#shadow is best bro in Sonic Prime

[essycogany]

The Apology - Sonic Prime Alternate Ending

Just a heads up, this story is different from what happened in the last episode. Characters know things they didn’t before, the Chaos Council are not present, and stuff like that. Enjoy!

Sonic landed on his stomach, coughing as he tried to regain his sense of awareness. He seriously needed a 12 hour nap after this. Maybe more, depending on how things go. He was in Nine’s now polished lab after a huge fight between them ended. Shaking his head, Sonic stared up at a hammock that wasn’t originally there, being held up by fresh and healthy palm trees. It swayed back and forth by an unexpected breeze from a hole in the shield that protected the shatterspace. Crystals collided together in a storm of destruction. Which also caused parts of the shield to break. Perhaps The Grim was starting to decay now that Nine was losing control of his powers. Sonic was too brain dead to tell.

Standing up, Nine was already on edge and no amount of sanity was left in his brain. The little fox snarled at the hedgehog. Ready to pounce like a wild beast, charging at its opponent. But an instantaneous thud distracted him, causing him to flinch. The uninvited guest charged at Nine defensively. They didn’t touch him, but made sure he didn’t attack Sonic. Shadow came into view from behind the group. His hands were already curved into fists. “Sonic, quit stalling. We don't have time for this. We have to take him down,” he demanded. Sonic stood up quickly but didn’t leave his post. “I can reason with him, okay? Just trust me.”

“Didn’t you already try that? And failed,” Rebel asked in annoyance. Her ears flattened as she slapped her face in frustration. “That’s it, the kid’s gone insane,” Knucks stated bluntly, holding onto Rebel’s arm to comfort her.

Nine’s eyes and ears twitched in fear and his head jolted every time someone spoke. His lips dried and his heart rate increased, but his smile was cunning. He slowly approached Sonic with a freshly baked condescending comment ready for him. “As usual, Sonic The Hedgehog only cares about himself and what he wants.” Nine sounded as if he regained his confidence, but Sonic wasn’t fooled. He knew Nine well enough to understand he was still hurt. He hardly heeded his comment. Not because he didn’t deserve it, but because it wasn’t true. He walked forward with his ears down and put a hand to his chest. “Nine, I’m sorry I hurt you. I really am. But there’s people out there…” He pondered his words. “A you out there with a Sonic who’s failed to keep him safe.” Sonic struggled to not sound emotional but the lump in his throat wasn’t getting the message. Nine scoffed. “How many times do I have to embed into that stupid head of yours that I am not Ta-!”

“You’re right,” Sonic admitted. “You’re not him and you never will be. You are your own person and I shouldn’t take that away from you.” Nine chuckled awkwardly and tramped backwards. “What was with this guy? His stubbornness could've been admirable if it wasn’t at my expense.” Nine thought as his mechanical tails shifted. Was he starting to believe him?

Sonic realized Nine's attitude lightened up, but braced himself for his next words. “You said I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try to be the hero, am I right?” He looked at Nine for confirmation and he didn’t move an inch. He only gave an agitated grumble under his breath.

“Well, I can’t live with myself now because I still haven’t fixed the mistake I caused. My home is still gone and my friends…m-my friends…” Sonic stuttered. Then pulled his face away from everyone, staring at the now bigger crack in the shield. His eyes marginally felt wet. Shadow noticed this and unclenched his fist. “Sonic, you don’t have to…”

“They’re the reason I’m still fighting. If I couldn’t protect them before, maybe I wasn't the hero they deserved.” Sonic put a hand to his eyes as his face fell. He let out a breathless laugh, forcefully keeping himself together.

“That’s an understatement,” Nine spat out with a snicker. He didn’t exactly know why he said that. Nine didn’t even know if he felt bad or not, but immediately regretted his reply once Sonic’s body aggressively tensed up. The crystals started hitting the shield severely, helping the intense ambience of the room increase.

Sonic quickly wiped his eyes and marched towards Nine assertively. “But I’m not stopping until I’m able to see them again.” Sonic glared at Nine and the others joined him, walking behind him despite little room being left in the area. Shadow stood next to Sonic. “And we’ll do everything in our power to ensure he does.” Sonic gave Shadow an addled look. He stared back and uncharacteristically softened his expression. It wasn’t quite a smile, but close to one. Nine’s eyes fired up and his mechanical tails bolted out from behind him. His hair spreaded out as if lightning struck it.“Y-You’re crazy. You seriously think a stupid disquisition is going to make things better?”

“A dis-wha?”

Nine turned to Shadow with a humorous grin. “Sad that this is the one you got stuck with, isn’t it?” Shadow rolled his eyes while folding his arms like a disappointed dad. Sonic retorted with his arms raised in vexation. “The point is yes, I’m the reason all of this is happening. But Nine you have the ability to bring our worlds back together.”

“You see what he’s doing?! He’s manipulating me into bringing his home back! Without thinking about the consequences or what could happen to us in the process.” Nine’s turbulent eyes couldn’t believe what was happening. Suddenly Thorn jumped in front of Sonic, feeling offended on his behalf. Her hammer was up and ready to strike at any given moment. Sonic just needed to say the word, and she’d defend him. “All we know is he’s at least trying to bring back a world where all of us are connected. That is what you’re doing, right Sonic?” Thorn turned to him. Sonic gave her a sad smile and nodded slowly. She nodded back and loosened the grip on her hammer. Sonic mouthed a thank you for keeping her temper in check.

“So that’s it? You’re willing to give up your own existence for some stranger because he told you to?! Are you kidding me?!”

Knucks came in front, hitting his mitts together every few seconds.“If it means we don’t have to constantly fight the Chaos Bozos to get our homes back, sure. I’m willin’ to trade.”

“Unlike you…” Rebel said with authority. “Sonic has done more than enough to save each of us. We should return the favor.”

Sonic’s eyes widened. “Really? All of you are willing to…” He trailed off.

Gnarly stood behind everyone else and nervously scratched his hat. “Are you guys sure we shouldn’t vote on this?” The other scavengers growled at him.

“This might be our only option,” Thorn sighed. Then she inadvertently held Sonic’s hand. “You might think you’re not the hero your friends deserve, but I definitely believe if they were here, they’d be just as proud as we are. And angry at you for giving yourself a hard time,” she added while tightening her grip to admonish Sonic. The rest of the shatterverse crew nodded in agreement and their stances grew less rigid. Sonic smiled at them sweetly. These guys may not be his original friends, and it might’ve taken him forever to realize that, but he still felt their spirits within his new ones.

“Idiots! All of you!” Nine lashed out, gritting his teeth. His fangs stuck out in front of his lips and he bit them with every word he was ready to unleash. “And Sonic, you might as well accept the fact that you lost because…”

Sonic gritted his own teeth and pressed his own words furiously towards Nine. “I’m not finished!” Shadow for once was proud of Sonic and slightly smiled in approval. It’s about time he silenced this crazy fox. Knucks on the other hand, tilted his head to the side. “Are you sure about this, kid? Because he seems pretty finished,” he warned, trying to calm Sonic down. Luckily, his temper fell and he let out a heavy exhale.

“Friends don’t force each other to stay with them forever. That’s not how friends work. Neither of us gets to choose our futures. I’m sorry I didn’t explain that to you sooner.” Nine backed up again. This hedgehog is full of surprises. He could admit that. “I also appreciate how you wanted to create a place for the two of us, but Shadow and I can’t be stuck here forever. The longer we’re trapped is the longer he’s not home and I’m not with Tails and the others.”

Tails. Sonic must’ve really cared about the kit. Tails might appear to be nothing like Nine, but he felt a familiarity to the name whenever it was called. It was the same feeling he felt on his first meeting with Sonic. Then he swallowed it down. Sonic was still wrong. Though Nine didn’t know why this time. He turned his head from Sonic, but couldn’t break their gaze simultaneously. Sonic stared into Nine's sad blue eyes. He wasn’t looking at Nine with anger but leniency. A few minutes passed and the audience behind Sonic grew impatient and muttered bitterly to themselves. “Look outside Nine and tell me your actions are any better than mine. If you can do that, I’ll back off.” Nine laughed, but for seemingly no reason in particular. “We’d be doomed.” Sails huffed and kicked a rock on the ground with a pouted lip.

Nine’s ears twitched again and he almost retorted. Until he saw the cracks of the broken shield tearing apart like glass. Then he noticed a bit of light from the prism growing darker. He turned back to Sonic. From Nine’s perspective his face was full of anger, pain, exhaustion, and determination. The dude was so stubborn. So annoyingly stubborn. He’s putting everything on Nine’s shoulders and it wasn’t fair. The fox had nowhere to run. No one else to blame. Sonic already admitted his faults as if it was the most unpretentious confession in the world. Nothing. That’s what was going to be left of his own shatterspace. Nine took a breath, walked towards his computer, and began to type.

***

Surprise! A Sonic Prime alternate ending! I wanted to make a short rewrite of the apology and address things I felt needed to be addressed. Why did I leave on a cliffhanger? Because I wanted others to have their own conclusions. While I do like the idea of Nine not quite “becoming good” but just gaining a respect for Sonic, you can interpret however you want. Thanks for reading!

[wc-m0ch4]

Really enjoy the theory that Sonic x Shadow Generations was named that way so that search results would show the game instead of Sonadow

This is particularly because of how much more Sonadow fanart/edits/fanfics I've been seeing as of late BECAUSE of the title LMAO

[willosword]

the high-energy bubbly-type sonics aren’t even my preferred characterization of him but if i see any prime!sonic slander i will jump to that boy’s defense mark my words 😤✊

[flightyalrighty]

What is your favorite sonic character & why? I LOVE your art a lot! 😀

Tee hee I like Shadow the most tee hee

Middle school me liked him because he was AWESOME he was SOOOO cool and he was also the first character I ever played as (started with Heroes, chose to play Team Dark first). Like his design is rad, it's perfect even. There's mystery to him!!! His backstory is so rich and interesting!!!!

And adult me is like "bro they gave this little animal trauma." which is just. He's so interesting, y'know? Constantly rotating him in my mind. He's one of (ONE OF) the only Sonic characters that's Like That, he's constantly learning things about himself. He debuted in one of the darkest Sonic games in the franchise's history. He's like. He's 50 and he's 15 and he's also like maybe 2 years old. His prototype is a giant lizard on life support.

He is SOOOO MUUUCCHHHHHHH and the few times he smiles i'm lit up with glee i'm so happy for this fictional animal guy. The fact that we're getting a game with a Shadow campaign for the first time since.

.

06?

Do You Understand. Do You Understand. Do You Get It. AAAA!!!

He was the best part of Sonic Prime in my onion and! HE DIDN'T EVEN GET THAT MUCH SCREEN TIME. HE IS SO POWERFUL, SO EMOTIONALLY GRIPPING TO ME.

so yeah that about sums it up

[jisuto]

You have a list of DS games everyone should play?

*unravels dusty scroll*

Pokemon Platinum

Pokemon HeartGold SoulSilver

Pokemon BW and B2W2 (YES BOTH)

Animal Crossing Wild World

Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow

Castlevania Order of Ecclesia

Nintendogs

Ace Attorney (first 3)

Hotel Dusk: Room 215

New Super Mario Bros

Mario Kart

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Kirby Super Star Ultra

Kirby Mass Attack

Kirby Canvas Curse

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

Yoshi's Island

Cooking Mama (any but I like 3 best)

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team

Metroid Prime Hunters

Metroid Prime Pinball

Sonic Rush

Sonic Colors

Final Fantasy IV remake

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

The World Ends with You

Okamiden

Star Fox Command

Legendary Starfy

Pokemon Conquest

Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

Super Princess Peach

Mario Party

Mario Hoops 3 on 3

999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

Contra 4

These games I've played and recommend but there's plenty more out there too!!

[bee-birb]

compiled my thoughts whilst watching sonic prime s3, shes a doozy

WATCHING IT

he ate shit again :3

AHHHH THEY HELD HANDS (for half a second to propel forward) BUT STILL

shadow COUGHING??? he can get HURT??? nah he just fell

HE ATE SHIT AGAIN I LOVE THIS SONIC

🎶there goes hawaii, there-ere goes hawaii🎵 🎵there goes hawaii, the island is gone🎶

THE FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY IS GORGEOUS

THE LITTLE DETAILS AHHHH LIKE TEHIR EYES MOVING AND EARS AND SHADOWS CHEST FUR MOVES WHEN HE BREATHES AHHHH SO GOOD

BIRDIE GO BRRRR

times sonic has eaten shit this season: 4

nine: “i hate chili dogs!” sonic: dramatic and wounded gasp

I need to get this off my chest why does sonic slap his ass as a taunt ive seen it in prime and ive seen in in x, this is a recurring theme and i am wtfing at it, why does sonic have a thing for smackin his ass as a taunt? idk but its fuckin hilarious, your ass is not that juicy it is not tempting, save the ass slapping for the bedroom you blue gumball son of a bitch, Sonic you have flat ass syndrome stop

DYING ONE OF THE BIGS JUST GOT SPINDASHED AND LOST HIS MEMORY AND STARTED TALKING BRITISH THIS WAS NEVER RESOLVED WHAT THE FUCK, DAMNIT NOW I HAVE TO HATE PIRATE BIG CUZ HES FUCKIN BRITISH

GIANT BIG HAHAHAHAHA GIANT BIG ROBOT SOBS HES JUST A GUY HE DOESNT DESERVE TO BE MADE A ROBOT DOUBLE WHO SHITS FROGGIE NUKES

where the FUCK is sonics boyfriend you cant hide in the crater the entire climax battle dumbass getchyo gay striped glutes out here and save you bf

bro got hit with a bomb and SURVIVED

SCREAMS AT THE GAY IDIOTS IN THE CREVICE DOING GAY SHIT LIKE SMASHING EACH OTHER GAYYYY

LMAO SHADOW ACTUALLY SMILED, granted, he was talking about “smashing hordes of sonics” (probably about destroying them but it was offcamera so we’ll never know) IT WAS SO CUTE

i also need 4 rocks, 80 ft of vine, and a time machine

times sonic has eaten shit this season: 6

the gang is not impressed by sonics bf

there goes hawaii, there-there goes hawaii, there goes hawaii, the island is gone pt 2

gonna draw this stupidhead 🫶

THE LIL NODS I AM SCREAMING

me when 6 identical copies of me attack my boyfriend (its kinda hot)

"AAAAAHHAAAHHAAAA! aaaahhhaaaahhh! splat."

YUHHH STEP ON YOUR BOYFRIEND AGAIN thats like what the 4th time???

renegade knux makes the best faces ngl like his expressions are top tier

shadow has not been onscreen in 10 minutes give me more of the edgy swifty, THE KING HAS RETURNED

SHADOW NODDING WHEN SONIC SACRIFICES HIMSELF HE KNOWS AHHHHH THE FUCKING NODS I AM SCREAMING THEY ARE COMMUNICATING WITHOUT WORDS LOSING MY MARBLES GOING KOOKY SCREAMING

OMGOMGOMG WHEN SONIC IS SAYING HOW HES GONNA SACRIFICE HIMSELF AND HE SAYS "If I do this" AND SHADOWS FISTS TIGHTEN HE CARES IM NOT CRAZY BUT IM SURE NOT NORMAL

CRYING he still has a smile as hes going to fucking DIE AHHHHH SCREAMING

ahhh the gateways are the shape of the shards

HE FUCKING SMILES AS HES ABOUT TO GET THE LIFE SUCKED OUT OF HIM HIS LITERAL GLUE HOLDING HIS ATOMS TOGETHER WILL BE SLURPED LIKE SPAGHETTI THROUGH A STRAW AND THIS INSUFFERABLE SELF SACRIFICING IDIOT IS SMILING IM GOING TO COMMIT SEVERAL WAR CRIMES

HIS FISTS TIGHTEN AGAIN WHEN THE MACHINE TURNS ON IM LOSING MY GRIP ON REALITY

AHHHHHHHHH THE FUCKING DROOP THE REACH SCREAMS IN AGONY THE HOPE IN HIS EYES AND HOW HE REACHES UP TO HELP- HE DROPS IT HIS EARS DROOP HES SAD AND LOSES LIGHT AND HIS EYES OH HIS EYES SPEAK MULTITUDES

old man soccer

HE STAYS BEHIND WHILE THE RESISTANCE FIGHTS THE CC SO HE CAN MAKE SURE SONIC DOESNT EAT SHIT WHILE HES BREAKING APART AT THE SEAMS

gay ass hand on hip side lean, fucking queer

OMGGGGG RUSTY KEPT THE GRIM ROSE HAMMER CACKLES SHE WILL BECOME AN EVEN BETTER WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION

HIS FISTSSSSS THEY CLENCH WHEN SONIC IS LIKE DYING ON THE SHIPPPP

hA the sisters rose are FAILING now his bf gets to save his blue gumball ass

HE LOOKS SO SAD WHEN SONIC FAINTS GEDGIYFVJITWSGHIFE

BRO IS FUCKING TRANSPARENT SIR WHO GAVE YOU THE PERMISSION TO BE SO LOW OPACITY YOUR ATOMS ARE SLINGING AWAY FROM YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS FASTER THAN IF YOU WERE RADON YOU SELF DESTRUCTIVE IMBECILE

THE FUCKING NODS I CANTTTTTT

SONIC SMILES HES SO HAPPY TO SEE SHADS ON THE PRISM

lol rock gone get rekt eggbreath

HE DOES LITTKE EAR WIGGLES AHHH SO CUTE

you have 13 seconds before the island fucking explodes you hot topic wannabe and you blue gumball son of a bitch. you have done nothing but destroy my life, i hope you both die.

SCREAMS IT IS BEAUTIFUL EXCELLENT ENDING 10/10 WHERE THE FUCK DID SHADOW GO WITH THE THING IDC ITS BEAUTIFUL CRYING WHERES MY FANFIC

[zandlikething]

things I want to happen in sonic prime season 3

I want more of the different characters like the rose's to interact. Because the Black rose and rusty friendships was so cute and I want that for other characters. I'm excited to see how thorn reacts to them especially Rusty.

2. I know this is the same thing as the first but I really really want mangey and sails to interact. Because like THERE IN THE SAME PLACE NOW. I want them to actually have a conversation(as much as possible because mangey can't really talk much) and not just a few seconds of them staring at each other. Also I know other people have already said this but I also want them to talk with nine. Like pls LET THEM BE BROTHERS THE FOX BROS

3. More shadow more shadow more shadow MORE SHADOW. He was one of the best parts of the season I loved him every time he was on screen. And its because the show actually writes shadow good. Like please make him like this in the game

4. I want to see more flashbacks with the og characters. I miss them and want to see there personally more. Like I want to see more of sonic and og tails friendship/Brotherhood. AND I want something ANYTHING to show shadow and rouge as friends.

5. Lastly because this all I can think of for now is.... Bring back og eggman he is SO much better than the other Eggmans.

[smallpwbbles]

Shadow in prime be like:

Shadow: Sonic how dare you be a part of something that clearly wasn't your fault you're the reason the world is gone, christ you are extremely fucking selfish.

Sonic: can I just get to the other shatterspace

Bro woke up and decided to inconvenience sonic and not do anything plot relevent

I don’t really agree with this, like I do agree shadows attitude towards the shatterverses are blunt and not considerate but my guy literally had his home destroyed and the guy who did it (tho doing his best) let the prism paradox go so I don’t blame him at ALL for being angry

[playertwotails]

Making a master post of all my Sonic series AUs/headcanons/theories/discussion/analysis nonsense. Mostly for myself cause I have bad memory and will 100% repeat a rant I've already posted about if I don't make a list.

Will be updated as I post more. All my posts below the cut:

Kitsune AU posts: Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4ish (get ready for a little angst)

How Tails Flies Theory

Blaze knew Tails was a Kitsune (everyone else did not)

Sonic and Trust

Murder Mode Sonic and Tails

Tails vs Zavok

Little Post for IDW issue 54

Sonic Frontiers Scene Analysis

Sonic is Tails Biggest Fan

Cain Instinct: Sonic and Tails Sibling Mode, Their Reign of Terror Toward Each Other Continues; Little Brother Menace

Tails Solo Game Thoughts and Wants (if they did one)

Had to Nerf him (joke post)

Adoption Papers

Sonic IDW issue 36 Scene Analysis

Camping Cuddles

Fuck around and Find out Bullies vs Big Bro and Girl Squad

Best Friend Clip Analysis Before Prime Came Out

Tails Fans vs Canon: Sonic Prime

Tails the Badass: Post 1, Post 2 (continuation)

First Meetings: Tails and Eggman Comic

Sonic Prime First Thoughts

Nine the Sass Master

Sonic Prime Season 1 Theory

Post Frontier's AU

Scrapnik Island Issue 3 Thoughts

Shadow and Tails Friendship Thoughts

Thoughts on Silver

Touch Averse Sonic

Thoughts on Sonic IDW Issue 56

Tails Canonically has a Body Count

That Time Tails Made A Chaos Emerald Like it Was Nothing

Tails and Sonic Meet

Sonic and Mints

Issue 58

Fight or Flight

Off the Rails Eggman Theory

Sad Boy Sonic Forces Style

First Post

Normal Tails and Sonic Conversation

Shadow used intimidate - it was very effective

General Knuckles kinds weird

Horror Movie Tails

Eggman's Genius vs Tails

Tails' Bad Eating Habits

Asks:

Ask About Tails and His Parents

Tails and Cassette Futurism

Adventure Game Ask: Part 1, Part 2

Feral Tails

Tails Found Parents AU

Critical Role Campaign 1 Scene

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

I was always confused by all the "Sonic and Tails are brothers you sicko" thing going on in the fandom. I mean the only continuities where Sonic and Tails are outright adoptive brothers are AOSTH( where Sonic outright adopts an orphan tails as a baby) and arguably SatAM.

In all other continuities they are just really close best friends, especially in the games.

There are two things I have to say

First of all, I agree. My first sonic properties in general were SATAM and AOSTH, and my first game was SATBK. Despite being invested in these as a kid, Sonic wasn't a hyperfixation or anything per se, so I really didn't know much more about the characters than what I knew from the first few Sonic tv shows (satam, aosth, and underground) and hadn't played enough games to determine it. Keeping this in mind, up until I started my slow fall in 2021 (with the release of Colors Ultimate) I pretty much believed whatever people I knew told me about the Sonic characters (aside from Sonic himself). Due to an ex I had who was really into Sonic, I even believed that game Tails was depicted as highly childish and basically 5. This is all to say that once I properly started to get into the games, comics, and the other tv shows, I started to get a better idea on how the characters are treated from property to property. And frankly, adaptations where they did consider each other family (such as aosth) aside, I came to the conclusion myself that all of these adaptations were their own thing. Just because I had grown up with AOSTH and SATAM didn't mean that game series Sonic and Tails had the exact same kind of relationships those versions of Sonic and Tails had. And here's the thing about idw games or even the Sonic games themselves:

More often than not they consider each other best friends, best buds, close friends, etc. Sonic Colors is a game where they spend the whole game together on a journey. Even the manuals call them best friends. In Sonic Forces, Tails spends a decent portion of his appearances looking for Sonic (who he is sure isn't dead) and spending time with Classic Sonic. In Sonic Prime (which I personally think should be an adaptation but is part of game canon apparently regardless), there's a lot of emphasis on how important Tails is to Sonic, and Sonic doesn't even call Tails or Nine or any variants any variation of "brother" the whole show (despite there being scenes where he calls Shadow bro or brother as a slang term, even if Shadow does reject this as an interpretation of their relationship). In fact, just about every instance in all the games (including the manuals) where they considered each other bros or Sonic called him "little bro" was either specifically added to english manuals or explicitly removed from JP versions of the game/manuals. And really, the few mentions in the games themselves pale in comparison to the amount of times they call each other some variation of "bud", "buddy", "best friend", "best bud", or even just each other's names.

So...yeah! It confused the hell out of me too. Because with that kind of conviction I was expecting them to call each other "brother" explicitly in multiple games like. At the very least. Much less people's tendency in fanon to have them call each other brother or bro 5 times a sentence. This was actually partially why it blew my mind that Sonic movie 2 and Sonic Prime were directed/written the way they were despite being told by the fandom these two were supposed to be canonically siblings. But all of the actual in game "proof" of it is so miniscule that it starts to feel like people decided shipping those two was off limits a long time ago and the "they're brothers you sicko!" was a convenient way to shame people out of it because they personally didn't fancy the ship or shipped the characters with other people. I also have a feeling that there are people who grew up with some of the same adaptations I did (and also archie sonic) and decided to derive all of their interpretations of the game characters from those and sort of uh imposed those ideas on people who were neutral or didn't agree. Or, in other words, I get the idea there are at least some Sonic fans who seem to operate as if every single adaptation and game and version of Sonic canon operates under all the same rules and characterization/relationship, rather than just being able to admit or handle how different and separate they all are.

But really, even though I'm a shipper of them, this is kind of exactly why the heavy handed in your face "see them as brothers or you're a bad person with no media literacy" rubs me the wrong way. Because you can seldom find fan depictions or interpretations of them as their canon relationship (best friends and partners) in any form that doesn't reduce them to "just brothers" while acting like sibling relationships are the end all be all for strong platonic relationships

(Yes for the record I have seen multiple people claim that they do show that platonic relationships can be just as strong as romantic relationships and then follow it up with "because I depict these characters as having a strong sibling relationship". Which. Hate to break it to them. But claiming that the only two strong relationships are romantic or familial (or that a strong platonic relationship that doesn't turn romantic must turn familial) is not the take you think it is)

Now, the second thing. Sontails is one of those relationships (like S0riku to me) where my interest in finding proof of their canon relationship or arguing they may not have a sibling type relationship squarely falls in the category of "I enjoy them in a canon context, and while I am not claiming they will or should be canon, I am saying that it's a valid read of their relationship to see this potential". So, although I do not see them as canonically brothers, given my enjoyment of Archie Sonic (as an example) I would still enjoy them this way even if the games swore they were "totally siblings" on top of depicting them the way they do now (which, haha, is how Archie sonic feels to me with their depictions of Sonic and Tails). Frankly, even if this was the case, I would still consider the fandom attitude to be out of line and much too, eh, "personal" so to speak (as in people taking how people treat fictional characters personally) over people interpreting canon in different ways than them or pushing little fictional guys together like barbie dolls.

So...yeah anyways

Tl;dr: I can only speculate how we got to the point of people claiming with the utmost of seriousness (with moral panic to boot) that the two canon best friends must be siblings or you're wrong and bad, and I think fandom attitude is waaay too serious and out of line, even if these characters did canonically have that kind of relationship.

ㅤ

Woof okay time to take a breather for a moment.

As always, I'd like to thank you for the ask, anon! I won't be putting this one in the main tags, as I'd like to limit the starting of any discourse here, but I would be lying if I said I haven't been wanting to talk about this specific thing for a while

And that's...mostly because the last thing I'm trying to do is to start shit with people who are just having fun with their headcanons/interpretations of Sonic and Tails who haven't done anything and don't harass people

(Unfriendly reminder that this post is not an invitation to argue with me in the replies or tags. Just block me if you disagree)

[badnikbreaker]

sonic and guilt is an interesting topic for me — partially because in making lots of stuff canon to my sonic i'm combining characterization that is at times pretty at odds. i was thinking about IDW sonic compared to sonic x sonic, specifically in regards to how x sonic handles being the one ( alongside shadow ) to be the one to kill cosmo. sure, tails pulled the trigger, and i'm not trying to deny tails's responsibility here ( and i say 'responsibility' not to blame him, but because it was a difficult choice he made, but it was the right one, and he deserves to have the strength that took acknowledged ) — but sonic was the bullet that ended her life.

and he knows the weight of that. he's noticeably withdrawn following her death, a little like he was after shadow's in sa2. he stands there, stone - faced but somehow without being hard, and lets tails yell and hit him. he knows the weight of what he's done — and he loved cosmo, she's as close as he's ever come to really losing part of the family he's built, and he killed her he knows how much that means. he's grieving her. but at the same time, i don't think he's guilty. and i don't think it's just because he wasn't the one who pulled the trigger, or because it 'had to be done.' i couldn't even really articulate the particularities. he's grieving her, but he doesn't blame himself, and he doesn't blame tails. he doesn't really blame anyone. the metarex, sure. but sometimes bad shit just happens, just has to be done.

but then i imagine sticking IDW sonic in this scenario and he would just crack like glass. like, can you imagine? he kills someone he loves, somebody his baby brother is in love with ( or, at least, the eight year old version of 'in love with' ). bro would turn into a fine mist, and prime sonic would not fair better.

and my sonic was younger when cosmo died, and he's older now, so some of it can be put aside to time and character development; he's more traumatized and fucked up now! my sonic genuinely has...he's not a control freak in any meaningful sense, but he ( subconsciously ) is seeking control in more ways now, especially post the war, than he was before — and one common show of a desperation for control is guilt that isn't earned. 'it had to have been my fault, because that at least means i had control over it. if it just happened and i had no hand in it, that's scarier because it means it's totally out of my control.' he's not nearly to the level of, say, amy — but it's there, and i think that accounts for some of the difference. bad coping mechanisms, y'know. and the metal virus obviously exacerbates that sort of thing, because he doesn't feel guilty at the start of it — not until people around him start saying he should. ( granted, even without shadow and espio and the others, he would have been pretty guilty by the end. but it would have taken longer to get there. )

but i don't think time is all of it? obviously from a meta perspective it's sonic being written by different people with different characters in mind for the hog, but. i dunno. i wanna reconcile it all! i don't think he's someone who's innately prone to guilt. he wants everyone to be okay and he wants to save everyone and usually does, but innately he's not haunted when it doesn't work out that way as long as he did his best. and he always does! it took a lot of trauma to get him to the point where he's fucked up about surge and kit the way he is.

it's neat! i don't have a real point to this post im just thinkin. love this dude

[sage-nebula]

As someone in both fandoms: Sonic & Tails deserve the win.

Ingo and Emmet are very minor characters. They're completely missable in their original games (Black & White) because they're only in bonus content. The angst created by the fandom as of Legends: Arceus is just that: created by the fandom. Ingo doesn't remember Emmet at all and we have no idea what Emmet thinks of the situation. Their stories in the Masters gacha game are similarly light-hearted. There is nothing to indicate that they are particularly close. It's 90% fanon.

Meanwhile, for Sonic and Tails?

In fairness, it depends on the adaptation. Adaptations like SatAM, Sonic X, and presumably Archie (since it spawned from SatAM) could easily lead one to believe that Sonic and Tails aren't that close. However:

In Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic is explicitly raising Tails as best he can (being that they are both homeless children). Sonic makes sure Tails always eats first / the most since food insecurity is a thing for them in this series, and is willing to sacrifice innocent people for Tails' safety. They constantly refer to each other as brothers, and Tails additionally calls Sonic his "mom, dad, and picket fence" to exemplify how he sees Sonic as the best family he could ask for.

Numerous games depict their close bond. In 8bit Sonic 2, you only get the good ending if you collect all of the Chaos Emeralds to exchange as ransom for Tails. In Sonic Adventure, Sonic rushes to Tails' side after a plane crash and coaches him in later levels (e.g. the snowboarding one). In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic entrusts Tails to carry on after him when he thinks he's going to die, and Tails beats Eggman's ass for causing Sonic's apparent death—which only didn't happen because of the fake Chaos Emerald Tails made. In Sonic Heroes, Sonic just about loses his shit on Shadow when Shadow knocks Tails off a platform. In Sonic Colors, Sonic is unable to fight Tails when Tails is under mind control, and in Lost World, both quickly moves Tails out of danger and is later broken up when Tails takes a trap for him. In Frontiers, Sonic calls Tails "little bro" multiple times, is extremely worried about Tails' mental and emotional state, expresses how weird it is that Tails isn't with him, and though he is supportive of Tails' desire for a solo journey, clearly feels some type of way about it, too. And in Sonic Advance 3, their team name is called Unbreakable Bond.

In the Sonic Boom animated show, while the plots are mostly silly and lighthearted, Sonic and Tails' relationship was defined in the very first episode when Sonic's concern over Tails' safety led him to temporarily end their partnership. They bicker occasionally in the show, but they are very close.

In Sonic Prime, Sonic is protective of and concerned about Tails in just about every alternate universe, including the original. Sonic's relationship with Nine (Dystopia Tails) is one of the focal relationships of the show.

In the cinematic universe, Tails traveled across different worlds to warn Sonic that he was in danger, because Sonic made him feel like being different was a strength. Sonic similarly feels emboldened by Tails' support, and goes to face Knuckles and Robotnik specifically for Tails' sake.

In the IDW Comics, Sonic and Tails are very clearly brothers, with Sonic calling him "little bro" on more than one occasion, both of them working as a team to protect one another, Sonic just about losing it when he thinks Tails is hurt, Tails immediately building guns to go rescue Sonic when the situation is flipped, etc. The IDW brothers say it the best themselves:

There's nothing wrong with fanon interpretations of relationships. But as someone who has played all of the Pokémon games, that's what Ingo and Emmet are. Canon says they are twins who like trains and battling, and . . . that's it! That's all there is to them. Fandom did the rest of the legwork.

But Sonic and Tails are canonically found family adoptive brothers, who mean the world to each other and who, in Sega's own words, have an unbreakable bond. That's why they deserve the win. DNA doesn't mean jack shit, and these two prove it.

ROUND THREE!

[ojamajomary]

By a horrible flu and wanna saving money for Sound of Freedom, I only watched Barbie on last summer. Until now I just finished Oppenheimer as same time as Japanese.

Before that I did some of nuclear 'revision' before watch that newest Oscars Best Picture, one is Marie Curie movie by Marjane Satrapi, an another is BBC's Oppenheimer miniseries.

Besides I make some of characters nicknames of all of those 85%-men movie(unlike Barbie much more easier to distinguish), the names most come from Assist Trophies and Fighters from Smash Bros... after my fanfiction about they taking an Oscars Barbenheimer Live Party XD

I'm sure Sonic fans will roast me.

Oppie - Shadow (obiviously)

Kitty - Rouge (looking shadouge fanarts really reminds me Oppie X Kitty strongly!)

Strauss - Sephiroth (based on Japnaese local dubbing wishing list)

Groves - Solid Snake

Rabi - Ike

Frank Oppenheimer - Mewtwo

Jackie Oppenheimer - Mew

Jean Tatlock - Dark Samus (in original Metroid Prime hair style)

Edward Teller - Dr Willy (obiviously X2)

Ernest Lawrence - Mega Man Zero

George Kistiakowsky (Oppie owe him $10) - Incineroar

Kenneth Bainbridge (we're all son of… guy) - Marth

Klaus Fuchs (Soviet spy) - Gray Fox

President Truman - Richter

David Hill - Alucard

Roger Robb (that question guy) - Solidus Snake

Einstein - Waluigi

Niels Bohr - Angry Bird Red

Think again does J Robert Oppenheimer is the origin of Byronic Dark Hero that anime-comic-game loves a lot?

[causeknight]

Top 5 most important games of my youth

I just reblogged a post about this but other people had their games listed so I didn’t wanna de-rail that post with long winded explanations behind why each game is important. Hence I’m doing it here! We’ll go chronologically:

1. Shadow the hedgehog (xbox) - I first got my xbox with a copy of Sonic heroes. While I played that game a lot, I played Shadow the hedgehog way more and there’s only a 1 year gap between their releases. I became a Sonic fan young and Shadow showed me that Sonic games could have more complex and darker stories. Looking back it has an “edgy for kids” aesthetic, so it’s no wonder why I loved it as an 8 year old. Shadow was important to me because it influenced my aesthetic. I wanted cool and edgy, I wanted story beyond the surface level, I wanted the things that came afterwards to have depth to them, which in turn influenced the films, shows, and games that I gave a chance vs the ones I didn’t.

2. Pokemon pearl (DS) - I owned pokemon fire red before this. However, I was too young to understand the different RPG mechanics and didn’t get very far in it. 1 day I let my cousin “borrow” it and my fire red cartridge was then lost to the sands of time. So Pearl comes out when I’m 10 years old, I need a new game to play for a long car trip down to London and I pick up Pearl. I think it’s safe to say that the pokemon game that comes out when you’re 10 is gonna be your favourite, you’re the prime demographic age. Pokemon was popular at my school, all my friends were playing it, buying cards for the TCG, and sharing in each other’s adventures through trading and battling. The lovely thing about pokemon back then that I think is somewhat lost now is that it was a social game. It encouraged you to go round to friends’ houses so you could play together, compare teams, help each other with full completion, etc. Pearl was important to me because it deepened my social links.

3. Smash bros brawl (wii) - All my friends who owned a wii had this game. Whenever we had a sleepover we would play this for hours. Brawl has to be the game I’ve objectively played the most, I’ve easily put over 3000 hours into this game! Now arguably it’s sequel, smash 4 wii u, could be considered more important as that’s when I started to get actually competitive with it. I was watching character guides online, learning techniques and terminology from the fighting game community, I even won £80 from winning a small tournament at play expo in Manchester one year! But the way I see it, none of that would’ve happened if I didn’t play Brawl first. Brawl was important to me because it helped me get better at competing. Brawl was THE game I poured my heart and soul into, constantly learning how to get better and strategize around characters’ strengths and weaknesses. It was the game that made me “git gud” so to speak.

4. Halo 3 (xbox 360) - I know I said chronological but here’s the thing, I didn’t actually play this game until 2009, after Brawl released, so that’s why it comes after Brawl. Also, I never owned this game, my best friend did. His parents bought him a 360 (because they’re middle class and could afford more than 1 console per generation) while I was stuck with my wii. Class warfare aside tho, whenever I went round to his house we’d usually play Halo together. Halo 3 was my first time doing a co-op campaign with someone; every other game I played that had multiplayer was competitive, so working together with someone was a refreshing change of pace, mainly because I used to lose a lot in versus games. We used to pull all-nighters playing this, it left me with a lot of good memories. As future Halo games came out my friend would buy them and we’d play through the campaigns together, as well as spend hours on custom maps and game modes. Halo 3 was important to me because it was the game I shared with my best friend. Even tho I never truly owned it, it was OUR game.

5. Virtue’s last reward (3DS) - While bored on holiday 1 year I download the demo of this game from the eShop. I liked what I played and coincidentally enough the next day I see it at a game shop for £15. I decide to take a chance on it and I’m so happy I did. I’m gonna say this point blank: VLR has the best writing in any piece of media I’ve ever experienced. It’s smart, it’s intriguing, it’s a story that can only work in the medium of video games and I find that fascinating! It’s a game that elevates it’s medium in a way that so few others have managed to achieve. On top of that it also talks about time travel in a way that made me see other time travel plots as no longer being paradoxical or having plot holes; like I said, it’s SMART! This game blew my 16 year old mind so god damn hard I actually joined a facebook group for fans of the franchise because I just NEEDED to talk about it with other people. Also it’s pretty hard to convince your friends to play an 80+ hour visual novel / puzzle game, especially when I felt like the only one in my friend group who owned a 3DS. VLR was important to me because of weirdly the same reason Shadow the hedgehog was important to me, it raised the bar for what a good story should be. It also showed me that I can get borderline life changing experiences from games without AAA budgets.

[beevean]

How about a top 5 (or 10 if you prefer) best and worst bosses in video games? :D

I’m not very well versed in videogames, but anyway...

WORST

10) Chaos 4 (Sonic Adventure): Not a big fan of bosses who waste so much time - ooh, look at that, trying to hit me with very slow, very telegraphed attacks, and taking more and more time to becomes vulnerable the more the fight progresses. Also not a big fan of Tactical Suicide Bosses (excuse me Chaos, why is your strategy “stay in the water for increasingly amounts of time and then decide to raise my head to breathe”? In this form you’re a fish!). Even less of a fan of bosses that you have to fight three times to complete the game.

9) Sonic and Diablon (Shadow the Hedgehog): They couldn’t have come up with a more boring boss if they tried. Shoot the shield, shoot the cannon, avoid the hand, run away when you hear the word “anti-matter”, kick Sonic in the head, slowly chip at the large energy bar, rinse and repeat. The G.U.N. Fortress version is particularly painful, too, as the arena only offers those piss poor pistols with 10 bullets and minimal damage. And much like Chaos 4, you have to fight this lovely boss three times to get to the Last Story, except you don’t even get a different character with different abilities. Also, poor Sonic, from protagonist of the series reduced to nothing more than a footstep.

8) Collision Chaos boss (Sonic CD): Try to play a boss that relies on wonky pinball physics, that shoots projectiles with the only purpose of changing your already precarious trajectory, in the Bad Future that adds slightly more bumpers to destroy, with the American music (I linked the extended version to properly depict the experience). Pain is real.

7) Egg Pinball (Sonic Advance 3): Surprise! I find this boss worse than the more famous Egg Chaser. Yes, the Egg Chaser is very anxiety-inducing with its bottomless pit and the ball chain sending you into it, but once you learn the pattern of the platforms and that Amy as a partner makes it a joke it’s not that bad. This one, though? Even with Amy/Sonic, which is the only team where your partner is useless but you aren’t, this boss relies too much on luck, expecially by the end when way too many balls are flying across the screen. It’s almost funny, in a “screw you” way, that this is one of the two bosses in the game that can’t be hit by Cheese, in the stage where you finally unlock Cream. Pinball and Sonic don’t mix as well as Sonic Team thinks, apparently.

6) Boost Guardian (Metroid Prime 2, Gamecube): This boss’ strategy isn’t even that bad, it’s just that it hits you like a truck in an environment that is already sipping you of health. If being hit was less punishing, guessing the correct timing to jump over it would be fun. Too overkill for its placement in the game.

5) Mother Brain (Metroid Zero Mission): MB in the original Metroid 1 was... there, with the difficulty of the final boss coming from those stupid Rinkas pushing you into the lava below. In the remake, which otherwise is much easier than the original game, you have to think about the Rinkas, the lava, and MB who shots you fireballs! And if you fall into the lava (and you will spend half of the time in the lava)? She closes her eye and protects her only weak spot, forcing you to wait at the mercy of the Rinkas hitting you all over again. Asshole.

4) Dark Gaia (Sonic Unleashed): Dark Gaia, as a whole, is a stain on an otherwise beautiful game. Setting aside his “character” for a while: this boss is way, WAY too long (the first time I clocked at 11 minutes, like hell I’m trying again), the Gaia Colossus phase is frustrating for how slow it is and for having a nigh-unavoidable attack, the running phase requires pitch-perfect timing otherwise say bye bye to your life, and the Super Sonic phase is essentially “slipping down the shield to run over a bunch of snakes, then QTE up your ass”. Riveting. At least it has some banging music...

3) Egg Saucer (Sonic Advance 2): The bosses in SAd2 are already questionable with their “wind pushing you backwards” physics, but this one flings you enough bullshit to make you ragequit. Whoisthisgit made an excellent video explaining everything that makes this boss such a miserable experience. I am so sorry, Knuckles, that you had to be associated with this tragedy.

2) Antlion Mecha (Sonic 2, Game Gear): So let me get this straight devs, you take a boss that is already a little too had as the first boss in the game, you put it in a console with a much smaller screen, you screw up the slope physics making it just a little too easy to slide into the antlion’s jaws (and of course you don’t have any Rings), and on top of that you make the trajectory of the projectiles random when in the Master System they were consistent? Great game design there, guys :V

1) Spider Guardian (Metroid Prime 2, Gamecube): I was never as close as bestemmiare ogni santo e pure il padre eterno as I was when I was trying to beat this abomination. I love the Ing theme, but FUCK if I wasn’t hating every single sound of it while playing, OH MY GOD I envy the people who played it on the Wii so damn much

BEST

10) Robot Carnival/Storm (Sonic Heroes): Yes! Yes, I do like this boss! I’m probably the only one, I don’t care, I find these fights cathartic, especially with Team Chaotix <3

9) Jet Drill (Sonic 3 & Knuckles): The strategy may be simple, but I love the setup of Eggman destroying an ancient garden just to kill Sonic and I love how it emphasizes how much of a reliable bro Tails is. (let’s just ignore the fact that with Tails alone this boss is a pain...)

8) Doomsday Zone (Sonic 3 & Knuckles): The series had its fair share of Super Sonic bosses, but so far no one has beaten the original. It has excellent music, you can feel the tension as you smartly redirect Eggman’s missiles to him and as you chase him down through space, and Eggman in this game is really ready to do anything to win, I love it

7) Beta mk. II (Sonic Adventure): This is probably the best part of Gamma’s campaign. 90% of it is kindergarten-easy, and then Hot Shelter and the final boss are a sudden, but welcome spike in difficulty. Beta mk. II is a far cry from any other E-series robot you’ve faced, being almost completely invulnerable, hitting you with straight up nukes, and the time is still ticking in the corner. Then you add the context of having to kill your brother, and the deceptively upbeat theme, and it becomes a memorable experience.

6) Cykka (Metroid Prime 2): The first phase is fairly boring, but Adult Cykka is really fun to fight for some reason. Not only it has a cool design, but it’s a fast-paced battle (due to having to use the Grapple Beam to swing from platform to platform) where you have to go ham on the boss at certain points (when it becomes Dark Cykka), my two favorite styles for a boss.

5) Nightmare (Metroid Fusion): A name, a certainty. This boss looks, sounds and attacks in a way that makes you feel confused and powerless. Even at it becomes a game of “climb the stairs, shoot at its ungodly face, jump around to avoid it”, it’s still tense.

4) Ridley (Super Metroid): SM isn’t famous for having great bosses, but they put all of their effort into Ridley and it shows. There’s no strategy here, it’s simply “kill him before he kills you”. At this point you’re pretty much at the peak of your strength, you went through literal Hell to get The Baby back, you’re not going to be stopped by the asshole who killed your parents.

3) Shibusawa Keiji (Yakuza 0): What a beast of a final boss. The first Dragon of Dojima is the perfect foil to Kiryu, having all of his strength and style but none of his compassion, and beating him up to a bloody pulp, especially as you see him become sloppier and sloppier, is so, so cathartic. Also, Two Dragons, what more can I say?

2) Egg Dragoon (Sonic Unleashed): Best boss in the series? I don’t know but it’s surely in the top 10, and it’s ironic that you play as the hated Werehog. Not only it has some delicious music (that generations ruined), but it’s such a fun climax after the hell and a half that is Eggmanland! On one hand, Eggman sounds seriously angry and he is ready to kill Sonic (and if you take too much time, which admittedly is hard if you’re not doing it on purpose, he is positively gleeful while he sends you into a fiery death); on the other, Sonic just rips this giant robot apart like tissue paper, and even if it’s done through QTEs, it looks awesome.

1) Kuze Daisaku (Yakuza 0): I’ll let this say it all. If I had to pick a favorite version, the fifth one was my favorite to fight (by that point you have likely upgraded Kiryu’s abilities to the point of making him a juggernaut), but the second one is iconic for a reason... multiple, in fact. “DIE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!”

Special mention to Majima in Y1, YK and YK2 because he looks really fun, but I have never faced him myself so yeah.

[game-boy-pocket]

Well, now that they're all finally out... my feelings on each of the new Smash Bros characters is this.

Inkling was inevitable. But that doesn't mean I wasn't thrilled to see them. Splatoon is a great new IP, though I personally worry about how similar the games seem to be 3 main entries in, but that's nothing to do with Smash. Fun to play but hard to learn. A- ( the minus is for no Octo alt ).

Ridley felt like he should have been inevitable, but was fighting against some pretty strong biases. But he finally made it and i'm very happy. I do think he could have been a tad bit bigger though. Even if they had to slow him down a bit. A

Simon very happy with this character, and honestly surprised he didn't get in sooner. Castlevania may not be as strongly associated with Nintendo as it used to be, but it's one of the first games that come to mind when you think of the NES as well as the SNES. He was in a TV show with Megaman and Pit for goodness sake. And I enjoy using him. A- ( minus is only for no chronicles alt )

Richter was a cool addition, if there was one other Belmnot to be added, i'm glad it's him... but I am more of a Simon guy. Side note, I wish they took the echo fighter character a little further. It seemed like branding clones as echo fighters is all it took to make people more accepting of the idea, only for them to just stop short of three or four new ones, and not even include super obvious ones like Shadow the Hedgehog or Blood Falcon. Anyway A- ( minus is for no symphony of the night alt )

King K. Rool being revealed was one of my top five Smash moments. Donkey Kong is not a neglected Nintendo franchise. But it has undergone some changes that long time fans don't care for, including the removal of the main antagonist, this guy, who has a gigantic personality. He's a very fun character and it's so good to see him come back ( pls appear in the next DK game pls pls pls ) He also happens to be very fun to play as. A++

Isabelle is where Smash reveals kind of started to lose me a bit. Animal crossing is a big series and all but I really felt like the one villager is all the game really needed to properly represent the entire series. You don't need a lot for Animal crossing. And the fact that Isabelle was a relatively new character, who seemingly snatched the role of series mascot from Tom Nook, well it kind of rubbed me a little wrong. She seemed unnecesary... but she is actually more fun to play as than villager, and she's cute. So I don't totally hate her. B

Incineroar was a poor way to end the base game lineup for me. Pokemon just isn't a very respectible series anymore in my eyes and Sun/Moon was the first game in the series that I found too boring to finish. Pokemon just doesn't excite me, and with each new announcement, I'm becoming actively disgusted by it. I would have loved a wrestler character in the game, but the fact that it had to be a pokemon kind sullied it for me. Yeah, I just can't pretend to like this inclusion even if it is a huge Nintendo IP. C-

Dark Samus is a character I am kind of indifferent too. I didn't think we needed her, but I think she's a cool addition to the game. A bit of a waste to make her an echo though, her abilities are very different from Samus in the games if I remember right, I honestly don't remember much of Metroid Prime besides the first one. Still, she's cool. B+

Daisy is an oddball for me. I know she is in Super Mario Land, but her main identity comes from the Mario Spinoff games, and I just don't play those games. They don't appeal to me. I like Mario platformers. And to me, if a character is in spinoffs almost exclusively, they don't count as core Mario cast members. And frankly it's a little odd to me that she's plucking turnips and summoning Toads. The citizens of Sarasaland are not Toads. And she wasn't in Mario 2... but she's not hurting anything I guess so B+, needed "Hi i'm Daisy" taunt.

Chrom is a Fire Emblem Lord alright. He's also an echo. So I don't care. C

Piranha Plant honestly felt like a little bit of an insult to me. I've always hated when Mario games start featuring low level mooks without names as playable characters in the Mario spinoffs while ignoring the likes of Wart, Tatanga, E. Gadd, or th extended DK/Wario cast or RPG characters. It's part of why I don't care about Mario spinoffs. That being said... it is, at the very least, extremely fun to play as. B-

Joker may very well be the most out of place character in this series. He's certainly one of them. Maybe I would feel different if I played Persona, but I don't. So to me he's like the worst thing they added to this game. D-

Hero felt like he should have been in Smash Bros before cloud did. Dragon Quest may not be as popular in the west as it should be. But it's definitely the most important and influential JRPG to the history of video games... that being said, I wish the DQ3 hero was the default costume. I really enjoy playing as him. A+

Banjo and Kazooie finally getting in is without a doubt my favorite moment in Smash History. Not even Sonic got me as hyped as they did. I wish there was a way to make younger fans see this character the way us old timers do without seeming like we're trying to force them to like him, but it is what it is. I love these guys and they're my most played character. A+++

Terry is a character i'm not familiar with. He just kind of looks like a bootleg Ken to me. I think they could have picked a better SNK rep. Metal Slug would have been nice, shooters are sorely under represented in Smash. Do we have anybody besides Samus representing shooters? And she barely qualifies. C

Byleth is a Fire Emblem Lord alright. But you know what, they're honestly the only FE character that feels like they're representing the gameplay of Fire Emblem particularly well while the others were just kind of generic sword slingers... that being said... was this the best way to end fighter pass 1? B-

Minmin was not a character on my Radar. I thought it would have been Springman or no Arms character at all... I am just happy ARMS made it in at all... but really, it should have been base game content. If only to support the new IP. A-

Steve was a character I was opposed to at first. I saw him as a rival to Banjo. And I also saw Minecraft as a dumb zoomer game. A joke. But people made compelling arguments for the importance of minecraft, how successful it is, I actually downloaded Minecraft on my Switch, played it, had a relaxing time, I still play it, and I was actually able to play with my friends who don't own Nintendo consoles. It has cross play. The cross play is really what won me over as it being really cool to have in Smash, as it really brought me together with friends. Steve is tough to use, but great fun, as long as it's against a computer. I can't fight humans for shit, hah. A- ( the minus is for that cursed short enderman alt )

Sephiroth rubbed me the wrong way. Another Final Fantasy character wouldn't have been so bad, but did it have to be another FFVI character??? Couldn't it have been something from before FF made the jump to total steampunk/sci-fi to better represent the series roots? He's fun to use but idk, I just take no joy in him... at least we got more FF music I guess. C-

Pyra/Mythra is a character I have zero opinion on. B ( for booba )

Kazuya is not a character i'm familiar with, and if there had to be another fighting game character, one from Namco, I feel like Soul Calibur should have been it. Bring the Link crossover back around. It seems Tekken has no presence on Nintendo as well... but whatever. I have no strong feelings. He's fun to combo with but I suck as him. B-

Sora makes me sad. I don't dislike Sora. He has a fun design. I like the idea of Kingdom Hearts... I just think the story of those games is very weird and dumb and confusing, so the games themselves are kind of overrated. I really think people only like it for the pretty character models and intricate costumes. I thought people liked it for the Disney stuff but I'm suprised to hear most KH fans seem to want more FF stuff and less Disney stuff??? The only thing that makes the game unique??? Should be dialed back??? That being said... I don't like Disney. It is an evil company. And Disney getting in bed with Nintendo makes me very anxious. D