Knuckles was Sonic’s former rival and one of the most recognizable characters of the Sonic The Hedgehog videogame.
So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the character.
- The character’s full name is Knuckles the Echidna
- He is a fictional character in Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog series
- He is a red anthropomorphic short-beaked echidna
- He is Sonic’s former rival and close friend
- He is determined and serious, but sometimes gullible
- He has the ability to glide and climb up walls
- He is a powerful fighter with spiked hands
- He serves as the guardian of the Master Emerald
- It is a huge gemstone that controls the series’ integral Chaos Emeralds
- Knuckles is the last living member of his tribe, the Knuckles Clan
- Knuckles debuted as an antagonist in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) after Doctor Eggman tricks him into opposing Sonic and Tails
- He first became a playable protagonist in Sonic & Knuckles later that year
- After initially opposing Sonic once again, he forms an alliance with him after learning of Doctor Eggman’s trickery
- Since then he has appeared in dozens of playable and non-playable roles
- As well as in several series of comic books, Western animated television, and Japanese anime
- Knuckles is one of the series’ most popular characters
- Appearing in nearly every game in the franchise
- These include main series games, future ports, and spin-off titles
- His likeness has also frequently appeared in several pieces of Sonic the Hedgehog merchandise
- He has been the subject of multiple running gags and Internet memes
- During conception of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the development team wanted to create a new rival for Sonic
- The final design of Knuckles was the result of dozens of possible designs inspired by numerous different animals
- In collaboration between the Sonic Team and Sega of America’s product marketing manager, Pamela Kelly, the final character of “Knuckles” was chosen
- The emphasis of the character was to break walls
- With the original idea being a ‘whirlwind’ ability, rather than punching
- He was originally planned to have a Jamaican accent
- Knuckles was created by developer Takashi Yuda, who never intended him to be any more than a “supporting character”
- Knuckles who was named by Product Marketing Manager, Pamela Kelly
- He was introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as an “intimidator” because of his powerful abilities and physical strength
- He was given a headlining role in the next game, Sonic & Knuckles
- There he made his first appearance as a playable character
- Knuckles has been voiced by several different actors over the years
- In the Japanese dubs, he was voiced by Yasunori Matsumoto in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
- And by Nobutoshi Canna since 1998, beginning with Sonic Adventure
- In animation, he was voiced by Brian Drummond in Sonic Underground
- And by Bill Wise in the English dub of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
- In the video games, Knuckles was originally voiced by Ryan Drummond in Sonic Shuffle, and then voiced by Michael McGaharn in Sonic Adventure
- Scott Dreier began voicing the character in 2001, starting with Sonic Adventure 2
- He continued to voice the character for three more years until 2004, his final role as Knuckles was in Sonic Advance 3
- Dan Green began voicing the character in the anime series Sonic X, he would later take over the role in the video games in 2005, starting with Shadow the Hedgehog
- In 2010, he was replaced by Travis Willingham, beginning with Sonic Free Riders
- Willingham continued voicing the character until 2018
- His final role as Knuckles was in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Since 2019, Knuckles has been voiced by Dave B. Mitchell, beginning with Team Sonic Racing
- In the film Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Knuckles is voiced by Idris Elba
- Elba is set to reprise the role again in the upcoming Knuckles spin-off series
- The series is set for release on the streaming service Paramount+ in 2023
- Knuckles is a red anthropomorphic echidna, the only living descendant of a well-established clan of echidnas
- For many years, his clan guarded a giant gemstone called the Master Emerald, which controls the Chaos Emeralds, objects central to the Sonic the Hedgehog game series
- As such, Knuckles has spent most of his life atop a floating island called Angel Island, guarding the Master Emerald from harm
- He has grown up fairly introverted as a result
- Knuckles has a personality described as cool
- However, he sometimes loses his composure and gets in fights with other characters, and is sometimes shy around girls
- His favorite food is grapes
- His relationship with Sonic is ambivalent
- However in later games, their relationship became more unequivocal
- Knuckles entered the series as an antagonist of Sonic, but later becomes one of the protagonists and sees him as a partner
- While envying Sonic’s adventurous lifestyle
- He is depicted as somewhat gullible and very rash, especially when angered
- Since he never went out of the Angel Island, he has often been tricked by Doctor Robotnik, but is stated in one game manual to have become more skeptical of him
- Possibly due to the multiple times of getting fooled by Robotnik
- While slower than Sonic, Knuckles is depicted as one of the series’ strongest characters and a skilled martial artist
- His brawny physique allows him to lift objects many times his size and weight
- While his powerful fists enable him to smash through boulders
- He can also glide long distances and can climb up walls using the spikes on his gloves
- Unlike Sonic, Knuckles is able to swim
- As is typical among Sonic characters, Knuckles can roll into a ball to attack enemies
- He also has an empowered “super” form
- Using the Chaos Emeralds allows him to transform into Super Knuckles
- Using the Super Emeralds allows him to transform into Hyper Knuckles
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