Just For Fun / Sonic the Hedgehog EX

"Don't miss out on this crossover extravaganza! It's Sonic the Hedgehog EX Plus Adventure!"

— The announcer during the intro to Sonic the Hedgehog EX Plus Adventure.

In a parallel universe, Arika, Capcom, Sega, Game Freak, Kyoto Animation, Sunrise and Nickelodeon teamed up for a Crossover Fighting Game spinoff to the Sonic the Hedgehog games called Sonic the Hedgehog EX (Or StH-EX for short).

Here are all of the games in the series:

• Sonic the Hedgehog EX (1999, Sega NAOMI)^note Tectoy made a Sega CD32X port in July 2000, though it is entirely in 2D and looks more like a CPS2 game, but it is still considered to be a good game.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog EX Plus (1999, Sega NAOMI)
  • Sonic the Hedgehog EX Plus Adventure (2000, Sega Dreamcast)^note Acclaim brought the Arena Entertainment logo back for the last time when they published Tectoy's 2D demake in Brazil, which, in effect, makes it the only Arena Entertainment game that is Sonic, Anime or Nicktoons-related.
• Sonic the Hedgehog EX 2 (2001, Sega NAOMI GD-Rom)
  • Sonic the Hedgehog EX 2: The Revenge of Dr. Eggman and Rancid Rabbit! (2001, Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation 2)
• Sonic the Hedgehog EX³ (2003, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube)
  • Sonic the Hedgehog EX³ 2nd (2004, The Sega/Nintendo/Namco Triforce arcade board)

After the success of the Street Fighter EX games, Arika and Capcom wanted to try another attempt at a fighting game that was 3D, but played on a 2D plane, so they went to the Creators of Sonic, Pokémon, K-ON!, CatDog and Love Live! School Idol Project and asked if they could use their characters for the series, and all of the companies involved agreed.

The first game, Sonic the Hedgehog EX first hit the arcades in 1999. The characters in it are:

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Miles "Tails" Prower
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Hilda (Pokémon)
• Rosa (Pokémon)
• Serena (Pokémon)
• Yui Hirasawa (K-ON!)
• Tsumugi "Mugi" Kotobuki (K-ON!)
• Ritsu Tainaka (K-ON!)
• CatDog
• Winslow (CatDog)
• Cliff (CatDog)
• Honoka Kousaka (Love Live!)
• Kotori Minami (Love Live!)
• Umi Sonoda (Love Live!)
• Dr. Eggman (Boss, Sonic the Hedgehog). Playable in the home versions of the series.
• Natural Harmonia Gropius a.k.a. N (Boss, Pokémon). Playable in the home versions.
• Rancid Rabbit (Boss, CatDog). Playable in the home versions.
• Eli Ayase (Boss, Love Live!). Playable in the home versions.
• Shadow the Hedgehog (Secret Boss, Sonic the Hedgehog). Playable in the home versions except Sonic the Hedgehog EX³ in which he's absent.

A few months down the road, Sonic the Hedgehog EX Plus was released in the arcades and tweaked the gameplay to make it more balanced. Around the same time, a port of EX Plus called Sonic the Hedgehog EX Plus Adventure was released on the Dreamcast and in addition to extra gameplay modes, ending FMVs were added for each character and the following characters were added to the roster:

• Dark Sonic
• Hellish Umi a.k.a Team Plasma!Umi Sonoda in Fanon
• Mighty the Armadillo
• Maki Nishikino (Love Live!)
• Hanayo Koizumi (Love Live!)

In 2001, a sequel called Sonic the Hedgehog EX 2 was made for the NAOMI GD-Rom hardware, with a home port titled Sonic the Hedgehog EX 2:The Revenge of Dr. Eggman and Rancid Rabbit! not long after. The new characters across both versions are:

• Blaze the Cat
• Bianca (Pokémon Black and White)
• Yancy (Pokémon)
• Mio Akiyama (K-ON!)
• Lube (CatDog)
• Nico Yazawa (Love Live!)
• Stimpy (The Ren & Stimpy Show)^note To play as him, you must highlight Sonic, Hilda, Ritsu, CatDog, Honoka and Yui in that order, each for three seconds, pressing start after three seconds on Yui.
• SpongeBob SquarePants

In 2003, the third and final game in the series titled Sonic the Hedgehog EX³ was released for the Gamecube and PS2 with an arcade version a year later. It adds only one new character:

• Anthony Clark. He is a Human-like Robot who can copy the abilities of his opponent, thus making him a proto-Emerl. He was created for this game and the companies involved all share the rights to his character.

Even to this day, the series still has a good sized cult following singing the praises of the series.

This game series uses the following tropes:

• 2½D: Averted for the Tectoy demake of the first game for the Sega CD 32X, which is wholly 2D. Played Straight for the official versions.
• Adaptational Heroism: Cliff.
• Adaptational Villainy: N and Eli Ayase.
• Ascended Fangirl: Bianca in all three games, Mio and Nico in Sonic the Hedgehog EX 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog EX³.
• Big Bad: Eggman and Rancid.
• Canon Foreigner: Anthony Clark, as he was created for the third game.
• Catchphrase: "Nico Nico Smile!" for Nico.
  • "Get ready to be schooled!" for Eggman.
  • "You're too slow!" for Sonic.
  • "Shorts are comfy!" for Hilda.
  • "I'm ready!" for SpongeBob.
  • "Hi-Ho-Diggety!" for CatDog and (surprisingly) Honoka.
• Crossover: Between Sonic the Hedgehog, Pokémon, K-On!, CatDog and Love Live!.
• Denser and Wackier: There are LOTS of funny/goofy moments in this series!
• The Ditz: Bianca, Yui, Stimpy, Honoka, Dog, Lube and SpongeBob.
• The Dragon: N to Eggman and Eli to Rancid.
• '80s Hair: Hilda, duh!
• Fragile Speedster: Sonic, Blaze, Rosa, Yui, CatDog, Honoka and SpongeBob.
• Funny Animal: Every Sonic character (except Eggman), every CatDog character, Stimpy and SpongeBob.
• Guest Fighter: Stimpy and SpongeBob in the second and third games.
• Large Ham: Eggman and Rancid!
• Mighty Glacier: Knuckles, Hilda, Mugi (also counts as a Mythology Gag if you have seen the first season of K-ON!), Cliff, Maki, Dark Sonic, Hellish Umi and Anthony after you power him up fully.
• Older Than They Think: The Love Live characters appeared in the game series way before the anime premiered in 2013.
• The Power of Friendship
• Put on a Bus: Shadow after Sonic the Hedgehog EX 2.
• Talking Animal
• Wheel of Feet: Sonic uses this when you make him dash by pushing the D-Pad forward twice.