Characters you feel have the most potential.

[Kuzu]

So I think its no secret that Sonic Team only care about Sonic, Tails, and Eggman at this point in the series considering the last two games focus pretty much on them and ignore everyone else regardless of previous importance. Obviously because this is because the "shitty friends" ordeal, but what if the whole shitty friends ordeal is because they don't really make an effort to make these characters interesting? Most of them are one note and feel like space filler, and nobody wants to care about wasted space do they?

So what characters do you think have the potential to be more interesting, both gameplay wise, and personality wise so that they're aren't so annoying to the masses. Alternately, if you don't see any potential in any character you can just justify why they don't need any spotlight or focus and should remain one note.

[Jeffhog]

None are coming to mind, sorry to say.

I'll leave this thread to those who have a knack for supporting certain characters. We all have a fang or two for those we feel deserve more development.

Other than that, I don't know who has a lot of character growth potential.

iamsosorrypleasedon'tsnipeme

Edited February 3, 2012 by VizardJeffhog

[Soniman]

Team Dark, Chaotix, Knuckles and Silver.

All these characters could make potentially great contributions to the series, they just need to be utilized more and be given mire depth.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Grooseinator032

[#AR]

I'll leave this thread to those who have a knack for supporting certain characters. We all have a fang or two for those we feel deserve more development.

OICwutudidthar.

But back on topic, I would say Silver. Silver wasn't really fleshed out in 06, both power-wise and character-wise. Seriously, there's more to telekinesis than just merely picking up and throwing boxes. I'm glad he was given more variety with his powers in Generations, and if they continue on that track and flesh out his character more, he'd be a hell of a character.

[The Weeb with No Name]

In the hands of Sonic Team, none of them.

[Diogenes]

Rouge: They made two big mistakes with Rouge. One, they focused on her role as a secret agent to the exclusion of her role as a thief. Two, they made her primarily a support character for Shadow rather than someone who can work on her own. Rouge, I think, should be kind of a distant character. Mysterious, independent, inscrutable. She bounces back and forth between thief and agent, sometimes working against you, sometimes helping you. She's a good person when it comes down to it; she's not going to get in your way when the world is at stake. But that's about all you can pin down about her.

Metal Sonic: There's already a topic about him so I'll keep this quick: Metal has a lot of potential as a rival to Sonic and a major underling for Eggman, they just need to start using him more often and building up some character. I'd focus on his hatred for Sonic and his limited independence ("independence" both from being a copy of Sonic and from being one of Eggman's smarter 'bots, "limited" because he's still bound to Eggman's orders even when they conflict with his own desires).

Amy: Okay I'm not sure I'd say she's got a whole lot of potential, but she really needs to take advantage of what she has. And what she has is a big hammer. She's not a top tier fighter but she's proven that she can contribute, so make use of this; if nothing else it gives her something to focus on besides Sonic.

[Rusty Spy]

A lot of them actually.

The Chaotix, Omega, Silver, Blaze, Shadow (yes and shutup).

The Chaotix make a great cometic trio, Omega would be awesome if he was protrayed tounge-in-cheek style like the Archie comics, Blaze and Silver have a lot of room for development, and Shadow is still a blank slate as of 06 and his role in the story can go in many different directions.

[Kuzu]

In the hands of Sonic Team, none of them.

Its funny because its true...excuse me while I go to bed depressed.

Anywho:

Knuckles: He's has possibly the most important role in the series outside of Sonic, and yet he's treated as a joke. His ties to both the chaos emeralds and master emerald can expand on him greatly, as being a treasure hunter, he probably knows a lot about all of the mystical and ancient shit in Sonic's world, and the fact that having said powerful object must be the target of a lot of people aside from just Eggman and Rouge. Plus he's already got close ties to Sonic himself.

Shadow: Now put down those pitchforks and hear me out, Shadow is a character with damn near unlimited potential, his backstory(as shit as it was) is rich enough to have him go in any direction, how he adjusts to being in a military setting, expanding on his relationships with the rest of the cast(Primarily with Eggman), and how he copes with the conflict of having a cynical view of life, yet fighting for all.

The Chaotix: Potential mystery plots anyone? These guys can get the dirt and info on any new threat to the planet, while Sonic & co. are off doing their hero thing; Vector's detective skills and overall perceptive personality, along with Espio's straitlaced and disciplined attitude, and Charmy being Vector's protege and learning how to be a detective can lead to interesting results.

[The Weeb with No Name]

Big could be a pretty good character for an E/C learning game.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Jayhawker30

[Thirsty Pocket]

The thing with the "Shitty Friends" ordeal, is during that time, all of the "Shitty Friends" Were literally forced on the player, in every single scenario, if they wanted to beat the final boss and get the true ending. Tails and Knuckles were remembered fondly for being optional in the Genesis days.

Anyhow, I feel like Chaotix has a lot of potential as either the sole team based gameplay ( like seriously, they keep the Sonic Heroes mechanic, but every other character in the game plays solo. ), or each have their own skills of limitless high speed flight ( Charmy ), Projectile based Stealth platforming ( Espio ) or climbing, smashing, exploration ( Vector. ) ...being Detectives, they could be up for about anything, not just Eggman plots. Missing people, Ghost Busting, lost valuables, ect. And their interactions have always amused me. I think I'd like to see Vector and Charmy pick on, make fun of, and generally get on the more serious Espio's nerves more often though.

...I also feel like Fang has potential to be a great comedic villain, especially the way the games are written now. I have always hated Archie's portrayal of the characters as a cold, heartless, calculating assassin.He strikes me as an excitable, sly, yet silly character like Lupin the Third. I don't know that I'd like to see him playable, I'd rather him keep his role as an opposition to you. Though if he were playable, He could be a more refined version of Shadow's Run and Gun, with occasional vehicles gameplay ( So they can stop doing that to Shadow and just make him Sonic with Chaos powers.). Though I'd prefer if they kept his ammunition as corks.

...I have always wanted to see Big the Cat get angry. If he can lift a car... clearly he's strong. Too bad they make him into a dopey happy go lucky gentle giant. Because this scenario seems impastable. ...Anyhow, I'd like to see him return with some regular platforming with a mix of grappling hook swinging and such... you know. With his fishing pole.

[Diogenes]

Tails and Knuckles were remembered fondly for being optional in the Genesis days.

Tails and Knuckles were remembered fondly for being fun.

[Meow]

Gonna keep this short, but Knuckles and Shade. Personally I like the latter of the two, and it is no secret that the former is pretty much my fave character from the series. I just think the Echidna backstories offer a lot to play up and develop, and even have some deep roots in the whole Chaos Emerald mythology. I think as characters they both can be utilized much better than they were, and Shade's got some neat abilities I'd like to see as well as ties to Knuckles' backstory that would help round him out some more too. Of course Shade ever coming back is never gonna happen so that makes me sad.

Mainly though I think Knuckles is the biggest waste of potential ever. He started off as an intelligent, clever character who knew his turf inside and out and was always one step ahead of Sonic. His problem was that he was gullible. Now Knuckles is dumb and angry and punches things and lost a lot of what made him interesting. Knuckles to me if anything should be more like his OVA counterpart who was a bit rude and brash, but wasn't entirely stupid and angry all the time. I also think he should be smart. I'm not talking about smart in the way of technology and the likes because that wouldn't make much sense, but I mean intelligent in the way that he isn't dumb over -everything- which is how he is often portrayed these days.

Edit: and yes two paragraphs is short I could ramble on about Knuckles all day if I really wanted to lol.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Marina

[VO.SUPER]

Silver: Poor Silver, the guy gets literally no development in his first appearance, especially when it is of the utmost importance. It was obvious Silver had a problem, and it was a problem that needed to be fixed. He was childlike with his outlook on life, but we never saw him criticized for it proper except for small comments from Blaze. His backstory was also very underdeveloped. You can scream, "Trunks!" all you want, but the meat of Trunks' backstory was his relationship with Gohan, which is the part where Silver could have developed differently. Plus, Silver has telekinesis, which is a power that could support it's own game; it's criminal how much Sonic Team held back with it.

Knuckles: His powers are already well defined, but it's Knuckle's character where the problem lies. These days he is a joke character, when in truth, he has one of the deepest backgrounds that are untapped. We know he descends from the Knuckles Tribe, but surely there must be more to his history than that. (Ignoring Chronicles.)

The Chaotix: These guys are worthy of having more games dedicated to them. They're team-based detectives for heavens sake! They can do so much more with the antics they can get together with. Heck, they're probably the only Team that actually has good chemistry around them.

[Rusty Spy]

Tails and Knuckles were remembered fondly for being fun

Tails and Knuckles were remembered fondly for being in the Genesis games.

[Kuzu]

Tails and Knuckles were remembered fondly for being in the Genesis games.

Can we just say they didn't suck and therefore were liked, kay?

[Thirsty Pocket]

Tails and Knuckles were remembered fondly for being fun.

Kinda thought that went without saying, they played just like Sonic with one or two additional powers, so of course they were fun. But nowadays characters are evolving with new moves to differentiate them a little more. That could be part of the problem. I do miss the spindashing and rolling for Tails and Knuckles, but in a way, im glad it's one of the things Sonic has that they don't anymore, it's a little silly that the main character is the one who's inferior to his co-stars.

[Diogenes]

Tails and Knuckles were remembered fondly for being in the Genesis games.

Which were fun.

It's easy to dismiss these people as just being caught up in nostalgia, and I can't deny that it plays a part, and that in some cases (maybe most, even) they are wrong because of it.

But S3&K is a good game. And Tails and Knuckles were fun to use in it. And I don't think people would have any reason to be nostalgic about them if they weren't fun to start with.

I do miss the spindashing and rolling for Tails and Knuckles, but in a way, im glad it's one of the things Sonic has

He does?

it's a little silly that the main character is the one who's inferior to his co-stars.

The proper solution is to give him something equivalent to Tails' flight and Knuckles' gliding and climbing, something that adds to the base formula. Not to make that base formula his "gimmick" and make every other character as if they belong in a different game. Edited February 3, 2012 by Diogenes

[Sean]

In my mind, Bean and Bark could have made for great anti-heroes of the comedic variety. Maybe they'd want to save the world themselves... but they're incompetent at it, and that pesky hedgehog is always getting in their way, so they try taking him down first. Basically, they're the Chaotix except they hate you. Also, they could rip off Bomberman 64 when you fight them.

And obviously Nack the Weasel. Kick-ass character design, and he could be one of those jackass bounty hunter archetypes. Did Indiana Jones ever have an evil counterpart? That's basically what I imagine Nack could be like.

Oh, oh, and Witchcart. Damn it! I just want more recurring villains in the series.

[Kuzu]

In my mind, Bean and Bark could have made for great anti-heroes of the comedic variety. Maybe they'd want to save the world themselves... but they're incompetent at it, and that pesky hedgehog is always getting in their way, so they try taking him down first. Basically, they're the Chaotix except they hate you. Also, they could rip off Bomberman 64 when you fight them.

And obviously Nack the Weasel. Kick-ass character design, and he could be one of those jackass bounty hunter archetypes. Did Indiana Jones ever have an evil counterpart? That's basically what I imagine Nack could be like.

Oh, oh, and Witchcart. Damn it! I just want more recurring villains in the series.

Rene Belloq(I actually got that on my first try).

[Sean]

Oh wow I can not believe that Belloq slipped my mind. Sean's having a senior moment, nothing to see here folks.

[Kuzu]

I'm more surprised I was actually able to remember that, I barely remember anything from Raiders of the Lost Ark, genius points go to Shadic.

Continuing with my list:

Metal Sonic:

Oh, Metal Sonic probably the most underutilized character ever. He needs a more firm spot as Eggman's right hand bot, but with enough personality to be his own character, kind like Soundwave but a little more psychotic. He serves under Eggman out of loyalty, but his primary objective is eliminating Sonic. His personality can be emoted through beeps and boops that only Orbot and Cubot can understand.

Blaze:

Aside from what we've seen in Rush Adventure, her world's a mystery. How does it operate compared to Sonic's, are the zones opposites? I mean considering this, a Rush 3 only seems mandatory, plus it would be nice for Blaze to interact with other characters outside Sonic, Tails, and Cream. Her and Knuckles have a lot in common so maybe a friendship can form from that?

Silver:

Like Blaze, he too has a world we know next to nothing about. I mean how does it keep getting endangered forcing him to come back in time? How does his attitude reflect this? I mean his powers and voice are already greatly improved, now just the character.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Tails: him being an engineer of a genius caliber and capable of making some well thought strategies unrelated to engineering make him the one with the biggest amount of potential. It's also something you should be careful of. Anything technology oriented can be used for Tails, and since he can make some decent strategies and tactics (maybe?) he could also be given some degree of military experience if he were to ever walk on such a path (of course, I doubt anyone would actually be for it).

Knuckles: As much as I keep saying he should maintain his status as the guardian of the Master Emerald and Angel Island, there's a lot of use you can use and create for Knuckles from just those two things along with his history. And that's the thing that frustrates me about those fans who want to throw those things away just because of his status as a classic character or who make a very shallow justification as to why he should be around more, because Knuckles can be SO much more than just someone who helps Sonic save the world from Eggman, and to neglect that just comes across as completely uncaring for that very background he has. I've thought of 11 different ways that potential could be realized, and I've made essays upon essays of how to use that potential and where it is appropriate to use it to the point where I could consider myself an expert on Knuckles' character if I were arrogant enough to claim myself as such.

Shadow: There's quite a lot of angles you can play with him in his current state. Soldier, Agent, Freelance Mercenary, Vagabond, Anti-Villain, Anti-hero, and so forth. It's quicker to say that Shadow is a complete wildcard of a character, and ever since he's left his past behind him he can focus more on current and future events. Hell, since he's immortal, he could even play a mentor role for younger characters should he so choose.

Fang/Nack: Okay, really. There's not a lot that has been done with him, and he's essentially been scrapped, but you cannot tell me there is no potential for this character. The fact that he can serve as an antagonist should be enough due to the fact that we have so very few recurring antagonists in this series, and he can be a bit of a wildcard like Shadow but for more antagonistic roles than the Black Blur.

Rouge: Diogenes has already summed up a lot of the potential she has and the issues she currently faces in the hands of Sonic Team as of now. So moving on...

...I'll come up with more in the future.

[Lady Soniko]

i think Metal Sonic has the most potential.. i'd seriously like to see him reclaim his true right of being Sonic's true rival and get Shadow out of the picture.

Blaze too, she needs a better role in the canon games imo

but if anyone needs the limelight its Knuckles, he was a badass with his power rivalling sonic's speed but now he's been reduced to the dumbass comic relief which pains me because they've exploited his gullible nature to a ridiculous level.

for fuck sake he and Sonic even had their own Battle music in Sonic The Fighters... he used to be something!

[Salamander]

Given that he's one of the original characters, added to the points made by others, it looks to me like Knuckles is the character who most urgently needs some time in the limelight.

[neezTHEhuman]

Silver. He is slow making him well suited to 3D platforming with puzzle solving type gameplay so how about combining these two elements.

Huge room, see the goal at the opposite end, floor is lava and there are other obstacles in the way like falling rocks, spikes and fire balls. The basic idea is to create your own platforms out of any debris/objects lying around by moving them using psychokinesis and jumping/gliding across to the goal. The platforms can be placed on the lava or suspended in mid-air until the kinesis guage runs out and also made to move up and down or backwards, forwards, clockwise etc.

There should be more than one solution, different shape and size platforms and powerups that can extend the kinesis guage and add extra abilities like creating platforms out of thin air (cloud Mario), creating walkways between two platforms by attaching a pipe and attacks for taking out enemies. These are just a few ideas, I could make an endless list because the idea is the player effectively builds their own levels.