Amy Rose

Conception and visual design

Amy is a 12-year-old, pink-furred anthropomorphic hedgehog girl created by Kenji Terada for the Sonic the Hedgehog manga series. She debuted in 1992, wearing a dress and with her then-orange hair pulled into 2 ponytails. The character was redesigned the next year for the Sega CD game, Sonic the Hedgehog CD. Like the Sonic CD introduction Metal Sonic, an early grayscale concept sketch shows her very similar to her appearance in the game (except her shoes, which became larger and flatter). Her coloring was red at first (including her skirt), except for a green shirt. The character had two other names in game previews: Rosy the Rascal and Princess Sally (a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog TV series). Amy received her present design, with a red dress and boots, in Sonic Adventure.

Although the character was redesigned for the Sonic Boom video game and TV show, these are not considered canonical. Matching Sonic Boom's shift in tone, Sonic series newcomer Big Red Button Entertainment wanted her to be a more capable character to stand out from Sonic and offset her frequent placement on game sidelines. She became more "agile and graceful", able to perform difficult physical tasks with ease.

Personality and abilities

Amy has a cheerful, exuberant, driven, competitive and intuitive personality. She is infatuated with Sonic the Hedgehog and spends much of her time chasing him, making sure he is safe and demonstrating her affection. Although Sonic does not reciprocate her feelings and is annoyed by them (to the point of avoiding her), he does not dislike her. Former Sonic Team head Yuji Naka said that Amy was designed "to always chase Sonic", and (despite frequent questions from fans) it is likely that they will get married.

Like most characters in the Sonic series, Amy can run at superhuman speeds but not as fast as Sonic. She attacks foes with her ever-present signature weapon, the Piko-Piko Hammer with which she is very proficient in using. The character also has natural skills (tarot card reading and dowsing).

Video games

Amy falls in love with Sonic in 'Sonic CD'. She follows him to Never Lake, where Robo-Sonic kidnaps her and Sonic must rescue her. When he does (on one of the game's last levels), Amy kisses him. Sonic defeats Metal Sonic and Doctor Eggman (known in this game as Doctor Robotnik), and then leaves with her.

After Amy (a playable character) complains about being bored, a bird wearing a Chaos Emerald necklace crashes into her in Sonic Adventure. She keeps the bird safe from E-100 Alpha, one of Eggman's robots. Amy later meets Sonic, and invites him to an amusement park (where they become separated). Alpha reappears, imprisoning Amy and the bird on Eggman's airship the Egg Carrier. Another Eggman robot, E-102 Gamma, orders Amy to give the bird to him; she refuses, asking him why he wants it. He does not know, and changes his mind when she tells him he is missing out on love. E-102 Gamma lets them leave and, touched, Amy becomes his friend before she escapes into the ship's interior. On the deck, Eggman confronts her and grabs the bird's Chaos Emerald. Sonic and Gamma appear, and when Sonic tries to destroy Gamma Amy defends him. Sonic agrees to spare Gamma, and Amy leaves with Tails. She later sees a photo of the bird and its parents (whom Eggman has also stolen) in its necklace. When Amy looks for them in the jungle, she again finds the Egg Carrier. The bird's parents emerge on the deck; Alpha appears, and injures Amy's bird. Amy destroys Alpha, and waves goodbye to the three departing birds.

Amy rescues Sonic from imprisonment and asks him to marry her but yet again Sonic refuses to in Sonic Adventure 2. When she looks for Sonic (to save him again), she finds Shadow the Hedgehog after mistaking him for Sonic. Eggman attacks her with his mecha and Tails defends her; she then spends much of the remaining game searching for Chaos Emeralds with Tails and Knuckles. At the game's climax, Amy pleads with Shadow to help her and the other characters neutralize a catastrophic energy buildup at the space colony ARK. She reminds him of Maria Robotnik, his friend on the ARK before her death, and he agrees to help.

Amy is a playable character in Sonic Advance 1, 2 and 3, platformers for the Game Boy Advance. With Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and (in the latter 2 games) Cream, she frees animals from inside Eggman's robots to keep him from building an empire. Although in Sonic Advance Amy's attacking power was restricted by her inability to spin while jumping (unlike those of the other characters), this was changed in the latter two games.

She is a playable Team Rose "speed" character in Sonic Heroes with Cream the Rabbit and Big the Cat. Worried about Sonic (whom she has not seen in over a month), Amy finds his picture in a newspaper and joins Cream and Big to look for their own friends: Cream for a Chao named Chocola and Big for his frog friend Froggy. They travel through several stages before reaching the Egg Fleet, another Eggman aircraft, where they find a mecha piloted by one of his clones. When they defeat it, the clone dissolves into a puddle of liquid out of which rise Chocola, Froggy and (to Amy's delight) Sonic. Amy, Big and Cream help their friends defeat the game's true antagonist, Metal Sonic, who locked Eggman away on his own ship.

Amy is a selectable racer in the racing spinoffs Sonic Riders, Zero Gravity and Free Riders. In Sonic Riders, she participates in a racing tournament to keep an eye on Sonic. When Eggman shows up to steal the Treasure of Babylon (a key item) Amy hops aboard his hovercraft, which flies off into the distance. Sonic arrives at the base where Eggman is holding Amy hostage, using his hoverboard to stir up a dust bowl and recapture her and the treasure. She is uncharacteristically furious at his recklessness for charging at Eggman (and her). In Zero Gravity Amy shows Sonic a strange item she has found, the Ark of the Cosmos, which the Babylon Rogues rival gang believes she stole. She disappears from the gang and is later found, helping them find the Ark of the Cosmos with information she overheard from the Rogues. Team Rose returns (with Vector the Crocodile replacing Big) in Sonic Free Riders. Although the team arrives late at a tournament they can still register, and Amy is delighted face Sonic and his team. They later battle other teams, with Amy insulting Vector for his incompetence and obsession with money.

Amy has non-playable roles in a number of other game plots. Her attraction to Sonic is useful to Cream and Blaze the Cat in Sonic Rush, since they are also looking for him. In Shadow the Hedgehog, Amy appears at Cryptic Castle to ask him to help her find Cream, who has not returned. In the game's final story, unlocked after the player reaches the rest of the endings, Amy admiringly cheers Shadow on. In the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game, she mistakes Silver the Hedgehog for Sonic; when he tells her he is looking for someone, she insists on helping him. When Silver attacks Sonic, Amy finds them and blocks Silver's way (saving Sonic's life); he escapes, and Amy yells at Silver. She rescues Elise (who also likes Sonic, although Amy does not know this at the time) from confinement. In Sonic Lost World, Amy and Knuckles care for forest animals while Sonic and Tails rescue the animals' friends. The Deadly Six (the game's antagonists) control one of Eggman's machines to drain life from the world; Amy and Knuckles die, but are brought back to life when Sonic and Tails replenish it.

Amy appears in cutscenes to flirt with Sonic in other games, including Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Generations and the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors. In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, her playable character pretends to have a boyfriend to make Sonic jealous; her success depends on player input. In Sonic and the Black Knight Sonic agrees to a date with Amy before he is whisked into the world of King Arthur, with an alternate version of Amy as the Lady of the Lake.

She is a playable character in a number of Sonic spinoffs in several genres, including the fighting games Sonic the Fighters and Sonic Battle; the racers Sonic R and Sonic Drift, and the party title Sonic Shuffle. She is also planned as a playable character in Sonic Boom, a platformer. Amy has also appeared in games outside the series: Sega Superstars titles, including Sega Superstars Tennis and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing; Mario crossovers (including Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games) and as a collectible trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In Lego Dimensions, Amy appears as a non-playable character. In the story mode, "Sonic Dimensions", Amy assists Sonic in defeating Chaos by stealing the last Chaos Emerald from Eggman. In her side quest in the hub world, she's sick of being treated like a damsel by Sonic and his friends and requests the player's help to free some animals from robots to prove herself to the boys.

Comics

Amy is a major character in the Sonic the Hedgehog manga. She is the girlfriend of protagonist Nicky, whose alter ego is Sonic, and is unaware that they are identical. Antagonist Anton Brooke is also attracted to her; he kidnaps her a number of times, forcing Nicky to become Sonic and rescue her. In Sonic Adventures, a 1994 two-issue French comic book published by Sirène, Doctor Robotnik (Eggman) uses Amy as bait to lure Sonic. When Sonic, Amy and Tails fall into a pit of lava, they are saved by a giant ring which transports them to a different location.

In the Sonic the Hedgehog series from Archie Comics, Amy learns about Sonic from folktales in her home kingdom of Mercia. She admires him, and tries several times to join the Freedom Fighters (a resistance group to which he belongs); however, she is rejected because of her age. She sends Sonic fan mail, but Eggman intercepts it and kidnaps her. Sonic rescues her and Tails (another Freedom Fighter captured by Eggman), and they leave for the city of Mobotropolis. Although Amy continues trying to join the Freedom Fighters, she is still rejected; when she wishes on an ancient artifact to become older, her immature mind gives her away. She helps the group defeating a number of powerful enemies, however, and is admitted after defending a fort from Eggman and his robots.

Amy continues to pursue Sonic, seeking out combat training so she can rival his abilities, and continues rescuing friends with the Freedom Fighters from Eggman and other antagonists. She joins Freedom Fighter subsidiaries—notably the Team Fighters, which includes supporting characters Antoine D'Coolette and Bunnie Rabbot and with whom she rescues Sally and a number of echidnas from Eggman and his army of robots. In the crossover spinoff series Trouble on Two Worlds, Amy battles Dr. Wily and other Mega Man antagonists with Sonic and Mega Man.

She was a major character in Sonic the Comic during its run from 1993 to 2002. Amy is arrested early by two of Eggman's robots for associating with Sonic when she claims to be his girlfriend. Annoyed, Sonic rescues her and realizes she is a fugitive and must remain with the Freedom Fighters. Amy becomes a valued member, frequently fighting with a bow and arrow. She occasionally saves the day without Sonic, once leading the Freedom Fighters in his absence. Unlike most other Sonic media, Amy's love for Sonic in Sonic the Comic is shallow (although others assume they are dating, and she plays along).

Animation

Amy is also a major character in the 2003–2006 anime series Sonic X. Attacking one of Eggman's machines, Sonic triggers Chaos Control and sends him, Amy, Tails and other characters from their world to Earth. On Earth, they befriend a human boy, Chris Thorndyke and his family and friends; Amy particularly likes his maid, Ella, who teaches her to cook. She frequently tries to woo Sonic and his discomfort angers her. In one episode Amy makes a seashell bracelet, which Sonic graciously accepts; shortly afterward he saves her from drowning, and she returns the favor when one of Eggman's robots holds him underwater. Sonic also rescues Amy from Eggman's creations on other occasions. She sometimes flares up at Sonic, attacking him when she realizes that he has tricked her into acting insane. The second season opens with arcs based on Adventure and Adventure 2, where Amy reprises her role in the games. During the first and second seasons Amy and her friends—often without Sonic—are frequently together, capturing (and recapturing) Chaos Emeralds from Doctor Eggman and adjusting to their celebrity status on Earth.

The series moves to outer space for season three, when the animal characters return to their world. Early in the series she and Cream befriend a plant-like creature, Cosmo the Seedrian, and they are frequently together. Sonic is kidnapped by the Metarex, plant-based robots, and Amy destroys one to rescue Sonic from drowning again. She continues her adventures with the gang, looking for scattered Chaos Emeralds and defeating Metarex. In one episode Amy nearly wins Sonic's heart with an alien race's love magic, but Tails and Cosmo trigger the magic before Sonic arrives; while their existing affection for each other increases, Amy yells at them. During the show's climax, Amy jumps to save Sonic from the Metarex's watery planet. She is knocked unconscious by the impact, but Chris saves them both. Cosmo fuses with the planet, forcing Tails to destroy her to save the galaxy, and Amy, Cream and Tails sob in despair as the other characters solemnly watch. Amy and Cream later bring Tails some snacks to cheer him up.

Amy Rose is also one of the five main characters in the CGI series Sonic Boom, along with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and the new character Sticks, the latter of whom she is best friends with. Her personality has been changed into a stronger, more independent role, being a natural-born leader and the backbone of the team. Her romantic feelings towards Sonic are kept intact, with a notable change being that she actively keeps her crush on him a secret, even from Sonic himself.

Reception and impact

Amy has received an average response from critics. Jeff Tozai of the Huffington Post expressed an interest in "more Amy Rose" from the Sonic series (such as a game featuring her and Tails) in an article critical of the series' overall direction. IGN's Lucas M. Thomas wrote, "One of the coolest things about [Amy] is her enormous, walloping hammer" (often used for comedic effect), and hoped she would be a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Although Amy was described as cute by Alex Huhtala of Computer and Video Games and the staff of Sega Saturn Magazine, Jem Roberts of the British Official Dreamcast Magazine called her a "little-pink-dog-type-thing."

The character's personality has been described as annoying. Thomas East of Official Nintendo Magazine called her his third-least-favorite Sonic character, saying she "really isn't an interesting character" and is "annoying". Ranking Amy third-lowest on a similar list, Jim Sterling of GamesRadar simply wrote: "Total bitch" (in contrast to several paragraphs each for other characters on his list). On the same website, Justin Towell called her a "whiny, annoying brat" in Sonic Adventure. Patrick Farren of What Culture called her "one of gaming's most irritating females", criticizing the way she "contacts Sonic seemingly just to bag him." Jem Roberts called Amy "kind-hearted" but "intolerably whiny". The character's voice has been criticized since Cindy Robinson took over the role, with Rogers and Farren comparing it to Minnie Mouse's. Towell and Mean Machines expressed general displeasure at her introduction in Sonic CD. The developers' treatment of Amy as a female character and its implications for gender representation in video games have also been questioned; the Electronic Gaming Monthly staff found her pink coloring and tendency to run from danger to be stereotypical and common in Japanese-created female characters.

The character has been used in Sonic merchandise, with a 2010 toy line reflecting her Sonic CD design instead of her modern one. Exemplifying the culture of the decade, Amy and Sonic appeared in the Simpsons episode "That '90s Show" on a billboard promoting abstinence: Sonic proposes to Amy with the caption, "Sonic the Hedgehog says wait until marriage."