Retro Sonic Week! Day Five: Bastardy Badniks

Today's edition of Retro Sonic Week lists the most dangerous badniks Sonic faces in his adventures.  While most badniks fall on the scale from harmless - situational, these menaces can knock out your rings at any given moment.  Pictures from Sonic News Network, as well as the names.

10) Coconuts

Hiding in the trees of Emerald Hill Zone, Coconuts is a coconut-throwing monkey.  He throws in an arc and at differing heights, making his projectiles hard to predict.  He is best approached from directly below, but beware--no matter how careful you are, you are still liable to get whacked!







 9) Dragonfly 

Hailing from Mushroom Hill Zone, Dragonfly flies up and down.  His head is vulnerable, his tail is not (look at those spikes!)  His primary threat comes from the small amount of time his head is exposed, leading to many failed chances at bopping this badnik.  He is particularly dangerous when approached at high speeds.






8) Toxomister

This peculiar enemy, native to Lava Reef Zone, emits a toxic gas cloud: when it affixes to Sonic, he is slowed down and loses rings at a rate of one per-second.  To get rid of the cloud, Sonic must spindash or destroy the Toxomister.  While a relatively easy problem to fix, a mistimed attack on a Toxomister can lose Sonic rings while engulfing him in the cloud, leading to instant death.






7) Ballhog

He only makes a handful of appearances in Scrap Brain Zone, but don't underestimate him.  Ballhog rolls bombs down large ramps, reaching Sonic long before the hedgehog has a chance to see the robot.  Undoubtedly, Ballhog's range is superior to any other Badnik in the series.








6) Aquis
 Here's a real pain in the butt if there ever was one.  Aquis floats freely along Oil Ocean Zone's various platforms, shooting projectiles from its snout.  While not particularly dangerous per se, this seahorse has a trick up his non-existent sleeve.  Most badniks can easily be bypassed by running forward, however, Aquis follows Sonic throughout the level, even up to entirely different floors.  Couple that with a traumatic experience from my childhood with one of these and you've got a real crippling badnik.






5) Mantis
 Beginning the top half of this list is the most annoying bot of all: Mantis.  Hiding in the grass of Marble Garden Zone, Mantis jumps straight up.  Mostly appearing in speed-based areas, he usually jumps over Sonic harmlessly (making him particularly hard to destroy.)  However, occassionally he will not clear our hedgehog hero, stealthily sapping Sonic's rings.  He's surprisingly evasive when you turn around to kill him out of spite.  Mantis really makes the blood boil.



4) Roller

An armadillo-bot with Sonic's power of rolling.  Roller does exactly what you expect, he chases after Sonic by quickly rolling down the steep hills of Spring Yard Zone, coming in from behind at high speeds.  While his locations are predictable, he is much too quick to consistently avoid.  Makes you wonder why Eggman didn't use him in more than one Zone.







3) Burrobot/Grounder

Burrobot (left) appears en masse in the Labyrinth Zone as a surprise enemy.  He jumps out of the floor, leaping at Sonic, then continues on foot--er...tread.  Grounder (right, the logical follow-up to Burrobot in Aquatic Ruin Zone) prefers to come out of walls to surprise Sonic.  Both are more dangerous than they seem, even when the player is adequately prepared for their rushed entrance.    




2) Skorp

A menacing-looking fellow, Skorp patrols all areas of Sandopolis Zone.  With his quick, long-range (and oddly-angled) tail attack, he is a worthy adversary indeed.  Compounding things are his reload time--quite fast--and his favorite hangout--on the higher ground, making him difficult to even approach.  He can be very frustrating; bring a shield!





And for number one...how about...?

1) The Whole Metropolis Crew!?

For the love of all that is good and innocent, do not mess with these guys!  How bad is this trio?  Even arranging their pictures for this blog was a colossal headache!  Metropolis Zone gets a fair bit of notoriety for being home to the most consistently dangerous set of badniks this side of the Death Egg.  Asteron (the starfish) hides inside walls, self-destructing to shoot its spikes in all directions.  They are particularly annoying as they stay inside walls, unable to be hit prematurely, they appear in large clusters and they love to strike while Sonic is stuck riding a platform with limited mobility.  Shellcracker (the crab) is the least dangerous of the trio.  His positioning is what makes him realize his full potential: like Skorp, he likes to hang out on the high ground, limiting Sonic's approach to getting around that giant extending claw.

 Some of you may be upset that I did not pick a definitive number one for this list.  Fear not!  Should I have separated this 'dream team,' all still would have appeared on this list, but one stands out the most dangerous badnik: Slicer (the mantis) is a deadly ninja.  He wanders the floors (and ceilings!) of Metropolis, tossing his claws the second Sonic gets near.  While the claw-tossing leaves him helpless, avoid these angling projectiles is far from easy.  To have a realistic chance of surviving, Sonic must literally predict his appearance, stop and slowly approach the mantis to lure him into throwing the claws at a safe distance.  Approaching this badnik at even a jog spells certain doom for our hero!