The Everlasting Impact of Hyper Knuckles (& Knuckles)

Actually, we totally know what Knuckles knows. Let me summarize: -Knuckles is the guardian of both the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. One day when he’s checking on the Chaos Emerald shrines, they all teleport away for an unknown reason and Knuckles fails to locate them, he does not know where they are prior to the events of the game. -Knuckles is aware of the ancient prophecies such as the mural you mentioned and upon seeing the Death Egg recalls one in particular that said that a giant egg will bring disaster to the island. -Knuckles does not know the Death Egg is related to Eggman. He instead thinks it’s the egg of a „legendary dragon“ that will destroy the island. This dragon was later confirmed to be Perfect Chaos. Yeah, knowing what we know now, he had every right to be scared there. -You might think it’s weird that Knuckles didn’t see the connection between Eggman’s face and the Death Egg, but, and I shit you not, the manual actually implies that Knuckles can’t see very well. Echidnas are known as „needle moles“ in Japan and moles are known for having poor eyesight. He literally couldn’t see the Eggman face on the Death Egg from a distance. This obviously is a trait that was never followed up on, but it’s still really interesting. -Eggman told Knuckles he was a scientist researching the dragon egg. He claimed that Sonic was an Emerald thief and kept interrupting his work. So in order to to protect the Emeralds and help Eggman get his work done so the disaster coming from the egg could be averted, Knuckles joined forces with Eggman and attacked Sonic. Sonic actually having the missing Chaos Emeralds didn’t exactly help the Emerald thief accusation either. The Japanese manual explains pretty much everything there is to know, but the American version literally cut out all of the interesting stuff. There’s another part of the story that I haven’t even mentioned that talks about how there once was an ancient civilization that used the Emeralds to prosper, but it was wiped out overnight and „the gods“ lifted their homeland to the sky, creating the Floating Island. Yes, they were already foreshadowing Sonic Adventure. Even crazier, this story of this ancient civilization was already featured in the Japanese manual of Sonic 2. Yes, they either had all of this planned out or built on the previous titles in an incredibly precise manner. People don’t give the Classic games enough credit for storytelling.

I had no idea he kills everything when he glides into a wall

I just had a debate over small details in games with my friend. He said they didn’t matter. I’m glad you agree that small details matter. Keep up the good work, fight the hard life, and don’t let Knuckles steal yo girl!

Honestly, Knuckles was and still is my favorite Sonic character, and I miss when he was a cool, loner character who had ties with both Angel Island and the Emeralds and only got involved when they were in stake. Now he’s kind of a meme character that’s seen as Sonic’s angry doofus friend.

So what your saying is... the real hyper transformations where the friends we made along the way

7:26 I never even noticed Knuckles was pointing down. I always thought he was tapping his chest for some reason

Sega should hire you to write Sonics official lore.

Just want to say how much I've appreciated these S&K videos my dude. I was around in 94 when I first played S&K. Takes me WAY BACK TO GOOD TIMES. Been following you on here for ONE WEEK. And you have my support Sir. Thank you

All I can think of is that old “super knuckles is pink” animation lmao

I'm really glad you made this. I've been a big fan of the Rad Red, ever since I got into the series. It makes total sense why someone in Knuckles' position to get tricked by Dr. Eggman, and you explained that perfectly. I also like to mention that a big part of Knuckles' character is that he's a loner. This means, by nature, Knuckles doesn't trust anyone, which is why he's quick to blame someone, he hasn't met. This has been a big part of his character since Sonic 3, as he does things mostly by himself in that game, Sonic Jam has his bio state that he's shy to girls, and his Adventure theme songs makes a big deal about how he's a loner, and that he prefer to do things by himself, "adversaries get shelved". It's one of his biggest weakness, and what I find most relatable to him. It's very possible Knuckles didn't trust Dr. Eggman in Sonic 3, either. Sure, he did believe that Sonic was the bad guy, but that doesn't mean he wasn't suspicious of Eggman too, and so he kept the Master Emerald in the HIDDEN Palace zone, so both couldn't keep their hands on it, but because Sonic made the Death Egg fall, it landed on Hidden Palace zone as we see it looming in Lava Reef Zone, which is how Dr. Eggman found it. I just hate how he's only gullible because he's "dumb" nowadays, even though Knuckles has shown to be very smart, as he was always one step ahead of Sonic throughout Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This guy has been stated as a Master Martial Artist, and world's greatest treasure hunter by Sonic himself. Dr. Eggman has tricked Sonic many times, and no one bats an eye. It's been hard to be a fan of the character when everyone always reminds you that he's not the same character I once knew. He's not a loner anymore, he doesn't guard the Master Emerald, and they don't mention him being that last of his kind. Now he's just some gullible sidekick to Sonic who has no purpose anymore. Very good video! And I hope it does well!

"You turned PINK bro!" Seriously tho, I've been binging your vids as of late, and seeing your sub count double over a single week is so satisfying. You deserve it.

Man, I thought I was the only one that "played out" certain scenes in the game. Like acting appropriately during the automated "cutscene" sections, dragging out the fight with Knuckles, stuff like that. Then this video pops up and I see the same stuff.

I hope one day Sega actually remember their lore lol.

Knock knock. It's knuckles

It's like the reincarnation of Cybershell. S3&K is one of my favorite games of all time and I never realized it was such a masterclass in subtext.

7:25 i always imaged these specific lines when seeing that animation HEY ROBOTNIK! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING PUT THAT DOWN!

Man, my rad red Knuckles bein' the real chad here protecting the Master Emerald.

This is automatically my new favorite channel and is blowing the fuck out of my mind with all of the small details, I’m 16 and have been playing these games all of my life and have never noticed these touches such as the mural and knuckles in the bushes on the cover. These videos too are very inspirational. Great job man, I’ll look forward to everything you put out.

3:48 "Unlike Sonic who he CUCKLES" You have me dying here Nick xD

"Toot toot Knuckles warriors" Good thing I watched your CD critique yesterday, that reference would probably fly right over my head otherwise