Amy's Appearance

Going by the assumption that Needlemouse will indeed be a classic style title, I see no reason not to include Knuckles. Or any other characters than could add some diversity to the gameplay. Tails, Knuckles are the obvious choices for additional classic characters. Why omit Knuckles from this title?

 

Because they're not whores =P

 

Well, Needlemouse is supposed to be 2D. It's easier to make a game with multiple paths that are suitable to the three main characters like the classics. I have no idea how to tack Amy onto this, perhaps a puzzle like track. Again, I like Amy, but she's not needed. Heck Tails and Knuckles aren't (and weren't) needed either. In the classics they were extras AND they weren't mandatory, so it was all good. As long as they follow this format, they can include every character in the franchise's existence that it only adds up to the final experience.

 

Technically, Sonic wasn't mandatory if you played as another character in S3&K. It was the same either way, unless you wanted Doomsday Zone.
Buuuut, that's just me.

 

The game was designed around Sonic, and the fact that the others basically play exactly the same with the addition of some flight and climbing abilities, this point is pretty much pointless. You're still playing as Sonic, but now you have the choice whether you want dreadlocks or fancy hair.

 

I always think of the classic characters (specifically Sonic, Tails, and Amy) as "baby" or "little kid" versions of their current look. I don't personally think one style is better over the other, just that one's supposed to be cute and one's supposed to be "cool".

 

I, personally, once tried to bring the Classic design into Advance form, but due to lack of spriting skills, patience and school, I only made one piece of crap, which I believe I transfered to my laptop by mistake:

I swear, I can do MUCH better nowadays.

Also, as for Sonic the Comic's Amy Design, I believe it came from the following official picture:

 

I'm not sure co-op would've worked out all that well with the original cast: Sonic has no real abilities of his own (Though they could've given him something to work with), and Charmy's flight capabilities are a lot more versatile than anything they could've realistically done with Tails. They wanted a clean slate to work with, and I respect the fact that they were bold enough to put a game like this out there without the inclusion of either of their most marketable characters. You're right about one thing, though, there's nothing worth complaining about with classic Amy. And I'm not complaining about classic Amy, just saying that she wasn't all that spectacular, either.

EDIT: As for her being a good addition to the series on those counts alone, it needs to be said, I'd have raised the bar much higher than that. She's not exactly adding much when the damsel in distress routine had already been made trite through centuries of use. Just because it's new for this particular series, that doesn't necessarily make it worthwhile.

It's not that I don't like the character- honestly, given the choice to have her extradited from the continuity, I think I'd prefer to have (old) Amy around. I'm saying she's an eyesore because I don't like her redesign. And there's nothing wrong with her driving a car, I'm just saying, it didn't have to be a fucking stupid one.

 

Is that car a legitimate character? Does it even have a name? Either way, it has to be the one character more obscure than Ray or even Witchcart.

 

The car's called "The Breeze", but it's hardly a legitimate character. I doubt it's anything more than an inanimate object with a tongue under the hood. Which is fucking stupid.

 

Indeed.

"We're sorry Sonic, but your psychotic girlfriend is in another castle!"
"Oh. Well, I guess that's one less thing to worry about!"
SONIC MADE A GOOD FUTURE

 

Ah, man. I was hoping the Sonic series had its own Benny the Cab. You know, the taxi cab from Roger Rabbit.



Sentient cars FTW.

 

Look, I don't want to sound pedantic here, but realistic or not, versatile or not, they could've worked with what they had anyway. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles could've filled those roles without trouble. Mighty is Sonic, period, Charmy a Tails and Espio is a Knuckles' clone who walks on ceilings. Vector is redundant with Knuckles there. They are not unique. The whole thing about flight / speed / force is the ultimate in the end. Besides this, there's not much else. You can mix things up a bit, but in the end, they're just a repeat of what we have.

I wouldn't say she's a good add because of that alone. I say she's as good as the Chaotix. At the end of the day, neither of them was needed, but they were introduced anyway. Amy only stayed because she was female, as silly and ludicrous it may sound to you, she had a target audience that wasn't covered by any of them. If I find this silly? I don't really, no. It'd be best if she had any abilities though, yes.

That car is just not taking the franchise seriously. I never had any problem with it and it never became something major neither in the franchise or in the game. The badniks also had faces and eyes and mouths and whatnot. I don't think many have anything against the car either but I could be wrong.

 

Benny the Cab is the only thing that ever comes to mind when I see Amy's car. The difference being that Benny is hardcore awesome and Breeze is a pussy wagon without a soul. Not the awesome Kill Bill sort either, but the delicate moist labia kind.

Attempt unsuccessful.

Mighty is Sonic, Charmy and Tails aren't at all alike in the way they function, Espio walks on ceilings and is nigh-invincible when charging forward at top speed, Vector is a mixed bag with Knuckles' wall climbing and Charmy's air dash, but with a larger attack radius. If you absolutely must generalize, then yes, they aren't adding anything new, but each character functions entirely differently from the established cast and has a significant impact on how the game is played.

The core three characters we had were a far cry from the seven we wound up getting with Chaotix, and it's not like giving us less of a selection to choose from would've made the game better. Since none of the characters introduced back then had any negative impact on the series, I suppose Amy isn't too far off from the Chaotix in terms of worth, but you're going to have to clear this up for me: Since when was it acceptable to cram new characters into a franchise with the sole intent of tapping new demographics? And when you consider that she largely failed at this, I still can't concede that she had even the slightest reason to exist.

 

My gosh, people can be negative about this stuff.

Next thing ya know, ya'll be complaining about Tikal being completely useless for not having been playable (not counting SA2). :v:

 

See, the problem with Sonic's side characters is that there are too many of them to all throw into a game at once as each separate characters without feeling forced, but there aren't enough introduced per game to make it feel like Sonic is part of larger universe with a number of cohorts of similar build and skill; no, there are only 12-odd characters and they follow him nearly freaking everywhere; I can accept and tolerate it in, say, Sonic Heroes, but in Shadow and 06 it just strikes me as ridiculously forced and clumsy.


But this is all slightly off-topic.

 

Side characters from SA1 onward are an entirely different matter altogether, as they all have spoken dialogue and command a presence greater than one or two vaporous sprite-enacted cutscenes. Tikal was a reasonably well designed character and key component of the game's storyline, and the story itself was actually fairly well executed and enjoyable. Not to mention that she also gave you hints on a very frequent basis throughout the game. She certainly had a purpose here, and she at least had sense enough to not outstay her welcome.

 

The point was that the Chaotix are redundant, they might have some new moves, but they're essentially a mix of other characters previously established. Rouge is Knuckles + kicking and Blaze was Knuckles + Shadow + fire powers. If you think the Chaotix are fine, these are fine as well, and hammer and puzzle gameplay is fine as well. You might not like it, but that's another story.

We can never know if the final product would be worse, as good, or better than what we had, so I see no point in this. The Chaotix game's major gimmick was co-op and that could've worked with the big three alone. However, even if redundant, they added up to diversity of characters and skills and enhanced the story and gameplay. Just like Amy and Metal Sonic and Egg Robo. Sonic CD and Sonic & Knuckles would've worked without them, yet they were there to add variety and interest.

Why were the Chaotix added? Not to tap into the demographics that liked and desired co-op? I can't say Amy failed to target her demographics or not, there's no proof either way. What I don't get is what negative impact occurred because Amy was added to the franchise. I just don't see what the horror is, quite honestly. She was added at a time that the cast was relatively small: Sonic, Eggman, Tails (arguably), so loads and loads of characters don't apply here either.

 

I thought it was established that it was a game about the Chaotix and Knuckles was slapped in to save a cast of unknowns.

 

Yeah. I remeber reading that sonic said she was too young to go to station square, so she used a chaos emerald, or some kind of gemstone to grow from 8 years old to 12.