Part 1: Our very own Chao!

I hate to break the Eggman talk, much as I enjoy the guy, but I think it's time to start the chao grinding.

Day 1: Our very own chao!

So while SA1 introduced the chao concept, SA2 refined it to what we know and (most of us) enjoy today. The original only had races for emblems, and different sets of chao depending on how you raised the little guy, as well as specific types with each character's trait. Now we have karate, a black market to buy goodies, 2 new types of chao and other things Fighter of Spinning Robo will have to explain to me. Either way, this is a learning experience for all of us.

To make grinding less of a chore and at the same time, make this a thread participation sort of thing, we can at least start on what we got so far.

Since why the hell not, I'll be using Eggman for most of the garden, since the few of ya wanted a Dark Chao (which I don't mind) I already have a neutral adult, and what I hope becomes a Hero Chao soon. So with this one being a Dark, it'll unlock the last garden in the game.

Right off the bat, he's already mechless, and Tails is the same way. Has the best walk animation by far and can kick things when outside the chao world. If you enter the chao world after a stage is done, you'll get booted out the second you leave the garden. Pick it from Stage Select, and you got all the time in the world.

Now then, let's see our current chao:

Kyle, Flying Neutral Child: One of the chao I started in SADX. Should become a Flying Adult soon, who happens to look like Nights!
Mark, Running Neutral Adult: The other chao from SADX, and my personal backup chao. In case this chao can't get the emblem, this one will take over.
Echo, Legless Neutral Child: The chao from 5 years ago. Not sure what I'll do with him. Probably just get him to a Adult Hero Chao just for the hero garden.

Did I mention I'm not very good at names?

Anyway, there was a 4th chao shown in Hero-2, but with these 3 + the new one, I think we can let him go. Now hidden in the corner of the regualar garden is this thing.

In the dreamcast version, there was a VMU and this let is how you can take your chao to Chao Adventure. What we have here is a bit different. We now have the Tiny Chao Garden, which requires that GBA/GC link cable, but you don't need SAd1, 2 or Pinball Party. It'll auto generate a garden for you. Course it'll mean no rings to buy stuff right away but I'll get to that in a bit.

So all you do is just grab a chao and take him over. Our options are Drop Off, Pick Up, Move, and Good-Bye. For SADX, they added a name option since the Fortune Teller wasn't available. The first 3 need that cable but the last option is usually the hardest.

> Once you say good-bye to Chao, you will never see that Chao again. Are you sure?
> Yes
> You will never see your Chao again. Are you absolutely sure?
> Yes

To convince you otherwise, they have this song playing. They really want you to keep that chao.

So that's all we can do right for the SA2 chao garden, so let's head on over the GBA one instead! Taken straight off my SAd2 cart.

I apologize for it looking a bit blurry, but the GameCube only has composite cables. Looks a bit empty, but we can change that.

Look to the right, you can see the menu. Bunch of fruits for the first 7 slots, eggs for the 8th and 3 items (which I already got) for the 9th. The egg always changes up whenever you boot it up, and I'm lucky to get the free egg, so let's use that one for now.

Oh right the rings. You can earn rings in-game or by playing the mini games in the top right. Each tiny garden all have Chao Memory as a minigame. The 2nd one differs for each game. For Advance 2, we have Chao Bounce. You even have the opportunity to transfer the rings you got in the garden over to your SA2 or SADX file.

_{Images taken and rehosted from the Sonic Retro Wiki}

So now we got an egg, what now. Well you can let it sit there and hatch on its own or just press A over it to make it hatch faster. Either way:

We now have a brand new chao! In SA2, they're nameless at birth, but here they're automatically given a name. I know you guys can do better though. So to end this update, pick a new name for the new chao (has to be 7 characters long) and, if you wanna go the extra mile, a different chao egg and primary skill to work with. We're not just limited to the default one. From the Tiny Garden we have these options:

Silver, Gold, Ruby / Pink, Sapphire / Blue, Amethyst / Purple, Emerald / Teal, Garnet / Red, Aquamarine / Cyan, Peridot / Lime, Topaz / Orange, or Onyx / Black.

Next update will focus more on the Kindergarten, and then we'll have everything we need to start racing (hopefully).