#and I really want to play Sonic Unleashed at some point

[jimbooooo0oo]

Friday

This my first tumblr fic so it could definitely be better but yea. I wrote this in a frenzy last night hope you guys enjoy.

7:36pm, Friday night and Mark is curled up in your bed swiping through William's instagram story (when the fuck did he get so many friends?). Your at your desk playing some video game (there are way to many of them to keep track of). Mark was about to switch to snap but then you say

"Holy shit! Mark you have to see this."

"Alright alright"

Mark untangles himself from your favorite blanket and lazily pushes himself off your bed.

"Fuck I died. Lemme see if I can get back there"

Mark laughs and pulls out the extra chair at your desk before plopping himself down in it.

"What did you want to show me?"

"I'm gettn' there"

From the looks of it you were playing… sonic? That blue thing looked a lot like him anyway. Your playing a city level and… dying. A shit ton. You play the first part on this really bendy highway (how the fuck is anyone supposed to drive on that shit?) pretty much perfectly and then you bounce of this little red thing and then launch yourself into floating ball of spikes and the swear like a sailor. Mark's heard the opening cords of the level music like 5-7 times before you finally make it past the spikes of death. You do a lot of launching and flipping (since when was sonic this loud?) before entering a domed highway.

"What did you wanna show me?"

"So like there's this cool tech, idk if I can do it tho"

"Oh ok"

Mark looks down at his phone, 7:56. He rests his chin in the palm of his hand and looks back up at your computer screen. Your at a part of the level with a ton of spikes (why are there so many spikes???). You're trying to avoid a wall of em and end up dying.

"Fuckn' shitty ass fuckn'" you mumble more curses and restart. Pause the game and take off your headphones and turn up the game volume. The next 15 minutes are kinda a blur. You start messing up earlier and Eve texts him about chem today (their chem basically shit himself in front of them and curtly excused him), so safe to say Mark was only half paying attention. He did notice when you straighten out your posture he got to hear more of the music, so that was probably helping.

"Babe look up"

"Huh?"

You've stopped on a rooftop and start pointing to stuff on screen and animatly explained what the tech you'd found was. That was interesting, sounded difficult but Mark was definitely (totally) staring at your biceps rn. All that time in the gym with we'd spent was finally paying off (it was really cute how shy you were when he suggested the idea).

"Are you listening"

"I'm staring at your arms."

You wrinkle your nose and grumble a thanks while trying to hide your smile (failing miserably) before returming to your game.

"Can I try it out"

"uh, sure"

You get up and mark takes your seat. Maybe it's because you were getting the hang of the level and making it look easy but he kinda forgot that he's god awful at video games. he fuck ups and dies over the first pit, shit. no no, gimmie one more try. He launches into the ball of spikes and dies, 5 more times. He mumbling curse cause why is this so hard?

"Since when did you start cursing so much Mark?"

"Since we started dating. Your a bad influence" Mark gets to LINE (why is there a LINE of them after having to get past one. Mark is NOT built for this) of spike balls. He looks down on the keyboard and hesitantly presses jump. Sonic launches into the spikes and he fucking dies.

"I'm just a fucking boy, babe"

"and you proved my point"

Mark gives a kiss on the cheek before getting up from your seat, he's had enough video games for the next 3 months tbh.

Hope you liked it. idk if I'll be taking requests atp. If ur curious about the level they're playing, it's skyscraper scamper act 1-2 from sonic unleashed. Beenn on a recompiled kick recently and had a burst of inspiration while playing.

[sminny-wew]

(Spoilers for IDW Sonic #76)

Lemme tell you guys what makes Silver's characterization on this page so deliciously juicy to me. It's a bit of a doozy to explain, but bear with me

In Sonic 06, you start out with Sonic's story mode as the default. So if you were playing the game for the first time and had no idea who Silver was, you would initially believe he's an antagonist, based on how focused and single-minded he is on killing Sonic (to the point of not noticing Sonic is trying to rescue someone). But as you get further into the game, you unlock Shadow's and Silver's story modes as well, and you learn why Silver initially wants to kill Sonic.

In Silver's story, it's revealed that he comes from a post-apocalyptic future ravaged by Iblis's flames. Silver, being naive and trusting, is told by Mephiles that if he wants to bring hope and peace to his world, all he has to do is kill the one person who caused this devastation in the first place, the "Iblis Trigger": Sonic. (Obviously Mephiles is lying to get Silver to do his dirty work for him.) But as Silver spends more time in the past, he befriends people like Amy, who lead him to question his goal. This in turn leads to one of the overarching themes of Silver's campaign:

"...is that really the right thing to do?"

Now I'm not here to debate this moral dilemma, at the end of the day the target demographic of this game and the Sonic franchise as a whole is young boys, so obviously the story won't get too deep into a topic like that. But I have a reason for bringing this up.

Ultimately, after learning who the real Iblis Trigger is and thinking things over, Silver decides to help Sonic rescue Elise to prevent her from dying in a crash and thus releasing Iblis prematurely. (This is also why Mephiles says "Screw it" and just kills Sonic himself in the end.) But Elise is still a mortal, so at some point in the 200 years between Sonic's time and Silver's, she still dies and her death still unleashes Iblis upon the world. Returning to a future that's still in ruins, Silver tries to seal Iblis within himself, only for Blaze to take his place; Iblis accepts her as a host due to her pyrokinesis, and her body disintegrates as her spirit vanishes into the sky, parting the clouds and returning light to a once bleak world. Silver finally gets to see the clear skies and bright sunshine of the past in his own era, but at the cost of having to reckon with the loss of his closest friend.

So what does any of this have to do with Silver wanting to help Whisper kill Mimic?

In the final story of 06, after Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Silver defeat Solaris, Sonic and Elise are taken back in time to when Solaris was just a little flame, and Elise makes the difficult decision to blow the flame out in order to save everyone the grief it will cause. By destroying Solaris in the past, the events of Sonic 06 are erased from the timeline.

Elise never meets Sonic because he never has to rescue her from Eggman.

Eggman has no motive to invade Soleanna because there's no longer any so-called "Flames of Disaster" to entice him.

And because there's no Mephiles to send him back in time to kill an Iblis Trigger, all of Silver's character development is undone.

Now, the first time he's technically met Sonic and co. was in Sonic Rivals, where he travels back in time to track down Eggman Nega and stop him from turning the planet and everyone who lives on it into cards.

So if Silver seems a little too eager to kill Mimic as revenge...I believe that it's because he's technically never had to confront the idea of taking a life before. This Silver, the one who's never encountered Solaris and only just now got to see Soleanna for the first time on his little world tour with Blaze, never had to contend with what killing means, or the consequences that come with it, or how traumatic the act of killing can be.

Would this be retreading old ground for Silver? Kinda, yeah, but given the context of both 06 and the Duo thing, I honestly don't think it's a bad idea for him to go through this dilemma again

And for me personally, no matter how things go, it's gonna be so great to watch it all play out

[papagabu]

I feel like I should make a list of all my tails headcanons I’ve come up with. Because I feel like I’ve dropped a lot they’re all just in the back of my head.

1. I think Tails is kind of a pervert, but in a young boy who just discovered he likes girls way, so he can be a little creepy at times, but he's ultimately harmless about it.

2. I think Tails has no regard for the law, much like Sonic does. I think Tails is more than willing to just do what he wants no matter the potential repercussions, and he definitely has a lot of illegal items and materials stored away somewhere in his workshop. But he has good morals, so he won't just straight up kill someone... anymore.

3. I think Tails was very liberal with using excessive force when he was younger. I mean, the fact he uses napalm bombs in Tails' Adventure is evidence enough, and that's one of the rare few Sonic games where you don't just fight robots, so he was napalming Battle Kukkus into fried chicken.

4. Tails mellowed out due to Sonic's influence; if it weren't for Sonic, Tails would have probably just bombed Eggman to death during Sonic 2.

5. Tails watches cartoons.

6. He'll say random things to Sonic while he's working.

7. Tails is autistic.

8. Tails is bi/pan.

9. So many people like to think Tails would be bad at games and Sonic would be better, but no, I think Tails would be great at video games, way better than Sonic. I don't even think Sonic even really watches TV or plays video games with the exception of Boom Sonic, but Tails needs something to do while he's alone at his workshop and taking a break from one of his inventions. Dude is probably one of those gamers that almost never plays and then suddenly one day hops into an online game and just dominates for a couple of hours and then disappears for a week. But Tails probably mostly plays rpgs, rts, and strategy games.

10. Sonic is solely responsible for Tails' loss of self-esteem because at some point around Unleashed and Colors, Sonic begins to actively push Tails away from actually helping him during his adventures, most evident in Sonic Colors when he literally pushes Tails away from helping him fight the Nega Wisp Armor.

11. Tails has the most potential of any character in the franchise, but he's rather complacent with his place in life because he doesn't want to be better than anyone ; he just wants to be seen as an equal to everyone. He doesn't strive to be strong, fast, or even smart, all he wants is to be with the people who make him happy.

12. Tails has eaten garbage and wild animals

13. Tails can handle spice, dude eats peppermint and chilidogs at the very least once a week.

14. Tails has dyslexia

[essycogany]

Rare But Not So Rare Sonic Moments

Flaws

This may get controversial.

I welcome anyone else’s view point on this topic. If you don’t agree I’m okay with that. Just because I have a different perspective doesn’t make what I think right or wrong. You don’t have to change your mind. Whatever your opinion is, I respect it. Besides, it’s fun to have different views on something we both love. It gives us a way to see different sides of the coin.

Disclaimer: I’m a person who didn’t grow up with this franchise and only recently got into in early 2022. I have no biases towards any version of this character. Making my opinions about his characterizations mixed.

By the way, I’ll only use Sonic games as examples (for the most part) because this analysis would be too long if I talked about other medias.

In short. Most of his flaws do stir into different medias as well. To be honest, Sonic’s other variants aren’t as different as some may think, but that’s my hot take.

Times The Blue Blur Messed Up

Riders: Sonic lunched Amy along with Eggman into the air with his wind abilities. While knowing Amy’s safety would be at risk. Then left her. Which was the reason she was so angry and aggressive afterwards. He didn’t ever apologize either.

06: Exchanged a chaos emerald for Elise even after Tails warned Sonic not to.

Unleashed: Was distracted by taunting Eggman.

Sonic: “Well, this is new. Showing remorse Eggman? If you played nice, I wouldn’t have to break all your toys.”

Then became the Werehog. All because he wanted to boost his ego.

Secret Rings: Shahra used Sonic to collect the world rings for Erazar Djinn. Even though it should’ve been expected because she said, “They use to work together.” Ended up not being true.

Black Night: Was tricked into helping Merlina who wanted to create a world that would last forever.

Lost World: Tails once again tried to warn Mr.Impatient about the conch in Eggman’s hand, but kicked it anyways. Then warned Sonic about another trap, he didn’t listen, ended up getting the fox captured instead.

Frontiers: Accidentally helped free The End despite Knuckles and Sage’s suspensions. If his friends, Eggman, and Sage didn’t help him…..Well, it’s in the villain's name.

Side Note: In Secret Rings, Black night, and Frontiers Sonic was rude at points.

Sonic Sassiness

Sonic Sassiness Part 2

Sonic’s Overall Flaws/Mistakes

Some may be from his general characterizations throughout his history.

Sonic rushes into things without a second thought. (Impulsiveness) Sonic can be too reckless, brash, or not take situations seriously.

He’s impatient. (Which was his core trait since his idle animation in Sonic 1)

He doesn’t listen to his friends warnings. Sonic can be too cocky at the wrong moments. He causes or contributes to world ending consequences. The blue blur can also be too trusting and naive.

Sonic doesn’t worry about his own physical or mental state and internalizes his emotions. He isn’t able to express himself very well. Therefore doesn’t put the right words together when speaking sometimes.

Sonic can be stubborn and a bit of a jerk.

Sage: “You are short tempered and short sided.”

And that’s about it. If I missed anything, feel free to let me know.

My Thoughts

A few of these can be seen as Sonic’s strength and weaknesses. Like his willingness to harm himself if it means to save his friends.

The reason Sonic never learns from his mistakes in the games is because he gets away with them. Which is not a good or bad thing per say. (Besides Sonic Riders. There’s no excuse for that.)

The stories never really given him an arc. But I don’t think Sonic’s a perfect or flawless character. If the examples I’ve shown are evidence of anything.

I’d say he’s static, but not consistently. Most static characters I’ve seen rarely stays static anyways.

I also don’t believe Sonic himself thinks he’s perfect. Sonic probably thinks he doesn’t have to change because he’s so sure he should be able to manage things without issue. Everything does eventually go his way. Why should he change?

I do understand Sonic influences people, but why can’t there be a balance? It’s been done plenty of times with other characters. In books, movies, and tv shows. Animated and live-action.

Movie!Sonic in Sonic 2 inspired both Knuckles and Tails. Helping them better themselves with advice and encouragement. While also going through his own arc of growing up and being responsible.

Tails:“You’ve inspired me. To leave my village. To find you and help you on your mission.”

Despite him learning how to slow down and plan things out, Prime!Sonic also inspires the different variants of his friends. Thorn, Dread, and Nine. Helping them grow into becoming better people.

Even in Unleashed Sonic was at his most mature, but it was only after his cocky attitude got him into trouble. So, yes. Inspirational characters can have flaws.

I’ll just say this

Everyone has their own views on how Sonic should be characterized, drawn, played, voiced, animated, and showcase.

It’s fine if you don’t like a curtain interpretation of a character, but to say the character (Especially if they weren’t very consistent in the first place) isn’t acting like themselves now, it’s really hard to argue what self there is to come back to. Because even in the games there are so many different selves for these characters in their own canon universe. From Classic to Adventure, Unleashed, Colors, and Frontiers. (If that makes any sense)

It’s hard to find one place to be in because Sonic’s been in too many places at once. He shouldn’t be held down to one characterization if he’s already been all over the place from the beginning of his existence.

AKA Sonic’s first two shows ever. TAOSTH and SATAM. In both shows Sonic had flaws as well, but never learned from them. Which means he’s been like this from the start. Like everything else about this franchise, his personality is an ongoing experiment that’ll probably never be solved. And I kind of love that. Even if it can be stressful and has it’s own up’s and down’s

All of these unique stories from the games, comics, tv shows, and movies people grew up with are what made this franchise so popular. This is the main reason I became a Sonic fan. Because I learned so much about characterization from this franchise and how to love the different variations of its characters. Finding an appreciation for each of them.

Conclusion

Everyone’s opinions are valid at the end of the day. At least we all have a version of this character we can love and appreciate. Whether you agree or not I’m grateful you’ve made it all the way to the end. You’re a trooper!

Stay Creative! 💜

[bloodygyaruuu]

this is literally my first time drawing either of them in my 18 years of existence </3

(please excuse any errors; i was struggling)

since watching prime last year and now w/the movie release ive been really intrigued in the sth fandom. i’ve been playing sonic frontiers on the ps5 for the very first time and idk why i never played anything from this series earlier in my life ((i don’t think the 2012 Olympics count)). i really like these games and i think i want to “legally acquire” SA2 and unleashed at some point; they both look sick

i can’t draw animals and these characters are very complex to draw and easy to fuck up so if any veterans or long time fans have any tips or resources for drawing these fuckers i’d be more than happy to hear them (*´∇｀*)

[askagamedev]

I feel like I or someone else asked you this, but do you think that gameplay will ever get to the point where it looks like the fancy prerendered cutscenes? Even the outstanding visuals we have now, don't really look like say, Sonic Unleashed's opening cinematic from.....Christ, 2008 was really 15 years ago. Anyway, Is there a way to match that that look in style and fidelity or is it just kind of a "physics" thing where that's basically not possible? What stops that if that's the case.

I don't believe that gameplay will ever look like fancy prerendered cutscenes because gameplay has certain needs that cutscenes do not, and cutscenes have certain needs that gameplay does not. Here's what I mean.

When you're watching a cinematic in a game like Spider-Man, what are you seeing on screen? Usually what you want to see is Spider-Man doing some amazing, spectacular action. Something like this:

Note how closely pulled-in the camera is, so that you can see all the details of Spider-Man's body and posing. The camera zooms in to see him narrow his eyes. Look at how the camera movement can barely frame him, conveying how fast he is moving. You're not looking for where to go next, because it's all pre-planned out for you - the purpose of this short cinematic is to tell a story - Spider-Man has to get out of here quickly.

Let's compare that to what you see on screen when you are playing Spider-Man:

See how the camera is framing everything very differently? Spider-Man takes up a very small amount of the screen. The vast majority of the information being conveyed here is showing the player exactly where Spider-Man is going and how fast he is getting there. We're seeing him move acrobatically through the air, but we're not seeing his emotions or his face. We're focusing on what matters - navigating through the city to wherever we (as the player) want him to go.

The needs of gameplay are different than the needs of cinematics. Even if the technology improves to the point where everything is beautiful and gorgeous, it still won't look the same because the purpose of regular gameplay and the purpose of cinematics is different. Gameplay visualizes the things the player needs to see and engage with at any given time. Cinematics visualize the aspects of the story that the designers want to tell. Even if the tech can do it, the purpose of the visualization isn't the same so it won't happen.

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Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[ouroborosorder]

Can you tell me more about the negators mapping to fighting game character archetypes? I don’t know much about fgc archetypes but I love UU and this sounds super interesting.

alright so groundwork. Totsuka is a massive fighting game fan. UU is fucking full of references to street fighter already, and he's said before that he wanted to make a manga about fighting games. Dude loves them, so I'm not saying this baselessly. It's to the point where my conspiracy theory is that this started as a hypothetical fighting game roster.

I'll just go through the first few in order and then some notables:

Andy - Shoto. A mixed fighter who specializes at having good tools for any distance. Usually featuring a long-range projectile (parts bullet), a wide reaching mid-screen poke (Crescent series), and an approach option (Fucking flying.) Also, many Shotos have an "install" form, where they unleash a dormant power and transform into a more dangerous, aggressive version of themselves. Come on, dude has a Victor install. Also, "cocky immortal" is a very common fighting game archetype narratively, and one of my personal favorites tbh.

Fuuko - Setplay debuff character. Usually relies on defensive play, mixups, and pokes. When you come to understand the target well enough, you can push your luck, find their pressure point, and land a single glancing hit that applies a debuff that allows you to steamroll the opponent. And like. Falling in love with the opponent and then using that love to understand them is exactly how Fuuko fights. Characters like Londrekia from Under Night are a good touchstone here.

Shen - Chinese stereotype martial artist. This is a common thing in fighting games. Also, they tend to focus really heavily on mixups, forcing the opponent into making bad calls by faking one move and going for another - finding the truth through untruth, as it were.

Void - Bigbody close-range brawler. The dude literally walks into the boxing ring dressed like Balrog from Street Fighter. I mean, come on.

Gina - This is where my theory gets Weird but bear with me. Gina is the bigbody grappler. Grapplers in fighters are slow-moving, highly defensive, and focus primarily on forcing pressure by existing. Grapplers are scary because they don't have to change their position at all to force you to have to play differently. Plus, Gina is associated with her big barrier around her at all times that limits her movement and would make her hitbox larger. Also, her giant Unchange hands are a phenomenal grappler tool. Also, when fighters try to be subversive and make a grappler that isn't a massive guy, they almost always do it by making it a small girl who plays identical to a big guy.

Top - Obligatory rushdown fighter. His new 101 interpretation feels basically tailor-made for rushdown play tbh. Give him a rekka series and we're fucking good.

Rip - Motherfucking CHARGE CHARACTER BABY. This one is entirely because Rip literally has Guile's flash kick and a sonic boom, he does them on screen.

Phil - Full screen zoner. Also the amount of fighting games that have just one extremely weird robot character is absurd, he's basically tailor made to be the obligatory One Robot.

Billy - Copycat fighter. These aren't common anymore, but used to be more common back when sprites were frequent and tracing over another character's sprites was way faster than making a new animation. A character whose entire premise is using other fighters' moves, copying their abilities into an entirely new kit. Mechanically, these characters tend to have weird, disparate kits with a lot of unique options that otherwise would never be on a kit together, allowing them to adapt their playstyle to be the exact perfect enemy to whoever they're facing. Also "bouncing gunslinger" is a very very common fighting game trope, since fighters tend to balance out guns' innate power with weird firing angles.

Juiz - Midrange bait and punish swordfighter. Prioritizes pokes from every angle, allowing you to react and punish everything your opponent can do. Usually calm-collected fencers personality-wise. Maps perfectly to Unjustice's idea - wait until you know what your opponent's intent is, then negate their Justice.

Julia - Protege character who takes after two other members of the cast - being Fuuko and Juiz. Their fighting style usually is a mix of the two, combining their best aspects, copying their moves exactly sometimes, with their own unique aspects in there to show her own persona growing alongside their influence.

Latla - Actively a reference to Rose from Street Fighter. So. Rose from Street Fighter.

Backs - Joke character. You lose to this in bracket, you're going to be posting some real scrubquotes shit.

I can do this for almost every single Negator in the entire manga. The only characters I can't find easy maps to are Chikara, Sean, Tella, Ichico, Lucy, and whatever Unchaste's name was. (this may change if Unchaste actually ever appears again.) But they're all not fighters anyway, they're all support characters or literal children dying of an incurable disease.

[the-heart-of-a-monster]

hi hello i haven’t played sonic unleashed but i watched gameplay years and years ago but its been a minute so bear with me here

so i stayed up all night reading through this entire comic in one sitting and i absolutely adore the way you showed the panel borders distorting and even becoming monstrous themselves as Shadow reaches his breaking point (which is symbolically shown through the icy walls fracturing around them during his and Sonic’s argument leading up to the fight) and the way the influence of Dark Gaia becomes more prominent as purple flames to emanate from him, growing more and more vivid

and then the rising action reaches a fever pitch when Sonic says he has no heart and we see Shadow finally reach his breaking point when the borders of the panel shatter around him

and while he processes this the borders soften (although not entirely) and we see Sonic realize the mistake he made and his regret, but it’s already too late because we can see the color red slowly start to overtake the borders as Shadow is overcome with rage

and we can see the red borders turn to pink and the glimpses of pink in Shadow’s text bubbles take over completely as the force that’s corrupting him takes control of him in this vulnerable state

it tries falteringly to communicate with Sonic, a desperate plea for him to fix what was broken and to make Gaia whole again

in this moment Dark Gaia as an entity is effectively lashing out and it latches onto Shadow’s rage here especially because that’s something it can empathize with, or at the very least something it recognizes given its own circumstances. Dark Gaia seems to understand (at least within the constraints of its limitations as one part of a whole) that it is fundamentally broken and in order to make that right it wants to be “fixed” but it doesn’t know how and it can’t really do that on its own

I don’t know if Dark Gaia even knows that it can’t mend itself by itself and if its just sort of reacting to the cosmic existential horror that is being split into two separate entities (i’d be cranky too if that happened to me regardless of whether or not i was some sort of ancient deity)

but then in a pivotal moment, Sonic reaches out to Shadow, to Dark Gaia, and the borders straighten out once more. They’re still pink mind you, but Sonic has managed to ground Shadow/Dark Gaia or at least shock him long enough to absorb the darkness within.

Sonic promises that the lies stop here and that he and Shadow/Dark Gaia are going to make this right together and in an eruption of purple flames, we cut to Shadow’s time on the ARK.

It’s a brilliant transition and the pay off for this moment is amazing as it was set up spectacularly via foreshadowing (ha get it) in earlier issues of the comic.

The technical aspects of the comic continue to blow me away during this sequence as we as readers are able to measure the passage of time through the timestamps in the upper righthand corner of each panel.

We see Shadow’s turbulent upbringing and the unrelenting kindness that Maria showed him. We see how his unpredictable powers affected his life aboard the ARK and how his struggles mirror the ones Sonic has been grappling with throughout the comic.

We even see Shadow start to embrace his own innate capacity for violence at one point and not in a good way. After months of testing, covered in blood, Shadow calls himself a monster and to the reader (and perhaps even Shadow himself given the abstract nature of the background in this panel) At this point it’s not immediately clear exactly what he’s done, but the blood is a pretty good indicator that it can’t be good.

Finally, reality sinks in when someone begins to shout and Shadow sees the look on Maria’s face. As members of G.U.N. close in on him with their arms outstretched to seize him, Shadow’s body language (particularly his ears and his face) tell us that Shadow is horrified by what he’s become and so he runs.

Maria calls after him, desperately trying to quell his fears and I love the framing of Maria in the next page and how she stands in the doorway, surrounded by light while Shadow is hunched over in the darkness, staring at the hands that he used to take away the lives of those soldiers.

Shadow is crying when Maria approaches him and places a hand on his shoulder. The light and the dark meet and with tears in her eyes, Maria utters the very same words that were spoken earlier in the comic when Shadow comforted Sonic (well not the very same because they’re speaking german here but i digress)

Color returns to the pages anew and just like Sonic, we see Maria in a brand new light both symbolically and literally. All of this happens before the purple flames we saw earlier can even dissipate and when they do we see him holding Shadow, cradling the ultimate lifeform to his chest.

As we return to the present, the background gradually returns, fading in from swathes of blue. Sonic expresses his remorse for his blatant misunderstanding of Shadow’s character, crying as he holds him close.

With Shadow in his arms, Sonic restores the chaos emerald and through the chaos emerald we’re able to catch a glimpse of Sonic’s daytime form shining through and we see that at the end of the day, he’s still Sonic the Hedgehog in spite of all these changes as he and Shadow exchange a friendly glance and the scene ends.

Have I mentioned how much I love this comic? I literally cannot stop talking about this comic. The fact that you’ve been working on it for 6 years is just incredible. Thank you so much for all your hard work. I love what you’ve done with the story. This is one of my all time favorite fan works and I will never shut up about it.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading my hastily made analysis on issue 7. I love your work. I don’t really know how to end this so yeah *fucking dies*

this is so wonderfully said thank you so much augh im so happy people appreciate the complex subtext i put into my art ♥

also man. that really happened issue 7 huh. time flies. i remember drwing that scene like it was yesterday

[skaruresonic]

So I seen some people justify Shadow retracing the same development he had in his game and Battle in Shadow Gens with the excuse "well it's just to reiterate to newer people who don't know him about his character and reintroduce the character to a new generation" what do you think of that?

Didn't know older Sonic games had expiration dates. By that logic, nobody has any real reason to play Sonic 1, Sonic 2, S3&K, CD, Adventure, Adventure 2, Heroes, '06, Unleashed, or Colors again when Gens is right there.

...So they're okay with new fans getting the Diet Coke version of Shadow's arc? I thought we were all about ~raising our standards~ in this Chili's.

They're acting like nothing of value happened in either Battle or ShTH, which is a riot considering Battle is the only game we have to prove that "Shadow is not a weapon of war." Likewise, ShTH stressed "Shadow is not defined by his blood and determines his own destiny."

I'm certain a game whose mechanics hinge on Shadow manipulating his genetics Parasite Eve-style will more than suffice to emphasize those two points. Cue Iizuka saying "Shadow doesn't need a weapon because he is the weapon."

SxS Gens can protest "b-but Shadow is more than his blood" all it wants, but it's like, if that really doesn't matter, why the fuck do you keep bringing it up, then?

"Don't think about the polar bear; the polar bear doesn't exist. Polar bear, polar bear, polar bear. Why are you thinking about the polar bear?"

"Shadow's genetics don't matter. We think it matters so little, in fact, that we made gameplay mechanics hinge on it.

"Shadow's past doesn't define him, but here, have an entire-ass game that acts like rehashing his past for the millionth time just moved one inch to the left is the only way he can have depth of character.

"Omg why are you all writing 'Shadow was tortured on the ARK' fics? Who could have possibly foreseen this shocking development?"

Sounds like an excuse not to play previous games to me. And at this point I don't really have patience for it considering you don't even need to play Battle. Everything you need to know about the game can be gleaned from watching it on YouTube or, failing that, reading the script. But I suppose if Sega doesn't re-release it, it might as well not exist. :v

[softchassis]

Re-breaking the Tumblr Ice with a "25 Games To Know Me" post!

Reasons why each game is important to me are under the cut.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 -- I love Sonic in general. I think across the entire history of the franchise I can only really point to two games I dislike, or three if I'm feeling particularly uncharitable. But Sonic 2 was the first game I ever saw at a store and said "I want that one". As for how I feel about Sonic 2 itself, it's actually not my favorite Sonic game or even my favorite classic Sonic game--those distinctions go to Sonic Unleashed and Sonic CD--but without Sonic 2, I may never have given the blue hog a chance.

Spark The Electric Jester 3 -- The most recent game on this list certainly but it deserves to be there. It's so confident and unashamed of what it is. It *knows* it's a Sonic fan game underneath its yellow blorbo skin, but it never winks at the audience about it. You just get to do some really incredible, high speed 3D platforming and mix in some DMC-lite combos in there too. It's good, it's fun, it's sincere, it's beautiful. All the Spark games are.

Cave Story -- Before Cave Story I only had a vague idea of the concept of "single person makes game all by themself". I'd certainly played plenty before, from the Shareware era on DOS and Windows 95, but Cave Story made it feel approachable. Plus, on its own, it's just a great little game.

La Mulana -- Cave Story and La Mulana share the same space in my brain. It may be a little weird to say this, but I typically don't enjoy 2D Metroidvanias. The only ones I've beaten are Super Metroid and most recently Nine Sols. But something about La Mulana just tickles me. It feels like the entire map is one big Rubik's Cube I'm beating my head against, which is more satisfying to me than "I found the thing that lets me do the thing I couldn't do earlier."

DOOM (2016) -- I love the entire Doom franchise but DOOM 2016 is my favorite standalone experience. Otherwise I have played untold hours of classic Doom mods, my favorites being Reelism, Demonsteele, and Doom Infinite.

Sekiro -- A really great experience all around. I enjoy Dark Souls and appreciate its storytelling, but most everything in Dark Souls feels too distant for me to appreciate, whereas in Sekiro, the history both is recent and ongoing, and the Shinto and Buddhist mythology informs the story in real time. And It's just so fun to actually play. You never forget your first Lady Butterfly.

Dynamite Headdy -- Most everyone loves Treasure but to me no game is more Treasure than this one.

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure -- One of the earliest plays on the RPG genre. A typical RPG hero is going around slaying monsters to level up, but that person isn't you. Instead, you go around reuniting the souls of slain monsters to revive them, and learn a lot about the heartfelt and unique world they once inhabited. A really beautiful and important game.

Worms Armageddon -- Still the best 1999

Avernum: Escape From The Pit -- A remake of Spiderweb Software's first game in the "Exile" series. Avernum tells a great fantasy story about an underground cave society, where undesirables are exiled by the empire who scorns them. Instead of laying down and dying in the caves, its new residents name it Avernum and create their own society... and they don't intend to take their punishment laying down. A really fun and atmospheric CRPG with great, Vonnegut-esque writing and a lot of heart.

Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver -- I played this one pretty recently and was shocked at how forward thinking it was for 1999. I played the entire Legacy of Kain series back to back, but Soul Reaver stuck out to me as the best one. If you can't tell by some of the other games on this list, I adore games that feel lonely and isolating but still have a distinct goal and stakes. Soul Reaver is incredible and finally contextualized just why I saw Raziel all over Playstation magazines as a kid--it's because he's fucking cool!

Marathon Infinity -- play the entire marathon series right now stop reading this

Lemmings -- Huh. What's that doing here

Pikmin -- The first Pikmin is the best one in my opinion. I love the time limit, I love the simplicity of the scope compared to the rest of the series, it's a fun game to just pop in once in a while and just blitz through. I also just love microworld settings. And the creature design! And the puzzle design! Ohh Pikmin there's nothing like you.

Klonoa: The Door To Phantomile -- I have a lot of fond memories of this one, but specifically of playing the demo over and over on a Playstation Magazine demo disc with my sister. I wouldn't actually play the full game until much later, on an emulator. I did later rent Klonoa 2 and finish it before that though. Klonoa is good.

Rayman -- I love this game. I love how fucking mean it is while looking so bright and poppy and silly. I first played it when I was like 8 years old and it was a really humbling, eye-opening experience. But jokes aside it's just a really good game. But yeah, it's hard. If you've never played it before and don't want to tear your hair out, you should play Rayman Redemption, a fan remake of it that makes it a bit more approachable. If you ask me though, you should try the original first.

Ecco: The Tides of Time -- I also played this one when I was really young and it was also a humbling, eye-opening experience. I just liked dolphins, I wasn't expecting to have rented the hardest game in the entire fucking store. Having revisited the Ecco series many times since then, though, I think Tides of Time is the best one. It's just gorgeous and both versions of the soundtrack are amazing. I prefer the CD one though, except for Moray Abyss and Tubes of Medusa.

Splatterhouse -- Kids love horror and kids love forbidden things, so when I saw a Splatterhouse ROM on a romsite as a kid and was immediately told I wasn't allowed to download it, of course I fucking did when no one was looking. And my brain was altered forever

Earthbound -- I very briefly had a stepbrother who had a SNES and Earthbound and I wasn't able to play it myself (no open save slots) so I just watched, but I was fascinated by it. I would eventually play it myself later on good ol ZSNES. I have nice warm memories of watching the snow on the ZSNES menu while it snowed gently outside, in between bouts of playing Earthbound and Yoshi's Island.

Yakuza -- Okay the PS2 boxart is here as a stand in, I love the entire Yakuza series dearly. I did own Yakuza and Yakuza 2 when they were new, but lost them when our PS2 and all of its games got stolen.

Sonic Robo Blast 2 -- Another Sonic game? But this one's special. I've been playing SRB2 for over half of my life at this point. I've played countless mods for it and have watched it grow from a basic little Doom platformer into a great platform for expression. It's also just fun.

Bomberman 64 -- The 3D bomb-stacking and bouncing stuff in this game is so cool and is the exact kind of finicky, almost-accidental-seeming mechanical depth I love in video games. I can't believe they only made one of these.

Psychonauts -- Kind of a stand-in for Double Fine and LucasArts in general, but definitely the best game still out of both companies. I love 3D platformers and I love what this game does. There's still not much out there like it.

Rayman 2 -- Another Rayman game? Well yeah, I can't say I love 3D platformers and just not put the best 3D platformer ever made on this list. Not an exaggeration!

Final Fantasy XIV -- I get to play as a hot lion woman now. Have you seen her? Well, now you have

[doggendoodle]

It's especially interested how bad the Minecraft movie feels when you compare it to other video game movies nowadays.

Like. For example, the Mario movie in concept was simple. Adapt the basic structure of what a Mario platformer is (person gets kidnapped and Mario saves them) with Mario's alternate backstory of being from Brooklyn as an excuse to make him an easier viewpoint character. And Super Mario is THE video game franchise so it's an easy money grab.

Except they didn't make an easy money grab. They made a kid's movie that respected the kids who play the games, they made references to the games and incorporated them into the movie in a way that enhanced the story, and they did this while still understanding the spirit of the franchise.

Mario and DK being rivals but still coming together to fight a greater evil. The Bros.' relationship being the emotional core of the movie. Bowser being portrayed perfectly as a goofy yet still threatening villain. They even incorporated Mario Kart into the story without it feeling tacked on. They took the world of Mario seriously and treated it with respect - they made a world that's goofy and charming but still lived-in, without making it edgy or "realistic" just to "appeal" to adults.

Most people apologising to Minecraft Story Mode are probably doing it as a joke, but like. They already understood this and worked through it. Even in the first game which features a grand adventure, the adventurers are people from the world of Minecraft, and the epic invasion was a horror unleashed by accident, like the Wither it's based on.

Later episodes and seasons play more into the inherent fantastical elements of Minecraft, with the Far Lands and the End as eldritch, alien places. They also reference the community aspects of Minecraft: power-hungry server admins, fan-created games like Spleef, fantastical redstone contraptions, even the Minecraft YouTuber murder mystery.

And even being a movie instead of an episodic game isn't an automatic death sentence - hell, if you really wanted to stick to the base game of Minecraft, you could showcase the joy of exploration that is a much more common and more core experience than big epic boss fights.

That moment in the trailer, where there's a log floating in the broken tree and the boy reaches out for it? The one at the start where they're looking around at the world and the camera lets us see the surroundings? Those are great moments, because that's how it feels to play Minecraft. I've seen and heard kids play the game, I know that's still how they experience it. If you're going to make it into an epic, make it into an epic journey and show off the world. The vistas we've seen do genuinely look gorgeous, like someone transplanted

Even the visual design plays into this. The weirdly realistic mobs Detective Pikachu/Sonic style do not work. Detective Pikachu still looks uncanny to me, but the world of Pokémon is meant to be similar to the human world, and Pokémon are meant to be animals. The world of Sonic is Earth, and the redone design for Sonic and the other animal characters is beautiful; it really does feel like Sonic exists in a world overlaid on ours, more fantastical but still in reach.

The Minecraft movie trying to have its blocky cake and eat it too just feels like a shoddy compromise. The wolf howling at the moon doesn't look epic or awe-inspiring, it looks bad - in fact it's not even on model. They deliberately made it look blockier, for some reason. The invading piglins have realistic armour, and clothes, but their bodies are desperately trying to fit the voxel shapes and it all feels at odds. And of course the pink sheep and llama look god awful.

Combined with the human characters being Regular Humans, it feels more like some random friend group making a home movie than a fucking big budget production - and honestly, it loses some of the fun and appeal of portal fantasy.

I will say, it does look like they will visit the Nether at some point.

[ID: screenshot from the trailer. The scene is dark and lit by lava waterfalls originating above the frame, but the scenery resembles a Bastion. There are several piglins staring at the young male main character, whose head is peeking into frame. End ID]

Given they're shooting for the "marauding piglin" angle it's probably too much to ask, but the scene cuts away at this point instead of transitioning into that standard shot where all the mobs roar at the main character, so part of me is hoping that maybe this scene won't be at the climax, and we'll get to actually experience the piglins as nuanced mobs.

[fluffypichu876]

i started playing sonic frontiers! it and shadow generations have been sitting on my steam library for a good while, so i decided to pick them up to play.

so far, the game is pretty fun. i like the approach of sprinkling mini "levels" around the open world. i love seeing some convoluted rails and platforms and immediately going to check them out. (oh, and the complaints about the render distance are justified. it's really awkward when things pop into existence right in front of your eyes, especially in an open-world game, where your curiosity is a major motivator)

it helps that the boost formula has been solidified for a nice while now, so this sonic is a blast to control! platforming is great fun. the cyberspace is cool too, being more traditional levels with ranking systems, but i'll be fair, i miss the old scoring system, which was based in more than just how long it took you to beat the stage. (getting s-ranks here is so easy compared to games like sa2 and unleashed!)

i also liked the approach to fast travel. instead of an option to teleport you to some point you've explored, like most open-world games do, in frontiers as you complete small missions on the islands you gain acess to high-speed rails that connect to each other. all you gotta do is jump on one of them and enjoy the trip, which is filled with fun stuff like alternating rails and hoops to trick your brain into making it all feel faster, while you're actually playing the game and exploring the world in a tangible way!

the only other game i've seen suceed in a more immersive fast-travel system is ff15, but that was mostly thanks to the sentimental value of travelling with your closest friends. not much gameplay is involved when controlling the regalia xD

i didn't think an open-world game with stylish combat could work that well, but honestly, this game is showing me that seeing some poor fellow in the distance and going "i'm gonna combo the life out of that thing" is a great experience. now i want more stylish open-world games!

well, these are my thoughts for now. i'll be posting more video clips as i play through the game. it's been a while since i've last done that!

[thelediz]

I haven't watched Sonic prime bc something in me went "egh, no" after the first three minutes but when I heard abt Nines I immediately though about how you said Tails could be incredibly dangerous and his relationship with Sonic raised him out of a bad path hehe. I just kind of gauge Sonic and Pokemon stuff through your worldbuilding now lol I can't help it

Asides from that, I wanted to ask your thoughts abt Sonic's relationship with Gaia! You've mentioned you had Thoughts abt it in a couple of posts and it stuck to my mind bc I've always thoughts of Chip as a very one-off character (as in, I like him, but I've never thought of the Gaia mythos outside the context of Unleashed) but since you made a point of highlighting environmentalism in the Lost Prince I'd honestly really love to hear however much or however little you've thought on his relationship with the personification of the planet (both of them, even!)

Let me reassure you that "egh no" is a perfectly valid reaction to any media. Especially the first three minutes of ANY episode.

As to Sonic and environmentalism - honey, don't tempt a 90s kid.

I would argue that finding a balance with nature and sustainability has been part of the Sonic franchise since AT LEAST Sonic CD, if not the very beginning. And Sonic himself has been a literal force of nature since his inception, you just don't get into it very often because his ACTUAL purpose is to show off how the Mega Drive can go very fast with lots of colours, stop thinking about it so much.

(And you are skirting DANGEROUSLY close to my going on a gushing rant about why I love this franchise and the whole concept of controlled chaos. I shall try to contain myself.)

First off. I repeat: the actual purpose of Sonic the Hedgehog was to show off the capabilities of the Mega Drive and the technical skill of Sonic Team. Play any Sonic game on any platform (except 06, Lost World, and Boom, which all had Other Issues) and you will see how that team pushes the hardware to its absolute limit without causing problems. These people are skilled developers and they want you to know about it.

Now let me get madcap about character symbolism and worldbuilding.

Now, there's obviously the whole thing about Robotnik/Eggman being evil technology and polluting the environment, yes, yes, par for the course with half the other villains created in the 90s.

But the thing that made the Sonic franchise different is that Sonic never had any issue with technology AS A CONCEPT. He flies a bi-plane, Tails is an inventor himself, the good future as depicted by the Sonic franchise ALWAYS incorporates both technology and nature, and the whole idea of using chaos as a power source is basically code for sustainable engineering and renewable energy, because CHAOS ITSELF is as natural and inescapable as the sun and the wind and the only way we're going to lose them as a resource is if we -

Okay.

Stop.

Come back to the point.

Sonic's relationship with Gaia and the environment. Great.

Short point to be taken as a given, but which I can understand newer fans not realising because of the world they grew up in: the Sonic franchise, since its inception, has carried a theme of sustainability. You can take this to extremes by pointing out some vaguely anarcho-environmentalist takes about freeing captured animals, but I think it's more about the theming.

Every Sonic game starts in Green Hill Zone or a close equivalent: they're always lush and green and beautiful, and the deeper into Eggman's territory you get, the less naturalism you see. Eggman has gotten better about pollution, but he is always destroying nature in favour of machines. He uses and abuses the resources he finds until they cease to be visible, if not wiped out entirely. He has no thought about what he's going to do when these resources run out. He has no interest in how his desires impact the rest of the world. He just wants to build his theme park, staffed by robots, and anyone who disrupts that plan is impinging on HIS DREAMS and -

-cough-

Anyway.

Meanwhile, while Sonic and Tails use resources, they do so in measured ways, and only ever enough for their needs. In fact, in games like Sonic Colours, the resources (wisps) are actively forcing themselves on Sonic to be used. They transform him, and he just kind of goes along with it.

Because (and this is where I begin to actually answer your question), Sonic is a force of nature himself.

There are many versions of early Sonic lore, and you can take whichever one works for you, but in some of them, Sonic's first appearance in the world was him just... wandering lost in the woods, with no memory and no idea how he got there. He just appeared.

A spirit that appears when influence is needed on the world

Similarly, in most franchises these days, Sonic doesn't... live anywhere. He wanders the earth, he goes where the wind takes him, he isn't trying to do good, necessarily, he just stops the spread of bad when he sees it. In most current franchises, even when he DOES have a fixed address, it's... weird. Basically just a place for him to get out of the rain and store his strange collection of Stuff. Because he doesn't and isn't supposed to exist in the way of 'normal' people. He just is.

A lot of this is tied up in Sonic's relationship to Chaos, but I'd argue that nature and creation are inherently chaotic things. Have you ever seen what happens when a rose or blackberry bush is allowed to grow on its own? Madness! Trees will grow wherever they want, dandelions think a scrap of dirt in concrete is a wonderful spot to start a family, animals don't care about this concept of personal property that you have, and the human body doesn't give a damn about your 'schedule', it has NEEDS, dammit, and YOU ARE NOT PROVIDING THEM.

Go drink something. When was the last time you felt sunlight?

Anyway.

Even in the franchise, Sonic is unique among the characters for his relationship to chaos. All three male hedgehogs can use Chaos Emeralds to turn Super, but Shadow is artificial, and there is an argument that Silver is Shadow's son (don't @ me, I'm not invested and I don't want to get into it. Just accept the Dragon Ball Z reference and move on). Sonic is still an anomaly.

ALSO. Since Sonic Adventure, Chaos has been tied to emotion, and Sonic represents the positive side of that. The Water God Chaos represents the negative side of it. When they do battle, and positivity wins, neither side is destroyed. They just calm down and go away. You can't destroy emotion, you can only -

STOP.

So. If we agree that chaos is a part of nature, and Sonic is inherently tied to chaos, then you can see how Sonic can be read as a LITERAL force of nature. He exists to exert nature's influence and re-establish balance by being a positive chaotic force on the world.

And that's why he can also be inherently problematic because sometimes humans need nature to be controlled in order to live safely and SERIOUSLY LEDIZ STOP

The Adventure series made the subtext supertext, and Unleashed happily made it TEXT, but it's always been there. Sonic has always disrupted manEggman's march over the environment with nothing but his speed and natural resources.

Chip was a one-off character, but he is the continuation of a discussion enforced by Chaos, and then Shadow, and in many ways Metal Sonic, and Merlina, and lately followed up by Sage: personifications of how humans and their technology can disrupt and be disrupted by natural forces. Sonic's continuing triumph over these forces is a reminder that with good intent and effort, we can find a way to survive and maintain a sustainable future.

-DEEP BREATH AS WE EMERGE FROM THE THEORY MINES-

Watch me defend the Sega mandate about who can have a Super form with this madcap theory of mine

Listen to me get all cultural studies about how this ties Sonic into the storybook series because fairytales are implicitly tied to nature fables

The point is, Sonic is tied to nature, and so whenever the planet OR technology is personified, in any way, shape, or form, he WILL have a relationship with it.

And I will go back in my box now, thank you for not getting upset with my ramblings, please.

[moomingitz]

Been thinking about this recently, when it comes to how people have view games in the Sonic franchise and their expectations of them even all the way back in the 2000s. I honestly believe the price the games originally retailed for has a lot to do with it. I'm saying this as someone who came in late to play the most prominent "dark age" Sonic games, and the games that came after them. And I'm only referring to the console games here, not the handheld ones.

The first time I played Sonic 06 was back in 2013. I bought it brand new and still sealed for $10, and I did it because I wanted to get an actual informed opinion of the game, and as a strange curiosity in general. The game is definitely unfinished and very buggy. However, I did get some enjoyment from it(even if not for the intended reasons), I actually liked the cutscenes for most of the part, and I do see some redeeming qualities underneath it's scuffed to hell surface. But, again, I only paid $10 for it, so not really a loss for me. But when it originally came out, it was not only $60, it was also this big grand anniversary game, meant to be a drastic new direction and refresh of the franchise, and it was released on then-next gen consoles. So I think you can start to see a more full picture of what I'm trying to get at, here.

Same thing also applies to the games that I think are good, or at least better. Sonic 06 wasn't the only Sonic game I played for the first time around that time. Before 06, I bought and played Colors in late 2012 for around $15. While I still believe that it's a good game, it's very short and doesn't have much else to do after you beat the main story. I don't think it has enough content to justify the price it originally retailed for.

The lack of a significant amount of content offered outside of the base games is honestly why I miss games like Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. Whether these games have actually aged well or not, there was so much you could do on the side. I would play these games religiously growing up, wanting to find and unlock everything I could do. I even %100 completed SA2 at one point. Sonic Adventure gives you hub worlds to explore and mess around in, and the Gamecube port even gives you the Gamegear games to unlock. In SA2 you could unlock costumes/skins for characters in 2 Player VS. mode and unlock other characters to play in it, among other things you could also unlock by completing missions and getting emblems. SA2 even had a timed boss rush. And, of course, both games had the Chao gardens.

It might be something of a meme to demand the Chao Gardens make a return. But fans, me included, want them back for a very good reason. Not only is it fun and relaxing to raise Chao and customize them to your liking, but the Chao gardens incentivize you to replay stages in order to find things like certain small animals to use for your Chao, or to scrounge up rings to buy things at the market.

As someone who played both Sonic Adventure games, when both their Dreamcast and following Gamecube ports originally came out, I really do feel like both the base games, and the amount of content provided outside of them, made them worth the price tag they had during their initial releases. The only games that have been able to scratch that kind of itch for me afterward is Unleashed and Generations. And before anyone asks; I can't comment on Frontiers gameplay wise because I still haven't played it yet.

[badnikbreaker]

rough mina stuff —

i want to keep a lot of her big character beats and stuff from the comics, but also have a verse that doesn't require any sonics / other characters work her into the backstory, and i also want to not be bound by any of archie's insane lore. this is what i'm batting around right now, but it's all subject to change and i'm happy to play around with the particulars for characters who DO want mina more involved with the primary cast!

she's born to fairly average parents in a small town; working class, genuinely happy, it's a good little community. when she's young, though, her father is killed in an eggman attack, leaving her mother alone to raise her. mina has a lot of trauma around the experience, but it calms over the next few years as she grows.

then, mina's mother was captured by eggman in one of his many trips to gather creatures for his machines. despite lacking any particular abilities at this time, mina attempted to mount a rescue ( she couldn't bear to lose another parent ) — by coincidence, sonic was in the area and also showed up to wreck eggman's base, and he found her surrounded by badniks and saved her. she begged to come along, but he sent her away — she stayed outside the base, waiting, and when he came out, he informed her that he hadn't found any survivors. as far as mina knew, her mother was dead.

she fell into a deep depression, and considered the unthinkable if only to be with her parents again. a little more than a year later, however, her mother returned, explaining to mina that she had been moved from that base shortly before sonic destroyed it and kept a prisoner all this time and had finally escaped. around the same time, mina began to develop a precocious crush on her rescuer sonic, despite having not seen him in ages, and kept up with his exploits.

eventually, her singing voice was discovered, and she became a star, if a slightly niche one. she started getting radio play around the time of unleashed, and chip happened to hear some of her music while he was exploring the world with sonic and really liked it. because he and dark gaia are essentially one entity, the pair — somewhat accidentally — blessed the girl with super speed, though she wouldn't discover this until much later.

when eggman took over the world, mina considered joining the resistance in sonic's honor, but realized that that would be fighting for the wrong reasons — besides, she lacked much by way of combat experience. instead, she dedicated herself to putting on free concerts for the soldiers to motivate them and traveling from city to city to assist survivors of eggman's attacks. this rocketed her stardom higher and earned her a great deal of goodwill, but also made her a target for eggman. he captured her and, during her first escape attempt after about a month of captivity, discovered her own super speed for the first time. eggman recaptured her, fascinated by a speed that nearly matched sonic's. he intended to perform experiments on her. luckily, the resistance began making real headway on taking back the planet shortly thereafter, forcing eggman to split his forces and attention; she managed to escape ( and free many other prisoners with her ) before he could do more than some poking and prodding. still, the experience inspired in her a deep distrust of advanced technology, and deepened her long - standing hatred for and fear of eggman and what he'd done to her family.

as the world was rebuilt, the goodwill earned from her actions during the war — what other popstar stood up and used their talents for good, including to the point that they were kidnapped by eggman? — transformed her from a popular but niche artist to a household name, and she may well be the most famed non - human singer in the world at this point. when she's not putting on giant concerts or releasing total punk pop bangers, she's working on controlling her speed properly, and is considering reaching out to sonic to see if he'd be willing to help train her.

— non - backstory notes! she's super close to her mother, and they visit all the time. while her on - stage persona is fairly feminine ( in a punky way, obviously, but still ) in her day - to - day life, she's more likely to favor a grungey and somewhat androgynous style. you'll almost never see her in a skirt off stage. she's very paranoid about much technology, so while she likes sonic a lot, she doesn't have a very high opinion of tails or other scientists / engineer types. dark gaia could theoretically possess her at any time, but luckily chip keeps that guy asleep. she still has a tiny crush on sonic, though acknowledges it's mostly just because he rescued her during a frightening moment and that she doesn't really know him. she loves singing and being famous, but she is chafing under how little of a personal life she gets now, and does definitely have some fans who go too far with it — stalking, etc. that particular flavor of claustrophobia often doesn't play nice with her lingering trauma from being eggman's prisoner.

[clowngames]

so I've been playing Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) and I think I understand why the game feels slippery to control, even though that word doesn't strictly describe the movement.

In comparison to Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow's acceleration is faster and his top speed is higher. That in itself is no problem. He stops near instantaneously if you let go of the control stick, or try to reverse directions, which is what ShtH fans always point at to say that he's not slippery, since that kind of stick is exactly the opposite of slipperiness.

The big problem, IMO, is the difference in turn radius. In SA2, the speed characters have a tight turn radius but lose some speed in the process. In Shadow the Hedgehog, your turn radius scales with your speed, and unless you move the control stick specifically in a way to slow down Shadow maintains speed. This compounded with high top speeds means that Shadow takes wide turns.

And unlike, say, Unleashed, where wide turns are a specific feature of the level design, ShtH's levels aren't designed for wide turns. They're designed for you to slow down when you need to change directions on a dime, and when enemies are firing bullets at you you don't really want to slow down.

This leads to a lot of situations where Shadow feels like he's magnetized to obstacles; you swerve away from one only to run headfirst into another even though that one was much farther away.

Ironically, the wide turn radius that maintains speed would work better in SA2, while the tight radius that slows you down would work better in ShtH.