It’s really quite sad, when you think about it.
Every five years or so since 2001, we’ve been reminded of just how many years we’ve enjoyed the company of our favorite mach-speed mascot. But how often do we remember the raucous rival who has arguably contributed more to his success than anyone else, Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik?
Well, the folks over at SEGA HARDlight have said “no more!” and are leading the anniversary charge to celebrate 30 years of the Eggman Empire in their Sonic Forces title for mobile devices! They even gave him his own anniversary logo! How nice is that? That’ll show the Blue Blur for sure.
As sad as it is to say, for as long as he’s been around, Eggman hasn’t put in a whole lot of playable appearances — not even in his own semi-self-titled game, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, can you play as the daffy doctor. It’s usually just in sports titles or racing games (similar to this, admittedly), and most of those times, you don’t even get to ride in his signature transport, the Egg Mobile! At least, not in all of its hovering glory, unless you want to go all the way back to Sonic Drift and Sonic R (and there’s nothing wrong with that if you do… they’re just not especially accessible these days, that’s all).
In Sonic Forces, though, you can glide through the air with the greatest of ease once you unlock the bad boy, with stats of 9/10 for speed, 7/10 in acceleration, and 6/10 for strength. Items picked up along the tracks will grant him either a rocket boost, “Honor Guard” (three Motobugs that follow you in triangle formation for a time), and Balkiry, which launches five of the birdlike Badniks skyward to home in on an opponent.
Eggman is classified as a “Super Rare” character, and can be unlocked by completing specific “Egg-streme Takeover” Missions in the current “Eggman vs. Resistance” event. Fortunately, he only requires 30 cards to unlock, and as such is a bit easier to acquire and level up during the event than a lot of other featured characters. The event is on until March 9th, about a week as of this writing — plenty of time to get him, especially if you have a few Red Rings to speed up the cooldown of the “Egg-streme Takeover” Mission timer.
Source: @SEGAHARDlight on Twitter.
