Should Sonic Be Given The Ability To Swim?

[BlossomHaze]

I don't think he should be given the ability to swim.

To me, Sonic's inability to swim is part of his character, his weakness. I think it would take away from that part of him if he was given that ability. I know hedgehogs can swim, but Sonic's speed might make it difficult for him because while he's fast, he's probably not very physically strong, as opposed to Shadow, who probably should be able to swim (but I don't think he can either? Correct me if I'm wrong!).

[sonic 1-derful]

I like the way sonic sped across the water on a log in jungle zone 8 bit. that's as far as his interaction with it should go. I don't mind it being part of the scenery, but I definitely don't think he should be submerged in it

[Iko]

On 6/17/2018 at 9:17 AM, The Deleter said:

Not really here to offer any 'best' ideas, as I'd have to sit down and think about it for a lot longer, but maybe instead of sinking or swimming as the games already have done, floating like an actual Hedgehog does could be an option?

It could pretty much eliminate a lot of players frustrations with the element, (albeit by ignoring the ways it could be improved, of course) while also changing Sonic's dynamic with it to the point of it almost being a movement gimmick; I.e. Falling into the water at a high speed, sinking as far underwater as momentum can allow, then shooting back out like a cup full of air.

The fail state could simply be floating in the water in the first place, not really allowing room for immediate speed, but still traveling at a pace more enjoyable than being fully submerged, and allowing Sonic to hop out at any given time.

First I want to say that I like Sonic's underwater sections... I think the bubble mechanics were very innovative and inspired many other games.

But it also always bugged me that in a game with accurate physics, the characters are able to walk underwater like nothing... I mean, in the real world, you can't walk underwater unless you have one of those heavy diver suits.

It would make more sense to just let him float and be unable to dive... think of Yoshi's Island. Yoshi can't swim underwater in that game, he just floats. Occasionally there's stuff underwater, you have to gain height and drop in the water, taking advantage of the gravity to drop deeper and collect the stuff you need.

Additionally, there's Kirby Canvas Curse. Kirby is a ball, he rolls all the time, and you can draw loops too. Physics aren't as accurate as Classic Sonic's, but for sure there are some vague similarities. Kirby floats too, he can't normally dive, but if you touch him with the stylus, he will perform a fast spin attack that will allow him to dive down a bit... repeat it multiple times and you can kinda swim, but the controls are still a bit unconfortable anyway.

I think Sonic should get something like Kirby, a spin move that lets him dive underwater with limited control, but still enough to let you explore the underwater sections, with the risk of drowning still here.

A video showing what I'm talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GIuB4YwVXE

Also, there should be more options than just that:

- If you run over the surface of the water fast enough, you should be able to keep running over it as always; maybe make it more forgiving, make it so that you don't really need to be perfectly aligned with the water's plain in order to run over it... make it so that as long as you have enough horizontal speed and the falling speed is low enough, you automatically get stuck on the surface running, even if you initially dived a bit (running will make you return up to the surface, but the more you will stay under the surface, the more it will slow you down, with the risk of losing the running status).

-Running on the ground at the bottom of the water should still be possible, but only in some specific conditions: you get into the water by running down a wall, so when you dive, you are still attached to it, you are stil running on the wall and the run will continue regularly... but as long as you detach from it (even by jumping), the running physics described in the previous point will apply, and when you will lose the running status, you'll just float as I said above

-By performing a spin attack down to the bottom of the water, it will allow to roll on the ground in a similar way as the drop dash: if you do it in a loop and then start the loop trick by jumping with the right timing, you have a chance to switch from rolling to running status, allowing you to keep running on the bottom of the water as long as you have enough speed to stick on it.

-obviously, there would be boosters or level gimmicks that will allow you to run underwater in some specific sections. I'm not talking of power ups, but level gimmicks, such as, you enter a pipe and there's some strange mechanism that will launch you at full speed running on the bottom of the water.

-Maybe, exploit the floatiness of the character to let you walk upside-down on the ceilings if anything.

 

This would only apply to Sonic and other characters who are unable to swim: characters such as Knuckles, vector, and others, should be able to swim naturally instead of doing that spin attack to dive; they may be able to spin attack too as an option, but that wouldn't be their only option, unlike Sonic.

[Splash the Otter]

As others have said, Sonic's hydrophobia is pretty much his only weakness. Take that away and you might as well make him invincible.

[Iko]

28 minutes ago, Splash the Otter said:

As others have said, Sonic's hydrophobia is pretty much his only weakness. Take that away and you might as well make him invincible.

I'm not sure but I think he's not hydrophobic, he just dislikes water because he can't swim (but I may be wrong).

Anyway, being able to float does not necessarily mean being able to swim. You can make him able to float and still give him an animation like this:

Wouldn't it still be in-character and even communicate better the fact that he can't swim to the player who may not know this detail, compared to just letting him walk slower with moon physics underwater?

As long as his water mobility remains bad/worse than other characters', I think it's fine to let him float.

[Eurisko]

No, it would be very Mario if he did. There's not many ways you can do the swimming mechanic in games in my opinion , its a no from me.

[Badnik Zero]

My favorite thing to do with water in older games was run on it. Or skip on it in Aqua Lake from Sonic 2 8-bit. It’d be good if the devs wanted to give 3D underwater a try. Like others have said water is a punishment in Sonic games, it robs you of your speed. I’d like to finally see water you can run on, but without dying when you fall in (2D in Colors doesn’t count). You know who swims though? Tails.

[SaturnWolf]

Maybe not base Sonic, but Indigo Rush made an interesting suggestion on Twitter not too long ago: maybe let Super Sonic swim underwater, sort of with NiGHTS Into Dreams controls?

That could be fun. Opens up a lot of possibilities for level design. Sonic Colors' handling of "swimming" where Sonic can just jump infinitely is just really weird and I don't think I like it very much.