Espio the Chameleon is a supporting character from Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is a mobian chameleon, who is serves as an intelligent ninja warrior and member of Chaotix Detective Agency. Espio's name is through to either have come from the world "espionage", another world spying, or to be a reference to the Spanish and Portuguese world "espio" (meaning "I spy").
Personality[]
Unlike the majority of the Sonic characters, Espio is very serious, calm, mature and disciplined mobian. He is seen as a ninja-typed character; his battle poses and shuriken Stars support that portrayal. He is talented with computers, and plays the samisen as a hobby. In Sonic Heroes, he plays the instrument in the Chaotix' Team Blast, "Chaotix Recital". According to the Japanese Chaotix game manuale, Espio especially dislikes Dr. Eggman, although it's not stated precisely why. During a cut-scene in Sonic Heroes, the usually civil and soft-spoken mobian chameleon even threatened the doctor's life. He is also able to see through Eggman's tricks very easily in "Shadow the Hedgehog", and tells Shadow to destroy the villain.
Appearances[]
In Espio's first appearance in Knuckles' Chaotix, the Japanese manual states that Espio, being a detective, goes to investigate the mysterious island that has emerged from the sea. He is the first unlocked character, and his abilities include walking on walls and ceilings, and uses his own Whirl Attack instead of the common Spin Attack.
Espio next appeared as one eight playable fighters in the arcade game Sonic the Fighters. In the story, Espio is one of the eight characters who try to collect the eight Chaos Emeralds in order to travel into space and destroy Eggman's Death Egg II. Espio is the fourth character to fight in story mode, and his stage is Mushroom Hill, a part of Angel Island that appeared in Sonic & Knuckles. In the game, Espio is medium-strong fighter, and his special abilities include spinning like a tornado and hitting enemies from afar with his long tounge.
In Sonic Heroes, Espio is the "speed" member of Team Chaotix, meaning he can run quicker than the others, and creates small whirlwinds for various purposes. Unlike the speed members of the other three teams, Espio can also turn invisible, throw large shuriken and stick to walls.
In Shadow the Hedgehog, Espio appears with the Chaotix in the cutscene prior to the "Mad Matrix" stage, in which he and Shadow the Hedgehog sonehow enter the cyberspace of Eggman's computer system. The player can then choose whether or not to help Espio retrieve encrypted data from the computer, with Espio being a parther character. He is also present for the following battle against Eggman.
In Sonic Rivals 2, after a very long absence, Espio returns as a playable character. On orders from Vector, he investigates the Chao disappearances and follows Silver the Hedgehog, who has hidden most of them. At first, they work together to save the world alongside the rest of the rivals and form a friendship in the end.
Espio appears in the crossover game, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, although he presents himself as a referee.