Tornado 2

Tornado 2 (トルネード2 Torunēdo Tsū^?) is a upgraded version of the original Tornado, that has been build by Miles "Tails" Prower in Sonic Adventure after the original Tornado being shot down during Sonic and Tails' stories. The most known feature of the Tornado 2 is to fold its wings into an X-shape and transforming into a different shape for the plane's tail. This gives extreme speed for the plane once doing this. Tornado 2 has then made several appearances since its debut.

Game appearances[]

Sonic Adventure[]

In Sonic Adventure, the original Tornado owned by Sonic was again made playable in a retread of the classic Sky Chase Zone, now in two acts instead of one. At the end of Act 1, the plane gets shot down by the laser cannon of Dr. Eggman's Egg Carrier and crashes down. This causes Sonic and Tails getting separated to each other.

When Tails regained consciousness, he went back to his workshop to finish the construction of his new blue-tinted experimental biplane, the Tornado 2. Unlike the original Tornado, it required a Chaos Emerald to function. It was placed in the front of the craft with two engines to hold the power. After finding an Emerald and finishing the plane, Tails and Sonic went to chase the Egg Carrier yet again. This time, they were more successful, as the Tornado 2 was capable of folding its wings into an X-shape to reach extreme speeds. After crash-landing on the Egg Carrier due to a lack of landing gear, it was found by Big the Cat and flown to Mystic Ruins, where it crash-landed again. After this, Chaos found it and stole the Chaos Emerald from it, largely wrecking the already damaged plane.

Sonic Heroes[]

In Sonic Heroes, Tails flies the Tornado 2 in the beginning of Team Sonic's story, with Knuckles in the (apparently new) back seat. The Tornado 2 is in its X-shape used to catch up to Sonic and give him an important message from Eggman. After Sonic throws away the message, Tails and Knuckles jump out of the Tornado 2 and follow Sonic on foot, with the Tornado 2 flying off-screen, possibly on autopilot. Due to the lack of a Chaos Emerald on the Tornado 2, it can be assumed that Tails perfected its design and it no longer requires an Emerald to work correctly.

Sonic Advance 3[]

In Sonic Advance 3, the player rides atop the Tornado 2 in Special Stages, maneuvering up, down, left and right to collect the required number of rings. The plane can also temporarily transform into its X-winged configuration by flying through blue portals, increasing the plane's speed, increasing the value of each collected ring times two, and leaving the player's character comically holding onto the plane for dear life. Failure to collect enough rings at either the halfway mark or at the end results in the Tornado throwing the players' character off and spinning off the screen out of control.

Sonic Riders[]

In Sonic Riders, the Tornado 2 is seen towards the end of the Hero Story, when Eggman steals the Babylon control box and flies to the Babylon Garden. Tails flies the Tornado over to the island, while Jet the Hawk controls the large Babylon Airship. Knuckles is sitting in the second seat, and Sonic is standing on the wings. Sonic heads down to catch Eggman, but Tails hands him a new gear first. The plane isn't seen again, though it can be assumed that Tails landed it on the Babylon Garden.

Nintendo World[]

The Tornado 2 appeared in Nintendo World. The plane can transform into its X-winged configuration by pressing (-) button.

Appearances in other media[]

Archie Comics[]

Tornado 2 (simply called Tornado) has seen in Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comics. It is owned by Sonic himself and either he or Tails has been seen as pilot it. It is similar to game's counterpart with being able to transform its wings to X-shape. It has been destroyed and damaged numerous times, but has always been repaired back as well. Few times on certain stories, it is seen to be miscolored as red, while it is later on being normally colored as blue.

Sonic X[]

Main article: Tornado 2 (Sonic X)

In the anime series Sonic X and its comic series published by Archie Comics, the Tornado 2 originally belonged to Sonic the Hedgehog who passed it onto Tails after the fox upgraded it. It was following used in many of Sonic and his allies' battles with Dr. Eggman, but would eventually be replaced by more advanced aircrafts like the X Tornado.

Trivia[]

The X shaped wing of the Tornado 2 and the X Tornado bears design elements similar to the X-wing starfighter from the Star Wars series.
The variable forms of the Cyclone and the X Tornado bears a resemblance to the variable modes of the Variable Fighter series from the Macross series. The X Tornado in flight form resemble Macross Plus and Macross 7's VF-11 Thunderbolt III's Fighter mode, a resemblance that is further reinforced later on with the appearance of the Blue Typhoon, whose flight deck resemble the flight deck of Battle 7 from Macross 7.
In Sonic X when Tails introduces the X Tornado, he calls it Tornado X. This was only for the episode it debuted in, as all other episodes featuring it had it being called X Tornado.
In the Archie Comics, the blue Tornado 2 appears in the Sonic Rush Adventure comic adaption by Archie Comics, while in original game, it is original red Tornado with Tails and Sonic in it.
A similar vehicle appears in Sonic Adventure 2 known as the Cyclone, though the biggest difference is its ability to walk and its tank-like armor and weapons.