Spagonia

Spagonia (スパゴニア Supagonia?) is a Town Stage/Village in Sonic Unleashed. It is a large cultural city and the art capital of Sonic's world. Sonic the Hedgehog and Chip frequently visited Spagonia during their quest as the third continent to restore a powerless Chaos Emerald its energy and a broken continent of the planet back into its place at Spagonia's Gaia Temple after Dark Gaia's awakening.

Description
Spagonia's architecture, appearance, and people appear to be based off of various locations in Western Europe; predominantly Italy, France, England and Spain. Spagonia's clock towers, especially a particularly tall one in the middle of the level (seen below in Screenshots), possibly resembles the Big Ben clock tower in London, England, as well as clock towers found commonly throughout towns and villages in the country. The architecture of Spagonia's houses, streets, and cathedrals as well as orange tiled roofs are likely to be based off those seen in Italy, Spain, and France, most notably from the Italian city of Siena. The majority of Spagonians also get their names from Italian culture, such as Gigi, Ciccio and Mauro. Another feature of Spagonia that is derived from Western Europe are the aqueducts, which are found throughout Europe. It is located on the same land mass as Apotos.

History
Before the events of Sonic Unleashed, Dr. Eggman and his robots came to Spagonia, where they kidnapped Professor Pickle, ransacked his lab at Spagonia University and stole his lab data, including the Gaia Manuscripts. The doctor and his robots then left for Mazuri with Pickle and their loot. A little bit later, Spagonia's continent was torn away from the earth's mantle when Dr. Eggman awoke Dark Gaia, resulting in the planet shattering into pieces.

Shortly after, Sonic, Tails and Chip came to Spagonia to find Professor Pickle, hoping his research findings could help uncover information about Eggman's current plans. When they got to Spagonia University, however, Professor Pickle's Assistant told the trio about Professor Pickle's kidnapping. Recognizing Eggman as the culprit, Sonic and his friends searched for clues to Pickle's whereabouts (Tails looks through Pickle's notes in the Wii/PS2 version, while in the 360/PS3 version Sonic and Chip ask people in the city) and eventually pinpointed him in Mazuri.

After Sonic, Tails and Chip rescued Professor Pickle from Mazuri, the group returned to Pickle's lab with the Gaia Manuscripts, where Pickle explained that the earth's shattering was due to Dark Gaia, who Dr. Eggman had awoken. Because Dark Gaia was awakened prematurely, however, Pickle assigned Sonic to take the currently powerless Chaos Emeralds to the Gaia Temples which would restore the Emeralds' power and thence put the planet back together. While Sonic and his friends traveled the world, Pickle remained in Spagonia to decipher the Gaia Manuscripts for the Gaia Temples' locations. From his initial research, Pickle was able to pinpoint the first Gaia Temple in Mazuri.

After Sonic and Chip had restored Mazuri's continent, the duo returned to Spagonia at night, where Sonic the Werehog was hugged by Amy who believed she had found Sonic. When taking a closer look however, Amy believed Sonic the Werehog to be a stranger and quickly apologized quickly ran off. However, as Amy left, her lack of recognition made Sonic depressed, making him believe that he was too scary-looking as a Werehog.

Back in Pickle's lab, the Professor revealed to the duo that he had located two more Gaia Temples - one in Holoska and one right in Spagonia. Later, after collecting key fragments from Pickle's assigned locations (after clearing Rooftop Run Night Act 1 on the 360/PS3 version, or both Rooftop Run Night and Cool Edge Day on the Wii/PS2 version), Sonic and Chip returned to Spagonia's town proper (in the 360/PS3 version, Tails gives them an unusual camera from Pickle upon their return) where they found a group of townspeople possessed by Dark Gaia's Minions holding Amy captive. Chip decided to take a picture of the group with their camera which exorcised the townspeople, freeing them from Dark Gaia's Minions. After Sonic destroyed the monsters, he quickly left with Chip before Amy could get a good look at him. Regardless, Amy met Professor Pickle shortly after who told her everything, and Sonic confronted Amy with his condition. The Professor soon after pinpointed another Gaia Temple in Chun-nan for Sonic and Chip.

After restoring Chun-nan's continent, Sonic and Chip returned to Spagonia, where Pickle had them investigate Spagonia again and to head back to Chun-nan (in the Wii/PS2 version it was find more tablet fragments, and in the 360/PS3 it was to clear out the Badniks that held Chun-nan under siege). After clearing their assignments, Sonic and Chip returned to Spagonia where they used their collected key fragments to open the portal to Spagonia's Gaia Temple, where they returned Spagonia and its continent to their proper place with the temple and the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic and Chip soon after met with Professor Pickle again who send them to Holoska. When Sonic and Chip later returned to Spagonia from restoring Holoska's continent, Professor Pickle had pinpointed the next Gaia Temple in Shamar and revealed that he was joining them on their trip there to make his analysis more efficient.

A while later, as Dark Gaia began casting the world into darkness while maturing into Perfect Dark Gaia, the inhabitants of Spagonia watched in horror as the sky above the city turned dark, but soon after celebrated as the world returned to normal after Super Sonic and the Gaia Colossus defeated Perfect Dark Gaia.

Noble locations
Notable locations: Named locations from the point-and-click HUB world of the Wii/PS2 version:
 * An abnormally large clock tower that serves as a symbol for Spagonia
 * Spagonia University
 * Main Street
 * Baker Street
 * Aqueduct Street
 * Pickle Lab
 * Back Alley
 * Sacred Shrine (as Sonic the Werehog)

Archie Comics
Spagonia is mentioned in the Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series and spin-offs. In this media, it is a Human/Overlander settlement in Eurishand a city-state of the United Federation.

Trivia

 * Spagonia likely got its name from the Italian town of Siena, which is famous for its Medieval architecture and giant "Torre del Mangia" bell tower.
 * At night, if one were to stand in a certain spot in the alleyway of Spagonia's Town Stage, you can hear various ambient background noises.
 * You can hear someone whistling the game's theme in the shower.
 * Aqueduct Street near two people, you can vaguely hear someone tuning a radio.
 * On the balcony in the main street you can access by the back alley, you can hear someone watching a comedy about someone who forgot his shot registration.
 * From the main street, up the steps to the back alley you can hear children.
 * One of the 360/PS3-version missions in Spagonia, "Tower Terror," given by Marcantonio, has Sonic diving down the tower from Rooftop Run Act 1 trying to tag two ghosts. These are actually the two ghosts from Sega's 3D animated short, Sonic: Night of the Werehog.