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[Shadow Hog]

Do people generally care for any characters other than Knuckles, Tails, Robotnick, and maybe Shadow?

Like why do they have to keep making more characters for every new game, is that what people want?

I have never fully understood this argument. Other series add new characters every game and don't catch a bit of flak for it, yet when Sonic does it it's immediately a bad sign.

Granted, very few of the characters added in during a lengthy period for the series were particularly well-written or added a whole lot to the game they were in (heck, even relatively recent additions like the Deadly Six are entirely throwaway), and a good number were forced playable in ways that didn't complement the series at all (most games between Adventure and 2006 fall victim to this to one degree or another), but the problem should then be the addition of poorly-written or poorly-thought-out characters, not the addition of characters at all. That's sort of an inevitability of long-running franchises.

My current stance is that I'm okay with new characters, provided they're not forced playable with a new gameplay style that doesn't mesh with the core gameplay at all (eg: Silver) or poorly-written characters whose motivations are flatter than Illinois (eg: Deadly Six). Blaze, for instance, was okay. So was, say, Yacker in Colors, from what I've seen of him.

 

[Anth0ny]

Do people generally care for any characters other than Knuckles, Tails, Robotnick, and maybe Shadow?

Like why do they have to keep making more characters for every new game, is that what people want?

I always figured the answer was "the kids".

It's always "the kids" fault. Blame the kids.

 

[Dereck]

the problem should then be the addition of poorly-written or poorly-thought-out characters, not the addition of characters at all. That's sort of an inevitability of long-running franchises.

Right right

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

Oh, no, those are probably being pulled because of licensing issues with Dreams Come True.

I don't buy in to this. Sega re-re-re-released Sonic games constantly after the Dreamcast went belly up; it seemed like they were willing to port the Genesis games to every platform that could run them.

The prevailing theory was that new renditions of old Sonic music cost money, but because Sega was merely emulating the old music, they dodged having to re-license the songs.

Different contracts for different platforms doesn't make sense, either. When Sega lost the Tomcat F15 license, Afterburner Climax was taken down everywhere all at once (XBLA, PSN, iOS, Android). If licensing was to blame, there wouldn't be any kind of platform split. Either Sega would have the DCT license, or they wouldn't.

Do people generally care for any characters other than Knuckles, Tails, Robotnick, and maybe Shadow?

Like why do they have to keep making more characters for every new game, is that what people want?

Like Shadow Hog said, I don't see how this is actually a problem?

Like, I get it. Sonic games were getting over-saturated with new playable characters for a while there. Sonic Heroes had NINE playable characters.

But, uh, it's been almost ten years since Sonic Team has introduced a new playable character to the Sonic franchise. Silver the Hedgehog in Sonic 2006 was the last one. If you wanted to be anal retentive, you could also count the Werehog, but that was still like seven years ago.

Since then, every Sonic game has more or less stuck with the existing cast of playable characters. Yeah, they keep introducing new villains and new supporting cast members, but... all games do that? All movies do that? All recorded media does that?

I mean, Wikipedia lists 36 characters on this one page for the Mario franchise, and even denotes that it's a paired-down list of only the most important "main" characters. If you were to tally up the total number of characters in the entire, complete Mario franchise, I'm sure you would easily break 200+ characters.

(in fact, going by this post, just counting characters from A to Q, Mario actually has over 400 characters)

I think it's time to let go the whole "Sonic has too many characters, why do people even care" complaint.

 

[Dereck]

Well said, I have nothing else to say besides thanks for the correction.

 

[Shadow Hog]

Sonic Heroes had NINE playable characters.

Twelve, actually

 

[gelf]

The thing that always bothered me was, you'd buy a Sonic game because you want to play as Sonic but it turns out that its less then half the game your actually controlling him as a lot of the time your playing as new shitty friends #30 and #72 instead, sometimes with different gameplay to boot. That was the big issue. At least generally when you buy Mario you usually spend most of the time actually playing as Mario.

I know its an out of date complaint now though as they really dialed it back in recent years.

 

[Village]

The thing that always bothered me was, you'd buy a Sonic game because you want to play as Sonic but it turns out that its less then half the game your actually controlling him as a lot of the time your playing as new shitty friends #30 and #72 instead, sometimes with different gameplay to boot. That was the big issue. At least generally when you buy Mario you usually spend most of the time actually playing as Mario.

I know its an out of date complaint now though as they really dialed it back in recent years.

My criticisms of that are as follows

There were and are people who enjoyed that

And two with you mario point,sonic isnt mario I kind of liked that. I liked that when i played a sonic game i got to play as a bunch of cool guys. And i would like that, if what they meant by classic sonic was in terms of simular level design and just let you choose folks. Maybe let other concepts become characters specific spin offs.

I said this multiple times would totally buy a mech battlegame or adventure point and click game staribg tails. Or shadow:revengence. Especislly the last one.

That said it isnt as if i dont understand the criticism. I sort of feel the same way about the comic books though i feel its a bit less explaination for it in there.

"Why an i reading stories about charactets from the 90s cartoon i came here for video game people" this issue relevent to the crossover worlds unite. That was so bad.

 

[WillyFive]

The Sonic side characters were significantly more interesting to my child self than any of Mario's. I liked playing as them, and didn't see the appeal of playing as only one character.

 

[Anth0ny]

The Sonic side characters were significantly more interesting to my child self than any of Mario's. I liked playing as them, and didn't see the appeal of playing as only one character.

even as a 10 year old I thought having to play as tails/eggman/knuckles/rouge in adventure 2 was a pain in the ass. sonic/shadow stages were by far the best.

I liked playing as tails and knuckles in the 2D sanics, though.

 

[Sami+]

even as a 10 year old I thought having to play as tails/eggman/knuckles/rouge in adventure 2 was a pain in the ass. sonic/shadow stages were by far the best.

I liked playing as tails and knuckles in the 2D sanics, though.

Tails and Knuckles ain't too bad in SA1, but yeah I hated them in the sequel too. I like the idea, they just have to be made actually fun to play as.

 

[Tizoc]

that's so weird

I still choose to believe.

Likewise~

I have never fully understood this argument. Other series add new characters every game and don't catch a bit of flak for it, yet when Sonic does it it's immediately a bad sign.

You know that's a good point...

The thing that always bothered me was, you'd buy a Sonic game because you want to play as Sonic but it turns out that its less then half the game your actually controlling him as a lot of the time your playing as new shitty friends #30 and #72 instead, sometimes with different gameplay to boot. That was the big issue. At least generally when you buy Mario you usually spend most of the time actually playing as Mario.

I know its an out of date complaint now though as they really dialed it back in recent years.

Prior to Sonic Boom, weren't all Sonic games after '06 have Sonic as the main or sole playable character?

 

[Surta]

they just have to be made actually fun to play as.

I thought they were fun to play, once I had understood how to play them to get A ranks. Not as fun as the Sonic/Shadow levels, sure, but I enjoyed them way more than Big and Amy in SA1.

 

[Tizoc]

Do people generally care for any characters other than Knuckles, Tails, Robotnick, and maybe Shadow?

Like why do they have to keep making more characters for every new game, is that what people want?

I don't think they've been making any new characters? Last new characters were Blaze, Sticks and Silver and 2 of them are from like 10 years ago.

 

[Shadow Hog]

I don't think they've been making any new characters? Last new characters were Blaze, Sticks and Silver and 2 of them are from like 10 years ago.

Also Lyric, the Deadly Six, Time Eater (lol), Yacker/the Wisps in general, Merlina, Chip, Professor Pickle, Dark Gaia...

But most of these are okay, since they're all background characters and not forced into playable character status. They're basically just there for the plot's sake. How well each does that is up for debate; personally, I kinda liked how Time Eater turned out to not to be upstaging Eggman like most of the monstrosities the series introduces, and I recall liking Pickle a fair bit. On the flipside, the Deadly Six have seemingly no reason to exist, with no backstory to speak of and no motivation beyond "we're evil you guys". I haven't followed Boom at all, so all I can say about Lyric is "oh hey Serpentine".

 

[Nocturnowl]

Pickle being the rare case of a character who became liked by being made playable via modding for the hilarious novelty value.

 

[Tizoc]

Times I feel like the average gamer has no idea how the recent Sonic games play.
Barring Sonic Boom Wii U, if they knew how bland LW is, they'd have a hard time finding games that would have good ideas but uber bad execution to the level of LW.

For that matter I wonder if the average gamer is aware of just how fun recent Mario platformers have been :/

 

[Sami+]

Honestly I don't know what they were thinking with Lost World's play style. It looks bland even just at a glance, I don't really get it. It's not fast or fluid to look at and there's nothing that makes it stand out from Mario or any other 3D platformer.

As limiting as the boost gameplay can be, I remember that when I showed my older sister Sonic Unleashed back when that was new, she literally said "wow".

If they're serious about Sonic being relevant again, what's essentially a playable version of Sonic CD's opening would turn some heads imo. Really fluid, ninja like movement and all that. Distinct from other games in the genre, something you can look at and immediately think "Sonic".

 

[Seven Force]

If they're serious about Sonic being relevant again, what's essentially a playable version of Sonic CD's opening would turn some heads imo. Really fluid, ninja like movement and all that. Distinct from other games in the genre, something you can look at and immediately think "Sonic".

Yeah, this is pretty much what I've wanted from the series, at least in 3D.

 

[TimmiT]

I'd also really like to see some new level tropes. We've seen Green Hill remade enough times at this point.

Also, new Sonic CG art for halloween:

 

[Village]

If they're serious about Sonic being relevant again, what's essentially a playable version of Sonic CD's opening would turn some heads imo. Really fluid, ninja like movement and all that. Distinct from other games in the genre, something you can look at and immediately think "Sonic".

Being "relevant" is the problem, I don't need extravagant, I don't need grand returns or wheel reinvention. I think that's what got us here. The key to being "relevant"is being good, consistent quality. They've made good things, expand on that. Generations was good , take the 3d from that make a good game puts some friends in it appease both ends and reasonably expand on gameplay make good games. And if they wanna expand non speed concepts like combat, explore spin offs. There isn't any instant fix button for sonic, it wont turn their heads, they will just go back to the bad stuff ,even years later. Thats just the situation.It just happened in this thread .

I think the thing sonic can do at this point is, release good games or at least ok games at a consistent rate. Take what works take what folks like Exspand from there. Because then then the grand reveal will be you have just been good. And the one you want, thats respect.

 

[Tizoc]

Generations was mad eusing the Hedgehog engine right? Cuz I'm amazed fan mods were able to give Mario his own animations for this mod
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/sonic...is-friends-with-mario-his-friends/#more-82230

 

[TimmiT]

Generations was mad eusing the Hedgehog engine right? Cuz I'm amazed fan mods were able to give Mario his own animations for this mod
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/sonic...is-friends-with-mario-his-friends/#more-82230

Pretty sure people have been making custom animations for models in Generations for quite some time now. The animations are surprisingly good though.

 

[Falk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdVWIGi8I4E

still the best (non-)animation

 

[OMG Aero]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdVWIGi8I4E

still the best (non-)animation

I think that works better when it is animated

 

[Falk]

No.

No it doesn't.

Blasphemer.

 

[Seven Force]

as per tradition

happy halloween sonicgaf

 

[ViewtifulJC]

sometimes when I'm felling bad, I remember that this video exists and life has the potential to be amazing.

 

[Dereck]

So, which Sonic characters do you guys like the most? (non-comic)

 

[Dr. Buni]

I like Eggman a lot. He is funny and one of the best villains in gaming (especially modern Eggman) in my books.

Blaze is cool too.

 

[Professor Beef]

So, which Sonic characters do you guys like the most? (non-comic)

Sonic Chronicles actually made me like Big the Cat. Then a few years later I played Sonic Adventure 1 and I hated him all over again.

 

[zeemumu]

My Steam copy of Sonic Adventure 2 got a weird glitch. Last time I played it, I was on Mission Street with Tails and I exited the game. I came back today and it skipped me ahead to Aquatic Mine, but Mission Street isn't available in the Stage Select.

 

[Anth0ny]

So, which Sonic characters do you guys like the most? (non-comic)

lil sanic

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Tails!

 

[Meccanical]

as per tradition

happy halloween sonicgaf

The fact that this has become an internet Halloween tradition is nothing short of amazing.

 

[TheOGB]

So, which Sonic characters do you guys like the most? (non-comic)

It's Eggman. It's always Eggman. Probably the most consistently enjoyable Sonic character.
Blaze and Emerl still the coolest
Chronicles!Big was great
Boom Knuckles is much better than he has any right to be

 

[Village]

So, which Sonic characters do you guys like the most? (non-comic)

MMMM

Ecluding sonic comic is hard mode man.

Comic is has the only two amy's that aren't shit. And I like those amy's more than sonic.

I like shadow. I like tails. I like blaze

Top 3.

 

[Sami+]

So, which Sonic characters do you guys like the most? (non-comic)

I like SA1 Amy a lot. Good development, good personality. Plus her design is one of my favorites.

Sucks she hasn't had a major role since then really.

 

[BlackJace]

as per tradition

happy halloween sonicgaf

Every year. It's still amazing.

 

[Azure Dream]

So, which Sonic characters do you guys like the most? (non-comic)

Discounting STAKE, Blaze is probably my favorite newer character. I like more serious female characters, and I thought it was neat how Rush pitched her as a parallel to Sonic, that never really had a Tails. Flame gimmick is also a nice touch, especially how it worked passively in Rush.

I do like Shadow sometimes, but I admit there was a period of "Why am I even here", worse than Knuckles, and I'm not a fan of his recent voice, at least how it sounded in Free Riders.

Metal Sonic has also always been great (Heroes aside), I like that they didn't really redesign him to match Modern Sonic, just gave him more detail. (Until Generations shrunk him slightly to better match Classic Sonic in that game.)

Rouge can be ok. The games have trouble using her right. Anime could be decent about it, especially how they paired her up with Topaz.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Eggman is the best, he will always be the best.

But since that's not nearly a controversial enough choice just know that behind Old Eggers and Sonic himself I actually like Cream the Rabbit.

Too bad she then appeared in games/tv shows where she had to open her mouth and split my ears.

And also Vector of course.

 

[OMG Aero]

The reason you guys aren't saying E102 Gamma is because he is no longer a character right?
Because otherwise no-one else recognises E102 Gamma as the best Sonic character which means you're all dead to me.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Gamma lives on in that one flicky that emerged from the self destruction, truly that Flicky bird thing is the best character.

 

[TimmiT]

The reason you guys aren't saying E102 Gamma is because he is no longer a character right?
Because otherwise no-one else recognises E102 Gamma as the best Sonic character which means you're all dead to me.

Omega from Archie Sonic is superior.

 

[Sami+]

Oh yeah Gamma's whole arc is hands down the most touching moment in the series. Really liked him.

Man, I wish we could get an SA1 remake someday.

 

[Falk]

Gamma lives on in that one flicky that emerged from the self destruction, truly that Flicky bird thing is the best character.

That's like saying Eggman is the best character just because he came out of Death Egg Robot when it blew up.

 

[Sciz]

Omega from Archie Sonic is superior.

There's not a lot about Ian's writing that makes me happier than how he's done justice to the scraps of character Omega had back in Heroes.

 

[TheOGB]

Gamma does have the most satifying story arc of anyone, which is remarkable given the game that arc took place in.

I almost listed Archie Omega but decided to use "non-comic" as a hard rule so I didn't end up listing most of the cast.

Spoiler

Ian the Writer best character

 

[Tizoc]

Can I just say that Cream's animations in Sonic Advance 2 are friggin' adorable? Like if they made a 2D Sonic game and had Cream playable in it she needs to have her animations from Advance 2.

Anyways this is what you hear when you are in Hell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRuJfhEeCe8

Spoiler

To be fair it's a great theme but the stage is my most hated in the Sonic games

 

[Sciz]

Anyways this is what you hear when you are in Hell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRuJfhEeCe8

Spoiler

To be fair it's a great theme but the stage is my most hated in the Sonic games

As usual the devil has all the best music.