Solo Sonic

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

Its something thats not popular. What I mean by solo Sonic is games where you can only play as Sonic. Sonic 2006 was my first Sonic game and from there most games I play and enjoy are Sonic only. I find that Sonic only games are the best games and I think they should kinda stick to them for sometimes. One reason i think so is because by focus on Sonic they expend Sonic as character and his moves are focus on. Examples are:

 

 

this game had Sonic both regular and as a werehog. This game focus on Sonics speed and acrobaitc ablities during the day. He can boost which was amazing. you needed to collect rings, do action chans and kill robots to fill it up. and yes boost needs skill. he can also bounce on the ground, stomp, boost in the air, wall jump and drift on the corners. Sonic can quick stop when hes moving. like he can quickly go to the left or right. Oh and he also gets a head start with the spindash if you shake the wii mote right.

 

during the night, Sonic is a werehog and his different focus. his focus is combat. Sonic is already a strong character and this shows it. He can use his arms to dash and he can streach them to! he can beat up monsters with his fists. he can also spin them to the ground. Sonic can double jump and hang on ledges. He collects force called Gia force to be stronger and get more moves. Sonic can also grab monsters and slam them to the ground and he can even use them to get across to higher places.

 

and the best example would be:

 

 

oh god. I saw and I played for a bit with my friends and I love this game so far. One of the best Sonic only games out there. This game expended Sonic perfecly. Sonic has so many moves its like you dont really need the wisps but they are just damn fun. Sonic doesnt have his boost which I was sad. But to make up, he can walk on walls, he can spindash summersalt, he can make use of the wisps and homing attack. Speaking of homing attack now you can take out many enimes at the same time with the homing attack and he also has a cool kick attack. a kick attack than takes care of bigger robots. Sonic can also grind. He can also double jump and hang on ledges. Sonic has use of new wisps depending on what game you have like eagle and astroid which can take things out and one that can bounce on music notes.

 

 

 

another great example of awesome Sonic gameplay focus. Sonic can boost, double jump, homing attack, quick step and break things. the best part about it was the wisps also expended him as well. There as a rocket that help Sonic get to high places. There was a fire wisp in the Ds version that turn Sonic into a fire ball to break things. there was also a purple wisp in DS that you can eat enimes. yellow lets you drill. pink lets you spindash while sticking to the walls. thats just some of the fun but I dont want this to drag. What im saying that this game did a wonderful job expending Sonic.

 

 

Other games include:

 

Sonic and the Secret Rings - Sonic can go backwards and he can stop time

Sonic 4 Episode 1 - Sonic was focus on with his modern moves that made Adventure as him fun

 

But I want to give speal shout out to:

 

Sonic Generations - It make us feel like we were playing as 2 character even though it was just Sonic. Modern Sonic was boosting and his regular moves that made him fun and classic Sonic was simple yet he was challenge because he didnt have modern moves. But his spindash was fast.

 

Sonic 4 Episode 2 - This game do allow you to play with Tails. But you can use Tails to help you in the way like fly and spindash.

-----

 

Other reasons solo Sonic is good is that it allows friends to do other things. They dont need to be playable to be relvent in the story. Tails was more than a help in the lastest Sonic only games. I mean his heroics were shown more. He saved Sonics life many times and he bulid machines to help advance. He was part of what move the plots foward. Sonic friends are always there to cheer him on. He needs them to cheer him on because he will be down on himself.

 

Another is that they focus more on the game itself. The games are now what fans ask for. They want happy go lucky worlds with more thought and the levels and thats what we got.

 

So yes I like Sonic only/Solo Sonica whatever you call it and it know its not popular but I like it and this is why.

[Indigo Rush]

I feel as if "Sola - Sonica" is something that should come on occasion, but not exclusively. I mean, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, in my opinion (and many others, I find), is the best Sonic game to have ever been made, and it includes other characters to play as. They're not radically different from the core Sonic gameplay, yet they have enough differences to make their respective campaigns somewhat of a new experience. Aside from that, games such as Sonic Jump or Sonic Dash do well to have alternate skins to change things up a little without modifying the gameplay much, if at all. Sonic has a large cast, you probably should use it. Preferably with tact and wisdom.

 

That, I feel, is the strongest avocation for having other playable characters in the main game. At the same time, however, I feel that there are many instances where I only want to play as Sonic in a given situation. Games that try to bank on "ludicrous" speed as the main mechanic (Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors), are best off having Sonic as the main runner. Not so much that other character's can't, but to me, it's more of an "image" sort of thing. Sonic is, canonically, the fastest of the entire cast. So the game that has the fastest mechanics should primarily utilize Sonic in them, just to help illustrate the contrast between what Sonic's friends can do, and what kind of speed that Sonic himself is truly capable of without being hindered by a specific gameplay mechanic tailored to work with his friends.

 

I guess in the end it doesn't matter as much, but I'm totally cool with some games having other characters and others having only Sonic. It really depends on the situation and context of the game. 

[Nepenthe]

A game's quality to me ultimately hinges on how its control functions, how its level design relates to the control, and what the other aesthetic elements such as the art, music, and included narrative are bringing to the table. This is all completely irrelevant to the number of characters a game has, so despite some of these recent games being Sonic-only I would never call them enjoyable on that front; and even the ones I actually like from that list such as Unleashed and Secret Rings, their fun factor has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Sonic is the only playable character. They merely succeed in spite of that. 

 

And it's true that other characters don't need to be playable to be relevant. However, most of them are currently not relevant which can easily be attributed to the same horrible arguments that made Sega freak out and start making Sonic-only games for the last six years in the first place. What we've seen is a wide sweeping motion to downplay the extended cast as much as possible at the expense of what their actual fans have to say about it, simply because Sega couldn't be bothered with a nuanced solution to satisfy both people who were bitching about these characters for so long and people who still wanted them around.

 

Tails hasn't escaped suffering as a result of this action either just because he's still managed to stick around; his use in Colors for example is underwhelming, stuck to fixing a translator that either never works or espouses information Sonic and the audience should have already known through actual gameplay. It's a portrayal whose activeness is completely overshadowed by the days of the classics and Adventure games when he and his supposed best friend were physically working together to get things done- the days when Tails was playable- and it smacks of Sega simultaneously remembering Tails' habit in following Sonic and realizing it clashes with their "no playable friends!" policy (because if Tails is following Sonic in-game, it becomes the pink elephant in the room in 2014 if you cannot control him), so they're having to find other shit for him to do in the background and doing a mediocre job of it.

 

Either way though, aside from eliminating a choice that didn't need to be eliminated and thus pissing a lot of people off, this strange absence of a super-powered cast of teammates not showing up when the Earth is in danger is just really glaring... which probably explains why the last few games have featured alternate planets as settings or bullshit excuses like everyone except Sonic being frozen for some reason.........

Seriously, nearly every decision they're making nowadays almost seems made with the intention of keeping everyone out of the games as much as possible, and the more I write and realize this the more I get annoyed about it. <<+

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

I dont mean to annoy people. I respect all opinions

[Kiah]

I dont mean to annoy people. I respect all opinions

You aren't annoying anyone. You are entitled to your opinion just like everyone else is so no worries, okay?

Anyway, In regards to playing as Sonic only, I'm more along the lines of disliking it. It's okay, as Sonic is my favorite character and all, along with being the main character of the series obviously. With that, along with the nagging about Sonic's friends, I understand why we have had only Sonic in the main series, although I can't say I agree nor that I like it.

With playing only as Sonic, I'm about tired of it, mainly in part because I like the other characters and would like to play as them. I'm honestly sick and tired of Sonic's friends standing around doing nothing besides pointlessly running their mouths, if anything, which I find very annoying.

Each and every one of these characters has potential in providing variation to the gameplay, and I wish it would be utilized in the games somehow, even if it was 1 or 2 of them at a time. I would prefer more of Sonic's friends to be playable than just a few, but I'll take it, as it's better than none of them being playable at all, IMO. Maybe I wouldn't be so adamant about other characters being playable if they actually had some genuine purpose in the series and would actually be relevant which we all know hasn't been the case for who knows how long now.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

You aren't annoying anyone. You are entitled to your opinion just like everyone else is so no worries, okay?

Anyway, In regards to playing as Sonic only, I'm more along the lines of disliking it. It's okay, as Sonic is my favorite character and all, along with being the main character of the series obviously. With that, along with the nagging about Sonic's friends, I understand why we have had only Sonic in the main series, although I can't say I agree nor that I like it.

With playing only as Sonic, I'm about tired of it, mainly in part because I like the other characters and would like to play as them. I'm honestly sick and tired of Sonic's friends standing around doing nothing besides pointlessly running their mouths, if anything, which I find very annoying.

Each and every one of these characters has potential in providing variation to the gameplay, and I wish it would be utilized in the games somehow, even if it was 1 or 2 of them at a time. I would prefer more of Sonic's friends to be playable than just a few, but I'll take it, as it's better than none of them being playable at all, IMO. Maybe I wouldn't be so adamant about other characters being playable if they actually had some genuine purpose in the series and would actually be relevant which we all know hasn't been the case for who knows how long now.

 

I have with my other topic and I posted this even though everyone will be against me.

 

Theres nothing wrong with wanting friends to return but its that "your not a real Sonic fan if you like the werehog" etc is what bothers me. Its okay when Knuckles has that game play but not okay for Sonic who is also strong. Oh and plus I was told I wasnt a real Sonic fan just a fan of the character.

 

Tails was playable in Sonic 4 2 and their doing a big jump so yeah.

[Nepenthe]

Sonikku, you're not the one who's annoying at all. This has pretty much been Sega's doing for awhile now. I'm not offended if you're happy with the current direction. xP

You will also find that most people here think the argument that Knuckles can display the same faults as the Werehog make no sense or speak to awful bias towards that character.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Nepenthe

[Sparky]

One thing the comics are doing right that the games didn't is Sonic Unleashed. THE PLANET IS COMPLETELY SHATTERED. And yet we're only seeing Sonic, Tails and Amy. And Tails and Amy are busy in the background. 

 

The shattering of the planet should involve G.U.N., the Chaotix, maybe even Knuckles. The fact they weren't present makes little sense when something as big as that is happening. 

[gala]

I think that having each character having their own story a la Sonic Adventure works best for focusing on characters, as it lets them have the focus when you're playing their story because they're off doing their own thing.

 

And, if I'm being honest, only having Sonic being playable and having him doing most of the major stuff in the story is getting pretty tiresome now. Sure, Sonic should have maybe a few extra stages or something to really make him stand out as the main character, but I'd like to see other characters become useful again. Tails has become flanderized and is pretty much just the tech geek now, while before he'd be like that on the side, but he'd actually do something useful (Such as taking on the Egg Walker in Sonic Adventure on his own). Knuckles is an even worse case. Knuckles suffers worse when it comes to this, as his appearance in Lost World contributed absolutely nothing to the story, and it seems like he was just thrown in as an afterthought. I miss the days where h actually had a purpose in the games.

 

Having other characters in the game wouldn't be adding in "better Sonics", as they'd have their own unique abilities (Sonic=Boost and Homing Attack, Tails=Flight, and Knuckles=Gliding and combat), so they'd all be balanced out. I'd love for more playable characters in the next game to dispel this whole "Sonic is the only one who can do anything useful and everyone else are cheerleaders" type thing they've got going on at the moment.

[Brad]

To echo what's been said: Sonikku you don't need to feel bad because you want to share what you think! Just so long as we're all respectful to each other nobody should have to feel bad~

Onto the topic, solo Sonic has now gotten to the point where it bores me to be honest just because I know the quality of the franchise has come a long way from years ago, but yet they felt afraid to delve into Sonic's other cast members which could bring their own unique experiences to games like Lost World. I think a part of SEGA's development team associated the large cast with negativity due the stigma they got a while back concerning the amount of characters playable which detracted from the core experience with Sonic, or his gameplay wasn't fleshed out enough to hold up adding more cast members.

But back when Colours and Sonic 4 was announced I was pretty happy with the decision of solo Sonic only - he had to build his character again and the way he plays - and I think the solo Sonic years did help in that regard a lot.

[Salamander]

I think the Adventure-era games simply made the background of the series too vast, with too many characters and organisations who should logically be sticking their nose into everything that's going on.  You could simply say that, in terms of responding to a crisis in a location that can be reached overland, Sonic's speed means that he will always be first on the scene - but a lot of recent games have been set in some kind of population centre or a place that Sonic requires assistance to reach (like a plane, or a boat, or a space elevator).  From a narrative perspective, Sonic's ability to get involved and to be independent has been undermined.  This is partly why the world-building of earlier games has kind of had to be dropped a bit; if you kept it in, Sonic wouldn't be able to do much, or rather, the writers would be really constrained in what they could write.  It's a lot like Knuckles's problems as guardian of the Master Emerald; it was inconvenient, so they simply started ignoring it.

 

From a gameplay perspective, I do think there is a problem when you aren't spending most of your time in a game playing as the title character (at least in a series where that's the precedent set - a converse example is Zelda, who you never play as but who nearly every game is largely about).  It's also difficult to ask designers to create a key gameplay mechanic for the title character and build levels around it, and then also ask them to create and players to use other characters who don't use that gameplay mechanic at all.  I'm not sure a Boost game with alternative Boostless characters would have worked.  The inconsistency would be too jarring and the Boost has such a huge impact on level design that it's asking a bit much of the level designers to adapt those levels for Boostless characters as well, or create entirely different non-Boost levels.

 

In general I support the compromise of having Sonic-only or Sonic-styled gameplay but with other characters important in the narrative.  However, I would by no means be opposed to there being optional but narratively important side-levels starring other characters with modified gameplay styles, if there was evidence that people would actually play them.

[FriendBot]

When I think about it, I like and dislike the idea of a Sonic-only game.

 

I like it since the gameplay does show how fast and awesome Sonic is and the stories provided does show how generous and caring Sonic is and it does provide a simple story that most gamers can understand without any issues. From Unleashed to Lost World, for the most part they have also gain some positive reception and I did have a great time playing them.

 

But the reason I dislike it is because Sonic Team is literally not giving a damn about the rest of the game cast. In Unleashed, Tails and Amy didn't do anything productive and the setup would have been a great idea for the entire cast to do something but Sonic Team decided not to, which is very disappointing. It seems like after 06, Sonic Team became scared on implementing multiple playable characters but that's not only it, they have became so scared that they won't fully utilize the entire cast in the games at all. It confuses me on why they think so, it's not the idea of having multiple characters, it's the fact that there were too many gameplay styles that did not fit well in the series.

 

If Sonic Team could atleast put a few multiple characters, then it would be just fine but in the meantime, I'll be waiting for Boom.

[StaticMania]

Solo Sonic is just something that doesn't need to be the case all the time, sometimes its nice just to play as anyone else other than Sonic because its a refreshing experience which is the kind of the thing that they stopped doing because they over did it from Adventure onward and made Fans hate Sonic's Friends because of it.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

the others can be relvent without being playable.

[Nepenthe]

Why should fans of these characters have to put up with them never being playable in a series that once made a note of them being playable?

[FriendBot]

the others can be relvent without being playable.

 

That can be true but from the stories we are provided don't show it that well, with the small exception of Lost World. From Unleashed, Colors and Generations have you ever seen Tails doing something significant or does anything else besides tinkering with his Miles Electric device? Or did Amy ever had the chance to fully develop herself in said games?

 

This is the problem most fans have with the current games, they don't fully represent the charcters as well as Sonic or Eggman. But will it be really be a big problem if Sonic Team can just put 1 or 2 other characters to play as for only one game, will it?

[Exploder]

the others can be relvent without being playable.

 

I'm sorry to be blunt, but this is simply wrong. When you have characters like a flying fox and a super strong echidna, why should they not be able to show those abilities in gameplay? All the other sides to them like characterization, personality and contribution etc. are not worth a damn when they're not playable.

[SlickEvan]

What? Then whats the point. Then we get brain dead characters like Knuckles in Lost World. No offence but I don't believe Sonic Team can make them important and not playable. Plus all the other fan might be a little ticked about that.

Don't be sorry or worried or sad. Just considerate.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

I'm sorry to be blunt, but this is simply wrong. When you have characters like a flying fox and a super strong echidna, why should they not be able to show those abilities in gameplay? All the other sides to them like characterization, personality and contribution etc. are not worth a damn when they're not playable.

 

To be fair, it IS possible for characters to be relevant without being playable. Other games have proven this to be the case. The problem is that Sonic Team/SEGA simply doesn't do this at all. Their inability to make solutions with nuance and thought results in them taking the easiest way out (removing the relevance of other characters period) rather than doing what should have been done from the get go (making the other characters better developed while simultaneously only using them when they actually have relevance in the story). Nowhere is this more evident than in Unleashed, where none of the major Sonic characters show up despite the situation being worldwide. Heck, even organizations like GUN don't show up for whatever reason.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

From Unleashed, Colors and Generations have you ever seen Tails doing something significant or does anything else besides tinkering with his Miles Electric device? Or did Amy ever had the chance to fully develop herself in said games?

 

In Sonic Colors he saved Sonic from Eggmans lazer. Sonic Generations he figured out why the world was the way it was.

[Sonictrainer]

For some of the games, I was Ok with only Sonic being playable.

 

Unleashed was fine.

 

Colors wasn't a issue.

 

However, Sonic Generations, which had 2 Sonics, 2 Tails, and 10 other characters? No. I was done with just playing as Sonic after that. At least let me play as Classic Tails in the Classic Act 1 Stages.

 

 

Tails hasn't escaped suffering as a result of this action either just because he's still managed to stick around; his use in Colors for example is underwhelming, stuck to fixing a translator that either never works or espouses information Sonic and the audience should have already known through actual gameplay. It's a portrayal whose activeness is completely overshadowed by the days of the classics and Adventure games when he and his supposed best friend were physically working together to get things done- the days when Tails was playable- and it smacks of Sega simultaneously remembering Tails' activeness in following Sonic and realizing it clashes with their "no playable friends!" policy (because if Tails is following Sonic in-game, it becomes the pink elephant in the room in 2014 if you cannot control him), so they're having to find other shit for him to do in the background and doing a mediocre job of it.

 

If there's one thing I want from Sonic Boom to spread to the Main Series, it would be have Tails actually getting into the action again.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

In Sonic Colors he saved Sonic from Eggmans lazer. Sonic Generations he figured out why the world was the way it was.

I'll give you the former, but the latter is something anyone with a brain could figure out. Plus both scenarios ultimately have nothing to do with anything in the grand scheme of the game.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

Im not afraid of Sonics friends. I like like that Sonic gets a chanse to shine in his own series. He gets expended on his moves get expended to. All those things i list he could never do with others because they woluld take those away from him.

[Blue Blood]

In Sonic Colors he saved Sonic from Eggmans lazer. Sonic Generations he figured out why the world was the way it was.

Im not afraid of Sonics friends. I like like that Sonic gets a chanse to shine in his own series. He gets expended on his moves get expended to. All those things i list he could never do with others because they woluld take those away from him.

 

Ugh...

 

Why exactly do you have a problem with others being playable? All such does it add more content to the game, and gives more people something to enjoy. Sonic is the main character and that won't change. Sonic isn't some infallible force capable of doing just about everything. Extra characters not only gives the option expand the story, but also to do things that Sonic can't. Colours, Generations and Lost World blatantly weren't enough to satiate people. Tails and the rest of the supporting casts roles were minimal to the point of not really even having a point.

As I said in the "Something worries me topic", your argument is based purely on favouritism. Sure, have a favourite character all you like. But you're literally saying that nobody else should matter because you don't like them as much.

[Briraka]

Solo Sonic never really bothered me, as I usually just stuck to playing as Sonic when replaying S3&K or the Advance games and I just make one play-through with the other characters for completion's sake, but I thought they played well enough. The only time I had a problem with other playables is in SA1 and 2, where the characters all had different genres with their gameplay which extends to Unleashed with the Werehog though, so it's not the characters themselves, but the gameplay they were given.

 

However, I would like to see other characters in the story. Or maybe switch it up from Sonic, Tails, Eggman, Orbot and Cubot.