The Boost: An Analysis

[Multikaris]

The Boost mechanic has several antecedents (Advance 2 & Heroes for examples of them), but the first instance of something akin to what the Boost is today was introduced in Sonic Rush. This boost came from the fulfillment of a meter through gameplay. In its debut, you could fulfill the Tension Gauge to a maximum point, and briefly gain unlimited usage of the Boost. One could also Spin Attack during a boost, to help with downhill segments. Boost probably originated as part of a hardware gimmick to show off the dual screen potential of the DS, allowing players to jolt between the two screens. These hardware-based gimmicks were once very common (this is the origin of Big’s fishing, Chao Gardening, lock-on technology, etc), but seemingly vanished after the examples in Lost World (does Forces’s shared avatar online rental feature count?).

 

This move returned in Sonic & the Secret Rings, under the alias “Speed Break”, likely somewhat inspired by Sonic 2006’s Mach Speed Sections. This could only ever be used when your meter was full through the accumulation of Pearls. Time Break was an alternate move that could be used this way. Notably, this title was a game where players were automatically moving forwards under most circumstances, meant to showcase motion control. This move was also akin to Shadow the Hedgehog’s Chaos Control meter, except without flight. The screen blurred as Sonic rocketed forward. This allowed for the ability to blast across enemy-riddled sections easily and collect more rings.

 

Boost did not occur in a major capacity in the main series until Unleashed. This mechanic was changed to become the focus of the gameplay, in a startling and radical total abandonment of the rolling and momentum mechanics of the older games. Now it would fill quickly, as Sonic collected and attracted rings to him, making the Light Speed Dash more situational. This move served as not only acceleration, but also a crowd-control weapon, a method of traversing water (which was instant death otherwise, like it had been in several past games), attracting rings, and leaping over gaps with a jump. Most new moves the game had were oriented around the vastly increased velocity of the gameplay, such as the Quick Step and Drift. While the Drift did offer new options for controlling our hero whilst turning around, this would cause the player’s natural turning to worsen in later games. The move’s attack purpose was further exaggerated, with Sonic otherwise only having his Homing Attack, Spin Jump, Stomp, slide and spinning kick in his arsenal when not a Werehog, the last of which was very underpowered, and would be axed after this game. Enemies would also fall in one hit from Sonic’s attacks, something that had previously fallen to the wayside in favor of life bars.

 

His rolling abilities were now gone, though the slide is somewhat of a substitute for them. To me, the slide just feels far more generic than rolling. Rolling emerged from the fact that a hedgehog was chosen, and tied into the pinball and billiards elements of the earlier games. However, I think the Slide could compliment rolling, if used right, like in Advance or Adventure 2. Perhaps slides can be used to lay down under low ledges, dodge attacks and feint for a counter-hit, and to hold onto momentum before one returns into a roll. The Slide’s aesthetic has a lot of pizazz to it, as well, distinct from Amy’s head-slide or something like Mario sliding. Boosting was the main tactic to use on bosses, as they ran away from the player. Confusingly, in Night stages, enemies that were done in with a single hit from the Boost would now take several blows as a Werehog. In the WiiS2 version, the Boost bar was segmented. One boost would cost one unit of the segmented gauge, which could be expanded via gameplay. Boosts could not be performed continuously, and when one boost started, players had to wait for it to end before they could launch another.

 

In Colors, Air Boosts and Air dashing were mapped to the same button, depending on if one had Boost energy or not, due to the control limitations of the Wii. More notably, Boost energy was only granted by White Wisps released from capsules or Badniks. This would make players more judicious about when to use the Boost, allowing for slower level designs. Unfortunately, the results were a lot of block platforming in the stages. Notably, the game does not allow for Boost gauge customization. This game also introduced the concept of Boost-based finishing moves used against final bosses, with the Final Color Blaster. In Game Land, players were even rewarded with the sound of a bowling ball hitting pins when they struck a group of enemies at once with it. In order to discourage speeding into pits, diamond-shaped, orange warning signs were added onto them. These static, non-interactive signs came off to me as a bad idea, more of a patch onto poor level design than a true gameplay function. Why not let players leap off of these signs for better platforming control? They did fit the setting, as the theme park was still partially under construction.

 

Generations weakened the ring magnetism of the Boost, and also drained the bar much faster when crossing water. There were also add-ons to the Boost available for the player to obtain. These included Endless Boost, which provided unlimited boosting but made you more vulnerable, the Blast Off which can grant free boosts under certain circumstances, and the Auto Gauge which automatically fills the bar under certain circumstances. Notably, the Shadow rival fight had an interesting use of the boost as the primary mechanic. Boosting into each other felt good.

 

Lost World, while lacking the Boost, introduced 2 equivalent mechanics in a spammable Spin Dash and a run button. These mechanics had no penalty for their use, unlike the Boost. This allowed users to spam them for efficient battle and transversal of the game’s tubular maps, which did not help with the smaller and simpler Badniks in the game. However, enemies would often again take multiple hits, but this mechanic felt far less natural or arcadey compared to even the Werehog. Enemies would have to be hit with a charged Homing Attack or a new Kick move, which were quite good ideas on paper, allowing players to knock enemies into each other and slam them around. These mechanics were utilized adequately, but not in an exciting way (may have to do a topic on this later), making combat feel largely cut-and-dry, although a degree of the billiards elements made a return. No synergy existed between his moves. The Kick didn’t work with the Homing Attack, the Bounce, or the Spindash. Determining whether the kick or Homing Attack would work was reduced to a guessing game, as enemies had no tells. For instance, you don’t have a clue to kick the Anton until it is too late and they have counter-attacked your HA.

 

What momentum elements that remained of the Boost did not exist in this new Spin Dash. You could only use a single jump out of the Spin Dash now, rather than the greater variety available with the Boost.  Sonic now relied on a gear-shift system. Once Sonic ceased to move, he came to an utterly dead stop. I ended up quitting the game at Tropical Coast Act 4, where one has to use these mechanics to grind apple juice to proceed.  I think the rest of this should be covered in a Lost World analysis, however.

 

Given how the team refused to lessen the number of 2D segments or add back other characters to the game, I feel that in philosophy, it is still ultimately a Boost title, just without a true boost incorporated. The aesthetic was even further simplified to prevent distracting the player, to the point where the aesthetics sometimes look mind-bendingly odd & abstract (Dessert Ruins makes no logical sense whatsoever), or irritatingly bland and Mario-ish (The overall progression seems to be based on NSMB). Other characters in the series, aside from newer and less-liked creations such as the Deadly Six, were made even less important than previous games, due to a lack of optional missions concerning them. Grinding was also made less interactive than ever before, reduced to an automated sequence as the basis of a few stages. Due to the game’s poor reception and sales, the next main game returned to being a standard Boost title.  (We don’t talk about Rise of Lyric, right?)

 

Forces continued the general trends of the era and took them to uncomfortable extremes. Levels have become cartoonishly linear, and present negligible challenge. This is purportedly due to a nodule found in Generations that is missing in this game. It also added a “Double Boost” move for the co-op stages, where Sonic uses the energy of the custom character to increase the potency of the Boost. However, the Boost cannot be given skills to change its properties, unlike Generations. Grinding, meanwhile, became a bit more interactive than in Lost World, perhaps as an engine leftover.

 

Frustratingly, people complained about SLW being slow, but for the wrong reasons. The real reason why I believe that SLW is slow is not in the lower running velocity and disappearance of the Boost, but instead the gimmicky Wisps, intrusive tutorials, almost paywall-like animal collection, and unintuitive puzzles. This may have resulted in the Boost formula returning in full force in the next Sonic Team-developed main game.

 

Boosting has continued to appear in some form in various spinoff entries. Examples include the Soul Surge from Black Knight, the Sonic Boom from Rivals, and the Dash Boost from Dash. Each has had different mechanics, and often, any character would be able to use them.

 

My ideal version of the Boost?

 

The short answer to this would be Advance 2’s Boost mode, along with maybe having the Boost as a Super Sonic-only move. The long answer is that this Boost, even if incorporated into normal Sonic play, would take elements from the Rush and Secret Rings Boost designs, in that a bar must be filled using specific items to use the Boost, and it can be combined with rolling to provide more control on slopes, and more damage potential.  Perhaps a second meter could provide unlimited Boost usage for a short period, like how the Rush boost worked? Possibly, a second degree of Boost could also be used, more akin to Speed Break. Maybe different characters would have different styles of Boost? Like one character having the Secret Rings boost, another the Rush boost, another the Unwiished boost...

 

However, I personally feel that Boost actually limits the level design of games, with levels having become made long stretches of horizontal areas to boost across, with death traps rather frequent. To me, it has become clear that any attempt after Unleashed to prolong a game with the Boost-reliant formula is inadequate, with games still being rather short. Most games are padded with at the very least a higher number of 2D sections, with the first game in 3D’s favor in years being the infamous Rise of Lyric, which incidentally, wasn’t a Boost title. Other examples include Lost World’s puzzle and gimmick stages, the Werehog, Classic Sonic & the Avatar,  etc. The continued absence (and decreased emphasis overall) of other characters (until Forces) doesn’t help.

 

Hmm… maybe I’ll do a topic on the hardware-based gimmicks that were once frequent in the series.

[Tarnish]

Good read.

Another point I would also add is the effects boost had on Super Sonic as a playable character. In the classic games, Super Sonic was worth going through the trouble of unlocking because he brought something new to the table: even faster speed, super fast acceleration and invincibility without the need of rolling into a ball. The boost pretty much has all of these features (brings Sonic from idle to full speed at a press of a button, makes him invincible to most enemies when running into them), rendering Super Sonic almost completely useless and unsatisfactory to unlock, as he no longer brings anything new to the gameplay, other than constant invincibility.

I definitely agree that boost limits the level design of games and the resulting loss of the rolling mechanic is not made up by what the boost mechanic can offer. A Sonic game without the momentum based gameplay and the rolling is pretty much pointless for me, as it removes a big chunk of what made me enjoy Sonic in the first place.

My solution to the boost would be:

1: The use of boost is tied to the rings the character has collected, as boosting uses up the collected rings. Not a separate bar that gets filled by collecting rings, but rings themselves. This makes boost feel a lot more valuable ability and avoid the constant spamming of it, unless the player is really good and can collect a lot of rings. Also there's sort of a risk and reward aspect to it.

2: The effect of the boost is no longer instantaneous, but more gradual. Instead of bringing Sonic to full speed in a nanosecond, it only increases his acceleration value. It also doesn't increase Sonic's top speed like the boost does, it only helps him reach it quicker.

3: Boosting no longer makes Sonic invincible to enemies ahead of him. He still has to use the rolling mechanic to defeat enemies that are in his way.

[Iko]

This is an interesting discussion, and I would like to contribute more but I don't have much time now.

I'll just say that I disagree that the boost (or boost mode) requires the level design to be all linear and empty: I think that the boost can be implemented in more complex and traditional level design just fine, as long as the developers know how to.

Just an example, Super Metroid has ha sort of boost (similar to the Advance 2 one, but with invincibility), it's required to solve some puzzles and reach some areas, but Metroid's level design is all but linear. There are some flat terrains here and there to allow you to use that boost (if I remember you can't even jump while charging it), but overall the level design is very complex and well made for a metroidvania. Another example is Super Mario Bros 3: in order to fly with the racoon power up, you have to reach the max speed; the level design is not flat to accomodate this, in fact, the player must be clever and find a way to build up that speed.

We can say the same stuff about Sonic CD's time travel.

I think that the boost can be integrated in good level design if balanced to be a risk/reward move; it's just that having access to the boost would make rolling useless/redundant, and having a way to instantly reach the top speed with the press of a button would make the gameplay less interesting from a platforming point of view (but it can make it more interesting from a strategy point of view if you implement it in a way that using boost costs you resources and you have to manage them).

So, Boost changes the gameplay, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. IMO, Boost can be a character specific move, and I would assign the boost to Blaze because her presence in Sonic Rush is her most iconic one and the boost is a main gimmick of that game.

I agree with @Tarnish about the thing that the boost should consume rings instead of having a dedicated gauge, but IMO it should make you invincible, because losing rings is the trade off for being invincible, and it has always been since Sonic 1. Also, I may be wrong on this, but I think that the time travel thing in Sonic CD allows you to be invincible when you run at max speed (it's hard to find a place where to try this, but I had the impression of being invincible to badniks like with the boost), and Sonic CD's level design is not affected by this.

In a different thread I proposed a way to manage Super Sonic similar to the concept of making the boost consume rings, and I also considered the idea of making Advance 2's boost mode a specific move of Tails (when he switches from running on feet to floating by spinning the tails at max speed), to make him more unique.

And regardless of not having much time, I still managed to write a lot.

[Tarnish]

40 minutes ago, Iko said:

This is an interesting discussion, and I would like to contribute more but I don't have much time now.

I'll just say that I disagree that the boost (or boost mode) requires the level design to be all linear and empty: I think that the boost can be implemented in more complex and traditional level design just fine, as long as the developers know how to.

Just an example, Super Metroid has ha sort of boost (similar to the Advance 2 one, but with invincibility), it's required to solve some puzzles and reach some areas, but Metroid's level design is all but linear. There are some flat terrains here and there to allow you to use that boost (if I remember you can't even jump while charging it), but overall the level design is very complex and well made for a metroidvania. Another example is Super Mario Bros 3: in order to fly with the racoon power up, you have to reach the max speed; the level design is not flat to accomodate this, in fact, the player must be clever and find a way to build up that speed.

We can say the same stuff about Sonic CD's time travel.

I think that the boost can be integrated in good level design if balanced to be a risk/reward move; it's just that having access to the boost would make rolling useless/redundant, and having a way to instantly reach the top speed with the press of a button would make the gameplay less interesting from a platforming point of view (but it can make it more interesting from a strategy point of view if you implement it in a way that using boost costs you resources and you have to manage them).

So, Boost changes the gameplay, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. IMO, Boost can be a character specific move, and I would assign the boost to Blaze because her presence in Sonic Rush is her most iconic one and the boost is a main gimmick of that game.

I agree with @Tarnish about the thing that the boost should consume rings instead of having a dedicated gauge, but IMO it should make you invincible, because losing rings is the trade off for being invincible, and it has always been since Sonic 1. Also, I may be wrong on this, but I think that the time travel thing in Sonic CD allows you to be invincible when you run at max speed (it's hard to find a place where to try this, but I had the impression of being invincible to badniks like with the boost), and Sonic CD's level design is not affected by this.

In a different thread I proposed a way to manage Super Sonic similar to the concept of making the boost consume rings, and I also considered the idea of making Advance 2's boost mode a specific move of Tails (when he switches from running on feet to floating by spinning the tails at max speed), to make him more unique.

And regardless of not having much time, I still managed to write a lot.

I agree the boost doesn't require a linear level design per se, but the way Sonic Team implemented the boost, which is meant to be in constant use, THAT implementation definitely made a linear stage layout a must in order for it to work. And while it doesn't require a flat, linear stage design, it definitely makes the stages feel flat, since when using the boost, slopes/inclines no longer have any effect on the character, you can constantly keep running up on a 90° wall without losing any momentum. It makes the game feel boring, unengaging and takes away the dynamic progression that made Sonic unique, i.e. using the stage layout to build up momentum to get past obstacles otherwise too high/out of reach. Technically you might as well be running on a completely flat stage as slopes are just for show at that point.

The boost definitely needs to be nerfed and only needed to be used sparingly, otherwise people will just want to constantly spam it. If it made Sonic invincible, people would want to spam use it again. That's why that ability needs to go if you ask me.

If it was up to me, the only instance is when boosting would make Sonic invincible, is if he had an 'Air shield' (a new elemental shield..does anyone even remember those?) equipped/active when boosting. It would be the 'Air shield' that create an 'air bag' in front of Sonic knocking back enemies, not the boosting itself. Plush, when running into enemies, it would slow down Sonic a little, so if there was a long line of enemies, he would slow down quite a bit towards the end of it. Just to make rolling a still more attractive solution, which 'cuts'/break through enemies instad of knocking them back.

[Wraith]

I cant sleep so heres another mind dump from uncle wraith. 

The Boost games are a completely different beast than the other Sonic games and it feels like this makes them inherently flawed to many. I've never liked takes like "the boost inherently limits the design of the gameplay" because it already reeks of defeatism. Sonic being fast in the first place was an issue the original developers had to adapt to to achieve their vision 

I've never liked the Boost Mode solution either because it robs the player of another choice. Part of the thrill of the boost is having such a powerful tool at your command. Whether you abuse it or not is up to you, and I think that decision making factor is important to keep to make the game feel satisfying. Making it a thing that happens on straightaways puts some of that control in the level designer's hands instead. 

The closest comparison to the Boost games you can find are what a lot of people like to call "twitch platformers."  Games that survive on testing your reaction time, decision making, and execution in fast paced do or die gameplay. The likes of Super Meat Boy, Celeste and Dustforce are good examples. The best way to describe it is the game asking the player to make the right decisions instead of the decisions they want to and teaching them through negative reinforcement.

Because the actions and decisions you make are quite binary with the wrong ones being punishing, a lot of the depth has to come from difficulty. Making the player choose the right decision and execute under pressure. The stakes are high and the punishment is harsh, but the satisfaction of doing it right is where the fun comes fron.

I'd say out of all the boost games that exist only Sonic Unleashed actually understands this. Stakes are high, reaction time is paramount and the punishment is usually a severe flow destroying slap on the wrist if not death. It was an unruly and unpolished game but the only one of the 4 that tried to get a rise out of you. It had level design that encouraged you to sharpen your edges.

Generations softens up the difficulty factor a fair bit. The pacing is slower. Really basic platforming sections that dont do anything with Sonic's new kit are more frequent. The ranking system is gutted which discourages repeat play. Some actions are made context sensitive which gives the players more options. 

It's not all bad. The controls are tighter. The layered level design is a fair compromise on difficulty that calls Sonic's roots to mind and the shortcuts are designed to reward creative thinking. On the whole I'd call it a letdown tho.

Forces feels like a game designed by people who hated the previous games and wanted to prove they didn't have any depth. I'd argue Colors isn't even in the same subgenre as the other games but that's a whole other argument.

Another thing about Twitch platformers is that while the game is usually flashy by nature it's usually the result of the player's skill. I love Sonic Unleashed's visuals, but it simply has too much dead air and the other games are even worse about it. I think these kinds of moments are fine for giving the player a bit of a breather and a reward for clearing a tricky section but it feels kind of like a crutch in Sonic game ssometimes.

I also think Sonic's moves could stand to have a bit more depth. The Boost as it is is such a no brained most of the time that when the games try to slap you on the wrist people got confused. I think it should drain faster and it's power limited so actually managing to keep it up for most of the level feels more rewarding instead of a given. I think the homing attack could have more challenges that force you to consider the angle you're about to approach an object from before you fire away. Unleashed was good at dropping these challenges on you and asking you to react in seconds but the other games largEly did away with it. 

A trick system would be nice as I think it gives players a lot more to do during Rush's dead airtime on its own and landing wrong could come with a meter penalty that makes it risky. I think quick step sections are cool but I want more sections like the Docks in adabat instead of the same standard 3 layer stuff. I've thought about sliding down slants as an alternative to boosting as well. 

The last thing I want to talk about is level gimmicks. Unleashed was pretty poor at this and though gens is an improvement I don't think these games ever took nearly enough advantage of how one gimmick that feeds off the rest of Sonic's kit in an interesting way could change up an entire level. If you're going to do something like the Wisps, have it modify the boost in some way instead of turning the game into something else.

I don't mind the Bolling pin enemy design per sey since they function as a resource now but more enemies that could keep pace with Sonic somehow or force him to pay attention less theg kill his flow would be a good thing. 

Just focus on more decisions per moment, big or small, and it'll come together.

[Tarnish]

10 minutes ago, Wraith said:

The Boost games are a completely different beast than the other Sonic games

I guess that's my biggest problem with the boost. I don't want boost games to be a different beast, I want them to be like what Sonic games used to be.

[Iko]

53 minutes ago, Tarnish said:

I agree the boost doesn't require a linear level design per se, but the way Sonic Team implemented the boost, which is meant to be in constant use, THAT implementation definitely made a linear stage layout a must in order for it to work. And while it doesn't require a flat, linear stage design, it definitely makes the stages feel flat, since when using the boost, slopes/inclines no longer have any effect on the character, you can constantly keep running up on a 90° wall without losing any momentum. It makes the game feel boring, unengaging and takes away the dynamic progression that made Sonic unique, i.e. using the stage layout to build up momentum to get past obstacles otherwise too high/out of reach. Technically you might as well be running on a completely flat stage as slopes are just for show at that point.

The boost definitely needs to be nerfed and only needed to be used sparingly, otherwise people will just want to constantly spam it. If it made Sonic invincible, people would want to spam use it again. That's why that ability needs to go if you ask me.

If it was up to me, the only instance is when boosting would make Sonic invincible, is if he had an 'Air shield' (a new elemental shield..does anyone even remember those?) equipped/active when boosting. It would be the 'Air shield' that create an 'air bag' in front of Sonic knocking back enemies, not the boosting itself. Plush, when running into enemies, it would slow down Sonic a little, so if there was a long line of enemies, he would slow down quite a bit towards the end of it. Just to make rolling a still more attractive solution, which 'cuts'/break through enemies instad of knocking them back.

Boost could be affected by slopes... why not? Maybe you go even faster on a downhill, and trying to climb a slope would slow you down a bit... also the slopes would still affect your jumps so the boost can be used to do advanced jumps in a similar way as the spindash already can.

As I said, it depends on the developers of the game... if the level design is not flat, you won't be able to boost through the entire level. Also, the boost makes you invincible to badniks, but you are still vulnerable to spikes, bombs and bullets, so you are still exposed to risks, and if you make the boost consume rings, if you are hit and lose them, you won't be able to boost anymore.

Removing the invincibility from the boost would be a risk, because it may generate cheap situations (at least  in 2D) where you run into obstacles that you don't have enough time to react to, and they damage you.

Also, in the classic gameplay there are moves such as the drop dash and the fire shield dash that already give you both an instant speed boost and invincibility. I think it's all up to the level design and balance, IMO it can work.

I agree that the boost must be nerfed, but removing the invincibility IMO is not the right way. My way to nerf it would be to make it consume so many rings that you can go from 50 to 0 in about 3 seconds, and the consume of rings is gradually faster with lower amounts of rings (each ring closer to 0 consumes faster than the previous, with the high cap at 50). This way, using the boost with 15 rings for example, would last only for a fraction of second and wouldn't be much useful, so you are incentivated to store more rings with the risk of being hit and losing them (management of resources, strategy, risk/reward).

Invincibiity has never been an issue in the series, you can abuse of the invincibility you gain when you are hit, collect one ring and be hit again, you can walk on spikes and lava that way...

I like the idea of a wind shield and time ago I had a similar idea as well. If, as I suggested, the boost becomes a blaze exclusive, the wind shield can be an alternative to it for the other characters who can't use the actual boost. (also I think that Blaze should be unable to use the bubble shield or something... because of the fire, I don't know).

47 minutes ago, Wraith said:

I also think Sonic's moves could stand to have a bit more depth. The Boost as it is is such a no brained most of the time that when the games try to slap you on the wrist people got confused. I think it should drain faster and it's power limited so actually managing to keep it up for most of the level feels more rewarding instead of a given. I think the homing attack could have more challenges that force you to consider the angle you're about to approach an object from before you fire away. Unleashed was good at dropping these challenges on you and asking you to react in seconds but the other games largEly did away with it. 

I agree with this

49 minutes ago, Wraith said:

I don't mind the Bolling pin enemy design per sey since they function as a resource now but more enemies that could keep pace with Sonic somehow or force him to pay attention less theg kill his flow would be a good thing.  

That's something that I would like to see in the boost games as well... the closest thing so far were those motobugs in that planet ring level in Sonic Colors, and they were completely useless if not for the red star rings.

[Tarnish]

14 minutes ago, Iko said:

Boost could be affected by slopes... why not? Maybe you go even faster on a downhill, and trying to climb a slope would slow you down a bit... also the slopes would still affect your jumps so the boost can be used to do advanced jumps in a similar way as the spindash already can.

As I said, it depends on the developers of the game... if the level design is not flat, you won't be able to boost through the entire level. Also, the boost makes you invincible to badniks, but you are still vulnerable to spikes, bombs and bullets, so you are still exposed to risks, and if you make the boost consume rings, if you are hit and lose them, you won't be able to boost anymore.

Removing the invincibility from the boost would be a risk, because it may generate cheap situations (at least  in 2D) where you run into obstacles that you don't have enough time to react to, and they damage you.

Also, in the classic gameplay there are moves such as the drop dash and the fire shield dash that already give you both an instant speed boost and invincibility. I think it's all up to the level design and balance, IMO it can work.

I agree that the boost must be nerfed, but removing the invincibility IMO is not the right way. My way to nerf it would be to make it consume so many rings that you can go from 50 to 0 in about 3 seconds, and the consume of rings is gradually faster with lower amounts of rings (each ring closer to 0 consumes faster than the previous, with the high cap at 50). This way, using the boost with 15 rings for example, would last only for a fraction of second and wouldn't be much useful, so you are incentivated to store more rings with the risk of being hit and losing them (management of resources, strategy, risk/reward).

Invincibiity has never been an issue in the series, you can abuse of the invincibility you gain when you are hit, collect one ring and be hit again, you can walk on spikes and lava that way...

I like the idea of a wind shield and time ago I had a similar idea as well. If, as I suggested, the boost becomes a blaze exclusive, the wind shield can be an alternative to it for the other characters who can't use the actual boost. (also I think that Blaze should be unable to use the bubble shield or something... because of the fire, I don't know).

I agree with this

That's something that I would like to see in the boost games as well... the closest thing so far were those motobugs in that planet ring level in Sonic Colors, and they were completely useless if not for the red star rings.

I was talking about how boost has been implemented in previous games. In those games, boosting definitely ignored any and all slopes and angles. Could boosting be made to be effected by slopes? Of course, but we have yet to see that.

I don't think boosting downhill should make the character go faster, I think that should be kept for rolling. It was always a great feeling when you knew there was a long downhill slope coming so you just rolled up and zoomed down even faster. Seeing the same but with Sonic still running wouldn't have the same effect IMO.

Going uphill, it definitely still should gradually slow down the character.

Regarding not seeing ahead in 2D, I would really like to see some sort of 'warning' system implemented where if the character is boosting and there's an enemy/obstacle ahead, an easily visible warning sign pops up so the player has enough time to react (start rolling or jump over).

[Mountaindewandsprite]

IMO, the Boost formula kinda defeats the purpose of Sonic's most notable trait: his species. The reason Sonic was chosen to be a hedgehog (an armadillo was another candidate) was because SEGA wanted to make a character based off an animal that could roll into a ball. They then wanted said character to be able to weaponize that ability at high speeds, and thus, a speedy blue hedgehog was born. However, the spin dash only makes sense when going down steep hillsides.

[Tarnish]

8 hours ago, Mountaindewandsprite said:

IMO, the Boost formula kinda defeats the purpose of Sonic's most notable trait: his species. The reason Sonic was chosen to be a hedgehog (an armadillo was another candidate) was because SEGA wanted to make a character based off an animal that could roll into a ball. They then wanted said character to be able to weaponize that ability at high speeds, and thus, a speedy blue hedgehog was born. However, the spin dash only makes sense when going down steep hillsides.

The boost pretty much defeats the entire mechanic and principle the games were built on for like 14 years.

[Mountaindewandsprite]

15 hours ago, Tarnish said:

The boost pretty much defeats the entire mechanic and principle the games were built on for like 14 years.

Exactly.

[Tarnish]

13 minutes ago, Mountaindewandsprite said:

Exactly.

Some might say it was time to move on to advance the franchise and keep it fresh, but for me that's like saying Need for Speed needs to move on from cars and become a flight sim franchise.

[Mountaindewandsprite]

2 hours ago, Tarnish said:

Some might say it was time to move on to advance the franchise and keep it fresh, but for me that's like saying Need for Speed needs to move on from cars and become a flight sim franchise.

Or like saying the Fast and Furious franchise should move on from racing to fighting domestic terrorists. Sometimes, change isn't always good. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.