Yo, Gemlik's here. Did Sonic Rumble resolve my 20 years old dilemma?
Let's be honest: Wave's design was never consistent throughout her existence, especially her beak. Sometimes official artists draw it smooth, sometimes they draw it zig-zagged. 3D models in the Riders trilogy, Olympic Games, Speed Battle, Dash and Crossworlds show Wave's beak to be just smooth. What's the truth?
Well, it looks like Sonic Rumble resolved this dilemma for me! I observed her model a lot (it's my main skin after all) and I noticed Wave has zig-zagged beak too, but unlike Jet and Storm the zig-zagged beak is only shown with particular emotions, such as anger, being scared or focused. If Wave is smirking, smiling or has neutral expressions then it's smooth.
Sunday Topic: Storm, the misunderstood member of the Babylon Rogues!
Hello! Gemlik's here! Today I want to talk about Storm The Albatross as character.
Usually he's described by the fanbase as useless, an idiot and a forgettable character, but he really is: the most loyal, hard working and cutest member of the Babylon Rogues!
QUICK BIO:
Storm is a 19 years old (or was, they removed the age to every Sonic character) albatross and the muscle of the Babylon Rogues. He's a force of nature that can crush boulders with no efforts. However Storm's not very nimble on feet, he's clumsy and has got a quick temper. Sometimes he will stutter with words or shows to not be the sharpest tool in the shed.
Despite his flaws, Storm would do anything to please his boss and he succeeds his solo missions too. For example, Storm managed to sneak inside Ice Factory to grab a small chip containing Eggman's diary by himself in the first Riders game and he followed Amy from Meteortech to Aquatic Capital just to not let the pink hedgehog get away with the Ark of the Cosmos, plus found a second one after one of Eggman's security robots exploded.
Like, he didn't use his EXG to follow Amy. Both character ran on feet from the first circle to the second one. If that's not dedication and hard work to please Jet, then I dunno what to tell you!
DESIGN:
Back then, people often described Storm as "another Big the Cat", which is totally wrong! Both design and intelligence.
First of all, the difference of the body shape of both characters: Big is a circle and Storm is more an oval or a reversed triangle. According to body shapes, Big is shown to be a friendly and chill plus sized cat meanwhile Storm is supposed to be a menacing athletic bird. Big is 2 m tall and Storm is just 1,40 m tall. The latter is probably the smallest Power type next to Knuckles!
Storm lost some details between the Production IG artwork to the official Sonic Channel artwork, such as a longer beak (which real albatross do have and I have no idea why SEGA changed it) and these very small pupils turned into bigger round blue eyes. In Sonic Racing Crossworlds, Storm's eyelids were changed from grey to black. Honestly I like them black but it can be a problem if you want see the character from far.
TRIVIA:
- Storm is afraid of dark places and ghosts.
Storm thinks he's photogenic. (And he is in my humble opinion!)
Storm actually worries about his team, even rivals, if they are in trouble.
Storm relieves his stress by using his physical force.
According to Eggman, Storm's skills in handling gravity with the Ark of the Cosmos could "lay waste to the entire town".
Storm is slow only on feet, but on EXG he's impressively fast.
Storm seems to be a party dude. He does the hand wave dance as airboard trick in ZG! I added extra unused voicelines from Crossworlds as proof too. Ahah!
It looks like Storm is the Babylon Rogues' chef. Not only he's very interested in food and how to eat free of charge (Sonic 25th anniversary comic from Sonic Channel) but he's shown cooking and serving meals to his team. (IDW Sonic #71)
Storm and Wave bicker a lot during Sonic Riders, but despite everything they really care for eachother. They just don't show it face to face.
Storm thinks Vector is fat in the japanese dialogue of Sonic Racing Crossworlds.
In Crossworlds, for some reason I don't understand, Storm seems to have a crush on Amy Rose. He keeps stuttering, being shy and just weird when he needs to interact with her. It's a miracle they removed the age to every character... If you know, you know.
Storm confuses Sonic for Shadow and viceversa for some reason. Plus he thinks Silver is his big fan and cosplayer. Weird writing.
Storm was the only Babylon Rogue to never join the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games series.
Storm is not getting a new wallpaper on Sonic Channel since 2010.
In Archie Comics' Sonic Universe #33, Storm seems to enjoy flowers because he gets sad when he finds out that the Babylon Garden is just a vessel with no garden on it.
According to Sonic Crossworlds, Storm can tolerate cold temperatures. This makes sense because albatrosses are know to live in cold places and there were some fossils in North Antarcatica as well before they went extinct in that place.
Storm is probably a Buller's Albatross. I believe its colors and patterns are very close to Storm's.
According to Sonic Universe #36, Storm seems to enjoy videogames. He asks Wave if what she's holding is a Gamebird Advance.
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PERSONAL OPINION:
I love Storm. I think he's under appreciated because he's only seen as the muscle of the group with no brilliant mind, but I believe people should see further than that. Of course I can't give all the fault to the fans when SEGA doesn't help at all. Getting official Storm content is as rare as finding a shiny Pokèmon in the old games, if you get what I mean. He's my second favourite Rogue and I love his gentle nature behind all that force he was gifted since he was a hatchling. (I suppose. Are the Babylon Rogues born from eggs?) He's sensible and humble, traits the other two rogues kinda lack, eheh. He balances the team perfectly and he's that kind of guy I would love to hang out with.
Hello! Gemlik's here. We've got some updated Babylon Rogues bios from the recent 35th anniversary site!
These are probably the best written official bios about these characters ever. These are respectful, reworked from the japanese bios and add few new details! (New for the normies, old, but confirmed, stuff for us).
The lore team finally recognizes that Jet's success is also thanks to Wave and Storm's patience and acceptance towards him. They really work their ass to give Jet what he wants and it's good they finally recognize it.
Wave's bio finally highlights the "little brother" detail from the japanese bios or obscure english ones, BUT they finally tell us that Wave is the one who guides and protects the younger hawk. It's different from babysitting. Jet will always ask Wave's opinion about stuff and Wave is very protective of her team when people will offend them.
Like, why did it take so long to highlight this?! I'm happy!
Storm's bio is kinda similiar to the old one, but with few twists. I really like the last part of his bio, saying that Storm is just "a simple charming" man and that you cannot be mad at him for too long. It's sweet!
SOURCE: Click here.
EDIT: It looks like the bios got updated once again. Nothing from the old text is changed, but they added the general info on the characters.
I promised some positive posts about the Babylon Rogues after that painful read of the IDW comics. Now that's out of the way, let me talk about THE purple barn swallow that me and few other enlightened people care about.
Wave The Swallow
Talking about Wave without my big ass bias is pretty hard, but what if I tell you the glazing around this character is kind of... merited? I don't think there is any Wave fan that boast her merits to the point it gets out of her character.
Let's start from the ABC of this character:
Wave is the brain, strategist and mechanic of the present generation of Babylon Rogues. Wave's a 18 years old woman (or was, SEGA removed characters ages) and she's the only female member of the group.
Wave is VERY smart and she will get whatever chance to rub it on your face. She's always act so smug and full of herself as soon her eyes drop on her next "victim", criticizing everyone and everything that she doesn't think it's up to her standards. Wave's so full of herself that complimenting people directly is not in her vocabulary, but she would admit to herself that maybe her rivals/enemies are not THAT bad with what they do.
Wave's father was the mechanic of the previous group of Rogues, so I suppose he taught her daughter what he knows and she went beyond the more experience she gained by herself. Nobody, not even Eggman or Tails, can get at her level when it comes to create Extreme Gears. Her knowledge and craftsmanship are unmatched!
Wave is the one who maintains the airship and builds, updates and tunes the team's Extreme Gears. Not only that because, as stated before, she's the strategist. It means Wave puts down plans of their heists, studying and drawing every single centimeter of the map the Rogues will explore in their job. Wave can also create other tools. In fact we've seen some examples, such as radars to track the Arks of Cosmos, her tablet, her small PC necklace and various types of explosives, such as TNT packs with timer, small bombs and missiles.
It's shown that sometimes, when Jet is too lazy to work, Wave takes charge of everything, or else "nothing ever gets done here". Could we assume that she's the real leader but respects Jet's position and leaves him take all the merits? We lose this detail in the next games, because Wave seems more passive and respects all Jet's decisions... Almost. Wave still tamper with people's EXGs despite Jet hates to cheat in EXG races.
「エクストリームギア」の改造から盗賊船の修理までこなす、「バビロン盗賊団」のスーパーメカニック。また、情報解析、分析、作戦立案から提案までもこなす名参謀でもある。
"The Babylon Rogues’ super mechanic, capable of everything from modifying the Extreme Gears to repairing the pirate ship. She is also a renowned strategist, handling information analysis, tactical planning and even proposals."
- Sources:
Sonic Channel / Windii (translations)
Sonic Riders official website
Sonic Riders manual.
Sonic Riders - Heroes and Babylon Story
Archie Comics' Sonic Universe #23
Design
I think character design never peaked after Wave blessed us with her presence. :P
Like Jet and Storm, Wave's design theme is "air pirate". Jet has got pirate boots, Storm has got his huge necklace and Wave's got her iconic white bandana.
Whoever created Wave didn't stop there. He/she cracked their knuckles, drew a white fluffy tank top, bell-bottom trousers/jeans with dark purple flame tribals and proposed it to SEGA like they didn't drop one of the hottest shit in the franchise.
No seriously, I can't stop glazing this choice of outfit and how it represents rebellious girls from the early 2000s. Bell-bottom trousers origin from the 70s, but they returned trendy back in those years. Tank tops ditto as above.
Wave sports some high heel, flaming red boots and giant golden rings at her wrists, like if the crazy good outfit described before was not enough for you!
Also one small observation that one of my followers shared with me: the red orb Wave wears at her neck could also be a way to represent barn swallow red neck/chest. I wonder if this was casual or just pure genius.
Speculation time:
I suspect Wave was the last designed rogue for the team. Not only her placement in the roster in Riders and ZG is the last slot, but also because in one early builds of the first game, Wave is the only character with broken and beta animations, hinting she was added last in the whole game code.
Plus you can see that Wave's designer, which I suspect is Uekawa at this point, took some details from Jet's scrapped designs to craft Wave.
Bandana
Pointy feathers
Boots with zipper
Gloves detail
Wave's relationship with other characters.
Wave and Jet
Wave sees Jet as an unreliable young brother, but still respects him as the leader of the Babylon Rogues. You can see throughout the games that Wave has got lots of trust an hope laid on the young green hawk to do great things. Sometimes she wishes Jet wasn't so lazy with his job so that she doesn't take his place momentarily and fix things herself.
Even if Jet doesn't show it often, he would compliment or show appreciation for her and her work, as you will see in the comic in the next paragraph. Jet trusts Wave 100% when it comes to upgrade his beloved Type-J or any other decisions. Jet will always ask Wave first what she thinks about the situation. (Example: Chaotix Case Files or the unused voice line in Crossworlds, where Jet asks "how to use this" to Wave).
Wave and Storm
Wave sees Storm as her goofy co-worker. She would mock him for his failures, point out how much he sucks at riding her Extreme Gears and just comand him around when it's needed. Storm would counter attack her by not let her getting items she wants to study, implying she's a big ass nerd. Storm likes to "race" Wave to see who gets approved by Jet.
Of course all this bullying is just their dumb way to show affection. Wave gets sick worried about Storm when he doesn't return back from his missions and Storm thinks Wave is the best techie ever. Sometimes Wave feels alone without Storm around. You will see this later in the trivia.
Wave and Tails
Wave doesn't hate Tails. She sees him as an interesting rival and he's probably the only character that she respects in terms of mechanical knowledge. Wave will never admit it to him though, not even on her death bed!
Tails can be annoyed by Wave's arrogance, but he doesn't seem to hold resentment towards her. Tails genuinely compliments Wave's craftmanship in Riders and Free Riders, even if Wave mistakely takes it as sarcasm. (Which confirms her insecurities in her hard work. I will explain it later).
Wave is like an onion, or a cake... Something about layers...
Up until now I talked about the most known trivia about Wave, but there are small hints about certain aspects of her character that people could miss if they don't pay enough attention or just don't care enough.
Underneath that puffed tank top chest and enormous ego, Wave hides a part of herself that she shows to no one. Wave is pretty much an insecure person and struggles to accept compliments, as strange as it sound from someone who's got a massive ego.
In THIS comic, Wave shows her usual cool attitude to Jet, being unamused when he compliments her. As soon Jet walks away, Wave completely flips her attitude, acting like a little girl and jumping around because she was appreciated for her hard job! Wave returns back to her normal self as soon Storm catches her acting silly.
Wave is also a tiny bit anxious when things don't go as planned. She gets irritated or lose control of her cool, showing a tender side Wave would never show normally. Wave's morale is very fragile and it can crumble like a sand castle, especially if her hard work goes wasted, thus failing the mission.
Maybe I'm reading a little too much in these animations, but the last gif looks like she's having a panic attack or recovering from it. We know Wave got pushed away by SCR-HD in that cutscene, but this doesn't look like a reaction to physical pain. Plus the surprise attack of that robot made her act like this:
Wave seems like someone who can't improvise when she gets ambushed, which seems a normal flaw for someone who organizes every single step in their plan. It's kind of weird for a thief to be this nervous on the field, but these oddities make a character stand out from the other "band of thieves" in other media.
However Wave shows that she's capable to problem solving mistakes on the go.
In Sonic Riders, Wave catches Storm on time after Knuckles knocks him out of his board. Wave shows some fast thinking here. Could it be that Wave is more comfortable in solving problems when she's riding her EXG? Maybe, but not only that.
After Wave realises that Tails' theory about the Lightless Black was correct, she's still able to give a working solution to her team and Team Sonic. Keep in mind but she didn't know the Arks could create a black hole until Tails explained it to everyone. It's not surprising because Wave seems possess physics and chemistry knowledge knowing what she does for living.
Random trivia, go!
Wave knows something or two about relationships, I guess. lol
Wave hates to run. Lazy ass. (Just like me fr fr).
Instead of admitting that Cream was surprisingly good with tricks, Wave changes subject and talks about the camera technology. Wave will continue to deny Cream's skills, even to herself, until at the end when she just gives up and admits that the kid is really good.
Wave and her silly beliefs.
Heh. Acting like a bully to Storm everytime he's around you but then you want him by your side when you feel lost. Adorable.
Wave's morale is very fragile when she works hard but it gets wasted in no time.
Wave the hypocrite! Fun fact: She was having a beef with Sonic here and it won't be the last time. :P
Wave fears the children. THINK OF THE ADULTS!!!
Wave thinks Sonic is not a gentleman.
💅
Wave hates impatient people as much as she hates dumbass people.
Wave can't stand Knuckles, no matter what!
In ZG, Eggman would've loved to hire Wave as his henchwoman and he would love to use her technology for his projects. (Sadly I can't post pics because of 30 pics limit, so trust me on this).
In ZG, Eggman considers only himself and Wave as super mechanic in the world. Poor Tails...
Sonic Racing Crossworlds
Wave is body shaming Big. Wave: "You're gonna peel out just trying to accelerate all that mass at once."
Wave can't stand rich and/or privileged people, starting with Blaze. Wave: "This competition is for real racers. Not hoity-toity princesses who sit around all day giving orders". "Did I scuff your shoes, princess?"
According to Wave, Shadow's air shoes are just 50 years old Extreme Gears.
Wave has got a morbid obsessions with opening and studying Metal Sonic and Omega. (+1 point on Wave's italian VA because her tone makes it sound malicious and evil).
Wave would love to try and install SAGE into her Extreme Gear. Woman... She's a digital kid...
Wave is interested in weaponry and not just explosives, according to her dialogue VS Omega. Wave: "Chassis is too bulky for my tastes, but the ammo supply storage is impressive. Might be worth studying."
Wave's dialogue if the player was Espio was so on point in italian. Give it a listen! Wave: "Do you even know how to race? Or are you just gonna pose the whole time while shouting "NiNjA PoWuR"?
Wave believes the Zeti live in the Stone Age. lol Wave: "I hear you still use stone masonry on Lost Hex. Do you even know how to operate these things"?
When Wave boosts in the game (kart only), she poses like her Production I.G artwork. If Wave chooses the crossworld ring to travel into, then she will pose like the Sonic Channel artwork.
Wave's in-game model is broken in all versions of the game. The jiggle physics applied to her face makes her eyelids and beak too bouncy, resulting in weird graphic bugs. As writing this, SEGA still didn't fix this issue. (And probably they never will. 70€ game y'all).
According to the japanese script of the game, Wave and Rouge are rivals when it comes to stealing stuff. If you play as Rouge and go against Wave, then the latter will say: "I often run into you during my thieving jobs! I'll pay you back, Rouge!"
According to Sage, Wave's mechanical genius rivals Dr. Eggman's but she doesn't understand why she doesn't want to conquer the world. Wave simply replies that she's happy in what she does and world domination looks like an annoying chore to her.
Miscellaneous trivia
Talking about graphic issues. In the first Riders game you can see Wave's in-game model being unfinished. Her arms are very lowpoly and you can see this mistake most of the time. This was fixed in Zero Gravity.
Wave is the only Babylon Rogue that lack of the black and red stripes around her eyes. It could be a babylonian male/female dismorphism, but this is just my theory.
Wave is the only Babylon Rogue that can hide her tomial teeth (the zigzag thingies in the beak). Check out my drawing for more info HERE.
For unknown reason Wave's tribal flames on her arms were colored dark purple when they first released her artwork to the public, but the same artwork was changed, coloring the tribals in lavander at the last minute. This mistake was left untouched in the animated intro of Sonic Riders because I suppose it was too late to fix all the frames in the animation. However this mistake was fixed on the japanese website, cover art and instruction manual of the game. I guess this mistake originated from Production I.G. because Wave's in-game model always had lavander flames, even in the Tokyo Games Show build of the game. (September 2005).
When Sonic Riders was announced at Tokyo Games Show 2005, journalists would confuse Wave The Swallow with "Web The Swallow" or "Wave The Sparrow".
Wave thinks Blaze's outfit is pretty good. (0:22)
At first impact Wave could be confused for a tomboy, but in reality she's very femminine. Pretty cool considering most of the time women that work as mechanic in media tend to be tomboyish.
Wave uses a giant wrench as melee weapon. That thing looks very heavy to hold, yet she can swing it no problem when she's riding her Type-W.
The Type-W in Sonic Riders Zero Gravity has got a stylized barn swallow drawn on it. When the EXG changes into air ride form, its wings spread!
The Type-W in Sonic Free Riders is the only Type board to have stylized flames drawn on it.
The Babylon Rogues names are connected to water and air phenomenons. Stream Jets influences storms where to move, which the latter creates waves in the ocean.
Also "Wave the Swallow" is a pun itself. Waves swallow everything underneath them. Duh.
Wave, like the rest of the Rogues, is a neutral aligned character.
Wave's hobbies consist of studying ruins and treasures from her ancestors. In mission mode of Sonic Riders, if you get silver rank in mission 3 of Dark Desert, Wave says she loves to explore mysterious places and will continue to study further, even when her mission is over.
Wave seems to have keen eyes when it comes to details or recognize material and other stuff. For example: Wave didn't need to touch or even get closer to understand that the Magic Carpet was an Extreme Gear, meanwhile Tails had to touch it and look it a little to recognize that the fabric is made with the same material as the Extreme Gears.
Wave has one of the best X tricks in ZG, in my opinion. Gravity is nothing to her!
Wave's wrench gets an upgrade in ZG. If you hit someone with it, then the victim gets paralyzed for a little while.
Conclusion
What to say except Wave's my favourite fictional character ever created? Yeah, I'm not joking. I know there are so many well written, well developed characters out there, but nobody hits as hard as Wave to me. Perhaps it is because I grew up with her. I remember back in 2006 I used to create weird theories about her, like that her rings at the wrists act like Shadow's or the fact that she can fly without wings. This last theory comes from the fact that Wave doesn't move anything when she flies with Extreme Gears NOT BUILT to be flying/hovering in the rings. (I was just 10 years old, don't judge me)! I used to struggle at drawing Wave because I could never get her beak right or her details correctly. I was enamoured of Wave (probably she was the first sign I was gay, idk) and I wanted to be like her. I used to ride my bike or skate around my place thinking I was Wave in Metal City, doing some sick tricks and imitating her sassy pose when winning with skate gears. This one:
20 years later and I'm not smart, arrogant (maybe...) or athletic like her. Sigh! Last time I tried to do tricks on my skateboard I broke my ass. However she turned me into a nerdy girl that tinkers with technology and I'm curious about everything around me.
I must admit I was shivering when Crossworlds announced all the Rogues would come back playable AND with Extreme Gears. It is stupid for a woman on her 30s (almost) to act like this, but I never felt so happy for a Sonic game since Zero Gravity! The fact that Wave is still alive after so many years... Hell, I can't explain how I felt in that moment. There are no words to describe it. It was like seeing a good old friend returning back to you.
Excluding my bias for a second, I think Wave's a great Sonic character overall, even underrated. The Sonic series really lack of morally grey female characters and Wave fills the spot perfectly. Like the rest of the Rogues, Wave is a character that reflects freedom: she does whatever she wants alongside Jet and Storm. Wave is a wanderer that never stop searching new inspirations and new people to rub her arrogance on. Wave really could be used more in the franchise, but her problem is that she cannot do anything unless Jet is involved. This will make her development impossible, which sucks honestly.
Tell me what's your favourite thing about Wave and why do you love her so much!
Ciao!
Lately I opened Twitter to post few artworks to keep that account alive and I noticed there was a trend about posting your unpopular opinions about Sonic characters. Usually people would praise their niche favourite but I personally wanted to tackle a problem I've got with the Rogues since Riders.
We all know the Babylon Rogues were born as group and each one of them are important gears to make the machine work, if you get what I mean.
However something always felt off with me: Jet The Hawk overshadowing Wave and Storm.
Wait! Hold your horses!
I know Jet is the leader of the group, the face that represents the whole thing and SEGA will just focus on him when it comes to develop the Rogues. As much as it makes sense, I think Wave and Storm shouldn't be left behind.
My real problem with this logic is that Jet can appear without the other two, but Wave and/or Storm can't appear if Jet is not involved.
This really bugs me because Wave and Storm are forced to never develop as characters, thus making them stagnant. It's already happening in the marketing guide of the brand.
Jet didn't get that "DO NOT mix with other characters". Crazy to see this shit but it makes me think about it.
Why? Why Wave and Storm cannot mix with other characters? Why are they exclusive to Riders?
To be fair, this is an old marketing style guide (less than 10 years old as far as I know). I dunno if this is still relevant today, but I won't be surprised if it is. Notice also how they use the far superior ZG renders in this style guide, but Jet is using the 2010-present model instead. It's funny.
Talking about the games and other media:
Jet managed to appear in different Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games titles alone, and even with little screen time, they showed us some interesting traits or interactions with him and other characters.
Wave was barely playable in one Olympic Game and then get removed in the last title of the series. (Figures...)
I only played the 3DS version of Rio 2016 100%, but I don't remember any new trait or interesting Wave dialogue in that version of the game. This was the first and last time Wave was by herself and not with any of the other Rogues.
Storm... This character got the worst case scenario of the trio. He never appeared in any Olympic Games or any other game alone. The only time there was a story about him only is a mini comic about Storm racing to the "all you can eat" resturant.
This situation sucks so much. I wish we had more time to give to each these characters. I don't mean full arc stories, but some one shot stories where we see Wave and Storm do something we don't expect.
Slice of life? Some interesting encounter? Fighting perhaps? Maybe discovering secret interests? Anything goes, as long as it isn't written like Jet's own solo story in IDW.
I want to compare the Rogues with Team Chaotix. Even they have the strict rule to be a team but they happen to do things in solo, at least Espio and Vector can. I do not remember Charmy doing something by himself, but correct me if I'm wrong here.
Still, with the recent Chaotix Case Files podcasts, each member of the team had their screentime to show off their character.
I wanna go further and say that Chaotix Casefiles' Rogues episode was just about Jet being a goofball. Yes, Wave and Storm were there to be active and do the commentary on Jet and Vector EXG race but we don't see more of what we already know about those characters.
Which is a shame because Wave is a well layered character that never gets explored.
Even Storm needs some development as character. I love him, but he's probably the least worked on character of the team.
PS: I would also to talk about how the Babylon Rogues' main theme song, "Catch me if you can", is more about Jet than the team.
Probably there is just one line that could talk about them as team:
[...] "We are born to dream in a world full of seeing what we never could reach"
The rest is just about Jet's goals and dreams. I love that song, but I would be lying if that's disappointing.
Which brings me to think about Crossworlds. When you win a Grand Prix, each character has got a winning jingle.
Jet has got "Catch me if you can" ZG remix.
But Wave and Storm?
Wave's got a remix of "Full Speed Ahead", from ZG score. This was used for Eggman sneaking away from the Babylon Rogues' airship after stealing their Ark of Cosmos.
Storm's got "Eggman again!" from Sonic Riders.
...Why did they use Eggman's theme songs for Wave and Storm? Beats me but this doesn't help the fact that Wave and Storm aren't seen as full characters from SEGA. Just some sidekick to Jet.
The saddest part is that there is a track in the official OST of the first Riders game that could be used, called "theme of babylonians". This was never used in the game. You could hear a rearranged, and shorter, version of it called "legends of babylonians" (For reference: when Tails explains their legend to Sonic and friends). If they cared enough they could've created two different jingles for Wave and Storm by using that track. It fits, it's about their babylonian legacy and it's just the right thing to do.
That's it. Probably this is just venting. I needed to get it out from my system.
If you play Sonic Rumble Party, then there is a brand new sticker for you. It's in the new Easter Free Pass, so start grinding for the cutest boy! It's the first Storm sticker too!
No, it's not an April Fools'! It's real and you can see it by yourself.
(SPECIAL) Babylon Rogues and Sonic Riders 20th anniversary: a personal story
Hey! I'm Gemlik and this is where I notice that I'm getting old.
I can't stop thinking this game came out twenty years ago and I'm still here, talking about them like nothing ever changed since. I was 10 years old back in 2006 and I think it was the best time to fully enjoy a game like this one. Not too old but not too young either. Perfectly balanced.
One, if not the first, drawing of the Babylon Rogues I've ever drawn on my poetry notebook from elementary school. (2006) I couldn't draw at all back then but it's the thought that counts, right?
My story with the Babylon Rogues starts around March 2006, when the european release of the game was getting closer. At the time I couldn't use internet much, so I would get game news from Topolino Magazine, an italian Disney comic book that would release every wednesday (and still does to this day). My parents used to buy me this comic book almost every week and this is where it all began:
Topolino #2624 and #2626, March 2006 - "Stai al passo! Try to keep up!"
I was a huge Sonic fan already. I remember I thought "Who are these birds? I've never seen Sonic birds before!" as I would point them while my mother would get me ready to go to the church. Yeah, I've never seen Bean the Duck before then, if you're asking. My eyes dropped to the bottom of the page to see if I could get my hands on the game on a console I owned.
"XBOX, GC, PS2"
I was sad. I was already begging my parents to get me a PS2 for other games but they refused because "you already have a Playstation". Siiiiigh... All I had at home was a PS1 and the GBA SP. Explaining the difference between 1 and 2 to your parents was hard.
However not all hope was lost. I used to have a classmate who was a
big Sonic fan like me and she owned a PS2 at home. Luckily her parents got a copy of Sonic Riders as prize for her good grades at the end of the month, so she invited me to play the game with her as soon she got home with the copy.
We ran to her bedroom, turned on her small CRT TV on the closet (I still feel the neck pain from that day, ahah), popped the game in and turned on the PS2.
The excitement to see this animated intro for the first time. Man... I think I will never be able to explain how I really felt that day. This was giving me so many cool vibes that no other Sonic game I've played before ever gave me. Seeing Sonic, Tails and Knuckles facing off these mysterious characters made me smile so much. My friend was excited as well, but she was waiting for her favourite character, Amy Rose, to appear in the intro. Sadly for her it never happened, but at least she was part of the story, so it's a small victory.
I thought these birds were pretty cool looking. The more I saw them in the intro, the more I wanted to know about them.
Seeing this group surrounding Tails was unexpected for me. Like a pack of wild animals ready to strike and kill you. Honestly I wasn't used to see Tails being bullied like this.
Of course Sonic gets back to save his lil bro and things are back to normal, but oh my God these birds do not give a shit. I loved it.
My little brain was blown away at the end of the intro. Seeing all the characters turning into lights and disappear, like they were going so fast for us to see with naked eyes.
What an incredible presentation for a game I would cherish forever. I was so jealous my friend could play this game everytime she wanted meanwhile I just had to wait the chance to visit her to just try it.
We started to play right away by selecting the Hero Story only to be surprised with another animation, this time fully CG. Probably she was not surprised by the graphics, but I remember I was blown away how the characters looked because all I was used to were PS1 games FMVs. Ahah!
It took us a good hour or two to understand how to beat Metal City. We really sucked but we were having so much fun sharing the joystick to see who could beat it. We managed to get third place, which the game accepts it to proceed with the story.
And this is where my absolute love and bias for Wave started. You know what cutscene I'm talking about!
What a bitch! The best bitch ever! I fucking loved her.
Usually Sonic characters tend to be nice and lovely to Tails and his crafting, but seeing this woman just laughing at his custom EXG and call it a piece of junk was priceless and refreshing. (I know that in the end Wave thinks Tails "is not half bad for an amateur", recognizing that Tails isn't the usual wannabe mechanic, but I still didn't play the Babylon story to know that). ;P
Wait, she didn't even introduced herself! What's her name? I needed to know!
(Yeah. Me and my friend didn't look at the instruction manual to find out and didn't even try a free race before playing the story mode. Typical).
We continued to play the game and met the other two Rogues, like their female team mate, these two are a pain in the ass to the protagonists. It's so refreshing to see the green one getting under Sonic's skin. It's rare to see the blue blur triggered like this.
Yet, they didn't introduce themselves too! (I think it's clever to never reveal who they truly are until the Babylon story. Nice touch).
We continued to play until Babylon Garden because I had to return back home for dinner. We couldn't figure out how to finish that level in first place. Bummer! I hope I could play this game more in the future... I think I played with her 2 more times, but we were on free race because she managed to finish the story by herself. This is where I found out the Rogues' names tho!
I'm not going to lie, but after that day I really begged my parents to get me a PS2 and the game for my b'day once more. I dreamt about the new characters for the whole summer. I was so invested that I was acting like them by riding my bike and skates around my place, thinking I was using EXGs! Being a kid was amazing...
Wanna know how it ended?
I've got a PC able to play new games instead. I was VERY happy but also sad because there was no PC port of the game, until my older brother told that a PC port of Riders was going to release later that year, so he gifted me money to buy the game for my b'day. I thanked him so much! I was so excited to wait for November of that year and finally get it and play it for myself. When the time came, I grabbed my copy and played it non-stop, creating this deep connection with the Rogues as soon I played their story. I would go deeper to explain why these characters mean so much to me, but it would get too personal and I don't want to share too much of my IRL life. All I can tell you I lived the most devastating thing ever and Sonic Riders helped me go through those times.
Here I am, 20 years later.
I replayed this game recently on my PS2. (Yeah, at the end I've got one). Not because it's the best version to play, that honor goes to the Gamecube version, but because that's the version where all it started and I wanted to cherish it 20 years later.
I 100% the story and the missions and I still think this game is so much fun and challenging. Some missions are not that easy to gold, even if I finished this game at least 10 times. I still smile at the cutscenes and still giggle at the evergreen "Accept it, buddy, it's not the board. Your skills just SUCK!".
I also understand how this game is very flawed, technically speaking. It was rushed and treated like a project B because of the main project "Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)". There are different errors in the game. For example: Tails' tails won't spin correctly when you play as him (PS2 exclusive), Jet gets a third hand as soon he's in level 2 and 3 attack mode (GC exclusive), characters eyes not moving correctly or mouths misplaced in the cutscenes (PC exclusive) and so on. They even forgot to remove the Rogues t-posing in one of in-game cutscenes from the camera. This is crazy!
Still these mistakes don't ruin the fun this game can still give to me.
Even if I think a 4th Riders title to continue the Babylon Rogues lore will never come out, I still hope the Rogues won't disappear and stay with us for a longer time. As long they are treated good and are written as they should be, then I'm happy. That's all I ask from this franchise, honestly.
Happy 20th anniversary, Babylon Rogues. You are just fictional characters, but I will always be grateful that you existed in a time I needed you the most.
