Amy Rose

Amy Rose is the secondary tritagonist in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series. She is Sonic's self-proclaimed love interest.

History
Amy's first official Sega design had her in a sleeveless red dress held on by a white-trimmed halter strap with matching trim on the skirt, and red go-go boots with a white stripe from the top to the tip, however she still wore her red headband.

Game appearances
In her first game appearance, Sonic CD (September 23, 1993), Amy was introduced and kidnapped by Metal Sonic. Doctor Robotnik then used the time stones to set time back on the Little Planet. Robotnik forced Sonic to challenge Metal Sonic in a race for Amy's life, which Sonic had won. Amy was rescued and Metal Sonic was destroyed for the time being. She had the nickname "Rosy the Rascal" at this point, and was named "Princess Sally" in the Western manuals to tie in with the cartoon, though all later games called her Amy. Being a Genesis-era game (though technically a Sega CD game), Sonic CD's plot was minimal. Amy's only personality trait was that she was a big fan of Sonic, and no real reason was given for her kidnapping besides as bait for Sonic. Though Sonic CD was released after Sonic the Hedgehog 2, it was in development at the same time, meaning that Amy has more or less been around as long as Tails.

Amy appeared again in Sonic Drift and Sonic Drift 2 to race in a Grand Prix, her vehicle was a car with a face. She was a playable character in the 1996 arcade game Sonic the Fighters. In 1997's Sonic R, Amy was the only character to drive a car - everyone else ran on foot (or in Robotnik's case, drove an Eggmobile).

Sonic the Fighters introduced her Piko Piko Hammer. This game used her "Rosy the Rascal" nickname as well, though it has not been seen since. In 1998, Sonic Adventure She is a playable character in the game and uses her weapon of choice, the Piko Piko Hammer, to defend herself during her quest to find the family of a bird that escaped Eggman and crashed into her. Like the other major characters in the series, Amy was redesigned significantly for this game. Her short hair being slacked down is now spines, and she now wore a green blouse and orange tutu, similar to Honey's Fighters dress, to take advantage of her more mature 12-year-old form. Interestingly, her boots are identical to Wonder Woman's official costume. She was given green eyes, the same eye color as Sonic had only in a lighter value. Somewhat oddly, in this newer design, Amy often appear to have a more of an 'hourglass'-shape to her body than many other females in the series (such as Blaze, Wave and Marine), despite the fact that she is canonically of a younger age than many of these characters, though this may be a visual effect caused by her dress.

When Sonic Shuffle was released for the Dreamcast, Amy, as well as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles collected rings and other items while walking around on a board game surface.

She was an important supporting character in Sonic Adventure 2 because she had some of the most prominent roles and was playable in 2-player mode. When Sonic was kept in an island prison, with Tails' help she managed to free him. This happened to be one of the surprisingly many times Amy has saved Sonic rather than the usual opposite. She is also responsible for causing Shadow to realize Maria's true wish by begging him to help everyone, and thus ending up saving the world against the Biolizard, and later with Sonic-- Finalhazard.

Amy was playable in Sonic Advance, but unlike the other playable characters, she could not spin and all her attacks had to be triggered. She had an unlockable playable appearance in Sonic Advance 2 (after collecting all Chaos Emeralds with all the other characters) in which she could spin, as well as Sonic Advance 3

In Sonic Heroes, Amy leads Team Rose. She represents the team's speed formation. She's accompanied by Cream the Rabbit and Big the Cat on a mission to impress Sonic, while Big wants to find his friend Froggy (again), and Cream and Cheese want to find Cheese's sibling, Chocola, all the while inspiring the whole team, cheering her friends on.

Amy appears in Sonic Battle as a playable character. She is considered by some to be one of the stronger and more reliable characters in the game. All of her attacks contain large amounts of speed, power, and balance, her healing ability can quickly raise her HP, and she is the third fastest character.

Amy appeared alongside Sonic and the rest of the cast in Shadow the Hedgehog to try to convince Shadow to join their cause. Amy in particular needs Shadow's help to rescue Cream and Cheese from Eggman's Cryptic Castle.

Amy is a playable character in Sonic Riders from the start, and her type is Speed, as equivalent to Sonic's. She is not playable in the Story Mode, though she is a character in the main story.

Amy appears in Sonic the Hedgehog as an ally in Silver the Hedgehog's storyline to enlist his help in finding Sonic, not knowing that Silver is looking for him too for radically different reasons. Upon finding Sonic, Silver battles him and gets the upper hand, but Amy stops him from finishing Sonic off. Amy also saves the damsel-in-distress Princess Elise and Sonic at one point in the story.

Amy also appears in Sonic's storyline in Sonic Rivals: Amy has been turned into a card by Dr. Eggman and Sonic sets off to save both her and Tails. She also makes cameo appearances as three collectible cards. And although it is said that Rouge will be playable and there seems to be a rivalry between the two in few games. She doesn't appear in the sequel Sonic Rivals 2, except as a few collectible cards.

Amy is a playable character in the Party Mode in Sonic and the Secret Rings alongside Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Cream, Silver and Blaze. Amy is also briefly mentioned in a page of the game's Special Book, which states she is "Sonic's ever-cheerful love interest."

Amy appears in the Mario and Sonic game crossover as a playable character in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Like all the other female playable characters (Blaze, Princess Peach, and Princess Daisy) she will wear a different outfit to her normal clothes. Her dress is similar to her normal wear (but different around the shoulders) while she wears a different pair of shoes.

Amy is be a playable character in the game Sega Superstars Tennis.

Amy is playable in the Sonic Riders sequel Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.

Amy was absent in Sonic Rush Adventure.

In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Amy went with Sonic to save Knuckles, and later the world from Imperator Ix. In Chronicles Amy states she has a boyfriend named Dexter. The player, however, can engage in a romantic subplot between Sonic and Amy depending on the player's conversation choices, and this would ultimately lead to Amy's confession that Dexter was made-up to make Sonic jealous.

Amy appears in Sonic Unleashed. She made her introduction as she did in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). By plunging into someone who looks like Sonic. And although she got it right this time, since Sonic was in werehog form, she did not recognize him, and apologized then saying that she could of sworn it was him, she then runs off. Amy later finds out about Sonic's new form, saying that although he's changed his look, he's still Sonic to her. She later helps out Professor Pickle and in one cutscene, she talks about being interested in learning.

Personality
Amy in the early games is presented as being kind and sweet, and a good victim for holding hostage by her enemies. Her kind and caring nature seems to have given her the ability to talk almost anybody out of destruction, from Eggman's supposedly single-minded and emotionless robots like E-102 Gamma (who then released her and turned on Eggman) to bitter, revenge-seeking villains such as Shadow the Hedgehog (who after talking to her, helped Sonic save the world in Sonic Adventure 2).

In the more recent games she has become far more violent and aggressive, much to Sonic's dismay. Her former image, that of being what could be described as the series Ingenue (the "sweet and innocent girl"), appear to have been taken over to the new character of Cream the Rabbit. However, she is extremely protective of her friends. Despite her violent tendencies, Amy has a very good heart, she never gives up, and is one of the most optimistic and cheery characters of the series.

Upon being asked by Sega.com if Sonic and Amy will ever get married, creator Yuji Naka said that "there will hardly be any chance, I bet. Amy will continue to pursue Sonic all the time, but Sonic will not ever get married. I think so, because I cannot picture the image of Sonic that he is married and has his children! Also, I feel it is a more Amy's style to always chase Sonic."

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is Amy's love-interest as she cares very deeply for the blue hedgehog and marvels at all his personal traits. Most often, Amy gets involved in the story while searching for Sonic or trying to find information about his whereabouts. She tends to plunge ahead at first glimpse of his figure, this prompting unusual confrontations as she embraced both Shadow the Hedgehog during the events of Sonic Adventure 2 as well as Silver the Hedgehog in Sonic '06, though the latter was dissolved as part of the storyline. Amy travels the world in pursuit of Sonic and won't hesitate to throw herself in the line of danger if it means protecting him. While Sonic appears to dislike her consistent approach of marriage, he values her as a very good friend and has been known to come to her rescue whenever she needs him. It has since been suggested that they are dating, as in "Sonic and the Black Knight" Amy met Sonic at the end of the game asking why he had missed their date, to which he tries to make up for. There is also the pursuit of a romantic storyline in the game "Sonic Chronicles: the Dark Brotherhood" though some have brushed it off as the game was created by bioware, not Sega. Yet Sega did license for the use of the characters and gave approval to the plot, so technically it is official. Another prime example was Sonic X, which showed numerous occasions of Sonic giving into Amy's affections, including an episode of him giving her a white rose and promising her he won't leave her (while mouthing the words 'I love you' to her)...