Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign. Battles generally are well defined in duration, area and force commitment.^[1]

Wars and military campaigns are guided by strategy, whereas battles take place on a level of planning and execution known as operational mobility.^[2] German strategist Carl von Clausewitz stated that "the employment of battles ... to achieve the object of war"^[3] was the essence of strategy.

The Battle of Waterloo by William Sadler II

Etymology[link]

The definition of a battle cannot be arrived at solely through the names of historical battles, many of which are misnomers. The word battle is a loanword in English from the Old French bataille, first attested in 1297, from Late Latin battualia, meaning "exercise of soldiers and gladiators in fighting and fencing", from Late Latin (taken from Germanic) battuere "beat", from which the English word battery is also derived via Middle English batri,^[4] and comes from the staged battles in the Colosseum in Rome that may have numbered 10,000 individuals.

Characteristics of battle[link]

The defining characteristic of the battle as a concept in the Theory of combat^[5] has been a dynamic one through the course of military history, changing with the changes in the organisation, employment and technology of military forces.

While the British military historian Sir John Keegan suggested an ideal definition of battle as "something which happens between two armies leading to the moral then physical disintegration of one or the other of them",^[6] the origins and outcomes of battles can rarely be summarized so neatly.

In general a battle during the 20th century was, and continues to be, defined by the combat between opposing forces representing major components of total forces committed to a military campaign, used to achieve specific military objectives, within a time-frame of less than a month.^[7] Where the duration of the battle is longer than a week, it is often for reasons of staff operational planning called an operation. Battles can be planned, encountered, or forced by one force on the other when the latter is unable to withdraw from combat.

A battle always has as its purpose the reaching of a mission goal by use of military force.^[8] A victory in the battle is achieved when one of the opposing sides forces the other to abandon its mission, or to surrender its forces, or routs the other, i.e., forces it to retreat or renders it militarily ineffective for further combat operations. However, a battle may end in a Pyrrhic victory, which ultimately favors the defeated party. If no resolution is reached in a battle, it can result in a stalemate. A conflict in which one side is unwilling to reach a decision by a direct battle using conventional military forces often becomes an insurgency.

Until the 19th century the majority of battles were of short duration, many lasting a part of a day. (The Battle of Nations (1813) and the Battle of Gettysburg (1863) were exceptional in lasting three days.) This was mainly due to the difficulty of supplying armies in the field, or conducting night operations. The means of prolonging a battle was typically by employment of siege warfare. Improvements in transportation and the sudden evolving of trench warfare, with its siege-like nature during World War I in the 20th century, lengthened the duration of battles to days and weeks.^[8] This created the requirement for unit rotation to prevent combat fatigue,^[9] with troops preferably not remaining in a combat area of operations for more than a month. Trench warfare had become largely obsolete in conflicts between advanced armies by the start of the Second World War.

The use of the term "battle" in military history has led to its misuse when referring to almost any scale of combat, notably by strategic forces involving hundreds of thousands of troops that may be engaged in either a single battle at one time (Battle of Leipzig) or multiple operations (Battle of Kursk). The space a battle occupies depends on the range of the weapons of the combatants. A "battle" in this broader sense may occupy a large piece of spacetime, as in the case of the Battle of Britain or the Battle of the Atlantic. Until the advent of artillery and aircraft, battles were fought with the two sides within sight, if not reach, of each other. The depth of the battlefield has also increased in modern warfare with inclusion of the supporting units in the rear areas; supply, artillery, medical personnel etc. often outnumber the front-line combat troops.

Battles are, on the whole, made up of a multitude of individual combats, skirmishes and small engagements within the context of which the combatants will usually only experience a small part of the events of the battle's entirety. To the infantryman, there may be little to distinguish between combat as part of a minor raid or as a major offensive, nor is it likely that he anticipates the future course of the battle; few of the British infantry who went over the top on the first day on the Somme, July 1, 1916, would have anticipated that they would be fighting the same battle in five months' time. Conversely, some of the Allied infantry who had just dealt a crushing defeat to the French at the Battle of Waterloo fully expected to have to fight again the next day.

Battlespace[link]

Battlespace is a unified strategy to integrate and combine armed forces for the military theatre of operations, including air, information, land, sea and space. It includes the environment, factors and conditions that must be understood to successfully apply combat power, protect the force, or complete the mission. This includes enemy and friendly armed forces; facilities; weather; terrain; and the electromagnetic spectrum within the operational areas and areas of interest.

Factors within battles[link]

Battles are decided by various factors. The number and quality of combatants and equipment, the skill of the commanders of each army, and the terrain advantages are among the most prominent factors. A unit may charge with high morale but less discipline and still emerge victorious. This tactic was effectively used by the early French Revolutionary Armies.

Weapons and armour can be a decisive factor. On many occasions armies have achieved victories largely owing to the employment of more advanced weapons than those of their opponents. An extreme example was in the Battle of Omdurman, in which a large army of Sudanese Mahdists armed in a traditional manner were destroyed by an Anglo-Egyptian force equipped with Maxim guns.

On some occasions, simple weapons employed in an unorthodox fashion have proven advantageous, as with the Swiss pikemen who gained many victories through their ability to transform a traditionally defensive weapon into an offensive one. Likewise, the Zulus in the early 19th century were victorious in battles against their rivals in part because they adopted a new kind of spear, the iklwa. Even so, forces with inferior weapons have still emerged victorious at times, for example in the Wars of Scottish Independence and in the First Italo–Ethiopian War. Discipline within the troops is often of greater importance; at the Battle of Alesia, the Romans were greatly outnumbered but won because of superior training.

Battles can also be determined by terrain. Capturing high ground, for example, has been the central strategy in innumerable battles. An army that holds the high ground forces the enemy to climb, and thus wear themselves down. Areas of dense vegetation, such as jungles and forest, act as force-multipliers, of benefit to inferior armies. Arguably, terrain is of less importance in modern warfare, due to the advent of aircraft, though terrain is still vital for camouflage, especially for guerrilla warfare.

Generals and commanders also play a decisive role during combat. Hannibal, Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte were all skilled generals and, consequently, their armies were extremely successful. An army that can trust the commands of their leaders with conviction in its success invariably has a higher morale than an army that doubts its every move. The British in the naval Battle of Trafalgar, for example, owed its success to the reputation of celebrated admiral Lord Nelson.

Types of battle[link]

The Battle of Poltava between Russia and Sweden, by Denis Martens the Younger

Battles can be fought on land, sea and in the modern age, in the air. Naval battles have occurred since before the 5th century BC. Air battles have been far less common, due to their late conception, the most prominent being the Battle of Britain in 1940. However since the Second World War land or sea battles have come to rely on air support. Indeed, during the Battle of Midway, five aircraft carriers were sunk without either fleet coming into direct contact.

Battle Scene-Detail from Deccan miniature painting. c. 19th century.

There are numerous types of battles:

• A battle of encounter (or encounter battle) is a meeting engagement where the opposing sides collide in the field without either having prepared their attack or defence.

• A battle of attrition aims to inflict losses on an enemy that are less sustainable compared to one's own losses. These need not be greater numerical losses - if one side is much more numerous than the other than pursuing a strategy based on attrition can work even if casualties on both sides are about equal. Many battles of the Western Front in the First World War were intentionally (Verdun) or unintentionally (Somme) attrition battles.

• A battle of breakthrough aims to pierce the enemy's defences, thereby exposing the vulnerable flanks which can be turned.

• A battle of encirclement—the Kesselschlacht of the German Blitzkrieg—surrounds the enemy in a pocket.

• A battle of envelopment involves an attack on one or both flanks; the classic example being the double-envelopment of the Battle of Cannae.

• A battle of annihilation is one in which the defeated party is destroyed in the field, such as the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile.

Battles frequently do not fit one particular type perfectly, and are usually hybrids of different types listed above.

A decisive battle is one of particular importance; often by bringing hostilities to an end, such as the Battle of Hastings or the Battle of Hattin, or as a turning point in the fortunes of the belligerents, such as the Battle of Stalingrad. A decisive battle can have political as well as military impact, changing the balance of power or boundaries between countries. The concept of the decisive battle became popular with the publication in 1851 of Edward Creasy's The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World. British military historians J.F.C. Fuller (The Decisive Battles of the Western World) and B.H. Liddell Hart (Decisive Wars of History), among many others, have written books in the style of Creasy's work.

The differences among land battles throughout history[link]

There is an obvious difference in the way battles have been fought throughout time. Early battles were probably fought between rival hunting bands as disorganized mobs. However, during the Battle of Megiddo, the first reliably documented battle in the fifteenth century BC, actual discipline was instilled in both armies. However, during the many wars of the Roman Empire, barbarians continued using mob tactics.

As the Age of Enlightenment dawned, armies began to fight in highly disciplined lines. Each would follow the orders from their officers and fight as a single unit instead of individuals. Each army was successively divided into regiments, battalions, companies, and platoons. These armies would march, line up, and fire in divisions.

Native Americans, on the other hand, did not fight in lines, utilizing instead guerrilla tactics. American colonists and European forces continued using disciplined lines, continuing into the American Civil War.

A new style, during World War I, known as trench warfare, developed nearly half a century later. This also led to radio for communication between battalions. Chemical warfare also emerged with the use of poisonous gas during World War I.

By World War II, the use of the smaller divisions, platoons and companies, became much more important as precise operations became vital. Instead of the locked trench warfare of World War I, during World War II, a dynamic network of battles developed where small groups encountered other platoons. As a result, elite squads became much more recognized and distinguishable.

Maneuver warfare also developed with an astonishing pace with the advent of the tank, replacing the archaic cannons of the Enlightenment Age. Artillery has since gradually replaced the use of frontal troops. Modern battles now continue to resemble that of World War II, though prominent innovations have been added. Indirect combat through the use of aircraft and missiles now comprise of a large portion of wars in place of battles, where battles are now mostly reserved for capturing cities^{[citation needed]}.

The evolution of naval warfare[link]

The Battle of Scheveningen of 1653: episode from the First Anglo-Dutch War.

One significant difference of modern naval battles as opposed to earlier forms of combat is the use of marines, which introduced amphibious warfare. Today, a marine is actually an infantry regiment that sometimes fights solely on land and is no longer tied to the navy. A good example of an old naval battle is the Battle of Salamis.

Most ancient naval battles were fought by fast ships using the battering ram to sink opposing fleets or steer close enough for boarding in hand-to-hand combat. Troops were often actually used to storm enemy ships as used by Romans and pirates. This tactic was usually used by civilizations that could not beat the enemy with ranged weaponry.

Another invention in the late Middle Ages was the use of Greek fire by the Byzantines, which was used to set enemy fleets on fire. Empty demolition ships utilized the tactic to crash into opposing ships and set it afire with an explosion. After the invention of cannons, naval warfare became useful as support units for land warfare.

During the 19th century, the development of mines led to a new type of naval warfare. The ironclad, first used in the American Civil War, resistant to cannons, soon made the wooden ship obsolete. The invention of military submarines, during World War I, brought naval warfare to both above and below the surface. With the development of military aircraft during World War II, battles were fought in the sky as well as below the ocean. Aircraft carriers have since become the central unit in naval warfare, acting as a mobile base for lethal aircraft.

Aerial battles throughout history[link]

Although the use of aircraft has for the most part always been used as a supplement to land or naval engagements, since their first major military use in World War I aircraft have increasingly taken on larger roles in warfare. During World War I, the primary use was for reconnaissance, and small-scale bombardment.

Aircraft began becoming much more prominent in the Spanish Civil War and especially World War II. Aircraft design began specializing, primarily into two types: bombers, which carried explosive payloads to bomb land targets or ships; and fighter-interceptors, which were used to either intercept incoming aircraft or to escort and protect bombers (engagements between fighter aircraft were known as dog fights). Some of the more notable aerial battles in this period include the Battle of Britain and the Battle of Midway.

Another important use of aircraft came with the development of the helicopter, which first became heavily used during the Vietnam War, and still continues to be widely used today to transport and augment ground forces.

Today, direct engagements between aircraft are rare - the most modern fighter-interceptors carry much more extensive bombing payloads, and are used to bomb precision land targets, rather than to fight other aircraft. Anti-aircraft batteries are used much more extensively to defend against incoming aircraft than interceptors. Despite this, aircraft today are much more extensively used as the primary tools for both army and navy, as evidenced by the prominent use of helicopters to transport and support troops, the use of aerial bombardment as the "first strike" in many engagements, and the replacement of the battleship with the aircraft carrier as the center of most modern navies.

Battle naming[link]

Battle of Gibraltar of 1607 by Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom.

Battles are usually named after some feature of the battlefield geography, such as the name of a town, forest or river, commonly prefixed "Battle of...". Occasionally battles are named after the date on which they took place, such as The Glorious First of June.

In the Middle Ages it was considered important to settle on a suitable name for a battle which could be used by the chroniclers. For example, after Henry V of England defeated a French army on October 25, 1415, he met with the senior French herald and they agreed to name the battle after the nearby castle and so it was called the Battle of Agincourt.

In other cases, the sides adopted different names for the same battle, such as the Battle of Gallipoli which is known in Turkey as the Battle of Çanakkale. During the American Civil War, the Union tended to name the battles after the nearest watercourse, such as the Battle of Wilsons Creek and the Battle of Stones River, whereas the Confederates favoured the nearby towns, as in the Battles of Chancellorsville and Murfreesboro. Occasionally both names for the same battle entered the popular culture, such as the battle of Antietam, which is also referred to as the battle of Sharpsburg.

Sometimes in desert warfare, there is no nearby town name to use; map coordinates gave the name to the Battle of 73 Easting in the First Gulf War.

Some place names have become synonymous with the battles that took place there, such as the Passchendaele, Pearl Harbor, the Alamo, Thermopylae, or Waterloo. Military operations, many of which result in battle, are given codenames, which are not necessarily meaningful or indicative of the type or the location of the battle. Operation Market Garden and Operation Rolling Thunder are examples of battles known by their military codenames.

When a battleground is the site of more than one battle in the same conflict, the instances are distinguished by ordinal number, such as the First and Second Battles of Bull Run. An extreme case are the twelve Battles of the Isonzo—First to Twelfth—between Italy and Austria-Hungary during the First World War.

Some battles are named for the convenience of military historians so that periods of combat can be neatly distinguished from one another. Following the First World War, the British Battles Nomenclature Committee was formed to decide on standard names for all battles and subsidiary actions. To the soldiers who did the fighting, the distinction was usually academic; a soldier fighting at Beaumont Hamel on November 13, 1916 was probably unaware he was taking part in what the committee would call the "Battle of the Ancre".

Many combats are too small to merit a name. Terms such as "action", "skirmish", "firefight", "raid" or "offensive patrol" are used to describe small-scale battle-like encounters. These combats often take place within the time and space of a battle and while they may have an objective, they are not necessarily "decisive". Sometimes the soldiers are unable to immediately gauge the significance of the combat; in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, some British officers were in doubt as to whether the day's events merited the title of "battle" or would be passed off as merely an "action".^{[citation needed]}

The effects of a battle[link]

Battles affect the individuals who take part, as well as the political actors. Personal effects of battle range from mild psychological issues to permanent and crippling injuries. Some battle-survivors have nightmares about the conditions they encountered, or abnormal reactions to certain sights or sounds. Some suffer flashbacks. Physical effects of battle can include scars, amputations, lesions, loss of bodily functions, blindness, paralysis — and death.

Battles also affect politics. A decisive battle can cause the losing side to surrender, while a Pyrrhic Victory such as the Battle of Asculum can cause the winning side to reconsider its long-term goals. Battles in civil wars have often decided the fate of monarchs or political factions. Famous examples include the War of the Roses, as well as the Jacobite Uprisings. Battles also affect the commitment of one side or the other to the continuance of a war, for example the Battle of Incheon and the Battle of Hue during the Tet Offensive.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Illuminated single leaf, Battle Scene from the Baburnamah

See also[link]

• Military tactics
• Military strategy
• Naval battle
• Pitched battle
• Skirmisher
• War
• List of battles

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Battles

Sources[link]

• Glantz, David M.; Vuono, Carl E. (1991). Soviet military operational art: In pursuit of deep battle. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-7146-4077-8. 
• Keegan, John (1976). The Face of Battle. Pimlico. ISBN 1-84413-748-1. 
• Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt (1992). Understanding war: History and Theory of combat. London: Leo Cooper. ISBN 0-85052-293-5. 
• von Clausewitz, Carl, Bemerkungen über die reine und angewandte Strategie des Herrn von Bülow oder Kritik der darin enthaltenen Ansichten, Verstreute kleine Schriften, Ed. Werner Hahlweg, (Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1979), 77.
• Tucker, T.G. (1976). Etymological dictionary of Latin. Chicago: Ares Publishers. ISBN 0-89005-172-0. 
• Richardson, F.M.; Hunt, Sir Peter (Forward) (1978). Fighting spirit: A study of psychological factors in war. London: Leo Cooper. ISBN 0-85052-236-6. 
• Great Britain Battles Nomenclature Committee (1919-1921) (1922, reprinted 1993). Official Names of the Battles and Other Engagements Fought by the Military Forces of the British Empire During the Great War, 1914-1919, and the Third Afghan War, 1919. The Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-897632-06-1. 

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009)

"The Longest Time" is a doo-wop single by Billy Joel. The song was released as a single in 1984 as the fourth single from the album An Innocent Man. It reached number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.^[1] Overseas, the song went to number twenty-five on the UK Singles Chart.

In the summer of 1983, when the album was released, oldies station WCBS-FM opted to play "The Longest Time" in regular rotation along with the first single "Tell Her About It". At that time WCBS-FM mixed in some new songs with the oldies. The song got very favorable reviews and the public wanted "The Longest Time" to be the follow-up single.^{[citation needed]} But instead, that fall "Uptown Girl" was released as the second single. Late in November, "The Longest Time" was again passed over for the title song from the album, "An Innocent Man". "The Longest Time" was finally released in early 1984.

The song features Joel on lead vocals and all backing vocals. Joel recorded 14 different background tracks which were mixed into the song.^[2] The only non-vocal instruments in the song are bass guitar played by Doug Stegmeyer, hi-hats and finger clicks.^{[citation needed]}

Music video[link]

The music video starts with a man (played by Joel) in a gym after his 25th high school reunion party. Looking around at posters of several class awards, he breaks into song as his band, apparently portrayed as his high school friends, enters the gym. As they sing, they alternate between their high school and current selves. The video was entirely filmed at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Chart positions[link]

Cover version[link]

Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Chipettes covered the song for "Operation Theodore", a 1984 episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

• 1991: Eric Miller
• 1997: Yellowcard
• 1997: Zhane
• 2003: Das EFX (Diddy Das)
• 2004: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (live version)
• 2011: The Overtones
• 2012: The Kwartet

References[link]

External links[link]

• "The Longest Time" Music Video on YouTube / ⒞1984 VEVO channel

Sonic Adventure (ソニックアドベンチャー^?) is a 1998 platform video game developed by Sonic Team and released on December 23, 1998, in Japan by Sega for the Dreamcast. The final updated edition, known as Sonic Adventure International, was released as a launch title on September 9, 1999, in North America and on October 14, 1999, in Europe. It has sold over 2.5 million copies, making it the best-selling Dreamcast game.

An enhanced port was released in 2003 as Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the Nintendo GameCube and in 2004 for Microsoft Windows. The game was ported to Xbox Live Arcade on September 15, 2010 and PlayStation Network on September 20, 2010. The game was featured on Dreamcast Collection, a four-game bundle released in 2011.

Gameplay[link]

This game is the first in Sonic series to feature free-roaming 3D gameplay. The game is divided into three types of stages: Action Stages, Adventure Fields and Subgames. The division of Action Stages and Adventure Fields was a serious departure from previous Sonic games. In addition, unlike the previous game in the series, Sonic Adventure has six different characters to choose from: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big and E-102 Gamma; each with their own style of gameplay. Only Sonic is playable at first, but other characters are made available after encountering them in his story. When all stories have been completed, a final story is unlocked.

Sonic's stages involve high speed gameplay, whilst Tails' stages require him to reach the end of the level before Sonic (and in one case, Robotnik) does and Knuckles' stages see him searching the area for shards of the Master Emerald. All three of these returning characters retain a lot of their trademark moves from previous Sonic games. Amy's stages require her to escape from the E-100 Zero robot chasing after her, Gamma's stages involve shooting through levels to reach a target and Big's stages involve fishing for his friend, Froggy.

Action Stages are the main playable levels for each character, where the player must face various enemies in order to complete their respective goals. Adventure Fields split up the action, where players can explore the surroundings to advance the plot, discover new levels or search for items which enhance a character's ability (for example, the Light Speed Shoes allow Sonic to run across a path of rings). Subgames deviate from the main gameplay of the character, which include minigames such as kart racing and snowboarding. Players may also find hidden Chao Gardens, which allow them to raise Chao, a sort of virtual pet. Chao can be taken with the player by downloading the minigame Chao Adventure to their VMU, or in the GameCube version, a Game Boy Advance with Sonic Advance or various other Game Boy Advance Sonic games. The player can also raise their stats by giving them small animals that they found by defeating the robots, which improves their performance in Chao Races. There are also eggs hidden throughout the Adventure Fields which can produce special types of Chao.

By playing through Action Stages and Subgames, searching through the Adventure Fields or winning Chao Races, players can earn Emblems. In the case of Action Stages, each one has three Emblems, which can be earned by replaying the stages and fulfilling certain objectives, such as beating the level within a time limit. In Sonic Adventure DX, these can unlock hidden extras such as Game Gear games.

Synopsis[link]

Characters[link]

Much of Sonic Adventure centers on Sonic, a hedgehog who has the ability to run at supersonic speeds, and Miles "Tails" Prower, a two-tailed fox who often accompanies Sonic on his adventures; they are the main characters of the game who are in pursuit of Eggman. Supporting characters include Knuckles, an echidna who guards the Master Emerald on Angel Island, Amy Rose, a pink hedgehog who has a crush on Sonic, and newcomers Big the Cat and E-102 Gamma. Big is a purple, noticeably overweight cat who must rescue his best friend Froggy who became possessed by Chaos' tail, and swallows Big's "lucky charm", a Chaos Emerald, which causes him to mutate. Gamma is one among a series of robots designed by Eggman to take orders without question. After an encounter with Amy, he suffers a malfunction and gains a "conscience". He then turns his aim to destroying his robotic brothers and freeing the animals trapped inside them.

The main antagonist of the game is Eggman, who has formulated a new plan to conquer the planet, this time not relying on his robots alone, but employing a strange liquid creature known only as Chaos. Chaos also serves an antagonistic role in the game, and is the guardian of the Chao. He is apparently water or a plasma-like material and changes form after consuming a Chaos Emerald. After consuming all seven Chaos Emeralds, he turns into Perfect Chaos, which Eggman aims to use in order to conquer the planet. The main antagonist of Amy's story is E-100 Alpha (better known as Zero), the first E-100 series robot who is a large green robot and is considered the prototype.^[5] Zero is one of Dr. Eggman's Robots sent to find Amy's friend Birdie. He follows Amy wherever she goes hoping to capture her and the bird. At one point he succeeds but Amy is rescued by E-102 Gamma. Eventually Zero is defeated by Amy on the Egg Carrier.

Eggman's E-Series of robots play a large role in Gamma's story, as he is one of them, and is out to destroy or "save" the others. All of them have letters of the Greek alphabet as part of their name. E-101 Beta is a black robot with two gun arms. He is the first boss in E-102 Gamma's side of the story, and is later upgraded into E-101 Beta Mk II, who is Gamma's fifth and final boss. E-103 Delta is a blue robot who is Gamma's second boss, waiting at the end of Windy Valley. E-104 Epsilon is an orange robot who is the third boss of Gamma's side of the story and is fought at the end of Red Mountain. E-105 Zeta is a purple robot who is Gamma's fourth boss and is located at the end of Hot Shelter. While at first humanoid, Zeta is altered into a cylinder-like form with several turrets made up of a few Dreamcast machines.

Friendly characters who are non-playable include Tikal, a mysterious female echidna who appears whenever Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, E-102 Gamma and Big are sent back in time. She is trying to stop her father, Pachacamac, from stealing the Chaos Emeralds from the Master Emerald shrine. She appears mostly in the form of a pink ball of light called a Hint Orb. A major feature of the game are Chao, small creatures who can be raised in the Chao Gardens and play a supporting role in the story.

Plot[link]

3000 years in the past, the echidna empire, ruled by Pachacamac, desires the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald - mysterious emeralds with unlimited power. Pachacamac's daughter Tikal befriends the Chao in the emeralds' shrine and their guardian Chaos, a water-based creature. Tikal tries to explain to her father that attacking the shrine and killing the Chao to gain possession of the emeralds is not the way to peace, but Pachamac and his men do so anyway. He and his men, however, did not know about Chaos, the guardian of the shrine, and the enraged Chaos uses the power of the emeralds to transform into Perfect Chaos and destroy the echidna empire. Tikal survives and seals the angered Chaos and herself inside the Master Emerald for eternity.

In the present day, Knuckles the Echidna is guarding the Master Emerald on the floating Angel Island when Chaos is released from the emerald by Dr. Robotnik. The Master Emerald, now shattered, can no longer keep Angel Island afloat, and Angel Island plunges into the sea, scattering the shards of the Master Emerald and all the Chaos Emeralds. The Chaos monster later appears in Station Square, and is confronted by Sonic the Hedgehog, who defeats him in a fight. Knuckles sets off searching for the shards of the Master Emerald. The next day, Sonic rescues Miles "Tails" Prower after Tails crash-lands in the city while testing his Chaos Emerald-powered plane. They go to Tails's workshop in the Mystic Ruins, where Dr. Robotnik appears with Chaos. Dr. Eggman feeds Tails' emerald to Chaos, transforming Chaos into a stronger form; Dr. Robotnik explains that Chaos will grow stronger with each emerald he eats and will eventually become invincible and destroy Station Square for him. Upon the ruins of Station Square, Robotnik intends to build Robotnikland, where he will rule it all. Sonic and Tails set off searching for emeralds to prevent Robotnik from getting them first, but eventually lose the ones they find to Dr. Robotnik and Chaos. Dr. Robotnik escapes in his flying fortress, the Egg Carrier, which shoots down Sonic and Tails's pursuing plane.

Dr. Robotnik orders his E-Series robots, including E-102 Gamma, to search for Froggy, a frog who has eaten Chaos's tail as well as a Chaos Emerald. Gamma finds Froggy but is chased by Froggy's owner Big the Cat back to the Egg Carrier. Meanwhile, Tails finds another emerald and uses it to prepare the Tornado II plane to find Sonic. Sonic lands in Station Square, where he runs into Amy Rose, who insists on protecting a Flicky bird she found, named Birdy. One of Robotnik's robots, Zero, intends to get the bird back from Amy and continually chases her. Zero finally captures Amy and Birdy, and escapes to the Egg Carrier. Sonic and Tails board the Tornado II and manage to board the Egg Carrier. Knuckles also boards the aircraft after collecting pieces of the Master Emerald and seeing an image of the Egg Carrier in the emerald.

Onboard the Egg Carrier, Dr. Robotnik commands Gamma to go tend to Amy. Gamma wanders into the wrong room and witnesses his brother E-101 Beta being rebuilt, and leaves to go to the other room. Here, Amy convinces Gamma that Robotnik is a bad man and that Gamma shouldn't work for him. In a confusion of newly discovered emotions, Gamma allows Amy and Birdy to leave their prison; Amy goes on deck.

Here, she runs into Sonic and Tails, who confront Dr. Robotnik. Robotnik flees down the ship, Sonic and Tails fighting Gamma but sparing him at Amy's request. At this time, Gamma fully understands that Robotnik is a bad person and that he should follow the others instead. Tails, Amy, and Gamma evacuate the ship, and Sonic and Knuckles go chase Robotnik down. Here, they fight Chaos, who now has all but one of the seven Chaos Emeralds. The Egg Carrier begins to malfunction and lose altitude, and Sonic, Knuckles, Big, and Robotnik evacuate the ship as well.

Gamma decides tracks down his brother robots and destroy them to free the animals inside, and eventually confronts his elder brother E-101 Beta, in his rebuilt form, on the Egg Carrier. Gamma defeats Beta but is wounded in the process, both robots exploding, and each releasing a Flicky bird. Birdy reunites with its friends when Amy visits the ship. Sonic and Tails, meanwhile, defeat Robotnik in the Egg Viper and Egg Walker, respectively.

A day later, Knuckles restores all the shards of the Master Emerald, but Angel Island collapses into the sea again when Chaos attacks him and Dr. Robotnik. Chaos absorbs the 6 Chaos Emeralds and locates the seventh aboard the Tornado II, which crashed after Big used it to escape the Egg Carrier. With all the Chaos Emeralds, Chaos transforms into Perfect Chaos, depleting the Chaos Emeralds of their negative energy, and flooding and destroying Station Square. Tikal appears, having taken each main character into the past numerous times beforehand, demanding that Chaos must be sealed back in the Master Emerald. Sonic objects, saying that Chaos's heart would still be filled with anger and sadness if he were to be sealed inside the Master Emerald. Sonic's friends cheer him on, and Sonic uses the Chaos Emeralds' still-present positive energy to become Super Sonic. Sonic defeats Perfect Chaos, and Chaos survives in his basic form. He discovers that the Chao he once was guardian of now live in Station Square, so he leaves them on Earth to live there, while Chaos himself peacefully departs to the past with Tikal. Dr. Robotnik flees the scene, with Sonic is last seen pursuing him.

Development[link]

Development of Sonic Adventure began around April 1997 with a development team of 30 members. After several titles for the Mega Drive, Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka worked mainly on the game Nights into Dreams.... However, learning of the Dreamcast brought him a renewed interest in creating Sonic games. The development team focused on graphics and high resolution for this game, with Naka reflecting that "[w]e have pushed the Dreamcast as far as we can at present".^[6]

Naka aimed to create levels that would take the player at least five minutes to complete, yet retain similar gameplay to the Mega Drive titles. Following the creation of the basic level maps, Naka wondered "why don't we use this map for other characters?" This led to the introduction of Big and E-102. The development team conducted surveys of fans to ensure that the final product—especially the characters—would please them.^[6] Sega made it a top priority to keep the game hidden until shortly before its release. Despite these efforts, screenshots were leaked onto the Internet in mid-1998. Naka presented the game to Edge in mid-August, and official announcement fell on August 22 in Japan.^[6]

Sonic Adventure also introduced a drastic shift in the overall art style of the games that continued to be used over the next few years. The more detailed, modernized redesigns of Amy Rose and Dr. Eggman probably best reflect this. The characters resemble graffiti art in their official artwork, striking more dynamic and extreme poses. In the game, there were some unused items, such as the unused boss, Sky Dragon from the level Sky Chase.

Music[link]

Head composer Jun Senoue brought a new sound to the Sonic the Hedgehog series with this game, and as such it features many different styles of music such as jazz, rock, techno, pop and country. Each heroic player character (aside from Gamma) also has an instrumental motif that later translates into a vocal theme song that plays during the end credits of their story. The game contains vocal performances from Tony Harnell, Karen Brake, Marlon Saunders, Dread Fox, Ted Poley, Nikki Gregoroff and Johnny Gioeli, the latter of whom would later join Senoue to form the band Crush 40. The development team preferred the use of "hot, funky, and rock 'n' roll" music over the traditional techno-based music present in earlier Sonic games.^[6]

Alternate versions and releases[link]

Gamecube[link]

In 2003 an enhanced port was released for the GameCube and Windows titled Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut (ソニックアドベンチャー デラシクス, Sonikku Adobenchā Derakkusu^?). Sonic Adventure DX includes a Mission Mode, which included 60 missions to complete throughout the Adventure Fields and Action Stages. It also contains an unlockable compilation, which comprises twelve Game Gear games featuring Sonic and friends: Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit), Sonic Drift, Sonic Chaos, Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit), Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Sonic Triple Trouble, Sonic Drift 2, Tails' Skypatrol, Sonic Blast, and Tails Adventure.

Also, if all Emblems are collected, then the player can play as Metal Sonic. Reviews were generally less positive than those of its Dreamcast predecessor.^[7]

Xbox Live and Playstation Network[link]

On June 10, 2010, Sega officially announced Sonic Adventure would be released on both the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in Fall 2010. Sonic Adventure DX was released on Steam, as the first in a series of Dreamcast titles to be released as digital downloads. Additional features include enhanced graphics, surround sound, online leaderboards, achievement/trophy support and unlockable Avatar Awards, consisting of a Sonic Adventure T-Shirt and Sonic's "Speed Shoes".^[8]

Sonic Adventure was released on Xbox Live Arcade on September 15, 2010, while the PlayStation Network version was released on September 20, 2010.^[9] The initial release is based on the PC version of Sonic Adventure DX despite the game simply being called "Sonic Adventure".^[10] The DLC package, simply titled "Sonic Adventure DX Upgrade", has launched alongside the game on XBLA, and PSN, which upgrades the game to include all of the features from the GameCube and PC versions with the exception of the Game Gear games and Dreamcast DLC. This version also includes Metal Sonic as an unlockable character.

Reception and legacy[link]

The reception at the time of original Dreamcast version was very positive, with reviews from GameSpot and GameSpy being above 90%. The current GameRankings average ranking is 88%.^[11] It became one of the few Sega All Stars games. In Japan, it received an excellent 38 out of 40 from Famitsu.^[12] Although criticized for its camera system, framerate issues, and fishing stages with Big, the game was still highly praised for retaining the fast and enjoyable gameplay that Sonic was known for in 2D as well as the game's graphics, multiple character storylines, and soundtrack. Brandon Justice of IGN rated the game an 8.6/10, criticizing various glitches and voice acting while praising the game's visuals and gameplay.^[13] On the other hand, GamePro gave it a 5/5 saying, "Sonic is fun, fast, and a great reason to purchase a Dreamcast". The game has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling Dreamcast game.^[14] This includes one million sold in the United States.^[15]

The GameCube version received less positive reviews. IGN gave the DX version a 5/10 criticizing the game's glitches, poor framerate, and clunky camera making it less fun to play in contrast to its original Dreamcast version but praised the overall presentation of the game.

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ports were panned by game reviewers. While some critics viewed it as a good piece of nostalgia, many others criticized the lack of improvements and the game's more noticeable age, with IGN giving it a score of 3.5 out of 10, calling it "so fundamentally flawed that it borders on unplayable", making it the lowest scored Sonic game on the site since Sonic and the Black Knight.^[16] 1UP.com gave it a D rank, criticizing its lack of improvements and touchy controls.^[10] Retro Gamer gave the Xbox 360 port 63%.

In 2009, GamePro listed the game as the seventh best platformer of all time, asserting that while it had not aged well in certain respects, its core gameplay "is still some of the best" in the entire series, and its visuals and scope were "hip and cutting-edge" for the time.^[17]

For Sonic's 20th Anniversary, Sega released Sonic Generations, a game that remade aspects of various past games from the franchise. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version contained a remade "Speed Highway" level, and a remade battle with Perfect Chaos. The Nintendo 3DS version contained a remade version of the "Emerald Coast" level.

Promotion and tie-ins[link]

Sonic Adventure received a comic book adaptation courtesy of Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog on-going series. The story arc took place in issues #79-84 and Sonic Super Special #13, originally published from November 1999 to May 2000. This adaptation is notable for its permanent integration of characters and story-lines from the video game into the pre-existing continuity of the comic series, providing explanations for the altered character design for Amy Rose and the history of Station Square hidden beneath Sonic's planet, Mobius. Selected portions of these issues (with the exception of issue #79) were reprinted in Archie's Sonic Super Special Magazine #2 (February 2012).

Franco-American's Sonic the Hedgehog pasta featured Sonic Adventure inspired labeling for a limited time and offered consumers a chance to obtain a free Archie Sonic comic book.

In 2000, Toy Island produced multiple lines of Sonic Adventure toys, featuring 5" action figures, 10" talking figures, and 3" bendy figures. Many of these figures were later reissued as part of their Sonic X lines in 2004.

The game loosely follows the storyline of Sonic X episodes 27-32.

References[link]

External links[link]

	Sega portal
	Video games portal
	Japan portal
	1990s portal

• Sonic Retro page on this game