Chao (Sonic the Hedgehog) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Chao |
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| Sonic the Hedgehog character | |
Left to right: a Hero Chao, Neutral Chao and Dark Chao
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| First appearance | Sonic Adventure (1998) |
| Voiced by | Tomoko Sasaki |
Chao (Japanese: チャオ) are cute, fictional creatures from the Sonic the Hedgehog video games by Sega. They are small, childlike beings that grow and change in many ways. Their look depends on how players raise them in the games. The game creators, Sonic Team, added Chao to encourage players to explore game levels. They also helped show the good-vs-evil story in Sonic Adventure 2.
Chao first appeared in Sonic Adventure in 1998. They are usually like digital pets that you can take care of. But they also play roles in the game stories and other parts of gameplay. For example, the character Cream the Rabbit has a Chao named Cheese. She uses Cheese to help her attack enemies. Chao have also appeared in games outside the Sonic series, in the Sonic the Hedgehog comics, and in the Sonic X TV show. You can also find them in promotions and merchandise. People who review games have different opinions about Chao. They often like Chao as a fun side activity but sometimes say the Chao minigames are not very interactive.
Contents
How Chao Were Created and What They Are Like
Sonic Team's game designer, Takashi Iizuka, explained why Chao were added to Sonic Adventure. He said they wanted new players to explore the game's action parts and find things like Flickies. In Sonic Adventure, Chao were designed to be "neutral," meaning neither good nor bad.
However, for Sonic Adventure 2, they were made so players could raise them as "Hero Chao" or "Dark Chao." This fit the game's theme of good versus evil. Chao were also given the ability to interact with each other in Sonic Adventure 2. This made the game unique and made Chao seem more like real living creatures.
Chao are small creatures with bodies like pudding. They act a lot like human babies, with happy and calm personalities. Professor Chao, a character in Sonic Adventure 2, says that Chao are cute. They love toys and enjoy being held or petted. But they don't like it when players hold them while jumping, spinning, or throwing them. Chao eat fruit from trees and coconuts.
Chao hatch from eggs found in special places called Chao Gardens. When you spend enough time with a Chao, it forms a cocoon. It then hatches from this cocoon as an adult. Later, it forms another cocoon. If you treated the Chao well, the cocoon is pink. The Chao is then reincarnated as an egg, and the cycle starts again. The Chao will even remember you! But if the Chao was treated badly, the cocoon is gray, and the Chao dies. It disappears completely from the game. Chao can also breed to make new eggs.
Where Chao Appear
In Video Games
Chao have appeared in many Sonic the Hedgehog video games as digital pets. They first showed up in the 1998 (Japan) / 1999 (North America/Europe) Dreamcast game Sonic Adventure. Players could raise them and enter them in races. You could also send them to Chao Adventure, a game for the Dreamcast's VMU memory card. Players could even trade Chao or share their high scores online using the Dreamcast's internet.
The Chao-raising feature became even bigger in Sonic Adventure 2. Chao could become "Hero Chao" or "Dark Chao." This depended on whether the "hero" characters (Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna) or "dark" characters (Shadow the Hedgehog, Doctor Eggman, and Rouge the Bat) were nicer to them. In this game, Chao could also enter karate competitions and races.
The Game Boy Advance (GBA) games Sonic Advance, Sonic Advance 2, and Sonic Pinball Party have a "Tiny Chao Garden." These are like the Chao Gardens in Sonic Adventure but have minigames instead of races or karate. You could transfer Chao between Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut (which were Nintendo GameCube versions of the Dreamcast games) and the GBA games. A regular Chao is even an unlockable character in the party game Sonic Shuffle.
Chao have also appeared in the series as small characters or parts of gameplay. Two Chao, one Normal and one Dark, who drive Chao-themed mechas, are playable characters in the two-player battle mode of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. In Sonic Pinball Party, one goal is to hatch several Chao eggs on the Sonic the Hedgehog-themed pinball board. Each world in the 2004 GBA game Sonic Advance 3 has Chao-inspired minigames. These games help players earn extra lives. There's also a side quest to find Chao to get Chaos Emeralds.
In 2007's PlayStation Portable game Sonic Rivals 2, Chao are hidden in levels for players to find in a free play mode. In the 2008 Nintendo DS role-playing game Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Chao eggs are hidden. Players can find and hatch them. The baby Chao can then be given to characters. This changes how characters perform in battle. For example, one type of Chao can increase a character's hit points. The game also has a multiplayer mode where players can trade Chao.
Chao appear as an item in the "Panel Flip" party game of the 2009 Wii and DS game Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. Players try to claim as many panels as possible on a grid. Finding a Chao on a panel claims all panels in that row or column for the player. One mission in Sonic Generations (2011) involves racing against Cream the Rabbit to find lost Chao in a city.
Cream, a well-known character, has a Chao named Cheese as her partner. To keep her safe image, she often uses Cheese to attack enemies instead of doing it herself. Other important Chao include Chaos, who protects the Chao and is a bad guy in Sonic Adventure. There's also Omochao, a robot Chao who teaches players how to play in many games. And Chocola, Cheese's twin, whom Cream, Amy Rose, and Big the Cat look for in Sonic Heroes.
Chao have also appeared in video games outside the Sonic the Hedgehog series. In the 2004 PlayStation 2 game Sega Superstars, players use points to make a pet Chao happy. When Sonic the Hedgehog was added to the 2008 Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Chao and other characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series appeared as collectible trophies and stickers. They also appear as trophies in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and as spirits in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
In Other Media
Chao were characters in the Sonic X TV show, which ran from 2003 to 2006. In one episode, "Little Chao Lost," Cheese gets lost in a stream. The main characters find him in a Chao colony. Doctor Eggman tries to steal a supposed Chaos Emerald from them but is defeated. Later, in "Flood Fight," a group of Chao appears after a battle with Chaos. They turn out to be Chaos's old friends and hug him as he leaves with Tikal the Echidna to go back in time.
Chao have also appeared sometimes in Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series. They first appeared in a story based on Sonic Adventure, where they worked with Tikal to defeat Chaos. At one point, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles found a Chao garden. One Chao followed Sonic home and started to look like Omochao after spending time around Sonic's roboticized father. However, Eggman destroyed the garden, and the Chao moved to a lake. Much later, Cream and her mother Vanilla protected a scared group of Chao from Eggman's helper, Snively. Cream's friend Amy Rose realized they were the same group from the lake. To Cream's happiness, Amy suggested turning the lake into a Chao garden. After the comic series restarted, Cheese continued to be with Cream. Chocola was shown to live with Cream's mother Vanilla and Gemerl (from Sonic Advance 3). The heroes also found a Chao Garden hidden in an undersea cave. This garden had an ancient Chao named Aquarius and a guard dog-like Chao named Crusher.
Chao were featured a lot in the official web short "Chao in Space." This short refers to billboards in the Sonic Adventure games that advertised a fake movie with the same name. The short switches between a Chao's dream, where it's flying a spaceship, and Sonic trying to control the same Chao as it sleepwalks. Some related merchandise was released with the short through the official Sega Shop website.
In IDW Publishing's Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series, Chao play a big role in the "Chao Races & Badnik Bases" story. In this story, Rouge races Chao with Cream's Chao, Cheese. She wants to beat the champion Chao racer, Clutch, to get parts for the almost-destroyed E-123 Omega from him. However, Clutch demands Rouge give him Cheese if she loses. Shadow reveals that Clutch is mean to his Chao, locking up the ones that lose in a cage. Clutch's losing Chao are freed and saved with help from Belle and her built-in lockpicker.
Images for kids
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Left to right: a Hero Chao, Neutral Chao and Dark Chao
See also
In Spanish: Chao (Sonic the Hedgehog) para niños
