E-123 Omega

"I am Omega, the Ultimate E-Series Robot."

- E-123 Omega

E-123 Omega, or, technically, E-123, is a fictional robot from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, first appearing in Sonic Heroes. He was Dr. Eggman's latest creation, who took revenge on his creator for sealing him in a room. He teamed up with Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat to take down Eggman.

History
Omega was created by Dr. Eggman as the 24th and last of the doctor's E-100 Series robots. He was designed by Eggman to prevent the release of Shadow the Hedgehog from his stasis, and, in this case, he failed to control Shadow when he was released. To accomplish this, Eggman sealed Omega in an abandoned base with Shadow. Being imprisoned infuriated Omega; he decided to prove his status as the most powerful E-Series robot by abandoning his original programming and taking revenge on his creator and all the other machines he built.

Sonic Heroes
When Rouge the Bat went searching for Eggman's secret treasure in his base, she accidentally reactivated Omega when she released Shadow from a stasis pod. Mistaking Shadow for an Eggman robot and following his new mission, Omega attempted to take out the hedgehog. However, Rouge broke up the fighting long enough to hear both their stories. He soon teamed up with Rouge and Shadow as the power member of Team Dark.

The three of them then started their search for Eggman at Seaside Hill and Ocean Palace before coming face-to-face with the Doctor himself (who was really Metal Sonic in disguise) in his Egg Hawk. After defeating it, they continued on to Grand Metropolis and afterward Power Plant, where they met with Team Chaotix. Rouge believed them to be rivals seeking Eggman's treasure, and a brief battle ensued. They then headed to Casino Park and Omega detected enemies two hundred meters ahead of them while Rouge was wondering about the Chaotix. They then went to Bingo Highwayand finally met up with "Eggman" again, who set an army of robots against them, but were defeated by Team Dark's combined efforts. Following "Eggman's" energy signature, Omega led them to his ground base passed Rail Canyon and through Bullet Station before confronting "Eggman" again in his Egg Albatross and Egg Hawk combined. They defeated both and discovered that the Eggman they fought appeared to be a dummy that issued a recorded laughing, which angered Omega. The automaton then watched Shadow when he discovered a robot in his likeness before the ultimate life form ordered them to move and they proceeded to Frog Forest. After trekking through Lost Jungle, they came across Team Sonic, who were also looking for Eggman, and a fight ensued. Once this was over, Omega led them to Hang Castleon the search for Eggman and through Mystic Mansion. After they escaped the castle, "Eggman" appeared again, but Omega was unable to tell if it was really him or not due to his sensors being jammed. After defeating an even larger army of robots, Team Dark made its way on to the Egg Fleet and finally arrived on Final Fortress. After getting passed the ship's forces, they battled "Eggman" in his Egg Emperor and won, causing multiple explosions to course through the machine. After deeming "Eggman" eradicated, Omega then set about destroying a room full of Shadow Androids. Rouge had just entered looking for the Doctor's treasure. The bat then told Omega that Shadow, the one they knew, was a robot ("android" in the Japanese version), and before saying anything else, turned to leave. Then Omega said, with a slight sign of compassion, that in order for there to be clones the original must still exist.

He then accompanied Team Dark to a large tower on the ship in the shape of Eggman, and watched as it was destroyed and the parts used to turn Neo Metal Sonic into the Metal Overlord, though still largely incomplete. He then gathered around with the other three teams as the real Eggman explained that Metal Sonic copied all their data and combined it with the power of Chaos, saying it would help if they had the seven Chaos Emeralds. Fortunately, all four teams had collected the emeralds during their adventures, and Rouge and Omega revealed they had the grey and green Chaos Emeralds respectively. But Eggman still thought it a long shot, so Shadow told Team Sonic that he and everyone else would distract Metal Sonic long enough for them to induce a super transformation using the emeralds' power. After Team Rose and Team Chaotix attacked Metal Sonic from the right and left sides of him, Team Dark struck him from the front by assaulting his weak point that changed to repel the attacks of the three members at the right time. But, fortunately, through team work, they managed to weaken him before he grew wings and took off into the sky. Team Sonic then went into their super states and challenged the Metal Overlord and won. Neo Metal Sonic was then reverted back to his original form, and Omega picked up his deactivated body when everyone was gone and watched Team Sonic, Rouge and Amy Rose run off into the distance with Shadow.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Omega made his next appearance in Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), still with the sole intention of getting revenge on Eggman. He was given a new English voice actor from Webtone Productions (Jeff Kramer) (though originally cast to Maddie Blaustein of 4Kids Entertainment) while retaining his Japanese voice actor (Taiten Kusunoki). Optionally, Shadow can assist Omega in the "Hero" missions of the "Iron Jungle and "Lava Shelter stages by teaming up to get to Eggman and Omega will help him battle the "Egg Breaker" and "Egg Dealer" bosses following those stages. In Expert Mode, Omega spoke to Shadow on the "Mad Matrix" and "Lava Shelter" levels, also being some kind of comic relief in the latter, along with Rouge, and he was heard last giving support to Shadow on The Last Way along with every other main character in the game.

In the missions that Omega appears in, the player must either destroy the Egg Balloon ("Iron Jungle") or head to the center of Eggman's base ("Lava Shelter") to complete the "Hero" mission. Strangely, whether the player completes the "Hero" or "Dark" mission for "Lava Shelter", Omega will help Shadow fight the Egg Dealer, despite the "Dark" mission being helping Eggman. Omega is also playable by inserting a second controller, allowing the player to control him and use Omega to attack certain enemies within a limited distance. However, he doesn't use any weapons to attack and instead swipes at opponents with his hands or jumps on them.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
Omega first appears in Sonic '06 when Rouge looks after him in Tropical Jungle. In a clever piece of paradox exploitation, Rouge gives Omega a Chaos Emerald to give to Shadow in Crisis City, over 200 years in the future. Rouge knows that her plan will likely succeed because she saw Omega there, in standby mode, when Mephiles time-shifted her and Shadow past the Day of Disaster. Even though Omega is successful at delivering the Emerald to Shadow, it seems that Omega's intervening two centuries were not spent in low-power mode. Later in Wave Ocean, the robot admits that he was responsible for capturing and imprisoning the alternate-future version of Shadow presented by Mephiles in Flame Core.

Nonetheless, these events (as with the bulk of the game's plot) are erased from history after the defeat of Solaris at the End of the World. In this level Omega helps effect the resurrection of Sonic by retrieving a Chaos Emerald from the Flame Core fragment.

In Sonic '06 Omega had his first, and most likely ever only solo gameplay in sections of Shadow's levels. His play style is similar to that of E-102 in Sonic Adventure, as he has lock on attacks, and the ability to hover. He is playable in a considerable amount of stages, and is one of the three characters featured in the downloadable "Team Attack Amigo" missions.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
In the story, Omega went to Eggman's ruined city of Metropolis to destroy any robots he could find, but he located the Marauders instead. The Marauders had reprogrammed Eggman's old robots to serve them and, upon discovering Omega, sent them to take him apart after he had to make a retreat into a room in Northwest Metropolis. The robots were successful, but Shadow was worried about Omega and went in search of him using an old Eggman device that picked up the automaton's signal. After losing it, Shadow then teamed up with Sonic and company to help find Omega. He was found in Chapter 5 by Tails, Eggman and the rest of their team. Omega was repaired by the young fox at Shadow's request, much to the disapproval of the Doctor. When Omega saw Eggman his first inclination was to attack him, but Tails told Omega that they'd joined forces with Eggman. At first Omega thought Tails had gone mad and suggested destroying him, but Shadow and Rouge confirmed this for the robot. Trusting his friends more than Tails, Omega teamed up with Sonic after recharging himself in the stronghold in the Underground.

Omega is an optional character and his stripe was returned to his pre-2006 color, but now both of his shoulders have a "Ω" symbol. His main combat move was firing missiles at his enemies which could effect nearby opponents along with the main target when they struck. In combat, Omega had the highest damage power, and the highest armor, but was also one of the slowest and therefore only got one attack per round. He (optionally) provides most of the end credits for Sonic Chronicles, along with Tails and Sonic. Omega also has his own wallpaper which shows Metropolis in the background.

Sonic Colors
Omega is first seen in the Asteroid Coaster area of Dr. Eggman's Amazing Interstellar Amusement Park as the area's first mission, confronting Cubot and Orbot. He repeatedly opens fire on them with his laser cannons, the two henchmen thinking him one of Eggman's robots going through a "rebellious teen phase."

When Omega notices that they are Eggman's henchmen and they realize he is going to destroy them, they plead with Sonic to save them, since he saves everyone else. Sonic tells Omega to stand down, but he only agrees on the condition he gives him physical specification data by completing a mission to collect five Wisps carrying numbered flags in the correct order within a minute and thirty seconds. Sonic met his conditions and Omega revealed he would use the data for a function upgrade in the future. Sonic then asked Omega if he saw where Cubot and Orbot went, and a visually sad Omega admitted he had lost them. Tails then jokingly said he should be mining data from the two henchmen due to their track record for lightning-fast escapes. Omega makes a later appearance in Asteroid Coaster alongside Shadow, wanting Sonic and Tails to chase after a secret amusement park ride of Eggman's to locate what it led to on another mission. They arrive at a lab and Tails hacks into the computer system, locating the results of an experiment called Project "Mother". Shadow was disappointed they didn't find more to help, but Sonic just focused on the fact that it was useful all the same before speeding off. Omega then asked why Shadow gave Sonic information, and the ultimate life form replied he was just happy to let Sonic do all the racing around. Omega found this hard to understand since Shadow and Sonic's abilities were equal according to his data and Shadow just replied that data would not tell him everything, leaving the automaton stumped.

Sonic Battle
Omega is briefly mentioned by Rouge during Sonic Battle, when she notes the similarities between him and E-102 Chaos Gamma after defeating him.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Omega appeared in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games as a boss or rival character on both the Nintendo Wii and DS versions. His stripe returned to silver for this game and all following titles. He was voiced by the late Maddie Blaustein in English and Taiten Kusunoki returned to the role for Omega in Japanese.

In the Wii version in Festival, Omega suddenly comes out of nowhere to challenge the character(s) to Speed Skating 500m on Day 5 in Singles and Short Track Relay on Day 9 for Team, saying his defeat was impossible. After the player has beaten Omega, they can buy a suit of him for their Mii s for a price of three hundred Star Tokens and the music that plays in the background while challenging him for seventy. The Miis can wear the Omega Suit in the game and it gives them stats that, presumably, would be identical to Omega's own if he were playable. Coincidentally, Omega's statistics are exactly the same as Dr. Eggman's.

In the Nintendo DS version, Omega plays a small role in the Adventure Tours mode as the first enemy boss of Blitzland and the final member of Team Dark to be fought against. In the story, Omega went on his old mission of defeating Eggman and confronted him in Blitzland, but Eggman said he would only fight Omega if he proved himself worthy by defeating Sonic and Mario, so Omega stationed himself in Blitzland near some storage tanks and waited. Eventually, Sonic and Mario appeared and Omega challenged them to Intense Short Track, but inevitably lost. He then confessed why he fought them and teleported back to the skating course in a black vortex to practice before Sonic, Mario or Toad could get a chance to make Omega their ally. The player can go against Omega again by either selecting to fight against him on the Mission List or by visiting his post by interacting with the board there, even though he's no longer visible. Despite gaining new artwork for Mario & Sonic on the Wii version, the artwork used for Omega on the Nintendo DS comes from Sonic Heroes.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Omega appears again as a rival in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the London Party Mode, again voiced by Vic Mignogna and Taiten Kusunoki. His event this time is the 100m Sprint and you get the chance to meet Omega as one of three bonus events while exploring London in Free Time. He has received no new artwork or design changes this game and defeating him awards you a Big Sticker of Omega with his Sonic Heroes artwork on it.A Mii costume of Omega is also available and gives you his would-be stats when worn. With Omega's top areas being Acceleration and Max Speed, it seems he would have been a Speed type character, changing from Skill last game. Although no playable characters have these stats, they are shared with the Mii costumes of Marine the Raccoon and Wendy O. Koopa. Omega races by first gathering speed on foot, then uses his jets before charging for a final boost near the finish line as a last minute trick to win. When you speak to him, Omega will use more normal words like "hey" instead of his typical robotic phrases. This is only for when he's talking with word balloons, however, as you hear him talking vocally he sounds like his typical self.

In the Nintendo 3DS version of the game, Omega appears a room with various equipment where Donkey Kong is training. Tails and Espio then shows up saying Omega is wreaking the place. When Omega shows up he challenges Donkey Kong to an Olympic event but he declines. However Tails and Espio agree to take them on but Donkey Kong discovers Omega ruined his banana making him furious and the battle. The event is Wrestling (Free Style) Match. After the player wins a piece falls out of Omega and he says that someone was using this piece to control him and that his memory banks were blank. Omega then starts helping the players save the Olympic games. Along the way some memory banks are restored by random acts (such as when Eggman was mentioned a memory was restored and when he bumped into Big).

Sonic Generations
Omega appears in the Sonic Generations manga at Sonic's birthday party helping with the food, but is absent from the party in the game and the entire storyline. However, he makes several cameo appearances; one on various signs saying E-123 Omega RD in the level Speed Highway as a reference to the Sonic Unleashed Empire City level, another in two screenshots shown during the end credits showing him in Sonic Heroes and Sonic the Hedgehog, discredited as "OMGA" on a poster for the latest Chao in Space movie, Chao in Space: The Search for Tikal and finally as a statue in the hidden statue room.

Archie Comics
Omega appears in the continuity of Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic series. He first appeared in issue 3 of the spin-off comic Sonic Universe in February 2009. This version of Omega was activated by Doctor Eggman in order to track down and destroy E-102 Gamma. Omega, the "walking arsenal", battled Gamma's sleeker "assassin" model. Before Omega destroyed Gamma, Gamma uploaded some computer code to Omega that Gamma referred to as his "soul". The feedback from this transfer made Omega uncertain of his purpose. He subsequently joined Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat as members of G.U.N.'s Team Dark, dedicating himself to battling the Eggman Empire.

Personality
While Omega, as a robot, is largely emotionless, he is capable of understanding those of others, and reacting appropriately. For example in Sonic Heroes, when Team Dark is lead to believe that Shadow may be an android created by Eggman, Omega comforts a depressed Rouge (albeit in a distant, matter-of-fact matter) by saying that they needed the original to make a copy, thus meaning that the real Shadow is still alive. In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), he shows depression and anger when Mephiles reveals that Omega is the one who will trap Shadow in the future after the world blamed Shadow for the release of Iblis. It is also possible Omega is superstitious, as he believes in omens such as the appearance of stormy weather, though this might have been because of his scanners picking up a powerful magnetic field.

Like E-102 Gamma, Omega has a free will and a personality. However, he is considerably less noble than Gamma; while Gamma destroys only what needs to be destroyed, Omega destroys anything that could possibly pose any kind of threat to himself or his mission. From his quotes, he thinks other Eggman robots are inferior to him, dismissing them as "worthless consumer models", especially the E-2000 model. He hates side tracking especially when it comes to locating Eggman. Omega is also very proud and feels embarrassed after he is defeated by less powerful Eggman robots.

It also seems that he lacks any sort of negativity towards Sonic and his friends, and didn't even recognize them during their first meeting in Sonic Heroes, as can be heard when the player finishes the Team Battle using Omega. This is probably because Omega was made to contain Shadow the Hedgehog and not as a means to defeat Sonic. However, he does not appear to hold them in high regard, referring to them as 'meatbags' in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

Omega's only goals in life are to take revenge on Eggman for disabling him, and destroy the doctor's other robots to prove himself superior. At one point in Shadow the Hedgehog, Omega made a comment about how he would "reign supreme". Some fans have taken these words quite literally, and believe that Omega wants to take over the Eggman Empire and become a robot overlord in the style of Metal Sonic. However, subsequent games have shown this less believable, and it is generally taken to mean that he wishes to reign supreme as the greatest of Eggman's robots.

Omega is fairly loyal and dependable when you're on his good side, a bit of a holdover from his original purpose as a servant, and he's not incapable of looking past differences to forge alliances. He also genuinely cares for Shadow and Rouge as friends, and accepts the truth of what they say to him over everyone else; for example, in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, when the party encounters him, he tries to attack Eggman the moment he sees him, and Tails attempts to convince him that Eggman is on their side; Omega then believes that Tails has gone insane and decides to attack him as well, and he only believes that Eggman is working with them when Shadow and Rouge tell him so. In addition, he will temporarily abandon his vengeful quest against Eggman if he detects a bigger threat, as evidenced by his participation in the battle against Metal Madness.

Stereotypical of most robots, Omega tends to use somewhat lengthy words instead of usual human speech. An example of this is when he uses "negative" or "affirmative" instead of simply saying yes or no. Although he has been known to use typical human speech before, such as one of his Hint Ring lines from Sonic Heroes: "Looks like those guys are guarding that case."

Notably, in all of his appearances (barring the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game, in which he behaved in a manner stereotypical of old robots), he makes odd, often erratic movements, such as spinning his head as if it's on a 360 degree axis in many circles and rotate his entire upper body the same way during confrontations with Eggman in Shadow the Hedgehog. Whether this is a programming flaw or intentional is not revealed. Also in Sonic the Hedgehog, when Omega is standing still, he makes odd movements as if he's doing warm up exercises.

Weapon Arsenal
Omega has a huge array of extremely destructive weapons and machines concealed in his arms which he can switch at will by his reconfiguring forearms or hands to execute a variety of attacks. These include rapid-fire gatling cannons (Omega Machine Gun),flamethrowers (Omega Fire), missile launchers (Omega Missile), fireball launchers (Omega Launcher), multiple semi-automatic single-barreled wrist cannons for firing pellets and homing lasers, powerful black miniguns a temporal field device, unconventional drill-shaped missiles, and laser beam cannons. He can likewise retract his hands into their sockets for scooping up balls and either use them as melee weapons or launch them as fireballs.

Omega appears to be armed with explosive rounds for his machine guns, as evidenced by the damage he caused to the base he was sealed in by only firing for a few seconds. However, certain weapons of his require the use of magazinesas opposed to storing all his ammunition in bulk inside himself. While Omega also appears to possess some form of targeting systems for his arsenal, he tends to be rather inaccurate however, most notably when he fired in every direction when first meeting Shadow with the expectation that some of them would hit.

Physical Abilities
Classified as a Power Type, Omega possess considerable amounts of physical strength that easily rivals the likes of Knuckles the Echidna, Big the Cat and Vector the Crocodile as seen in Sonic Heroes, being capable of smashing giant boulders and metal with ease using his bare fists. Omega is also equipped with jet boosters built in his back which he can utilize to help him accelerate along the ground, increase the height of his jumps, hover through midair over long distances, and even move at speeds rivaling Shadow and Rouge. On his feet however, Omega is really slow, though his ground speed can be boosted by approximately 15% with adamantium double-lubricated actuator joints installed.

Being a robot, Omega is equipped with remarkably tough armor which can resist strong blows, certain forms of poisonous gas, psychic manipulation and electrical currents that most of the other characters cannot pass through.Omega also easily survived being in Crisis City while in standby mode for collectively two centuries.

Like most Sonic characters, but unlike most robots, Omega can jump and turn in a ball, known as the Spin Jump or "Spin Attack"; he can also grind on rails like most characters but unlike most robots.

Omega appears to be waterproof as he does not short circuit when submerged in waters like in Frog Forest, Lost Jungle or Charyb's lair. Omega has scanners that allow him to examine both machinery and living beings. He is also equipped with some kind of built-in sensor that allows him to locate enemies, life forms and other various objects such as switches.

Color Powers
By harnessing different variants of Hyper-go-on from Wisps, Omega 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, Omega 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.