What if Sonic learned to swim?

[Semi-colon e]

I'd rather just keep his weakness to water, just let us go underwater for a while again. I like how the Rush series handled it, made it more about speed while underwater and underwater gimmicks, Water Palace was very fun. It's the combination of speed and underwater which made Hydrocity so fun, act 1 had plenty of water. It's just stages like Labyrinth made it a bit tedious. With Water Palace, it was a mad dash race to air or the next bubble or you die, it was a great way of using his weakness and combining it with his speed. I wish in the 3D games he wouldn't just die when he hit water, he didn't always in SA1, why did they start it in SA2 (aside from the treasure hunters) =/

Water levels are an old staple of the series that should stay, they are unique and offer a new perspective to the game. Was disappointed how dry Coral Cave was though, but they made up for it with Pirates' Island.

Also if you want a water level lacking in water, try Aqua Planet lol.

[Phos]

I don't know. Sonic has the kind of ego where losing his major weakness would contribute to his stu-ishness as well as take away from special dynamics of his gameplay; if they were to make underwater playable again in 3D titles, swimming would take away from platforming and... well... swimming levels in general just suck. Frankly, I find that Sonic's inability to swim made his early water levels a lot more enjoyable than most.

And the Green Lantern is just an odd case really. If we were dealing with Superman, Kryptonite would be placed far more fairly than general yellow objects.

Sonic's ego needs a few adjustments as well...

I don't think Sonic being able to swim would really affect his character, considering that not being able to swim hasn't either. Also, characters that spew hot air but have some glaring weakness bug me just as much as those who just constantly talk big.

When you think of the reason most video game characters can swim, it used to be because of hardware limitations and it just not being worth all the trouble.

And if characters have generally involved stories, they would benefit from some type of weakness, whether physical or emotional, for the basic reason of making them more believable and easier to relate to. Ryu is part of the Fighting genre which usually have paper thin stories, if any at all, leaving very little room for characters to have any sort of development outside of bios and character profiles.

Ok, Dante has no particular weakness.

[Rusty Spy]

Ok, Dante has no particular weakness.

Dante is pretty much the same, since his games are more focused on the action. In fact, his only real purpose, as with his games, is to look flashy with no big emphasis on actual characters. The less weaknesses he has, the more he can do, and in turn, be more showy.

[Phos]

You know, thinking about it now, it doesn't even seem to be a weakness of his character. It's never been made much of outside of Sonic X.

[Badnik Zero]

I've never seen it as a weakness either. I know it was a thing in Sonic X, but that's a separate canon from the games.

I mean c'mon. Official bios still say he was born on an island, right? How are you afraid of water as an islander.

He was never able to swim, but he managed his own way. Sonic X's version only becomes a reasonable explanation for why water levels were entirely dropped from new games. I hope the return of water running means the return of the water level in "Unleashed 2".

Edited June 27, 2009 by Badnikz

[Rusty Spy]

You know, thinking about it now, it doesn't even seem to be a weakness of his character. It's never been made much of outside of Sonic X.

He still sinks when in deep water and can hardly swim at all. It may not have been seen much in the games, but it was there since the beginning and hasn't really been contradicted yet.

I mean c'mon. Official bios still say he was born on an island, right? How are you afraid of water as an islander.

You can live on an island and still not be able to swim. Besides, the more logical way of traveling around on an island would be by boat, so it's not like he'd be required to swim in order to properly live on an island. Besides, I'd imagine Sonic would spend most of his time on the land anyway rather than near the ocean.

Edited June 27, 2009 by VirgoTheCougar

[Phos]

He still sinks when in deep water and can hardly swim at all. It may not have been seen much in the games, but it was there since the beginning and hasn't really been contradicted yet.

Yeah, I know that. That's what I'm suggesting should be changed.

Perhaps Sonic would remain negatively buoyant, but able to fight it and swim. He is athletic enough. Perhaps doing so would cause you to run through your O2 faster, to encourage walking when there's no surface.

Edited June 27, 2009 by Phos

[BlazingTales]

You know? I can't recall a single 3D game that has Sonic underwater! What's up with that? Going underwater would be fun. What would the homing attack feel like? I imagine it like the bumpers in SA2's Sky Cannyon (I think that was the level), where homing attacking quickly would cause you to float slightly. Oh what fun!

[Blue Blood]

You know? I can't recall a single 3D game that has Sonic underwater! What's up with that? Going underwater would be fun. What would the homing attack feel like? I imagine it like the bumpers in SA2's Sky Cannyon (I think that was the level), where homing attacking quickly would cause you to float slightly. Oh what fun!

Sonic Adventure 1 has water. There's a small pool in the second section of Emerald Coast (complete with air bubbles), a pool in Twinkle Park and there's obviously Lost World. The problem with it is the physics. While he is logically slowed down, his jump height it changed annoyingly. Let's say his standard jump height is 50, and the base of the pool he is in has a height of 100. This will chaged the jump height to 150, allowing him he get out very easily. It doesn't work quite the same for Amy, who it someitmes unable to get out although she will always come pretty close.

[Solly]

I'd be more inclined to feel that way if it actually came up more often. I don't think it's ever been used as part of the story (kind of a shame they didn't work it into SA somehow, since it was about a monster made of water...) and since in the 3D games water's nothing more than a prettier looking death pit it doesn't even come up in the gameplay, at least not any more than with any other video game character with super drowning skills.

Actually, they did mention it in the Brenda Blurb quizzes of Sonic Unleashed, where she asked Sonic what his weakness is, and the player had to answer "I can't swim".

But yeah, it's kind of weird that they don't really seem to acknowledge it in the games themselves more often, because other forms of media like Sonic X, the Ova, some of the manga series as well as(I think) the Archie comics point it out, Sonic X in particular giving Sonic complete fear of water.

But I think it's almost videogame common knowledge that Sonic the Hedgehog can't swim. I don't think that should change, but they should bring it up more.

[azoo]

I imagine someone like Sonic could start out treading water, accelerate, and then start running on it like how a hydrofoil lifts itself out of the water at high speeds.

^This.

Sonic could easily have game mechanics very similar to SMB's swimming: a stuggle against gravity and input. Sonic still automatically sinks to the bottom, and continues to stay there when accelerating to top-speed. After getting at that speed, Sonic's feet are moving fast enough to paddle him up towards the water's surface. As for other things underwater, yes, Sonic will still move sluggishly, and there would still be air bubbles and everything.

So there you have it: swimming without really swimming.

Edited June 27, 2009 by Azukara

[Blue Blood]

You can call it "swrunning" or "rimming". May be best to go for the first option.

In Unleashed (360/PS3) that can just about happen. Take Sonic to the edge of the water in Jungle Joyride and you can totally submerge him and then some before he starts choking. Initiate a boost and he'll run as though he's going up a slope the top of which is the surface. Of course, it's very easy for Sonic's water allergy to kick in during this.

[Blacklightning]

I imagine someone like Sonic could start out treading water, accelerate, and then start running on it like how a hydrofoil lifts itself out of the water at high speeds.

Funny you should mention it - it's actually possible to escape drowning in Unleashed with a well timed Boost. You can even sink below the surface, but as long as you don't trigger the killzone underneath it (easier said than done, admittedly), boosting shoots you forward anyway and gradually returns you to the surface. If it were as simple as that, I wouldn't mind at all. Sure it doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense, but considering you can mysteriously boost whilst grinding I'm sure it wouldn't be out of place.

[Blue Blood]

On that note of Unleashed, you can make a drowning Sonic run back out of the water as the screen fades. Yeah, he'll hobble about the ground, choking even though he has not even a foot in water.

Edited June 28, 2009 by Blue Blood

[Rusty Spy]

On that note of Unleashed, you can make a drowning Sonic run back out of the water as the screen fades. Yeah, he'll hobble about the ground, choking even though he has not even a foot in water.

You mean like this? What's really sad is that the water isn't even deep AT ALL. It's just barely 4 feet deep. At least he drowns when he's actually submerged, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3OVs9PMJMs

[Phos]

Funny you should mention it - it's actually possible to escape drowning in Unleashed with a well timed Boost. You can even sink below the surface, but as long as you don't trigger the killzone underneath it (easier said than done, admittedly), boosting shoots you forward anyway and gradually returns you to the surface. If it were as simple as that, I wouldn't mind at all. Sure it doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense, but considering you can mysteriously boost whilst grinding I'm sure it wouldn't be out of place.

Well, my idea is able to start from treading water. The idea is to make water running forgiving, so one mistake doesn't mess up your chances of doing the water run. Admittedly I'm starting to doubt my concept already.

As for Sonic's boost, it's behavior gives me the impression that Sonic has a Alcubierre Warp Drive in his torso.

[MizukiMoon]

I'd hate to see him swimming, I like Sonic having a weakness as it doesn't make him an 100% perfect hero, every hero should have a weakness, and Sonic's weakness is swimming.

For some reason I also find Sonic's inability to swim adorable.

[Gabz Girl]

If Sonic was able to swim, Labyrinth Zone and those other 2D underwater stages would be hella easy. =P Naw, I think that's what makes him unique though. Or maybe they could have him paddle for a few seconds like in Brawl before sinking down.

Btw, that Unleashed Sonic drowning animation is funny, but interesting too. Because, does it mean that they were originally planning for underwater parts in stages?

[BlazingTales]

Sonic Adventure 1 has water. There's a small pool in the second section of Emerald Coast (complete with air bubbles), a pool in Twinkle Park and there's obviously Lost World. The problem with it is the physics. While he is logically slowed down, his jump height it changed annoyingly. Let's say his standard jump height is 50, and the base of the pool he is in has a height of 100. This will chaged the jump height to 150, allowing him he get out very easily. It doesn't work quite the same for Amy, who it someitmes unable to get out although she will always come pretty close.

Oh yeah! I remember that! Now we know why we haven't seen anymore 3D water parts, the physics we're so messed up! That water puzzle in Lost World was a killer, and everyother one didn't feel natural! Hmm... maybe a re-think of the physics...

[Unholy Sonic]

Btw, that Unleashed Sonic drowning animation is funny, but interesting too. Because, does it mean that they were originally planning for underwater parts in stages?

High chances thats the case.

I don't have a ps360 but from some unleash youtube video's, there were some stage that had unfinished part but that were blocked.

You needed to perform the werehog blocking glitch to acces them.

As for the daytime ones.... I don't think anyone found an unfinished part of anystage that would lead to an underwater stage...

Unless the underwater parts were from abadat and chu-nan when you ran out of boost and then you had acces to the underwater part until you reach a spring to get out of the water and continue on the dry roads.

Or.... maybe i'm thinking too much over it.

[Tiller]

2. Water segments suck. The slower pace doesn't add anything aside from suspense (from drowning) to the game, and Sonic has other sources of that. I've seen countless example of people citing Aquatic Ruin Zone as their favorite water level because you can skip going under water. Give Sonic the ability to swim, and you open up a whole new paradigm. I imagine someone like Sonic could start out treading water, accelerate, and then start running on it like how a hydrofoil lifts itself out of the water at high speeds.

Wow. I was literally thinking the same thing, except my version is a bit more stylized. Instead of actual "swimming," which we will say he simply cannot do to keep his character flaw, he "propels" himself my kicking his legs at his normal running speeds. Say he falls into a bit of water after a mistimed jump. For a few seconds, you can react in a few ways before he completely sinks like a rock. Using his leg speed he could either torpedo through water or rocket himself back on top of the surface where he "treads" in place for a moment to get adjusted and then takes off.

Instead of insta-death you would take a time penalty for getting back up to the surface, or heck he could even find a shortcut instead.