Should there be more animals like Sonic as NPC?

[Mangoaxe5]

Ever since Sonic Adventure humans have played a bigger role in the series. Now personally I have nothing against there being humans in the Sonic series but it does seem weird that we don't see more talking animals(Mobians)like Sonic in the games.

Personally I think it woud be cool to have animals as NPC.

What does everyone else think? Should we see more animals like Sonic and his friends or should humans be the only NPC that Sonic and his friends interact with?

[Big Boss (legendsneverdie)]

I wouldn't object to animal NPCs. In fact, I'd slightly prefer it to human NPC's.

[PickleBrows]

It would be rather glaring to start doing that now. Personally I prefer either the humans or when its just the sonic characters that have the planet to themselves. Although I wouldn't mind them bringing back the flickies and animal friends from the classics.

Edited January 30, 2012 by liamc5232

[\Lennox]

Okay, Poridet (otherwise known as Verte) and I have been emphasizing the lack of anthropes for years now!

I too feel that it would be extremely interesting to see more of Sonic's kind (That is, 3ft tall on average anthropomorphic animal people). Sonic X showed some, even if they did appear to be Foxes and Hedgehogs. They were more interesting than the bazillions of humans by their mystique alone.

The extreme rarity to non-existence of other anthropes make you honestly wonder if they're very reclusive or even critically endangered, so few in number that they're rare and not often seen in Sonic's dimension. There being more anthropes in Blaze's dimension like Marine, the Viking Polar Bears and the Coconut Crew Koala's almost makes you wonder if Blaze's dimension is the true origin of the anthropes or something.

So yeah, I would like to see NPC's that aren;t humans because it'd add something a little more to the fictional universe.

The lack thereof other than the cast (which can't possibly be the only population of known anthropes) could possibly be why ST churns out new characters in the first place. I hate it.

At least Adventure had those Echidna NPC's, but who else?

Actually in Unleashed, either Mauro or Natalia's son (Forgot his name) points out how weird it is to see "A blue Hedgehog, a two-tailed fox and a little guy with a mohawk" in Spagonia, implying that anthropes are an extremely uncommon or not at all seen sight in Spagonia at least.

Okay, if I haven't seen this in this entire forum then all you guys should be fired.

You know what the Sonic games need? Animal NPC's. Not just the goddamn animal friends, but animals that are actually anthro like the loads of characters.

Entirely seconded. I myself was left slightly bewildered that they show a lot of the world's continents in Unleashed and yet there's not a single anthrope apart from the main cast. There's got to be more anthropes than just the majority of the main cast. It makes you wonder if Sonic's kind are an extremely reclusive people or if they're critically endangered.

Every time we play Sonic games with hubworlds, there's always something missing: anthropes that don't normalize the existence of Sonic's fellow organisms which can double as biological anomalies. They seem to stick out like a sore thumb amongst the immense amount of humans, plus real-life-styled animals exist (i.e. that whale in Emerald Coast, along with the dolphins and fish that are also in other sea stages. Sadly enough, we'll never get that. I guess we'll have to resort to some sort of alien life form theory, but no one likes the Archie canon that much anymore ever since Penders stepped in.

Also, how in hell do we know where Sonic comes from? We know Tails is an orphan, all the species have sexual dimorphism (Sonic and Amy, Big and Blaze), but where are the actual animals themselves? I guess we'll never know where the hell or even how the hell Sonic's species branched from ordinary animals.

Hell, there is in fact, an entire topic as to why this is even happening:

Edited January 30, 2012 by Madame Amano

[midori]

It would be great if you could talk to generic animals. Not only they are cute, some of them have a tragic past (like the flickies Gamma had to release by commiting fratricide and suicide) and they're likely to say something interesting.

[Double Agent Motobug]

Well, Sonic Rush Adventure's friendly NPCs were all animals. =O

[Winston]

Then we can call them Sonic's Shittier friends.

[Indigo Rush]

Absolutely. Even if they were simply tossed to the side as generic NPC hub characters or backdrops, it would at the very least help solidify the context that, well, Sonic and friends are normal enough to walk among humans without them freaking out.

I always thought the earlier Classic locations like South Island or Westside Island were where all the humanoid animals lived. Racial tension, maybe? Eh.

[Blue Blood]

Well, Sonic Rush Adventure's friendly NPCs were all animals. =O

Edited January 30, 2012 by Blue Blood

[Double Agent Motobug]

..:V it's more fitting than them next to humans, or realistic animals. Just sayin'. Plus they have the Sonic proportions, Also their paws are not 'realistic', that's just because they're low poly.

that said, I think I'd still prefer the Sonic Unleashed style of humans as NPCs for the most part, with cases like Marine showing up every so often.

[Blue Blood]

..:V it's more fitting than them next to humans, or realistic animals. Just sayin'. Plus they have the Sonic proportions, Also their paws are not 'realistic', that's just because they're low poly.

that said, I think I'd still prefer the Sonic Unleashed style of humans as NPCs for the most part, with cases like Marine showing up every so often.

See their paws in-game. They're paws (like Chip), not hands. And I honestly don't think they're more fitting than Unleashed-style humans.

Edited January 30, 2012 by Blue Blood

[Diogenes]

And they were all just random anthros with absolutely no effort to make them look like they belong in the Sonic universe.

They look fine, man. The only thing that doesn't fit the typical Sonic character design is the eyes, which I don't think is a problem. And they're as generic as NPCs should be, while still having enough differentiation to be unique.

Not to mention I like the idea of the main cast being somewhat special in one way or another.

They're special because they're superpowered heroes, not because they're the only animals to walk on two legs.

See their paws in-game. They're paws (like Chip), not hands.

I see hands. Edited January 30, 2012 by Diogenes

[Blue Blood]

They look fine, man. The only thing that doesn't fit the typical Sonic character design is the eyes, which I don't think is a problem. And they're as generic as NPCs should be, while still having enough differentiation to be unique.

I don't think they look fine. YMMV, and apparently does. No hands -the fuck was I thinking here? I can't even remember what I meant to put, no gloves, addition of clothing. They don't flat out clash with Sonic and co, but they don't exactly look like they should be there.

They're special because they're superpowered heroes, not because they're the only animals to walk on two legs.

Yeah, and I'd kinda of like it to stay that way. There's so few of these anthros around and they're all superpowered heroes. Everyone else is either human or a realistic animal. Works for me.

I see hands.

I'll admit I was wrong, but I don't have to like them still.

Regardless, I'm not going to get into an argument about this because it's really far from worth it. Unlike with physics and blah blah blah there's no right or wrong so it's just going to be a horrible cyclic rage fest before to long where we extensively break up quotes and get on each others nerves. It's just about starting already

Edited January 30, 2012 by Blue Blood

[Diogenes]

I don't think they look fine. YMMV, and apparently does. No hands, no gloves, addition of clothing.

I don't see how such a slight variation in clothing is so important. All they've done is trade the gloves for a hat and maybe a scarf or vest or something. They are not the first male Sonic characters to wear something besides just shoes and gloves; Big has a belt and Storm has a necklace, and going back to old characters Fang had a hat and a belt, Bean had a scarf, and Bark had a hat and a scarf.

Yeah, and I'd kinda of like it to stay that way.

Adding generic NPC anthros doesn't change that. The Coconut Crew is not a secret team of super-koalas.

[Kuzu]

I wouldn't mind, but I've kind of grown fond of the humans to be honest, they've been stuck with the series for so long, that it just seems jarring to me to switch to other anthros.

[Marcello]

I dunno. I like the Coconut Crew, but I think it would be hard to design them in a way to look generic enough and also differentiate them enough from the main cast. Then when there's a cool looking anthro NPC, I'll be mad he's not a main character

In the end, I don't care much. It can just stay with the main cast to be honest.

I don't see how such a slight variation in clothing is so important. All they've done is trade the gloves for a hat and maybe a scarf or vest or something. They are not the first male Sonic characters to wear something besides just shoes and gloves; Big has a belt and Storm has a necklace, and going back to old characters Fang had a hat and a belt, Bean had a scarf, and Bark had a hat and a scarf.

[Shoot em up Capbusta]

I really don't see what purpose it would serve to have a NPC animals in the games. I have had no problems with seeing humans in past games unless they made me do a stupid mission or something. If they decide to do this in future games I wouldn't complain I just don't see a reason for them.

[Jeffhog]

Guys, don't you understand?

The fact that there are no anthro NPCs is HELPING Sonic! We're better without them!

ALL THOSE ANTHRO NPCs! ALL THE FANFICTION OVER THE SLIGHTEST NOTHING! IT MUST NOT COME TO BE! ;A;

It's weird that we don't see any... .A.

[JezMM]

The trick is though how do you make animal NPCs that are clearly seperate from the main cast after doing it the way they have for so long?

I mean you could say "well just give them simple designs without too much flair to distract" but... that's exactly what Sonic and half the main cast are already.

Give them too many unique quirks and all the fans will start pulling the "they look like bad fancharacters >8U" crap like they do with every new anthro Sonic Team dare to come up with. I think Chip only got let off because he was small.

Honestly I think this problem is EXACTLY why they made the NPCs in SRA not be 100% consistent with "house" Sonic character design, just to give them a little seperation. Whereas Marine, a new anthro character also introduced in that game, was designed in line with the signature style.

Edited January 30, 2012 by JezMM

[Cola]

Yes.

Because then Sonic characters wouldn't stick out like sore thumbs. We can keep the humans, too. Make sure they're Unleashed-styled.

[Vertekins]

The anthrope characters other than Sonic and co in X didn't look exactly original but they had a sense of mystique about them because they were hardly ever seen. At least their presence proves in X at least that Sonic's homeworld is inhabited by more than Sonic and co and the small animals;

If there were more anthopomorphic characters in the games, I'd hope that they had more original designs.

[Soniman]

A bunch of those characters just look like Sonic recolors.

[Blue Blood]

What Verte just posted is a great example of what I wouldn't like. And then this:

I mean you could say "well just give them simple designs without too much flair to distract" but... that's exactly what Sonic and half the main cast are already.

Give them too many unique quirks and all the fans will start pulling the "they look like bad fancharacters >8U" crap like they do with every new anthro Sonic Team dare to come up with. I think Chip only got let off because he was small.

[Nitwit_Speed]

We really can't just have them replace humans overnight in the next game. Storytelling needs consistency, which Sonic is barely managing to do if at all at the moment. If we're going to have animal NPCs, there needs to be a story reason as to why they're there. Considering the fact that we've never seen places like South Island outside of the 8/16-bit games, visiting a civilization there and having animals is perfectly fine as long as Central City is still populated mostly by humans.

Having animals in the fantastical environments with humans in the ones that resemble our world more would be an interesting way to put even more contrast between them.

[krazystitch]

I always found it pretty funny how humans would just accept the fact that a giant, talking, blue hedgehog was just running around their city at incredible speeds and thinking next to nothing of it in the games.

As for the whole animal NPC thing though, I think it would be pretty interesting. Though, it would be unfitting in a place like Station Square, one that looks so much like a city that humans would live in. If they designed it to be more like Mobius, where it's all colorful and pretty much shows the people that it's somewhere completely different like the original Sonic games did, then I think the talking animals would be a better choice. It's hard to think of a human standing in Green Hill Zone like it's all good.