Sonic’s had more than a few forms over the years. Whether they appear in a show, game, comic, or whatever else comes our way in the new age of Sonic, they’re always up for discussion concerning power. Some have taken out gods, while others have changed up Sonic’s stats so significantly that they changed the gameplay along with it. While some may be more popular than others in the official media, all Super forms of Sonic are relatively fun to handle, especially in video games.
Super Sonic vs. Hyper Sonic: All Sonic Forms, Ranked
With a new form potentially on the way in Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon, let’s look back on some of the best makeovers Sonic’s gotten, from his pixel days to his 3D triumphs.
Sonic the Werehog
The Werehog is a sore spot for a lot of fans. Regardless, it remains an unmistakable form that Sonic’s taken on during one of his best games, Sonic Unleashed. The Werehog practically turned the formula upside down, turning it from a high-speed platformer into a brawling platforming game, a difference that truly was night and day. In terms of strength, the Werehog is almost as powerful as Sonic is fast and is one of the only cases where Sonic loses his speed, albeit temporarily.
Related: Why Sonic’s Blue Eyes Are A Big Deal In Frontiers DLC Teaser
Excalibur Sonic
Excalibur Sonic is the super form he gains at the end of Sonic and the Black Knight. As one of the two super forms he gets during the spinoff series that was the Storybook Collection, this form is a unique take on his usual golden persona. While he isn’t trying out his werehog voice like Darkspine is, this version of Super Sonic is every bit as powerful as the original. Sonic in armor works surprisingly well, and the end result of Excalibur Sonic was a super form that is questionably more durable than Super Sonic, although not nearly as powerful by sheer feat to measure alone.
Darkspine Sonic
Darkspine Sonic is the first super form Sonic took as part of the Storybook spinoff series. A vengeful form, this rendition of Sonic caused Jason Griffith, the voice actor for the Blue Blur at the time, to practice a bit of his werehog voice long before its conception. This Sonic is particularly vengeful given the grim context of the game, and it’s up for debate if this form is a bit of a dark form or not. It seems to make Sonic somehow more sarcastic, but that could have just followed the nature of Darkspine being so powerful. Once again, this form took out a functional god, so it ranks up pretty high in terms of power.
Dark Sonic
Probably the most coveted form of Sonic, Dark Sonic only appeared for a whopping sixty seconds, in not a game, but a show, Sonic X. Despite this setback from the starting line, Dark Sonic is easily one of the most popular forms of our hedgehog in the series to date. Fuming from both a desperate situation and energy from fake Chaos Emeralds, Dark Sonic is a speedy manifestation of Sonic when he gets fed up with whoever the bad guy happens to be. In this case, it wasn’t actually Eggman who goaded him into this new form. Instead, it was an alien race known as the Metarex, who immediately tested this new form with their most powerful robots. The bots were immediately destroyed, and Eggman, of all people, was the one who calmed Sonic down enough for Dark Sonic to disappear so that he could be himself again. Since then, Dark Sonic has yet to be spotted.
Super Sonic
Super Sonic is where it all started when it comes to super forms. It’s the most versatile, only needing the Chaos Emeralds to function and being virtually unstoppable once activated. (Unless you’re Knuckles, you can knock those emeralds out of Sonic with one punch.) Besides this, Super Sonic hasn’t failed Sonic quite yet, being a reliable beacon of power for robots, chaos gods, and everything in between.
The only drawback that Super Sonic has that isn’t quite present in many of the other forms on this list is the constant need for Rings. Because Super Sonic thrives off of Chaos energy found in both the Chaos Emeralds and Rings, Sonic needs to constantly collect Rings to be able to maintain the power put out by the form. That’s why in Sonic Adventure 2, you need to swap places with Shadow so that you can both maintain your forms and keep the pressure on the enemy. It’s also why a fight with Giganto may have ended a bit too early for those who were wielding Super Sonic, perhaps for the first time.
Related: Modern Sonic Games To Play if You Love Sonic Prime
Hyper Sonic
Hyper Sonic is the most powerful Sonic form to date. While he hasn’t appeared in many things since his debut, he still stands as one of the most impossible to beat for Eggman or anyone who cares to stand in his way. While Hyper Sonic may be far more powerful than Super Sonic, that does make him a bit more inconvenient to wield. For Sonic to become Hyper Sonic, he has to have the Super Emeralds on hand. The Super Emeralds are challenging to get, though, since they are transformations of the Chaos Emeralds. And since Sonic’s transformation into Hyper Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, they were transported into a separate dimension. Maybe he can give Blaze a call to see if she’s seen them?
