Manik the Hedgehog (Arcade)

Manik the Hedgehog (Arcade) is an arcade title develop by Sega Techincal Institute and publish by Sega for arcades.The game was ported to home consoles in 2001 as part of Manik's 10th anniversary and again in 2003 as part of "The World of Manik the Hedgehog" pack along with Manik Adventure DX: Director's Cut which feature updated character models and English Voice Acting for the North American and European release.

Unlike previous titles, most notably, SegaManik the Hedgehog and Sega Melody Prower, the game borrows elements from the saturday morning cartoon and comic book publishing by Archie Comics Publishing "Manik the Hedgehog" while using the characters official designs from the games with the Archie and Satam characters receiving minor redesigns. The 2003 version updated the models to the Manik Adventure designs by Yuji Uekawa. Most of the music is taking from TMNT: Turtles in Time, SegaManik the Hedghog, SegaMelody Prower, and remixes of the Sega Genesis games.

Plot
Dr. Robotnik has stolen a status of former King Acorn (Sally's father) and holding it for resemble aboard the Death Egg leaving Manik and the freedom fighters, along with Knuckles the Echidna and the Chatiox to help retiree it from Robotnik.

4 zones in and Dr. Robotnik has sent Manik and friends to the past to hold them off while Robotnik works on the Death Egg's laser cannon and than to the future of Robotropolis where Robotnik has successfully taken over the world to fight off Metal Manik to return to the past. Once they have return, it's only a matter of taking the fight to Robotnik's Death Egg while the gang have only 15 minutes before the Death Egg Blaster destroys South Island's capital of Mobtropolis. The gang were able to beat Robotnik and take a shuttle off the exploding space station.

Like Manik the Hedgehog CD and Knuckles Chatiox, there are two ending depending on whether the player has collected all seven Chaos Emeralds. The good ending is the gang making off the Death Egg while it's exploding with King Acorn's status intact while the defeated Dr. Robotnik is floating in space. The bad ending is the gang escape the Death Egg but not only is the station not exploding, but Dr. Robotnik still have King Acorn's status. The former is canon however.

Gameplay
The player have the option of 15 characters from both the Freedom Fighters (Manik, Sonia, Skye, Melody, Rotor, Bella, Jacques, and Amy) and Chatiox (Knuckles, Lara-Su, Argyle, Esipo, Mighty, Charmy, Salma, and Juanita) each with their own abilities, strength, and weaknesses. The game follow the series' platforming routes with some beat'em up elements akin to Golden Axe or Streets of Rage.

There's a total of 13 zones (4 in present time, 5 in the past, 1 in the future, 2 in Robotnik's Mobius base, and 1 aboard the Death Egg). Each zone have a boss at the end based off of major threats in both the Satam cartoon and Archie Comics with Metal Manik being based on the boss from Manik CD. The boss of the stages are based on characters from the DiC Cartoons, the video games, and the Archie Comic Books.

The Freedom Fighters
Manik the Hedgehog - The fastest member of the freedom fighters. Have the strongest impact attack. Loses speed and strength cut in half while in water or mud.

Sonia Acorn - The most balance member of the team. No real strength or weakness.

Skye Prower - The weakness member of the group. Can fly while spinning his two tails together, can get out of pits a total of 2 times. Physical strength is low.

Melody Prower - 2nd fastest. Have the strongest special attack of the group. Have a low defense.

Rotor Walrus - The strongest defensive character. Can take double hits before losing health, a strong physical attack, strongest underwater or in cold areas.

Bella D'Coolette - The strongest physical character. Can kill weak enemies in one hit, can deal double damage on stronger enemies and boss fighters.

Jacques D'Coolette - Middle Ground Character. Can hit multiple enemies at once. Loses some strength in dark areas but gain a strong defense.

Team Chatiox
Knuckles the Echidna - The strongest member of the Chatiox. Have a strong offensive and defense. Strongest decrease at low health.

Lara-Su the Echidna - The most balance of the team. Have a strong special attack. No real weakness.

Charmy the Bee - The fastest and lightest member of the team. Have a strong impact attack, but have a weak defense.

Mighty the Armadillo - The strongest defensive character. Can take double hits before losing health, loses no health when touching spikes. Loses speed in water, mud, or snowy areas.

Epsio the Chameleon - 2nd fastest member of the team. Have a longer invincibility frame upon dying.

Argyle - 2nd strongest member of the team. Can deal out double damage against bosses and kill lighter enemies in one hit.

Salma the Chameleon - Middle Ground Character. Can hit multiple enemies at once.

Juanita the Chameleon - The weakest character of the team Take double damage from enemies, deal less damage towards enemies.

Zones
Zone 1: Skyscraper Zone, Mobotropoils:

The player travel along a tall, incomplete, building structure that has been overtaken by Robotnik's badniks. The player will climb up an elevator before Robotnik spring a trap causing them to fall down before grabbing a rope and swiping back upwards. The boss of the stage is The Egg Gorilla.

Zone 2: DownTown Mobotropolis:

The player travel along the city's street overrun by Robotnik's badniks. The boss of the stage is Sleet and Dingo.

Zone 3 Act 1: Wood Zone, The Great Forest:

The player travel through The Great Forest trying to reach Robotnik in an abandoned factory on the outscar of Green Hill Zone being chase by The Dark Legion and Robotnik's falcon units. The stage is really short with no boss at the end but a screen transition to the factory.

Zone 3 Act 2: Egg Factory Zone

The player chases after Robotnik inside an abandon warehouse full of his robots and dark legions. The boss of the stage is Dr. Robotnik inside his Egg Bulldozer. Once the bulldozer is destroy, Robotnik try to make his escape with The Freedom Fighters/Chatiox grabbing on to his egg mobile as he fly away.

Zone 4: Eggman (Robotnik) Island

The player returns to Robotnik's island from SegaManik the Hedgehog. While the island is destroyed, the traps are still very dangerous with the players wine up going into the distant past by Robotnik's Egg teleporter.

Zone 5: Crystal Mine Zone

The player arrive into the far past where The Great Swamp used to be a crystal mine. The player rides a mine cart through the mine while Robotnik's robots try and destroy the tracks causing the player to switch rails before falling into the trap. The boss of the stage is Spelunk who tries to destroy Manik and friends by tossing bombs and other stuff at them.

Zone 6: Ice Cap Zone

The player arrive in a snowy area (might be Angel Island due to the name) that is overrun by Robotnik's robots. A new foe appear in the shape of the Abominable Snowbots. The boss of the stage is A real abominable snowman mind-controlled by Robotnik.

Zone 7: Egg Train Zone

The player are now in the old west aboard Robotnik's train carrying cargo. Robotnik's robots dress up like bandits to stop the heroes. The boss of the stage is Nack the Weasel from the Game Gear titles.

Zone 8: Pirate Egg:

The player are now onboard a pirate ship owned by Dr. Robotnik. It's the first gaunlet of the game where you fight Captain Blackbot's robotizes pirates. The boss of the stage is Scratch, Grounder, and Captain Blackbot himself.

Zone 9: Eggmanland (Robotropolis 2042 A.D.)

The player runs aboard a hoverboard through Robotnik's capital while fighting off Robotnik's robots and Dark Legions. The boss of the stage is Metal Manik 1.5. Once defeated he retiree to Snively's location.

Zone 10: Egg Quarter Zone

The player run through Robotnik's robot factory to the main control home that house the time machine to travel back to the past. The boss of the stage is Robotnik's nephew, Snively.

Zone 11: Metropolis Zone

The player escapes the time machine after Robotnik before he escape. The stage ends with the player boarding a rocket to the Death Egg.

Zone 12: Space

The player have to survive and destroy Robotnik's defeat systems so they can safety board the Death Egg while Dr. Robotnik continues to sent his army of robots at you. The boss of the stage is Metal Knuckles piloting the Death Egg Robot 2.

Zone 13: Death Egg Zone

Here the player much defeat the evil scientist, Dr. Robotnik and retiree King Acorn's statue. In the arcade version, Dr. Robotnik pilots The Egg Knight while in the console version, Robotnik pilots the Eggsterminator if the player collects all seven Chaos Emeralds.

In the home console version, the player can fight against Urkelbot if the player collects all seven Chaos Emeralds and defeat the Eggsterminator as Manik.

Items
Rings - Collect rings to increase a character's stats. Collecting 100 rings will increase a person's health, if their health is already full than the player will receive an extra life.

Chili Dogs - Collect this to increase a character's health.

Speed Shoes - Increase a character's speed for a limited time.

Power Glove - Increase a character's strength for a limited time.

Invincibility - Become invincible for a limited time.

Robotnik Trap - Damage the player.

Enemies
Badniks - Robotnik's main line of defense. Appear in Level 1.

Swat Bots - Robotnik's strongest lines of robots. Appear in Level 3B.

Dark Legion - A group of Echidnas that work for Dr. Robotnik. Appear in Level 3B.

Abominable Snowbots - Robots that are in the same shape of snowmen. Appear and only appear in Level 6.

Pirate Bots - Robots dressed as Pirates. Appear and only appear in Level 8.

Bandit Bots - Swatbots dressed like Bandits. Appear and only appear in Level 7.

Robians. Former mobians who been robotizces by Dr. Robotnik. Appear and only appear in Levels 9 and 10.

Bosses
Egg Gorilla - The first boss of the game. Is a giant ape-like robot that climb the building to attack the player with his large fist and will occasionally shake the building causing metal to fall on you.

Freedom Bot - The second boss of the game appearing in Downtown Mobotropolis. He have the combine data of the Knothole Freedom Fighters and will use all their techniques to defeat the player. It's moves are Manik's Spin Dash, Melody's Songwave

Japanese Voice Cast
*Note* Some of the cast voice the characters in the later games as well.

English Voice Cast
*Note* Some of Mary-Kay Bergmin's voice clips were used for Melody's gameplay.

Trivia

 * This is the first arcade Manik game to have English voice acting.
 * Most of the Japanese cast has continue to voice the characters in future games. Most others (ex. Masako Nozawa) has reprise their roles in the future.
 * One of the NPCs in the opening of the game has a simpler look to Manik the Hedgehog creator and former head of Sonic Team, Yuiji Naka. He's also credited as programmer even though he had no involvement in the game's development.
 * This was the last game until Manik X episode 03 "Melody of the Wind" in 2003 where Masako Nozawa voiced Melody Prower. She was succeed by Jun'ichi Kanemaru in 1998 and Yūko Minaguchi in 2000 even though the latter gain the role in 98 before Kanemaru provided the voice in Manik Adventure.
 * This is the first game Keji Yamoto voiced a character voicing Melody in one of the first commercial for both the Sega CD and Manik CD.
 * The stages are in the same order as TMNT Turtles in Time with a few exceptions.
 * Many of the characters in-game voice clips were taken from Manik Adventure and Manik Shuffle for the English cast. The Japanese cast provide original voice clips for the game that was reused for the 2003 port.
 * If the player collects all seven chaos emerald and defeat the Eggsterminator without taking any damage as Manik, they would face Urkelbot. This is reference to Manik being voiced by Jaleet White who also played Steve Urkel in Family Matter. It could also be a reference to Archie Manik the Hedgehog Issue 8 where Dr. Robotnik created a robot called "Wolvurkel" which is also based on Steve Urkel.
 * Melody's special move is the Kamehameha from Dragon Ball. This might be because Melody shared the same voice as Goku from Dragon Ball who's famous technique is the Kamehameha Wave.
 * If the player choice Lara-su in the English version of the game, she'll say all her lines in Japanese. This is due to the fact that Lara-Su shared the same voice actor in both the English and Japanese versions of the games until Manik X.
 * This is the last Manik the Hedgehog game until Manik Generations to call the main villain Dr. Robotnik instead of Dr. Eggman since the English version of the games start using his Japanese name instead.
 * The in-game bio lists the characters' Japanese voice actors even in the English version of the games. This was most likely the result of directly translating the Japanese text and not changing it to present the English voice actors. They were, however, listed in the game's credit.
 * Dash was originally consider for the game but was scrapped due to time constrict. He would of been voiced by Takeshi Kusao who also voiced Manik in the game.
 * This is the first game where Mary-Kay Bergmin does not provide the voice of Melody due to her passing. Her voice clips were reused for the game, but the actual speaking dialogue was done by Jennifer Doullaid who also voiced the voice of Amy in games prior to Bergmin's passing.