer recognizes Sonic and his friends, as his original memories were most likely deleted after his initial destruction aboard the Egg Carrier. One of few E-102 units to survive it's initial appearance, it is unknown if Chaos Gamma will return in future games.

Other

Gamma artwork has appeared in Sonic Gems Collection and Sonic Rivals.

If E-123 Omega receives an E-Rank in Sonic Heroes, he will reference his older brothers, proclaiming "I couldn't even beat Gamma or Beta." It is worth noting that Omega himself is largely inspired by E-102 in design.

The E-102 model has been sparsely used as of recently. With Eggman using more formidable, advanced robot soldiers and his 'younger brother' Omega serving as a semi-replacement, it is debatable as to whether Gamma has become a 'retired character', though he was shown in two character polls for popularity and future appearances alongside his brother on the Sonic Channel website. It is unknown how many votes he received on either, but not enough to join the "top ten".

In other media

A less recognized Sonic character, E-102Γ has had a few sparse but notable appearances in other Sonic media. Nearly all appearances reference his original appearance in Sonic Adventure.

Comics

E-102Γ is depicted in the Archie-published Sonic the Hedgehog comics, namely in the Sonic Adventure story arc. While this adaption begins to closely adapt early elements of the game's story, many later aspects, including his death, are never shown. It has been explained that many aspects of the game's story had to be compressed in order to fit into the comic's adaption, though it may be also due to the comic's rather different methods of robotization, which would make Gamma's "rescue" mission too complex or illogical. Last seen departing from the Egg Carrier following his defeat by Sonic, Gamma's fate was never resolved, having only appeared in three issues (80, 82 and Super Sonic Special 12) (an attendance even obscure characters such as Nack, Heavy and Bomb have managed to surpass).

Though "Archie" made little use of Gamma, they continued to pay homage to him through the character Isaac, who design-wise is near identical to E-102, albeit with a completely golden hue. Interestingly, Isaac is not an E-Series or even created by Eggman for that matter, the comic suggesting the resemblance to be a complete coincidence.

Despite both including elements from the Adventure arc, Gamma has not appeared in either the Archie Sonic X comic or Fleetway's Sonic the Comic.

Television

The anime Sonic X retells many elements of the Sonic Adventure storyline, including Gamma's storyline. This depiction is somewhat loyal to the game arc, almost down to a word for word re-enactment (though much of the game's dialogue is lost in the transition to the English dub), however slight changes have been made to the storyline, mainly in favor of the series' unique concepts and characters. Like his game counterpart, Gamma befriends Amy and begins his rescue mission following his defeat by Sonic, however, rather than battling his brothers he finds them deactivated and uses a unique hacking device in his system to delete their master obedience program, and thus any need to hold their animal captives. This does not work on Beta however, who is still online and attacks Gamma. Gamma makes a defensive attack, attempting to convince his brother to willingly free himself, but it falls on deaf ears, and so, in a last ditch effort, he literally clashes with him, fatally wounding them both and 'freeing' their animal batteries. As they collapse and explode, their hands grasp into one anothers', as a touching final symbol of their unity. Amy Rose, who arrives only in time to witness his death (when she does not the game) tearfully thanks the fallen robot for sacrificing so much for her and Lily.

Like most other characters in the anime, Gamma's design is practically identical to his game's counterpart, however his overall bulk is somewhat larger, making him seem more clunky in design. Also in comparisson to the game version's soft-spoken, HAL-esque voice, both versions of the anime given him a loud, single-tone voice, refering to himself in third person. The english version also uses different voice synthetics, giving the E-100s a helium-pitched tone, making Gamma sound (somewhat tragically in accordance with his story) like a young, naive child. Interestingly, during his creation (this time simultaniously with his E-Series brothers) Bocue and Docue claim the E-100s to be Eggman's first use of animal batteries powering robots, while originally Gamma's form merely alluded this now renowned method.

Personality

Gamma's CG art from Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut.

Even though E-102 Γ is a robot line, nearly all exhibit a conscience and personality, opposed to their emotionless physical form and drone-like robotic dialect. Like most of Eggman's sentient robots, they usually betray their master, though unlike over-ambitious models such as Metal Sonic, or vengeful ones such as E-123 Omega, Gamma's leave of duty is usually out of a compassion or remorse for its actions against Sonic and his friends.

The original E-102 Γ is renowned for gaining its sentience and more or less being the first robot to embiggen one. However, given his mindless actions as Eggman's slave, it is unknown if he gained sentience or had it all along but simply disregarded it at first. Even under evil alignment however, his calm and sensible manner ensures he encurrs his wrath on only the most revered of enemies(in direct contrast to his belligerent, violent, borderline-insane successor, Omega, who will decimate anything that is potentially a threat). However he becomes somewhat uncomfortable to vivid human emotions, to the point that the emotional conflict of his loyalty pains him, leading to his eventual leave of duty.

It should be noted that even when gaining a free will, Gamma still holds a rather regimented attitude and devotion to his mission. He considers his life less important than his friends and is shown to fight selflessly for them to the brink of sacrificing himself, much like other heroes in the series, the only difference being that Gamma was actually given the choice to do so as opposed to having it thrust upon him like Sonic or Tails.

Gamma's story leaves fan speculation as to whether his (and other badniks') conscience was formed from the mind and memories of the bird inside, or independently by the robot himself, thus desputing whether his "rescue" was in fact a liberation or a death sentence. Plausable evidence on both the former (Gamma's memories of the bird and the family portrait) and the latter (later models such as Omega or Chaos Gamma gaining sentience without an organic battery) suggests it is both, and that while the bird represents Gamma in some form or another, another part of his conscience was supposedly destroyed along with his robot body.

When Gamma is rebuilt in Sonic Battle, he serves Eggman once more. It is revealed that Gamma's personality is enhanced with the power of emeralds, much like Emerl, as exhibited by its more emotional, human-like dialect (he now speaks with contractions), however unlike the original (who was cruel only at Eggman's bidding), Chaos Gamma unveils a rather bitter, violent personality, jealous of the robot that possessed his original Emerald and obtained his rightful 'power' (to the disdain of the fan community), that is only softened upon being reasoned with by Cream, much how Amy had to its predecessor, explaining how a friendship involves sacrifice and sharing.

In Sonic X, though depicted as the original, and therefore of similar personality, he was cast with being slightly more emotional and was capable of being frightened and disturbed even before he met Amy, even able to exclaim organic like exclamations such as groaning, stuttering and at one point even producing a forlorn facial expression. It still portrays Gamma's naivity towards good and evil however, perhaps best exhibited when he notices Big trespassing on deck, only to ignore him simply because he was supposedly never directly ordered to attack him.

E-102 Γ, like many other Sonic characters exhibits traits of a stock character, namely the "dark knight" or "tragic villain". Similarly, these characters are villains by loyalty alone and are usually not actually evil per se, often in fact exhibiting compassion and nobility towards their enemies. Like Gamma, their fate is usually a grim, yet noble end. This is enthesized in Sonic Battle, when Emerl, upon examining the malfunctioning Gamma, evokes sympathy for the price they must pay for serving as a weapon of Eggman.

It is of interest that the Gamma model has a somewhat amusing tendancy to form bonds with female characters, usually as a sign or staple of their truthful kind nature. In fact, the only prominent female characters not to have had a pivotal interaction with any version of any E-Series robots are Blaze the Cat and Sally Acorn.

Gamma's appearance speculates a rather tragic theory that all past robots created by Eggman, and thus destroyed by Sonic have a sentience and unique personality, though perhaps only Gamma is the first to accept and express his own.

Major interactions with other characters

Doctor Eggman/Robotnik

His creator and the first person he sees upon 'birth', Gamma exhibited a strong sense of loyalty and devotion towards Eggman, and as such, made his betrayal a painful and reluctant one. While he eventually turns on his master, he does not attack him directly, perhaps only seeing him as an unfriendly form to avoid rather than exhibiting an actual spite or hatred towards him. To add to this, Gamma remained a favourite with Eggman, who seemingly never discovered his betrayal. In addition, the US version of Sonic Adventure has Gamma refer to Eggman by his "true" name; Dr Robotnik.

E-Series

In the latter half of his life, Gamma devotes himself to 'freeing' his E-Series brothers, whom having spent his life partnered with, assigns them as his friends. It is obvious the feeling is not mutual however, making his mission a strainuous task of battling each brother to the death until they explode and release their animal counterparts. Ironically, given the actions of the E-100s without direct order from Eggman suggests that that they too may have gained a sentience and independence, albeit a jealously and hatred for the brother who upstaged them and ultimately had them dismayed. Another more bizarre theory is that Beta, upon his dying moments, had a similar rememberance as Gamma would, and fired upon him as a deliberate assistance to his rescue, suggesting ironically that all the E-100s came to the same conclusion as Gamma and were all attempting the same "rescue mission".

Amy Rose

Amy perhaps forms the largest bond with Gamma, eventually convincing him of his mission and his friends. Though originally seeing him as a "bully" for trying to take Birdie, (or 'Lily' in Sonic X), she envokes sympathy for him when it is made obvious even he does not understand the point of his loyalty, the thought of an emotionless being upsetting her, little realising the effect this was taking on his programming. Ironically, while Gamma's act of heroism changed her view of Eggman's robots, she is well known for her rather cold, violent desposal of them usually. Their bond is expanded upon in Sonic X, where Amy witnesses his death at the hands of E-101β. Though she had completed her goal of reuniting Lily's family, she was heartbroken by the sacrifice Gamma had made in order to fulfill it. Any connection with the two seems to have been severed in the later titles.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Having been trained since his creation to destroy him, Gamma obviously sees Sonic as an enemy of Eggman and therefore himself. However unlike many others, Gamma's rivalry with Sonic seems to be completely impersonal, supposedly seeing him simply as a target he is ordered to destroy, rather than a form he truly loathes (much how Sonic merely sees him as another of 'Eggman's clunkers'). They are both unwilling to take their battle outside Amy's wishes however, and both back down. Interestingly, it is suggested in the dialogue of Sonic Battle that he and Sonic were both friends before his 'death' (and eventual 'rebirth' as the sinister Chaos Gamma), though this is never expanded upon in Sonic Adventure or its 'Director's Cut' remake.

Abilities

As one of Eggman's destructive gunner robots, E-102 is built for battle. His main weapon is a 15.5cm missile launcher that can fire in rapid succession after locking on with a laser targeting device on the right side of his head. Due to the targeting device, E-102's shots are always accurate and allows the pinpoint accuracy to find an enemy's weakspot (as opposed to E-123 Omega, who simply shoots in all directions, assuming something will hit). In addition to his missile launcher, E-102 has a variety of modes to change his body frame to suit a situation. He features a normal, upright position when he is walking or moderately running; in a hurry, he transforms into a wheeled position to increase his speed (a utility somewhat similar to that of Mecha Sonic), and when he encounters water or another insufficient place to walk, his feet fold in and a rotor appears from his torso, allowing him to float over the obstacle indefinitely. He also has a headlight attached to his torso, but it is never actually used in-game. He also has an Auto Recovery System (mentioned earlier), but this is only used once in the game when he is an NPC in Sonic's story.

Eggman also installed Gamma with the ability to accept upgrades into his system, which the player can locate hidden in the game. The upgrade Laser Blaster upgraded Gamma's weapon and allowed him to lock-on to an increased number of enemies and deal extensive damage. The Jet Booster permitted Gamma the ability to hover for some time and cross longer distances in the air.

While his overall power is unknown, Gamma can be considered one of Eggman's most competant designs. If nothing else, he is the first (and thus far only) of Eggman's robots to single-handedly defeat Sonic in a canonical battle. (Note that this is only in his own story arc, and may be debunked by the fact that Sonic's and Tails's stories show Gamma losing somewhat pathetically to Sonic, however.)

When rebuilt as Chaos Gamma, Gamma retains his wheeled and flying modes, and can make the Jet Booster appear behind him when needed. His cannon arm and targeting system are gone, but he can make several weapons appear on him. These new weapons include a large hand named the Solid Knuckle, a claw-like weapon named the Paralyze Dagger which can replace the arms to discharge electricity and fire energy blasts (similar to E-101 Beta mkII's arms), two large drills named the Buster Drill, and a shoulder-mounted grenade launcher known as the Blinker. He can also activate a manual reactor meltdown, where he creates a massive explosion that damages him and everything around him.

Themes

E-102 Γ's theme in Sonic Adventure is the generically titled Theme of E-102. It is interestingly the only of the seven character themes not to feature professional vocals or even it's own additional title. It is neverless considered one of the best tracks in the game due to it's dark, poigant tone fitting the character's story.

Conception and inspiration

Only two pieces of concept art have been found of Gamma, shown on http://sost.emulationzone.org/sonicadventure/index.htm. His most obvious basis is the Eggrobo from the earlier games, though he also bears resemblance to many renowned battle robots in science fiction, particularly the ED-209 from the Robocop series, most obvious due to its "chicken walker" design. Interestingly, in early builds of the game, all E-100s are completely identical to Gamma, suggesting they, as well as many later robots, were based upon his conception.

E-102's (and the E-100s on the whole) role as a generic soldier may also be inpired by "Satam"'s SWATbots. For that matter, one build in the episode "Sonic Boom" bares an uncanny resemblance in his design, with a similar bulk, mech design and even a variation of Gamma's wheeled mode.

E-102 can be considered somewhat unique in that, while his original appearance was somewhat brief, his concept was pivotal in many aspects of the series. His appearance is arguably the staple of the series's development of it's robot characters, evolving them from mindless, generic grunts to developed, individual (and potentially sympathetic) characters in their own right, this is noticable in even earlier characters, such as Metal Sonic, whom only revealed his sentience in Sonic Heroes afterwards (though similar concepts had been experimented with slightly in spin-off media, such as Heavy and Bomb in Knuckles Chaotix).

Gamma's story also revealed the cycle of a normal Badnik's production, depicting his 'birth', programming and training, and inevitable destruction (Though Gamma was individual enough to avoid such a fate at the hands of Sonic), as well as their supposed thoughts and intentions to their purpose. His whole life depicted on screen, he is arguably one of the most developed characters in the series.

Gamma's lock-on shooting ability (believed by fans to be inspired by the shooter games' immense popularity at the time) is much akin to that of Panzaar Dragoon. However, in Gamespot's recent 'History of Sonic' video interview, a developer assessed Gamma's creation as simply because "Kids like robots".

In Sonic Adventure 2, this gameplay style was adopted for Dr. Eggman and Miles "Tails" Prower's mechanized walkers. Also, in the game Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow can pick up and use guns (along with swords, torches, and street signs). Recurring character E-123 Omega is obviously inpired largely by E-102, in design (their red hue differenciating them from the other E Series), his personality (and hatred for Eggman) as well as his gameplay, which, in the simplest of examples, inplements shooting and hovering.

Gamma and the Master Emerald?

It is unknown whether Gamma's story underwent any alterations during the games production, however there is one speculation. In the duration of Sonic Adventure's story, it is never explained as to what method the Master Emerald is shattered in the beginning of Knuckles the Echidna's story. One fan theory is that, at some point in development, Gamma was to destroy the Master Emerald as an unused mission. While this has not expanded from speculation, there is some plausible evidence to support this:

• During Gamma's story, there is a large time gap between his first and second mission, where this would have taken place, while most other characters have a stream-lined story, and Eggman's top priority being Chaos at the time.
• It would be somewhat suiting for Gamma to assist in the release of Chaos, given he was created for the main purpose of nourishing and increasing his power.
• When he is teleported through time by Tikal, it is somewhat odd of her erringly casual and familiar nature towards him, let alone why she would teleport someone of evil alliance in the first place. Tikal must have known how good he was deep down.
• The Egg Carrier can be seen hovering close to Angel Island during Knuckles' opening FMV. Considering it's high-power weaponry and that Knuckles is sitting right in front of the Master Emerald, it is suggestable that a more discreet method would have to be used without him noticing.
• Another possible, yet subtle hint is in an image during the credits sequence, depicting Gamma hovering over the shattered Master Emerald, seeming somewhat misplaced in the usually pivotal screenshots. This image is also in the Museum of Sonic Gems Collection.

Voice actors

• Sonic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle - Jyoji Nakata (Japanese)
• Sonic X - Naoki Imamura (Japanese) Gamma is one of few characters not voiced by his original Jap VA, despite Nakata providing voices for other characters in the anime.
• Sonic Adventure - Steve Broadie (English) (died June 19 2001)
• Sonic Shuffle - Deem Bristow (English) (died January 15, 2005)
• Sonic Battle - Jon St. John (English)
• Sonic X - Andrew Rannells (English) Fans considered this voice completely out of character for Gamma, as it was very high-pitched as compared to the particularly deep voice he had in Sonic Adventure.

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."

Notes and references

In addition to information taken from the Sonic the Hedgehog games themselves, content from the instruction booklets of the U.S. and Japanese versions of the games were also used as references for this article.

See also

• E-123 Omega
• Metal Sonic
• Shadow the Hedgehog

External links

• Sonic Channel official profile
• Sonic X information card
• Absolute Anime
• Pedia Nodeworks
• Guidesarchive
• Sonic HQ
• E-102 Gamma Concept: "Mobius" (REAL Character Profile)
• [1] Video of E-102's "death" (Youtube)