If you see an ampersand, that means you are about to meet…
Knuckles the Echidna
First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog 3, 1994
Who is he? He is Knuckles, the first Sonic the Hedgehog character that has a job! Or… at least a responsibility? Knuckles is the last of the echidnas[citation needed], and it is his solemn duty to watch over the Chaos Emeralds and protect them from theft by nefarious scientist/bat forces. Unfortunately, Knuckles is terrible at his job, so the Chaos Emeralds are stolen, like, about every other week. Also, Knuckles is rock-stupid, so he is occasionally tricked into stealing the emeralds for other people. Maybe the ancient echidnas could have left some training tapes for the poor guy.
What are his powers? Knuckles has a grab-bag of abilities. Like most playable Sonic characters, Knuckles is incredibly fast. Because we needed some new gameplay options in 1994, Knuckles has an inexplicable glide, and the ability to climb walls. Later titles also added super digging, and an innate ability to sense Chaos Emeralds and their various pieces. Finally, he’s super strong… which does not come up as a useful ability as often as you might expect.
Why is he still relevant today? Knuckles was the first of Sonic’s many rivals (they made an entire game about it! We’ll play it eventually!), and, for my money, he is still the best (go fall off a space station, Shadow). There is an extremely straightforward conflict of interest here where Sonic might be trying to do whatever, but Knuckles has an excuse to oppose him this week, because his first priority is ancestral rocks. And, inevitably, they will team up and defeat the ultimate evil in the end, but that conflict can be there forever. And that’s cool! You wonder why Eggman even bothers to try after decades of being defeated by a teenaged hedgehog, but Knuckles is a perpetual motion device of plot excuses. Protect Angel Island from that hedgehog hobo!
Let’s Play 2-D Sonic the Hedgehog Games
Night 4
April 8, 2026
Random Notes:
- Welcome to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles… kinda. BEAT is officially playing Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited, which is a quality-of-life improving romhack of the complete StH3&K package. I will be spectating with fanboymaster, Chromes, Caithness, Jeanie, Cassandralyn, and Caliscrub.
- What is your Pokémon type? Please be aware that psychic is for perverts.
And on a related note: I have too many Pokémon. Can you guess how many I have squirreled away in Pokémon Home? The answer will not surprise you.- Sega invented lock on technology… if you ignore the Game Genie.
- Let us discuss the horrors of The Guy Game.
- Just like the relationship between Sonic and Tails, BEAT has a little brother, and he can fly.
- The creators of the 16-bit generation were not in it for long haul. Throw some Michael Jackson rights issues into their most popular franchise? Why not!?
- Ample Vigour joins in time for character design discussions with Chromes.
- Messages from our terrible future: “The fifth most popular guy on NewsRadio is going to be a man of tremendous influence.”
- The initial Sonic the Hedgehog 3 “half” is completed, so we discuss the structure of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Better stop that Death Egg launch. Again.
- “We all hate Awesome Possum.”
- Happy Gilmore is a generational classic. Pixels… not so much.
- Playing through all of Mega Man Battle Network is a noted accomplishment of fanboymaster. I am still excitedly looking at my untouched collection of those games. I beat them when they came out! A million years ago!
BEAT brings it down to the wire in Lava Reef Zone and obtains all the Hyper Chaos Emeralds. There was some actual tension!- Knuckles is exhausted from leading Sonic to Sky Sanctuary Zone, so I am going to relay my decades-old fanfic version of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. More Metal Sonic! Less that one Badnik!
- Chris Redfield scoffs at your “ultimate life form” Tyrant.
- “Akuma has a code of honor, but he really doesn’t like Dan.”
- BEAT has difficulty with the penultimate boss. This is also a recurring issue in these streams.
- The Doomsday Zone is conquered! The day is saved! Let’s close it all out by explaining insider trading to Chromes!
Next lap on Sonic’s Marathon: We did not see enough Knuckles this week, so that issue must be rectified.
