Sonic Storybook Series

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The Sonic Storybook Series is a spinoff trilogy to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, whose stories are modeled after classic literature, with Sonic and friends as main characters of the story.

So far, two entries in the series have been released on Nintendo's Wii console, with a third upcoming:

• Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007), based on 1001 Nights: Came about due to the time issues with attempting to port |Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 for the Nintendo Wii, in time for launch.
• Sonic and the Black Knight (2009), based on the legend of King Arthur

Tropes used in Sonic Storybook Series include:

Tropes present in both titles include:

• Calling Your Attacks: "Speed Break!" "Time Break!"
• Canon Foreigner
• Character Customization
• Character Name and the Noun Phrase
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: None of the characters introduced ever reappear in any other games.
• Continuity Nod: When Merlina calls Sonic to her world, she uses the same spell that Erazor did when summoning the Ifrit, albeit very slightly modified. It's quite weird, given that the spell in question roughly translates to "Satan Arrive!". Our Hero, ladies and gentlemen!
  • Sonic sure loves them Chilidogs.
• Eleventh-Hour Superpower: New ones, unique to each game.
• Exposition Fairy: Shahra and Caliburn.
• Furry Confusion
• Mad Lib Fantasy Title
• Nitro Boost: The Speed Break/Soul Surge.
• Recycled in Space
• Taken for Granite: Gargoyles in Secret Rings and and fish-like Knights of the Underworld in Black Knight are capable of turning Sonic to stone. Oddly enough, it's instantly fatal in Black Knight without the Stone Brooch or Petrification immunity equipped, but is not fatal in Secret Rings -- you just have to shake the Wii Remote to break free.
• Underground Level
• Universal Adaptor Cast: All of the recurring series characters, except Sonic himself.
  • Sonic himself does end up playing a role of one of the characters, though he retains his own personality regardless. It's implied in Sonic and the Secret Rings that Sonic is standing in for Aladdin; in Sonic and the Black Knight, it's revealed in the ending that Sonic is the true King Arthur (the one fought earlier was a fake created by Merlin.)

Tropes exclusive to Secret Rings:

• Arabian Nights Days
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Darkspine Sonic.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: This was likely the reason why Shahra sacrificed herself for Sonic's sake and did not jump to Erazor's defense whilst he was dooming him to his eternal prison. Sonic was probably the first master who treated her with genuine kindness and concern, who didn't disrespect her or treat her like magical property who can fulfill his wildest dreams.
• Bleak Level: Skeleton Dome.
• Body Horror: The horrifyingly painful transformation Erazor goes through when he absorbs the world rings.
• Book Ends: Sonic's first and last wishes are for handkerchiefs.
• Bottomless Pits: Levitated Ruin appears to consist of mostly this, but it's actually pretty hard to fall off due to invisible walls. Oh, you can lose rings alright...
• Catching Some Zs: Sonic's snoring is subtitled as Z's.
• Chekhov's Gun: The item Shahra gives Sonic after gaining the World Ring in Levitated Ruin turns out to be Erazor's lamp, which he turns on him in the ending.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Darkspine Sonic. Whilst his appearance gives off vibes of great evil (Purple-Indigo color scheme, No Mouth, blank pupil-less Glowing Eyes of Doom), this definitely isn't the case regarding his personality and actions. Whilst undoubtedly vicious, Darkspine is also palpably dependent on Shahra.
• Don't Call Me "Sir"!: Sonic will not be addressed as 'Master'.
• Excited Episode Title: Used for the minigames.
• Fire of Comfort: Sonic's (Presumed) house has a pretty comfortable-looking fireplace.
• Fog Feet: Shahra appears like this for most of the opening cutscene.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Darkspine Sonic beats the ever-loving crap out of Alf Layla Wa-Layla using his bare feet and fists and wearing absolutely nothing but the rings on his wrists and ankles.
  • Then again, all he wears under normal circumstances is his trademark gloves and shoes.
  • Besides, it's not like he's actually drawn with any visible genitalia.
• Gang Plank Galleon: Pirate Storm.
• Genie in a Bottle
• Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: King Solomon's eyes appear like this.
• Good Is Not Nice: Sonic painfully inflicting wishes upon Erazor, as well as sealing him away in his lamp forever would come off as chilling (especially in comparison to his treatment of Chaos) if Erazor hadn't been established as a truly evil being throughout the game.
• Good Morning, Crono: Happens at the beginning with Shahra trying to wake up Sonic. Give the poor guy credit, though; it was 2:55 in the morning!
• Guttural Growler: Darkspine Sonic has a very sinister angry growl of a voice.
• Heartbeat Soundtrack: Plays whenever Time Break is used.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Shahra dies saving Sonic from being killed by Erazor. Fortunately, she gets better.
• Incendiary Exponent: Sonic is literally on fire throughout pretty much the entirety of the game due to the Flame Arrow sticking out of his chest.
• Instant Waking Skills: Sonic in the opening cutscene though the shock of seeing Shahra for the first time may have contributed to his sudden wakefulness.
• Killed Off for Real: Erazor is baked alive in lava.
• Lampshade Hanging: The "Sonic Faceplanting" Running Gag appears to have been played with in the cutscene before entering Night Palace. Sonic comes this close to kissing the floor, but corrects himself in the nick of time, most likely for the sake of Rule of Cool.
• Lethal Lava Land: Evil Foundry.
• Levels Take Flight: Levitated Ruin is set on a flock of rukhs. The stage gets its name because they carry the ruins of small cities on their backs.
• Literal Genie: Shahra is actually this, as shown by Sonic's first and third wish. It's less noticeable because Sonic is probably Genre Savvy, and definitely doesn't care.
• MacGuffin Delivery Service
• Magic Carpet: Used by Sonic and Shahra in several cutscenes, as well as in one part of Night Palace's first mission.
• Marked Change: Darkspine Sonic.
• Meaningful Echo: Sonic's last wish of handkerchiefs for Shahra is a throwback to his very first wish.
• Mineral MacGuffin: The World Rings.
• Morton's Fork: Basically, no matter what Sonic does, he'll lose. Either he gives the World Rings to Erazor hoping to have his flame arrow removed whilst juggling with the idea that Erazor will use him as a sacrifice to gain true control of the Rings, or he doesn't and the flame arrow kills him anyway. Lucky that Shahra threw a wrench into his works via self-sacrifice, preventing Erazor gaining true control of the World Rings and bringing about a series of events that ultimately worked in Sonic's favor.
• Mundane Wish: Sonic's first wish after being asked what he wants by Shahra? Handkerchiefs. Though to be fair, he was in desperate need of some at the time because of a sneezing fit caused by a cold he had come down with a day before.
• Nintendo Hard: The later missions are all insanely hard, and mostly consist of the Avoid the Pearls/No Damage/X Ring Chain variety with crazy obstacles. They're optional, however.
• One-Winged Angel: Erazor has a rare non-inflicted version happen to himself when he absorbs the world rings.
• Open Sesame: Sonic tries uttering this at the World Ring door. It doesn't work.
• Our Genies Are Different: Shahra, Erazor, and the other Djinn.
• Pinky Swear: Sonic does this with Shahra, promising that he'll have her smiling by the end of their adventure.
• Portal Book
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Darkspine Sonic has quite long, downward-pointing quills.
• Punny Name: Erazor Djinn, who uses a giant straightrazor as a sword.
  • Erazor = Eraser; he wants to erase the stories of the Arabian Nights.
• Prehistoria: Dinosaur Jungle.
• RPG Elements
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Erazor was sealed inside his lamp by King Solomon some time before the story starts. He manages to escape after granting the wishes of one thousand people, just to cause even more mayhem. Sonic manages to reseal him inside his lamp and finish him off once and for all.
• Shifting Sand Land: Sand Oasis.
• Super Mode: Darkspine Sonic, a result of Sonic absorbing the green, red, and purple World Rings to fight the mutated Erazor.
• Taking the Bullet: Used twice throughout the story:
  • After the initial Lost Prologue missions, where Sonic takes a flaming arrow to the chest for Shahra.
  • Right before the final fight, where Shahra takes a fatal blow from Erazor's sword to protect Sonic.
• The Gloves Come Off: Darkspine Sonic's entire attitude when it comes to fighting Alf Layla Wa-Layla.
• The Power of Hate: One of the World Rings Darkspine Sonic used to transform was the Green one, which contains hatred. Therefore, Darkspine is effectively powered by hatred.
• The Worsening Curse Mark: The size of the flame on Sonic's chest is directly proportionate to how much time he has left until it extinguishes along with his life force. Near the end of the game, it is tiny.
• Working Through the Cold: Sonic has a cold. At least in the beginning of the story. But it doesn't stop him from going on an adventure to save the Arabian Nights storybook.
• Working Title: It was first called Sonic: Wild Fire.
• Wreathed in Flames: Two words: Speed Break.
• Villainous Breakdown: Erazor when Sonic is permanently sealing him inside his lamp.

Erazor: "Shahra, I know you're there! Please, stop him! We can start over, the two of us! I swear! I swear it! The world is mine! I cannot be denied by that filthy rat! Whyyyyy?!"

--

Tropes exclusive to Black Knight:

• Absentee Actor: Eggman doesn't appear at all. It's essentially the only Sonic game he doesn't have a part in.
• An Aesop
• Awesome Moment of Crowning
• BFS: King Arthur's sword, the Deathcalibur.
  • The final boss, Merlina/The Dark Queen, has four gargantuan swords used to fight Sonic.
  • Whilst Sonic, Gawain, Percival, and Lancelot's swords are normal sized, they're still longer than the characters are tall.
  • Don't forget Excalibur.
• Big No: Sonic does this when Caliburn is bisected by the Dark Queen.
  • And when he loses his chili dog at the beginning.
• Blade Brake: All the player characters can do this.
• Cavalier Consumption: Sonic seems more interested in eating his Chili Dog(s) than taking Arthur and his Mooks seriously.
• Chest Monster
• Continuity Nod: Black Knight has a few instances in the levels where Sonic talks about past experiences that that something reminds him of.
• Crying Little Kid: Played with. Sonic does stumble across a child weeping over her parents and fellow townspeople being kidnapped by a dragon, but it turns out that the child is really Nimue in disguise, employing a test to see what Sonic would do. He passes with flying colours.
• Dark Reprise
• Deadpan Snarker: Caliburn.

Caliburn: ...Onward, young knave! Sonic: Stop calling me that! I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! Caliburn: Very well, then. I shall call you 'Knave the Hedgehog'.

• The Dragon
• Driven to Suicide: Knuckles/Gawain, after losing to Sonic in a duel. Sonic confiscates his sword before he can go through with it.
  • Surprising that it worked, considering the bullet directly beneath this one. Confiscating one sword shouldn't have done much good, since Gawain/Knuckles wields two...
• Dual-Wielding: Knuckles/Gawain has two swords.
• Excalibur in the Stone: Subverted: It seems that the two are separate swords at first, but then it's revealed that Caliburn (which Sonic has been carrying around the entire game) is actually the true Excalibur.
• Fish Out of Water
• Get Back Here Boss: King Arthur. Ironically, he says to Sonic, "Seems like the only thing you're good for is running away."
• God Save Us From the Queen: Merlina's corrupt alter ego Dark Queen.
• Instant Armor: Excalibur-Sonic gets this during his transformation.
• Let's Play: By pokecapn, medibot, Kung Fu Jesus, and IlluminatusVespucci. There's also one by Hellfire Commentaries.
• The Middle Ages
• My Master, Right or Wrong: The Royal Knights, particularly Lancelot. Gawain and Percival have more reservations.
• Mythology Gag: When you are on the character select screen right before starting a level in one-player mode, Sonic's thumbs-up pose looks very similar to his official render in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
• Noob Bridge: The Will-O-Wisps are glowing blue orbs of energy that explode and can hurt you when hit. You're supposed to use the "kick" mechanic to kick them into things. Thing is, that mechanic is only really used twice in the main game, and those instances are easy to miss, so you might not even know you can when you find the Wisps much more often in the post-game.
• Pimped-Out Cape: Merlina
• Pimped-Out Dress: Amy's dress as the Lady of the Lake.
• Pop Star Composer: Frickin' Marty Friedman from Megadeth does the guitar work for the final boss theme.
• Recycled Soundtrack: The Molten Mine background music is a rearranged theme from the obscure shooter Black Dawn. It gets more blatant in the multiplayer mode.
• Reverse Grip: How Shadow/Lancelot prefers to wield.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: King Arthur, both the fake and the genuine article, Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Save the Villain: Sonic, to Percival, though calling her a villain is a bit of a stretch.
• Sequel Difficulty Drop: Present, due to not having to unlock basic maneuvers.
• Smug Snake: Merlina.
• Stab the Sky: Sonic does this upon defeating King Arthur.
• Standard Status Effects: Paralysis will prevent Sonic from being able to move temporarily, poisoning will cause ring drainage, freezing has the same effect as payalysis except you have to break free of the ice, petrification equals instant death, and confusion will make Sonic occasionally hallucinate and see enemies as treasure boxes and vice-versa.
• Supernatural Is Purple: Merlina's cape and hair.
• Sword of Plot Advancement: Happens literally at least four times in the game.
• Talking Weapon: And does it. Caliburn is amazingly egotistical.
• Technicolor Toxin: When a character is poisoned, purple bubbles will appear around them.
• Villain Song: "With Me", the final boss theme, is sung from the perspective of Merlina, the Dark Queen.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Merlina turns out to be one.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Sonic and Merlina take opposite views on this -- Sonic would rather make the most of his time, while Merlina would rather not see Camelot face its eventual fall.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: It's stated that King Arthur turned evil due to Excalibur's scabbard of immortality. Judging by all evidence, something similar happened to Merlina as well.