Could the Werehog work in a classic environment?

[Salamander]

I was thinking about the insta-shield the other day, and wondered if you couldn't just bring back the vanilla blue/green shield and make the insta-shield the shield power for that.  Call it the Wind Shield, say.  Alternatively, you could just switch the Drop Dash to the down arrow, or even mid-air Down + A.  Super Sonic on Up + A seems reasonable.  With that said, while I'm personally an advocate for the series retaining a relatively simple playstyle, with the complexity coming not from the characters themselves but from the world they interact with, there might be a case for adding a second button in order to streamline the abilities which are already there.  That's just a question of practicality rather than change for change's sake.

The ideas listed above for the Werehog in 2D are... interesting, adding a kind of homing/grapple-based playstyle... but I think I would probably rather see it attached to a new character.  The only thing that really interests me about the possibility of a more Sonic-esque Werehog is the potential for some kind of day/night mechanic.