Has Sonic become a spotlight stealer?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I never meant that Sonic being the sole focus of attention is a bad thing, like people said, it's his series so he's entitled to have the most spotlight; I just felt that "Hey, even if he is the main character, isn't he kind of eclipsing everyone else?"

I know. That's why I said it was a poor choice of words and think you meant "overshadowing" instead.

At the moment, it's not easy to say that he's eclipsing anyone. He lost a deal of spotlight in some games per-Unleashed so his doing more gaining back spotlight. Now Generations is starting to show traces of overshadowing, but it's still not enough to gauge that yet.

[Kuzu]

I know. That's why I said it was a poor choice of words and think you meant "overshadowing" instead.

At the moment, it's not easy to say that he's eclipsing anyone. He lost a deal of spotlight in some games per-Unleashed so his doing more gaining back spotlight. Now Generations is starting to show traces of overshadowing, but it's still not enough to gauge that yet.

I'd say Generations, he does kind of overshadow everyone considering he's the only actively doing anything nowadays, despite most of the other characters being just as capable; I mean the fact that literally the only contribution everyone in that game made was cheering Sonic on, really left a bad taste in my mouth, especially when it came from the likes of Blaze, Shadow, and Knuckles characters who would be damned to stay on the sidelines and let Sonic handle everything.

[Dr. Mechano]

So, time for an Eggman fan's perspective on Sonic-centric plots.

I like them. And I like them not-so-much because of Sonic, per se, but because of its effect on Eggman.

- Heroes-Shadow-2K6: Minimal Eggman involvement at best, and his few scenes are peppered with rather degrading moments like being "killed" by Shadow and beaten up by the Chaotix.

- Unleashed-Colors-Generations: Heavy Eggman involvement, hilarious cutscenes, great dialogue, etc.

There's certainly a correlation between Sonic-centered stories and fantastic focus on my favorite character, Dr. Eggman, but I'll admit that certain character-heavy games (Adventure and especially his playable appearance in Adventure 2) did a good job of this as well. Still, overwhelmingly, it seems that the more compact the cast is - and the more focus there is on Sonic - the more reciprocal focus there is on his nemesis.

And as an admittedly biased Eggman fan, I have to say I'm loving that particular side-effect of Sonic-only syndrome, and hope that it continues for quite some time.

[Vertekins]

Yeah but, the Storybook games had overwhelming focus on Sonic yet Eggman doesn't appear at all in SatBK.

But then again, those two weren't main series games...

Edited June 17, 2012 by Verte

[Someguy]

So, time for an Eggman fan's perspective on Sonic-centric plots.

I like them. And I like them not-so-much because of Sonic, per se, but because of its effect on Eggman.

- Heroes-Shadow-2K6: Minimal Eggman involvement at best, and his few scenes are peppered with rather degrading moments like being "killed" by Shadow and beaten up by the Chaotix.

- Unleashed-Colors-Generations: Heavy Eggman involvement, hilarious cutscenes, great dialogue, etc.

There's certainly a correlation between Sonic-centered stories and fantastic focus on my favorite character, Dr. Eggman, but I'll admit that certain character-heavy games (Adventure and especially his playable appearance in Adventure 2) did a good job of this as well. Still, overwhelmingly, it seems that the more compact the cast is - and the more focus there is on Sonic - the more reciprocal focus there is on his nemesis.

And as an admittedly biased Eggman fan, I have to say I'm loving that particular side-effect of Sonic-only syndrome, and hope that it continues for quite some time.

I wanted to say that despite it being good to return the titular character to focus I also miss seeing interactions with cast besides Sonic, Tails and small side character of the week, but now I'm thinking twice...

Still, think of it this way, if the other cast is shunted too far out of the spotlight, you never get to see Eggman interact with them. Think of all the potential great Eggman interactions that we could be missing, like taking Shadow down a notch both with robotic prowess and mindgames via his knowledge of Shadow through his snooping through the ARK, oddball hostage hijinks with Amy or Cream before going into big threat mode, or exacting revenge on the Chaotix/paying them their "reward" from Heroes if he feels he's conquered the world.

Then we can sit comfortably knowing that we'd still be likely to follow up said scene with a Sonic style stage of some form and Sonic still likely being the lead matching wits with Eggy in the end, with or without teamwork.

[Wittymations]

Nah, but I'd like there to be some more attention on the other characters, now that they fixed Sonic's playability and gave the game some credit again.

Start with Tails and work the way down. Yeah, he's been in 4 episode 2, but it'd be nice to see what they can to. Make a Fox Engine.

But hey, just keep the good games pumping.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Still, overwhelmingly, it seems that the more compact the cast is - and the more focus there is on Sonic - the more reciprocal focus there is on his nemesis.

[Dr. Mechano]

I'm not sure that's really the case. Heroes definitely had some large Eggman focus; okay, it was Metal Sonic the whole time, but it was definitely Eggman centric by that association. Your mileage may vary, but it's something to take in consideration how the game with the largest cast had more to do with Eggman in form than it did Metal Sonic himself.

Eggman's involvement in that game was giving the Chaotix directions and standing around during the final boss fight. Any other appearances by him were really Metal Sonic, as you said, which to me doesn't really count. As such, Heroes wasn't really a very good game for the doctor, but it was a good role for Metal Sonic, who was the recurring (and final) enemy.

And also, it's less so the cast and more so the number of villains they decided to bring into the fray for games like ShTH and Sonic 06 that sidelined Eggman. Had say Mephiles not been the main one pulling the strings in Sonic 06, Eggman would have been the more major threat to deal with for every character there. Had Black Doom not been around, and you most certainly would have to be dealing with Eggman while the GUN Commander was more of a minor antagonist.

Well, yeah. But that's just it; More characters tends to equal a shift in focus to a different bad guy. That's neither objectively good nor bad, but it does tend to be the case that larger-cast games seem to have giant cosmic monsters in full focus. (It's true that this was the case for Unleashed as well, but I still enjoyed it just because Eggman still got plenty of focus, goofy scenes at the base and all)

Note that I'm not saying a game with more (playable) characters couldn't pull this off; It absolutely could, but I'm not sure it would. Sonic Adventure 2 was a great example of a game that had a moderately-sized cast of characters, yet everyone in the game had sufficient focus in the spotlight; In games like Heroes and 2K6, I just can't help but feel some of the characters were shoehorned into the game and barely had a chance to shine, despite their inclusion.

Granted, SA2's cast was about half the size of Heroes or 2K6. I think, if a game is going to focus on several characters aside from Sonic, it's far better for it to be about five or six than about eleven or twelve. Even when dealing with characters aside from Sonic, smaller is better on a game to game basis.

Edited June 17, 2012 by Dr. Mechano

[Dejablue]

I don't consider Sonic a spot light hog (lol) But the people who wrote SA and SA2 apparently aren't around anymore to craft these stories. So I guess I can't expect supporting cast to get any sort of spotlight on their own that doesn't involve them simply being side line cheerleaders.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Note that I'm not saying a game with more (playable) characters couldn't pull this off; It absolutely could, but I'm not sure it would.

Yes, it would work. The key is to keep Eggman the central villain for him to still have focus. Having a larger cast wouldn't distract from that so long as Eggman is the prime enemy number one in the game causing trouble. It's like the Archie comics and their genius work on Eggman; there are so many other villains around than there ever has been in the games, and some of them have been around for decades, and yet Eggman still eclipses them all as a villain so far as to make other villains work for him. Yeah, he goes insane and loses his marbles in a villainous Breakdown, but then he bounces right back like a rubber ball on steroids and plows through everything that caused him trouble in the past with epic precision and scale.

Especially considering the Dark Legion. They were Knuckles' foes, and yet Eggman assimilated them and kept them completely in line under his command. If Archie Sonic can have a larger cast of recurring heroes, anti-heroes and villains and still able to pull this off by making Eggman the most central threat in it's series, I find it hard to believe how Game Sonic couldn't do it with it's smaller cast of recurring heroes, anti-heroes and only 1 major villain by comparison.

[Unidus]

No, Shadow can go to hell. He can go to hell and he can die.

If it were anytime before 2011, I would probably completely disagree with you; however, I think that this clip speaks for itself.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IISC-tcFdVU

Oh, Shadow, how they have ruined you so.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Unidus

[Johnny Boy]

If it were anytime before 2011, I would probably completely disagree with you; however, I think that this clip speaks for itself.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IISC-tcFdVU

Oh, Shadow, how they have ruined you so.

I'd don't know why everybody gets their panties in a bunch about this. It was just one line for crying out loud.

[Unidus]

I'd don't know why everybody gets their panties in a bunch about this. It was just one line for crying out loud.

Start from 3:57.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Oh my god, the Shadow hate is becoming just as annoying as the Shadow fanboyism.

Just give it a rest, this isn't the topic for ti.

[Marcello]

Gameplay aside, look at Adventure and Adventure 2. Every character had their own story and had some involvement in the main/Sonic plot. Nowadays they've just been sidelined to appearing for no reason. It's not exactly spotlight stealing, but these characters have definitely been pushed aside for more Sonic. It's really just the last two games, though. Tails and Amy, especially Amy, were just there for little reason, but Unleashed had a lot of focus on Chip and his and Sonic's relationship. I'd hope for them to return to more of a focus like the Adventure titles, but I don't think that will happen.

The series is called Sonic the Hedgehog.

The star of the show can't steal the spotlight.

Is there really anything else to say? D:

Yes they can. Case in point, Naruto.

It's justified by them bothering to take time to get Sonic's gameplay right after the clusterfuck of 06. He's the priority, everyone else is an extension of him and now they know what they want to do with him, thanks to that.

It's not justified 4 years later.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

It's not justified 4 years later.

Even more so when they haven't done very much to the gameplay that manages to stick.

[Kuzu]

Yes they can. Case in point, Naruto.

Hey remember Sasuske and Shikamaru and how much focus they had in Part 2? Yeah.

It's not justified 4 years later.

It's justified because he's the main protagonist, he's the only one they're really required to work on and is ultimately the face of the series, everyone else, even Tails, are secondary and not required to be playable.

Even more so when they haven't done very much to the gameplay that manages to stick.

Ya know the ironic thing about it is, it's probably going to lead to more Sonic only games to find a new style after the Unleashed one.

I'd don't know why everybody gets their panties in a bunch about this. It was just one line for crying out loud.

I think it's more because Shadow, of all people, is cheering Sonic on. It's just so out of character.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Hey remember Sasuske and Shikamaru and how much focus they had in Part 2? Yeah.

Meh, I stopped paying attention to Naruto after they gave us filler episodes and out of sheer boredom.

It's justified because he's the main protagonist, he's the only one they're really required to work on and is ultimately the face of the series, everyone else, even Tails, are secondary and not required to be playable.

I think he means that in regards to the attention of how they're being put in places where they've done very little, such as them being around in Unleashed when Amy hardly did anything and the most Tails did was fly Sonic and Chip from place to place. Then in Generations when everyone was just there instead of making some kind of contribution to their involvement other than getting captured, standing near the zone portals, cheering for the Sonic's fighting the Time Eater, and telling us about the Homing Shot.

We've essentially got Sonic's gameplay down already, so it's not much of an excuse to say "they need to get his gameplay right before they move on to anyone else" when we already have it right 4 years later. (and despite how much I want them to make a different gameplay)

I think it's more because Shadow, of all people, is cheering Sonic on. It's just so out of character.

Actually, I think he meant more of the voice considering his later post on Shadow's different VAs.

Even so that's still a minor reason to say the character is ruined.

Edited June 18, 2012 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Marcello]

Hey remember Sasuske and Shikamaru and how much focus they had in Part 2? Yeah.

Remember when Itachi told Naruto to rely on others and then Naruto jumped into the middle of a battle that Temari was about to to have screaming "ME!!!"?

It's justified because he's the main protagonist, he's the only one they're really required to work on and is ultimately the face of the series, everyone else, even Tails, are secondary and not required to be playable.

It's been 4 years since this new gameplay style. Using the old "They want to get Sonic's gameplay right before they bring in other characters" is just sad.

[sonfan1984]

If it were anytime before 2011, I would probably completely disagree with you; however, I think that this clip speaks for itself.

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IISC-tcFdVU

Oh, Shadow, how they have ruined you so.

You mean before 2011 you didn't think he wasn't already ruined in 2005 when they butchered his character so much in his own game? That line is so minor compare to what they've done to him in his game as a whole.

BTW, I still don't understand what is people problem with that one line. It's not even that big of a deal. I've seen and heard alot worse.

Edited June 18, 2012 by sonfan1984

[Kuzu]

Meh, I stopped paying attention to Naruto after they gave us filler episodes and out of sheer boredom.

I actually was talking about the manga.

I think he means that in regards to the attention of how they're being put in places where they've done very little, such as them being around in Unleashed when Amy hardly did anything and the most Tails did was fly Sonic and Chip from place to place. Then in Generations when everyone was just there instead of making some kind of contribution to their involvement other than getting captured, standing near the zone portals, cheering for the Sonic's fighting the Time Eater, and telling us about the Homing Shot.

We've essentially got Sonic's gameplay down already, so it's not much of an excuse to say "they need to get his gameplay right before they move on to anyone else" when we already have it right 4 years later. (and despite how much I want them to make a different gameplay)

If it's how they're using the rest of the cast fine, but like I was told many times in this topic, complaining that the main protagonist is getting too much spotlight is fucking stupid, why do you think they're the main protagonist?

Remember when Itachi told Naruto to rely on others and then Naruto jumped into the middle of a battle that Temari was about to to have screaming "ME!!!"?

Yes, the main protagonist stealing the spotlight from a minor character, stop the presses.

It's been 4 years since this new gameplay style. Using the old "They want to get Sonic's gameplay right before they bring in other characters" is just sad.

Who cares if it's sad or not, it's a completely legit excuse, if they want to put all of their time and effort into Sonic, then so be it as he's the only they're required to work on and make better. I mean I understand the sentiment the rest of the cast are getting shafted, but the protagonist of anything, by law is required to have the most focus, it's like complaining that grass is green.

[Komodin]

Hm, so the main issue isn't Sonic being a "spotlight-stealer," so much as the others being either Demoted to Extra, or are just straight-up Out of Focus?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I actually was talking about the manga.

Which goes to show that they need to stop with the filler in the anime, because I would likely still be reading the manga more. But that's for another topic.

If it's how they're using the rest of the cast fine, but like I was told many times in this topic, complaining that the main protagonist is getting too much spotlight is fucking stupid, why do you think they're the main protagonist?

Well yeah, but that still doesn't detract from how he should share some of it, like I assumed you meant when you made the OP.

Yeah, Sonic gets the top billing most of the time, but it's not like he'd lose that much by splitting more of his spotlight with others who can do more compared to what they haven't been doing recently…but at this point, I'm just repeating myself.

Yes, the main protagonist stealing the spotlight from a minor character, stop the presses.

I'm pretty sure he meant that while Naruto is the main protagonist, he can still have other characters play major roles alongside him. That's what I assumed when he said how Itachi told Naruto to rely on others rather than himself; be an army of many, not an army of one.

Meh, I'll let Marcello sort it out. I can't speak for him on his own words than he can.

Who cares if it's sad or not, it's a completely legit excuse, if they want to put all of their time and effort into Sonic, then so be it as he's the only they're required to work on and make better. I mean I understand the sentiment the rest of the cast are getting shafted, but the protagonist of anything, by law is required to have the most focus, it's like complaining that grass is green.

Actually, grass can be brown, red and yellow too.

But having the most focus isn't the same as having all of the focus, or so much that none of the other characters can do anything to help. That's the sad part. We want Sonic to be the primary character in the series, but we want the other characters to get involved more too.

It's like being a CEO of a company, you're the biggest person above everyone else, but you can't do everything and need to rely on others to help you keep the company afloat. I got dozen's more analogies than that.

Hm, so the main issue isn't Sonic being a "spotlight-stealer," so much as the others being either Demoted to Extra, or are just straight-up Out of Focus?

I'd say pretty much.

Edited June 18, 2012 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Scar]

I think it's more because Shadow, of all people, is cheering Sonic on. It's just so out of character.

Shadow did basically the same thing in Heroes. Shadow's own game did more to ruin his character than any other game has done ever.

Not that, that is an excuse, but its not a new issue.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Scar

[Sami]

More focus on other characters is fine, I guess, but if we have to play genre roulette yet again as a result I'm going to be an unhappy man.

Knuckles being doing important stuff or showing up as a playable character is great; treasure hunting can fuck off.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Dissident