Yea at least this much would be nice. It just feels...odd to see every character do the things Sonic can do.
Yeah I've felt this too, then for example maybe they could make Mighty a little more balanced with a less powerful spindash or something similar. I honestly expected him to at least have the lower jump. He's OP. I don't hate it but still. I think they should all have the same core gameplay, but I mean... Mighty... oh boy.
Oh believe me, I know why Sonic Team felt like the characters needed to be there, but to say they were used I would have a bit of trouble agreeing with (or at least, used effectively). The problem is that Sonic Team decided to have a huge world take-over plot, but didn't really commit to the writing that would come with such a big scale story. Instead they opted for the shallow option - "Let's make everyone stand around purely for attendance and contribute not a lot". (Come to think of it, most of Forces could have still happened nicely without the "99% of the world" stuff...) You can still write missing characters effectively by showing that they're over the world helping fight Eggman's forces. That way, the cast that are part of the main HQ gang can be more crucial to the game and the plot as a whole, and only have someone (eg Vector) turn up when he's actually needed. This would have also helped show the worldwide effects of Eggman's takeover, spreading the heroes thin. The other harder option would be to include everyone, but give each character a unique role that only they can do - like mentioned before, Ian Flynn did a decent job at this in the prequel comics with only a few pages. It's kind of my problem with fan-service as well. Having things for the sake of just having those things kinda devaluates those very things if they're there purely for "Hey, <x> is here!" reasons.
Not a correct example in that Marvel has had other films to establish and build up characters before the big crossover Infinity War holy shit movie. Sonic Forces was NEVER gonna be able to do that even if there was a competent team of writers behind it. Sonic Forces failure in writing is that all the characters aren't seen actively contributing. Show me Espio going in Ninja style and stealing the plans for the Death Egg. Let me see Vector chomp some robots. Have Charmy (I know what your thinking but hear me out) being seen giving emotional support to refugees with the rest of his hive. They don't need to be playable, they just need to be seen doing something cool and/or useful. If there is a classic incarnation of Big the Cat, Doctor Robotnik needs to ROBOTISIZE his ass. He'd make a fine midboss.
Yup. This was basically the point I was trying to make but you've summarized it much better than I did.
