Super Amy: Let The Girl Glow

today's video is brought to you by Squarespace mourn them a little bit later for quite a long time Sonic CD was considered something of an overlooked classic from the early years of the Hedgehog trapped away as an exclusive to the Sega CD and this overlooked game introduced us to an overlooked character a little pink Hedgehog one that would show up in the first level if you took the right path in the right timeline and then again in a little bit more prominently in the second Zone Collision chaos only to be nabbed up by the other new character one that got a lot more attention Metal Sonic and this pink Hedgehog would not be seen again until nearly the end of the game at the end of the iconic race against the robot and when you think about it sure both of these new characters barely got any kind of screen time but metal at the very least got attention on the cover and became the focal point for what is hands down the single best part of that game but this little lady this is just Sonic in a dress a damsel in distress licky Wiki Wild West now obviously as the franchise grew this game and these characters became less and less obscure nowadays we almost see too much of Metal Sonic and of course we would also see the rise of that little pink Hedgehog who would become a core hero in her own right I'm of course speaking of Princess Sally wait oh oh dear that's actually what they called her in the manual of Sonic CD at least in the western manual who are these guys trying to fool that chipmunk already ruined my generation by the time Amy Rose arrived on the scene oh yes that's right this is actually Amy Rose and it might be weird for a lot of you guys to hear that Amy wasn't often overlooked character considering just how often we have seen her over the years but that's how life started for the little hedgehog at least here in the states and while she did get redesigned and got a whole new play style all her own in Sonic Adventure and she shows up more and more often especially nowadays I would still argue she does not get the love she deserves there is a lot we're gonna have to talk about when it comes to the entire history of Amy and her characterization this is gonna be more than just one single video but for now I want to focus up on this first rendition of Amy because this version the first version absolutely did not get the respect she deserved the only playable appearances she had were in bad racing games and well she got her hammer in a fighting game but that's all we got she wasn't in a Mainline game in any playable capacity until she put her quills down and sported a sundress and as a kid I'll be honest I didn't really care much about this character either I just didn't think there was anything interesting about this design Sonic Tails and later on Knuckles and heck that other new character in CD metal looks like there was a ton of care put into these simple yet iconic looks but Amy it feels like if you had 20 minutes to come up with and make a girl Sonic this is exactly what you'd get I know CD is All About time travel but did they pluck this get up out of a 1950 soda shot there are so many clashing colors and what the hell are those shoelaces in a Sonic game I'm gonna be sick look I'm all for that classic Americana Diner design so retro but it is a very basic design she's just the Minnie Mouse of the Sonic Universe wait no not even that Mickey and Minnie are a happy healthy couple in almost all of their depictions it is very true Mickey is probably far more famous in comparison but at least in their fiction there's a mutual love and respect for the two characters there's a lot that needs to be talked about when it comes to female character design just being the male character with a bow and eyelashes the poor Amy doesn't even get the cliched love interest Trope not really sure she's head over heels for Sonic but he just keeps her at an arm's length yes I know shippers things can be insinuated and things have been changing over the years but I am talking about about how she was first presented to the world ultimately I don't really mind her design but there's nothing here that really stands out either and I think a part of me didn't care about her because it didn't seem like Sonic cared about her the key art for Sonic CD shows up smitten gal clearly infatuated with Sonic you can tell that from her body language and that little smirk and little Parts but Sonic in turn well his face isn't showing much of anything is this irritation is it indifference I mean you could take what you want from it but I think it's pretty clear that the feelings are not reciprocated and Archie Comics and really a lot of the western stuff that established Sally as a love interest didn't seem to know what to do with Amy once she was brought into the mix Archie opted to make her a little girl she's clearly kid-coded something like Tails which takes her out of the dating pool for the teenage Sonic that way they didn't have to worry about any potential clashing love interest in those stories instead she he is a die-hard fan of Sonic also deeply infatuated this does at the very least somewhat justify why Sonic would be standoffish in comparison and I do still genuinely love this panel of Sonic locked away because he was framed for a crime while Sally has to be a Stern and impartial leader even when it comes to her boyfriend Amy is in front of that jail cell picketing raising all kinds of hell because she just has his back don't matter what and Sonic just looks exhausted with the whole thing I thought that was adorable I thought it was a fun Dynamic but I also see how this downplays her character her love is childlike and that's all there was to her personality she just adores Sonic and that's it an over in Fleetway they took that same key art and mistook her quills waving in motion and instead just made that her hairstyle but I'll be honest I'm very okay with that particular mistake I do love that look not so much in love with the t-shirt and the cross Expo and all of this it's making me miss that 55 real hard because that 90s stuff just looks like a mess and aside from all that she definitely has some personality she's got a bit of grit and all this is why she is a beloved rendition of the character so please Fleetway fans don't get too offended I do adore that version too but this is still a far cry from what she was in the games from the very get-go she was not taken seriously or she had to change into something more palatable or more interesting and quite frankly I don't blame any of the comics for going in these directions because they didn't have a lot to work off of when it came to the games themselves Amy Rose prominent as she may be in the franchise has never been properly respected or at the very least the time she has been in the spotlight it's been few and far between and even when that happened I've seen some vicious backlash I will say though I do love adventure and these Loca is still taking that 50s retro aesthetic but changing it into something unique but again I'm going to save that for a different video I've got a lot to talk about with Amy the original classic Amy was completely retooled and redesigned once 1998 rolled around and we wouldn't see this old style again until Archie's Rosie the Rascal which is the evil alternate Dimension version of Amy Rose they took that old design and put it on something psychotic and violent and that depiction and why they took it in that direction I think deserves another analysis at another time because that's a whole other can of worms but what I'm getting at is while modern Amy certainly does not get the love or characterization she does deserve she was at the very least established as a playable character when the redesigns rolled in love it or hate it her 3D and 2D mechanics were hers and hers alone and I'm gonna tell you I loved the hammer physics for Amy no they're not perfect not by any stretch of the imagination but I thought they established something fun and adventure and I was excited to see where they would take it from there oh that's right Adventure 2 just dropped her while at the very least the advanced games were showing off that hammer gameplay and yeah she doesn't roll up which is kind of strange because she is a hedgehog they're still doing some pretty cool risk for Ward stuff here and they really could expand on this gameplay and maybe merge it in with some more classic mechanics to make something really interesting especially now because after all of this time classic Amy is finally going to be playable in the original games thanks to Sonic Origins plus as DLC which isn't even on the physical release of Origins plus so better get it new cause you're gonna be disappointed otherwise classic Amy has been finally getting some proper love in recent years and again it's mostly thanks to the comics they establish her as a sweet care and a bit bashful around Sonic I'm really happy they're leaning into the pink of all of it she's a little girl and that's okay there's no no shame in that I was happy to see them actually do something with this version of the character and while I do think it's weird she wasn't playable in Mania and she's only DLC in Origins they did finally bring her back and I was so excited to see her come back with this Hammer let's get these talented folks on top of this with some fresh ideas for all that fun Advanced gameplay and never mind your gameplay leaves a little to be desired only a little though I must admit a part of this is largely due to how much I enjoyed her Hammer hopping from advance I love how they utilize that weapon with movement classic Amy is far more streamlined from gameplay footage you'd assume that all she really has is something akin to an insta shield and a drop Dash and technically Sheik does except her insta Shield is just a shield it lasts as long as you keep that button held down and it looks a lot more like Hammer Kirby's swing but that does make sense for Amy since she can finally roll into a ball Hallelujah and this doesn't act only as a shield but also doubles her attack range so maybe I shouldn't be calling it a hammer Shield instead maybe a giant spin jump the reach you get with this girl is ridiculous and if you land while holding that button down she will launch forward in her own version of the drop dash at first I was a bit underwhelmed with this and that's probably because Origins already put the drop Dash into all of the other games with Sonic they hadn't done that I think this would have been a little bit more unique but as it is it's still a somewhat clever combination of two iconic abilities and as my Chum Channel pup was quick to point out you can actually maneuver Amy's Hammer Rampage left and right that's a lot more control compared to the original drop Dash so yeah you can do that crazy Hammer swing and Lead it straight into that drop Dash and that combination makes her a wrecking machine I don't know how she ever got kidnapped by Metal Sonic with these abilities it's insane I think this makes her a little bit too easy and again I do think this new place cell is a bit too safe but it's utilized well and it doesn't get in the way of any previously established level designs I'm going to deeply miss her mechanics from Advance though like I keep hammering on pun intended I really feel they could have done some clever stuff with that added Bounce from the Pico Hammer when you're expected to play the same set of levels over and over I think it's okay to get a little creative with character move sets that's what I loved about Knuckles and Tails when they were first introduced back in the day and by the time Sonic Advance rolled around while there are still pros and cons Amy was incredibly refreshing for me she gave us a fun new way to move around something I love the Sonic games for he was so refreshing to play compared to every other platformer out there at the time and every new character introduced gave us a new way to interact with these incredibly Fun Worlds now I don't know if they could have properly combined Amy's Advanced abilities with her ability to now just do a simple spin dash I'm not sure if any of those movesets would have clashed or if they tried the advanced gameplay style and it just didn't work with the level design of the classic games or maybe they want to differentiate modern and classic Amy I have no idea but it's still a sticking point I'm having a difficult time letting go but I know plenty of folks will much prefer this new setup like I've already said they're built off previously beloved moves and they keep you moving admittingly much faster than my beloved Advanced mechanics the fact that she is here and is fun to play is a big deal I'd say it made even bigger because they aren't placing her in a brand new game this time around at least not yet classic Amy's first proper playable debut is in the classic games retroactively saying that she has always mattered to the franchise and Sega knows that I love that Sonic Twitter went out of the way to drop a trailer and some art explicitly saying that this collection is rewriting history in that time travel thing was real cute well done I'm all for keeping games as they were released intact for the sake of preservation and out of respect for the original development team but considering how many re-releases these games have I'm also down to to experience them in a new way especially when they are now including a Legacy character who has been around just as long as these games themselves but even with all this considered I needed one more thing from Sega to solidify their commitment to this character if Amy really and truly matters just as much as Sonic Tails and Knuckles then she too needs to be allowed the masculine trait of playing with jewelry and finally allowed to go super and I'll be honest the entire tone of this video hinged on that one thing so you're either getting a video titled why supering matters or Sega hates women but hey don't have to worry about that because it finally happened 30 years late but I'm happy to say that Amy Rose can finally vote I mean go super the transformation is what you'd expect she has this pulsating white aura that gives her a lighter pink glow actually doesn't look too far off from Archie's Rosie the Rascal now that I'm looking at it and yeah it does what you'd expect you move faster and you're almost completely invulnerable people as long as you have rings really no different from any other super form but I've Gotta Give It Up to Sega because I did expect this form but I wasn't quite sure if they would deliver the other but since these are the original games and that does include Sonic 3 and Knuckles I would have been supremely disappointed if Amy didn't get anything after collecting all seven super emeralds but thankfully she does because not only do we get Super Amy we also get hyper Amy who can now spawn and throw an unlimited amount of hammers I'll be honest at first I didn't think there was much to this ability but let's be real it's not that much different from the other hyper abilities and this one is hilarious and Incredibly destructive unfortunately there are no physical differences between the two forms which is a shame because the super was already fairly lackluster this is a problem the hyperforms have always had if you were playing anybody other than Sonic and yes I get it he's the title character he's the most special boy in the world but I would say even compared to the other characters Amy's hyper form is incredibly lackluster in terms of physical design give her some raised quills give that Fleetway hairstyle some love or even change the color of her fur yellow or orange to some lunatics potentially rose gold just something again I don't need anybody telling me that the other forms of Tails and Knuckles really aren't that different but it's okay to say that all of them in terms of design are a bit boring and we could do better might be a little sacrilegious potentially hypocritical coming from me but if they were gonna tweak any of the designs of the old games I absolutely would have preferred they touched up every Super form outside of Sonics and considering the ridiculous Talent behind Origins plus I would bet money that was something they wanted to do I've seen way too much amazing Super Amy fan art over the years to believe otherwise and I would bet even more money that they had to fight to even get Super and Hyper Amy into the mix Sega of Japan has been so weirdly stubborn about these forms it's a miracle they're here at all let these artists cook Azuka but then put some sprinkles on that cupcake but miss potential aside they are here I don't know if we will ever see Hypersonic in a new piece of media but for a while there I wasn't even sure we would even see the only game that included the hyper forms again and I'd never expected hypertails would be a thing let alone Piper Amy Sega has been slowly but surely opening up to the ideas that fans have been begging for bringing back Sonic's friends in a playable format letting super forms matter again a larger emphasis on storytelling and okay well we still don't have ciao Gardens and quality control still needs a bit of work but hey at least these new games have been fun and to me Hyper Amy Super Amy were just classic Amy represents all of those positive baby steps I don't see this as regression I think that's what the Sonic franchise actually has been doing and they haven't even been doing that well I don't miss sloppy crappy game experiences but I do miss the creativity and the expansion of gameplay elements heck that's why she mattered to me back in the adventure in advance days she became a playable character and I had a whole lot more respect for her simply for that reason alone and that's why Amy's Transformations means so much because it's more than just a little glowing effect she deserves to have her name light up on the billboard that includes Sonic Tails and Knuckles she deserves to hop off the plane in a Victorious pose at the end of the game and after the credits she deserves to be standing next to the other three Heroes next to that big three and God I love that they threw her into the completion art of the save file putting hyper in front of her name tells me she matters just as much as these other characters something she wasn't allowed for a good majority of her existence and these forms are the ultimate reward both in terms of gameplay and later on Narrative of course you'll get plenty of fans dismissing these elements as being non-canon because that's not how the story shakes out but I really don't see the big deal on that front Canon or not that still told me that their campaigns are worth playing that they are just as much Heroes as Sonic is yeah he's always gonna be the protagonist but that doesn't mean these other characters don't matter and besides even back in the day they treated knuckles as a continuation of Sonic's narrative who's to say that Tails didn't split off from Sonic now and again on his own journey and since Origins has been showing us time and again that they're not afraid of retcons who's to say Amy didn't have her own Adventures on green or Emerald Hill or Angel Island I cannot imagine how validated any fans feel with her inclusion into the classic games again I'll be the first to tell you I don't think they really needed to do much with Sonic 3 and Knuckles that was an incredible game and it holds up just fine heck I think all of them do but outside of s3k their availability has never been much of an issue every generation has had a chance to play the classic games and it's okay to try something different and now we're going to have a new generation of kids able to play the pink Hedgehog as if she was there the entire time because she was so no maybe I don't have much to say in terms of the actual Transformations super emeralds multiply the Pico Hammer that's pretty neat and yeah they could have done a little bit better I mean look at the only other female character allowed to have a super form burning blaze and I know technically it's Soul emeralds but it's a super form as far as I'm concerned they at least did something with that design mostly just added some more flames and changed her color to red but it's something I know this sounds a bit greedy but the heart wants what the heart wants Amy taught me that and she deserves a bit more love in return she's been starved for it for a very long time but I'm genuinely happy to see her here and allowed all the same fun toys allotted to the boys took 30 years to finally let her roll into a ball the fox can even roll into a ball it's ridiculous and my complaints aside considering her finally getting characterization in the comics more playable appearances coming during the year thanks to Superstars and that Frontiers DLC which I'm really curious about this feels like an Amy Rose Revolution I just don't want it to stop here I want them to keep pushing forward because that's how this franchise is going to grow and while their baby steps they are still steps in the right direction and that starts with finally letting this girl shine quite literally before we wrap up for today I want to take a moment to talk about today's sponsor Squarespace jumping online and building up your own brand was always an intimidating thing for me but Squarespace makes that a streamlined fast and easy process all while making you look good thanks to their fluid engine a Next Generation website design tool that lets you tweak any of their many many templates with easy to use drag and drop tools and I don't need to tell you how useful websites can be whether you want to build up a portfolio of your work an art gallery or a shop because yes they have everything you need to run your own online business including 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2 blue John Josh Strider Casey Rose hatsworth tiny Jericho my dog just hacked up look I don't have much time left with him all right I'm gonna just keep all of that in this recording I don't care I will look back on these treasure memories and that hacking dog quite fondly where was I that's where a tiny Jericho Ginger Bob Jack of all Spades Tristan trap makers dun dun quote resident Fanboy miles the proud hour Jeremy singer Mr Blue Jay Sam Webster fish flop Lucas lipker the bad pal Jonathan Dobbs Haley Dr SP here is your POS pios PSA I've read this before how did I screw that up always follow fire safety but oh my God how did I forget SP not doing that not doing moving on seize the Glade dark neon Stefan platonica three monik Graham J hall Lenny X Wayne is boss let Eric David 20 covering my face at the embarrassment of misspelling Nick the last video sorry about that also hi Nicholas I am recording this right after I got done with my sonic speed reading so no worries David Jimmy Duke Str The Lumberjack nbtv trash Baphomet Autumn from twitter.com Jin seyotame boating I'm not reading that interject 5 Grayson conager Spades the Nocturne Ken k aka Kenji kobane AKA The Heavy Metal Hustler AKA High mob I'm on the YouTube's PS only Nick has to read then 101 Paxton bisbees and Darren 7 Paris specs three rule 4 twylor did you know the skin of your elbow is called a wenis Paisley Eric Delgado kodinski chamo art sayonara RoboCop Crimson Rose sorry about all the chaos with the names you can just call me Nyx you got it dude Sonic p-a-j oh my God the hacking dog did he get something caught in his throat ghost you have something in your throat what's going on with you Moon isn't Roxas the cat Godzilla Makuta of salt clean the anomaly Alexander Watson clay Presley Neil gampa konikudo Sharif Pi collects the most powerful ship in the two universes native 27 kaido power Swift Cannon spearmintress Prower I'm not sure if I'm ever saying that right Omega Man 21 pin Adelaide other envelope Jamie Torres Jr and the Phantoms sorry to rush guys but I still have to pack for a trip and I gotta get on a plane a whole bunch of other stuff so I gotta wrap this up but again thank you so much for all the support and I'll catch you all very soon until then toot toot Sonic Warriors

Channel: Game Apologist

Views: 151,005

Keywords: game apologist, sonic, super amy, hyper amy, sonic origins plus, sonic origins plus amy, knuckles, hyper knuckles, super knuckles, super sonic, hyper sonic, super tails, hyper tails, sonic cd, metal sonic, sonic 3, sonic 3 & knuckles, sonic team, archie sonic, rosy the rascal, classic amy, sonic advance, modern amy, sonic adventure, sonic adventure 2, sega, sonic the fighters, amy's car, piko piko hammer, drop dash, sonic the hedgehog, why hyper amy matters, sonamy

Id: XV0pEXogTgo

Length: 24min 24sec (1464 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 30 2023