Amy Rose

, previously known as Rosy the Rascal, is a fictional character who appears in many of the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games developed by Sega's Sonic Team. She is a pink hedgehog who plays the part of the central character's self-proclaimed girlfriend. She has chased Sonic since her video game debut on September 23 1993, and has been trying to win his heart in everything from the series' animated TV shows to comics and games.

Like Sonic and other characters in the series, Amy is significantly shorter and lighter than humans her same age. To be precise, she is about 12 years old, 90 cm (~3') tall, and keeps her weight a secret.Sega.jp, Amy's profile at Sonic Channel. URL accessed on April 6, 2006. She was described as being 8 years old in Sonic CD, but as of Sonic Adventure her age has been retconned and she is now 12 years old. Also, with the addition of Cream, Amy seems to have found herself a sidekick similar to Sonic's own Tails (as implied by Sonic Advance 3, Sonic Battle, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow the Hedgehog).

History

Original appearance

Despite her frequent use in Sega games (especially since the Dreamcast era), Amy was not actually created by Sonic Team; her first incarnation appeared in the Sonic the Hedgehog manga published in 1992, and there she was literally "the girlfriend of Nikki (Sonic)", as the description translates. After that appearance, Sega took the character, and Kazayuki Hoshino redesigned her for Sonic CD in 1993. In her original look, she had a blonde ponytail with a green ribbon, and she wore a peach-colored dress with a bow in the back. It's quite likely that she was based on Princess Peach.

Game Appearances

In her first game appearance, Sonic CD (1993), Amy was introduced and kidnapped by Metal Sonic. Doctor Robotnik then used the time stones to set time back on the Little Planet. Next, Sonic challenged Metal Sonic to a race to save Amy and won. Amy was rescued and Metal Sonic was destroyed for the time being. She had the nickname "Rosy the Rascal" at this point. Being a Genesis-era game (though technically a Sega CD game), Sonic CD's plot was minimal. Amy's only personality trait was that she was a big fan of Sonic, and no real reason was given for her kidnapping besides as bait for Sonic. Though Sonic CD was released after Sonic the Hedgehog 2, it was in production at the same time, meaning that Amy has more or less been around as long as Tails.

Sonic and Amy Rose (as her original character design from Sonic CD.)

Amy appeared again in Sonic Drift and Sonic Drift 2 to race in a Grand Prix. She was a playable character in the 1996 arcade game Sonic the Fighters, which introduced her Piko Piko Hammer. In 1997's Sonic R, Amy was the only character to drive a car - everyone else ran on foot (or in Robotnik's case, drove an Eggmobile).

In 1999, Sonic Adventure thrust Amy in the spotlight. Her coif was redesigned, her quills now kept in place by a red headband, and she now wore a red dress and red and white boots to take advantage of her more mature 12-year-old form. She was given green eyes, the same eye color as Sonic had. In the game she is a playable character and uses her weapon of choice, the Piko Piko Hammer. At the end of Sonic Adventure, Amy decided that she needed to become stronger and more capable, and thus began to train herself.

When Sonic Shuffle was released for the Dreamcast, Amy, as well as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles collected rings and other items while walking around on a boardgame surface.

She was merely a supporting character in Sonic Adventure 2, but was playable in 2-player mode in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. When Sonic was locked up, she suggested Sonic marry her in exchange for telling him where Shadow was. She also helped Shadow uncover the real promise Maria gave him: "To give the people a chance to be happy" making Shadow a hero.

Amy was playable in Sonic Advance, but was the most difficult to play with as she could not spin and all her attacks had to be triggered. She had an unlockable playable appearance in Sonic Advance 2 (the player had to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds with all the other characters), as well as Sonic Advance 3, in which she again teams up with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Cream. At this point, it seems that her skills are improving, as she is no longer as slow as she was in the original Sonic Adventure.

In Sonic Heroes, Amy leads Team Rose. She represents the team's speed formation. She's accompanied by Cream the Rabbit and Big the Cat on a mission to impress Sonic, while Big wants to find his friend Froggy (again), and Cream and Cheese want to find Cheese's sibling, Chocola. At this point, Amy's speed is almost up to par with Sonic's, and she manages to catch up to him a couple of times. She plows forward with even more confidence this time, no longer having nervous reactions to her speed or attack abilities as she does in Sonic Adventure 2.

Amy Rose in Sonic Riders

Amy appears in Sonic Battle as a playable character. She takes the role of a mother figure for Emerl and teaches him boxercise and how it is important to protect those you care for. In-game dialogue shows that her crush on Sonic has reached new heights - now she assumes that he wants to raise children with her. (Although her delusion this time really came from one of Tails comments).

Amy appeared alongside Sonic and the rest of the crew in Shadow the Hedgehog to try to convince Shadow to join their cause. Amy in particular needs Shadow's help to rescue Cream the Rabbit and Cheese from Eggman's Cryptic Castle. She also helps Shadow fight the Egg Breaker boss afterwards.

Amy is a playable character in Sonic Riders from the start. She is not playable in the Story Mode; however she is in a race where Wave the Swallow must defeat her in the Babylon Rogues story. In Sonic Riders, Amy wears a different outfit (right) and is one of only two characters who does not wear eye protection. The other is Rouge the Bat.

It was confirmed in an interview with Masahiro Kumono that Amy would be a supporting character in the upcoming Next-Gen Sonic game.

Sonic X

Amy is currently appearing as one of the main characters in Sonic X, an anime series which is the latest of the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons.

Sonic and Amy from Episode 52 of Sonic X.

In Sonic X, Amy is Sonic's self proclaimed girlfriend. Her long-term goal is to get him to notice her. She gets mad at Sonic's impatience and aloof attitude, which occasionally are so bad that she is driven to violence. However, she really does care about him. Amy grows to understand Sonic more as time goes by, even learning the reason he loves to run when she uses a racecar to travel at sonic speed. She also tries to help him with things, including making a "lucky" bracelet of shells so he won't drown. Episode 76 highlighted that Amy is willing to die to save Sonic's life when she tries to save him from Dark Oak's planet, knowing that she would later be without a means to escape from the planet herself.

Despite Amy's dedication to Sonic, she can sometimes be a bit of a pain to him. Several times, she has been separated from Sonic, and runs up and throws her arms around him when they reunite. This can lead to trouble if Sonic is unable to react to a threat while in her grip, however this is rare because she often will quickly realize that they are in danger and release him. She also gets into trouble on several occasions for running off after him into danger. She also cries without pause when he disappears for a long time (such as when she thought Sonic had died before her eyes, as seen in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle), which may bother others around her.

Despite his annoyance at her antics, Sonic's feelings are still unclear about her. He has promised to go on a date with her, and even gave her a flower after a particularly long absence (this event varied between countries, In the Japanese version, Sonic says something to Amy but it is muted, in the American version he says he will never leave Amy, and in the French he says he loves Amy). Amy had also once dressed up so beautifully that it left him speechless. Sonic has also put himself at risk by diving into the water to rescue an unconscious Amy, even though he knows very well that he cannot swim. Rumors are that in Sonic X, Sonic has a secret crush on Amy though that hasn't been clarified; there is a lot of evidence in the show between them. Episode 52 of Sonic X displayed strong evidence that a possible relationship between them could bloom, but this is largely left to speculation from there on.

Archie Comics

In the Archie Comics, Amy is the youngest member of the Freedom Fighters, and has a crush on Sonic that he tends to ignore. Amy is the cousin of Rob O' the Hedge (a thinly veiled homage to Robin Hood), who sends her to live in Knothole as things get tough in their homeland of Mercia. She fell head over heels for Sonic, but remained distant out of respect for Sally Acorn. However Sonic The Hedgehog #142 showed that although Amy wasn't always nice to Sally, she changed her mind when Sally made her a freedom fighter.

When Evil Sonic pretended to be Sonic in Archie 150 and 151, Amy is led to believe Sonic is interested in her romantically. It is unknown if Amy found out it was Evil Sonic or if Sonic told her the truth.

Initially, Amy was the same age as depicted in the original games. However, she later makes a wish on Sonic's 1,000,000,000th Ring, which caused her to grow physically older, reaching the age of 12, while leaving her 8-year-old mind unchanged. Amy's skill with her hammer has not decreased, and she is one of the Most Wanted enemies of Dr. Robotnik.

The main Archie series does not develop Amy's character much beyond the adolescent fan-girl who debuted in Sonic CD, and she doesn't seem to serve much purpose in the comic.

Sonic The Comic

In the UK publication Sonic the Comic (STC), Amy first appeared in the 2-part story "Girl Trouble", where she was 'arrested' by Dr. Robotnik's Trooper Badniks for the criminal offence of association with Sonic (she had been saying she was his girlfriend). While annoyed at the fact she had been lying about them being an "item", Sonic still had a duty to rescue her and did so, but not before Robotnik transformed himself into a new, more despicable form (that is to say, the writers of the comic decided to alter Robotnik's appearance so it matched up with the cartoon series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog).

In the first 5-part Sonic story in STC's history, "The Sonic Terminator", which was based on Sonic CD, Robotnik had Metal Sonic, known as Metallix in Sonic the Comic, kidnap Amy as bait for Sonic, so that Metallix could then destroy both of them on the Miracle Planet. Sonic eventually defeated Metallix but was stuck on the Miracle Planet for the rest of the month with Amy. During a later mission to the Miracle Planet, Amy commented that Sonic had gotten lost an awful lot during that month. Sonic replied that that was just what he wanted her to think; he'd actually been hiding from her!

For a long time, a running joke was that various characters - either friends, foes or extras - would make a comment to Sonic about how he and Amy were a couple, which would result in Sonic immediately going on the defensive, enraged that anyone could even dare to think he had feelings for her. Amy occasionally used this to her advantage to get a rise out of Sonic, when she recognised a pattern emerging in his behaviour.

Amy's character swiftly matured as the comic went on - even her second appearance (which also debuted Captain Plunder) had her showing enough intelligence to, even while caged, broker a deal between the Freedom Fighters and a gang of Sky Pirates. Relatively quickly, she became unrecognizable in terms of character compared to her game counterpart. She became one of the most valuable members of the Freedom Fighters, especially due to her expert marksmanship with her crossbow (which she created herself). The notion of a love interest in Sonic was, for the most part, underplayed and writer Nigel Kitching revealed he saw it partly as Amy just trying to annoy Sonic. It was even hinted that Johnny Lightfoot, one of the team's best fighters, had a crush on her (something Kitching later admitted was completely intentional), though this was never properly developed. When Sonic was trapped in the Special Zone, Amy assumed command of the Freedom Fighters and fought in the mass uprising of the Metropolis Zone citizens just before Robotnik was deposed.

Her appearance was also changed, likely to further distance her from her dizty Mega Drive version - she was often seen wearing combat trousers and a white T-shirt that had various slogans or pictures on it, ranging from "Girl Power!" to a Christian cross. When the Sonic Adventure adaptation was released, her hairstyle was altered to reflect the games and she began wearing a bomber jacket.

At a later part of the comic's life, Amy spent most of her adventures teaming up with her best friend Tekno as they both traveled through time and space to save a vast selection of an infinite number of dimensions, even visiting Earth (where she met the mad Colonel Granite) and the beginning of life on Mobius. These strips were, like all but the main Sonic ones, dropped to make room for reprinted strips in later issues. Interestingly, though, Lew Stringer, who became sole writer on the comic for a while, gave Sonic a similar set of adventures in the main strip, at the request of the editor, with Amy working alongside Sonic. When Nigel Kitching was brought back as sole writer for the comic's final non-reprint story, a new editor was in place and the character of Tekno was not used despite Amy's longstanding friendship with her, as Kitching preferred not to use Stringer's own created characters. The long-running Amy/Tekno team-ups have also led to in-jokes among fans that the two are lovers.

In the aforementioned final story, which was based on Sonic Adventure, Amy seemingly got "lost in the shuffle", so to speak. There were a vast number of characters and plot points that needed to be used and only 10 issues to do it in. The most important thing Amy did during this story arc was save Knuckles the Echidna's life when he briefly lost all hope after he had to jettison the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald to keep them from being absorbed by the Chaos beast, resulting in the Floating Island falling from the sky. When Knuckles insisted on going down with the island, Amy knocked him out with a crowbar, and later said "If a friend can't hit you over the head with an iron bar, who can?"

No new stories were written after issue 184, so Amy's STC persona was not further developed until after the comic was cancelled following issue 223. However, she has made several appearances in STC Online, the online continuation of the comic which, while written by fans of the original, has received acclaim from the original writers, so it can be logically explained that STC Online's Amy is the "official unofficial" continuation of her character development.

Of interesting note, during one of the comics series of pullout posters, those depicting the main characters and biographical data on them, Amy's listed her as being only a year younger than Sonic in this continuality.

Personality

Amy was once presented as being kind and sweet (and slightly naïve), and a good victim for holding hostage by her enemies. Her kind and caring nature seems to have given her the ability to talk almost anybody out of destruction, from robots to Shadow the Hedgehog.

Ever since Cream the Rabbit appeared in the series, she has become far more violent (perhaps maternal or sisterly instincts, since Cream is the youngest and weakest character in the series), and, with the exception of Shadow the hedgehog, her skill with the Piko Piko hammer is feared by all, even her closest friends. However she is also extremely protective of her friends, and if any villain tries to harm them, they had better prepare for a good pounding. Sources of anger to her include insulting the love of her life, or worse, daring to suggest that Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't return her feelings.

Since Sonic Battle, some people believe Amy has a strong dislike for Rouge the Bat due to some of the dialogue between them. However in the more recent game, Shadow the Hedgehog, Amy and Rouge were able to hold a civil, if short, conversation. Amy likely views Rouge as an acquaintance rather than a friend.

Abilities

The Piko-Piko Hammer

Amy Rose using her Piko Piko Hammer. (From Sonic X.)

Also known as the Love Hammer in Sonic Battle in-game, Amy's Piko-Piko Hammer is based on a popular Japanese toy of the same name. They are common in Japanese comedy, where a person is often hit with the toy hammer, producing a loud "piko" sound. This toy exists, but is very uncommon in America, where it is known as a "squeaky hammer". In the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the Piko-Piko Hammer is Amy's weapon of choice. She uses it to defend herself or to threaten her friends if they annoy her.

It is a reference to a running gag in Japanese anime, in which a girl pulls out a huge hammer from hammerspace and hits the unfortunate (and often male) person who is angering her.

The Piko-Piko Hammer has several powerful abilities, including the power to create small tornadoes. Amy is also able to conjure multiple hammers, allowing her to continue attacking even if she's lost one. The hammer first appeared in Sonic the Fighters, where it appeared to be a toy squeaky mallet, which squeaked when it struck an enemy. By the time the hammer next appeared, it appears to be very hard indeed and instead of squeaking, it makes a tapping sound.

Game-specific abilities

Her abilities in a game vary according to its plot, platform, and type. Although her attacks in a particular game are limited by these constraints, there is no evidence to suggest that she is incapable of using these attacks in combination.
*Sonic Drift: Amy throws a Heart Attack which will slow downs and confuses either her opponents or herself.
*Sonic the Fighters: Amy uses her hammer in her moves and combos which made its first appearance.
*Sonic Adventure: When moving at a high enough speed, she can pound the ground in front of her with her Piko Piko Hammer, causing her to propel high into the air. Acquiring the Warrior Feather grants her the Spin Hammer attack. She can also acquire an upgrade to her Piko Piko Hammer, which changes the long wooden handle-part into metal and turns the yellow rim into a green and making every part of the hammer steel (metal). This allows Amy to have stronger attack power. It also lengthens the Piko Piko Hammer, allowing her to strike from farther away.
*Sonic Adventure 2: Amy can use Storming Heart and Amy Flash, two energy attacks.
*Sonic Advance series: Amy can somersault and hammer vault with the Piko Piko Hammer.
*Sonic Advance 2: She is able to spin-attack and spin-dash like other characters.
*Sonic Advance 3: Her partner can use her hammer, and uses her hammer like a baseball bat to launch her partner upward in ball-form.
*Sonic Battle: Attacks with her hammer and uses many boxercise-related attacks for hand-to-hand combat.
*Sonic Heroes: Homing Attack, Tornado Hammer, Propeller Hammer, and Flower Festival.
*Shadow the Hedgehog: Amy uses the Homing Attack along with a punch combo.
*Sonic Riders: Amy uses her hammer for her level 2 and 3 attacks, where she smashes and flattens the opponent. She also screams at the opponent for her level 1 attack

Other Abilities

*Amy can use tarot cards, although this isn't often mentioned. In Sonic Battle, Amy claims that her cards alert her to Sonic's presence.
*Amy is pretty fast but is, of course, not as fast as Sonic or Shadow.
*Amy is also said to have great strength in her arms, (as seen in Sonic X episode 55, where she ripped the giant fishing pole Sonic was tied to and carried the pole and Sonic down the stairs and standing while on the X-Tornado) but not as much as Knuckles, making her Piko Piko Hammer have great force when swung.
*It is theorized that Amy has access to Hammerspace, from which she pulls her Piko Piko Hammer. The Archie Comics adaptation to Sonic Adventure uses this explanation, although it is not official.
*In Sonic X, Amy apparently has excellent culinary abilities.
*It is also revealed in Sonic Battle that Amy is also a master of "boxercise", which she does to stay fit.
*Amy has great acrobatic skills, capable of impressively elaborate jumps and flips, especially with the aid of her hammer.
*According to the Bradygames Sonic Adventure Official Stragedy Guide, one of Amy's hobbies that was stated in her profile is searching for gold.

Relationships

Love life

The love of Amy's life is Sonic the Hedgehog. Ever since Sonic rescued her in Sonic CD, she has fallen in love with him and been trying to win his heart ever since. Only in the Sonic manga is it clear that she's succeeded in this, because it states she was his girlfriend. However, Sonic is too busy saving the world to settle down with anyone.(even though he liked her)Sega.com, Amy's Profile at Sonic Central. URL Accessed March 23, 2006

In the games she appears in, Amy is very bold about her relationship with Sonic. In some games she assumes that they are a couple or asks Sonic to marry her. This has become a running gag, with Amy remaining oblivious to Sonic's relatively sympathetic but not empathetic nature. If anybody shows any interest in Sonic, Amy may become jealous and think that person is going after her boyfriend (as seen in Sonic X with Cosmo). In Sonic Rush, Amy appears to try and keep Blaze the Cat away from Sonic, seeing her as a threat. Every time though her worry has proven to be inconsequential because they have held no romantic interest in Sonic at all.

In the Archie series, Amy does not marry Sonic in the possible future timeline. Yet because it is a possible timeline, it is not set in stone whether or not she will truly end up with Sonic. In the Archie comics, Amy has a crush on Sonic, but for the most part has not taken the time to recognize her feelings. Amy feels she has a slight rivalry with Sally Acorn (Sally told Amy she could not be a Freedom Fighter, being too young, but Amy accused Sally of wanting to keep Sonic to herself), though usually, despite that, Amy and Sally have a good, almost sisterly relationship.

In the British Sonic the Comic series, Amy started off as Sonic's fan-girl, but gradually developed into a crossbow-wielding tomboy who, by degrees, started to have her own adventures apart from Sonic. It's also suggested that she developed a reciprocated crush on the rabbit Johnny Lightfoot (a character who was eventually killed off).

According to her official profile page,REFERENCE TEXT IS ABOVE! "Once Sonic saved Amy from the clutches of Dr. Eggman in Sonic CD, the two became fast friends. Amy is graceful and powerful, and though she often gets into trouble, she is stronger than most give her credit for. She has a big crush on Sonic and wouldn't mind if they become more than friends.

Friends

*Cream the Rabbit
*Big the Cat
*Cheese the Chao
*Sonic the Hedgehog
*Miles "Tails" Prower
*Knuckles the Echidna
*E-102 Gamma
*Shadow the Hedgehog
*Rouge the Bat
*Vanilla the Rabbit
*Blaze the Cat
*Cosmo
*Chris Thorndyke

Foes

*Metal Sonic
*Dr. Eggman
*E-100 Zero
*Wave the Swallow
*Chaos
*Fang the Sniper (also known as Nack the Weasel)
*Bocoe
*Decoe

Other characters

Although Sonic is a large part of Amy's life, she often encounters other characters in the series.

Cream has been Amy's sidekick practically every time they appear together. They first teamed up in Sonic Advance 3 as Team Jubilee and played a largely equivalent role to Sonic and Tails' Unbreakable Bond. This has been backed up by their friendship in Sonic X. They also seem be together in many other games, like Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle, and Shadow the Hedgehog.

Family

It is not yet known in the game if Amy has a family or not. However, in the Archie Comics, she has a cousin, Rob O' the Hedge, who sent her to Knothole because he believed she wasn't safe in Mercia due to Robotnik's act of taking over and putting a roboticized General D 'Coolette in charge.

Voice actresses

*In Sonic X and the games beginning with Shadow the Hedgehog, she is voiced by Lisa Ortiz.
* Previously, she was voiced by Jennifer Douillard for the Sonic Adventure games, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle and Sonic Advance 3.
* Her Japanese voice actress is Taeko Kawata.

Theme songs

*Amy's theme song in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut is called "My Sweet Passion". It is sung by Nikki Gregoroff. A much shorter version of the song was also in Sonic Adventure 2.
*Her team, Team Rose, in Sonic Heroes has a theme called "Follow Me". It is sung by Kay Hanley.

Trivia

*In Sonic Adventure, when Amy is thinking about Sonic (at the beginning of her story), she has a flashback of Metal Sonic chasing them. This was a 3D reference of Sonic CD.
*When Sonic CD was released in America, Amy's name was given as "Princess Sally" in the game manual as a tie in with the cartoon, even though the two characters were quite different and not of the same continuity. This name is also used for the character in an obscure stage-show musical from the UK.
*According to the Japanese manual for Sonic CD, Amy's nickname is "Rosy the Rascal". This name is kept as her title in Sonic the Fighters.
*Sonia the Hedgehog, Sonic's sister from the series Sonic Underground, was probably based on Amy's 'classic' design. Amy and Sonia are both pink female hedgehogs with a similar hairstyle. However, their personality and attire are very different.
*Upon being asked by Sega.com if Sonic and Amy will ever get married, Yuji Naka saidSonicteam.com, Yuji Naka interview about Amy Rose. URL accessed on March 26, 2006 that "there will hardly be any chance, I bet. Amy will continue to pursue Sonic all the time, but Sonic will not ever get married. I think so, because I cannot picture the image of Sonic that he is married and has his children! Also, I feel it is a more Amy's style to always chase Sonic."

Notes and references