Sonic 2 Twinkly Thing

[Machenstein]

I'm sure you remember the Sonic 2 intro. It starts off with a blank white screen with Sonic running across it to form the SEGA logo, prompting the iconic SEGA chant. You are then taken to a black screen with the words "SONIC AND MILES 'TAILS' PROWER IN" written in white letters. You are shortly greeted with a bunch of sparkles forming the Sonic 2 title screen. Sonic and Tails pop out of the winged ring banner, Westside Island is seen in the background and the theme song plays. But as soon as the theme song ends, a little twinkly thing falls from the sky and disappears into oblivion.

What the hell is that twinkly thing anyway? I realize how trivial the matter is, but it has bothered me for years on end and I want to talk about it for once. Every time I play Sonic 2, it doesn't matter how much I get into the game, the twinkly thing at the title screen always lingers in my mind. From Emerald Hill Zone all the way to the ending scene where Tails catches Sonic with the Tornado, questions about the twinkly thing will not cease.

So what is the twinkly thing? Why is it there? How come it only appears at the title screen? Where is the twinkly thing now? Did it eventually land somewhere or is it still falling into the infinite void of nothingness? It is the greatest Sonic mystery known to the fanbase yet it is seldom explored. Forget Knuckles or Shadow's backstory, the twinkly thing might just be the source of great perplexity for years to come.

I think I just found a new favorite character.

[Vertekins]

I always thought that the sparkly thing is the thing referenced in Sonic 2's japanese manual, the glittering thing that followed Sonic in the Tornado and is strongly implied to be Eggman following or keeping track on where Sonic's going. I'm pretty sure translations make it out as distinctly glittering.

Or it could be the Tornado experiencing engine problems and is undergoing a crash landing towards the island in a very 'Twinkle in the Sky' manner.

[redmenace]

Because Tails is a sparkly vampire? Maybe a sparkly bishie. I don't know.

[Machenstein]

But it flies right pass Westside Island. Also, it is an Audible Gleam just like the gleams that form the winged ring banner. I'm thinking it may be Super Sonic, but that would not make sense because Sonic is visibly seen at the title screen.

This thing has greater mystery surrounding it than the Tails Doll.

[Indigo Rush]

It's just the logo sparkling at you, to show you how shiny and cool it is.

The wingtip logo is just that sacred, I suppose.

[Machenstein]

Ah, that's right, the twinkly thing and the winged ring banner are inseparable. Two parts of the same entity. I hear they have coffee together after work.

Edited January 19, 2010 by Maruyama

[Rally the Cheetah]

Had to look it up myself because I knew what you were talking about, just couldn't recall details of it very well. Link to mysterious twinkle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exlvuN_UK0o. I'm not to sure myself, maybe it's the Tornado or some flying craft headed for the Island (and taking a wide detour )My guess is on the Tornado because of the twinkles starting around Sonic and Tails.

[eXtaticus]

It's clearly a Shine Sprite.

[Rusty Spy]

A shooting star.

[Toffkat]

Likewise, that thing bothered me so much when I was kid. And I didn't even have the game manual to try to put my mind to rest D:

Aww, now you've made me dig the game out so's I can check it xD It swoops from the sky, right over Westside Island, a spinning 4/8-pointed white star, seems to land in the ocean... Eggman or the Tornado crashing would've landed on the island, wouldn't they? And Super Sonic flew by the Tornado in the ending sequence.

... I have dibs on a falling star theory ^w^

Or alternatively, Ristar.

EDIT: Ninja'd D:

Edited January 19, 2010 by Toffkat

[Flyboy Fox]

It's Team Rocket, blasting off agaaaaiiiiin...!

[Badnik Zero]

Actually for real twinkly thing is a deleted character. Sonic 2 was about Sonic and a shiny Pokemon named Twinkles. Twinkly thing is also in Pokemon Red named Missingno but not Blue. Then Sega had a fight with Game Freak and were not a loud to use him. So Tails was invented and they gave him two tails because of this.

[Tori Himemiya]

Maybe... It's the God in the Sonic series! It could explain everything! From Tails' existance to playable Eggman.

[Jix Hedgehog]

Its the same thing that crashed into the ocean at the end of Cloverfield?

[Tori Himemiya]

Its the same thing that crashed into the ocean at the end of Cloverfield?

I doubt that one. Cloverfield was made years after Sonic. So it's most likely Sonic's god. lol

[Yong]

It's Shadow falling back to earth at the end of Sonic Adventure 2.

[jeremycarrier]

It's Shadow falling back to earth at the end of Sonic Adventure 2.

TIME PARADOX

Also, topic creator is named after Dynamite Headdy, so therefore he is awesome.

[FastFeet]

I'm sure that it's nothing more than something to keep the background a bit more vibrant, certainly back in 1992 anything like that keeps the screen looking interesting. Essentially I'd put it down to being a piece of eye candy, lots of things/people like shiny things after all

[Phos]

The title screen broke an invincibility monitor.

[Jix Hedgehog]

Of course! It was Emerl's capsule falling from Ark... or perhaps.. the 3rd capsule °_°

[Tweaker]

This is a pretty bad topic.

Seriously. It's a sparkle. A sparkle. Do you know how many forms of media have a sparkle for emphasis? This is so trivial that is absolutely blows my mind.

[psikeout]

This is a pretty bad topic.

Seriously. It's a sparkle. A sparkle. Do you know how many forms of media have a sparkle for emphasis? This is so trivial that is absolutely blows my mind.

I think you fail to understand precisely how bored Sonic fans can get between games.

Now, let's discuss the physiology involved in producing a half-weasel, half-wolf crossbreed, whether or not the DNA would work, which side of the family genealogy the enlarged tooth would most likely come from, whether or not it's valid to call it a "sniper" when it has not once been observed holding a rifle, and if the occasional resort to a name of "Nack the Weasel" might be an indicator of underlying cross-species shame, potentially indicating the equivalent of racism in the Sonic world.

j/k

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

I think you fail to understand precisely how bored Sonic fans can get between games.

Now, let's discuss the physiology involved in producing a half-weasel, half-wolf crossbreed, whether or not the DNA would work, which side of the family genealogy the enlarged tooth would most likely come from, whether or not it's valid to call it a "sniper" when it has not once been observed holding a rifle, and if the occasional resort to a name of "Nack the Weasel" might be an indicator of underlying cross-species shame, potentially indicating the equivalent of racism in the Sonic world.

j/k

Don't forget the Archie-hustler who's gonna come kicking the door down to yell that NACK is just a weasel and nothing more.

But yeah, jeez Maruyama - a sparkle? Dude, if this is any indication of your posts' usual subject matter, then it's no wonder you seldom post at GHZ anymore.

[Sean]

But yeah, jeez Maruyama - a sparkle? Dude, if this is any indication of your posts' usual subject matter, then it's no wonder you seldom post at GHZ anymore.

Regardless of your thoughts on the topic's subject matter, refrain from making personal jabs such as these.

[Yong]

To extend the conversation a little further, there have been many fans who took those kind of effects way too seriously. Their assumption is that if there's a lens flare or some other light effect, it must be caused by something. My Shadow joke stemed from the fact that so many people thought Shadow was using Chaos Control to "save himself" at the end of Sonic Adventure 2. (So no, he's not dead!) And apparently, sparkles coming out of Marine's hand after the Egg Wizard gets hit by a blue rock means Marine must have water powers, water powers that let her throw water rocks.

Is there even such a thing as water rocks?