Ladies and gentlemen, blue hedgehogs and androgynous foxes, gather round. Welcome to the Sonic Arena, home of Hedgehog Slayer!

(This is a Cosmic Rick / R0CKET M00SE collaboration)

The Gametypes:

Hedgehog Slayer or Team Slayer
Players: 2-8 (6 recommended)
Download Hedgehog Slayer

This is the flagship gametype for the Sonic Arena map variant. You get to play as any of 4 (or 5 if you're crafty) characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe in a wacky, fast-paced brawl. The characters are represented by the following classes:

Class 1: Sonic (Hog)
Ability: Evade
Loadout: Concussion Rifle, Grenade Launcher
Best against: Knuckles (offensively), Dr. Robotnik (defensively)
Notes: Sonic is the most mobile class by far. Unfortunately, this also means he is prone to suicides.

Class 2: Tails (Air Assault)
Ability: Jetpack
Loadout: Fuel Rod Gun, Needler
Best against: Knuckles, Best chance of landing kills on Sonic
Notes: Tails can pump out the most DPS, but has slow-moving projectiles, and can be a big target for Robotnik's focus rifle and Sonic's grenade launcher. Having more than a few Tails up at a time can cause lag. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Class 3: Knuckles (Berserker)
Ability: Sprint
Loadout: Gravity Hammer, Rocket Launcher
Best against: Shadow, Unaware Dr. Robotniks
Notes: Knuckles requires finesse and is probably the most difficult character to use. However, he is also the most likely to score an assassination and the accompanying 2 point bonus.

Class 4: Dr. Robotnik (Deceiver)
Ability: Hologram
Loadout: Focus Rifle, Spartan Laser
Best against: Tails
Notes: Dr. Robotnik is the least mobile character. His hologram is mostly useless, but it is VERY satisfying seeing a knuckles go for the assassination and whiff. The plasma launcher can be useful against airborne Sonics. The focus rifle will annihilate anybody else.

Secret Class 5: Shadow (Dark Assassin)
Ability: Active Camo
Loadout: Magnum, Shotgun
Best against: Sonic, Tails
Notes: Shadow is a little (a lot) overpowered in the hands of accurate, classically-skilled players. And he isn't all that much fun to play as: "Be invisible. Shoot." However, if you want the full gamut of characters, all you have to do is go to General Settings> Spartan Loadouts> Tier 1> Loadout 5, and change the final entry to "Not Hidden".

Overall, then, the classes go something like this:

Sonic < Tails < Dr. Robotnik < Knuckles < Sonic

The match-ups are not that one sided, of course, but that's the general rock/paper/scissors/sexually-ambiguous-fox mechanic of the game. It is fun to play 1-on-1 and try to counter each-others' classes, though.

Hedgehog Slayer Pro or Team Slayer Pro
Players: 2-8 (6 recommended)
Download Hedgehog Slayer Pro

Some of you may want something a little more balanced and competative. R0CKET M00SE came through for you guys with Hedgehog Slayer Pro. It's an all-Sonic blast in which players are elites rather than spartans. The map was made for Sonic's evade, after all. Now you won't feel guilty about choosing 'hog' class every spawn.

Hedgehog Stockpile
Players: 4-10 (8 recommended)
Download Hedgehog Stockpile

This one is just like Hedgehog slayer, except that you're tasked with capturing stockpile flags. It's all about understanding how your character moves around the map. Since everybody's shooting a little less often, it's not a bad idea to add a few players. Oh, and since this gametype requires fast, precise movement, Knuckles is a bit more useful.

While we've only released the above gametypes, feel free to experiment. The map is set up for basic CTF, Assault, King of the Hill, Slayer, Stockpile, Infection, Oddball, and Juggernaut gametypes. And feel free to play with objective placement and whatnot. The main settings you should consider for your own custom gametypes are the following:

-Player Speed = 200% (at 300%, evade tends to throw you out of the map)
-Player gravity: 150%
-Jump height: 125% (these two seem to be the best settings for balancing out Tails and Sonic)
-Damage resistance: 150%
-Damage: 300%
-Melee Damage: 150%
-Bottomless clips
-Unlimited Armor abilities

For instance, it would be pretty easy to make:

Rabid Hedgehogs
Players: 4-12 (8 recommended)
Infection, Unlimited Evade, Zombie = Concussion Rifle, Human = Grenade Launcher, the above damage and movement settings.
We've actually got this variant available, but we're not hosting it in our fileshares at this time.

The Map:
Sonic Arena
Download Sonic Arena

There isn't much that I can say about this map that a few pictures can't. It's a giant bowl, filled with ramps tailored to Sonic's rapid movement through evade. It is possible to escape the map, and even camp the top edge... but a wily Dr. Robotnik is likely to snipe you right down.

The Bowl
Yup. It's a big ol' bowl.

The Loops
Good cover and quick escape routes. Plus, they're just fun to evade through. Unfortunately, it's impossible to set up a decent foot-race "golden-ring-quest" game variant to make full use of these.

Red/Blue Team Platforms
Ramp from the top, ramp from the bottom, ramp from everywhere!

Explosions Galore!
Try not to end up like this guy.

Thanks to everybody who helped test this map, suggested ideas, and offered feedback. A special thank you goes to ramenloverninja for sticking through a particularly large number of tests. Another thank you goes to Tender Bisquit, whose crazy map inspired this gametype. And finally, a thank you goes to G043R. I think he was the first one to say "Sonic" in forge mode... even if we were all thinking it.

Oh, and in case it's not obvious, R0CKET M00SE is a co-forger and co-creator. 50% credit and all that.

Download Sonic Arena
Download Hedgehog Slayer
Download Hedgehog Slayer Pro
Download Hedgehog Stockpile