Amy Rose

Amy Rose is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. She is an anthropomorphic hedgehog with a major crush on Sonic the Hedgehog. Since meeting Sonic on Little Planet, Amy has become his self-proclaimed girlfriend and has attempted to win his heart by any means during their adventures. She wields the Piko Piko Hammer, a powerful melee weapon which she uses with skills second to none and never leaves home without.

Amy is a cheerful, though slightly erratic girl, with a positive attitude and boundless energy. However, she has a scary temper and her infatuation with Sonic makes her shortsighted and a bit obsessive about him, having followed him everywhere since meeting him. Nevertheless, she has a pure heart and will not let anything stop her.

In the Heroes Coalition fics, Amy is a member of the Heroes Coalition and is part of the Super Sixth Squad.

Appearance
Amy is a pink-furred anthropomorphic hedgehog with green eyes and peach skin on her muzzle and arms. Unlike other hedgehogs, her spines are not spiky in appearance (though they were when she was younger) but are rather worn down like that of ordinary hair, somewhat resembling a bob cut.

For attire, she wears a red, sleeveless dress with white trims, tall red boots with a white stripe down the center and white cuffs, a red hairband, and white wrist-length gloves with gold bracelets for cuffs.

When she was younger, Amy had black eyes and wore an orange/yellow ruffled or pleated skirt, a white shirt with puffed green sleeves, white and blue sneakers with orange shoelaces, white wrist-length gloves and a red hairband.

Personality
Amy in the main series is presented as being somewhat kind and girly. In Sonic the Hedgehog CD, she was referred to as an "optimistic tomboy" who loves fortunes and uses tarot cards. Because of her tomboyish nature, she became a playable character as a fighter in Sonic the Fighters. However, after Sonic Adventure, Amy had grown a more feminine personality, such as an interest in shopping and fashion, but that did not remove her tomboyish nature. However, in the later games, she has the personality of a girly-girl more so than a tomboy, unlike the earlier games. In the more recent games, Amy has become a bit more obsessive and far more aggressive, much to Sonic's dismay. She often shows her anger by pulling out her Piko Piko Hammer out of Hammerspace, sometimes threatening Sonic with it.

In Sonic Battle, her attraction towards "Boxercise" plays to both elements of her ever-changing personality: the exercise helping her lose weight to maintain her girlish figure, and the boxing to help her train when she's forced to fight. In Sonic Battle, she had shown a very powerful and aggressive attitude, willing to fight whenever necessary.

Despite her aggressive tendencies, Amy has a kind heart, never gives up, and is one of the most optimistic and cheerful characters. Amy is always full of hope and is always cheering on for the good side of things. She almost never seems to find anything hopeless, as shown in Sonic Adventure, where she was determined to help the bird who had lost its family.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Amy felt strongly that there was a chance for the world to be saved and that people were basically good (as she told Shadow). Amy is often a likable person she has rarely met anyone who she did not befriend (including Shadow and Blaze). Amy is a cheerful and caring individual, with a positive outlook on life, and an over sweeping infatuation for Sonic.

Since 2010, after the release of Sonic Free Riders, Amy seems to be more bossy and infatuated with Sonic than before. This is most likely due to the more light and humorous nature of recent Sonic games. Amy's personality has added more a humorous factor in games like Sonic Colors, Sonic Free Riders, and Sonic Generations with her obsession for Sonic, which causes her to say silly and embarrassing things.

Abilities
While not superhuman, Amy possesses above-average physical attributes, making her a powerful figure in her own right. She has high physical strength, wielding her apparently heavy Piko Piko Hammers with little effort and swings them around with enough force to smash clean through metal, send enemies sky rocketing, fly around like a helicopter rotor, create whirlwinds, generate shock waves or send herself flying by hammering into the ground. On top of that, Amy could slap Knuckles with enough force to sent him flying into a tree without even trying.

Amy is capable of running at super speeds, which sterns from her practice of chasing after Sonic and her innate hedgehog abilities. While her exact top speed is unclear, she can run fast enough to even keep Sonic on a constant lookout for her, suggesting she is a remarkably fast runner. However, Amy has admitted herself that she is not as fast as Sonic.

Amy has as well good acrobatic skills and agility, being able to handle and swing her large Piko Piko Hammer gracefully and without disturbing her when airborne, perform various forms of movements and trickswhen launched into midair, and grind on rails with ease.

Combat Skills
Said to be stronger than most people give her credit for, Amy is a tough fighter, though her combat skills are not as developed as those of Sonic, Knuckles, or Tails. Combined with her aggressiveness though, Amy can be a fierce opponent in a confrontation. While the martial arts she has trained under are more reminiscing of exercises, Amy knows how to defend herself against, and can go up against powerful robots and highly trained combatants.

Fighting Style
Amy's fighting style focuses heavily of her Piko Piko Hammer. In battle, she uses her hammer's size and durability to her advantage, either using it to knock opponents far away or bringing the entirety of its weight down on the opponents, crushing them with devastating force. For more offensive moves, Amy twirls around with her Piko Piko Hammer, either turning herself into a spinning top that mows down everything in her path or stirring up whirlwinds and shock waves to blow the opponents away, though such maneuvers can leave her dizzy. However, Amy can as well fight opponents hand-to-hand, though she rarely resorts to this method. As seen in Sonic Battle, when fighting opponents close up, Amy utilizes kickboxing moves, using fast jabs and uppercuts.

Techniques and Moves
Amy has one of the widest ranges of moves and techniques in the series, ranging from techniques involving her Piko Piko Hammer, to the basic Spin Attack maneuvers, to even mimicries of other characters' moves.

Most of Amy's offensive techniques revolves around the variants of her primary technique, the Hammer Attack, a downward swing with her Piko Piko Hammer on opponents. These variants serve to compensate for Amy's lack of superior physical skills and moves. Her Jump Attack lets her swing her Piko Piko Hammer in midair to attack enemies while airborne with increased attack range, and her Spin Hammer Attack and Spinning Hammer Attack lets her spin around with her Piko Piko Hammer to attack with increased attack range. For better movements, Amy can use her Hammer Jump and Mid-Air Hammer Jump techniques to let her somersault higher into the air by setting off with her Piko Piko Hammer from where she is positioned, and with her Propeller Hammer she can float through the air like a helicopter for a short time.

Some of Amy's more special moves include her Tornado Hammer where she throws a whirlwind at opponents to blow them off the ground, and the Rose Typhoon where she creates a dome-like shock wave by hammering into the ground. While she sometimes lacks it, Amy can also perform the various forms of the Spin Attack where she curls tightly into a concussive ball while in locomotion to damage, mow down, or burrow through obstacles and foes. The Homing Attack allows Amy to jump and home in on an enemy to get over large gaps she cannot normally reach, the Spin Jump lets her curl into a ball to attack opponent by landing on them, and the Spin Dashlets her shoot herself forward as an acceleration roll at high speeds to break barriers or mow down enemies.

Miscellaneous Skills
Amy has on several occasions proved to possess excellent tracking and dowsing skills, especially when she is looking for Sonic. As demonstrated during her searches for Sonic, Amy is able to locate a person no matter where in the world they are. In fact, at least in Sonic's case, Amy is able to "feel" where a person has been. Amy's tracking skills are further enforced in Sonic Rush, where Cream told Blaze that Amy was sure to find Sonic for them.

Amy has displayed some skills in the mystical field, primarily in reading tarot cards. Using her tarot cards, Amy is able to predict the future and give herself knowledge of future events, such as successfully predicting where Sonic would be in Sonic the Hedgehog CD and Sonic Battle, and even curse others.

In the Sonic Riders series, Amy has steadily proven herself as a very talented Extreme Gear rider. Though she did not make it to the finals during the first EX World Grand Prix in Sonic Riders, she had at the time of the Grand Prix in Sonic Free Riders become so skilled at riding Extreme Gear that she was able compete against even the world's best Extreme Gear riders. While riding on an Extreme Gear, Amy is skillful enough to ride on rails, focus on opponents while remaining in control of her Extreme Gear, and as well pulls off highly advanced tricks and techniques on her Extreme Gear while in midair.

In Sonic the Fighters, Amy demonstrated the ability to harness chaos energy from the Chaos Emeralds, allowing her to enter the Hyper Mode. In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Amy also displayed the ability to turn herself invisible for a short time.

Weapon

 * Main article: Piko Piko Hammer

Amy's trademark weapon is the Piko Piko Hammer, a large and powerful hammer capable of dealing massive damage with no excessive efforts, which she can call out from nowhere at will. In Amy's hands, the Piko Piko Hammer is such a powerful weapon that Amy can strike fear into the likes of Sonic and Knuckles by displaying strength and fury with it.

Though simple in function, Amy is highly adapt at wielding it and uses it with proficiency second to none. She mainly uses its as a melee weapon in combat, but can also use it for improving her movements, performing long-ranged attacks, and even mimic the Spin Attack variants.

Color Powers

 * Main article: Color Power

By harnessing different variants of Hyper-go-on from Wisps, Amy can use specific Color Powers to transform into a certain form, such as a drill, a laser or even a planet, each one possessing its own unique abilities. So far, Amy has been able to transform into the Cyan Laser, Yellow Drill and Indigo Asteroid. However, these transformations require a steady supply of Hyper-go-on to be maintained.

Trivia

 * Amy is the first and most recurring female character in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
 * In the Sega CD release of Sonic the Hedgehog CD in America, Amy was referred to as "Princess Sally" in the game manual, possibly to connect her to the Sonic animated television series released that same year. However, the Sally that showed up in the cartoons was not Amy. Subsequent re-releases of Sonic CDjettison any references to Amy being named Sally. Interestingly, she was clearly stated as "Amy" in the earlier European manual for Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
 * In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Amy has three lashes instead of two on some sprites during cutscenes.
 * Amy was the first female character introduced in the game series as well as the only female hedgehog of the series.
 * In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Amy is the strongest character in terms of Smash ability, being the only character who can reach Level 3. (Knuckles and E-123 Omega can only reach Level 2 Smash ability.)
 * Amy Rose is the only member of Team Rose that is affected by the brainwashing of the Overmind Voxai in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
 * In Sonic R, Amy is one of two characters who races in a vehicle rather than on foot. The other is Doctor Robotnik.
 * If Sonic the Fighters is to be believed, Amy Rose did not wear undergarments in the classic era - harmless pink fur covers her body underneath her skirt. This was not changed in the HD release. In addition to this, Amy's muzzle and arms were colored the same white hue as her sclera instead of peach in the original arcade release of the game due to color palette limitations, although pre-rendered graphics featured her with the correct colors. This was not fixed in the Sonic Gems release, but was fixed in the HD release.
 * In Sonic Riders, Amy sports a different, racing outfit throughout the game, but in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Amy wears her usual dress in the story cutscenes and in the story level where she races Storm. However, in the Single and Multiplayer modes, she wears the same outfit that she wore in Sonic Riders.
 * Amy is the only playable character in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) to not travel through time at any point during the game.
 * Amy is the only character that appeared in Sonic Rivals that did not appear in Sonic Rivals 2.
 * Ironically, in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, despite being the speed leader of Team Rose, Amy's attack is slower than other speed leaders like Sonic and Shadow. She is also the strongest attacker of her team, despite Big being the power leader.


 * Amy's hair has grown slightly longer in recent games. The back side of her hair was noticeably shorter than the hair at the side of her face in Sonic Adventure but that part of the hair has been longer since Sonic Unleashed.
 * In the DS version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Amy's character and vehicle selection picture shows her car with ears and head mirrors. However, while racing as her, they are not shown.
 * Strangely, Amy appears in the French guide for Sonic & Knuckles, even though she makes no appearance whatsoever in the game. In that guide, it was said that Amy had been kidnapped by Knuckles.
 * Amy is the only hedgehog from the games not to have a Super State.
 * She is also the only hedgehog whose name does not begin with an "S".
 * She is also the only hedgehog who is not shown to be able to use Chaos Control.
 * All of the cars Amy has driven in racing games have been old-fashioned convertibles, similar to how Sonic has driven sports cars and how Knuckles drives off-roaders.
 * Amy's last name, Rose, can be considered a play on words. A rose is a flower that is connected with love, which can be related to her crush on Sonic. It is also a play on her color, because in French, rose translates to pink, her fur color. Her first name, Amy, could also be derived from the Japanese word ame, meaning candy, related to Amy's cute personality, but also rain, which can be related to her quick changing temper and power when she's angry. It could also be derived from the French name Aimée which means beloved which also fits with her connection to love.
 * Like Blaze, Amy is a speed type character in the normal series, but in the Mario & Sonic series and in SEGA Superstars Tennis, she is an All-Around type instead.
 * Amy Rose is one of four characters to appear in every Sonic the Hedgehog series racing game to date.
 * Although in Sonic Advance Amy cannot typically Spin Dash or Spin Jump, when Amy is forced into a ball, Amy lacks the standard spin animation and an unusual, high pitched noise can be heard.
 * Amy Rose was one of Lisa Ortiz's favorite roles to do voice work for.
 * Amy is the only game character confirmed to use magic outside of the Storybook series.
 * In Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- 2nd, another Sega video game, Amy's iconic Piko Piko Hammer is an unlockable item for Kagamine Rin, where it is Rin's favorite item.
 * Amy is one of the few speed types not to enhance her natural speed in any way.
 * Amy is one of only two characters to appear on the tab for selecting Sonic World for Dream Figure Skating in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, the other being Sonic.
 * Amy being Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend is actually a mythology gag based on her counterpart Amy, the girlfriend of Nicky, from the 1992 manga. Her personality seems to be very similar to that of her counterpart as well.
 * While Amy makes no appearance in Sonic Mania, smaller, robotic versions that resemble her are used by Dr. Eggman during the boss fight of Metallic Madness Zone against Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. These robots try to approach the heroes in a similar way the real Amy did with Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog CD, except they explode upon contact.