The 2012 re-release added Metal Sonic, Doctor Robotnik, and Honey the Cat as playable characters, all previously only accessible through hacking into the original arcade version. The original arcade and 2005 release included eight playable characters: Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Espio the Chameleon, Fang the Sniper, Bean the Dynamite, and Bark the Polar Bear. They are holding a fighting tournament to determine who will take the emeralds in order to power a spaceship and stop series antagonists Doctor Robotnik and Metal Sonic from building an evil fortress in space. In the game's scenario, Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends each own one of the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic the Fighters is a 3D fighting game in which players compete in one-on-one battles with characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. It was ultimately regarded as disappointing for fans of the fighting game genre but an obscure novelty for Sonic fans. Critics praised the graphics, especially the cartoon-like animations, but criticized the gameplay as rudimentary. Sonic the Fighters received mixed reviews.

It was rereleased again in 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, featuring new playable characters and an online versus mode. The smoothness of the character animations convinced Sonic Team to approve the project and supervise it.Ī home console port for the Sega Saturn was canceled, so Sonic the Fighters did not reach home consoles until 2005 with the compilation Sonic Gems Collection for GameCube and PlayStation 2. The idea for a Sonic fighting game was conceived when a Sega AM2 programmer experimented with a 3D Sonic the Hedgehog model in Fighting Vipers. Sonic the Fighters was built using the 3D fighting engine for Fighting Vipers (1996), another game by Sega AM2, and it was the first 3D game in the Sonic series.

First released in 1996 in arcades on Sega's Model 2 arcade system, Sonic the Fighters pits players in one-on-one battles with a roster of characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Sonic the Fighters, also known as Sonic Championship on arcade versions outside Japan, is a fighting game developed by Sega AM2.

Sonic the hedgehog 2 hack