Worlds Unite Weekly Reviews, Part 11: Sonic the Hedgehog #275

by Mighty No. X

Welcome to Part 11 of “Worlds Unite Weekly,” your weekly source for Worlds Unite reviews (except for last week), with your host Mighty No. X.

Part 11 finds our heroes aboard the Delphinus from Skies of Arcadia. After Sonic gives a short speech, Vyse fires the ship’s cannon and all of the guest stars begin an assault on Sigma-2. As the heroes begin their attack, they encounter an army of Sigma clones (possibly New Generation Reploids), as well as a number of boss characters from throughout the Mega Man X series.

What follows is a stellar action sequence integrating all of the guest characters together. To name a few: NiGHTS and Firebrand both make an assault on Sigma-2’s face; Sticks and Aika repel enemies with boomerangs; Axl and Gilder gleefully combine the power of their pistols;  Street Fighter Ryu and Breath of Fire Ryu take down Sigma clones;  Gilius Thunderhead and Spark Man use their electric powers side-by-side.

Eventually the enemy’s forces come to a halt, and Sigma-2 begins to break apart, apparently signaling the heroes’ victory. Their joy is short-lived, however, as we are introduced to the horror that is Sigma-3. Sigma compares the Sigma-2 stage to a chrysalis, and vows to end the heroes’ lives before moving to drain even more worlds.  Unlike his previous form, Sigma-3 is a very proactive fighter – and a tremendously deadly one at that. He smashes the face of the Gore Magala, fries the Blue Dragon from Panzer Dragoon with a laser blast, and apparently vaporizes Breath of Fire’s Ryu.

The heroes need a way to regain the upper hand, and clearly the only way to do this is by utilizing the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Mega Man doesn’t remember what the Emeralds are or what they do, but he still has the power within himself to utilize the Emeralds and become Super along with Sonic. The final stage has now been set; the infinitely powerful Sigma-3 against the limitless power of Super Sonic and Super Mega Man.

Given that this is the 275th issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic, the book celebrates by printing a second story. Unfortunately, this story is just a reprint of the Free Comic Book Day story, which was not especially appealing even in its original context. If interested, you can read my thoughts on that issue here.

Meanwhile, Payne leads Wily and Eggman closer to the Master Engine the doctors want to access so badly. The doctors wonder why Payne would allow them to reach the Engine, given that Payne is ideologically opposed to their goals, but Payne’s internal monologue implies the doctors may become some sort of sacrifice…

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Glad as I am to see the guest characters in action here, their roles don’t really give these heroes their due. We have very little time with them in these sequences, and they are overpowered by Sigma-3 so quickly that their presence feels almost pointless. Given that the heroes had the Chaos Emeralds all along, and only the Super forms can match Sigma-3 in power, what was the point of bringing the guest characters along in the first place? I really appreciated the last two “recruiting” issues, but the pay off for them is surprisingly tame.

Plus, now that we know X doesn’t get a special transformation I can say I’m a little disappointed by how X was used during the crossover. Sigma is X’s enemy first and foremost; although X is frequently depicted alongside Sonic and Mega Man, he does little to advance the plot, and in the end it’s Sonic and Mega Man who will save the day. I’ll be covering this in more depth in the final review I do after Part 12.

To be fair, the battle choreography here is delightful. The particular combinations of combatants that Ian Flynn chooses to include are consistently clever. Given that the characters had such short screen time, they were really depicted in the best way possible. Apparently mandates by SEGA and Capcom required Flynn to restrain use of the guest characters until the third act; I’m almost inclined to see that Flynn did the best he could, given this restriction.

Easter Egg Watch:

• On the “Unified Army” pages, the description of SEGA’s guest lineup, “Heroes This Good Takes Ages,” is a throwback to an old tagline of the company.
• Lots of team-ups feature characters using similar attacks — more than we can name here.
• Super Mega Man, or “Super” Super Mega Man, appears just as he did in Worlds Collide — Rush Adapter and all, despite Rush not being present and the current time period being about three games prior to its debut. This was apparently dictated by Capcom for his appearance.

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Mighty No. X is a member of The Mega Man Network’s User Content Submission System, and the views expressed here reflect the views of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mega Man Network.

LBD "Nytetrayn"

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

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