Blaze the Cat



Blaze the Cat (ブレイズ・ザ・キャット, Bureizu Za Kyatto ?) is a purple cat princess from an alternate dimension. She has been appointed as guardian of the Sol Emeralds, her dimensions version of the Chaos Emeralds,[75 ] making her role similar to that of Knuckles the Echidna.[76 ] She is portrayed as calm and levelheaded, hiding her true feelings.[77 ] She is sometimes "bogged down" by her own strict discipline and devotion to her position, making her appear withdrawn.[77 ] Blaze can control fire,[75 ] but wears a cape to conceal it as she was teased about her pyrokinetic abilities when she was young.[76 ] Using the Sol Emeralds, she can transform into Burning Blaze.

Blaze debuted in Sonic Rush as a playable character along with Sonic.[78 ] She arrives in Sonic's dimension from another dimension along with the Sol Emeralds. While searching for the Emeralds, she befriends Sonic and Cream and helps them stop Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega before returning to her dimension. She reappears in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) as Silver the Hedgehog's friend during the future of Sonic's dimension. The two attempt to fix their ruined future world by traveling back in time and then again, as main character in Sonic Rush Adventure, where Sonic and Tails are transported to her dimension and help her retrieve the "Jeweled Scepter".[79 ]

Since her first trio of games, she has been relegated to being an extra playable character in Sonic spinoffs and multiplayer games. She is an unlockable multiplayer character in the Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight, a playable racer in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity and Sonic Free Riders, and a playable athlete in all three Mario and Sonic at the Olympics games.

Blaze has primarily been praised by critics due to possessing gameplay mechanics similar to Sonic. IGN remarked that she "easily earned her place in the team" amidst unremarkable secondary characters", because "her play style was directly influenced by Sonic".[80 ] GameSpy called Blaze "a nice addition to Sonic's cast, but she doesn't bring anything new to the experience...both Blaze and Sonic play pretty much the same."[81 ] Her gameplay has been praised as "fast-moving and fun" as opposed to slower characters introduced earlier in the series, such as Big the Cat.[82 ]