Mighty the Armadillo

Mighty the Armadillo is a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. His character designer was Manabu Kusunoki.

Mighty is an explorer and a long time acquaintance of Sonic the Hedgehog, and he first appeared in SegaSonic the Hedgehog, where he was voiced by Yūsuke Numata.

Concept and creation
Before Sonic the Hedgehog was introduced to the gaming industry, one of the character concepts, an armadillo, was considered as one of mascot choices for Sega to be introduced in new video game series to success in console market business against Nintendo. On the interview of “SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis: The Collected Works” book, Yuji Naka stated that an armadillo and a hedgehog were two of the choices for experimenting with further ideas for a fast character. The armadillo was quickly amended to the hedgehog due Naoto Ōshima's hedgehog illustration being very stylish and best to represent speedy qualities. From this standpoint, Naoto Ōshima designed Sonic the Hedgehog to be new mascot for Sega.

Several years later, Sega reused the armadillo character and created Mighty the Armadillo for the arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog and later in Sega 32X title Knuckles' Chaotix.

Appearance
Mighty is based on a real-life armadillo. His fur body is black with red thick armor, which rounds from the forehead above to the lower back up. Mighty's ears are side facing the funnel-shaped like real-life's armadillo. Mighty's skin color along with ears, mouth, arms and belly is yellowish-tan. In some areas, Mighty bears resembles to the Sonic the Hedgehog, main character of the series. Both have interconnected, cartoonish, circular eyes with black pupils, and both have white gloves with sock-like cuffs and red shoes with white socks.

In fact at SegaSonic the Hedgehog arcade game, Mighty's shoes were almost identical to Sonic's ones, as sneakers were red with white socks and white straps without golden buckles. Later his shoes were slightly altered in Knuckles' Chaotix, as a pair of shoes are red, having white socks and white shoe soles. Instead of straps, Mighty's shoes have white overlay lines.

SegaSonic the Hedgehog
Mighty's first appearance is in the arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog, where he was captured by Dr. Robotnik along with Sonic the Hedgehog and Ray the Flying Squirrel. They were taken to Eggman Island and imprisoned, but they made their way through the island's defenses. After the trio got to the control room of Eggman's Tower, Robotnik activates self-destruction of island. Despite that, the whole cast manages to get out of Eggman Island, which got destroyed in the process.

In this game, Mighty played exactly like Sonic and Ray; he was fairly fast and could roll into a ball to perform the Spin Jump. In the game, he was voiced by Yūsuke Numata.

Knuckles' Chaotix
Mighty makes his next appearance in Knuckles' Chaotix for the Sega 32X. In the Japanese manual, he just happened to stumble across the island which the adventure is set on during his explorations. In the English manual, he is a friend of Knuckles the Echidna, and happens to visit "Carnival Island" when Robotnik attacks.

In both manuals he is captured by Robotnik, and imprisoned in his Combi Catcher machine. When Knuckles arrives, he can pick Mighty out of the machine and use him as a partner. Mighty plays very much like Sonic from the previous Sonic games, using his Spin Attack and Spin Dash. He also has the ability to kick off walls in order to gain height.

Gale Racer
Mighty made a cameo appearance as swinging ornament chain on the windshield in Gale Racer, the Sega Saturn port of the arcade game Rad Mobile released in 1994.

Sonic Generations
Mighty makes a small cameo appearance in console/PC versions of Sonic Generations, where both Mighty and Ray can be seen on missing posters dotted throughout the City Escape. The poster mentions that they've been missing since 1993, referencing the arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog. The poster misspells Mighty's species' name as "Armaddilo."

Personality
In the video games, Mighty is described as gentle and caring pacifist, only using his strength and fighting abilities either when there is trouble afoot or if he has no other option. He loves to travel, and his dream is to journey to all places of the world. According to the Japanese manual of Knuckles' Chaotix, Mighty enjoys forest bathing, likes peace and nature, and detests violence.

Powers and abilities
Like most characters in the series, Mighty has some super speed. Mighty can use the Spin Attack where he curls tightly into a concussive ball while in locomotion to damage, mow down, or burrow through obstacles and foes. He also has the Spin Jump, during which Mighty jumps into the air as a ball. Mighty has the Spin Dash (originally named the "Super Spin Dash") as well, which allows him to charge up a Spin Attack from a standing position, and then shoot off towards enemies.

Mighty's unique move in Knuckles' Chaotix was a Wall Kick that let him kick off a wall, gaining some height and letting him traverse up shafts as long as the walls are close enough to each other. In North American manual of Knuckles' Chaotix, Mighty is described having super strength. Despite his namesake, this has been never demonstrated in any of his games appearances until Sonic Mania Plus.