We can kill at least 2 of those birds with one stone: But no, Super themes are annoying. I'd rather the level music continued as normal instead of having to listen to the same track for the entire game.
Well I wouldn't want to be the one to nail down a particular theme right now. I was more spitballing the idea of unique character themes for each super. If it were for a hypothetical Mania 2, it would probably be a remix of his S&K theme like in the video Blue Blood posted. Other examples could be Sonic Warrior Remix (like in TSR) for Sonic, and Tails could get a remix of the Sonic 2 credits like in Before The Sequel. I'm sure others could come up with better ideas in this department I think what we've currently had for Super themes hasn't been great, and often ruins a good piece of stage music. However, I feel like the idea of Super themes can work if it's not treated as some kind of afterthought or just some 20-second long repetitive track. Sadly I have yet to find an exhibit A that backs this up though...
This has been mentioned before, but I'd love it if instead of having a separate super theme or individual themes, we just had alternate, amped-up variant of the level music, with an added instrument or two that would only play while super (kind of like the Yoshi drums), switching back and forth real-time. I think that this would allow for the super forms to add more to and slightly alter the level's atmosphere.
I agree. Kinda like what they do for speed shoes, but without a faster tempo and just more remixed instruments.
I like Supers because you actually get rewarded for collecting the game’s optional collectible items. In other games like Mario or DKC, you don’t really get any reward for collecting everything aside from some in-game “hey good job dude” or some Easter Egg or something.
To the OP's point at hand: Personally, I think the question itself is somewhat a non sequitur. Having them "reduce character diversity" isn't the point of the Supers; like others have said, it being a fun reward for collecting the emeralds gives us quite a satisfying [and in a sense, a technically "unnecessary" optional extra] 'power boost' for us to enjoy. Also, I don't see why we don't need to use Tails' ability to use shortcuts just because he's in his Super form (it's still useful for the speedrunners anyway). So basically (for those who don't like them), just don't collect the Emeralds = no Supers. It's only really the completionist who wants to collect all the emeralds [excluding wanting to get the Supers, and because it's fun] to "100%" the game. I wonder if it's partly why we have so many save states in S3&K, so we can keep the characters with the Emeralds to play with, or start a new game without the temptation of turning into the Super forms (and just not collect the Emeralds - for those who don't want to). Plus, that would also add to the replayability of the game, too.
Here it is. In a way. That said, of course super forms don't reduce character diversity. You've had to use the characters' unique features to the fullest in order to get these emeralds in the first place. It enhances character diversity.
