The Ground, Air, and Defend settings are chosen at the beginning of the match, and every time the player respawns.

However, if they chose to defend against that type of special, or successfully block, their Ichikoro Gauge will be filled instantly.

By defeating opponents in the Story Mode, the player will gain "skill cards", which Emerl can equip to customize his moveset and utilize other characters' abilities.

The only mini-game available at the beginning of the game is "Soniclash", in which players try to knock their opponents off the fighting arena to gather points.

Eggman attempts to get the dormant Gizoid to work properly, but is unsuccessful and abandons it at Emerald Beach.

Through his encounters with Miles "Tails" Prower, Rouge The Bat, Knuckles The Echidna, Amy Rose, Cream The Rabbit, and Shadow The Hedgehog, Emerl learns of the world and of concepts like friendship.

While searching, they are repeatedly attacked by the forces of Eggman, who now wants to retrieve the weapon, including a rebuilt E-102 Gamma and a series of imperfect Emerl duplicates under the name "E-121 Phi".

Sonic defeats Emerl, who briefly reverts to his previous personality and bids his friends farewell before overloading with energy and exploding, leaving the shards of the Chaos Emeralds he acquired behind.

[3][4] The game was released in late-2003 in Japan as part of the "Year of Sonic",[5] and early-2004 by THQ in the United States following a deal between both companies.

[8] While some critics praised the game's "surprisingly deep arena-fighting gameplay", graphics, and multiplayer mode, others dismissed it for its "limited moveset" and use of 2D sprites on a 3D fighting arena.

"[13] GameSpy also gave a positive review, saying "A solid and pleasantly deep arena beat-'em-up with lots of longevity, and though the presence of the Hedgehog and his posse adds absolutely nothing to the game, it's nice to see them getting work in these tough economic times.

"[12] Nintendo Power gave a more mixed review, saying, "Moves are limited, but the overall experience is tons of fun.