Rouge the Bat

"I'm Rouge the Bat, but you can call me Rouge."

- Rouge the Bat "I despise anyone who takes jewels from me... All the world's gems are mine to keep!"

- Rouge in Sonic Adventure 2.

Rouge the Bat is a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. Her villainous acts are mainly to steal herself as many jewels (including Knuckles's Master Emerald) and make herself rich, even if it means working with Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik.

Rouge the Bat 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. Rouge the Bat 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. Rouge the Bat does have allies, such as Shadow the Hedgehog and Topaz from G.U.N. 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.

She battled against the Metarex in Season 3 with Doctor Eggman and released Shadow. She joins the good side and declared war on Eggman after Christopher Thorndyke was sent to Earth.

Rouge seemingly possess 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.)

History
At some point, Rouge learned of the Master Emerald and went after it, hoping to steal it from Knuckles the Echidna. She was seen arguing with Knuckles over it as she tried to convince him to "just let it go". Their argument was interrupted when the notorious Dr. Eggman, whom Rouge had heard of but never seen, arrived to take the Emerald for himself—which didn't go as planned, as Knuckles jumped up and smashed it. This prompted both Knuckles and Rouge to find all of the shards before the other did. However, just prior to beginning her search, Rouge apparently placed a tracker on the Eggmobile, which enabled her to later locate his pyramid base.

After finding three Emerald shards in Dry Lagoon, Rouge headed for the Egg Quarters, where she sent a message to the President's secretary through some sort of device apparently concealed in her glove. Finding three keys to enter Eggman's computer room, she discovers his space transporter, which is set to the Space Colony ARK Rouge had heard about. Using the machine, she heads for the central control room of the ARK. When she arrives, she strikes a deal with the Doctor and Shadow the Hedgehog: if he gives her his Emerald detector to the Master Emerald shards, then she would give him the blue Chaos Emerald she had found and would help him obtain the others, three of which she knew their locations. Around this time, she begins to investigate the Ultimate Lifeform and Project Shadow.

On Prison Island, Rouge steals three of the Emeralds after breaking into Security Hall. However, a guard robot appears and the vault is sealed, leaving her trapped in the building as Eggman's bomb is about to go off. Fortunately, she manages to destroy the robot, and is saved just in time by Shadow, who used Chaos Control. Back on the ARK, they threaten the world with the Eclipse Cannon, giving the President 24 hours to surrender the United Federation to the Eggman Empire, or else they would destroy the country.

Rouge was later supposed to try and guard the ARK from the intruders (Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose, Miles "Tails" Prower and Knuckles the Echidna) after Eggman failed to stop them (and ended up having to get out of the mess he got himself into) but instead started snooping around about the Ultimate Lifeform for the President. Later she discovered that Knuckles' stash of the Master Emerald Shards had accidentally been jettisoned into space, and used the opportunity to try to complete the Master Emerald. However, shortly after finding them, she encountered Knuckles at a Space Structure Planetoid and dueled with him for the Emerald Shards. However, her recklessness gets the better of her and she nearly falls into a pit of lava, where she is saved by Knuckles. They have an intimate moment before Rouge pulls her hand away from him and offers some bashful remarks. In the end, she gives him the Emerald Shards, claiming that "they stink like echidnas do", and takes off.

She continues to assist Shadow and Eggman, until she is revealed by Shadow to be a secret agent working for G.U.N., who also stops Rouge from taking the Emeralds from the Eclipse Cannon shortly after overhearing her plans. However, Eggman, while attempting to activate the Eclipse Cannon, unknowingly activates a crash sequence that was secretly programmed into the ARK's main computer. Rouge comes to Sonic and Knuckles to tell them the grave news after learning what was going to happen from the President (although Knuckles initially thought she was attempting to regain the Master Emerald when she arrived). Rouge cheers Sonic and Shadow on during the final battle to save the earth from the Biolizard, and is given Shadow's inhibitor ring by Sonic after his supposed death. She is seen telling Knuckles that she is going to change her treasure-hunting ways; a promise she doesn't sustain who Omega assumes is a robot android. Rouge stops Shadow and E-123 Omega from fighting, suggesting that they work together as a team to find Eggman. She wears a different outfit than in Sonic Adventure 2, sporting a more futuristic pink-and-purple design with the heart motif on her belt rather than her chest. At the windy city, she also accuses Team Chaotix of trying to take Eggman's treasure themselves before their battle against them. Her only objective in the game is to find Eggman's "treasure", which turned out to be a huge room with thousands of capsules containing Shadow's clones, which were destroyed by E-123 Omega soon after. Upon this discovery, she attempts to inform Omega that the Shadow accompanying them was likely to be an android made in the original's likeness, but decided against it, although Omega deduced enough about what she was about to say and informed her that the original Shadow had to have existed if the Shadow Androids are present.

Rouge also appears in Shadow the Hedgehog, helping with the Hero missions in Digital Circuit, Death Ruins, and GUN Fortress. In Expert Mode, Rouge lends her voice to Shadow at the beginning of Cryptic Castle, Lava Shelter, and The Last Way (along with the voice of every other character that appears in Expert Mode). In her levels, she rescues the Chaos Emerald and fights the Black Arms when they are pushed back into the forest. In Sonic the Hedgehog, Rouge appears as an "Amigo" character, playable in stages White Acropolis, Kingdom Valley, Flame Core and Tropical Jungle. She first appears escaping Eggman's base with Shadow after stealing the Scepter of Darkness as part of a mission from GUN. After escaping, Rouge and Shadow go to Kingdom Valley to find the GUN rendezvous point, however they are ambushed by Eggman and the Scepter is broken after a struggle. Mephiles the Dark emerges from the broken scepter and is reborn in Shadow's shadow and sends the two into the future.

Rouge then teams up with Sonic and his friends to find two Chaos Emeralds that enable them to return to their own time. Rouge returns to the present alone and realizes that Shadow has stayed in the future. Rouge then goes about finding E-123 Omega and sends him to help Shadow.

Rouge eventually finds that  he betrays Shadow in the future and that one day the whole world will turn against him. Rouge assures her friend that "even if he believes everyone in the world will turn against him, she will always remain by his side". Rouge then helps Shadow, along with Omega, to try to defeat Mephiles and seal him in the new Scepter of Darkness. However this attempt does not work because Mephiles is using Shadow's form. Thanks to Shadow, the trio then defeat all of Mephiles' clones only to find out later than Mephiles actually escaped. She later helps the rest of the crew save Sonic.

Rouge mainly appears in Shadow's story in Sonic Rivals. When she communicates with Shadow about what she discovered about Eggman, the transmission cuts off. Much later, when Eggman Nega (who is disguised as Eggman and took the picture of Rouge with his camera turning her into a card) threatens to take a picture (and trapping it) with his camera, the mad scientist is ultimately defeated and Rouge is freed from her card. Rouge appears in some of the 150 collectible cards.

Rouge appears as a playable character in Sonic Rivals 2. During the storyline she worked with Knuckles the Echidna, her rival, to find the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. To do so, she stole Eggman's emerald detector to find them. She and Knuckles found themselves having to battle with other rivals and Eggman Nega (unknown to the duo, he is disguised as Eggman) in order to find the Chaos Emeralds while Knuckles was unable to find the Master Emerald. Rouge found six emeralds which opened a portal to another dimension. Rouge was dragged into the portal by Knuckles, leading to her finding herself separated from Knuckles in another dimension. When she found Knuckles, she saw that his mind was being controlled by the Ifrit, a big fire monster that could destroy the world. Rouge managed to defeat the Ifrit and saved Knuckles, she then found the emerald detector destroyed and saw the Master Emerald inside it. The two returned to their own dimension. Knuckles took the Master Emerald but was then distracted when Rouge calls him dashing, giving her enough time to take the Emerald from his grasp and run from the scene.

Rouge appears as a playable character in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. She is the fourth person to join Sonic's group and is assigned by the GUN Commander as a "representative" of the organization. When the group reaches the Kron Colony it is revealed that Rouge was sent by GUN to gather some Nocturnus technology. The player can choose to help her by obtaining various amounts of Nocturnus Tech. Her overworld abilities allow her to fly (better so than Knuckles but worse than Tails and Cream) and the Stealth ability—one that she shares only with Shade. In battle, she has low attack power and low armor, but gets to attack twice per round. She can weaken, distract and even steal items from her foes.

In Sonic Free Riders, Rouge, along with Shadow, decided to enter the World Grand Prix in Extreme Gear as Team Dark. Rouge, however, was only interested in the large cash prize and treasure that was given to the winners of the tournament.

As the World Grand Prix had started, Rouge and Shadow were 15 minutes late to the opening ceremony. When they arrive, Omochao complained about their tardiness, but Rouge told Omochao that she and Shadow were only here for the award. As such, she was only interested in meeting up to the races and for the rest of the time, she was off the clock. When Omochao asked them about their third member, Rouge said they did not have one as she believed she and Shadow would do just fine. Omochao, however, said that it was against the rules and they could get disqualified. Discontent with the rules, but accepting them, Rouge asked Omochao if he wanted to a part of her team, but he refused. Rouge then spotted a E-10000B robot and temped him to come by calling him "handsome". Despite the E-10000B's reasons for coming by, Rouge found the robot available at the moment and had it join the team.

In their first race, Team Dark was put up against Team Babylon. During their races, Rouge teasingly insulted Team Babylon by asking them how they could have ever gotten any treasure when "moving that slow". In the end, Team Dark beat Team Babylon, and Rouge gloated over her team's victory by telling Wave that she felt bad for them.

In the next race, Team Dark went up against Team Heroes. During their races, E-10000B began to wear down from overheating and Rouge displayed some teasing doubt for her robotic teammate. As Tails began to worry about E-10000B's condition, Rouge told him that if E-10000B would break down, he would get canned, much to Tails' disgust. Eventually, Team Dark defeated Team Heroes, and Rouge thought it was now finally time for the award ceremony. Omochao, however, told Rouge that they still had to face Team Rose in the finals. Confident, Rouge told Omochao that her team was sure to win and asked him why they did not just skip to the award ceremony already. As Amy promised to avenge Sonic's defeat, Rouge responded by telling her that she would rather join him in their "pitty party".

As Team Dark was just one race away from winning against Team Rose, E-10000B began to reach critical levels. Team Rose berated Rouge for treating a teammate like that, but Rouge brushed off their comments, as she believed that E-10000B was just a machine, and insisted on continuing the race. After winning against Team Rose, Rouge and Shadow left the tracks and hurried over to the Grand Prix Headquarters and stole the cash purse and treasure from there, before taking their leave. When Omochao found them, Rouge told him that since they had earned the prize, she had gotten what she came for and saw better use of her time than wasitng it on the award ceremony. Rouge was, however, surprised to hear from Omochao that what they had taken was just dummy drops for display and that the real prize was locked away in a safe, and they had to attend the award ceremony to receive it. Rouge, however, found it annoying and their efforts a waste of time.

As the World Grand Prix proceeded, Team Dark received their own fair share of defeats. During these races, Rouge displayed her general confidence to the opposing team that she and her team would win the grand prize, while mocking their efforts, only to be defeated each time. Despite this, Rouge is impressed by their opponents' skills.

Near the end of the World Grand Prix, Team Dark and the other teams came down with an equal amount of victories, and Rouge, with the rest of her team, came to the award ceremony to collect their prize. Once there, however, Rouge and the others were told by Dr. Eggman (under his alias King Doc) that they had one more race against his Gear-jockey robots. As she was heading out to the track, Rouge was surprised to find E-10000B, whom she had thought was out of commission. After the race, Rouge could not find Eggman and thought that the doctor had left to avoid paying them the treasure. Eggman then revealed himself and announced that that he had been collecting all the data on the racers in the Grand Prix with his E-10000 to make the ultimate Extreme Gear that he could use for his own agenda and challenged Rouge and the others to a race. After beating Eggman, Rouge noticed that E-10000B looked a little shaky, but then Metal Sonic revealed himself as the one controlling E-10000B and passing fake data to Eggman.

Rouge and the others watched as Metal Sonic challenged Sonic the Hedgehog to a race, in which Sonic soundly defeated his robot copy. Afterwards, it was revealed that Eggman never had any prize to give to the winners of the World Grand Prix, but Rouge remarked that she would be lying if she had said that she had not seen this coming. Rouge appears in an extra mission in Starlight Carnival in the DS version of Sonic Colors. She tricked Knuckles into coming to Eggman's theme park, much to Knuckles' dismay but for unknown reasons.

In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, Rouge attended and helped preparing Sonic's surprise birthday. When Sonic arrived, Rouge and the rest welcomed him. As the party started, Rouge began talking with Knuckles the Echidna when the Time Eater suddenly appeared. Rouge was then sucked into one of the Time Eater's Time Holes and ended up at City Escape in the White Space, where she was turned into a statue due to the Time Eater's effects.

Eventually, Rouge was returned to normal by Classic Sonic (Sonic's past self) and Modern Sonic (Sonic's present self) In the scenario where Classic Sonic rescues her, Rouge thanked Classic Sonic upon her restoration, and warned him that the Time Eater was nothing she had seen before. Noticing Classic Sonic's different look, Rouge added that Classic Sonic looked nothing like the Sonic she knew. In the scenario where Modern Sonic rescues her, Rouge thanked Modern Sonic when she was restored, before telling him that this was the first time she herself got stolen.

When Classic and Modern Sonic confronted the Time Eater, which was revealed to be controlled by Modern Eggman and Classic Eggman, Rouge arrived at the battle with the others and cheered on both Sonics, allowing them both to transform into Super Sonic. When the Sonics defeated the Time Eater, Rouge and the others were send back to the present. Continuing with the celebration, Rouge talked with Knuckles and later waved goodbye to Classic Sonic and Classic Tails when they returned to their own time.

Sonic Riders
Rouge appears in Sonic Riders as an unlockable racer. She is the strongest flight-type character (after Wave) in the game. Rouge plays no active role in the story; however, the official website states that Rouge has some kind of rivalry with Wave the Swallow.

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
Rouge returns in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity as an unlockable racer, but, again, not in the storyline. She is unlocked by completing Heroes Story in Story Mode. Also, she is a flight-type character and can transform her Extreme Gear, Temptation, to an Air Ride with a Gear Part.

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. Eggman bribed her with a huge amount 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 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.

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 the Comic: Online
Rouge the Bat is a villain in Sonic the Comic: Online. Unlike her SEGA, Archie, and Sonic X versions, this character is much more nefarious with no redeeming qualities to speak of, and the scope of her evil is a bit greater. These are traits she shares with the Sonic the Comic: Online version of Shadow the Hedgehog, the Babylon Rogues, Bean the Dynamite, Void, and even Emerl as well.

She first appeared during "The Syndicate", as a member of the titular criminal group. She was only interested in the group for profits, and she meant it, unlike in SEGA, Archie, and X. She then tormented Knuckles with the King of Ghosts. It was later revealed she is a spy for the Drakon House of Knowledge, and continues to elude capture from the Household Keepers. Much like Shadow the Hedgehog, she is the only Rouge ever made to have no redeeming traits of any kind, and is portrayed as truly villainous.

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 Tournement and also helped Sonic and the others find the Kingdom of Maracia.

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 narcissistic 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.

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 send 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 the Echidna 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, side kicks, 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 effects everything within its range.

When not attacking her opponents directly, Rouge has also been known to use techniques that involves 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.

Allies

 * Team Dark
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (close friend)
 * E-123 Omega (close friend)
 * E-10000B (formerly)
 * Team Sonic
 * Knuckles the Echidna (also a rival)
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Team Rose
 * Amy Rose (rival)
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Cheese
 * Big the Cat
 * Chaotix
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Emerl
 * Shade the Echidna
 * Avatar
 * Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik (Depending on Rouge's goal)

Rivals

 * Knuckles the Echidna (friendly/formerly arch rival)
 * Wave the Swallow
 * Amy Rose
 * Vector the Crocodile

​Enemies

 * Eggman Empire
 * Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik
 * Metal Sonic
 * Orbot
 * Cubot
 * Black Doom
 * Solaris
 * Mephiles the Dark
 * Eggman Nega
 * Imperator Ix
 * Time Eater
 * Biolizard
 * Infinite
 * Replicas
 * Replica Chaos
 * Replica Metal Sonic
 * Replica Shadow
 * Replica Zavok
 * Replica Rouge
 * Replica Omega

Theme songs
The Sonic the Hedgehog videogames have featured several theme songs for the character.
 * Sonic Adventure 2: "Fly in the Freedom" - Tabitha Fair, Todd Cooper.
 * Sonic Heroes: "This Machine" - Julien-K. This was a team theme shared with Shadow and Omega.

The background music for the stage Security Hall (titled "I'm a Spy") in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle is generally attributed to Rouge, despite technically having no relation to her. Like most characters, Rouge is associated with a genre of music, specifically smooth jazz/bossa nova/fusion with some feminine sighs thrown in (similarly to how Knuckles is associated with the rap genre). It is interesting to note that the background music in her Club Rouge stage from Sonic Battle also has feminine sighing. No other BGM in the game has any form of vocal.

Promotion and Merchandising
Rouge has been featured in many advertising campaigns and advertising for the Sonic the Hedgehog series in North America and Japan. At the launch of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, Rouge and a few other characters were featured in a line of plushes advertising the game. Another Rouge plush was released as a prize for crane games in Japan at the launch of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. As a campaign for the Sonic X anime in North America and Japan, keychains were distributed for the main characters in the show, one of whom was Rouge. Sega and McDonalds released a series of LCD Sonic Themed Games at McDonalds in 2004, the games were bundled with Happy Meals. Rouge was featured in the game Amy & Rouge Volleyball in which, "Players are challenged to move Amy from side to side to return Rouge's serves and volleys.".

Critical reception
Upon Rouge's introduction in Sonic Adventure 2, many game reviewers commented on her similarity to Knuckles, including such critical remarks as "Knuckles with bat wings and breasts", whilst some further criticized her design. Her "daring attitude" and narcissism received further comment. Rouge appeared on GamerRadar's list of "The Sexy Lady Beasts of Gaming", in which she is described as "Proof that voluptuous curves, thigh-boots, sexy eyes and rubber gloves can make any animal in the kingdom an object of lustful perverted desire. No matter how freaky-looking their real-world inspiration might be."

Despite some criticism, Rouge has also been seen in a more positive light, with some Sonic fans seeing her as the "Jessica Rabbit" of the Sonic series.

Quotes
My name is Rouge the Bat. Better known as the treasure hunter, Rouge.|The beginning of Rouge's recap in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "Even if you believe everyone is against you, know that I'll always remain by your side. Remember that." - Rouge telling Shadow that even if he is a threat to humanity she will always be with him in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
 * "This can't be true, I never lose!" - Rouge, after being beaten by Knuckles in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "Oh great. Mama always told me that one day I'd get stuck in an alien dimension without a change of clothes." - Rouge when the heroes finally landed in the Nocturne in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
 * "So, you did your homework, is that it? I'd say that's an invasion of privacy" - Rouge talking to Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "How's that? Perfect? Like me?" - After getting an A Rank.
 * "I'm Rouge the Bat, but you can call me Rouge." - Rouge introduces herself.
 * "You just wanted to hold my hand, didn't you? (teasingly) That's why you saved me; you're such a creep!" - After being saved by Knuckles.
 * "All the world's jewels will be mine." - After winning in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "I've got something better than jewels that I'm thinking about right now...it'll all work out; you'll see." -To Knuckles, during the credits on Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "Aw yeah baby, this makes us a team!" - After assembling Team Dark for the first time in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Long time no see boys! Too bad you had to come all this way for nothing, we'll take it from here!" - Taunting Team Sonic on their way to Eggman, before the teams fight.
 * "I haven't seen the President lately." - Rouge when standing still for a while in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Wonder if there are any jewels around here..." - Another of Rouge's lines when standing still for a while in Sonic Heroes.
 * "These ears aren't for show, you know." - When she was being spied on by Espio in Sonic Rivals 2.
 * "Better behave yourselves!" - Sonic Riders, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
 * "Hey, ladies first!" - When losing a race in the Sonic Riders trilogy and when she is behind in Bobsled Race in Sonic Heroes.
 * "Consuming power of others at your own will... Ha! And that's supposed to make you tough?!" - before she and her team battle Metal Sonic in Sonic Heroes.
 * "I...don't..let you get away..."-When using Gravity Dive in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.
 * "These boots were made for racing." - After winning a race in Sonic Rivals 2.
 * "Too bad, so sad."- Another quote when winning a race in Sonic Rivals 2.
 * "(Sighs), you're so slow!" Another quote when winning a race in Sonic Rivals 2.
 * "Where's my jewels?!"- Another quote when winning a race in Sonic Rivals 2.
 * "I think...no. See ya later, silver boy." - After arguing with Silver about Chao and Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Rivals 2.
 * "I despise anyone who takes jewels from me. All the world's gems are mine to keep!" - After Eggman took the Master Emerald in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * "You guys don't fool me, I know what you're after! Better stay out of my way!" - Before fighting Team Chaotix in Sonic Heroes.
 * "What are you saying? What else is a famous treasure hunter supposed to do?" - Talking to Shadow at the end of Sonic Heroes - Team Dark Story.
 * "Winning is everything!" - Rouge after winning a battle in Sonic Battle.
 * "Didn't I tell you I am a treasure hunter?" - When winning the mini-game Ring Race in Sonic Heroes.
 * "What? I'm not good enough for you?!" - When changing menu options with current setting as Rouge, in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
 * "Shadow? Has the prince finally awakened?" - Rouge asking Shadow if he woke up in Sonic Battle.
 * "What'd ya think of my beautiful technique?!" - Rouge after getting an S Rank in Sonic '06.
 * "Thanks Big Blue, that's the first time I've ever been stolen." - Rouge after Modern Sonic rescues her in City Escape in Sonic Generations.
 * "Thanks buddy! That thing that snatched me was like nothing I've never seen. Watch out. Come to think of it, you're nothing like the Sonic I've seen before!" - Rouge after Classic Sonic rescues her in City Escape in Sonic Generations.
 * "That piece of junk robot is no match for my charms!" - Rouge before the Seaside Hill mission with Modern Sonic begins from Sonic Generations.
 * "Aww! Stupid walls!" - Rouge when a protection wall comes up in Digital Circuit in Shadow the Hedgehog.
 * "Such a hard worker! How's about I give you a kiss for your troubles?" - Rouge flirting with Sonic after he completes her mission in Sonic Colors (DS).
 * "I may not look it, but I'm a real treasure hunter." - Rouge bragging in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
 * "I know, I know! But we can't work without having a bit of fun." - When Shadow and Omega notices BINGO on a table in Sonic Heroes
 * "You did good out there. It's not like you've waited till the last minute to come in and act all cool saving the day. (giggles)" - Rouge in the end of Sonic Forces

Replica Quotes

 * "Huh? What are you mumbling about, Shadow? You okay? (...) We're going to pick up Omega. We was destroyed three months ago, remember?"
 * "Oh, who knows? We haven't heard a beep from him since he was dispatched last week."
 * "In any case, that Omega sure is a clumsy bucket of bolts isn't he? Oooh, I can't wait to see the look of that smashed-up tin can's face!"
 * "Of course I'm me. just like how you're you."
 * "(giggles maniacally) Sure seems that way. Probably because it never really happened!"

Trivia

 * Mainly because both have an obsession for jewels, both wear black suits (though Rouge wears a pink heart shaped breastplate), having white colored gloves and boots to match their hair (Black Cat)/Fur (Rouge), and both have a secret crush on a red colored hero (Spider-Man for Black Cat; Knuckles the Echidna for Rouge).
 * 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 says above that in Omega's back history that it was his rampage that unleashed Rouge from Eggman's base.
 * 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 appear without a heart design on her clothing.
 * 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 eye lids.
 * 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.
 * As of date, Rouge has never appeared in any Sonic game without Shadow appearing in the same game, cameo or not.
 * In the Sonic Riders trilogy, Rouge's breasts are shrunken down.
 * 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-driff shows her navel. However, in Sonic Riders onwards it isn't present. It is also true that Sonic characters do not have a navel (such as Wave and Tikal).
 * 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).
 * 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!") of Sonic Adventure 2 is used in one episode of Sonic X.
 * She is similar to Tarantulas from Beast Wars and Gigan from Godzilla. All are members of a criminal group who turn out to be affiliated to another, alien villain group (The Drakon Empire and the Predacon Secret Police), both Rouge and Tarantulas have black as their main color, and all are sadistic.