Video Game / Sonic Storybook Series

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The Sonic Storybook Series is a series of spinoffs to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, whose stories are modeled after classic literature, with Sonic and friends as main characters of the story.

The two entries in the series were released on Nintendo's Wii console:

• Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007), based on 1001 Nights: Came about due to the time issues with attempting to port Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) for the Nintendo Wii, in time for launch.
• Sonic and the Black Knight (2009), based on Arthurian Legend.

While there were three planned games in this series, the third one never came to fruition, leaving this duology an Orphaned Series.

Tropes present in both titles include:

• 11th-Hour Superpower: Both Secret Rings and Black Knight introduce a powerful Super Mode at the end of their respective games, which aren't used until the very end of their stories and when Sonic is on the backfoot.
  • Secret Rings introduces Darkspine Sonic, which is obtained after absorbing the World Rings of Rage, Hatred, and Sorrow, combined with Shahara's residual power. This turns him into a purple hued super form that can control fire and even bend reality, which was enough to help him defeat the game's final boss.
  • Black Knight has Excalibur Sonic, given to him after being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle by Merlina and the Knights of the Round Table provide him the powers of their respective swords. In a Transformation Sequence, he dons a set of Golden Armor, red cape, and repairs Caliburn (who was just destroyed by Merlina) restoring him back to his true form, Excalibur. All this allows him to overcome the Big Bad's machinations and the final boss.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Compared to his other game portrayals, Sonic's snarky attitude was more emphasized in both Storybook games, similar to his respective portrayals from 90s Western shows Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) and Sonic Underground respectively.
• Alternate Self: Several of Sonic's friends and foes appear as characters in the stories the games adapt.
• And You Were There: Almost everyone except the main antagonist and Sonic's Exposition Fairy are alternate versions of all of Sonic's friends. He starts to get used to it halfway through Black Knight — rather than confuse Gawain with Knuckles, he simply mocks him with comparisons. And when he meets up with Percival, he doesn't even mention Blaze; he just raises his blade and accepts the challenge to duel.
• Character Name and the Noun Phrase: Both titles in the series use this format, going with Sonic and the X, with Secret Rings and Black Knight respectively, the former referring to the World Rings Sonic needs to collect and the latter being the antagonist Sonic must defeat.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: Two tie-in comics written by Ian Flynn were released and adapted as a part of the Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) series. They are both brief one-shot comics that act as prologues to the games themselves.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The tie-in comic for Secret Rings has Sonic mention past foes he's fought, including characters who haven't appeared in years, like Fang the Sniper (who hadn't made any game appearances and at that point primarily only appeared in the Archie Comics).
  • When Merlina calls Sonic to her world, she uses the same spell that Erazor did when summoning the Ifrit, albeit very slightly modified. It's quite weird, given that the spell in question roughly translates to "Satan Arrive!"
• Final Boss, New Dimension: The final bosses of both games take place in an alternate black void-like area that cannot be accessed anywhere or anytime before their confrontations.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: Most the bosses in both games are technically this due to it being a rail-platformer. Of particular note is King Arthur. Ironically, he says to Sonic, "It looks like there's only one thing you're good at: Running away."
• Intrepid Fictioneer: Both games feature Sonic the Hedgehog going into various in-universe literature books that he reads at home. He enters the world of the novel he is reading to fight alternate variants of his friends and other mythologies.
• Monster of the Week: Both games feature unique one-shot villains in place of Dr. Eggman. Eggman only appears as a minor role in Sonic and the Secret Rings by proxy of his storybook counterpart King Shahryar, and he is completely absent from Sonic and the Black Knight.
• Motion Comic: While there are a few pre-rendered 3D CGI cutscenes in both games, the bulk of the games' presentation are in more static and comic book-like visuals, emphasizing that the subseries are adaptations of storybooks.
• Nitro Boost: The Speed Break/Soul Surge. It allows Sonic go across vast chasms in a short period of time with the help of fire rings and pearls filled with energy.
• Plot-Triggering Book: Sonic and the Secret Rings begins with Sonic being sucked into a book via Sharha calling to him and bringing him inside the 1001 Arabian Nights he's reading. Sonic and the Black Knight has him forcibly dropped into the plot of the Knights of the Round Table as Merlina summons him via ritual.
• Recycled with a Gimmick: It's Sonic the Hedgehog but with Tales of the Arabian Nights and magic rings in Secret Rings and King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table medieval fantasy and sword action in Black Knight. Sonic's friends even stand in for other characters in the stories they spin off from.
• Ret-Canon: Sonic loving chili dogs was initially an element of the 90s Western canon (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), Sonic Underground, and Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics)). It was introduced into game canon in a Japanese manual for Advance 3, and Unleashed has chili dogs being one of the highest XP-granting food items (with Chip even saying it's something Sonic really likes), but Sonic and the Black Knight is the first time Sonic has been seen eating a chili dog on-screen in the games.
• Taken for Granite: Gargoyles in Secret Rings and and fish-like Knights of the Underworld in Black Knight are capable of turning Sonic to stone. Oddly enough, it's instantly fatal in Black Knight without the Stone Brooch or Petrification immunity equipped, but is not fatal in Secret Rings — you just have to shake the Wii Remote to break free.
• Universal-Adaptor Cast: All of the recurring series' characters. Sonic himself ends up playing a role of one of the characters, though he retains his own personality regardless. It's implied in Sonic and the Secret Rings that Sonic is standing in for Aladdin; in Sonic and the Black Knight, it's revealed in the ending that Sonic is the true King Arthur (the one fought earlier was a fake created by Merlin).