Omochao (オモチャオ Omochao?) is a robotic Chao with a propeller on its head. Its name is a portmanteau of the Japanese word omocha, meaning "toy", and Chao. In some games he is renamed Robochao in English, but he is always called Omochao in Japanese.
Omochao is featured in the games Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 for Sega Dreamcast, Sonic Adventure DX, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for the GameCube, Sonic Pinball Party, Sonic Battle, and Sonic Advance 3, for the Game Boy Advance, and the multi-console games Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Riders, Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games, Sonic Free Riders, and Sonic Generations. He also appears as a guide in Sonic and the Secret Rings Party Mode menu.
In the Japanese version, as with various Chao, he is voiced by Etsuko Kozakura in all of his appearances.
In English, he has been voiced by Lani Minella between 2001 and 2003 and in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Liza Jacqueline in Sonic Riders, Rebecca Honig in Sonic and the Secret Rings, Laura Bailey between 2010 and 2011, and currently by Erica Lindbeck since 2019.
Personality
Omochao is a friendly, helpful and happy robot who is always willing to provide aid to those who seeks his help. However, his patience has its limits when it comes to people who are roughhousing with him. Deviating from normal Chao, Omochao is able to talk in regular language, though he exhibits a verbal tic (in Japanese): he nearly always adds "Chao" to the ends of his sentences.
History
Sonic Adventure
In Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, Omochao appears in the racing stadium by the door inside the Station Square Garden. He also appears in the Chao Races to show which direction the Chao are supposed to go, even though there is a place where a Chao can disobey directions and take a shortcut.
Sonic Adventure 2
In Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Omochao replaces Tikal's hint orbs from Sonic Adventure as Hints in the Stages. He can as well be picked up and thrown as a weapon to destroy enemies, and be damaged by stray bullets from enemies or the player's own attacks. When thrown into a bottomless pit, Omochao will soon after reappear in his earlier location.
When attacked, picked up, thrown, or put down, Omochao makes remarks. When recovering from being thrown or attacked in particular, Omochao will express his displeasure of such rough treatment. Comically, he may also fall unconscious for several seconds with smoke coming from his injuries, only to wake up to ramble at the player, such as saying that he will not help the player anymore, or ask of who and where he is, due to amnesia. Similarly, Omochao has a distinctive sound when he initiates flight and when getting "hurt".
Omochao appears frequently in Chao World. In the Chao Competition; he holds signs in both the Lobby and races, seven of him races in one race, and even fills the roles of referees in Chao Karate.
Outside regular gameplay, Omochao is an unlockable menu theme, and in 2-Player Battle Mode, the Chao Walker's melee attack is an Omochao-based projectile. In a reversed fashion, the Dark Chao Walker's melee attack uses a color-swapped version of the Chao Walker's melee attack.
Sonic Generations
In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, Omochao again fills the role of in-game Hints in the Stages. In this game, he acts exactly like Tikal's Hint Orbs in Sonic Adventure, acting upon being passed by and will float around the player. This function is only optional though, and he can be turned on and off from the game's Options menu. Similarly, Omachao appears on the loading screen for the Acts to remind players of controls, objects and other features. He also runs the Skill Shop in the White Space.
In the Stages, Omochao uses the exact same sounds from Sonic Adventure 2 when flying or getting hurt. However, since he cannot get harmed like in Sonic Adventure 2, his "hurt" sound is played when he flies into a wall or object instead.
Team Sonic Racing
In Team Sonic Racing, Omochao and his group of Chao friends (a Neutral Chao, a Hero Chao and a Dark Chao), who were affiliated with Team Rose, were having a picnic with Amy and Big when Team Sonic showed up, having been invited to this location. Soon after, a stranger appeared, a Tanuki calling himself Dodon Pa. Introducing himself as the one who sent the invitation, Dodon Pa told Team Sonic that they would be racing as a team in the most advanced cars he could create in a Grand Prix that would test their limits. After Team Sonic agreed to join Dodon Pa's Grand Prix, Big was invited into the competition as well when he took an interest in coming along. Not wanting Big to go alone, Omochao insisted that, as Big's teammates, they would be joining him. This lead to Omochao and his team joining the Grand Prix.
For the races, Omochao and his Chao friends received the Chao Pod to race in. Between the races, Omochao would provide Amy with exposition on the different types of cars. When Dodon Pa later took his racing challenges up a notch, Omochao was surprised. Not long after that, Omochao and his team were joined in the competition by Team Vector, Team Dark, and Team Eggman.
While waiting for the next race, Omochao and his team were radioed by Tails, who instructed them to join Team Sonic and Team Dark on the racetrack in order to help them take down Dr. Eggman, who had intruded on the two teams' race in order to compete against them on his own as a "special guest" (which Dodon Pa permitted despite knowing it was a lie). Being all about teamwork, Omochao confirmed to Tails on the racetrack that they had gotten the racecars' abilities down before helping Amy get into position using the Skim Boost. Omochao and his Chao friends then joined forces with the rest of Team Rose, Knuckles, Tails, Rouge, Omega and Team Vector. Together, they surrounded Eggman on the racetrack before delivering a massive beatdown on the doctor with their combined Wisp power-ups. However, Dodon Pa was too busy watching Eggman's beating to see who crossed the finish line first.[1]
Omochao later helped tell Big of what Omega planned to do with Dodon Pa after he seemed to be in cahoots with Dr. Eggman. Not long after, Omochao detected some strange telemetric signals coming from Dodon Pa that contained information on the teams' teamwork. With Omochao confirming that Dodon Pa was sending these signals to an unknown receiver, everyone but Big concluded that Dodon Pa was sending their information to Eggman. Not long after, Omochao would discuss strategy with his team. Shortly thereafter, Omochao was approached by Silver, who needed help keeping an eye on the whole racing track, as he sensed that something bad was coming. In response, Omochao told Silver to watch the Chao on the stands, as they would surely react if they saw something wrong. Later, after it was revealed that Dodon Pa was a good guy, Omochao learned from him that he was using the Grand Prix to gather information for his corporation's Ultimate Energy Engine, which Dodon Pa wanted to use for philanthropic purposes. This explained the telemetric signals Omochao detected.
Soon after, the heroes learned from Big that Eggman had kidnapped Dodon Pa and brought him to the Final Fortress. Wanting to rescue Dodon Pa, Omochao and co. went to the Final Fortress. There, Eggman had them compete in a number of races with Team Eggman and his army of Eggpawns in exchange for Dodon Pa, not knowing Eggman was using them to gather the Ultimate Team Energy needed to finish the Ultimate Energy Engine. Once the engine was complete, Eggman stole it from Dodon Pa and incorporated it into his monster machine. Omochao and his crew subsequently faced the monster machine, and beat it in a race. However, the monster machine soon after went crazy and drove into the Final Fortress's core. As the Final Fortress crashed, Omochao and his companions were forced to abandon their cars and evacuate the airship while Team Sonic saved Dodon Pa. Down on the ground, Omochao was reunited with Team Sonic when they arrived with Dodon Pa. Just as the Grand Prix seemed over since the cars had been destroyed when the Final Fortress crashed, Dodon Pa decided to give everyone new cars, thus allowing Omochao and his friends to race once more.
In gameplay, Omochao appears as a playable Technique-Type character alongside a Neutral Chao, a Hero Chao and a Dark Chao, all driving the same car.
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Post-Super Genesis Wave
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