Thanks to Hamada for helping with edits.
Sonic’s world is populated with many goofy, neon anthropomorphic animals. One of these weirdos, however, is in a strange position. Overall, she is popular and has been around for almost as long as Sonic himself. But I’ve seen plenty of people dismiss this regular, claiming she “sucks” or is superfluous. So, today, let’s step back and evaluate Amy Rose.
Amy Rose, seen on Sonic Channel (Image: SEGA)
A hero saving a damsel in distress is a well-known cliché. It also isn’t very interesting; these captives lack agency and exist primarily to drive others. Nintendo’s mascot, Mario, has rescued a few dames over the years, as has his antithesis. One of those gals became Sonic’s leading lady, a role she savors…
Amy Rose’s History
SEGA’s licensing department sought to complement Sonic with a Minnie Mouse to his Mickey, necessitating a newcomer join the still-nascent series. Since the Hedgehog’s stewards knew a free-spirited world traveler like him wasn’t one to settle down, however, they decided he wouldn’t reciprocate Amy’s affection. In other words, she’s sort of an inverse of Princess Peach: Amy’s the one chasing the hero! Sonic and Dr. Eggman’s original character designer, Naoto Ohshima, drafted Amy’s design, which Kazuyuki Hoshino later finalized. Still, many more people were consulted during her creation, including some behind Shogakukan’s then-upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog manga. Notably, the comic introduced its incarnation of Amy a year before Sonic the Hedgehog CD‘s release (and, similarly, featured an early rendition of Charmy Bee years before Knuckles’ Chaotix, his game debut).
Amy’s nickname during Sonic’s early years was Rosy the Rascal, a detail the franchise has long since forgotten. Anyhoo, check out some early sketches of her. (Image: SEGA)
At one point a “CD version of the original Sonic,” 1993’s synergistically named Sonic CD became one of the franchise’s most storied entries. Sightseer Sonic visits the mythical Little Planet and is horrified upon discovering his arch-enemy’s hold over it. Soon, a young hedgehog named Amy also starts tailing him (SEGA of America, however, initially called her Princess Sally, an unrelated character from the “SatAM” cartoon and Archie comics). Gifted with using tarot cards, the pink pilgrim is here for a “destined” meeting with Sonic and instantly becomes smitten with him. Unfortunately, Metal Sonic whisks the girl away, forcing Sonic to race him to rescue her. After defeating Eggman, Sonic exits the floating landmass with his fan, quickly running off after assuring her safety. Afterwards, the lass began appearing elsewhere, making her playable debut in 1994’s Sonic Drift. Sonic the Fighters hit two years later, introducing Amy’s signature mallet, the Piko Piko Hammer. And she was, at one point, meant to be playable in the ill-fated Sonic X-treme.
Then Sonic Adventure arrived in 1998. A massive, ambitious undertaking, Adventure built upon the series’ lore while visually revamping its universe. Sitting among its playable six-man lineup was Amy, whose short campaign deals with her helping a lost Flicky. A Sonic staple, Amy appears in Sonic Adventure 2, Heroes, Shadow, that nameless disaster, Unleashed, Generations, Lost World, and Forces (although absent from Mania proper, Tails Doll-esque explosives “honor” Amy and she does appear in the final Mania Adventures short). She’s playable in Adventure 2’s multiplayer mode (though only its Battle update differentiates her mechanically), and during Heroes’ and the disaster’s single-player campaigns. Unsurprisingly, Amy will return in Sonic Frontiers, though in what capacity is currently unknown.
Amy harbors a sisterly bond with Cream the Rabbit, mirroring Sonic and Tails’ dynamic. She’s, likewise, cordial with most prominent members of Sonic’s cast. (Image: SEGA)
Naturally, the pink powerhouse is a constant in Sonic’s side stuff. She’s playable in the Advance trilogy (though only the most dedicated players will ever unlock her in the second), and cameos throughout most of Dimps’ subsequent works. She factors into the plots of other games, like Pinball Party and Rivals. In Black Knight, Sonic meets Arthurian doppelgängers of his friends, with the Lady of the Lake resembling Amy. She also regularly competes in Sonic spin-offs and SEGA crossovers, and headlines a Sonic Café title. Several comics, the Sonic X anime, and Boom sub-franchise feature their own depictions of Amy, too. Altogether, Amy has become so synonymous with Sonic that pop culture references feature her.
So, what’re my thoughts on Amy?
Redesigning iconic characters is challenging, but when doing so for Adventure, Yuji Uekawa struck a careful balance between preserving the cast’s qualities while modernizing them. Uniformly, I still prefer their classic designs, with Amy (who’s one of only two returnees to score a drastic makeover) being the sole exception. Her original look is fine, though very busy. Adventure graciously streamlines the hedgehog’s palette, cutting the excess colors — green, orange, and purple (all secondary colors, incidentally) — and emphasizes two. Now, Amy’s fur remains pink, her outfit’s primarily red, and those hues synergize swimmingly with her white accents. It’s a strong, if stereotypically girly, palette, one complemented nicely by Amy’s green irises, gray soles, and yellow bracelets. The latter are especially classy, harmonizing with Amy’s revamped Piko Piko Hammer while subtly bringing Sonic’s recognizable Rings to mind. Altogether, the impassioned icon’s remodel is great, an evolution befitting her newfound lifestyle.
Amy was canonically eight in CD. However, Adventure ages her up to twelve, something her makeover reflects. (Image: SEGA)
Adventure also furthers Amy’s maturation mechanically and narratively. Admittedly, the city dweller’s stages and one boss fight are short and kinda dull. They’re a welcome inclusion nonetheless. Generally, Amy’s colleagues adhere to the series’ speedy standard, but here she is, physically unable to keep up. Nor can the wayfarer fly, glide, or perform the most basic of spinning attacks, instead requiring her hammer to compensate (Advance, where Amy’s run is the game’s most challenging one, retains these handicaps). Mechanically, this comparatively normal girl provides a unique spin on Sonic stages without completely upending them, like fisherman Big does. And Amy escaping from Eggman’s captivity, catalyzing E-102 Gamma’s own character development (something she also does for others in later games), reuniting that Flicky with its family, and promise to grow stronger? Ignoring the questionable quality of Adventure’s cutscenes, that was all great, graduating Amy from a damsel in distress to a hero in her own right.
And Amy’s subsequent betterment was… mixed. On one hand, even if it’s rarely spotlighted, she has grown considerably. She leads Cream and Big in Heroes, keeping the group’s morale up and successfully finds their missing persons (the IDW comics also highlight how capable a leader Amy is). Since then, Amy reliably fights the good fight or assists in other ways. This shift, however, happened concurrently with SEGA homogenizing the merry mammal with her peers. From Advance 2 onwards, Amy’s often capable of Sonic’s techniques (or functionally equivalent facsimiles) and can keep pace with him in-game; Heroes even codifies Amy as a “Speed” character. Now, reducing her sluggishness and making her more accessible is fine; she’s not the defenseless girl she once was. But there’s room within Sonic’s crew for a slower, more methodical counterpoint, and seeing Amy completely lose sight of that is a little disappointing.
Cindy Robinson is Amy’s incumbent English voice actress, a role formerly held by Jennifer Douillard and Lisa Ortiz. (Image: SEGA)
Unsurprisingly, Amy’s crush is the trait of hers most fixate on, and yes, it can be problematic; stalking Sonic and making unwanted advances is annoying and uncomfortable. Particularly during the Aughts, anyone who dared threaten Amy’s romantic delusions risked invoking her ire, often leaving people, including Sonic himself, afraid of her. In Heroes, she approaches her blue beau, demanding his hand in marriage by… attacking him and his friends (each team in Heroes fights two others during their campaigns, always for dubious reasons). Sonic Battle remains the zenith of awful Amy characterization, however; among many other faux pas, she hallucinates a tangible apparition of Sonic that fights alongside her. Inconsistent, poor writing in Sonic is hardly an issue exclusive to Amy, but she arguably suffers the most from it. That Amy habitually reaches for her tool when her temper flares only makes this worse, giving her hammer a negative connotation.
Still, Amy having a crush isn’t inherently an issue. It does serve a practical purpose; like how Sakura’s idolization of Ryu furthers his significance to Street Fighter’s universe, seeing an inhabitant of Sonic’s idolize him shows, yeah, he’s a big deal. Through her rapport with Sonic, we see sides of the normally slick speedster we otherwise don’t. Some even find Amy’s affections amusing. While volunteering at a retro gaming convention, I helped a kid clear Palmtree Panic in CD. Upon seeing the love-struck Amy hug her spiky sweetheart, his father laughed, jokingly approving of his son’s “little admirer.” And mercifully, Amy’s infatuation has been dialed down. She’s still caring towards Sonic, but that doesn’t purely define their dynamic; they’re friends and fellow freedom fighters. Besides, Amy’s adoration of Sonic isn’t just about loving him — like Tails, she also wants to be like him.
Cream’s prominence was at its highest during the 2000s. Perhaps Sonic Team struggled writing two distinct, sweet ladies, so they aggravated Amy’s flaws, or just thought they were funny? (Image: SEGA)
And though understandably easy to miss during her egregious episodes, Amy’s personality and life doesn’t solely circle around her would-be knight. She’s adventurous, upbeat, and optimistic, qualities Sonic shares. Another commonality between them is Amy’s willingness to endanger herself to help others, from downtrodden birds to even Metal Sonic; she wants to help others and spread cheer. Which makes sense considering her dislike of being left behind; of course she’ll befriend underdogs. Naturally, Amy’s fiercely loyal and protective, yet she’s also confident enough to express dissenting opinions — even towards Sonic — should the need arise. Again, she’s perceptive, seeing through others’ cold façades. Other media gives peaks into Amy’s other passions, like Sonic X‘s subplot about her opening a restaurant (something 4Kids’ dub wholly excised), which I wish bled a bit into the games. And though Amy didn’t initially — and, admittedly, still doesn’t always — have the agency of other heroines, she’s proven herself a capable one.
Now, Amy never quite inspires the fanfare other mainstays garner. Even SEGA sometimes omits her from things, like retro throwbacks Mania and Olympic Games Tokyo 2020’s “2D Events” mode. And honestly, Amy needn’t be in every game; the console Colors lost nothing for lacking her. Still, I like Amy. She’s delightful when written well and, frankly, deserves her stalwart status. Though SEGA’s handled her imperfectly, it’s been satisfying seeing Amy blossom beyond being a distressed damsel — even Sonic’s come to respect her. I hope she gets more, better opportunities to strut her stuff in the future.
Congratulations, Amy! I have no fear, you’re here!
Besides, Sonic is Amy’s pal and goal, so wherever the world traveler goes, she’ll rarely be far behind. (Image: SEGA)
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