Didn't remember what either sounded like, so I listened to both, and honestly I think they're both kinda shit?
Silver the Hedgehog must be destroyed with a rocket launcher. His hair is ugly, his gameplay is bad, and his purpose in a plot is about as one-note as you can get ("bad thing's gonna happen in the future!!"). Even in the Archie or IDW comics where they tried to woobify him, I still wished I was focusing on other characters. Maybe I wouldn't loathe him so much if Blaze's whole backstory and existence wasn't thrown under the bus for his. Even if they stand by her story being the one from Rush, she can't even appear in things anymore without Sonic Team feeling compelled to bring Silver up and have their "do they know each other?" bit loom in the background. The only time she's appeared without any relation to Silver in recent memory is Murder of Sonic, and ST apparently deemed that as non-canon so... yeah. I wish we could just do without him and/or save him for rare appearances, but Shun Nakamura remains a greater executive power at Sonic Team, and he'll do anything to make use of his golden boy. I've probably expressed this opinion in here before but I'm saying it again just to mentally prep myself for a "Year of Silver" after reading recent interviews with Nakamura + teasing of a new character at the end of the third Sonic film. Ugh, lol.
The character’s whole history is being awful in a awful game and proceeding to have nothing but minor appearances for the rest of his existence which include being buried under trash I don’t see how you give a year to a character like that, the demand for him obviously isn’t there either unlike Shadow, I wouldn’t put it past them though especially if they feel validated somehow by Paramount’s choices.
Shadow was always popular but only got a year when the movie was a factor. This is because the Year of Shadow happened to synchronize with the movie first and because of the existing fans second If Silver really isn't as popular as Shadow is that would only be grounds to push him even harder than they did Shadow, because they have to capitalize on these films to get the most out of. I'd go as far as to say Silver might have a larger role in the next mainline game because of this if this is really the plan.
I prefer the Game Gear version, don't care for the Master System one at all. I've also had Sonic Chaos GG since I was quite young and only got the MS cart a lot later, so that probably helps.
I was just about to send this exact same post today. I really cannot stand Silver and don't get the appeal at all. And fans constantly trying to force Silver into this hedgehog trio nonsense like he's got anything even remotely close to what makes Sonic and Shadow so popular makes me even madder. If him of all characters gets a major role in the 4th Sonic movie, I'll pray so hard for it to flop. Keep him in spin-off hell permanently.
Bro, people are getting so heated over this and it’s honestly kind of funny. Don’t worry guys. Silver is not getting in those movies… …ever…. …And the simple reason is that no one outside Sonic fans even know who that dude is. He is nowhere near on the same level of popularity and recognizability as Shadow or the main trio, or even Amy (who doesn’t appear to be in movie 3) So he’s not a concept they can abuse for marketing like, “Look! It’s >character you like< or >thing you like!< Even though they are almost nothing like the thing you like in execution! Give us money!”
I want to see Silver again just cause I'm curious how this new era of Sonic Team might reexamine his character. More importantly, Sticks should appear in the next game.
I, as a Silver enjoyer and lowkey fanboy, can attest to him not having the staying power that the utter ruthlessness of Shadow has inflicted upon the internet... But I'd be in the wrong for not specifying that he certainly has more of a pulse than Blaze at the moment - I'd say Nagamura's funky fresh beats are one-upping her, which is a major shame since the Rush side of Sonic is plenty intriguing to explore story-wise. There's not much benefit in having things rot and die, which is wholly different than letting ideas run their course. In a good world, everything should be explored to a decently fulfilling ability, no? One of my first posts on this forum was basically saying the same thing - just because SEGA might've provided us with a hotdog & black licorice pairing doesn't mean those two conceptual bits and pieces can't work separately. Either use Silver and/or include new scenarios, stage-stealers and settings to hook us, as it typically works with most action media and is how we've gotten a lot of our favourite things to this point!
I think silver is cool because he is from the future and has telekinesis. Yes, I am in fact that easy to please. On a more substantial note, I agree with everyone else that silver doesn't really have the staying power of shadow, and analyzing that requires getting into really interesting questions like "what makes a good character" and "what makes something memorable". On the surface, silver has everything shadow has, hes a funny looking hedgehog with sick-ass boots that has special powers. But he lacks that special sauce that makes people think he's top-billing worthy. I think the difference between them, and consequently what I think silver would need to stand on his own more, is: 1. Personality. In the comics especially, they made him the 'im just a little birthday boy' character, which I dont hate as much as others on this thread, but its not really enough. I think Shadow is memorable in large part because his personality creates conflict with Sonic, when every character is just ambiguously friendly with each other, the new guys will fade into the background. Characters who can get unique responses out of the main cast will always stand out more, the way Sonic talks to shadow isn't the same as how he talks to tails or amy, and the same should be for Silver. 2. Backstory. If reading one piece has taught me anything, people will love characters unwavering if they have a good origin story even if they do fuck all after. Shadow's origins in SA2 is one of the most earnest storytelling the series ever attempted, and considering they just brought back Maria and Black Doom and are going to retell the story in the movie, it's payed off. Silver, meanwhile, doesnt really have that, His origin in Sonic 06 doesnt even focus on him that much, what his life in the ruined future was actually like or what it was after the events of the story are kinda ambiguous. And while he does have a sort of arc with "is it right to kill sonic to save the future??" it lacks the big set pieces that shadow's had, like the ARK revealing itself or Gerald rewriting his memories or Shadow's prototype being a big lizard guy somehow. Shadows origin is fun, Silver's is '06. Not even to mention that 06 retcons itself, so Silver's ACTUAL canon introduction is Sonic Rivals.
It's hard to blame Silver for the Blaze thing. I think they both kinda have the same problem, they're conceptually neat characters with pretty interesting powersets but their worlds are very undefined and their motivations hinge entirely on those worlds, on top of the crippling codependency that doesn't really make sense because neither character actually knows each other.
Silver is just a difficult character to justify in the cast, and, dare I say, he might be the hardest to make work. Characters like Knuckles or Blaze have their guardian or royal duties, the Chaotix have their detective agency, Cream is with her mom, Big is off having side-story adventures with Froggy, Rouge is a thief/treasure hunter, and Shadow needs a good excuse to leave his favorite coffee shop to get involved in the plot. But Silver’s whole deal is that he’s from this nebulous future, 200 years ahead, that only gets affected by major tragedies in the present. Besides Blaze in 06, we don’t know if he has anyone to care about or what he’s protecting other than the vague concept of “the future.” And while Sonic '06 actually has a fanbase, it doesn’t help that the game was a mess, so Silver didn’t leave as strong an impact on the franchise as characters like Knuckles or Shadow. To make matters worse, the Rivals games reintroduced him, but only about twelve people played those, so since then, he’s just sort of been there without a clear purpose. I think the first mistake was making his future always be in a state of flux instead of something more fixed after the events of Sonic '06. It could be more like Future Trunks’ timeline in Dragon Ball, which doesn’t change even after he travels to the past. Maybe it could be a doomed future that recovered by his time so they won't have to worry about stepping in the toes of future games or ask what happened to Shadow and why he's not around. This approach could help create a more stable world and consistent cast of characters around him. Rivals had the right idea with Silver chasing Eggman Nega back to the past. Why not expand on that? Cliché as it sounds, why not make Silver a kind of “time guardian,” chasing rogue time travelers from his future? You could even give him an emotional hook, like his best friend Mario being killed in a time-travel experiment by a shady government group idk I'm not a writer. And after Shadow, I feel like no characters have the same big draw for the movies. I think that Amy and Silver could be introduced together in the next movie, since they both come from time-travel-related stories, and their backgrounds could be tweaked to create something new. Chaos Control is going to be introduced (?) in S3 so maybe they'll have time traveling shenanigans that establishes their introduction in the 4th movie.
they can put silver in the movies but *only* if they have him teleflinging himself everywhere. dude should basically be flying through space on a disco ball
The real standard for who can get a super form is how cool they are. Sonic, just a guy living by his own ideals, going where the wind leads, helping people and saving the world along the way? A super form. Espio? A tryhard who only managed to find work with a company that can barely keep their lights on? No super form. Shadow? A dude literally created to be the ultimate life form, possible cure to all manner of sickness, and maybe a way to bring into reality an ancient prophecy of a long lost civilization? Super form. Amy? Some random girl who for the longest her dominant trait was just being a fan girl? No super form. Blaze? A speedster from an alternate dimension who holds the responsibility of watching over an entire world’s safety, acting as guardian to her world’s counterpart to the ultimate power? Super form. Tails? Some kid who can only ever even build self confidence in himself when he has his hero around? No super form… Unless you are talking about Classic tails, who was fighting right alongside Sonic, could possibly even take on Eggman himself. No super form, but he got a hyper form. Classic Knuckles? The dude that was constantly one upping the main character throughout his debut game, knocked the super out of SuperSonic, and consistently came out on top when Sonic or Tails used their own move in the Spindash agaisnt his? Super and hyper form. Post Classic Knuckles? The guy who cannot do his job right, when he does it at all, and progressively got dumber with time? No super form. After all this objective and non-biased evidence I have laid out in support of this fact, I hope that we can all now reach the correct conclusion that super forms are directly related to how cool you are.
I agree, I just don't know how successful that would be in the grand scheme. Silver has a lot of things working against him conceptually to make him a big player on the same level as Shadow. His main content is a game from almost two decades ago with its only lasting legacy being how terrible it was. Because of THAT, Sega stopped pushing him altogether and was reduced to mainly cameos as a result since then. His role and function in the series has never really been established. Shadow is Sonic's rival and antiheroic foil, simple and easy to understand. Silver is... another hedgehog who has inexplicable connections to Sonic because reasons. He feels like he was created as a marketing tool first and as a character second. Trunks, his inspiration, had a pretty defined function and role in his story and (very importantly) left the story once it was over. So even if you pushed him hard, I think those things are going to always work against him and should be addressed if they plan on giving him a major role in the future.
People are forgetting that these movies are drawing in new fans. People who didn't know these characters before seeing them in the movies. That's why things like Sonic Origins and Shadow Generations even exist. "But little Timmy won't know who Silver is!" He will after he sees the movie and suddenly wants mom to buy him Silver action figures.
