Rouge the Bat
Rouge the Bat (ルージュ・ザ・バット, Ruuju za Batto) is a determined treasure hunter and part-time government agent who plans to make all the gems and treasures of the world hers, and bases her tactics on prospective profit. Her current jewel obsessions are the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds. She made her debut in Sonic Adventure 2 and has been featured in Sonic the Hedgehog games ever since.
Rouge is 18 years old, measures 105 cm (3 ft 5 in) tall, and keeps her weight a secret[1]. Her trademark attack is the screw kick. In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Sonic Battle, and Shadow the Hedgehog, she wore a black jumpsuit with a large pink heart on the front, white gloves, and knee-high white boots with pink hearts on the toes. In Sonic Heroes, she wears a pink and purple jumpsuit, which has a pink heart on the belt buckle. In Sonic Riders she wears black pants with a white floral pattern on the legs, a black halter top, and white gloves and shoes.
Personality
Rouge is a strong-minded young woman, a fearless, ambitious, vain, flirty, manipulative, calculating female who most people see as only caring for herself and her gems. However, she has on occasion shown that she can be heroic and sympathetic. In the last few stages of Sonic Adventure 2 she helped to save the planet. In Sonic Heroes she stopped Shadow and Omega from killing each other and led Team Dark. In Sonic Battle she was sympathetic towards Shadow when he was hurt and lacked a place to stay. In Shadow the Hedgehog her missions were Hero missions, such as rescuing a Chaos Emerald from the mainframe (which was going to be deleted), destroying the evil monster Black Bull, and she assists Shadow to defeat Black Doom in GUN Fortress and tries to protect their Chaos Emerald.
However, her appearance, personality and profession as a government spy and jewel thief contradict any heroic qualities she has shown. Rouge can generally be considered an anti-hero of the developing type, for if she gave up her obsession for jewels, she could be a heroine, albeit a rather dark one.
Relationships
Knuckles
It has been confirmed by Sonic Team that Rouge has a crush on Knuckles.[1] She sees his strong loyalty towards his duties, which makes her feelings for him even stronger. He may have feelings for her as well, and blushes if she flirts with him (see right). They are possibly too stubborn and devoted to their respective jobs (jewel thief vs. protector of the Master Emerald) to act on their feelings. Recently, neither has talked to each other, perhaps because of that reason. It also makes things difficult for a relationship because of Rouge's nature towards being a government agent and thief, as well as city-smart, and Knuckles living on a stranded island away from society being the last of his kind and a guardian, not to mention rather gullible. Rouge often flirts with the others just to be a tease, adding to her already mysterious nature, but her actions towards Knuckles are somewhat genuine. Sonic X develops the relationship between them a bit further, and in the last episodes (73-78) there is a hint that she will develop further relations with Knuckles in possible later episodes.
Shadow
Rouge has a close connection to Shadow the Hedgehog. They are teammates in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, and often end up working together when they both appear. Whether the feelings between Shadow and Rouge are romantic or platonic is an opinionated conclusion, but it's certain that Rouge and Shadow at least have a friendly relationship.
In Sonic Battle, she actually calls him "not bad-looking", and lets him live with her when he lacks a place to stay; Rouge is self-centered most of the time, which makes this instance quite peculiar. Moreover, Shadow saved her life when she was trapped in Security Hall. Rouge reminds Shadow of Maria, which means she must be very important to him.
In Sonic X, when she first established the business transactions on helping Eggman and Shadow find the Chaos Emeralds, she seemed oddly interested in Shadow, calling him "charming." However, she was interested in him only because it was her mission: to find out whether or not the claims of his being the "Ultimate Life Form" were true.
Other Characters
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg?lang=en){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
Rouge flirted with Sonic in Sonic Battle to try and procure Emerl from him.
Rouge has flirted with Tails purely to tease him in Sonic Battle, and kissed him to beat him in a tournament in Sonic X.
Even though Rouge and Nack would make a great couple, the series could not have two characters with the same motive.
Game appearances
Rouge has appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 as the treasure-hunting character of the Dark Story. Rouge is the only Dark Team member to drive a car in 1P Mode. Her boss battles were Flying Dog, a GUN robot, and her rival, Knuckles. In the last level, Cannon's Core, Rouge is the third of five characters to go through the level.
In Sonic Battle, hers is the third story to be played. In it she is the owner of Club Rouge in the Night Babylon area (no relation to the Babylon Rogues from Sonic Riders). She planned to use her position as a government agent to gather information on valuable treasures. She stole Emerl from Amy Rose, in order to train him as a master thief to steal more jewels for her. She takes him back to her home, Club Rouge, and teaches him to fight security Guard Robos, evade capture and pick locks, then with his help steals a Chaos Emerald which he absorbs.
In Sonic Heroes, Rouge is the leader and flight member of Team Dark. She released Shadow from his stasis pod, and (accidently) activated E-123 Omega. Omega went berserk, but Rouge stopped Shadow and E-123 Omega from fighting, suggesting that they work together as a team to find Eggman.
She also appeared in Shadow the Hedgehog, and helps on hero missions in levels Digital Circuit, Death Ruins, and GUN Fortess. Whether it's as friend or foe is up to Shadow (and the player).
She appears in Sonic Riders as an unlockable racer. You unlock her by beating the Hero Story. Rumors mentioned from the Sonic Riders japanese website that she has competition with Wave the Swallow. A purpose for being in the game could be racing to get the Chaos Emerald from Sonic and/or Jet, sticking to her reputation as a jewel thief. She is one of only two characters who do not wear eye protection. The other is Amy Rose.
Abilities
Rouge, as a treasure hunter, has similar skills to those of her rival Knuckles (with the exception that she has a super strong lower body as opposed to his super strong upper body). Rouge can fly and glide with her wings, and her running speed matches the running speed of Knuckles but can probably fly faster.
Sonic Adventure 2
Rouge's special attacks in 2-player mode are Hip Drop, which causes a small earthquake to trip opponents, Black Wave, which confuses opponents, and Charm Ray, which freezes her opponent for 10 seconds. Since Sonic Adventure 2 had upgrading for each character, Rouge also has some upgrades to make her and her skills stronger.
- Mystic Melody: Causes something special to happen if used in front of a certain kind of strange object.
- Pick Nails: Allows her to dig through grounds and walls.
- Treasure Scope: Allows her to see invisible items.
- Iron Boots: Allows her to break metal/iron/solid items.
Sonic Heroes
While Sonic Heroes gameplay differs from other Sonic titles, Rouge's ability in this game can be enhanced by just collecting a yellow colored Power Core. Rouge has up to 3 level of powering up, just like the rest of the others.
- Level 1: stuns enemies for a longer period of time depending on the strength of the enemy.
- Level 2: when she launches a character (Shadow or Omega), it is able to destroy a targeted enemy and also enhances her attack powers
- Level 3: when she launches Shadow or Omega, they are able to attack and defeat many enemies at once.
In a fight, when her other teammates are not available, she is able to throw out dummy rings, which shock opponents.
Sonic Battle
Rouge has many different abilities, all of which can be copied by Emerl. She has low gravity, affording her considerably more air-time than any other character, uses her voice to attack, and uses a large number of kick-boxing moves.
Sonic X
In Sonic X, Rouge is a jewel thief who gets caught by the government while looking for a Chaos Emerald. Despite previous jewel thefts, they sign her on as an agent, even allowing her to keep her stolen gems. Teamed with a human named Topaz, Rouge sets out to acquire the Chaos Emeralds and challenge Dr. Eggman. She has several near misses, but never gives up. She often spies on Eggman from the rafters of his bases.
True to form, Rouge is constantly flirting with other characters. However, she often gets into heated disputes with Knuckles. Like several other characters, Rouge enters a fighting tournament with a Chaos Emerald as the prize. Managing to defeat Tails and Amy, she finds herself facing her match: Knuckles. She attempts to win by using her advantage in the dark, but in the end Knuckles won.
Rouge teams up with both Eggman and Sonic several times, seeking the side that will let her grab the Chaos Emeralds. She is often teamed with Shadow, who doesn't approve of her at all. During the Metarex war, Rouge teams up with Dr. Eggman, seeking to get the Chaos Emeralds through him.
Like in the games, Rouge is fond of heckling Knuckles, and does have a crush on him. Their friendly arguments often turn to violence, but end up with Rouge tickling Knuckles. Knuckles is also concerned for her safety, and once tended to her wounds after a battle with Robotnik's robots, receiving a kiss as a reward; also, she affectionately calls him "Knuckie". In fact, in one episode, she comments that Knuckles is cute but she's cut off.
Archie comic
Rouge has appeared in Archie's Sonic comics, but has only made a handful of appearances. For the most part, she seems to be exactly the same as her video game counterpart; however, because of the different characters in the comics, her relationships are not the same. In the comics, Knuckles already has a girlfriend, so there is no connection shown between him and Rouge (though Julie-Su shows a dislike of Rouge); as well, Shadow has only made rare appearances in the comic, and the two have never been seen together in private. Mirroring the video games, instead of Knuckles, Rouge makes a pass at Knuckles' father, Locke, in an attempt to get near the Master Emerald; though there is no suggestion that she is romantically interested in the older echidna. Instead of Shadow, Rouge then teams up with Evil Sonic, not knowing the difference between Sonic and his evil doppelgänger, in another attempt to steal the Master Emerald; after Evil Sonic makes off with a smaller gem for Rouge, they fly away to "discuss things in private". They are slated to reappear in Sonic #160, once again trying to steal the Master Emerald.
Voices
- In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes and Sonic Battle, she was voiced by Lani Minella.
- In the English Sonic X anime, she is voiced by Kathleen Delaney, who now also does the voice for Rouge in the games starting with Shadow the Hedgehog.
- Her Japanese voice actor is Rumi Ochiai.
Many fans want Lani Minella to return to the role for the games, as they find Rouge's new voice sounds too throaty and old. It is most likely that her voice sounds that way to fit the American stereotype. 4kids later stated that they were not given Rouge's official age when producing the English dub.
Theme songs
- Sonic Adventure 2, Rouge's theme song: "Fly in the Freedom".
- Sonic Heroes, Team Dark's theme song: "This Machine".
The background music for the stage Security Hall (Titled I'm a Spy) in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle is generally attributed to Rouge, despite technically having no relation to her. Like most characters, Rouge is associated with a genre of music, specifically jazz with some feminine sighs thrown in (similarly to how Knuckles is associated with the rap genre). This has led some fans to falsely believe she is African-american. However, since she is a bat, she doesn't have a race.
Notes and references
External links
- Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Rouge's profile in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
- Sonic Ultimate
- CutenCrazy
- Fly in the Freedom A fansite dedicated to Rouge the Bat