Does anyone else think with the addition of another hedgehog Sonic is no longer special?

[Diogenes]

I think as of '06 they've overused hedgehogs; considering they've got the entire animal kingdom (and more, counting robots and the possibility for plant people or something) to choose from, I'd rather see some new species than more hedgehogs.

I don't think it makes Sonic any less special, tho'.

[Kuzu]

Sega are obviously trying to make the Hedgehogs into the new saiyans.

[Tornado]

Not true Shadow for some reason is way more respected outside the fan base as we'll.

I'm thinking because of the badass look to him.

Pretty sure it isn't 2001 anymore.

[wadadouchbag]

Pretty sure it isn't 2001 anymore.

It doesn't matter what year it is.. If that's the case it isn't 1991 either.

[Kuzu]

It doesn't matter what year it is.. If that's the case it isn't 1991 either.

Except you're talking about Shadow, so what the hell does Sonic have to do with anything?

[Tornado]

It doesn't matter what year it is.. If that's the case it isn't 1991 either.

The use of the words "Shadow," "respected" and "outside the fanbase" in the same sentence have been banned as a war crime under Article 3, Subsection C of the Geneva Convention (outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment) since March 9th, 2005. A Teen Nick poll with a sample size of less than 400 does not indicate anything otherwise.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Tornado

[wadadouchbag]

Except you're talking about Shadow, so what the hell does Sonic have to do with anything?

First off cool yourself down... second im just saying just because it isnt 2001 doesn't mean shadow is less liked, Most people ik have a favorite character because they are idealized and appeal to a person. Tornado is pretty much saying shadow was only liked because he was NEW

The use of the words "Shadow," "respected" and "outside the fanbase" in the same sentence have been banned as a war crime under Article 3, Subsection C of the Geneva Convention (outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment) since March 9th, 2005. A Teen Nick poll with a sample size of less than 400 does not indicate anything otherwise.

As for the Artical i only posted it to proved what i said about most sonic fans are mature..this is why it was a teen nick post i believe.... anyway as you can see more people admire shadow more....

And i believe it was almost 1000 poll sized right? with almost 300 liked for shadow so.. um yea... hurt.

Edited January 3, 2012 by wadadouchbag

[Big Boss (legendsneverdie)]

First off cool yourself down... second im just saying just because it isnt 2001 doesn't mean shadow is less liked, Most people ik have a favorite character because they are idealized and appeal to a person. Tornado is pretty much saying shadow was only liked because he was NEW

People liked Shadow in 2001 because he was a well written and interesting character. After 2001, he had his heroic sacrifice ruined, became an amnesiac, and got a crappy spinoff game.

[Darth InVaders]

I think it is the other way around, with the addition of more hedgehogs, the new hedgehogs are no longer special as the device is overused.

First there was Amy, Metal Sonic and the other robot Sonics - Metal & co are awesome (and only Metal got any real spotlight preventing a feeling of overkill) and though Amy is annoying her hedgehog-ness is not insulting (she even got a redesign to look less like a hedgehog)

Then came Shadow - at first most thought he was cool but something of a spotlight thief, then he returned to became a true spotlight hog and became seriously divisive

And then Silver who was greeted with a collective groan

It was like Sonic Team found such success in Metal Sonic and the other robo Sonics, they had to repeat it with Shadow - a gamble that generally worked (at the time)

But then they had to push their luck by doing it yet again with Silver - wasn't Silver supposed to be like Shadow in character before ST realized the redundancy? They could have at least done it the Knuckles way and used a different but similar animal like a porcupine

[Tornado]

First off cool yourself down... second im just saying just because it isnt 2001 doesn't mean shadow is less liked

You are missing the elephant in the room.

Tornado is pretty much saying shadow was only liked because he was NEW

No. I'm saying that Shadow was only respected outside the fanbase in 2001 because in 2001 Sonic Team hadn't yet completely run any value he once had as a character into the ground by giving him guns, running him through a Fucking Gritty™ filter and having him spout off the word "damn" like an 8-year-old who just saw their first episode of South Park. There's a reason the entire franchise became a bad joke for several years, and him and his self-titled game were the original poster children why.

And while it's nice that tweens think he is so cool for his "unique" brand of Rated-PG rebellion against THE MAN, I'm not sure how that is supposed to support the assertion that he is respected.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Tornado

[wadadouchbag]

People liked Shadow in 2001 because he was a well written and interesting character. After 2001, he had his heroic sacrifice ruined, became an amnesiac, and got a crappy spinoff game.

Honestly you can say the same for sonic now, Sonic was a layed back care free hedgehog and really, Thats what made him cool.. if you watch the old sonic the hedgehog anime's you would know.

But now they turned him into the ONE AND ONLY HERO which wasn't bad back then but now its literally ONE AND ONLY HERO.

And by this i mean all the other sonic characters in the franshies pretty much rely on him.

last time i checked it was Sonic,Tails and knuckles now its become Sonic and chip, or Sonic and elise, Sonic and Sword thing, Sonic, silver and shadow.

The only time you see Tails anymore is in cut scenes!, little kids that play the newer sonic game probably don't even know it started with SONIC TAIL'S AND KNUCKLE'S!

And this is why i believe Sonic is no longer special because he is now our only hero.

I"m a big time sonic fan to, i just don't like the way sega exploits him, let One of the many other characters step into the spot light.

[wadadouchbag]

You are missing the elephant in the room.

No. I'm saying that Shadow was only respected outside the fanbase in 2001 because in 2001 Sonic Team hadn't yet completely run any value he once had as a character into the ground by giving him guns, running him through a Fucking Gritty™ filter and having him spout off the word "damn" like an 8-year-old who just saw their first episode of South Park. There's a reason the entire franchise became a bad joke for several years, and him and his self-titled game were the original poster children why.

And while it's nice that tweens think he is so cool for his "unique" brand of Rated-PG rebellion against THE MAN, I'm not sure how that is supposed to support the assertion that he is respected.

I though shadow the hedgehog was a good game..... And at the time i couldn't stand shadow because he stole the spotlight of Sonic.

Shadow the hedgehog isn't even considered a Sonic game hence the Title name being what it is.

He wasn't respected in the fan base because he was better then sonic! i though so and i also didnt like the fact he had a super form as well, but after he died in sa2b i respected sega more for letting the antihero go...

Now as you can see not much people hate on him now because Sega brought him back as the dark/good guy so he gets brushed of by the fan based. But outside the fan base people admire him.. idk but i believe its his looks.

[Celestia]

Eh... the internet consensus seems to be a strong dislike for Shadow, especially among critics and people who aren't fans but played the Genesis games.

It seems likely however it's the people who didn't play the Genesis games to have a liking to Shadow.

I guess that includes me to an extent. Even if my first game was S3&K, it was the only classic game I played, and I didn't even finish it.

Anyway, I mostly ignored Silver until Generations. That battle is pretty cool, and his voice doesn't make me want to rip my hair out. XD

Shadow...he's alright. I liked him best in Sonic Adventure 2, and I think he's returned to that somewhat, especially with his portrayal in Free Riders. Sonic Generations didn't really do him justice, but oh well. That being said, there's not much respect for the character due to his spin-off game. I always thought they should have at least waited a few games to "resurrect" him, or maybe make his return a lot more epic, preferably without the boring and drawn-out amnesia storyline. Not to mention the guns and vehicles...

Honestly, the only "new" hedgehog I would rather not see again is Mephiles, and we haven't seen him at all since '06 and likely never will.

Honestly, I don't think more hedgehogs means Sonic is less special. He's the main character, and as long as you're playing as him, he's the guy who's gonna' win. Shadow may have Chaos Powers and Silver may have his impressive psychokinetic abilities, but Sonic is pretty impressive himself. Considering how he defeated Perfect Chaos on his own, without the Chaos Emeralds(!), I'd say he's a lot more powerful than most give him credit. It reminds me of the beatdown he gave Emerl at the end of Sonic Battle, also without any power-ups. You do not mess with Sonic, because when stops playing around and goes all out, you're screwed.

Edited January 3, 2012 by ElementofChaos7

[wadadouchbag]

I agree with you on the Shadow part.

If Sega would have waited i believe the majority of sonic fans would have loved to see shadow's Resurrection. By doing this they would have most likely a good game.

But most of all, a good Story line!

But sadly they didn't.

[Sami]

Honestly you can say the same for sonic now, Sonic was a layed back care free hedgehog and really, Thats what made him cool.. if you watch the old sonic the hedgehog anime's you would know.

There's only one Sonic anime, and that's the one that almost everyone hates both inside and outside the fanbase (assuming they even know about it to begin with).

Unless you're talking about the OVA, in which case, he was just as much of a wise-ass arrogant prick to his enemies as he is in Colors and Generations.

But now they turned him into the ONE AND ONLY HERO which wasn't bad back then but now its literally ONE AND ONLY HERO.

And by this i mean all the other sonic characters in the franshies pretty much rely on him.

You can blame Shadow for that, considering he single-handedly ruined both the franchises' and the supporting cast's reputations. While the series as a whole is slowly getting back on its feet in the public eye, everyone still hates "Sonic's shitty friends".

last time i checked it was Sonic,Tails and knuckles now its become Sonic and chip, or Sonic and elise, Sonic and Sword thing, Sonic, silver and shadow.

... This completely contradicts what you said just one sentence ago.

The only time you see Tails anymore is in cut scenes!, little kids that play the newer sonic game probably don't even know it started with SONIC TAIL'S AND KNUCKLE'S!

God forbid.

And this is why i believe Sonic is no longer special because he is now our only hero.

I"m a big time sonic fan to, i just don't like the way sega exploits him, let One of the many other characters step into the spot light.

This makes absolutely no sense.

[HeroMystic]

You can blame Shadow for that, considering he single-handedly ruined both the franchises' and the supporting cast's reputations. While the series as a whole is slowly getting back on its feet in the public eye, everyone still hates "Sonic's shitty friends".

No... Shadow's game ruined his own reputation. It's a terrible game, but if it was just that game, it'd be more like a bleep on the radar.

Sonic 06 is what single-handedly ruined the franchise and supporting cast, because that involved everyone as well as the genre roulette formula which was popularized in the Adventure games. Couple that with the fact that Sonic and the Secret Rings is lightyears better than Sonic 06 with Sonic as the only playable character and that's when "Sonic's Shitty Friends" was troped.

Shadow's game only made people hate Shadow, and that's it.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Marco

[Sami]

No... Shadow's game ruined his own reputation. It's a terrible game, but if it was just that game, it'd be more like a bleep on the radar.

Sonic 06 is what single-handedly ruined the franchise and supporting cast, because that involved everyone as well as the genre roulette formula which was popularized in the Adventure games. Couple that with the fact that Sonic and the Secret Rings is lightyears better than Sonic 06 with Sonic as the only playable character and that's when "Sonic's Shitty Friends" was troped.

Shadow's game only made people hate Shadow, and that's it.

I see 06 as more of a nail in the coffin that Shadow created, but I haven't been around for long enough to really make that judgment.

[Soniman]

Heroes was the blip on the radar, basically the "well, it's just one slip-up, I'm sure it will get better from here on", Shadow was what got people worried, and Sonic 06 rode the gravy train Shadow launched and the train met with a horrible fate that would take several years to fully recover from.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Grooseinator032

[HeroMystic]

Not entirely, people liked Heroes and is generally seen as a good game. Furthermore, despite being jammed packed with characters, people didn't really care about them outside of a Gamespy Reviewer. Critics pretty much said having four teams made the game repetitive, but no one explicitly said, nor even implied the extra characters were bringing the series down. I wasn't involved in the fanbase during Heroes, so I can't speak about what the fanbase thought, but I know their judgement of the game, especially fans of the Adventure series were considerably more critical of it's gameplay, but not necessarily the characters outside of Shadow's rather abrupt return.

Shadow the Hedgehog definitely made the fanbase explode, but it was chalked up as just one really bad game based off a really bad concept which could only be done as Shadow. I understand that people use Shadow as an icon of sorts to show the Sonic franchise in the lowest of the low purely because of his game, and to some extent I can go ahead and agree that the game did play a hand with creating the aforementioned stigma against multiple characters, if only because Shadow took Sonic's spotlight for a full game.

But saying Shadow singlehandedly destroyed the franchise is a rather large claim to make, and that's ignoring the fact that Shadow is just a character.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Marco

[Kuzu]

But saying Shadow singlehandedly destroyed the franchise is a rather large claim to make, and that's ignoring the fact that Shadow is just a character.

No doubt him and his game played a role in the franchise's downfall however.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

We have Sonic, Amy, Shadow, Metal Sonic, and Silver. That's 5 recurring hedgehogs (mechanical ones included).

By contrast we have only 1 bat, 1 fox, 1 echidna, 2 cats, and very few other animals. Even humans, despite being more numerous, are much less representive of their types as recurring characters.

Honestly, the addition of another hedgehog would be redundant if anything. And I'm in the camp that we don't need anymore characters unless you really dodge the bullet by making them likable for me to not care.

The use of the words "Shadow," "respected" and "outside the fanbase" in the same sentence have been banned as a war crime under Article 3, Subsection C of the Geneva Convention (outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment) since March 9th, 2005. A Teen Nick poll with a sample size of less than 400 does not indicate anything otherwise.

Oh man, I am so going to copy and paste this for every major ounce of fanboyism I encounter from here on out.

This is the funniest thing I've read all day.

[Dummy Bear]

Having other hedgehogs doesn't make Sonic any less special. Sonic's special enough anyway because he's the only hedgehog able to break the sound barrier(excluding Shadow, but he's not a real hedgehog anyway...). It's not like Sonic is supposed to be "the only one of his kind" like Knuckles or anything...

[Agent York]

No, Sonic kicks the other hedgehogs asses anyway.

'Sawnik iz net pawafu enuf. Wii needz hem strounga ahgenst odder headghougs.'

Edited January 3, 2012 by Skyward Dusk

[wadadouchbag]

Having other hedgehogs doesn't make Sonic any less special. Sonic's special enough anyway because he's the only hedgehog able to break the sound barrier(excluding Shadow, but he's not a real hedgehog anyway...). It's not like Sonic is supposed to be "the only one of his kind" like Knuckles or anything...

What do you mean not a real hedgehog....all the characters in sonic are inspired by animals, even though not one of them looks like it.

[Big Boss (legendsneverdie)]

What do you mean not a real hedgehog....all the characters in sonic are inspired by animals, even though not one of them looks like it.

Shadow is an android, therefore he doesn't count as a real hedgehog.