User:TheJoebro64/drafts/metal

Metal Sonic is an antagonistic character appearing in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog video games. Metal Sonic first appeared in Sonic CD on September 23, 1993, and was created by Kazuyuki Hoshino.

Description
Metal Sonic is a robot designed in the likeness of Sonic the Hedgehog. Metal Sonic possesses great strength, a laser cannon built into his abdomen, a jet engine protruding from his back, and a force field device he can use to protect himself from projectiles and certain attacks. He usually only communicates with a series of electronic noises. While he physically resembles Sonic, Metal Sonic's personality is vastly different: he is cold-hearted, homicidal, and emotionless. Game Revolution described him as "one evil robot, and he’s bad down to his riveted bones." Metal Sonic is also extremely intelligent because of his advanced artificial intelligence (AI).

Within the Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Metal Sonic typically is an antagonist. He is a major antagonist in Sonic CD (1993), Knuckles' Chaotix (1995), and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II (2012), and the main antagonist of Sonic Heroes (2003). He also appears as a boss in Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble (1994), Sonic Generations (2011), Sonic Mania (2017), and Sonic Forces (2017), and is playable in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle's (2001) multiplayer mode, Sonic Adventure DX (2003) and in Sonic 4: Episode II if the player owns Episode I (2010) as well. He also typically appears in spinoff games like Sonic Rivals (2006) and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (2009).

Development
Metal Sonic was created by artist Kazuyuki Hoshino for Sonic CD. Director Naoto Ohshima wanted Sonic to have a strong rival in the game, so Hoshino designed Metal Sonic "on the concept that he was Sonic's fateful rival." Metal Sonic was one of two characters Hoshino created during the development of Sonic CD, along with Amy Rose. While Metal Sonic is similar to another character named Mecha Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, they are otherwise unrelated. According to Hoshino, Metal Sonic is his favorite Sega character he created, citing the longevity the character has had. For Sonic Heroes, Sonic's regional voice actors at the time (Ryan Drummond in English and Junichi Kanemaru in Japanese) voiced Metal Sonic.

Hoshino had a clear image of the character in his mind from the moment he was briefed, and Metal Sonic's design emerged after only a few sketches. Hoshino's primary focus was making him look metallic. For Metal Sonic to have the ability to move as fast as Sonic, Hoshino came up with several ideas. He ultimately settled on one based on a jet engine, inspired by drag racers. Metal Sonic's in-game sprites depict him levitating; this is because Hoshino did not want him to have the same movements as Sonic. In 2013, Hoshino said if he was to redesign Metal Sonic, he would give the character "a different feel and texture that you would pick up just from looking at him", like the ability to become invisible.

Reception
According to a poll conducted by Sega, Metal Sonic is the most popular Sonic villain and the second most wanted character for future appearances behind Shadow the Hedgehog.
 * https://www.pcgamesn.com/sonic-mania/sonic-mania-bosses