Big the Cat (Cream sometimes calls him Mr. Big) is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. He is a fat purple cat with yellow eyes, a fisherman, and brings his rod with him wherever he goes.
Big lives in a hut at the Mystic Ruins. He first debuted in Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast, which was released in Japan on December 23, 1998. He is 19 (18 in Sonic Adventure) years old, weighs 616 pounds (280 kg), and is 6'7' (200 cm) tall. His character designer is either Yuji Uekawa or Takashi Iizuka. His family relationships are unknown, but his best friend is Froggy.
History
Development history
It is not known who developed Big but Takashi Lizuki mentions in an interview with Gamespot that he was originally made for the purpose of a character that preffered to take his time other then the other characters who were always in a semi-hurry.
In-game history Template:Spoilers Big was sleeping in his hut one night, when he woke up and saw that his friend, Froggy, had swallowed his lucky charm (the Chaos Emerald). As soon as he noticed that he had grown a tail, Froggy had ran off, causing Big to chase after him.
Later, Big went onboard the Egg Carrier and saw that Chaos 6 had captured Froggy (whose tail and Chaos Emerald had disappeared). After defeating the water spirit, he found the Tornado 2 and decided to fly home with it.
About a year passes, Froggy goes missing again, and he teams up with Amy and Cream (Team Rose, Big is the power formation) to find him. After defeating Dr. Eggman, they found Froggy in a puddle of water, which they later found out was Metal Sonic (who had copied Chaos’s data).
Team Rose then fought Metal Madness, and after Team Super Sonic had defeated Metal Overlord, Big is left standing with Cream. Template:Endspoiler
Personality
Many people believe Big to be unintelligent, but he is merely weird. Though quite easily the dullest character in the series, he is by no account a fool.
Abilities and weaknesses
Big's abilities include being able to lift, push, carry, throw heavy things, and use his body to crush his opponents. He can use his fishing rod to fish and attack an enemy (known as Lure Attack), and its power is increased with the Power Rod. Its power can also be raised with level-ups (there are 3 in all). In Sonic Heroes, he is able to swirl his rod around and when powered up, it has a fire trail. When Big acquires the Life Belt, he can float on water and dive underwater. Big can also use his umbrella to float on a fan with Amy and Cream. When Big uses the Flower Festival with Cream and Amy, he pushes them up with his umbrella.
With Big’s size, he does not move as quickly as the other characters, but he seems to have excessive speed in Sonic Heroes. In Sonic Adventure, Big does not have many abilities and his attacks aren't as powerful as the other characters, but despite his size, he can climb up ladders quickly.
In SA2, Big and Froggy makes cameo appearances in certain places, although some are removed in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle:
- In the opening scene for the hero side, when Sonic grabs onto the wing of the airplane, Big comes out (this is why the camera strangely pans off to the door where Sonic jumped through). Note: The player must press A when Sonic grabs onto the wing of the airplane.
- In City Escape, when the truck chases Sonic.
- In Prison Island, Big is in one of the jail cells.
- In Pumpkin Hill, in a curtain.
- When Sonic faces Shadow in Green Forest, he is inside a grate.
- In Death Chamber, in one of the chambers, Big is sitting on a platform.
- In Radical Highway, Big is on one of the blimps.
- In the scene after Knuckles beat King Boom Boo, he is there when the door slides up (the player has to hold down A+Z).
- In Rouge’s part of Cannon Core, Big is on a platform near the time switch.
- In the scene where Amy urges Shadow to help the others, Big will pass by (this is why Amy is looking the wrong way). Note: The player must press the ‘A’ button in order for this to happen.
Big was also playable in the mech battles of Sonic Adventure 2 in 2 player mode, but was replaced with Dark Chao Walker in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
Froggy
Froggy is a large frog, who is the pet and best friend of Mr.Big.
Other appearances
Besides the games, Big makes appearances elsewhere.
Big is playable in Sonic Shuffle as a bonus character. If you buy Tails’s pictures, he is playable.
Big appears in Sonic Battle as well. Players can choose to link four GameBoy Advances together using link cables to play multiplayer games with only one game cartridge. In one of these mini games, Big can sometimes be seen fishing as he sits on the platform where the other characters battle.
Even though Big is the first character to appear in the series, he is a minor character in Sonic X. His role is similar to the game.
Comic books
Fleetway
In Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic, Big makes a minor appearance when Chaos, drained of power and restored to its original fish form, lands next to Big, prompting him to turn and mumble "Hmmm?" Also in the unofficial continuation of Sonic the Comic, Big fishes a Drakkon in a fish form(there is a slight chance that it may have been Chaos but this has not been confirmed), the two remain together until he and Big make it out of the mine before Knuckles and Tikal, Big comments that he is hungry"Really Hungry" and stares at the fish, to which he responds "Hey, what are you looking at"? to which Big replies "Nothing Buddy, Nothing at all" It is assumed that he eats him.
Archie comic
In the Archie comic, Sonic the Hedgehog, Big makes an appearance during the episodes similar to Sonic Adventure. During the Sonic Adventure adaption, he lived in Cat Country, he now resides in Knothole as he appears in numerous crowd scenes and also play the role of Eggman in a play.
Voice actors
- In Sonic Adventure and Sonic Shuffle, his voice is done by Jyoji Nakata.
- In Sonic Heroes, his voice is done by Takashi Nagasako.
- In the American version of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Shuffle, and Sonic Heroes, his voice is done by Jon St. John (the voice of Duke Nukem.)
- In Sonic X he is played by Oliver Wyman.
Criticism
Many people despise Big because of his slow gameplay compared to the rest of the Sonic cast as well as his dimwitted demeanor. The time it takes to complete his levels varies depending on when Froggy bites Big's lure, which could take any amount of time. This has aggrivated many players of Sonic Adventure even to the point of not completing Big's levels at all.
Fans of Big and even Takashi Lizuki claim that Big is meant to be a change of pace character and that children and younger teenagers rather have fast "cool" characters some fans even say he makes a good comic relief however, it should be noted that Lizuki never mentioned he was meant as a comic relief character just something different.
References
External links
- Big on the Sonic Channel website : (Sonic Channel)
- Big’s Sonic X profile at (Absolute Anime)
- Information about Big at (Concept-Mobius)