General Sonic The Hedgehog thread

Now, are we talking about Sega in general, or Sega of Japan? Because, again, IIRC SoA tends to kinda lean into Sonic more because they don't have much else (I guess Yakuza these days but that's all I can think of).

SEGA in general. Sonic is more popular in America, that's why he's more promoted here. But development of the games were in Japan until recently.

Iizuka moved back to So A to work on games there, but So J are the head branch essentially.

New returning track for STR

I can't stop jamming.

So...quick question cuz it's important. But...what is everyone's preferred take on Knuckles' character and where did that impression come from. Or rather, why do you feel that way.

I like the serious, dutiful take he kinda had going on in SA1.

I liked Knuckles's character in Adventure 2 and Heroes. Laid-back, dutiful, sensible, still hot-tempered, showed his character development from classic to neo-classic eras... Of course that my bias for Scott Drier's suave voice showing lol.

Hmmm. How to turn this into a Knuckles not chuckling joke...

I preferred it when Knuckles protected the Master Emerald, but actually stopped to reflect on his purpose and even sounded a little regretful about it. His cool, laidback but still hot-headed nature from S&K, Sonic Adventure, and Sonic Heroes is what I liked.

I don't really care for his Butt-Monkey persona. Being a rival to Sonic it just made sense that he be "edgy" and cool like Sonic, but a little more gullible and underhanded.

Make Knuckles a butt monkey again.

Nevermind, he's never not been one since his debut.

Yea see, has Knuckles ever been portrayed as all that serious?

In Sonic 3, he is tricked by Eggman and literally becomes Wille Coyote using tons of gadgets to hinder Sonic's progress, while laughing like a smug prick. And when you finally fight him, he's laughably easy.

In Sonic Adventure, he is once again tricked by Eggman into in Sonic's way and is in fact, responsible for Chaos 4 existing.

Sonic Adventure 2 literally introduces him trying to act smart but fails to notice Eggman take the Master Emerald and then has the brilliant idea to break it, something Rouge even calls him stupid for. He then is off on his own in stages with rap about cool and awesome he is, and then just kind of wanders into the main plot and he nearly crashes the shuttle the group were in.

So I ask once again....was this character ever really that serious? Because its funny how so many people say he should be "this serious and cool badass again" ...when he was never that to begin with and was in fact always a bit of a clown. His current Butt-Monkey characterization is probably the most in-character he's been.

Yeah, Knuckles has always been a bit of a clown, but I do feel like Heroes treated him the best, giving him a proper balance between serious and joking.

Heroes is the only time he isn't at the butt of a joke.

Yet people still cite both Adventure games as the positive portrayal...

Is Mystery.

People swear up and down that he's Piccolo the same way they say Shadow is Vegeta, when none of Shadow's issues have anything to do with Sonic and Shadow was way more sympathetic and heroic than Vegeta ever will be.

Do we have a trope for that?

I just find the whole thing funny and it was never so funny until someone pointed it out. It was kind of like an "OH shit lol" moment.

A bit late on this: @L Dragon: Isn't Forces edgy enough? From what I've seen it seems like it.

Has Knuckles ever even been much of a rival to Sonic outside of marketing? Even back in the day they stayed out of each other's way unless tricked into doing it, and unlike with Shadow, there isn't even a hint of competitiveness when they interact.

I prefer Knuckles as he was in the Adventure-Heroes era; serious, yet prone to mistakes and manipulation, which is what leads to his Butt-Monkey moments. I think the later games overdid his ditzines, it's not severe as Amy's snapback, but I would prefer a more even mix.

Knuckles was a foil, but more of a comical one. A parody of a rival really.

He has always been a hot head, and pretty insecure about himself and to contrast Sonic's cool headed confidence. But it's always played as comical. In short, he's the Daffy Duck to Sonic's Bugs Bunny.

If anything, his current character is fine. He's just not treated as a main character anymore

Edited by BlackYakuzu94 on Jan 10th 2019 at 2:20:03 PM

As long as Sonicteam's set on keeping the story lighthearted yeah, it's much more preferable to making him an outright dumbass like Boom did.

I don't think anyone said smart exactly.

In Sonic 3 he was tricked but actually managed to stall Sonic and Tails quite a bit. As soon as he figures out what's going on he's on Sonic's side.

In Sonic Adventure his story begins with him monolouging about his role as guardian and reflecting on it in a way not seen in other games.

Sonic Adventure 2 had Knuckles break the emerald so neither Eggman or Rouge could take it, which worked, and by the end of the game he's restored the emerald just as intended.

I guess what I should say is that I preferred the more competent, solo adventurer Knuckles who wasn't just a background character implied to be doing things.

But not exactly a Butt-Monkey either. Knuckles is the first person in the franchise to straight up knock Super Sonic on his keister.

I prefer the Knuckles that went around got things done, trolled, actually participated in the plot. Knuckles could have had a spin-off series of his own with the Chaotix. Relegating him to goofy background character instead of the guy who could actually give Sonic a hassle, the guy got to go off on his own adventure with the Chaotix, was not one of Sonic Team's best decisions.

Edited by Soble on Jan 10th 2019 at 11:29:04 AM

No, he was definitely a butt monkey alright.

I will eat you.

You see that chef's hat to the left?

With butter and fishsticks.

Edited by Soble on Jan 10th 2019 at 11:30:06 AM

It's a nice hat.

A competent butt monkey is still a butt monkey. Like you said, he just did more things which isn't really a problem with the character himself but usage.

If you wanna be generous, its Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass.

But yea, Knuckles is kind of an idiot and always has been.

Personally, I like his Heroes appearance the most, it was a balanced mix of his Adventure and Classic personas, and really feels like everything he did before could all exist in sync.

Goofy trickster who'd flick a switch to an air current a billion times to blow his foe away, and and also a guy who'd reflect on his role as a guardian and why he's doing it.

The reason Knuckles leaves the Master Emerald unattended is because he'll just find whoever took it and beat the shit out of them and then go right back to leaving.

Going to bring it up again since that's basically my thing on this thread, but knuckles portrayal in Chronicles is completley serious IIRC, and he's shown to be fairly competent to boot. Although I guess you do spent a good chunkof the early story to rescue him ? But since he rescues himself while you're on the way, that's still pretty good.