Miles "Tails" Prower

Miles Prower, better known by his nickname Tails, is a video game character in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

The name "Miles Prower" is a pun on "miles per hour", a reference to the famed speed of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is a young, male, golden-yellow, anthropomorphic fox with two tails (similar to the mythological kitsune, or "yoko", which was often depicted with up to nine), hence the nickname. He is able to use his two tails to propel himself into the air like a helicopter for a limited time. His debut was October 16, 1992, in the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2; the 16-bit version was released that November. He is 8 years old, stands at 80 centimeters (2 ft 7 in), and weighs 20 kilograms (44lbs).

During his first appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, his fur was an orange color, but the color was changed to yellow-orange for Sonic Adventure, and light-yellow for Sonic Heroes. In 1993 and 1995, he starred in his own games, Tails and the Music Maker for the Pico, Tails Adventure and Tails' Skypatrol for the Sega Game Gear. Tails is the third most popular character of the series, behind Sonic and Shadow, according to official polls.

Character Design
Yasushi Yamaguchi, originally the main artist and zone designer for Sega's Sonic Team, designed Tails for an internal competition for a sidekick to the speedy hedgehog. His entry won, but Sonic Team decided to change his character's name from "Miles" to "Tails".

Yamaguchi ended up with a compromise. He sneaked the name "Miles" in as his legal name; "Tails" would be his nickname, ending up with the full name of Miles "Tails" Prower.

Tails was redesigned (along with all of the other Sonic characters) by Yuji Uekawa for Sonic Adventure. His fur changed color to a slightly orange shade of yellow, and he gained visible blue irises.

In the American Sonic comic book, along with the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons, he was originally a brownish color, but the comic artists eventually decided to change this to match his in-game appearance.

Video Game Appearances
Tails was first seen in Sonic 2 for the Game Gear, where he was kidnapped by Robotnik for ransom. He was first made playable in the Megadrive version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, playing the part of Sonic's sidekick. He was a playable character from the second controller and could be chosen as player one for the main game. Sonic Chaos (1993), on the Game Gear/Master System was the second game where the player could control Tails, and the first time the player could control his flight.

Tails made his third major appearance in 1994 when Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was released, this time acquiring the ability to pick up Sonic and use his tails to fly him to other areas, rotating his tails like a helicopter. He also gained the ability to swim under water, something Sonic has never been able to do.

Solo Appearances
Tails starred in his first solo game in Tails' Skypatrol, which is a puzzle-like game for the Game Gear released exclusively in Japan. This was followed by Tails Adventures later the same year, which is a Metroid-esque platformer with RPG elements. Tails is also the star of Tails and the Music Maker for the Sega Pico.

Subsequent Appearances

 * In the arcade game, Sonic the Fighters, Tails is a playable character. In this fighting game, he can fly into enemies, spin dash and punch rapidly. He is the fifth character the player fights in the story mode, and his stage is "Canyon Cruise", which takes place on a boat hurtling down a fast-flowing river in a canyon.


 * In Sonic R for the Sega Saturn, Tails is a playable character. He has good turning and can take shortcuts with his flying ability, but is not very fast.


 * In Sonic Adventure and its "remake", Sonic Adventure DX, Tails is one of the six playable characters. His gameplay is standard platforming stages; the goal of each stage is to destroy the capsule or get to the Chaos Emerald before Sonic or Dr. Eggman. Tails also saved Station Square from Dr.Eggman in his story and was praised as hero for the first time.


 * In the sequel, Sonic Adventure 2 and its "remake", Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, he is featured in third-person shooting segments, seated in his "Cyclone" mech. Tails helps Amy in saving Sonic from Prison Island, and also finds himself facing Dr. Eggman during the course of the game and gives a hand in saving the world.


 * In the Game Boy Advance series, Sonic Advance, Tails is a playable character. He can fight offensively with his tails, along with jumping, swimming, flying and using the Spin Dash.


 * In Sonic Heroes, Tails appears on Team Sonic as their flight character. Tails helps Sonic and Knuckles reach high places, damages enemies from high up above, and hits hidden switches in some of the stages. He teams up with Sonic and Knuckles to defeat Metal Overlord.


 * In Shadow the Hedgehog, he helps Shadow out in the Circus Park and Air Fleet levels, and can be played using the second controller in the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions. He shows the ability to use Sonic's Homing Attack in this game, but cannot fly, though he uses his tails to attack enemies.


 * In Sonic Battle for the Game Boy Advance, Tails is a playable character. His story is second in the main mode. His specials include firing electrical energy with an arm cannon, setting "Chu2" bombs that seek out their target and cause a giant hand to appear and attack. His flying ability is present but very dumbed down, but it is made up with the fact that Tails has one of the best healing abilities in the game.


 * In Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS, Tails is a non-playable supporting character and a guide for Sonic. In the sequel, Sonic Rush Adventure, Tails is also Sonic's guide, and acts as Sonic's mechanic, by building ships and manning the Ocean Tornado and Deep Typhoon.


 * In Sonic Riders, Tails is a playable character, and one of the main characters of the game. After Sonic's Extreme Gear "Blue Star" is destroyed, he gives Sonic the "Blue Star II" that he made, just in case something ever happened to it. Tails rides his own board, the "Yellow Tail" which he designs himself. Wave the Swallow makes fun of his board design, sparking a rivalry between them throughout the game. When racing, he has the best cornering of all characters, and fights with a giant electrical plug.


 * In Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Tails has been confirmed to be one of the six playable characters in the story mode.


 * In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Tails is a playable character. He plays the role of an "amigo" character along with Knuckles in Sonic's storyline and aids Sonic in his pursuits of rescuing Princess Elise from Dr. Eggman.


 * In Sonic Rivals, Tails appears in Sonic's storyline as a cameo appearance. When both he and Sonic head over to the mysterious Onyx Island, they discover that Amy has been turned into a card by Dr. Eggman. When Sonic doubts Dr. Eggman, he turns Tails into a card as well. Sonic then sets out to rescue him. Tails appears as three collectible cards in the game.


 * In Sonic Rivals 2, Tails is investigating the mysterious disappearances of the chao. It turns out that Eggman Nega (once again masquerading as Eggman), has stolen the Chao and hidden them inside a haunted mansion. With Sonic help Tails eventually take all the Chao back to the Chao Garden were they belong.


 * In Sonic and the Secret Rings, Ali-Baba appears to Sonic in the form of Tails, while the "real" Tails is a playable character in Party Mode. His purpose in the story is minimal, as he gives advice at various points in the game and tells Sonic where to find Sinbad, who is his close friend and also the Knuckles version of the Arabian Nights.


 * In Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Tails is a playable character and is a skill type based character in this game.


 * In Sega Superstars Tennis, Tails is one of the playable characters of the Sonic franchise.


 * In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Tails has been confirmed to be playable. He contacts Sonic and tells him that Knuckles has been kidnapped by a mysterious group called the "Marauders", and that 6 chaos emeralds are also strangely missing.


 * Tails will also be playable in the golfing game Sega Splash Golf along with Sonic and Nights.

Other Appearances
It has been confirmed that in the unreleased Sonic X-treme, which was in development for the Sega Saturn platform, Tails would have appeared, playing in a first person flight mode. Sonic CD only contains Tails in the form of a piece of artwork (accessible via cheat only) that features him standing next to a race car with the caption "SEE YOU NEXT GAME" - a reference to Sonic Drift for the Game Gear. He is also seen in the unlockable D.A. Garden (Sound Test in the PC version), and is seen occasionally piloting the Tornado.

Tails is also a hidden egg character in Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, among other Sonic characters.

Personality
Tails is a very friendly and humble fox. He looks up to Sonic as a hero whom he wants to emulate. Though he lacks confidence, he is always quite capable around Sonic and often helps him out. He is very intelligent and at times he has even outsmarted Eggman. For a long time Tails seemed to be perfectly satisfied with just being a "sidekick", but in Sonic Adventure he expresses a longing to become more independent. His famous catch phrase is "Tails Time", he says it in every game.

Tails has a few weaknesses; he lacks self-confidence, and his tendency to ramble causes him to accidentally blurt out secrets or plans (for example, in Sonic Adventure 2, he tells Eggman that the Chaos Emerald Sonic had was a fake, thus ruining the heroes' plans.)

Interaction With Other Characters
Tails has many friends besides Sonic, and his skills are respected by everyone who knows him. In Sonic Heroes, he is part of Team Sonic, along with Sonic and Knuckles. Tails mostly treats all of his friends the same with a caring yet somewhat passive attitude.

Dr. Eggman
As with Sonic, Tails finds an enemy and intellectual rival in Dr. Eggman. The strongest grudge the two have had was in Sonic Adventure 2 when Sonic was supposedly killed in an explosion outside Space Colony ARK.

Knuckles the Echidna
Tails and Knuckles are allies. Knuckles respects Tails's intelligence though he prefers to not hear the rambles of how his technology functions. As such, Knuckles seems to converse more with Tails than he does with Sonic the Hedgehog, though they usually end up irritating each other from time to time.

Amy Rose
For the most part, he has a friendly relationship with Amy Rose, though there are times he becomes exasperated and somewhat annoyed by her persistent chasing of Sonic. Amy herself can be quite insulting, intimidating, and outspoken towards Tails, like she is to everyone else if not more so. But they work together productively and Amy is defensive of him like an older-sister type figure.

Wave the Swallow
Tails also finds a rival in Wave the Swallow in Sonic Riders. In the game, she insults his Extreme Gear skills to lower his morale (though she was actually impressed by his ingenuity), but her action causes a determined Tails to beat her in a race. At the conclusion of the game Tails and Wave (supposedly) became friendly rivals with a remaining competitive streak.

Rouge the Bat
On one occasion, Tails received a kiss by Rouge the Bat in Sonic Battle, only as friendly "Thank you" (this happens if you lose the battle against her in Tails' story). This also happened once in Sonic X during the city tournament, but this was only a way for Rouge to win the match. Tails otherwise seems somewhat intimidated by Rouge; though, in times of need they are capable of working together for the greater good.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Tails acts as an ally in multiple Hero Missions of Shadow the Hedgehog, and despite Shadow's main interest being Tails's Chaos Emerald, Tails does his part and cheers Shadow on during the Last Story and as Expert Mode. In the anime series Sonic X, Tails is more intensive to Shadow the Hedgehog, specifically when Shadow attempts to kill Cosmo aboard the Blue Typhoon.

When Sonic Met Tails
Tails' first encounter with Sonic was on West Side Island, shortly after Sonic touched down on the beachside in his biplane, the Tornado. Tails was mesmerized by Sonic's speed and spinning abilities, and began discreetly following the blue stranger around the island (a 3D cut scene in Sonic Adventure also showed this in a flashback). Sonic ignored him at first, but was soon impressed with the fox's ability to keep up, and decided to let him tag along. When young Miles happened upon the Tornado later, his lust for all things mechanical took over, and from that point forward the plane more or less became his. After helping Sonic save West Side Island from Robotnik's Death Egg, Tails became a loyal companion, and continued following Sonic on his many adventures.

Abilities
Like many of the other characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, Tails can race around at high speeds, which he achieves by propelling himself forward by spinning his tails in a fan-like motion, allowing him to keep up with Sonic's basic cruising speeds in the process. He can also perform different forms of the Spin Attacks. Additionally, Tails also has several unique maneuvers, such as his trademark maneuver in which he can achieve flight by spinning his two tails around like a helicopter rotor, and can also use his tails for defensive and offensive purposes, since one quick swipe of them packs enough speed and force to slice weeds in two or puncture Eggman's robots. He can also swim quite well by dog paddling, which is an ability Sonic never had. Tails was first able to swim in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and the ability has appearanced again in Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 3.

Tails has been described as having mechanical skills that rival or match Dr. Eggman's. With them, he has designed and maintained many vehicles and technologically advanced weapons. Some of his attacks have centered around these devices, such as Dummy Ring bombs. However it has been said that he has yet to realize his full potential.

Like many Sonic characters, Tails can transform into a Super Form, but needs the Super Emeralds instead of the Chaos Emeralds. He also has other transformations in media beside the games (such as Turbo Tails). Although he hasn't appeared in a super form since Sonic Heroes.

Quirks
In Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Sonic Adventure, when the player opts to play in 'Sonic and Tails' mode (controlling Sonic while the AI makes Tails follow him), it's not readily stated in the manual, but a second player can use the 2P controller to use Tails. The action will continue to follow Sonic on the screen, making him the focal point, but Tails is fully controllable in every way that he is when playing as Tails alone. This can potentially be exploited by players who are having trouble with some problem areas or bosses, as Tails has the benefit of being completely invulnerable, with any "death" he suffers being quickly resolved as the character flies unharmed back onto the screen after a few seconds. Moreover, in Sonic 3, Tails is granted the ability to fly as he pleases, which can allow the Tails-using player to airlift Sonic wherever he might need to go, though Tails does have an endurance limit to his flight. Sonic Advance allowed this mode as well (via a code entered at character select), however, Tails can't be controlled by a second player this time. In the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions of Shadow the Hedgehog, all non-hovering characters, including Tails, can be controlled with the second controller.

Tails the Inventor
Although Tails can fly by twirling his two tails like the blades of a helicopter, he also enjoys flying Sonic's red biplane, the Tornado. As the series progressed, it was obvious his interest in the old biplane went further than just piloting it - Tails is a prodigy with mechanics, and he has a mechanical ability stated to rival that of Dr. Eggman's (though Tails has never built sentient robots).

As a result, many modifications were made to the Tornado, and Tails even built planes of his own. Tails has also constructed a small blue submarine called the Sea Fox (Sonic Triple Trouble and Tails Adventure), a spaceship called the Lunar Fox (Sonic the Fighters), and a race car called the Whirlwind S7 (Sonic Drift and Sonic Drift 2), which is clearly based upon the Lotus/Catherham Super Seven (hence the name). In Tails Adventure he also builds a Remote Robot (named Mecha Tails in Japan), a small remote-controlled robot shaped like himself to help him on his quest.

In Sonic Adventure, Tails experiments with a Chaos Emerald-powered prototype plane based on Sonic's Tornado, the Tornado II. The Tornado II has two modes. One is quite similar to the original Tornado, but with a button press, Tails can make it transform into a rather futuristic-looking little plane which outperforms the Tornado in all but one important function - landing gear. Big the Cat ends up flying the wrecked Tornado II to his home after Sonic and Tails crash-land on Eggman's flying fortress, the Egg Carrier. The Tornado II is then apparently altered so that it no longer requires a Chaos Emerald as its power supply, and reappears in cut-scenes in both Sonic Heroes and Sonic Riders, along with the Special Stage in Sonic Advance 3.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Tails has a new plane, the P-3a Tornado III. The Tornado III has three modes: a plane mode, a car mode, and a walker mode. The airplane is only seen in cut-scenes and the car is used on only one level (in the Kart minigame, Tails uses a go-kart), so the walker mode, called the Cyclone, is mostly used throughout the game.[14] Tails uses the Cyclone during all other gameplay, except when visiting the Chao Garden. In Shadow the Hedgehog, the Tornado III reappears, and is also part of a spaceship used to travel to Space Colony ARK.

The Chao Walker also appears in Sonic Adventure 2. It is not used by Tails, but, according to the description in the manual, was built by him to allow Chao to defend themselves. Eggman countered this by building a Dark Chao Walker, which is only seen in the upgraded port, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.