What Are Chaos Emeralds?

Background

• Although the chaos emeralds are a key feature throughout the game series, their existence is shrouded in mystery. The games and comic book have reveled that the emeralds are thought to have been in existence some 4,000 years before the start of the game. They gained their name due to their connection with the guardian, Chaos.

Cut, Color and Number

• In the first game in the series, "Sonic The Hedgehog," there were only six emeralds, but the number was increased to seven in "Sonic The Hedgehog 2" for the Sega Mega Drive. During early Sonic games, the color and cut of the seven emeralds was inconsistent between games. After the release of "Sonic the Hedgehog 3," the seven emeralds were consistently pictured as brilliant cut gemstones in the colors of red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow and grey.

Location

• The emeralds were seen as bonus items in the earlier games and were therefore found in special stages or The Special Zone of the games. However, in more recent 3D versions of the series, the chaos emeralds have become a vital part of the plot with players being required to gather them to progress.

Power

• When all seven chaos emeralds are collected and combined, they transform the owner into a powerful super form. Once this power has been activated, the character is temporarily invincible and cannot be subjected to harm. In "Sonic Adventure 2," the chaos emeralds allowed Sonic and Shadow to alter time and space, teleport and freeze time in-game. Sonic's enemy, Doctor Eggman, wants to use the power of the emeralds to create weapons of mass destruction, while Shadow the Hedgehog would use them to unlock chaos powers.