



In addition to controlling three characters, the player may select one of the four teams available to use at the beginning of the game. This can be achieved by performing such actions as destroying enemies or collecting many Rings. Each team also has a Team Blast skill, which can be performed when the Team Blast Gauge is full. These can be used to solve various puzzles necessary to progress through stages, most notably in Team Chaotix's Mystic Mansion stage. Each ability also has an element associated with it: Speed uses wind, Fly uses lightning and Power uses fire. Each ability is also represented in the interface by color blue for speed, yellow for flight, and red for power.

Each stage has a different layout for each team, providing different challenges for each story. Each character has an individual ability: speed for fast stages, power for breaking objects, or flight for reaching high platforms, and the player must use these abilities to traverse the fourteen stages. Unlike most Sonic games, where players control one character, three characters are available at any time to choose from, as the player may switch the party's leader freely, whilst the other two characters follow. The game introduces several new gameplay elements. After completing the game with each team and obtaining the seven Chaos Emeralds, the player will unlock the Last Story, which is the epilogue of the entire game and shows its true ending. The goals of each team are different, but the levels and boss fights are common to all of them. Sonic Heroes consists of four different stories, during which the player takes on the role of one of four teams of three. Just as in games of the series Adventure, the plot is divided into several stories. The game received mixed reviews from critics but it performed commercially well, becoming a million-seller and making the best-selling lists for all three of its original platforms. This game differs from other Sonic games by allowing the player to take control of one of four teams, each with three characters, who each have unique abilities to use. Sonic Heroes is noteworthy for being the first Sonic game to be released on Sony and Microsoft gaming consoles. As part of the PlayStation 2 Classics program, the PlayStation 2 version was re-released digitally for the PlayStation 3 via PlayStation Network on September 2012 in Europe, and January 2014 in Asia. It would then be later released for Microsoft Windows PCs on November 2004. It was first released on December 2003 in Japan, then in the first couple of months of the following year in other countries. Sonic Heroes ( ソニック ヒーローズ, Sonikku Hīrōzu ?) is a 3D platformer video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.
