Prison Island

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Prison Island is a fictional island in the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games, which is/was a primary military base for the secret government force code Guardian Units of Nations (GUN). It has extremely high security, is partially underground and is protected by a naval fleet. It also appears to be extremely resilient, resisting destruction by massive explosions, and recovering from many major assults quickly, and increasing it's security each time.

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[edit] Sonic Adventure 2

The island first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 for the Sega Dreamcast, and mirrored its role in the Nintendo GameCube remake of the game, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

Shadow the Hedgehog, a research experiment deemed too dangerous to exist, was encased in stasis in Prison Island around 50 years prior to the games. At the beginning of the "Dark" story of the game, the antagonist Dr. Eggman attacks the base in order to free Shadow, who he sees as a valuable asset to his cause of world domination, he thinks (showing his mechanical nature) that is a big laser or a big cannon and is very surprised when a hedgehog appears.

At the beginning of the "Hero" story, the protagonist Sonic the Hedgehog is captured by GUN due to a crime committed by his look-alike, and imprisoned deep in Prison Island. His friends, Miles "Tails" Prower and Amy Rose, attack the base in order to free Sonic, at the same time as Eggman, Shadow, and their new associate Rouge the Bat returns to steal GUN's Chaos Emeralds. Sonic, Tails and Amy managed to escape, but the villains got the Chaos Emeralds and planted explosives that blew up most of the island as they fled as well.

Prison Island contains several levels of the game:

  • Prison Lane - Corridors inside the GUN prison base, which Tails go through while searching for Sonic. This is where the island prisons are.
  • Metal Harbor - Several platforms, aircraft carriers and rockets sticking out of the water. Sonic uses them to escape from the base to the jungle.
  • Green Forest - A jungle part of the island, without any GUN buildings whatsoever. Sonic uses it to escape, and meets and fights Shadow as a boss.
  • Iron Gate - Corridors blocked by maximum security doors. Eggman goes through them looking for Shadow.
  • Weapons Bed - Very similar to Metal Harbor. Eggman attacks GUN forces to provide a distraction, and meets and fights Tails as a boss.
  • Security Hall - A giant room filled with safes. GUN keeps their Chaos Emeralds here, and Rouge goes to steal them.
  • White Jungle - Very similar to Green Forest. Shadow goes through the jungle and meets and fights Sonic as a boss.

[edit] Shadow the Hedgehog

Prison Island returns as a level in Shadow the Hedgehog, proving that the entire island was not destroyed in Sonic Adventure 2 as it looked. Judging from Doom's Eye's comments if the player stands around in the level for some time ("They say that it was once an impregnable fortress here..."), one can assume that the explosions merely destroyed most of the GUN facilities instead of the landmass itself.

Prison Island is the third level of the game if the player chooses to make all the "neutral" missions (the premise of the game is that the levels branch out heavily towards each other, and making either "hero", "neutral" or "dark" missions on them send the player to different levels). The "hero" mission of Prison Island is to help Chaotix member Charmy Bee find five of GUN's "top secret discs" on behalf of Vector the Crocodile. The "neutral" mission is to simply get to the end of the level. The "dark" mission is to help Black Doom destroy the GUN robots guarding the island and keeping many Black Arms imprisoned.

The Prison Island level in Shadow the Hedgehog is a jungle-like area similar to the Green Forest and White Jungle levels of Sonic Adventure 2, but with many prison buildings and rivers of green toxic liquid. It is not known if the rivers were there earlier, or if they were somehow created as part of the explosions.

[edit] Sonic X

In the anime series Sonic X, Prison Island's appearance mirrors its Sonic Adventure 2 appearance, with some minor changes. It is shown to be the prison where Gerald was sent, and is declared to be the jail where all the worst criminals go. In fact, it is said that Sonic was sent to the very cell Gerald had been in, which had strange equations covering the walls and floors (this never was explained in SA2 when the player sees Sonic's cell, but the very same equations are scribbled inside it). When it was destroyed, it was shown that the GUN people on the island fled via helicopters; this was also not shown in-game.

[edit] Trivia

  • Near the end of the Metal Harbor level a missile is launched, and to date it is unknown exactly who the target of this explosive was. Most likely it was supposed to be Eggman, or perhaps even Black Comet, which had been making its way towards Earth since several years after the raid on ARK.
  • Proffesor Gerald Robotnik's diaries were on Prison Island's computer system before Eggman hacked in and downloaded them. The fact that they are able to contain all the information which was confiscated from ARK means it must (at least have HAD before it was blown to smithereens) have a complicated computer system.