Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ending explained – how it sets up Sonic 3

The film speeds along at a pace even the blue speedster himself would be proud of, and culminates in an epic battle sequence that will be especially appealing to fans of the games.

And with a third film already confirmed by Paramount, you might be wondering how the events of the climax set up the next instalment in the franchise – read on for everything you need to know.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ending explained

Once again, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 pits our spiky hero against his great nemesis Doctor Robotnik – only this time they're each joined by a new ally.

Sonic teams up with Tails, a flying fox with great admiration for him, while Robotnik allies with Knuckles – a super-strong but rather dim-witted echidna who helps him escape his exile on the mushroom planet.

Robotnik and his new sidekick have big plans to get their hands on the all-powerful Master Emerald – although their motivations differ slightly – and it falls to Sonic and Tails to put a stop to them, which leads to a high-octane chase across various locales.

Anyway, towards the end of the runtime, Robotnik aims to see off his nemesis by using the Death Egg Robot – a massive object which is lifted from the games.

Unfortunately for the villain, he is partly undone by his own greed: he betrays Knuckles by trying to steal the Master Emerald for himself, which causes the echidna to switch sides and join forces with Sonic and Tails.

In the ensuing battle, the Master Emerald breaks up into seven Chaos Emeralds, and this allows Sonic to go into Super-Sonic mode – which sees him transforming into a version of himself with far greater powers and strengths.

Thankfully this is enough for him to see off the challenge of his foe and the danger is averted, at least for now.

In the final scenes, we see that human characters Tom and Maddie Wachowski have taken in both Tails and Knuckles alongside Sonic, and we watch them all bond over a game of baseball.

But there's one more surprise during the end credits – as we see the appearance of another villain from the games: Shadow the Hedgehog. Presumably, he'll be doing battle with Sonic and co in the next film...

Who is Shadow the Hedgehog?

A character from the games who first appeared in 2001's Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow is originally created by Gerald Robotnik (the grandfather of Doctor Robotnik) as the "Ultimate Life Form", developed from the DNA of another antagonist, Black Doom.

To begin with, his creation was supposedly an attempt to find a way to cure various deadly illnesses, but he was soon deemed a threat to humanity and captured by the military before being put into stasis.

Fast forward 50 years and Doctor Robotnik realises that Shadow could come in very useful for him in his attempts to control the universe, and so he decides to release him and form an alliance – although Shadow has an agenda of his own quite separate from Robotnik's plans.

The character is essentially a much darker version of Sonic – able to match him in both speed and skill and possessing the same sharp-witted nature.

Although primarily serving as a rival to Sonic, he has occasionally also allied with him, so it remains to be seen what his involvement will be in the third film.

It seems very likely that he will be going up against Sonic though – at least to begin with.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is currently showing in UK cinemas. If you’re looking for something to watch, check out our TV Guide or check out our Movies hub for all the latest news and features.

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