The Status Quo.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

You know, I never fail to get people's attentions when it comes to making a topic.

One thing that has definitely come to my mind lately is this status quo that some people believe needs to be maintained. That isn't exactly implying that people have directly said it, but in some people's posts you can easily sum it up that way, especially outside of the fandom.

Of course, for those of you who know me well enough (and to put everyone who doesn't up to speed), I tend to lean on a more radical view and I think that Status Quo holds us back...like a lot more than we seem to realize. Let me make one thing clear tho, I do believe the status quo has a purpose for keeping the series' identity together and I would argue to maintain that and not completely overthrow it anymore than I would intend to. But I also believe there's a risk that completely relying on that status quo that serves to not only hinder this series' potential but completely restricts it from ways that could spice things up, and that restriction is mostly our fear of the new (along with whether Sonic Team is competent in implementing newer ideas, but let's not get into that yet), and that's the part I seek to overthrow. To some, it's a safety net that keeps us away from the series' dark ages we went through 5 years ago; to others, it's a prison that's keeping us from enriching the series in good ways instead of the bad ways they did 5 years ago; to those inbetween, it's a case of the people in charge not knowing what the fuck they were doing in the first place 5 years ago...honestly, I can go on with this, but let's get to the meat of the topic.

Here's one thing I am outright itching for a number of you to throw some flak in my direction when I bring it up, as one example of where I find things restrictive is the Classic Trio, the Big Four, the Pre-SA1 characters or in other words the Classic cast of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman and Amy. They mostly associate and hang around each other, and the same goes for other "teams" such as Dark and Chaotix. Hardly do they go outside of that and associate separately with other characters; while you see Sonic interact with just about everyone, you don't see Knuckles or Tails joining anyone else like Shadow or Blaze on their own accord, and Amy is a unique case in that she serves as a wildcard. My solution to this would be to make the characters socialize more with each other beyond their usual groups, as in doing so not only will the characters grow in more unique and colorful ways, but it can make them more of a character. That isn't to say, do away with the teams entirely, but more so have them venture outside that confort zone and extend that social sphere outside their usual group. We don't have to use everyone (that includes Tails and Knuckles, for those of you who want to say "no!"), but we shouldn't neglect everyone all the time. Personally, I believe Sonic is the Main Hero, Eggman the Main Villian, and everyone else are the secondaries, with Tails being the unique one sticking out in his sidekick role. Some might agree, some might disagree, but I find it fair regarding all the recurring characters in this series without stomping out a single groups personal interests (it stomps on everyone's interests ).

Then there's the gameplay. This is a minefield to walk on, as Sonic Team currently has a formula that works. In the past, they haven't hit a good mark, and only got worse when ShTH came around...only for Sonic 06 to make the latter game look decent in some ways. While that may be so, I for one believe that this current formula may run dry really quickly without some new innovations to spice it up. That's where it becomes chaos to navigate, as there's not a lot of things you could think of to add to the gameplay without the risk of changing it for the worst. And it becomes even more of a problem in finding out how to implement it. The biggest variable here, however, is the reception such an innovation will have. Since the random ideas that came from ShTH, Sonic 06, and Unleashed, we've been very vigilant towards any other new innovation that we hear about as we don't want anything that we deem to be a bad idea. The one thing that manages to ease our nerves would be the Wisps in Colors, but I think there's more that should be done to extend the life of the formula. Then there's the whole Sonic-only craze that a number of us here are against, and our simple solution would be to add more characters that have unique abilities, but derive from the same base control, and most importantly is OPTIONAL! And of course we're going to have such a lovely argument over that, now won't we?

Next comes story. To keep it short, I think we can do with more layers without being as convoluted as ShTH and Sonic 06 tried to be, but greater than what Colors tried to be. A lot of us have argued this idea many times over, but let's just say there are plenty of examples out their in fiction that do everything we say Sonic is incapable of doing because he's a talking, blue, cartoony hedgehog. Now if we absolutely need to go further than that, all you need to do is spark the discussion, because I've been itching for a argument for quite a while.

To sum the whole thing up, I believe the Status Quo should be a safety net that keeps us from reaching another dark age, but without being a prison that restricts us from enriching the series, and in the hands of people who know what the fuck they're doing.

So let's all have an fierce, civil and informing atmosphere and let the debate commence, shall we? Cuz I'm dying to hear your points.

EDIT: Also, as an added note, there are plenty of other subjects out there regarding where we shouldn't be too afraid to venture outside of our comfort zone, so feel free to bring them up if they can relate to the topic.

Man, picture me making a ZP-esque video out of this.

Edited August 3, 2011 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Red Cap]

I pretty much agree with you. As much as I like Sonic other characters definitely need to return in a playable form, especially since it's been 5 years since a non-Sonic character has been playable. As many others have said in different topics, the non-Sonic characters should keep their own unique abilities but play at least somewhat like Sonic.

Edited August 1, 2011 by RedCap-BlueSpikes

[thedarkknight]

I also agree with you.

Regarding multiple characters, I believe every character should almost be as fast as Sonic but get a different ability.

Examples: (Name of character and unique ability)

• Sonic: Boost

• Shadow: Chaos Powers

• Silver: ESP powers

• Tails: Fly

• Knuckles & Rouge: Glide and dig

• Blaze: Fire

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

This isn't exactly about giving characters playable roles. This is about venturing outside this series comfort zone in order to make the games more enriching and made to last. The stuff about the characters was just part of an example to get my point across about how we shouldn't be so restricted to the status quo.

Keep that in mind guys, and discuss those points.

Edited August 1, 2011 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[thedarkknight]

This isn't exactly about giving characters playable roles. This is about venturing outside this series comfort zone in order to make it more enriching and made to last. The stuff about the characters was just an example to get my point across.

Keep that in mind guys, and let's discuss those points.

[Red Cap]

This isn't exactly about giving characters playable roles. This is about venturing outside this series comfort zone in order to make the games more enriching and made to last. The stuff about the characters was just part of an example to get my point across about how we shouldn't be so restricted to the status quo.

Keep that in mind guys, and discuss those points.

The only reason why I only mentioned characters is because I'd basically be saying the exact same thing as you. I really couldn't think of anything other than that and I still can't think of anything else.

Edited August 1, 2011 by RedCap-BlueSpikes

[Marcello]

I'm sure I'm in minority, maybe the sole person, but I don't agree with them other characters being optional. What I liked about Adventure was having to play as everyone to see the whole picture. With the characters playing more similar to each other with some special things, I think it would be even better.

To the more diverse pairings, I've said a bit here:

I agree with you. One of the most interesting things about Rivals 2, were some of the pairings. It had things we had either never seen or haven't seen in a while. I'd love for more of that. But, not only do I want to see more different pairings, but some pairings being used more, like Blaze and Marine.

[Exploder]

My God, you have no idea how long something like this has been in my head. The notion that Sonic Team will try virtually no new ideas because they and an unspecified number of fans are afraid of it...makes me shake my head.

Potential should be used, godammit.

[ChikaBoing]

Staus Qoe? You guys are being overdramatic.

Personally I believe Characters will be added sooner or later in the vein of Black Knight. It's just that Sonic Team is out of touch to what people really do have against other Characters. For Generations I believe they wanted to focus on both Classic and Modern.

As for gameplay...I'm personally excited to what they come up with, especially with new System coming out. It's exciting to see how they will use the capabilities for Sonic gameplay, like with Secret Rings and 06( promotional videos), and intrresting enviroments was never much of a Problem with Sonic...so each game will be excting as long as they keep ot on the playable level of Colors.

That's all I could say I guess, I kinda don't get this Topic.

[Chaos Warp]

I think ST is trying their very best to focus on core gameplay mechanics to make sure they make a good game after the disaster of 06, and the semi-disaster of STH, and frankly, I am fine with that. Hopefully when they can get their core gameplay mechanics set 100% to everyone's satisfaction (I feel the direction they are going in in terms of Unleashed Day/Colours is good, but it still needs tweaking) , then they may start taking more risks

[Nepenthe]

Achieving 100% customer satisfaction through the core gameplay mechanics is impossible when you have those who hate or don't care for the inherent qualities of the core gameplay mechanics in the first place. Thus, trying to mitigate the risk of pissing people off by not doing anything remotely interesting with the gameplay is useless.

[Indigo Rush]

I'm certainly not against it, I'm all for seeing Sonic's friends team up with people they never hang around with much. I want to see how Blaze and Knuckles interact, for example. However, I would like to see Sonic Team nail down the gameplay and get a sort of system going before they start breaking the rules. Sonic's been incredibly inconsistent until recently, and I would love to see a standard Modern 3D, a standard Classic 2D, and a standard Handheld series going on. Once these have gained an established standard formula for control, we can start changing the variables much more. Just Sonic? How about adding Tails, Shadow and Knuckles next go round. Next time, make it Sonic, Tails, Silver and Blaze. Third time, let's have it at Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge. After that, start mixing it up with characters like Sonic, Silver, Espio and Shadow. Give them the Sonic 3&K treatment of optional playability with the same gameplay style and pacing, but with a single unique ability that can allow exploration or alternate paths that Sonic alone can't reach.

This gives everyone's favorite character a shot at being playable again, keeps Sonic as the sole focus, no one has to play as anyone else, and allows for characters to interact more in cutscenes. You complete a level, cutscene plays, select who you want to go to the next stage, play as them, cutscene, wash, rinse, repeat.

It's an attempt, and I'm not saying this is the answer. It's just an answer to an open ended question.

[Scar]

Sonic Team should go quiet after Generations.

Give the Team a chance to rest until all of The Big 3 have sent out dev-kits for their 8th gen consoles. At which point start developing the next Sonic juggernaut. Continue making it until 2016. Give it as much time as needed.

Make sure that Sonic's entrance into the 8th Generation is a spectacular and brillaint one.

[ChikaBoing]

Sonic Team should go quiet after Generations.

Give the Team a chance to rest until all of The Big 3 have sent out dev-kits for their 8th gen consoles. At which point start developing the next Sonic juggernaut. Continue making it until 2016. Give it as much time as needed.

Make sure that Sonic's entrance into the 8th Generation is a spectacular and brillaint one.

Never gonna happen,sadly, very few companies get the luxury of getting that much development time freedom. Valve and Nintendo being some of them.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

That's all I could say I guess, I kinda don't get this Topic.

The topic is to go outside of the series comfort zone in trying new (and GOOD) ideas that complement and add to the series enjoyment and not be so restrictive over what is and isn't "Sonic".

That's just the gist of it.

[Nattala]

Regarding the status quo for the characters..... it makes sense to me to have a main five (or six since I think Shadow is just as important) characters for marketing reasons. They are the most popular characters so ofcourse they're going to use the popular characters the most because people are more likely to buy the game if their favourite character is in it. Not that the fans buy the game for the character alone (but then again quite a few people bought Colours DS because it had the other characters in it) but subconsciously, whether you realise it or not, it affects your perception of the game. If you love Tails and then you see Tails getting a lot of focus, you are going to have a more positive opinion of the game. It's probably more important for non-fans. Children for example, are probably more likely to buy a game just because their favourite character in it. Plus having a consistent main cast builds up familiarity and recognisability to the point where the characters become iconic, sort of logos for the series. This also helps them sell more merchandise; if the characters are used a lot, they're more well known. If the main cast for each game kept changing, the impact of the characters would be diluted. Say someone plays a Sonic game for the first time and they like the characters so they decide to try another Sonic game but the cast is completely different! The consumer is going to be confused and is likely to be turned off the series. a new consumer should be able to play a new game without having to pull out a Sonic encyclopedia to find out who all the characters are. Having a consistent main cast allows for a consistent, clear and effective image for the Sonic series.

Not that I'm saying there shouldn't be other characters, there is some wiggle room where the entirety of the main cast may not necessarily be present and some other characters can get more spotlight. This is especially true of spinoffs. But the status quo of the main cast should still be maintained. Now this may make some sort of a self-fufilling prophecy thing where if we only give the popular characters the most spotlight then these are the characters that are going to be the most popular and so on. But the structure isn't that restrictive. Take Blaze for example. Her popularity from Rush has lead to her getting more appearances in 06, Mario and Sonic, and Sonic and the Black Knight, above other characters. (And yet we still don't have a Blaze plush *grumble*)

[Kuzu]

Well technically the status quo has changed, not necessarily for the better, but before Sonic was usually flooded with a huge cast in almost every game, Unleashed however changed the status quo by making Sonic & Eggman the only relevant characters nowadays. Yeah sure it gets kind of boring, but it is change.

In any case, I'm pretty sure Sega aren't ready to take such big risk yet. They just got back from being ridiculed because of all those new ideas, give them time to truly win back the crowd, then maybe they'll be ready to take bigger risk.

In any case the downside of having so many characters is you give one portion focus you end up alienating another portion, there's no way for every character to constantly be important, maybe they can get a glimpse of the spotlight once or twice.

Personally I think an easier way to do it would be to have a set group of main protagonists(Read: Playable characters) while having a specific group of supporting protagonists(Important to the game, but an NPC at best. i.e Chip or Caliburn). That way you have a central group of characters while giving focus to the portions of the supporting cast.

Like say the game has: Sonic, Tails and Amy as the main protagonists, while The Chaotix are the supporting protagonists. Or another with Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow , and Blaze as the main protagonists with Tails, Amy, Rouge, and Omega as the supporting protagonists.

Its a rotation process basically.

[Skull Leader]

Here's one thing I am outright itching for a number of you to throw some flak in my direction when I bring it up, as one example of where I find things restrictive is the Classic Trio, the Big Four, the Pre-SA1 characters or in other words the Classic cast of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman and Amy. They mostly associate and hang around each other, and the same goes for other "teams" such as Dark and Chaotix. Hardly do they go outside of that and associate separately with other characters; while you see Sonic interact with just about everyone, you don't see Knuckles or Tails joining anyone else like Shadow or Blaze on their own accord, and Amy is a unique case in that she serves as a wildcard. My solution to this would be to make the characters socialize more with each other beyond their usual groups, as in doing so not only will the characters grow in more unique and colorful ways, but it can make them more of a character. That isn't to say, do away with the teams entirely, but more so have them venture outside that confort zone and extend that social sphere outside their usual group. We don't have to use everyone (that includes Tails and Knuckles, for those of you who want to say "no!"), but we shouldn't neglect everyone all the time. Personally, I believe Sonic is the Main Hero, Eggman the Main Villian, and everyone else are the secondaries, with Tails being the unique one sticking out in his sidekick role. Some might agree, some might disagree, but I find it fair regarding all the recurring characters in this series without stomping out a single groups personal interests (it stomps on everyone's interests ).

[Kuzu]

Fully agree here on the arbitrary "jurisdictions" that the characters have since Heroes as of which characters can they interact here. Personally the opnly two I've seen so far having the most developed social lifes are Sonic and Amy (him because he's the protagonist and always on the move, meeting new places and people, and she, as you've said, because she's a wild card that lives up to her name and makes friends everywhere, except with Rouge ). Frankly I do wish we could see the other characters like Tails get out of his comfort zone which is being at the side of Sonic all the time (Rush adventure did good since he found someone else to interact with in the form of Marine, tough it also felt as playing safe a bit since both share a common interest in building things, if anything I like to see him interacting with the unusual characters as well (as long as the story makes it flow naturally and not like the result of randomness). Maybe instead of having the characters limited in this aspect by the teams established in Heroes in such arbitrary ways, it would had been better if characters could be teamed up depending more on their personality traits and explore to see which ones can develop a good chemistry between them.

But you say Tails should be out of the comfort zone, yet you say you should pair characters based on their chemistry. Basically while the Heroes setup may be somewhat annoying in a way, it allowed those characters to develop some chemistry with one another, and it especially helped Amy branch off with someone other than Sonic.

Now I know Sonic & Amy appear not to have any chemistry, but unlike Tails or Knuckles its a lot more subtle and you have to look into it. Chemistry comes from how the characters interact, and how they see each other, like take the main four for instance:

Sonic & Tails: Brotherly Bond

Sonic & Knuckles: Friendly Rivalry

Sonic & Amy: Ambiguous Love

Tails & Knuckles: Brains & Brawn(Mostly how Tails` techno talk confuses Knuckles)

Tails & Amy: Little Brother-Big Sister

I'd say the only ones who haven't had any real chemistry among those 4 are Knuckles & Amy.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Well, here you pretty much covered the whole field for the 3-D games but I feel you left out the 2-D ones. XP

Well, 2D is easier to pull off for certain innovations, given the dimensions itself and it shouldn't be too hard (Sonic 4 and Advance 2 and 3 nonwithstanding) to innovate from there. The only problem I feel with 2D is the competence of the level design as the Advances 2 and 3 had some really schizophrenic ones.

It's really the 3D one that needs the work to keep itself fresh.

In any case, I'm pretty sure Sega aren't ready to take such big risk yet. They just got back from being ridiculed because of all those new ideas, give them time to truly win back the crowd, then maybe they'll be ready to take bigger risk.

I can understand the criticism of that. They're called "risks" for a reason. But even when they seem to play it safe they seem to attract ridicule in ways they're obviously not trying to attract. Like the whole "We only want Classic Sonic from now on!" comments you see in a few articles regarding Generations.

Naturally, you can't please everybody, and you shouldn't go out of you way to do so, but even so Sonic Team have practically backed themselves into a corner that I wouldn't blame them giving the middle finger to certain fans...of course, who knows how far they would go with flipping the bird.

In any case the downside of having so many characters is you give one portion focus you end up alienating another portion, there's no way for every character to constantly be important, maybe they can get a glimpse of the spotlight once or twice.

Yes there is. Every character can be important in their own way, but said importance varies according to the role of the character.

For example, obviously the main hero is going to be the most important in regards to stopping the main threat. But the hero's rival could help make pathways while going upon his own interests when he helps you out in certain pinches. A more sneaky character could serve to sabotage either the hero, villain, or neutral parties in whatever objective they were trying to achieve. And so on.

Each one is important to an extent, but the level of importance isn't necessarily the same. I believe that's what you were trying to say?

Personally I think an easier way to do it would be to have a set group of main protagonists(Read: Playable characters) while having a specific group of supporting protagonists(Important to the game, but an NPC at best. i.e Chip or Caliburn). That way you have a central group of characters while giving focus to the portions of the supporting cast.

Like say the game has: Sonic, Tails and Amy as the main protagonists, while The Chaotix are the supporting protagonists. Or another with Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow , and Blaze as the main protagonists with Tails, Amy, Rouge, and Omega as the supporting protagonists.

Its a rotation process basically.

I would always be on that train.

Regarding the status quo for the characters..... it makes sense to me to have a main five (or six since I think Shadow is just as important) characters for marketing reasons. They are the most popular characters so ofcourse they're going to use the popular characters the most because people are more likely to buy the game if their favourite character is in it. Not that the fans buy the game for the character alone (but then again quite a few people bought Colours DS because it had the other characters in it) but subconsciously, whether you realise it or not, it affects your perception of the game. If you love Tails and then you see Tails getting a lot of focus, you are going to have a more positive opinion of the game. It's probably more important for non-fans.

The marketing angle makes sense. What I'm really attacking is the senority angle, which has never made sense to me and never will, because it establishes a privileged hierarchy simply based on how long the character has been around in the series and never gives other characters a chance to prove their worth as a main character.

When things are put in a sense of privilege, some view it as fair and order, but when everyone gets an equal share of the pie, some how it's unfair. And it becomes sheer favoritism when senority becomes synonymous with quality in regards to whether a character is good. For example, a lot of people see Tails and Knuckles as good characters who can't be a problem in any sort of way because according to them "They were around when the series was good" so that automatically makes them good regardless of how bad they're presented. If they are presented badly, the blame goes somewhere else. This becomes the opposite in regards to other characters, namely Shadow. It's one thing to criticize the way a character is portrayed, but it's another to fault the character itself and treat them as a plague and yet you look the other way if the same happens to a character you happen to favor.

Not that I'm saying there shouldn't be other characters, there is some wiggle room where the entirety of the main cast may not necessarily be present and some other characters can get more spotlight. This is especially true of spinoffs. But the status quo of the main cast should still be maintained. Now this may make some sort of a self-fufilling prophecy thing where if we only give the popular characters the most spotlight then these are the characters that are going to be the most popular and so on. But the structure isn't that restrictive. Take Blaze for example. Her popularity from Rush has lead to her getting more appearances in 06, Mario and Sonic, and Sonic and the Black Knight, above other characters. (And yet we still don't have a Blaze plush *grumble*)

As far as I'm concerned, the Main Cast consists of Sonic and Eggman. Everyone else are secondary characters, and I'm not going to hold a standard regarding their popularity here even if I happen to favor a certain character.

It's one thing to have favorites, but it's another to project a character as superior, and that's where I have a beef with it.

But you say Tails should be out of the comfort zone, yet you say you should pair characters based on their chemistry. Basically while the Heroes setup may be somewhat annoying in a way, it allowed those characters to develop some chemistry with one another, and it especially helped Amy branch off with someone other than Sonic.

No. Basically, he's saying take characters out of their comfort zone and have them develop a chemistry with characters they don't interact with much. He knows the chemistry isn't there, so he wants the character to explore the interactions they don't have so that the chemistry can be made to begin with.

That's what I get out of it anyway.

Edited August 2, 2011 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Kuzu]

Ok, let's do this *Cracks Knuckles*

I can understand the criticism of that. They're called "risks" for a reason. But even when they seem to play it safe they seem to attract ridicule in ways they're obviously not trying to attract. Like the whole "We only want Classic Sonic from now on!" comments you see in a few articles regarding Generations.

Naturally, you can't please everybody, and you shouldn't go out of you way to do so, but even so Sonic Team have practically backed themselves into a corner that I wouldn't blame them giving the middle finger to certain fans...of course, who knows how far they would go with flipping the bird.

Well only time will tell, now will it. I'm pretty sure Sonic isn't going to be a solo act forever.

Yes there is. Every character can be important in their own way, but said importance varies according to the role of the character.

For example, obviously the main hero is going to be the most important in regards to stopping the main threat. But the hero's rival could help make pathways while going upon his own interests when he helps you out in certain pinches. A more sneaky character could serve to sabotage either the hero, villain, or neutral parties in whatever objective they were trying to achieve. And so on.

Each one is important to an extent, but the level of importance isn't necessarily the same. I believe that's what you were trying to say?

More or less, it depends on how versatile you make the character and how they work in the narrative, for instance even though he has a prior engagement: Knuckles can pretty much be called upon in any game, I mean yeah sure he's got an emerald to guard and whatnot but he's mostly stationary and willing to leave when the plot calls for it. Its only when he's randomly there without explanation is when people start scratching their heads.

As far as I'm concerned, the Main Cast consists of Sonic and Eggman. Everyone else are secondary characters, and I'm not going to hold a standard regarding their popularity here even if I happen to favor a certain character.

It's one thing to have favorites, but it's another to project a character as superior, and that's where I have a beef with it.

Well that can both ways, because to me everyone who has a name and has had some time in the limelight is a main character. Which is pretty much everyone but a handful of characters. Sonic & Eggman may be the driving forces of the series being the hero and villain, but there importance is only as prominent as the focus given to them as you previously said, 06 had both of them barely consequential to the plot, while Shadow & Silver were the ones handling the big things.

I think we need a set group of main characters though, if only to give an idea of who the games follow and who should we be most familiar with, at least that's my opinion on the matter, what the hell do I know .

No. Basically, he's saying take characters out of their comfort zone and have them develop a chemistry with characters they don't interact with much. He knows the chemistry isn't there, so he wants the character to explore the interactions they don't have so that the chemistry can be made to begin with.

That's what I get out of it anyway.

well that's just it, most of those characters are in a comfort zone because of some previous events that helped them bond or made the enemies, you can't just have a random character grow a relationship with someone they've barely known, because it comes off as forced. I think it needs to be a gradual thing.

For instance, Sonic & Knuckles started out as bitter rivals but after fighting alongside one another and seeing the extents they're willing to go for one another they developed a rock hard friendship, I mean yeah they still bicker and fight but its there.

Sonic initially saw Amy as nothing more than an annoyance, but as time grew he saw the true depths of her feelings, and now considers her a good friend at the very least.

See those examples I listed are gradual and therefore believable, now I'm all for other characters developing similar relationships with each other, I just don't want it done just for the sake of it, and for it to actually have some meaning.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

well that's just it, most of those characters are in a comfort zone because of some previous events that helped them bond or made the enemies, you can't just have a random character grow a relationship with someone they've barely known, because it comes off as forced. I think it needs to be a gradual thing.

Or a situational thing.

Off the top of my head: An event causes Sonic and Tails to get separated halfway across the globe, and are unable to find each other given their locations. Tails happens to bump into Rouge, who was scouting the area for GUN intelligence over certain activities within the area and they both get ambushed by Eggman's robots. The two fight together and realize that they could help each other out with Rouge's stealth and intel and Tails' technical skills and their combined ability of flight.

It's not exactly hard to do. I could even put Shadow and Cream together with a similar event...almost similar to Blaze and Cream in Rush. The key is to create a bond. It's practically no different from how the Classic cast got together, as they didn't know about each other prior to them coming face to face with one another, particularly with your example regarding Knuckles and Sonic.

[#EndyGate]

I remember I used a number generator to randomly match up all in pairs for development

I actually came up with a few interesting matches if my memory is correct

[Your Vest Friend]

I remember I used a number generator to randomly match up all in pairs for development

I actually came up with a few interesting matches if my memory is correct

My memory recalls you cursing me out because of it. :/

Status quo, such a finnicky concept, isn't it? Stick too close, and monotony sets in. Stray too far, and people become uncomfortable with it...

I'm all for mixing things up though, they do say that variety is the spice of life!

[Kuzu]

Or a situational thing.

Off the top of my head: An event causes Sonic and Tails to get separated halfway across the globe, and are unable to find each other given their locations. Tails happens to bump into Rouge, who was scouting the area for GUN intelligence over certain activities within the area and they both get ambushed by Eggman's robots. The two fight together and realize that they could help each other out with Rouge's stealth and intel and Tails' technical skills and their combined ability of flight.

It's not exactly hard to do. I could even put Shadow and Cream together with a similar event...almost similar to Blaze and Cream in Rush. The key is to create a bond. It's practically no different from how the Classic cast got together, as they didn't know about each other prior to them coming face to face with one another, particularly with your example regarding Knuckles and Sonic.

I never said it was hard, it just needs to be handled right.