Rouge the Bat (ルージュ・ザ・バット Rūju za Batto) is a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series who first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2. She is a mobian bat and former jewel thief working as a part-time government spy for the President of the United Federation and an agent on loan for the Guardian Units of Nations.[3] A world-famous freelance treasure hunter,[4][5] Rouge has a weakness for jewels, especially large jewels, like the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds which she was obsesses about. As a spy, Rouge is trained in combat, stealth and infiltration, and possesses both super-level kicking power and flight.
Rouge is in short, an enigma, as her motivations are always in question. She is smart, sassy and seductive, and knows how to get what she wants. Once she has a target in mind, she always goes for it, regardless of the costs. Beneath her ditzy exterior though, she is a cunning realist and her motives are always mercenary in nature. Regardless, she is loyal to her closest friends and has more than many helped Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies save the world.
Overview[]
Rouge is a very beautiful and world-famous treasure hunter. Her voluptuous and daring attitude turns any man's head. Her policy though is that duty comes first, but she has a big interest in jewels. Her figure, speech, and behavior masks her true identity.
Rouge actually has a crush on Knuckles the Echidna, but refuses to admit it. She is very secretive about everything and very little has actually ever been disclosed about her. She would often switch sides with either the good or bad to confuse them. She has trusted allies, such as Shadow the Hedgehog and Topaz from G.U.N. (in Sonic X).
It wasn't until after a few episodes that Rouge and Topaz actually became close friends. At the end of the season in which Topaz and Rouge met, Rouge and the others were transported home. While Rouge said goodbye to Topaz, Topaz had a tear in her eye, remembering all the good times they had. In Season 2, she is one of G.U.N.'s top agents.
In the television series Sonic X, she battled against the Metarex in Season 3 with Doctor Eggman and released Shadow. She joins the good side and declares war on Eggman after Christopher Thorndyke was sent to Earth.
Rouge seemingly possesses a locket belonging to Bokkun, Eggman's messenger robot. She usually pulls it out when Bokkun refuses to run errands for her, which convinces him to attend to her errands. In the Japanese version, the inside of the locket shows a picture of Cream the Rabbit, which indicates that Bokkun has a crush on her.
Personality[]
Rouge is a determined woman who almost never listens to anyone else but herself, she does what she feels is necessary for herself and switches between good and bad quite often, sometimes she wants to steal jewelry, and at times she wants to save the world, but in all goals, she has, it always comes down to what is necessary for her, making her look like an overall prideful narcissist. She can also be hypocritical, as shown when she calls the person stealing the Master Emerald a thief, when she has stolen lots of things, including the Master Emerald. Rouge is also sassy, cheeky, vivacious, and disrespectful, along with her egotistical behavior, this makes most of characters in the games dislike her, especially her archenemy Knuckles, which when she is fighting with, she often uses dirty tactics, this is because Knuckles is superior to her in terms of fighting, and this she does with other superior opponents as well. Her rivalry with Knuckles has even gone to the point where, even if Knuckles does something heroic such as saving her from dying, she will still most likely get angry at him for little to no reason.
Despite all of this, she still does have a good side, she is seen multiple times actually caring for Shadow the Hedgehog, she has stopped Shadow and E-123 Omega from killing each other, has helped Shadow when he is damaged by an injury, killing the Black Bull, helping on defeating the horrible tyrant, Black Doom, and multiple times saving the world from destruction. Despite all of her heroic acts, in more recent games, she has shown that her attitude hasn't really changed much, considering in Sonic Free Riders, she is shown to be the normal disrespectful person she usually is, insulting one of her robot team members, and not even caring when the robot broke.
Other Media[]
Mario & Sonic Series[]
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games[]
Rouge appears in the game Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games as a boss in Festival Mode that the player may compete against, as well as Jet, Omega, and Eggman Nega. She is the boss of the figure skating event, and after beating her, the player can buy her costume, which gives Rouge stats to the selected Mii. Rouge also appears in the DS Adventure Tours working for Mario and Sonic to find stolen objects from the museum for White Stones. However, she will challenge Mario and Sonic to a Figure Skating match since Bowser and Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik bribed her with a huge number of White Stones. Rouge will help recover the next Snow Spirit from Eggman and Bowser after her defeat and continue working for Mario and Sonic.
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games[]
Rouge later returns in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games as a rival in London Party Mode. This time, the player competes against her in 110m Hurdles. The Rouge costume with her stats for the selected Mii also returns where it easily be purchased through Blank Exchange in Bonus Mode. In the 3DS version of the game, she is fought by Peach in Hyde Park saying she was going to trap them (Peach, Amy, Daisy, and Blaze) in the fog. After she is defeated, she claims to have no memory of what she had done. She then says the last thing she remembers is being in the British Museum looking at the art and artifacts there when the room fills with fog. She then remembers breathing some in (mind-controlling her) and after that nothing except someone telling her to trap them in the fog. She then leads them to the Fog Machine and Blaze destroys it. She then stays with them and helps clear the fog coming from Big Ben.
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games[]
TBA
Super Smash Bros.[]
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[]
Rouge appears as a sticker that increases tail attacks for Yoshi, Diddy Kong, Pikachu, Squirtle, and Charizard.
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS[]
Rouge appears as a collectible trophy exclusive to the 3DS version.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
Rouge appears as a support spirit that increases attack strength while airborne. Her spirit battle is against Fox in Fourside with higher jumps, stronger kicks and knee strikes, and can be healed when striking the player with a melee blow.
Archie Comics[]
Rouge is fond of riches, especially rare, beautiful gems, and has often searched for or stolen jewels. She has had several run-ins in the past with Fiona Fox and Nic the Weasel, often beating them to rare treasures and thus has something of a former rivalry with the pair.
Sonic X[]
Rouge appears in Sonic X as an agent for the president and friend of one of his agents, Topaz. She fought in the Chaos Emerald Martial Arts Tournament and also helped Sonic, and the rest of the Freedom Fighters find the Kingdom of Maracia.
SEGA Heroes[]
Rouge appears as one of the eight currently playable Sonic the Hedgehog characters in SEGA Heroes.
Powers and Abilities[]
Rouge is one of the strongest female characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Swift and powerful, Rouge has proved herself to rival that of Knuckles the Echidna. However, Rouge possesses the natural ability to achieve flight and is also able to glide by using her wings to manipulate her descend. When flying, Rouge can move as fast as Knuckles' gliding, but not as fast as Sonic or Shadow can run. Nevertheless, Rouge possesses an innate quickness, making her fast on her feet and can reach super speeds when running, though she is still not as fast as Sonic, Tails or Shadow.
As both a government spy and self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Thief", Rouge has been trained in infiltration and is skilled in the art of stealth as well. As most times, however, she uses these skills to pull different kinds of successful heists, and has proven herself as a master thief.
As a result of her training, Rouge can surreptitiously enter enemy-held territory, either through stealth or by manipulating others into believing that she is on their side, such as when she tricked Shadow and Dr. Eggman into believing that she was willing to help them in Sonic Adventure 2 when she was sent to investigate the doctor, and can hack computers and break codes in record time with successful results nearly every time. She is also stealthy enough to move nearly undetected through even the most fortified of locations, such as Prison Island, Dr. Eggman's various bases or Space Colony ARK and sneak up on people without bringing attention to herself.
Despite her pretty looks and flirtatious attitude, Rouge is well-versed in all kinds of combat and knows how to fight, making her a dangerous foe in battle. As a spy for the United Federation, Rouge has gone through several forms of special training in self-defense and knows a variety of martial arts. Her skills in combat are so great that she was able to fight the combat-versed Knuckles to a standstill when confronting him on Space Colony ARK.
Rouge's fighting style focuses on a form of kickboxing, a style she has derived from her special combat training, and is rarely seen using her arms or fists when fighting, unlike Knuckles. When in battle, Rouge primarily fights her opponents by using a large number of skillful and specialized kicks to strike blows. Using her agility in line with her training, Rouge can perform moves such as high kicks, sidekicks, spinning kicks etc. striking her opponents with deadly precision and efficiency, and can even send her whole body spinning through the air with her feet first, turning herself into an all-piercing spear.
Rouge can also complement her fighting style with her flight abilities, allowing her to take her fighting techniques to airborne opponents and allowing her to launch aerial kicks and strikes at her opponents.
Most of Rouge's standard moves and techniques revolves around her Kick Attack move where she attacks her opponents with combos composed of kicks. Her special attack Screw Kick enables her to form a "screw" shape into midair while kicking, while her Drill Drive lets her send herself downward, with her feet first, as a spinning drill that pierces through her opponents. Also, her Hip Drop lets her drop onto the ground to form wide tremors that affect everything within its range.
When not attacking her opponents directly, Rouge has also been known to use techniques that involve some form of weapon. In Sonic Heroes she is shown to use Dummy Rings in her "Dummy Ring Bomb" move to paralyze opponents, and in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), she used her "Bomb" and "Bomb Snipe" techniques with her Heart Bombs to damage her opponents.
Trivia[]
- In Sonic X, Rouge regularly uses the move, "Screw Kick", which allows her to spin like a top while kicking, like that from Sonic Adventure 2. In the 4Kids dub, she says "Screw Kick" in Episode 44, like in the Japanese version, but in other episodes, she merely just yells or grunts.
- Rouge's theme song, "Mysterious and Sexy Thief Rouge" was first heard in Episode 11 which is basically a saxophone solo that usually plays when Rouge appears.
- Prima's Game Guide for Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) states that there are rumors that Rouge has feelings for both Shadow and Knuckles. It also erroneously states in Omega's backstory that it was his rampage that unleashed Rouge from Eggman's base. Shadow’s current voice actor, Kirk Thornton, has also implied that Shadow and Rouge are a couple.
- In Sonic Riders, Rouge has blue eye shadow on the character select screen and in gameplay but when you see her icon on the race results screen she has pink eye shadow on, very similar to the eye shadow in Sonic Heroes.
- Rouge may have been named after the jewel, the Rouge, relating to her jewel obsession. Her name could also come from a type of makeup applied to the cheeks (also called "blush").
- Her name is also a pun on the capital of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, due to her first name being Rouge and her being a bat. Her name also means "red" in French, possibly named after Knuckles' color.
- Although she told Knuckles at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 that she was done with jewelry, she is still hopelessly obsessed with jewels in later games.
- Not counting team members in the support class, Rouge has the least team POW moves in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, with only one.
- Also, Rouge is the only character with an Armor-Piercing move that hits all onscreen enemies instead of targeting one enemy. She is the second member of the Shifter class, and the only Shifter class member in Team Dark (Shadow and Omega are both in the Power class).
- In Sonic Heroes, while selecting Shadow or Omega to be Team Dark's leader, if you use the first-person camera to look at Rouge, she will occasionally turn her head in the player's direction and wink.
- In Sonic Riders and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Rouge does not have her lipstick on.
- Rouge and some other characters have a few locations named after them in Empire City, as seen on the street signs of the level's day time stages in Sonic Unleashed.
- At one point in Sonic Battle while Rouge was around, Sonic says, "I smell perfume. Maybe Rouge is around.". This might mean that Rouge wears perfume, or Sonic was only making a joke.
- Sonic Riders and its sequels are the only times Rouge appears without a heart design on her clothing. She wears this outfit in her Olympics appearances as well.
- After Sonic Battle, Rouge's design changed a bit her wings become less detailed and only one color and her blue eye shadow got darker after Sonic Adventure 2.
- Sonic Heroes is the only game where Rouge has pink eyelids.
- However, when Chaos Inferno is done, her eyelids are violet.
- In Sonic X, scenes with Rouge often were accompanied by a saxophone solo.
- In Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge's outfit appears to be a purple/lavender color in game, but the concept art from the game has the outfit in its regular black color.
- In the Sonic Riders trilogy, Rouge wears a sports bra, this is the only time she has ever concealed her bust area.
- In Sonic Generations when spoken to Rouge after receiving a few Red Star Rings, Rouge will tell the player that she's looking for "Teal Star Rings".
- In her alternate outfit model in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle her mid-riff shows her navel. However, in Sonic Riders onwards it isn't present. It is also notable that anthropomorphic characters in the Sonic series don't have a navel, as seen with Wave and Tikal. However, since birds and echidnas are egg-laying animals, this could be why.
- In Sonic Adventure 2, Rouge had fangs, but afterwards, they have been absent. This is also the case with Sonic (who seemed to have fangs in Sonic Adventure) and Knuckles (unlike the other two, Knuckles' fangs still appear every few games). Shadow also has small fangs in a few depictions.
- Despite being referred to as a "white" bat, Rouge only has fur on her head, while being completely hairless everywhere else.
- One of Rouge's unused lines ("Pleasure before business!") from Sonic Adventure 2, is used in one episode of the anime, Sonic X.