A-Life (Sonic Adventure)

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The A-Life system in Sonic Adventure is a feature of the game that involves raising Chao. It is an extension of a similar system seen in Sonic Team's previous work, NiGHTS into Dreams. Much like NiGHTS, this system is completely optional for those just wanting to play through the story, though offers a new dimension of play and is critical for obtaining all of the Emblems in the game.

In Sonic Adventure, Chao are virtual creatures that live in Chao Gardens. There are three in the game, located in the three Adventure Fields; Station Square, Mystic Ruins and Egg Carrier. They can be manipulated by the player character, fed, and enhanced with animals and entered into Chao Races. They can also be stored within a VMU to unlock the Chao Adventure mini-game (as well as be transported to other instances of Sonic Adventure).

Hatching

Main article: Chao Egg

Stats

The stat window.

Chao have five stats, the first four of which determine abilities in chao races. These stats go up whenever a Chao is given an animal or a stat altering item. When all 10 boxes are full, the stat will 'level up'. The maximum level for any stat is 99. They are:

Stat	Animals
Swim	Penguin	Sea Otter	Seal
Fly	Swallow	Parrot	Peacock
Run	Deer	Rabbit	Kangaroo
Power	Elephant	Gorilla	Lion
random	Skunk	Mole	Koala

The stat names are self-explanatory. They indicate the Chao's strength during those parts of the race. The fifth stat, Stamina, indicates how far they can go during the race without pausing or even falling asleep. Stamina is affected by fruit (1 bite fills 1 box; hardest to raise), while the other stats are affected by small animals.

Animal features and actions

Giving a Chao a small animal not only affects its stats, but also its appearance and abilities

Animals	Parts	Ability Obtained
Otter	Paws, feet, & whiskers	Backstrokes in water
Seal	Fins & a tail	Dances
Penguin	Eyebrows, fins, feet, & tail	Belly slides
Swallow	Wings, tail, & Mohawk	Does sit-ups
Peacock	Wings, tail, feet, & Mohawk	Struts/Poses
Parrot	Wings, tail, & feet	Sings
Deer	Hooves, antlers, & tail	Bows
Kangaroo	Ears, hands, feet, & tail	Back flips
Rabbit	Ears, paws, feet, & tail	Hops
Gorilla	Arms, feet, hair, & ears	Pounds chest
Lion	Nails, ears, & mane	Cleans face
Elephant	Arms, feet, & ears	Acts tough
Koala	Ears, paws, & feet	Plays trumpet
Mole	Nails & a tail	Digs holes
Skunk	Tail, hair, paws, & feet	Farts

Note that the Chao will only do a backstroke if it has a Swim stat of 100 or higher.