Sonic heroes was easily the best appearance of metal Sonic and his most utilized appearance I just wish the game could have had a darker tone like the adventure games but who knows darker isn't always better either way I love Neo metal Sonic

I think if they were to remake this game, they should give the story a darker approach (on the scale of the Adventure games).

Fantastic analysis! I hated that Overlord design when it first was shown but the more I dig into it the more I appreciate this take on the robot

_Sonic Heroes_ is one of those stories that just gets funnier the more you think about it. Metal gets this huge upgrade and decides he wants to go rebellious teenager mode -- he doesn't even kill his Eggdad, just locks him up (though, to be fair, I'll go ahead and assume that was because he needed him alive for some reason). And he didn't strictly _need_ to disguise himself as Flesh Sonic to kidnap Froggy and Chocola, but 1) why expose himself before it's necessary? and 2) in his eyes, any chance to make Sonic look bad is an opportunity that must be taken, petty little douche that he is and I love him. His holographic letter to Team Sonic is pretty funny, too, in my opinion. "Hey Sonic! I wanna show you something cool please come to the Egg Fleet 🙃" Not to mention, his role in Team Dark's story is especially hilarious when you remember that, as far as the story is concerned, he wasn't around for _SA2_ and likely actually _doesn't_ know what Shadow's talking about when he asks about his memory, just that there are a bunch of Shadow Androids hanging out in storage and I'd bet my bottom dollar he's absolutely bluffing about it. "Your memory? Uh... what do you mean, 'your memory'? You, uh... don't _have_ a past...." _("Nailed it")_ On a more serious note, I do think _Heroes_ would have really benefitted, not necessarily from a darker story, but just a more cohesive one. What made the _Adventure_ games and arguably two thirds of Sonic 06 really work as stories was that everyone had their own thing going on and their individual plots intersected only when they needed to. _SA2_ really hammered that in by having entirely unique levels for everyone in both stories, and the characters only really crossed paths when the plot called for it (e.g., the rival fights). By giving everyone not only the same levels, but the exact same progression of them, _Heroes's_ plot progression ends up...not really making a whole lot of sense, and this is especially evident in the endings for Teams Sonic, Dark, and Rose's campaigns, where the three teams explicitly end up meeting up, but surely the game should have _shown_ how many people were actually fighting the Egg Emperor, right? Surely there weren't _actually_ four separate Egg Albatrosses for Metal to copy the heroes' data from after their destruction(s), right? Actually, Metal wasn't even shown to properly copy Chaos's data until after Team Rose's Egg Emperor fight, but his dialogue after the Egg Albatross fight in Team Sonic's campaign would seem to indicate that he copied _their_ data last *("All* life form data successfully copied."). But whatever. _Heroes_ was still awesome for Metal Sonic; before the Metal Overlord fight I wouldn't have thought he was even capable of fear. This game definitely did the most for his character and for that (and the formation of Team Dark and grand return of Team Chaotix) I'll always appreciate it. Even though I didn't have a GameCube growing up and haven't actually played this game. Actually the only _Sonic_ game I've played so far is _Sonic CD_ on mobile and I still love it even though I'm kinda bad at it and still haven't gotten the good ending even once haha 😅 One last thing: I do tend to think that Metal still harbors a bunch of resentment toward Eggman, he just can't do anything about it anymore. He may have had his obedience programmed back into him, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. I also tend to flip-flop on whether or not his betrayal might have been partially motivated by his "brothers" Metal Knuckles and Tails Doll getting decommissioned (at least as far as we know...).

Finally Neo Metal gets some love. So many people forget about him so always good to get vids on him. Great video - keep it up.

Totally agree on how the topic of AI against humanity is a great way to make Metal Sonic a big challenge to defeat, that combined with Metal Overlord design and the song What I'm Made Of will be such a great story to get deeper in!

Neo Metal is really cool. I wish we could’ve saw more of him vs Shadow. Cause he was clearly messing with him with the android at bullet station. Idk I just feel like it would be a very interesting match up

YES! I could only imagine when this game originally came out the amount of hype there was when Metal was shown as the main antagonist since people haven't seen him since what a decade? Him and Chaos will always be my favorite villains! great video as always :D I also think Metal is quite a tragic character due to his inferiority complex and I'd love to see him come back unhinged once again and pick up on those storybeats and darker narrative tone you were speaking of in the second half of the video...who knows this sounds like the groundwork for a Sonic Adventure 3 plot!

Heroes was my introduction to Metal , it was so good on that game that i'll always got exited when i see it on anything I enter it right after the Adventure games and the story felt like a very natural progresion, which is weird knowing they didn't put as much thought as the Adventure games, just shows how the passion for the series can still shine even when they have other priorities

I think Metal taking the role as the main antagonist would be great for his character. I think Neo Metal Sonic is just a small part of his potential, so if SEGA take a crack at bringing him into the spotlight again that would be great, as he is a big enough threat and has good motivations for his actions.

Excellent video and I'm thoroughly enjoying this mini series! Metal is such a great character and it's interesting to see how his appearances in each game differed. Heroes was definitely his moment to shine but, like you, I feel a darker tone overall would have suited it better. A story can be menacing while still aimed at children if done correctly! Also, love the humour in your videos, Mr Bean got me good 😅

Not only does Ryan Drummond need to officially return as Sonic, he should ALSO return to voice Metal Sonic again as well.

They should explore Metal by giving him a big presence like he had in Heroes. The fact he was given a voice really emphasized his point in how he wanted to prove he's the superior Sonic. If only we got to see him in combat as Neo, maybe that wouldve helped given him the edge fighting base form Sonic.

Great video. Always loved how Metal Sonic was used and depicted in this game, being a mastermind working in the shadows, collecting data of Sonic, Chaos, and Shadow to turn himself into a kaiju sized dragon robot, hearing his thoughts about his rivalry with Sonic and his superiority complex, and finding his own identity besides just being a weapon for Eggman. Plus, both of his boss themes in this game are amazing. One thing I always found interesting was that Metal chose to inprison Eggman rather than kill him. Perhaps it was because Metal needed him to make more robots for his robot kingdom, making Eggman a tool for Metal’s plans rather than the other way around. Plus, another thing is that if he wipes out all organic life and replaces them with machines, then he technically would no longer be “Metal” Sonic anymore, would he? I still wish that Metal wasn’t shown in the game’s intro, which would have made his involvement more surprising and mysterious, but that’s my only real criticism for his Heroes portrayal.

It's been a while since the previous Metal miniseries analysis video. Both Neo Metal Sonic and Shard (another version of Metal Sonic from the Archie comics) are my favorite robots. Shard's design was inspired from Metal Sonic 3.0 (Eggman Nega's version of Metal Sonic in Sonic Rivals 2). Shard has a "black-and-yellow" color scheme and shares Sonic's cocky attitude. I hope Shard will get his own analysis at some point. Keep up the good work!

I always wondered if the plot of Sonic Heroes was inspired or influenced by Fleetway's Brotherhood of Metallix arc, so I'm glad you brought it up. Tricks for easily getting the Chaos Emeralds in Heroes? What are those? I was one of the many people who never managed to grab them all back in the day. RE availability of the game, yeah I hadn't thought about it. GameCube version's locked to one piece of hardware, the Xbox release sadly isn't backward compatible on either Xbox 360 or Xbox One, the PS2 version got a PS2 Classics release on PS3, and the PC version seemingly can't run on Windows 10 without fan made patches.

Anyone else think it's a really fitting coincidence that this video was uploaded today? (10+ points if you know what I'm talking about).

Neo in the IDW comic is my favorite version of metal.

The real AceCardGaming.

I really wish they should’ve kept Metal Sonic free will like this and had him plan out his next scheme to take out Sonic and Eggman to build up his appearance in future games. That way he’s not just a generic Eggman lacky. I really hate that they made this cool Neo Metal Sonic design only to never use it again. It also would’ve neat to actually fight him in that form with the other teams and then transition to Metal Overlord with Team Sonic. There’s so much potention with Metal Sonic as well as the other Sonic Robots, but Sega rather put a bunch of restrictions on themselves that limits their creativity and potential. How unfortunate

The Neo Metal form was cool and they should have really used it more. They could have had like fighting him like that as well as him shapeshifting into the other characters as, before getting to the grand finale of the Metal Overload boss fight. Also with bringing back older games... Me: hey Sega, it's been a while since Forces came out, how about some ports of older games we've not seen for a while, as we wait for the next game? Sega: good idea! I know just the game... Sonic Colours! Me: ok... That's not really what I had in mind. What about Heroes, Unleashed, Black Knight or even Riders? Sega: wait! I've got it.. Let's re-release an up scaled version of Forces for the PS5 and X-Box Series X! Happy 30th Anniversary everyone! Me: give me strength...

They need to make Metal Sonic talk again in future games.

I don't think they really needed a darker approach (not that it would have hurt), but you can really tell there was a lot of story that was wanted to be told, but was restrained by the approach taken by the game, such as each character going through the same levels, the general lack of room to breathe between those levels etc. and Metal himself was a bit rushed at the end (one a brief appearance by Neo Metal before changing into Madness/Overlord).

I can see how the so called "target audience" would set things back from a deeper, more grittier story perspective like what was done in the Adventure series... Or at least I would if I didn't peep the SPECTACULAR nuance in this game laid right before our very eyes. The fact that Metal was made into a practically, bigger, unsuspecting, threat than we all realized or thought possible even giving him conflicting thoughts and feelings rather than his usual silent, blue, speed machine of death motif; all due to Eggman removing some restrictions on Metal's software AI providing him more "freedom" (which is also a key theme in the Sonic The Hedgehog series btw) is enough for me to be like "woah... that's deep, dude." Evil, killing machine aside, we all have to remember his intended purpose: Not just to out beat Sonic but to out - "BE" Sonic as well. Metal's stride to be the Blue Blur while killing the original is the reason why he thinks he's the real Sonic. It was all by grand design for Metal to be this way. A true testament to Eggman' genius I must say. I think the reason Metal only imprisoned him instead of outright destroying him ("target demographic" aside) or so much as chasing him away is because 1.) He wishes to prove to his creator that he is beyond capable of getting the job done now, more than Eggman ever could. 2.) He's still programmed in such a way where he can defy Eggman but he can't harm him or at least doesn't have the will or just the heart to do so. 3.) I think it's implied through out Sonic's lore (since not specifically stated in canon) that Eggman himself has some cybernetics installed in his body making him part machine so even if Metal wanted to take down Eggman he wouldn't because it would contradict with his vision of a robot empire if he destroyed that part of his then - former master. Speaking of mercy, Has anyone ever noticed how Sonic doesn't end up destroying Metal in the end after reverting him back to his default form? He just kinda hands him over to Team Dark. Sonic as a character has always empathized for sometimes even the most insidious characters of the series. Ex: Like how he decided to knock the Chaos Emeralds out of Chaos and some sense back into him by showing him how the Chao are okay and the emeralds are in good hands instead of trapping him back in the Master Emerald for prolonged concealment like Tikal suggested or how he put all his trust into Shadow with helping him stop The Ark's Bio - Lizard - cannon... uh - thing? from destroying the Earth because he finally knew Shadow's tragic backstory and wanted to help him fulfill his wish to Maria. Although not much could be said for Team Rose or Team Chaotix in terms of character progression, mainly due to Rose hardly offering anything to the plot besides Froggy & Chocola and this being Chaotix first reintroduction back into the series with not too much to work with though this game was definitely their start in the proper direction. Team Hero (mainly just Sonic) and Team Dark had some really interesting character development. Omega found camaraderie amongst Team Dark with Rouge and Shadow solidifying his place as a member of Team Dark when he agrees to help them find and thwart Eggmans' armada (with the promise of killing him of course) but in the end he just carries Metal in his arms with him and Shadow looking at each other like "Now what?" Normally Omega wouldn't hesitate to lock & load, dumping lead into this *"Worthless Consumer Model"* like he did with the Shadow Androids but here he just - doesn't. I think Omega saw how even one of Eggmans' elite can have emotions too, or something a kin to a soul, giving him a change of heart and seeing how his obsession can turn him into a monster like it did to Metal, thus sparing Metal and Eggmans' life by proxy (at least for now anyway) and finding new avenues to quell his bloody, rage filled, thirst for vengeance... such as tagging a long with Team Dark to eventually become special ops for G.U.N. eventually which is a bit strange for Shadow to do all things considered, however it could be due in part to his slight amnesia however this seems to dissipate through out Team Dark's story. (I'm gonna chock this up to him being convinced by Rouge somehow.) No, this game may not be like the Adventure series by any means but the characters are still somewhat the same - albeit a little more cheesier now but the continuation of the Adventure spirit and even bit of lore is still present somewhere just with a bigger focus on teamwork becoming the driving force behind it this time around which has always been a theme in the Sonic franchise since Sonic The Hedgehog 2. The whole development team is called *Team* Sonic for crying out loud! ...To be honest "team work" has always sounded like a cheesey phrase in my mind but its a concept that is even more integral to this series now since this game. I think the lore and gameplay of Heros should be expanded upon more, Potential sequel one day perhaps... >.> Maybe our blue, metal, boy can have his own team after learning from Sonic and his friends. (Metal Knuckles & Tails Doll ftw, baby, WOO!!!) I digress. All in all this plot devise is what would explain Metal coming back so frequently with in nearly EVERY iteration of the games because Metal isn't just some one off boss you can dismiss, he never was. In the same light as Eggman; Metal has always been a mainstay villain since his debut. What separates this version of Metal from the rest is that we finally get to see for ourselves as the player; who Metal really is, laying dormant underneath his cold, hard exterior: A conflicted, soul trying to make his own identity for himself...And so he has. A huge selling point to this robo menace is his relationship to Sonic in the series. He has almost like this deep seeded, rivalry against the old needle mouse as a opposed to Eggman' routinely - scheming, villain's doomsday device of the week vs. stoic, care free, hero - episodic, dynamic. Shown brilliantly in the Toei, Sonic OVA in the end when Metal sacrifices himself to not only save two people but also to save Sonic. Metal knew that if Sonic had went in instead of him that he would have ultimately died from the falling debris and went through the shattered ice caps leading into straight up lava. Even as Sonic is reaching out, trying to help up Metal Sonic from the rising lava as Tails and Knuckles are pleading with him not to do it in fear for their own safety; Sonic insists on saving Metal Sonic but the gesture is immediately denied with a slap away of his hand. Knowing he's too battered and broken to fully move and would only hinder Sonic and his friends from escaping their impending doom, he leaves Sonic with these final, parting words that haunts him to the core as he watches his new found rival get engulfed by the flames, incinerating him under the intense heat: *"There Is Only One Sonic"* Sonic gives Metal's existence purpose. Metal gives Sonic a fulfilling, challenge. Both giving each other meaning for their insane speeds by striving to see who's the fastest thing alive. And I say Neo encapsulates that meaning, perfectly. Sonic Heroes in my strongest opinion and heart of hearts is the defacto continuation of SA2 without having to be it's direct sequal. Where this game lacks in polish, cohesive story and high octane, adrenaline pumping, speed like the series before; It masterfully makes up for in strategic use of puzzle solving & platforming through character traits and abilities utilizing and capitalizing on one of STH most key themes throughout series... You guessed it.: Teamwork. As well as having just as good of an OST as the Adventure series, return of of at least 3 members from the Chaotix, great characterization, a decent story overall, and most of all (in regards to this video) bringing something that that Adventure series lacked... A well deserved story for one of Sonic's most interesting and coolest villains. Metal Sonic. *"ALL LIVING THINGS BOW BEFORE YOUR MASTER!!!"*

To be honest I think that a more serious approach would have done wonders to the story but they needed to make it kid friendly, and in that context it was good because it told a compelling story without it being as poor as the Colors era games were. (story wise)

Very interesting video as per usual! Hiding key things behind mini-games is frustrating! Hiding bonus information that’s not necessarily integral to the overall story would be preferable. Especially when children are playing. This is one game I’ve not played much of so really enjoyed this analysis of Neo Metal Sonic! Looking forward to the next part in this series.

Metal probably got his copy ability from emerl due to omega being model 123 and the phi being 121

Great video 😊

Also, in the IDW comics, Neo did achieve a Super Form, then with the Master Emerald (as well as Shadow's data) achieved a form named "Master Overlord". On another note, don't forget that Dr. Eggman said (during Sonic Heroes' Last Story) that even with the power of the Emeralds, the only way they could win is JUST BARELY, and even then, it would take a miracle to do so.

I would like to see Neo Metal Sonic return.

Neo Metal Sonic will forever be one of the Best Villains in the Sonic Franchise. If he were to come back in the next Sonic Game as the Main Villain and get a new Voice then I think David Sobolov would do awesome voicing this Iconic Baddie.

My take, "Age of Ultron"

I agree the darker approach wouldve been nice, but, my biggest complaint is the story being locked behind the side-games, like you said, i never got more than 2 or 3 of the emeralds as a little kid. This is the first time ive actually remembered to look this up and see the true ending stuff

Really nice analysis! If you haven't already, you should totally check out the IDW line of sonic comics, those have a really cool depiction of metal sonic in my opinion

In my opinion sonic heroes had the most menacing, villainous, and epic version of metal sonic 🤖🦔❤

I’m slowly realizing how genius and how much potential the story of sonic heroes was/has

Why does the Theme for Beast Machines (no not the intro) fits Neo so well?

4:39 Since 2017, I thought that purple orb in Sonic.T.H.4 Ep.2 D.L.C was what allowed him to transform into Neo Metal Sonic. I thought Neo Metal Sonic was stronger then normal Metal Sonic. I don’t know that was a guess.

Can you do shard the metal sonic next?

Have you watched Sonic the Hedgehog OVA, released in 1996? This is were the idea for Metal to copy Sonic's powers comes from.

8:10 yeah metal Sonic was so deep, now look at him lol poor shadow too

Sonic Heroes was Peak Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic will probably never be as badass as he was in Sonic Heroes ever again and that sucks. I used to not like Sonic Heroes very much when it first came out and even considered it to be the first game in the Dark Age of Sonic, but Sonic Heroes has grown on me a lot in recent years and now I consider it to be the last pre-Dark Age Sonic game, with Shadow's spin-off game being the first Dark Age Sonic game. And I love the fact that Sonic Heroes is not as dark and edgy as the Adventure games (ESPECIALLY Sonic Adventure 2). Don't get me wrong, I love the Adventure games and I consider them to be the best 3D Sonic games to this day, but not every Sonic game needs to be that dark. I like some darkness, but too much darkness too often makes me lose interest very fast. I think that Sonic Heroes struck a nice balance between being lighthearted and being dark. Even the colours in Sonic Heroes look brighter, more vibrant and more cartoonish than quite a few other 3D Sonic games and I love that. Also, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is not only my most favourite 2D Sonic game but also my most favourite Sonic game in general of all time. But Sonic Heroes has definitely been vindicated by history in my eyes. I never thought I'd miss that era (if you want to call it that) of Sonic, but I do.

Metal Sonic is my favourite Sonic character

I loved this video, bruh!!

Neo metal sonic should have its own series like sonic prime

Hmm yes lore of sonic heros

Will you review IDW Sonic?

This game kinda confused me when I was little😅 It was more like an investigation.

Metal Sonic peaked in this game. He was never this good again, at least in the games

Eggman needs to learn how to make better robots from henry and william.💀

Correct me if im wrong...but I think that Neo Metal Sonic is one of the first AI-generated villains. He's not controlled by Dr. Robotnik.

5:07 Whats the remix for turning the heat up used here?

Go to overclocked He is back

I disagree with the need for it to be "darker"/more mature The fact that the game is more carefree, childlike and comedic makes the tonal shifts and foreshadowing that something is not right - that this isn't a simple game about beating Dr. Eggman - all the more creepy It would be LESS creepy if the game was openly dark edgy and mature from the get-go Like imagine the first time you play a story mode as a child and get to Hang Castle Giant Eggman statue and then you invert the level AND YOU SEE IT BE NEO METAL SONIC Like c'mon, that is instantly cool and creepy at the same time. Very good foreshadowing to who the true villain of the game is, and would be ruined if the game was intentionally "dark"

Definitely wished things were darker. Especially since he looks a lot more like Shadow in his Neo form than he does Sonic. Speaking of which, did anyone else think that he was actually a Metal Shadow because of the streaks and how his ‘quills’ looked?

i was young though..... but a darker one , Reember Digimon Adventure 2 yeah DIGIMON, METALSEADRAMON the only Data Dark Master really, one that went good in 02, as a deep saver MegaSeadramon Protecting the Ocean, but Holy shit man I WAS YOUNG ad it was dark enugh for me and therefore epic enough but imagine a new MetalSonic Antagonist, in a dark 12+ PEG game Wow that'd would've bumped the NGC ign scrore to a 9.6 but seriously though XBOX anD PS2 variants really had performance issues and the coloring was, and lighting was horrible. HOWER the gamecube WAS B.E.A.YUUUTIFULLL! yeah badass? quils man he's a fucking dragon a metal dragon bent on evolving further and further taking overjust wow Just i was amazed as a kid, blown, and I love his speech , oh and i luv APERFECT CHAOS, i mean we have allot in common, esptheric shaman see me as sucha being as well often but i am a Drakonic SeaSerpent As Well, Metal is indeed no fucking pushover. MECHAZOIDS 4 LIFE *air guitars and ainga ' WHAT I'm MADE OF NOOOOAAAAW" tududududduuuududuoodoooo, like a million faces I recognized them all abnnd one by one they all beccome a number as they Fall ~as they fall, In the face reason...." Just fucking cooool. a metaldragon sanic yeah, a darker tone would'nt neccesarily have made it better, BUT it would've beeen way better then shadpow the hedgehog

Yeah, for darker, but this game was child’s play to me😅