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| “ | This big ball of scrap just won't stay destroyed. | „ |
| ~ Sonic the Hedgehog about the Death Egg. |
The Death Egg is a gigantic orbital fortress constructed by the all-around mad scientist Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik and it serves as one of the well-known locations and iconic levels in the Sonic the Hedgehog videogame franchise. It is the first and most famous of the "good" Doctor's space stations. It is a massive spherical space station and iconically resembles the face of Doctor Eggman himself, with concave eye-sockets and a mustache rendered in kilometers of vacuum-hardened plasma-steel. Hosting some of the Doctor's most deadly creations of all time (as well as being one itself), this vast stronghold serves as the scientist's final base in the early Sega Genesis-era Sonic the Hedgehog games. It is also sometimes known as the "Death Egg Zone".
History
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
The entire plot of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3), and Sonic & Knuckles is driven by Sonic and Tails' efforts to destroy the original version of this space station which was once also dubbed "Death Egg I" and preventing the mad genius from using the Chaos Emeralds to power it up. Doctor Robotnik's greatest work is, however, robust stuff - over the course of those 3 games, the Death Egg survives a fall from space and a failed launch, and still makes it back into orbit eventually. Although the original battle station is destroyed during the Death Egg Zone level of Sonic & Knuckles, Doctor Robotnik has designed new iterations of the facility in later games.
The first appearance of the Death Egg was as the 11th and final stage of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. After the Wing Fortress's destruction and hitching a ride to space aboard Robotnik's fleeing rocket, Sonic makes his way inside the battle station and battles Mecha Sonic and then Dr. Robotnik himself in his Death Egg Robot. There are no Rings in the zone.
After defeating Robotnik, the Death Egg began to self-destruct and Sonic escapes by hurling himself out of an airlock into space. Sonic survives (either by being caught by Tails on the Tornado or, if the player has all 7 Chaos Emeralds, by turning into Super Sonic and flying to safety) and the Death Egg plummets back to Earth. In the Christian-West iOS version of the game, collecting all 7 Chaos Emeralds will show the Death Egg on a collision course with Angel Island (clearly intended to foreshadow Sonic the Hedgehog 3).
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the Death Egg crashes on the floating Angel Island, forcing it into the ocean. In an attempt to repair the Death Egg, Robotnik tricks local guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles the Echidna, into collecting the Chaos Emeralds (currently in the possession of Sonic and Tails) for him, to use them to power the ship. Robotnik and Knuckles then team up to defeat Sonic, but the hedgehog repeatedly evades Knuckles' traps and defeats Robotnik's boss machines. According to the story in the Japanese manual, Knuckles, shortly before meeting the Doctor, found the Death Egg in the lake in the aftermath of the crash (which caused the Master Emerald to teleport away), and speculated it might have been the egg of a legendary dragon-like creature inscribed on the Master Emerald's altar that was rumored to bring about the end of the world.
The background of Launch Base Zone act 1, where Death Egg can be seen being under repairs during the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 storyline.
Robotnik attempts to re-launch the Death Egg, having constructed a Launch Base around the crash site. Rocket engines were seen attached to the Death Egg during its launch, which apparently helped it with its launch. These engines were presumably jettisoned when it reached a high enough altitude. However, Sonic makes it onto the Death Egg as it rises and defeats Robotnik in multiple boss machines (including the Big Arm), sending the Death Egg falling back to the island.
Sonic & Knuckles
In Sonic & Knuckles, after its failed launch from the Launch Base on Angel Island, the Death Egg crashes back onto a volcano on the island, over the Lava Reef Zone. In a last ditch-effort to fix the Death Egg, Robotnik steals the Master Emerald from Knuckles, making Knuckles realize at last that Robotnik is the real villain and that Sonic and Tails are trying to help. Knuckles shows Sonic to a teleportation device that takes him to the Sky Sanctuary Zone. As Sonic makes his way up the floating, crumbling ruins, the Death Egg rises in the distance, releasing numerous Eggrobos that Sonic must get past. Finally, Sonic leaps onto the rising Death Egg from a tall pillar that disintegrates beneath him even as he climbs it.
Inside the Death Egg, Sonic navigates a horrendous zone full of rocket launchers, electrical hazards, and Badniks. Instead of a single mini-boss, as in the rest of the game (except Flying Battery), Sonic has to face two. Firstly Red Eye, then after act two, the Death Ball, controlled by the doctor himself, who stands out of harm's way, controlling his latest contraption with a control board of sorts.
Sonic then faces off against a giant mech named Kyodai Eggman Robo. This giant robot looks like an Eggrobo for the most part, except for its staggering size; its eye is as big as Sonic! Sonic destroys the Robo's hands, then defeats it by attacking its Master Emerald power source inside its chest. Defeating Kyodai Eggman Robo causes Eggman to flee with the Master Emerald (while explosions on mech have started to affect to Death Egg) with Sonic in hot pursuit. Sonic manages to transform to Super form and start the space chase with Eggman in The Doomsday Zone, as the Death Egg has gotten completely destroyed.
Sonic Drift 2
The Death Egg is the setting of the final racecourse in Sonic Drift 2 for the Sega Game Gear. This stage, constructed on the surface of the space station, is the sixth track of the Blue Grand Prix (Blue being the hardest of the three available tournaments), coming after Milky Way (at the end of course player can see to coming across Death Egg), and also serves as the venue for the Final GP, a two-car battle around just this one course. The race has three laps and the winner gets a Chaos Emerald.
Sonic Battle
In Sonic Battle, another Death Egg makes a brief appearance at the end, although it is just a small arena for the game's final bosses, Doctor Robotnik himself and then a berserk Emerl. The arena is completely open, and requires strong attacks to compensate for the lack of shelter.
This incarnation of the satellite is equipped with the Final Egg Blaster, a powerful laser capable of destroying stars or planets.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and its sequel Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, there is a track called "Egg Hangar" that is a DLC course (for the former) based in the Death Egg. Ristar also makes a cameo appearance on the first game.
Sonic Generations
The Death Egg returns in Sonic Generations and can be seen in the background of Sky Sanctuary. Like in the original zone of Sonic & Knuckles, Eggrobos come out of it at the beginning of Classic Sonic's act. The Death Egg can also be seen before the Death Egg Robot boss fight, which takes place in the timeline of Sonic the Hedgehog.
The Death Egg has slightly different appearance in Sonic Generations, mainly the large smile on its "face".
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed
Death Egg can be seen in the background of Sanctuary Falls in Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed, which takes place to the Sky Sanctuary Zone.
Sonic Runners
The Death Egg appears as a companion in the mobile game Sonic Runners. It is available during Sonic's 24th Birthday celebration.
Sonic Forces
The Death Egg made an appearance in Sonic Forces during which it served as not only as a headquarters for the Eggman Empire but also as a prison for Sonic the Hedgehog after he was defeated by Infinite. Sonic was tortured and remained a captive aboard the Death Egg for six months until the Resistance learnt of his survival and cut the station’s power to help him escape. The Death Egg was later destroyed after the Resistance also discovered that the station was used as a power source for the Phantom Ruby.
Other Space Stations
Although they are not named "Death Egg", several of Robotnik's other orbital facilities are clearly designed along the same lines as the original station. See the main articles for more details on these similar stations:
- Silver Castle Zone, which looks a lot like the Death Egg when falling in the ending, is the final zone in Sonic Blast.
- Egg Utopia, from Sonic Advance 2.
- Dead Line, from Sonic Rush.
- E.G.G. Station Zone, from Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I.
Related space stations
Death Egg II
Sonic the Fighters features the appearance of the Death Egg II. Sonic and friends have a tournament to see who gets to fly up to it and destroy it. The player's character of choice flies up and has a fight with Metal Sonic, followed by Robotnik. After defeating the scientist, the Death Egg II explodes, and the game ends. The central sphere seems to have an Eggrobo face rather than a Robotnik face, and bears quite a resemblance to the Death Star from Star Wars.
The stages Death Egg's Eye and Death Egg's Hangar both take place aboard the Death Egg.
Space Colony ARK
While Dr. Eggman may have been taking inspiration from his initial space station in designing the cosmic fortresses in his "career", it seems that even the first Death Egg was never entirely his own idea. In Sonic Adventure 2, Space Colony ARK , an orbital research facility designed and built over 50 years ago by Ivo's grandfather Professor Gerald Robotnik. The ARK is fairly similar to the Death Egg(s), with the exception that the actual structure is a hemisphere as opposed to the Death Egg's full sphere. On the 'face' of the ARK lies a super-weapon named the Eclipse Cannon, which, when viewed from below, makes the space station resemble Professor Robotnik's face in the same manner as the Death Egg resembles his grandson.
Death Egg Mk.II
The Death Egg casts a shadow throughout the entire story of Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Though a similar space station appears as the final location of Episode I, the true Death Egg makes a comeback in the later half of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II as the Death Egg Mk. II. This new Death Egg appears as a mechanized version of Little Planet—Literally, the entire station is built around it. While it retains many characteristics of its predecessor, the Death Egg Mk. II is still under construction and still very much incomplete. It can be seen in the Act 3's night background of Sylvania Castle Zone as well as White Park Zone. The Death Egg Mk. II is shown to have a fleet of smaller, mass-produced stations which resemble the E.G.G. Station Zone.
After beating Metal Sonic in the Sky Fortress Zone, Eggman ditches his damaged airship and decides to retreat to his new space station with Metal Sonic while Sonic and Tails following them in an escape pod. Inside Death Egg Mk. II Sonic once again races his mechanical doppelganger only this time with Tails by his side. The duo then confronts Robotnik in the heart of the Death Egg, facing his latest creation. Upon being defeated, the new Death Egg begins to suffer massive internal damage and can be seen shutting down in space. Luckily, Sonic and Tails manage to escape at the last moment crashing down to Earth in the evil doctor's escape pods.
Appearances in other media
Sonic the Comic
The Death Egg appears in the UK Sonic the Comic, which remained mostly true to the videogame portrayal, apart from specifying the Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 space-stations as separate entities (a necessary plot device, as the total destruction of the Sonic 2 iteration had been shown in some detail within the comics). Also, the Death Egg's impact did not cause the Floating Island to splashdown into the sea.
The station's backstory is the same as that which appears in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the events of which occurred some time before the first issue of the series. The events of the game are alluded to in Sonic the Comic #27, "Part 2: A Tale of Tails". In particular, the Mecha Sonic and Robotnik mechs are known to have existed on the satellite. After Sonic defeated Robotnik in this game, the space station was abandoned.
Some time later, the Death Egg's orbit began to degrade and the Kintobor Computer projected that it would crash in the Emerald Hill Zone. Sonic and Tails returned to the space station, which was in a state of great disrepair. They also encountered a heavily damaged (but still functional) Mecha Sonic, which Sonic destroyed by kicking off its head. Sonic was able to pilot the Death Egg to crash in the ocean, and the two escaped in an escape pod.
Eventually, Robotnik constructed a new space station, called the Death Egg II, but it fell out of orbit on its first flight (while Robotnik was still aboard) and landed in the Ice Cap Zone on the Floating Island. The crash site was discovered by Knuckles the Echidna, whom Robotnik tricked into believing that he was a humble scientist and that Sonic was the true threat. Knuckles allowed Robotnik to set up his Launch Base Zone on the Floating Island, but after discovering Robotnik's true nature, he sought to destroy the base, the Death Egg and everything else Robotnik had brought to the island.
Nevertheless, Robotnik continued to rebuild the Death Egg, even transporting a new thruster from his bases on Mobius. This new version of the Death Egg was also able to hover at relatively low altitudes over Mobius, and was equipped with Death Rays in its eyes.
When the repairs were complete, Robotnik sent Metallix to steal the Master Emerald for him to use as a power source. Although Metallix was destroyed by Super Sonic, it nevertheless succeeded in delivering the Master Emerald, allowing the launch to proceed. Robotnik planned to use the ultimate weapon to destroy the Emerald Hill Zone. In an attempt to stop him and recover the Master Emerald, Sonic infiltrated the Death Egg, destroying an army of EggRobos and smashing in through a window. Meanwhile, Knuckles activated the Floating Island's ancient control systems, using its limited remaining Chaos Energy to pilot the Floating Island towards the Death Egg, and then fire a succession of powerful energy blasts into the space station's hull. These attacks crippled the station, and gave Sonic the distraction he needed to recover the Emerald, thereby also depriving the Death Egg of its power source. The Death Egg, utterly finished, plummeted back down to the surface of Mobius, although Robotnik and his armies were able to escape.
Archie Comics
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, the Death Egg has a three-issue story, fittingly titled the "Death Egg Saga".
The Death Egg was a massive airborne weapon created by Dr. Ivo Robotnik in 3235. Its differences from the games in shape are that the Death Egg is actually shaped more like an egg than a sphere, and its function is acting as a mass-Roboticizer, capable of converting all life on Mobius. Although it successfully made it airborne, the Death Egg met with destruction when Tails set it to self-destruct while Robotnik was distracted battling Sonic.
The Death Egg's development began some time in mid-3235. Production of the super weapon fell behind schedule when Robotropolis was struck by a massive earthquake. Shortly afterwards however Robotnik ensured that his SWATbot work force picked up the pace and completed the Death Egg on schedule. Following the Mecha Sonic fiasco, the Death Egg was ready to ascend into the sky. Dr. Robotnik left his nephew Snively in charge of the city's reconstruction efforts (the city was almost completely destroyed when Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles smashed into it causing a mini nuclear blast) while he personally oversaw the Death Egg's launch.
Long after Robotnik was destroyed, his successor Dr. Eggman went into hiding for many issues of the comic book series after recovering from insanity. It was eventually revealed in issue 224 that he was working on the latest Death Egg and that it was all part of his plan to defeat Sonic. This version of the weapon was originally known as the Death Egg Mark II but it's name was changed to the Death Egg after reality was permanently rewritten. Eggman's Death Egg is also known to cause an phenomenon called the Genesis Wave.
Trivia
- In one of the 2 Japanese commercials with traditional animation for the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, featured Sonic flying a space shuttle and directly firing to the Eggman-looking space station which a couple of seconds later explodes. It is possible that this space station could be later used as a basis of the Death Egg. The commercial can be viewed in Sonic Jam.
- The Death Egg is an obvious reference to and iconic parody of the Death Star, the Galatic Empire's giant planet-destroying battle station from the Star Wars movies (specifically A New Hope and Return of the Jedi). Unlike the Death Egg, the much larger and better-equipped Death Stars had colossal amounts of weaponry, including a single superlaser capable of destroying an entire planet.
- The Death Egg Mark II, likewise, is a reference to the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi, down to it being constructed in close proximity to a forested planet (in this case, the Little Planet), was much larger than its predecessor and possessing a generator around one part of the ship that was implied to be not completed yet.
- The Death Egg depicted in Sonic Battle actually one-ups the Death Star by being armed with the Final Egg Blaster which can not only destroy entire planets, but entire star clusters with a single shot.
- When Knuckles attacked Sonic in Lava Reef Zone, the next act shows Sonic on a platform with the Death Egg in the background where its eyes light up and the whole place becomes covered in a white flash. When everything becomes visible again the whole volcano is shown to be mildly active again, with pieces of the Zone becoming fragile and floating among the Lava and effectively making the Boss fight with Robotnik more difficult.
- The Death Egg is seen in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 from the outside only once, as it is illustrated at the emblem which was featured at the level select.
- When Dr. Eggman uses his All-Star Move in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, he gets surrounded by a red force field that resembles the Death Egg.
- The Death Egg was first featured in the videogame Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and later reappeared Sonic the Hedgheog 3 and again in Sonic & Knuckles, with a second version appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog 4, and the same craft or new ones appearing in subsequent games. In the Archie Sonic comics, Due to the effects of the Super Genesis Wave, the history of the various Death Eggs more closely matches those of their game counterparts, though with various exceptions. Head writer Ian Flynn, in response to a fan query, noted that at least two or three Death Eggs have existed in the reboot reality, possibly more.
- As far as abilities go, the Death Egg had a precedent in the comics within the Pre-Super Genesis Wave timeline. Robostorm was a space platform capable of launching powerful rays capable of roboticizing anything within a 100-mile radius of whatever they hit.
- Unlike Robostorm, the Death Egg was never known for jamming television airwaves with endless infomercials.
- Despite the Death Egg was different in design than the original, the original Death Egg appears on the cover of the Mk 2's debut appearance.
- The Death Egg Mark II has a striking resemblance with the Death Egg from Fleetway's Sonic the Comic.