Should modern character like Shadow and Silver should be incorporated into the Classic formula to stay relevant?

[Dash Speed 62]

Okay from what I got so far from this thread through some posters is that they have no imagination and take underestimate Shadow and Silver contexts for reasons they don't want them in classic games styles. Aka yall some haters, but these two posters have gained my rebuttal time.

 

11 hours ago, The Deleter said:

Because that'd be a lie?

I just said that Silver is a blank slate without dialog. He's hopeful, he's naive, he's young and inexperienced as a hero.

Silver is a kid like Sonic who has alot of heart and need to save the planet from evil without needing a purpose to. Forces displays this. You straight up could make him work as a guy who has a combination of Tails(Naively Innocent and Insecure) and Knuckles flaws(Ignorantly impulsive, responsible) but have him more a do gooder obsessed with making things right based on a small hint of how the future screwed him up, he goes to the present any time to fix things to near mundane levels(saving cats from trees, standing up to bullies, making sonic bored with helping clean Knuckles island), basically fixing everything out of a near ocd level but screwing up with cartoony results which leaves to confrontation with either sonic, knuckles or shadow, and after the fight he learns he's wrong and tries to earnestly get his mind right and fix the problems he thought he fixed.  

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They're all traits apparent and workable in an actual narrative, with writing and dialog to express it, but unless you really draw things out and make elaborate cutscenes dedicated to.. some sort of story beat that can showcase it, yes, he does become a blank slate when it's absent. His design isn't particularly expressive, his personality isn't an exaggerated caricature, unlike everyone else... there's not much more to work with, other than that he has powers and is from the future. (which, to be fair, is something unique, at least)

Not every Silver appearance needs him to bring the future when he shows up in the games. Just like Shadow doesn't need GUN. Silver and Shadow work as counterparts to Sonic from his apperance to his own own heroic methods, classic sonic should be easily a great way to abstract them from their mature based tones, Shadow(to me) for one thing is basically Bass and Vegeta meets mewtwo and Judge Dredd, you could mix those concept into a childish abridged version for the character, and it would be true to his core. Shadow at his truest sense is everything Sonic isn't and is hinted in trying not to be since their both cocky and fearless, you can make him be the thing Sonic has to fight to prove theirs a better way without it being too serious. Shadow can serve humor as a character who's a comical serious foil since he's a mean and serious but a major egotistical kill joy. Silver I already covered in the first post.

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I don't understand why I'm being treated like the idiot classic fanboy here. Modern is my favorite iteration of the franchise, regardless of how I feel about it's execution. In fact I stan for a lot of the underrated aspects of the franchise, even if only for their potential. I thought I made that pretty clear during my time here...

And if y'all can stop with the arguing in bad faith that'd be nice as well.

Your making assumptions the two characters can't be a big factor in having the same tones in gameplay and lighthearted shifts. Archie comics proves you can make Shadow light hearted and be as eccentric as the other characters. You're just imposing standards on a couple of characters who's story heavy arcs and involvements in modern Sonic games, you can't see them implemented as considerably as the others since after all they aren't used hardly by the programmers who still focus on trying to get sonic right, I think people like you is the reason they have as much controversy in just existing in a game because they never get the chance to be experimented in trying to create a standard where they work in any adaptable way. 

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Shadow can convey personality through his design. He was actually well designed around his brooding personality. That's basically it, though, and standing looking angry is no different than Mighty's shtick. (or even Sonic considering the lack of additional animations so far) That's why I singled out Silver in this case specifically, which still stands imo.

Shadow is more than just a brooding edgy anime sterotype, he has expressed more emotions than just his no nonsense attitude. Shadow(in some games) is less brooding but more serious, composed, and very very arrogant, in many ways he's Sonic mirror image in every way distorted and turned upside down. That smugness and the lack of disconnect around his friends, allies, and enemies tell this character is a total badass to people since he runs on his own rules and is barely alarmed by trival matters not related to his own priorites and sense of involvement. He's always calm and confident about anything he goes through. He's intimidating, smug and sometimes witty, mature and well mannered, and basically only angry when he's been triggered by fools that think their better than him at something. His brooding loner look is his only default personality now because he's always made to be a tragic anti hero(Shth, Sonic X, archie), not a badass anti hero(S06, Sonic and the Dark Brotherhood, Sonic Forces). He's also compassionate, and self sacraficing to people who he warms up to giving him a side that tells more about how heroic he is than his dark and edgy tude. Theres more to Shadow than yo're giving him credit for and if he's in a classic game, he would probably be closer to his upbeat dark sonic side(the one I'm explaining in this paragraph) than his elborated edgy side in current games.

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Mania's use of the Phantom Ruby was my least favorite aspect of the storytelling, but it never actually broke the rules of the world much, nor do I expect or want it to stick around to keep that opportunity open tbh. Maybe for a Mania... Modern, that might be neat to see and give this fanservice some actual merit, but I'm not betting the farm on that...

You seem to be convinced none of this is an issue, though. I don't agree at all, but I've already said my piece on why they're ill-fit and why they shouldn't really matter when it comes to the rest of the cast or the series in general, so I don't see much of a point to keep it up tbh. I may like the characters in their own way, but I do think my priorities are moreso on the actual context they'd be used in, yeah

In fact that's the way I'd put myself as for a lot of the characters. Like a lot of people were complaining when I thought expecting them to bring Blaze on board for Forces would have been dumb, because she's in another dimension. It's not that I don't like Blaze, it's just that it seemed incredibly dumb to be expecting her in a game where she wasn't needed by the plot. The argument was "But it's Generations 2.0". Still think that's dumb. And I don't see why I should be raked over the coals for that; it is dumb. But I don't have a hate boner for the character herself because of it, good grief...

And so that makes it okay not to try to make Shadow, Silver and Blaze fit in a game, if they have gameplay thats superb based on their playstyles and they're fun to play should be the first priority after all, what does it matter if they don't fit in the plot on a story level?

 

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But in a specifically Classic game?  Shadow and Silver.  I don't see it.  Aesthetically and narratively, their appearance, power, backstory doesn't fit the mould. 

They fit the mold if someone gives them a chance to and makes them true to their core at a abstract level with Shadow being Dark Twin Rival Sonic and Silver being Future Hero in Training Sonic. There, their backstories can take a back seat to their integration in a game where their fun to play as, and as both of them being the concept of being a Time Placed Sonic counterpart, they all have the basis to work within the premise of stopping Classic Eggman with then their respective ways of setting a status quo to allow Sonic defeat him himself. Power wise, Shadow and Silver just lack Sonic's raw speed and super human physical abilites, they compensate with Shadow being a energy blast mage and Silver a Psychic User that still might not be fast enough to catch sonic with them and has to rely on debris to hurt him.

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The Classic games are low-power, low-stakes cartoons in which the abilities the characters have are basic and they're out to save an island at most.

And this is stopping Shadow how, Eggman is already a current main aspect of Shadow's character based on his back story. Shadow has his own story that involves Dr Eggman being his ally or foe sometimes, this is what makes Shadow a great foil to Sonic, Shadow at his truest role as an anti hero plays self contained roles that don't interfere with Sonic's established job of stopping Eggman, it would make Shadow a wild card like Bass is from the Megaman games, he could fight Sonic and then Eggman and then based on his ultimate choice end up letting sonic save the day while he accomplishes his own tasks(which could be anything from chaos emerald stuff which he wants to achieve more power, to testing his power against sonic by fighting metal sonic in order to prove himself worthy of being sonic's ultimate rival, or helping the cast get info about eggman's latest plan to owe a favor to sonic and the gang). Silver is really basic, you'd have to be a fool not to see how he can't be easily integrated and still keep his character. 

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  So the character who was raised aboard a secret government space laboratory and whose family were massacred and who has alien magic powers that can do just about anything?  The telekinetic time-traveller from a post-apocalyptic future?  These are high-stakes, high-power characters from big-picture worlds whose backstories are full of complexity and pain.  Shadow might work as a villain and final boss at best, but even that'd be a stretch.  They aren't compatible with Classic, simple as that.

Because you say they aren't compatible, doesn't mean they aren't if you just make them more or less sonic characters with their own agendas like Knuckles. Shadow is Sonic's arch rival, and he goes from being a darker more noble pragmatic hero to a plain competitive adversary to Sonic just for the hell of it depending on the game. Shadow could be a rival to sonic and a type hero that is more selfish and violent than sonic, Just extend Shadow's rival traits to wanting to beat anyone who stands a chance against Sonic so that he can beat Sonic to prove his title as "Ultimate Lifeform", it's that simple. Silver travels through time to help Sonic just to help Sonic, and I already explained his role outside of future fixing problem, he could be more a fit in than Shadow, he's the screw up hero  that no one takes seriously even more than Knuckles and his rookie and dorky personality makes him more a lighthearted fit in a cast a kooky animals, he can be used when Silver goes from the future to the past in order to do good deeds, not only for the sake of justice and doing right, but to prove himself to gain respect/acknowledgement from being ridiculed or picked on for being a rookie hero, just like Spider-Man or Naruto. These are good traits to put for Silver and Sahdow in both modern and classic scenarios.

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There are characters you could convert to the Classic universe without too much trouble.  Rouge, dial her back to her jewel thief days and she's just a more amiable Fang, stick her in the Hooligans and she's fine.  Cream is Amy's Tails, dial back the Chao lore a bit and she's fine.  Big works.  The Chaotix are already there, no matter how much Iizuka likes to deny it.  Blaze would be a stretch, but princess-from-another-world is a closer fit for the whimsy of the classic world, and in that respect it's telling that she originates from a 2D game.  But for Shadow and Silver, you would have to change enough of them that they wouldn't be Shadow and Silver any more; and besides, who is actually asking for them there?  Classic fans aren't interested in them, Modern fans aren't interested in Classic, so in the end nobody is happy.  Well, nobody is happy anyway, but that's the Sonic franchise for you.

What would change if their basically incompatible from how they once were in their first debut. Shadow is not evil and vengeful anymore, but he's still the most aggressive and brutal sonic character in the series on the good side and he still views Sonic beneath him or a worthy rival. Silver is not a wannabe knight templar and has low self esteem, but now he's more on the side of being one of a sonic's best buddies and fighting friends with Sonic, plus he's a dorky, akward, inexperienced hero that tries his best but still needs to learn how to do things right.

Thats not a big deal to implement into the classic, Shadow would be classic Sonic's Bass with his goals more self centered and intense than Sonic's. Silver in Classic would be the Naruto/Spider-Man/Deku underdog of the games from the future obsessed with doing good and getting respect. Guess who's more classic in line with the games. It ain't Shadow. But Shadow would be darker than metal sonic but not to modern extents.

[Tracker_TD 10,962]

All I got from that wall of text is that Shadow isnt just an anime sterotype, but you want him to be like [anime character] because that would... somehow fit him into the Classic universe? It kind of serves Deleter’s point that by the time Shadow was shifted about to fit more in the Classic universe, you’d alienate his fans while also risking alienating certain Classic fans (or even just the wider public honestly) who can’t be arsed with him in the first place. 

 

Perhaps I missed something but again, that post just seemed like a very overly flowery ‘rebuttal’ that didn’t actually rebute much. And if you were just going to whine that anyone who disagrees with you “has no imagination,” why even open the thread? For confirmation bias? Is that it? 

...and why are folks taking criticism of Shadow so damn personally, anyway? 

[Dash Speed 62]

54 minutes ago, Tracker_TD said:

All I got from that wall of text is that Shadow isnt just an anime sterotype, but you want him to be like [anime character] because that would... somehow fit him into the Classic universe? It kind of serves Deleter’s point that by the time Shadow was shifted about to fit more in the Classic universe, you’d alienate his fans while also risking alienating certain Classic fans (or even just the wider public honestly) who can’t be arsed with him in the first place. 

 

Perhaps I missed something but again, that post just seemed like a very overly flowery ‘rebuttal’ that didn’t actually rebute much. And if you were just going to whine that anyone who disagrees with you “has no imagination,” why even open the thread? For confirmation bias? Is that it? 

...and why are folks taking criticism of Shadow so damn personally, anyway? 

Explain how you alienate a character thats always alienating some sect of fans in every game he appears in somehow, what is it with Shadow's detractors trying to single out everything his fans think and say only to justify some subjective thought process of "fitting" in games about a fast talking hedgehog, isn't Shadow objectively speaking a fit in the sonic world since he's still as cartoony looking as the other characters and mostly has the sonic main appeal of being a cute and cool looking as Sonic and Knuckles do? I'm trying to understand why people want out of Shadow, instead of stating the obvious actually come up with stuff that makes sense in leaving him out of game like the classic series without pulling stuff out of your biased and unimaginative butt. Otherwise Shadow has no reason to "not" be put in as a Sonic model for either classic or modern because he is a Sonic character that should act like a Sonic character in a video game about Sonic the Hedgehog, you're the one that is saying he's hard hard to please with his fanbase.

[CrownSlayer’s Shadow 12,182]

3 hours ago, Tracker_TD said:

 

...and why are folks taking criticism of Shadow so damn personally, anyway? 

...Who? Aside from maybe Dash Speed, no one here took personal offense to criticisms of Shadow.

[Dash Speed 62]

4 hours ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

...Who? Aside from maybe Dash Speed, no one here took personal offense to criticisms of Shadow.

I'm not taking this personally, I'm pointing out faulty logic 

[LukA8 492]

16 hours ago, Cuz said:

I'm super curious how they might handle that. Would they revert to their classic designs while maintaining their modern characterization, or get adjusted ones to better fit the modern look?  I'm rather attached to Vector's old school appearance and would love to see it officially dubbed his "classic" design.

I doubt they would give them a straight-up redesign, but probably some adjustments like giving Vector his trademark chain, making Charmy a little more chubby and maybe Espio a little less chubby. This fan project, Sonic Classic Heroes, gave the old designs their Heroes personality by recreating their end-of-level animation from Heroes, and I remember it worked rather well. I like the Classic Vector design (and his wheel of death-form) a lot myself, and while it might look a little too lanky compared to the modern version, if you look at his Special Stage model it's actually not that far off. He even wore the gold ring like a gold chain in there.

The only other thing that might be holding them back is that Mania is shaping up to be this sacred, universally acclaimed place free of Modern Sonic's burdens, and Charmy is one of its less-liked representatives, so they might only get away with it if they make a single Chaotix character slot. Then again, the same can be said about Amy (and any modern character) to some extent, as most of them would cause negative reactions from critics even if they haven't been annoying for years.

[Tracker_TD 10,962]

8 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

Explain how you alienate a character thats always alienating some sect of fans in every game he appears in somehow, what is it with Shadow's detractors trying to single out everything his fans think and say only to justify some subjective thought process of "fitting" in games about a fast talking hedgehog, isn't Shadow objectively speaking a fit in the sonic world since he's still as cartoony looking as the other characters and mostly has the sonic main appeal of being a cute and cool looking as Sonic and Knuckles do? I'm trying to understand why people want out of Shadow, instead of stating the obvious actually come up with stuff that makes sense in leaving him out of game like the classic series without pulling stuff out of your biased and unimaginative butt. Otherwise Shadow has no reason to "not" be put in as a Sonic model for either classic or modern because he is a Sonic character that should act like a Sonic character in a video game about Sonic the Hedgehog, you're the one that is saying he's hard hard to please with his fanbase.

Like you say, it’s subjective, so stop taking this like some objective insult that people don’t like Shadow or don’t think he fits in the Classic series. People have given their reasons, you either just don’t agree (which is fine) or don’t want to hear them.

Again, why make the thread asking the question if regardless, you’re just going to get upset at people disagreeing and brand them “biased” and “unimaginative?” That doesn’t make for healthy discussion, it’s just you taking it personally, regardless of whether you realise it or not.

[Cuz 563]

5 hours ago, LukA8 said:

I doubt they would give them a straight-up redesign, but probably some adjustments like giving Vector his trademark chain, making Charmy a little more chubby and maybe Espio a little less chubby. This fan project, Sonic Classic Heroes, gave the old designs their Heroes personality by recreating their end-of-level animation from Heroes, and I remember it worked rather well. I like the Classic Vector design (and his wheel of death-form) a lot myself, and while it might look a little too lanky compared to the modern version, if you look at his Special Stage model it's actually not that far off. He even wore the gold ring like a gold chain in there.

True Vector's modern look isn't all that far off, it's comparable to Sonic in that way, when you equalize artist styles and liberties taken with proportions they've been proven to not be as radical a change as some might think. By redesign I don't picture anything more then bulk Vector and Charmy up a little, and just one overt ninja detail like Espio's throwing knife holster-cuffs getting retrofitted in.

[Dash Speed 62]

I want to talk about gameplay now. Shadow should have all of Sonic's moves and his tradmark teleportation through certain sections of the 2d world plus he can substitute chaos powers in boxes instead of the emeralds on the hand. Silver can just have a Super Sonic motions with psy blasts.

[Kazhnuz 410]

My main problem with this idea, is that I'd rather have the Classic world being about Classic, and the Modern world about Modern/Adventure. I'm one of the few people happy with the "Classic and Modern world" thingy because I think it could be an opportunity to actually have both part of the franchise not try to do "too much" what the other do. That's why I think that having Shadow and Silver in a "Classic World" would both hinder the world (by weakening the separation between both brand, when many other character could be great to see again in Classic games) and the characters (that can be more fully exploited in character-driven story).

But they could be fun as some kinda "bonus"/"secret" fun, for fanservice. In this case, I would see Shadow with a 8-way jump-dash (basically a jump dash that go in the direction pressed by the D-Pad buttons), and Silver with a float move that would keep horizontal momentum. Nothing really more, tbh, to keep the "one-button" gameplay.

[DabigRG 2,979]

3 hours ago, Kazhnuz said:

 I'm one of the few people happy with the "Classic and Modern world" thingy because I think it could be an opportunity to actually have both part of the franchise not try to do "too much" what the other do.

Okay, that, I can definitely agree with.

I didn't mind Lost World, where people decided to accentuate it as a negative because they didn't like the game, but at this point, I just want a Modern/Dreamcast/Real game to be about doing it's own thing.

[Vector Reeves 1]

I really hope not. Mania is the only Sonic game I have genuinely enjoyed since the Dreamcast era. Part of that enjoyment comes from its strict commitment to only use elements from before Sonic Adventure. If I want to see Shadow, Silver,  Rouge, ect. I'll just play one of the "modern" games.

[Scape 104]

On 7/15/2018 at 6:18 AM, LukA8 said:

The only other thing that might be holding them back is that Mania is shaping up to be this sacred, universally acclaimed place free of Modern Sonic's burdens, and Charmy is one of its less-liked representatives, so they might only get away with it if they make a single Chaotix character slot. Then again, the same can be said about Amy (and any modern character) to some extent, as most of them would cause negative reactions from critics even if they haven't been annoying for years.

Amy is as much a Classic character as anyone else. Anyone who'd seriously have a problem with her being introduced isnt worth listening to.

[Dash Speed 62]

Bump, I want to talk about "HOW" to perfect Shadow and Silver's game play with 2d Sonic mechanics, I feel they are polarized as characters and concepts because their gameplay just has no real infrastructure and re usability from the basic traditional functions the 2d titles use. I hope Sonic Team can read this thead and understand that if Blaze can operate with 2d mechanics as a fire using sonic, Shadow can be chaos power sonic and Silver can be psychic sonic in 2d speed fashion. And instead of power boxes, they get upgrades on their own powers. 

[Sonic Fan J 3,524]

2 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

Bump, I want to talk about "HOW" to perfect Shadow and Silver's game play with 2d Sonic mechanics, I feel they are polarized as characters and concepts because their gameplay just has no real infrastructure and re usability from the basic traditional functions the 2d titles use. I hope Sonic Team can read this thead and understand that if Blaze can operate with 2d mechanics as a fire using sonic, Shadow can be chaos power sonic and Silver can be psychic sonic in 2d speed fashion. And instead of power boxes, they get upgrades on their own powers. 

The problem that you have here is that you're just fully referring to 2D and not specifically the classic formula of jump/roll/run + an auxiliary ability. While Blaze works in 2D, converting her to the classic formula would pose it's own unique set of hurdles to overcome as well. Now as for what to do with the characters I'll admit that I haven't put much thought into as simplifying the full range of abilities they have into a simple formula like the classics seems unnecessary as long as modern games continue to be made alongside anything classic themed. Sure I'm perhaps a bit biased here considering all of the work that I'll put into making Amy work, but I'm not really the only one as this thread of mine

never really received any input that stayed within those limitations. Perhaps if I took some time to really think about it I could come up with something, but as is I just don't think the classic formula is a good fit with characters built up around very detailed move sets. That isn't to say that a more flexible 2D formula couldn't or shouldn't be used, and I'm all for that, but that requires expanding beyond the classic formula which defeats your goals here. Perhaps a better question might be should the classic formula be expanded upon again like with the Advance games? The answer to that of course also isn't as straight forward as it may seem as a high speed platformer like Sonic benefits from simplicity and too much complexity can result in bogged down and meaningless gameplay. So while expansion is perhaps the better way to go to use Shadow and Silver, one must ask how far much simplicity and character complexity can be sacrificed to reach an acceptable and above all else, fun, balance?

[DabigRG 2,979]

I think it's worth noting that Blaze was explicitly designed/implemented with a limited, 2d style of gameplay in mind in the first place, while Shadow is usually a Sonic clone in the truest sense and Silver was designed around the Havok engine.

[Skull Leader 682]

On July 16, 2018 at 1:02 PM, Scape said:

Amy is as much a Classic character as anyone else. Anyone who'd seriously have a problem with her being introduced isnt worth listening to.

Now now, I like Amy and all, but let's not take this kind of attitude.

Instead, let them speak, and if their argument is not convincing or you feel it's logic is flawed, then give your two cents and let people decide who is right.

Back on topic, I prrsonally despise the idea of 2-D momentum-based side scrollers being now the sole dominion of Classic Sonic, especially when we had 3 such games that used modern characters/aesthetics. Sure, they had their issues, but it's not like it's something that cannot be fixed if they were to be worked by a team that brought their A game into it.

As for character context, I can say that this is the one type of game in the franchise were I could care less about it. Say, Knuckles is a character that just makes zero sense to appear in any story without his waifu the ME being stolen, yet has abilities that add an emphasis on exploration... Which of the two arguments will you be caring about the most: the one that is just words, or the one that has actual gameplay applications? Same thing goes for other characters, like Amy who despite not appearing on the Genesis trilogy, still offered a neat gameplay twist that no other character has and which was built upon ideas drawn from fucking Sonic Adventure 1 and applied to 2-D (and then explored in games with better physics/level layouts with E-122's hacks of the classic trilogy with success, despite those games not being designed for such gameplay).

So, with this in mind, what exactly would prevent modern characters like Shadow, Silver or Blaze from being used in this kind of games other than the incredibly shallow and ridiculous "ewww, they're mudern characturs!" bias?

[DabigRG 2,979]

4 minutes ago, Skull Leader said:

 

So, with this in mind, what exactly would prevent modern characters like Shadow, Silver or Blaze from being used in this kind of games other than the incredibly shallow and ridiculous "ewww, they're mudern characturs!" bias?

Blaze? More or less  nothing, given that she was introduced with a simple 2d structure to begin with.

Shadow? Not too much, being a blatant Sonic clone to begin with and all. You know, outside of the inherent tonal discrepancies and/or usual "requirements" of his presence.

Silver? Quite a bit, actually.

[Scape 104]

Didn't SEGA explicitly say that "Modern" and "Classic" exclusive characters cannot crossover?

[Jack-ted 2,269]

4 hours ago, Scape said:

Didn't SEGA explicitly say that "Modern" and "Classic" exclusive characters cannot crossover?

Yes because fans are also sick of crossovers, especially Classic Sonic in modern games. This means Hooligans and Mighty and Ray and the Hard Boiled Heavies are exclusive to the Classic series (SEGA sees the success of Mania and wanted to turn it into a sub-series like Boom was supposed to be). I believe it's not a bad idea, because Classic and Modern should have their own cast of characters to be different enough, otherwise it'd be basically the same series, so what's the appeal? And it only seems fair that Modern characters stick to the Modern world, besides that, Shadow and Silver wouldn't work in a series with no dialogue IMO.

[Scape 104]

Well, Amy was introduced before Knuckles so she shouldn't have to deal with this "no crossover" shit

[DabigRG 2,979]

59 minutes ago, Scape said:

Well, Amy was introduced before Knuckles so she shouldn't have to deal with this shit

The shit Silver and Shadow do?

[Scape 104]

1 minute ago, DabigRG said:

The shit Silver and Shadow do?

I mean the "no modern/classic crossover" thing

[DabigRG 2,979]

15 minutes ago, Scape said:

I mean the "no modern/classic crossover" thing

She doesn't have that problem...?

If anything, she inherently beat the odds no one besides the characterless Metal did unscathed.

[Osmium 7,796]

Shadow would be redundant in the context of classic gameplay. Let's say you give him the eight-way teleport move. So now Shadow has a move that carries him nearly instantaneously over presumably short distances. Doesn't that sound a bit familiar? It's just a more OP version of Sonic's elemental shield moves. Shadow completely breaks the balance the titular three have in mid air movement. 

Also throwing projectiles sounds almost completely useless in a classic context. Classic Sonic doesn't have enemies that are designed around long range projectiles and there isn't really anything else to hit with a projectile besides maybe breakable walls, but that's Knuckles' job already. Classic Sonic really isn't really the sort of game where you stop to shoot shit, especially when you control characters who become buzzsaws at the push of a button. 

I don't even wanna touch Silver, unless if you can find an ingenious way to make him manipulate shit that manages to keep his momentum and is actually useful to keeping flow with him, it would be a complete mess.