Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg is a video game for the Nintendo GameCube that was developed by Sonic Team. It was published by SEGA on September 23, 2003 in the US, and on October 31, 2003 in Europe. The game was released on PC on March 31, 2006 in Europe.
| Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sonic Team |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Engine | N/A |
| Platform(s) | GameCube, PC |
| Release |  September 23, 2003
 March 31, 2006 (PC) |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
- This article is about the video game. For the baseball player and coach, see Billy Hatcher (baseball player).
Story
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Prologue
In Morning Land, some chickens are playing cheerfully at a beach. However, one cries out as the sky turns black. A huge flock of crows are blocking the sun out and are covering the sky in darkness. One chicken gives out a cry of "cock-a-doodle-doo" before the screen fades to black.
In the human world, Billy is late for a meeting with his friends. He catches up with them, only to see a wounded chick fall to ground nearby. Two crows are above and one dives down to attack the chick, only to be stopped by Billy, wielding a stick. The pair fly away and Billy and friends check the chick, only to be engulfed by a bright white light...
Forest Village
Billy finds himself in Morning Land, and is told by a "Chicken God" that he had been summoned there due to the courage he displayed while defending the chick. He is informed that the crows have somehow cast Morning Land into darkness and captured the Elders. The elders have the ability to bring morning by giving a roosters cry. If morning isn't returned, then the darkness will spread to Billy's world too,and into the people's hearts. By finding a legendary Chicken Suit (and not letting a black creature see him do this), he can control eggs and therefore bring justice to Morning Land by defeating the crows. He frees the first Elder, Oma-Oma, who was captured in a Golden Egg. Oma-Oma immediately summons Morning for Forest Village with his call and thanks Billy, before warning him that he must also defeat the lizard Crow Boss, Era Gecho, before Forest Village can be peaceful again. He does so and he moves onto Pirate's Island.
Pirate's Island
Once at Pirate's Island, Billy must free the Golden Egg that contains the Elder, Uri-Uri, by quickly defeating the nearby foes. After keeping the egg safe as he prepares to hatch it, Billy frees the elder who brings morning as Oma-Oma did. However, he gives Billy more information about the crows. It appears that they have gained a magical power recently and are exploiting it to take over Morning Land. After beating the angler fish Crow Boss, Captain Glur, aboard the pirate ship, Billy discovers that the crows have captured one of his friends, Rolly Roll, and placed a bomb nearby. He manages to save her in time and then goes onto Dino Mountain.
Dino Mountain
According to one of the local women, the area was named after the dinosaurs that used to live there. Recently however, it has been overflowing with magma due to the crows' magical interference. Billy frees the next Elder, Ura-Ura, and discovers more about the crows. It appears that their mysterious source of power is awoken every one hundred years, and now it appears that he has risen again (giving the crows their abilities). In order to face the Crow Boss, Topo, of this land however, Billy must first overcome three resurrected dinosaur skeletons. He does this with the aid of an egg creature, Richie, who can control ice. Like the previous place, Billy reveals that one of his
friends, Chick, have been placed on a bomb. He rescues Chick and heads toward Blizzard Castle.
Blizzard Castle
Having to adapt to the different enviroment, Billy reveals that the crows have, once again, darkened the land and captured the only female Chicken Elder, Elder Ponee. Like the previous levels, he finds the egg the
chicken is sealed in and hatches it,finding out that Moles the walrus Crow Boss has taken over a certain part of the palace that has been covered by machinery. Billy infiltrates the castle,only to fight Moles. He destroys him,and discovers from Elder Ponee that there is a strange "rainbow gate".There is a legend that if all the dark gates are all destroyed,and the gates in each individual world open, a new gate will open at Sand Ruins in the temple.
Before heading to Circus Park, Billy finds Bantam tied to a bomb.He rescues him and heads to Circus Park.
Circus Park
Arriving at this amusement park, Billy finds out that the Chicken
Elder,Allani, has been captured by the crows,like the others. Like casual,
Billy rescues Allani,and is told that there is a mysterious creature haunting the Fun House in the park. Despite the warnings the citizens give, Billy walks in and encounters the monster, Saltim,a freaky
monkey-like creature.After emerging from the battle, (and helping the town
celebrate their victory) he learns from Allani that if Billy destroyed
the last Dark Gate, all the gates of different colors will create a new
one, the Rainbow Gate, to where the sacred Giant Egg is at, the "Giant
Palace," and Dark Raven wants to get his hands on the egg in order to
attain full power, and let darkness shower the land. Billy then heads toward Sand Ruins.
Sand Ruins
At Sand Ruins, the final Chicken Elder, Meri-Meri, is sealed within a
golden egg. Dark Raven's assistant, Dark Corvo, is there to prevent
Billy from reaching the rainbow gate, and his army is much stronger than before, making every effort to crack the egg. But Billy prevails the army, and releases Meri-Meri, who tells him to find
Dark Corvo, and to defeat him. Billy obeys, his courage allowing him to defeat the boss, who uses illusions of some of the bosses in the past Billy fought. Still, however, Billy prevails, and beats Dark Corvo, leaving the Rainbow Gate open for him to enter through. He does
so, and gets to Dark Raven's destination: the Giant Palace.
Giant Palace
This use to be the Giant Palace, but now that Dark Raven is here and has
cast the darkness over the land, it is now sorrowfully called the Dark
Palace. Billy, remaining strong, heads toward Dark Raven, who plans to
destroy the egg. The two battle, and Dark Raven destroys the Giant Egg,
transforming into a large crow. The first thing Dark Raven does is take
away Billy's Chicken Suit, making him powerless. Yet Billy still doesn't
give up. His courage and perserverance through the climatic time causes the Courage Emblems to earn him back a Chicken Suit, only to find that it is, amazingly, more powerful that the original. His power of courage conquers over Dark Raven and Darkness,which then brings light back to the palace.
Epilogue
After a little celebration in honour of Billy and his friends, it is time
to head back to the human world. Billy and his friends give back their Chicken Suits and
go back to their world. The game
ends with the four friends running off into the forest as a chicken feather falls to the ground, and the credits roll.
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Gameplay
"Billy Hatcher" has a unique style of gameplay revolving around rolling eggs. The player controls the hero, Billy, who cannot do much by himself aside from moving and jumping. However, he becomes a powerhouse once he finds an egg. While rolling an egg, Billy moves faster and is more agile. He can also dash, throw and return the egg along the ground, slam the egg down from the air, and more. Also, while holding an egg, Billy can travel on rails and fly through magical rings.
The color-coded eggs themselves are another gameplay element. As Billy runs over fruit while holding an egg, the egg gets larger until it flashes and is ready to hatch. Then Billy can hatch the eggs, which can contain helper animals, character powerups, and extra lives. With variables such as egg size, helper animals, and personal powerups, "Billy Hatcher" can be played in many ways. Different animals can come out of the same eggs, and some creatures are vital to progressing through certain challenges.
Egg Animals
There are too many to list, but here are a few.
- Cipher - a winged rhino with the powers of fire and passion, likely to be the first egg animal you hatch. He can be hatched from red eggs.
- Clippen - a penguin or duck egg animal with the powers of water and life, there is also a Super Clippen with the power of the rainbow. He can be hatched from blue eggs.
- Recky - a flying monkey with the power of lightning, he will be needed in Circus Park. He can be hatched from yellow eggs.
- Richie - a purple seal with the powers of ice and illusion, he can also destroy waterfalls. He can be hatched from purple eggs.
- Peliwan - a dog and pelican mix that is the renowned scholar of the wind, likely to first be discovered in Dino Mountain. He can be hatched from green eggs.
- Runny - a bear with a turtle shell that has the powers of steel and karate, her attack takes a long time to get far. She can be hatched from orange eggs (she has a bow).
- Rabbish - a rabbit bird that can move at the speed of light, and will be needed at Giant Palace. She can be hatched from white eggs.
- Rickol - a lion headed kangaroo that jumps high and breathes fire, he is the fire egg animal that you can ride. He can be hatched from red printed eggs.
- Kaboot - an amphibious shark that knows martial arts, the water egg animal you can ride. He can be hatched from blue printed eggs.
- Datch - a camel ostrich that can glide through the air, he is the wind egg animal you can ride. He can be hatched from green printed eggs.
- Glarin - a low flying deadly eagle, the first egg animal likely to be hatched in Blizzard Castle. He can be hatched from red eggs.
- Orita - a leopard oryx mix that can move too fast for the eye to follow, the only egg animal that targets crows in front of her. She can be hatched from purple eggs.
- Boscus - a hot headed bull that charges at crows, and his attack is much better used in small spaces. He can be hatched from orange eggs.
- Biboo - a whimsical flying squirrel, his attack is a variant of Boscus`s attack. He can be hatched from green eggs.
Trivia
- There are several Easter Eggs in Billy Hatcher special Sonic Team eggs that can be accessed after collecting a certain number of "chick coins". These eggs will hatch various Sonic Team characters, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, a Chao, NiGHTS from NiGHTS into Dreams..., a Rag Rappy (from Phantasy Star Online), a Kapu Kapu (from Chu Chu Rocket), and Amigo (from Samba De Amigo).
- The Circus Hat item is reminiscent of NiGHTS' cap.
- Billy has his own segment in the PS2 EyeToy game Sega SuperStars.
- Various references to Billy Hatcher are made in the "Sega Carnival" stage in Sonic Riders.
- The Vacuum Egg, one of the unlockable weapons in Shadow the Hedgehog, is highly reminiscent of this game. The vacuum head is a chicken head, with a collection bag that resembles the Basic Egg.
- There's an unlockable version of NiGHTS into Dreams... that can be played on a Game Boy Advance through a GBA-GCN link cable.
- A couple of the hatchable creatures look similar to the Pokemon in the fourth generation. For example Piplup, the basic water type Pokemon looks similar to Clippen and shares some similarities (eg:Being a water based creature, being a small blue penguin). Also Recky, the yellow monkey with bat wings looks similar to Chimchar.
- The Courage Emblems looks very similar to the Chick-Fil-A insignia.
- Billy Hatcher cameos in Sonic Riders