Sonic Team USA's Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka led the game's 20-month development.

The team revived elements not seen since the Genesis Sonic games, such as special stages and the Chaotix characters.

Critics praised the focus on fast gameplay and similarities to the series' original 2D entries, a choice that some considered an improvement from the Sonic Adventure games.

In it, series antagonist Doctor Eggman threatens to use a weapon to destroy the world and sends out legions of robots.

Four groups of three characters from the franchise's history separately team up to put a stop to Eggman's plans.

[8] Teams contain three character types: Speed (such as Sonic), Flight (such as Tails), and Power (such as Knuckles), which the player toggles between.

[8] Speed characters can perform attacks that allow them to lock onto enemies and objects, dash across lines of rings, and can form whirlwinds to climb up poles.

[9] In special stages, players dash across a tube, collecting spheres containing boost power while avoiding obstacles.

[9]Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles receive a letter from Doctor Eggman, telling them that in three days, he will launch his Egg Fleet in an attempt to take over the world, challenging them to stop him.

Rouge infiltrates one of Eggman's bases, where she is surprised to discover Shadow, last seen falling from the Space Colony ARK, asleep in a pod.

The Chaotix Detective Agency (Vector, Espio and Charmy) receive a job offer from a mysterious client, where they execute a series of tasks to prove themselves.

The four teams chase down Eggman through various zones, crossing paths with each other at several points, until they all end up on the Egg Fleet.

Using the data he collected from observing all the teams in action and the power of Chaos copied from Froggy and Chocola, he transforms into his ultimate state, the "Metal Overlord".

Using the power of the Chaos Emeralds all the teams had collected, they work together to take down Metal, with Sonic turning Super (accompanied by Tails and Knuckles) to defeat him.

[11] Development was led by producer Yuji Naka and director/lead designer Takashi Iizuka,[11][12] and lasted 20 months.

[10] Iizuka said the development period of Sonic Heroes was the most stressful of his career because of deadlines and Sega management.

A fellow designer became ill, so he worked relentlessly, lost 22 pounds (10 kg), and suffered from insomnia.

Sega's Noah Musler explained that running the PS2 version at 60 FPS would have caused performance problems.

[10] Iizuka stated Sonic Team had a considerable amount of freedom in designing the game due to its new scope.

The theme songs for each team were performed by Ted Poley, Tony Harnell, Kay Hanley, Julien-K, and Gunnar Nelson.

[3] Sega released Sonic Heroes in Japan on December 30, 2003, two weeks later than intended, to ensure there were "no compromises" in the final product.

[24] The game was rereleased through the Sonic PC Collection for Windows on October 2, 2009,[25] and the PS2 Classics line for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) on February 22, 2012.

[4] Although GameSpot thought the graphics were not much of an improvement from previous games—comparing them to "a glorified Dreamcast game"—they still praised its steady frame rate, art design, and vibrant colors.

[8] In regards to the soundtrack, Game Revolution found it upbeat and catchy, offering particular praise for the music of Bingo Highway.

It's an enjoyable throwback to the Genesis era, when Sonic was all about speed, running circles around Mario, collecting rings while Nintendo's plumber searched high and low for his shape-altering mushrooms.

While Eurogamer argued Sonic Heroes was not difficult,[8] Game Revolution described it as hard to a fault, exclaiming they "[died] all the time.

But while in Heroes you occasionally come to a fork in the road, you are likely to find yourself running basically the same trail every time you go through a level.

[49] In 2017 series retrospective, USgamer ranked Sonic Heroes among the franchise's bottom half of games.

[52] The Seaside Hill level reappears in the 20th anniversary game Sonic Generations for PS3, Xbox 360, and Windows,[53] while the Nintendo 3DS version includes the special stages[54] and the Egg Emperor boss fight.

[55] In the game's remaster, Sonic X Shadow Generations, the Rail Canyon level and Metal Overlord boss fight return.