Ah yes,
the extra stage that you would have been awarded upon gaining all of the game's
emblems. For you folks out there, this one is a -real- treat. Minimal moonjump
usage, and running all the way! This is one of Eggman's smoother stages, and it
makes for great fun. I favor this one among the others as well. Definitely
worth running around as the Doctor. Now, not only has Sonic raced around on the
rendition of his first-ever stage, but so has Eggman! We should feel proud, and
note the slight irony in the air.
Status: 
Beatabe
Run! Run!
Keep on running! The goal ring awaits just ahead of you! Don't stop for
anything!
That covers
the rest of the stages. On another note, if you select anyone in the Chao World
character select, you'll find that it will always end up being Eggman. This
actually doesn't glitch anything up, considering he was mainly supposed to be
for Chao World in the first place. But, of course, I felt the need to mention
it.
Now, on
to the other goodies!
--Mechless Eggman;
Almost Officially Playable?--
Now, from
what we've seen so far, putting Eggman in place of all the other characters
(without the Walker) has spawned some interesting
results. We find that he's capable of high speeds, able to run up walls, pull
off loop-de-loops, and attack. Some might think this isn't all too significant.
However, keep in mind that unless a programmer puts the code in for it, it can't
happen. So, somewhere along the line, Eggman was given the programming that
enabled him to punch and kick robots, and effectively destroy them this way.
Eggman was given the programming to, for whatever reason, run loops and along
walls. Now tell me; The fact that he is actually able to do these things...
Doesn't that strike you as odd?
Could
this mean that, at some point, Eggman may have been considered for a playable
role outside of the confines of his Walker? There almost seems to be little
evidence to support this, aside from what I've already mentioned. -However-,
there are two key points that tell us that Eggman may have been considered for
playability ourside the Walker. Here is the first one; a voice
sample that you can make Eggman say only outside the Chao World. Walk to a
ledge, and he'll stop, and say, "Ooh..! That was a close one...!"
Listen
here: EggmanCloseOne.mp3
Also,
whenever Eggman takes damage, he not only has his own pose for losing rings,
but he also has a death pose, in which he falls to his knees, and then flat on
his face. Why make such things if you're not going to use them? Yes, my
friends, I believe that this tells us that, something similar to SA1's
Adventure stages, you would have been able to use the Doctor elsewhere. Maybe
even his own stage! But, what could he have done, exactly? Well, I'll leave you
folks to work with your own imaginations on that one, but this is a pretty
nifty thing to think about. Personally, I feel that, at one point, SonicTeam
may have considered following a similar formula to Action and Adventure stages
in SA2, and that after they had coded in a few things for Eggman, they
eventually dropped the idea and resorted to only the stages themselves.
It's a
thought, isn't it?
--Glitches
and Oddities!--
Oh boy. This
is going to be fun. You didn't expect a playable Walker-less Eggman to roam
around without running into tiny little snags, did you? Well, listen up, folks,
because there's a ton of little odd quirks that you can find while roaming
about as the dear Doctor in territories that he shouldn't even be allowed in.
Take a look!
---
#1:
Animals; The Miracle-Workers
Whenever
you're playing as Walker-less Eggman in an actual stage, one
of the things that always remains consistant is what occurs whenever he picks
up one of the many 'hidden' animals. The counter that usually indicates how
many you've found in the stage will only remain a red pulsating 0, and as a
result, will end up giving you a free life. Lucky, yes? But, indeed, odd.
#2:
"I Can't... Hold On...!"
This is a
tiny oddity. Unlike stuff like bars and vines, the handles that one would grab
to be hoisted into the air don't freeze the game. Instead, Eggman just sorta
gets glued to it for a second, before 'letting' go as the handle flies upward
into the air. Sorry, Eggman! No free rides, here.
#3:
Painful Rocket Science
Now, if
you'll note, I never mentioned that using the rockets would freeze your game,
because truth be told, they don't. However, using them with Eggman comes at a
price. A short flight means all of your rings. Any longer, and it also means
your -life-. Yes, for whatever reason, when Eggman 'grabs' a rocket, and it
takes off, sometimes he'll immediately lose all of his rings as if he had just
gotten hit. If the ride is too long, then the moment Eggman releases the
rocket, he'll croak. I think that it's safer just to moonjump.
#4:
"Powerup--! ARGH, MY BACK!"
This
glitch occurs whenever you pick up a new weapon for either Speed or
Hunter
characters. Now, I'm not so sure about the others, but when I picked up
Ancient
Light for Shadow, Eggman immediately threw his left arm up and over in
some
weird 'C' shape, and his left leg bent backwards doing the same thing,
his foot
out in front of him. His right arm was bunched up close to his side
like he was
carrying a plate, and his right foot was position behind him. The
entire time,
he did this weird little dance, and did not change at all. Now, the
reason for
this is that when Eggman's model takes the new item, it immediately
forces
itself to pull off as best as it can its own interpretation of the
model that
the item is -supposed- the be for. Of course, this comes up with some
rather
humorous results. If you really want to have fun, find all the powerups
you
can, and see what funky dance you get next! (Note: If you pick up an
upgrade for a mech character, Tails or Eggman, the game just freezes.)
#5:
Eggman the Firefly?
In the
Mech stages where the lighting is horrendously dark, or otherwise dim, if you pay
attention to Eggman's backside, you'll note how it's a lot brighter than the
textures on the rest of him. I think this is because Eggman with his mech is
supposed to have a 'light' on whilst exploring such dark regions. So, without
said mech, the light just shines somewhat dimly behind Eggman.
#6:
"So... Very... -Angry-..."
Whenever
you play a stage that's exclusive to a mech only, you'll note something is
strange about the doctor... Smoke is pouring from the top of his head, and his
neck lets out the occaisional burst of sparks! Whenever he stands still, moves
very slowly, or moonjumps, his head will leave a dark smoke trail, and will
occaisionally spark. He acts like a damaged mech! I find this glitch to be
somewhat amusing.
#7: Does
Not Compute
Whenever
you explore the Hunter stages as Eggman, try to get some advice about what to
do next from the many floating computer monitors in the area. What do you see?
You'll find that because Eggman is detected in the stage as a non-Hunter, there
will not only be no emerald shards, but there won't be any hints to give out on
the matter, either. Upon using the monitor to gain words of wisdom, they'll
only reveal to you this tidbit of information; 'NoText'. Yes, that -is- plenty
helpful, isn't it?
#8:
Hidden Rings
There are
a few stages in which I've discovered there to be rings that are completely out
of reach, which, to me, also suggests that if you play as the required person
for that stage, you'll never be able to get a perfect ring score, as doing so
would be impossible. Here are places I've realized have held rings hidden out
of view.
- Green
Hill Zone: Your starting point below the stage itself allows you to collect a
ring that Sonic would never be able to retrieve.
- Mad
Space: Your starting point below the line of death enables you to immediately
collect a ring that Rouge would never be able to get.
- Pyramid Cave: At some point, as Sonic, you'd
grind a rail, and this rail would take you high in the air. As you grind at
breakneck speeds, you'll notice that you pass by a large metal fence that
allows you to see the outside of the base for a brief moment. As Eggman,
moonjump to that fence, and take a look around. Behind the fence at some point
is a single, lone ring. It hangs there, taunting you. If you backtrack a bit
and moonjump to move around the invisible barrier, you can get this ring as
well. Without the code, however, there's no means of which to gain it.
Now, I'm
aware that these aren't glitches that you'd find if you were just Eggman, but I
did find these -as- Eggman, and I felt it'd be key to note it anyway. It is
pretty interesting how it really -was- impossible to gain all rings from the
start.
#9:
Blind?
Whenever
you reach one of the many mystical ruins that are dotted throughout the many
stages, the only option you'll be given to interact with it is the command
'Look'. However, when you press B to look, it doesn't actually do anything.
#10:
Senile Eggman
Eggman's
probably getting up in his years. Why do I say as much? Simple. If you let him
stand in a stage for a particular amount of time, he'll reach up to rub his
head, and utter "Uggh... I'm really getting tired of operating this
machine..." Of course, he's not in a machine at all, so it's a little
funny to hear him say something like that. Ah well.
#11: The
Vanishing Egg
This
comes as a standard to all of the stages. Whenever you complete a stage as Walker-less Eggman, he vanishes along with
the goal ring. Obviously, this is because he was never programmed with a
victory dance without his Walker. So, thusly, you don't see it, and
the results get shown without him.
#12: Standing in the Loop
In Green
Hill Zone, Eggman can actually use the tubes that Sonic normally would near the
end of the stage. However, he's stiff as a board when he does it, and performs
the entire thing standing up. It's really weird, but it doesn't freeze the
game, thankfully.
#13:
Crazy Legs
There are
some places where, while going through a loop of some kind, Eggman's legs will
just seem to go in different directions than what's intended. A -great- example
of this is the corkscrew loop in Radical Highway. It gets so bad that Eggman can't
even finish running the thing. Geez.
#14: The
Blob
In Crazy
Gadget, if you let Eggman get hit by the blue 'blob' missle from the GUN
robots, he'll be stuck. However, the blob will stretch out to the far left and
right, constrict back to normal, and then stretch out again, continuing the
process until Eggman is free, or gets hit by a shot from the robots.
#15: Like
a Ton of Bricks
In the
stages that take place in space, Eggman cannot float like the other characters
normally can. This is because his Walker-less model was never programmed to
operate like such in Zero-G. So, his jumping isn't improved in the slightest.
Strangely
enough, it -does- react correctly whenever he's underwater in Knuckles' stages.
It even slows him down immensely. How odd.
#16:
Lighter Than Air
Whenever
you're playing Eggman through a mech stage, and he hits a spring, be prepared
to fly much farther than intended. Apparently, the character models of the
mechs were programmed to be heavier, and thusly could only be sent so far by a
spring. Without his mech, Eggman can be propelled -much- farther. Without that
extra machinery, it gives the effect that he is much lighter, and can go a
further distance. I've noticed a similar effect occurring with the blue zipping
ramp in Sand Ocean.
---
Now,
these are probably not the only things that occur whenever you play as Eggman,
and I'm fairly certain that I've forgotten one or two. If you -do- find
anything, though, please tell us!
Well,
that about wraps things up here. I want to thank Chris for getting me informed
about the code, and for helping out immensely with this article, as well as for
providing the banners. Also, a -huge- thank you goes out to those who found
this amazing AR code, as well as the capture of all those screenshots. You've all
been a big help. I would also like to thank -you-, fellow EEers, for reading
this huge bulk of an article. Now that you know this much more about the
playable Eggman in SA2, why not get out those discs and give it a try
yourselves?
Happy
Gaming!
-Tony
Unbeatable
DeviantART
