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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2024
- There was once a lone robot who appeared in a single Sonic game. Here's why, decades later, I'm still not able to stop thinking about him.
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Gamma is criminally underrated. Easily one of the most mature storylines in any Sonic game. Gamma was born to be a tool of destruction but died a hero.
No one needed that after ALL lol
I miss when Sonic games were weird/gutsy enough to put a tragic machine vs self story in a game where even the heroes technically lose because Station Square is OBLITERATED! The stories of modern sonic haven't hit nearly as hard as these adventure games.
Unfortunately, Sonic 06 being immediately followed by Shadow the Hedgehog appears to have kinda put off the Sega brass from anything remotely "dark" or "edgy" for over a decade. Only now with Sonic Forces are things shifting back from the... perhaps slightly excessively lighthearted tone we saw in games like Lost World or Colors. And Sega also greenlit a zombie apocalypse arc in the new IDW comic book, which may indicate they've been getting back their stomach for that sort of thing.
Of course, Sega does have the unique ability to learn the worst possible lesson from their mistakes. So who knows. We'll have to see what sort of tone they go for with their upcoming cartoon and game.
Yup. This is why I always felt like Modern Sonic was an unofficial reboot since all Adventure era continuity and tone has been wiped out. I miss the Adventure era
@@littenfire3563 Adventure ones are bad lmao
@@PhysicsGamerthoughts on frontiers?
@@Blaze-nm1uh It takes itself more seriously, in a positive sense, than even Forces was able to do. That's a definite step forward in my book.
I will say it was a bit odd how, for lack of a better word, _desaturated_ the world of Frontiers was. I wound up really liking the atmosphere of the game, but I do hope the next one keeps the serious-but-not-grim tone while tweaking the world to be a bit more colorful. Both literally and metaphorically.
That last bit was one of the things Forces did pretty well, to use a recent example, though it wound up feeling rather homogenous as a whole. Definitely don't want to go too far and wind up in Colors or Lost World territory.
The two Adventure games were also examples of what I'm talking about: they depicted a world that was colorful, but grounded. Loop-de-loops made of highways and giant attacking whales - zany fun, but grounded in real world elements, if that makes sense.
As a composer, unbound hits me especially hard because it's set up as a small bridge in E102's theme that briefly appears before it's angrily and aggressively banged down while the main part of the theme returns. But after Gamma dies and the bird runs free, that song is free too. It's basically the theme song of THAT BIRD, trapped inside Gamma's theme all along. Or is it a part of Gamma? Nobody will ever know, just like Gamma's life itself.
I've never thought of that motif being the bird! But that makes so much sense if that's the purpose of that part of the theme. I always felt like the piano was Gamma's newfound conscious growing out of his cold, impersonal programming. And the emotionally charged synthetic sounds after is him overcoming his programming and acting based on his own will, following his own "heart". I'm definitely adding the bird into my interpretation of the song :)
Hey, RecD! Nice to see you here 😊 I love the music that plays in that scene. :’)
i never thought of the piano part of gamma's theme being beaten down by the synth, it sounds more to me like they are complementing each other in harmony
Gamma was the best Sonic character. EVER.
Gamma's death was the first and only video game moment to make me cry. That's how powerful Gamma's story is. It's probably the best aged part of this game.
And the fact he stayed dead was haunting. So few pieces of long form of media let people get attached to characters and then kill them. Like shadow came back even if it's vague whether he's actually shadow but but Gamma died. Stayed dead. Never coming back.
SA1 in general has aged a lot better than people give it credit. Mods have done an amazing job restoring all the original Dreamcast textures and lighting effects that the ports completely broke, and the game's Japanese acting is genuinely top-tier. Seriously, watch the cutscenes in Japanese (with Windii's restranslated subs). You will never go back to English ever again.
Gamma's story, when I first played this game, I was a bit shocked because I didn't expect him to die, and I was eight years old. Now his story hits me harder and I wished there was a way to keep him alive but without the bird inside. Gamma is and allways will be my favorite Sonic character.
I'm so glad we're at the point where people can do serious analyses of Sonic games without getting ridiculous amounts of pushback. The series was trying to say things, once upon a time, and I like talking about them!
That always was one of my favorite things about the series, compared to its peers. Even the original Genesis games had strong themes of environmentalism, and the SATAM cartoon that ran at the time took them and ran with them. The Adventure games pushed that envelope even further in many ways.
To my knowledge Mario's never attempted anything even half as thematically rich as Gamma's or Shadow's stories.
@@PhysicsGamer While I agree Sonic typically goes further than Mario in this regard, mainline Mario has at least attempted this before - and I would argue did so quite well even given its rather short and entirely optional nature - with Rosalina's backstory storybook in Super Mario Galaxy. And these sorts of themes are explored more often in Mario spinoffs such as the Paper Mario series (shoutout to Super Paper Mario's plot in particular)
@@PhysicsGamer that’s probably true tbh :’) I’m starting to understand why people like Sonic more than Mario now, he and his games are quite dynamic while Mario’s all like “WOO! Let’s-a go!” And nothing else. Still, the Mario series has cute character designs though. That’s about it.
@@AREAlhero Agreed :3
The ending of Gamma’s story made me cry the first time I saw it as a kid. Coming back to it now, I still get a little choked up, especially when Gamma explodes and a sad version of his theme plays
I love SA1's story a lot, especially Tikal and Gamma. Hell, their themes are my favorite tracks in the OST.
Sonic Adventure's overarching story is underrated too. The fact that the final boss, fittingly set to "Open Your Heart", is not about destroying Chaos but just calming him down so you can convince him that he doesn't need to be angry anymore... it's touching! Teaching kids to have empathy and to let go of their grudges no matter how justified, is a powerful message. And I'm glad I played this game growing up!
Wait holy shit, you end the game by bringing peace to Chaos. That just blew my mind
Tikal’s theme yassss 😍😍
@@Dave_Chrome Bro 😳 same, I love this story and glad to finally know who and what Chaos is. As well as all of these other characters, plus Knuckles’ true nature and why I like him so much.
Finally someone talked positivity about gamma. I love this character, and actually he has my second favorite game play of adventure and my third favorite style of gameplay between sa and sa 2. Awesome content, you deserve ways more subs.
It’s pretty good writing if a standalone story about a enemy robot is still giving folks the feels reminds me of some of the feelings I get from the iron giant. Souls don’t die not sure if same premise but good video 👍🏿
I've always loved my boy, Gamma. Oh neat I never noticed that was the same bird as Gamma I guess I must've just assumed it was the same bird as usual when I played it as a kid
Gamma he have a place to my heart my childhood heart. With the rest of the robot character and he is one of deep feeling e-102 well never forgotten.
you know, when I played the game I didn't interpret beta's transformation scene as eggman abusing him, but as Beta upgrading himself because he wanted to be stronger to kill gamma.
When I played Gamma's story I concluded at the end that the birds inside the robots were still kind of aware of their surroundings. Beta showed interest in Gamma because daddy bird knew his wife was inside Gamma. The baby bird flew away from Amy's hands to stare at Gamma because he knew mommy was in there. Gamma reacted that way because mommy bird understood her son was in good hands with Amy and needed help. The final battle between Beta and Gamma was meant for the birds to free each other, that's why Gamma approached Beta after defeating him ("I'm not damaged enough, need another shot"). After Beta explodes, daddy bird stares at Gamma to make sure everything is okay; Gamma then is like "yes I'm about to break free, wait a little".
This is what I understood at the time. I'm not denying the robots themselves (Gamma especially) had some kind of personality too, but in the end I think Gamma understood who they all really are - small animals - and the robot carcass they're in is ultimately fake.
If I'm not mistaken, in the JP script Amy refers to both birds as the blue one's "siblings", so I don't believe they're the parents.
Both theories are valid 😊
After watching this, I wonder if E123 Omega ever knew anything about its' predecessors and the journeys they went through that form the genesis of the E-Series robot legacy...
I know I'm a bit late but in Sonic heroes if you get a bad grade with team dark omega might say
"I couldn't even beat gamma or beta."
@@Arisato-Yuki Didn't know that! Thanks for sharing. He wasn't really forgotten :')
I'm still firmly in the "Gamma is not the bird" camp. It's much better to think of him as mercy killing his brothers instead of the oversimplified idea of killing them to free the birds.
I'm not really sure how that would be "oversimplified", but that may just be me.
@@NezumiVA i mean, there's a lot more complex feelings that go into "oh shit. I have to kill my family to spare them a life of slavery and being twisted into unrecognizable mindless killing machines" than "I have to kill them because they're really birds trapped inside robots". Gamma's death has no weight whatsoever if he can just fly out of his smoldering corpse at the end.
@@clostridiumtetani9947 hope its not intrusive to throw my two cents in but I like to view it as ambiguous, due to it necessitating the player to ask that question to begin with, and how if you did give it an answer the player would cease thinking about it and engaging with the story on a deeper level, about who is really alive or sentient when a person is in the same situation as gamma. i feel its a more emotionally resonant story and effective at conveying its themes and messages if it is left ambiguous and leaves you unable to select an answer because of that restless part it leaves with you when you see gamma finally self destruct. But also what it means to gamma as a character, who end their story by discarding the very need for an answer to that to do what they feel is right in a more symbolic way of showing how they broke free of eggmans cruelty and a destined life as a wepon of war. With gamma's destruction being a final goodbye to the last thing that would bind them to that, in that their continued existence would always be necessitated on anothers suffering, and how gamma body and programming would always be built for causing the same destruction that was capable of doing what they did to their robotic siblings. Because even if its true that gamma was alive and was never the bird, they still won in the way that mattered to them. Even if they lost their own life in the end. Even if that question will haunt you.
Idk in my eyes it simplifies and even kind of takes away from gamma for me, gamma is interesting in my eyes because as he goes along the story he becomes more self aware of who he is, that eggman can be very cruel etc, but if gamma just becomes the bird how is that special? He’s just a bird who would obviously go against eggman and not a robot who started developing sentience throughout the game, it just feels like it undermines the robot is what I think… but that’s just me maybe gamma being the bird is better (also I guess gamma’s death isn’t quite as sad if he’s just the bird, it survives and is fine just lacking a robotic body)
Sorry if this sounds bad or mean it’s just my opinion, him being a bird still works and is interesting
Also why am I replying to this 2 years later, im weird
In PSO I continue Gamma's story as a HuCast reborn as a swordsman, but still always carried a gun as a reminder of who he was, but still protected others given half the chance. However he himself is inflicted with a curse later on.
I still miss Gamma so much. I love his story too.
One of the few angsty stories I like
I don’t think it’s angsty, more so just philosophical.
Ah fair. I often get words really mixed up. Maybe... deep and saddening would have worked better? I remember actually crying the first time I saw Gamma explode. As a kid I developed a bit of an emotional attachment to a robot who's story pretty much only lasted a day or two... the average life of a badnik come to think of it.
Technically this has nothing to do with the video and this is kinda a rant so you can just ignore it but I just want to point out something that most people just do not understand about Sonic's rich inspiration and it's ok because I didn't at first, either but now I'm almost actually certain I completely get it.
Why characters like Gamma have such an impact is because Sonic's story is about man vs. nature, man vs. self, ancient gods, divine retribution, etc. This kind of story telling isn't a coincidence and nor did they make this just because they wanted to. The reason why Gamma feels like a Ghibli character or something from Nier Automata is BECAUSE he (they were?) was meant to BE this way.
If you look at the movie Laputa: Castle in the Sky you can see there are so many similarities to it and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. And the robot in the movie has so much similarities to Gamma. The robot wants to protect a princess who ends up having sympathy for him. Sounds familiar? The robot even dies trying to protect the princess. Not to mention the robot is the last functioning robot out of all its brothers. And it tends to a bunch of wild life at the castle, specifically birds. This isn't a coincidence, this wasn't a mistake, this wasn't something they made up on the spur of the moment. This was most likely the inspiration for Gamma and the movie itself had to have been the main inspiration for Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Why Gamma and this type of story telling is important is because it gets to the root of what Sonic is. If you want to think of Sonic as whatever it is (movie Sonic, video gamey, Sonic X, etc.) that is fine. I'm just letting you be aware of what I found out about it. It's not even enough to say Sonic is actually an anime character, it's more like it could be debated Sonic is like specific animes which is why sometimes when they write his stories they make such an impact (I understand other times it's not that way because of bad writing or it didn't land but you get the point).
Sonic is less Mickey Mouse and he's more Ghibli, Lupin, Nier. Amy isn't Minnie Mouse, she's Card Captor Sakura. Tails is less Tod from Fox and the Hound more like Shinji Ikari from Evangelion. Have you ever wondered why you know Sonic has these issues but you can't tell how exactly how to fix his stories, like it's on the tip of your tongue and you know how it can be better you just know how it can be fixed but you can't quite explain it in words? This is what it is. This is the missing link. This is why people have a hard time figuring it out, why Sonic has such issues with his story telling. This is the problem. And again it's ok because I was learning it, too. I was having a problem for such a long time. And I think I finally figured it out.
This is why humans "can't work." This is why people hate the wisps, why the jokes with Sonic just don't work, why a lot of people like the story-telling in Black Knight. This is one of the main reasons. I'm 100% the 2 worlds thing is just something they were just saying. There is no two-worlds thing. There is no human world and it's not separate from a Sonic world. They are both on the same Earth. See how it all finally comes together? Now it all makes sense.
Sonic CD is about Sonic visiting a strange, little planet and along the way stopping Eggman from harnessing its resources in the past, present, and future and taking the "life-force" from it. Final Fantasy 7 is about an ex-soldier remembering who he is, meeting a company of people along the way who change him for the better, and stopping an evil mega corporation (and a ghost from the past) from harnessing the life-force from the planet and destroying it. Pascal in Nier finds out that sometimes he has to fight to save the ones he loves even though he's a hated machine. Gamma in Adventure finds out the truth about free will and fights to save his brothers out of mercy. You see? You see how it works?
You could argue Sonic's world atually has racism on it, as in his story and what happens with the people on that planet is something like Brand New Animal. You could even argue he's supposed to be M-rated from the get-go. This is speculation, even I don't know that much. But what I do know is there is just an uncanny resemblance to anime that Sonic has.
That's why I like the succession (even though the execution later on was poor) about Sonic so much. There is a little planet (CD), then there is a floating island (Sonic 3), then an angry, ancient god creates a giant flood (Adventure), then an over 50-year old satellite comes crashing down to the Earth (Adventure 2), then Sonic goes to different islands (other games and Sonic Heroes), there is a dark city like Genocide City where Shadow gets an introspection on his life (Shadow), then there is an ancient city that existed randomly, suddenly and now exists no more (06), then an ancient, evil god is awoken and splits the world apart (Unleashed), then there is a floating continent (Lost World), etc.
In theory this a really good set-up it's just the execution was poor. So that's the deal, this whole thing this entire comment is the missing link. And maybe I'm being to strict. Like I know IDW is good and all and there's many artists who draw Sonic up in a non-anime way and their stories are great. But I'm just showing the original inspiration behind it all and why there may be people like me in the past who just couldn't quite get it.
I can even go as far to say even the problem is the music. Why Gamma also worked is because his music not only fit, it also had SOUL. His theme is amazing. I'm not a musician or a music theorist but the way he had the pianos in it, the small robotic voices just like songs like Super Sonic Dance Attack and voices in Metallic Madness in the Bad Future in the Japanese OST of Sonic CD, even how when he died they just had a slower, piano solo of theme just to let it sit in and linger. This is why he's such a great character. It's about the story of a robot understanding free will and breaking free of his programming, learning who his friends and enemies are, and seeing the value of nature and the meaning of life.
His music is part of the reason why he works so well. In fact the whole sound track of Adventure is reminiscent of some NiGHTS, some old Saturn games or their older titles(even Windy Hill is a remix of Green Grove Act 1 on the Genesis), there's just a just a rich history with the stuff there.
I'm not gonna say that the rock and other music they had in the games later on didn't work (even in Sonic Adventure it's great but it's not all that great) but at the same time you could tell when they hit they HIT. Nowadays not even most of the music Sonic has works for him. The themes don't really even sit with you and don't have as much an impact like Gamma's did.
I could go on and on but you get the point.
Woah… Laputa…. That actually makes perfect sense :O I agree, Sonic is a lot deeper and cooler than I ever thought it was. I feel like I’m slowly starting to fall in love with this series.
@@chocobochick5390 That makes a lot of sense and I agree 😊 although I do enjoy most Sonic music I’ve heard, specifically from this game and SA2. Especially Knuckles’ raps 😍💗
Thank you for putting this together! I love Gamma's story and I feel like it often goes under the radar, given how hit-or-miss Sonic Adventure as a whole can be.
I think gamma was meaning by rescue .. deleting eggman's mastering files from his brothers .. but they fighting him once they seeing him so he do the fight
It was more clear in sonic X
Really nice to hear someone talk about this, as it's one of those childhood things that I will always remember. Lovely video, keep up the good work!
I gotta get this off my chest. I love Gamma. I love the arc that was created for this character *and* its fellow E-series robots as well, but something about the ending *broke* me as a child.
When playing as the other characters, I had little to no attachment to the fellow, even once I played Amy's side of the story and realized what she meant when she said "This robot is my friend! He helped me!" I still figured this character would be as about as important to me as Big. I could not have been more wrong.
While actually playing through Gamma's story, I became fascinated with them; wondering how one little robot could take on the protagonist role and what its main objective would be not only in terms of gameplay, but in terms of narrative. Once I realized Gamma's story had went from this clunky yet clever little machine just following orders because it was created to do so, to a conflicted sentient artificial intelligence who can now decipher its own goals and desires, I was hooked.
That's what made that final battle all the more gut-wrenching for me. For the longest time I had forgotten about Beta simply because of Gamma's newfound goal, then I finally win the boss fight and the game goes and not only reminds me that this story is nearing its end, but pours salt over that wound and brings Gamma's inevitable demise way sooner than planned. As a child, I hadn't even comprehended that they planned to take themselves out after defeating Beta, so watching that final scene with Gamma shambling away from its robot brethren's remains as the reprisal theme plays...
It literally had me sobbing. I didn't realize how attached I was to this character until I realized his demise was now not only inevitable, but already upon me. I remember genuinely feeling *angry* because I wanted to see more of them, see more good deeds be carried out by them all because of that one lesson Amy accidentally taught them. I wasn't just disappointed or sad, I was heartbroken. I loved them and to be perfectly honest... I still do. Gamma will always be my favorite Sonic character because of how memorable that campaign is to me.
Sorry for the big wall of text and rant, but just wanted to share after watching this amazing analysis of my favorite robot fella :)
E-102 Gamma will always be my all-time favorite character.
E-102 Gamma . A deep heart warming in me no matter what coolest and Amazing they are. gamma Was the core of my heat it made me tearing so must watching gamma Gone. I well miss yea e-102 Gamma ❤
Glad to see some more quality content. Keep up the good work and have a nice day.
Same
Metal Sonic will always be my fave, but Gamma will always have a special place in my heart.
One of the first Sonic games I played, Gamma has been my favorite character from all the franchise since then. All that sadness and thought provoking elements were the biggest draw, but haven't quite find the words to express it, but you did a great job with your exploration of the character. Thanks!
in this house, we love gamma.
bro this story legit made me CRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you rly went deep into it in a way I've thought of for a rly long time n I'm glad u took time and energy to do so bc it's soooo underrated 💙💙💙💙💙
If we had Beta, Gamma, & Omega, Where's E-100 Alpha?
Alpha is the robot that chases Amy in her story in SA1.
@@Fighter_53 but hes called ZERO instead of alpha and only has the letter E around him
I never completed the adventure games I had since a kid until a few years ago, and since then they've both been on my mind occasionally. Gamma is my favorite sonic character, I actually played as him in the chao garden often as a kid, but now he's my favorite for a different reason, which you summed up very well.
It's often on my mind about what the reasoning in Gamma's mind was, whether he is his own life or a clouded version of the flicky's.. I like to imagine it both ways, and I love that there's no clear evidence in the dialogue for either. I hope they never bring Gamma back unless it's for a remake because the story is perfect as it is, short and bittersweet.. it's amazing that something that could be so easily cut out from the game's narrative would be so touching.
It’s funny how I didn’t even notice this as well when watching the story of SA1 for the first time 😭 this is beautiful 💗
Fantastic work ^^
Man, I remember playing Adventure 1 as a kid and thinking Gamma's story was dumb and had nothing to do with anything. But replaying it as an adult made me realize how Gamma's story is this eerie, philosophical meditation on the nature of consciousness, freewill, and the cycle of violence from the perspective of a character who is too naive and psychologically immature to process the world around them past service level observations and revelations.
Your voice is so soothing, I fell asleep to this video
He didn't have a long story but he made sure his was memorable.
even when i don't consciously remember it, I still cry when i hear that music like i did when i played the game as a child
I really hope if they remake or remaster this game, they change Gamma’s story to have her be around to see Gamma’s destruction.
Like in Sonic X.
Worded beautifully 💕
thank you, i needed a good cry. I love gama. there was a playable robot who paid homage to it in sonic battle gba. Tails even mistakes it for gama.
I matter? Thank you!
Well, of course you do. You've made wonders for the Sonic modding community.
A lot of it is implied but the fact that what's implied is so emotionally impactful is why Gamma is easily my favorite character of this series. Kinda makes me wish I could have seen him again in Adventure 2 which is one of my GOAT. In any case, between that lasting impact and hebitonetsu's amazing chipspeech lyrical cover of Gamma's theme, I now plan to roll Gamma into a D&D Warforged to play!
Good watch
Your back?! YAY!
E102 Gamma's story was probably the first time a video game made me feel emotional. Even as an adult now the story of Gamma it still kind of gets to me. ;)
Love your stuff. Sorry to disappear for w ehile. Keep it coming.
makin me cry over a robot, thank you
Every time I play for gamma and see its ending, I cry, this ending touches me much more than in sa2
One of my favorites
Gamma is the best character in the series, hands down. He was only there for one game, but he made that limited time count. An entire story arc showing the story from the other side, only to throw you for a loop with Gamma developing his own directives, cutting loose from Eggman's control. He was born as just another machine, but he died with more of a heart than most characters in the game, excluding Amy.
Thanks for making me cry,,,, 👍
About a,,,, Sonic robot,,,,
You're welcome :)
@@NezumiVA CRIES EVEN HARDER AT THE FACT WERE (probably) NEVER GETTING A GAME LIKE SONIC ADVENTURE AGAIN
gamma is half of the reason i like robots so much
I’m so glad someone else feels about gamma they same way I do.
Ah, the brand new villain created by the brilliant scientist Robotnik to feature in a Sonic Adventure game. He would start off as an antagonist, but by the end would change completely. The character would die in a tragic way, doing only what he thought was right (and his legacy still lives on).
And of course I'm talking about, Shadow the Heghe-I mean E-102 Gamma.
i wish he did weed insted
oh, so we're gonna have shorter videos inbetween the bigger uploads? thats exciting!
gamma my beloved.....
Egg
I agree
Crying
Teleportation yeah wa sabidy dop bop
👀
W
And then Gamma became an edgy Omega
I'm not sure I follow, Gamma _stayed_ dead. He didn't come back. Unless you mean Chaos Gamma from Battle, which is an entirely different character, or if you just mean Omega himself is an edgier Gamma, which I'm not _entirely sure_ I'd agree on, seeing as they're not really that similar in their personalities at the end of the day, even if their goals may be superficially similar. Even then, Omega doesn't care about freeing the animals inside Eggman's mechs, he just thinks of them all as inferior to himself and wants to lay waste to Eggman's tech as a means of getting back at him.
@@NezumiVA very true it was a joke honestly just on how they appear cause you can kinda see that Gamma looks like a prototype to Omega but yea i know they’re entirely different from each other, just a design joke. Enjoyed the video tho