Mach the Pangolin 1.2

What's with characters with cool custom huds recently?
Jokes aside (although I admit, that hud looks amazing), Mach is a very simple to pick character that perfectly encapsulates the "high risk, high reward" gameplay with the surge system, making him trivial for various tricks if used correctly.
His electricity immunity makes the ending levels (especially the Metal Sonic Race and his boss corner arena) a bit of a joke, as you can have a sigh of relief knowing you will not be hit by the wall lasers.
Small nitpick I have is the walking sprites being a bit too smear-y on the arms, but again, it's just a personal nitpick and it doesn't change the rating at all.

Im somewhat mixed on this character

Pros
- For your first character mod ( to my knowledge at least ) I think this is a very solid start!
- The HUD is very neat and makes the character stand out quite a bit
- I like how he's a speed based character that isn't too difficult to control
- Has some neat ideas like an overheat mechanic and a meter based mechanic

Cons
- His design isn't bad, however I do think it could be simplified in some way ( like maybe removing his clothing ) , and also he looks quite similar to Sonic. I think his design would be a bit better if he leaned more into being a pangolin, like having shorter quills, a longer snout and a more rounded body type ( maybe similar to Mighty )
- Gameplay wise, for a character who's labeled as being fast, it's rather weird that he seems to stop himself from going a certain speed and seems to lack momentum. I think getting rid of this handicap would make him flow a bit better
- The amount of meter required to multi jump or to multi thok is a tad much, especially since the multi jumps don't seem to be that powerful. I would personally recommend they at least take half a bar instead of a full bar
- The spindash charging meter isn't a bad idea however I do think it could also be improved. Either make it charge a bit quicker or give him a SA1 type spindash to help his gameplay flow a bit better and to mitigate needing to stop to recharge
- The explosion mechanic is an interesting idea but I feel like it was executed a bit strangely. It almost feels like im being punished for playing well. Personally, I think this mechanic would work much better if there was a more prominent and noticeable buff to it, like a buff that improves all of his stats but at the cost of potentially dying, I feel like that would make the character a LOT more interesting to play. It would add a lot of risk and reward to him which is something I don't see many characters use
- His super form is extremely underwhelming, I was kind of expecting he'd gain infinite meter or something but he doesn't
- This is a very nitpicky complaint but as someone who uses the x momentum mod almost all the time, it'd be kind of cool if Mach's meter filled up if utilizing the tricks mechanic ( again this is very nitpicky I don't think a change like this is necessary since not all character mods are THAT compatible with x momentum anyways lol )

Overall I would give this character a 5.5/10, he plays decently but I think his gimmicks could be majorly improved upon, but as your first character mod, this is a great and promising start in my opinion! ( also this is my first review lol )

Absolute fuckin peak

I LOVE this character holy shittt

A playstyle all about self-restraint is a really cool concept, I adore characters with abilities so volatile that, left untempered, could be your downfall. We saw something similar to this with Super Mystic Sonic, however whereas SMS encourages you to go all out, Mach encourages you to be wise in how you use your abilities which really sets him apart from the rest.

Design wise, he's incredibly cool. His clothing matches his body like bread and butter, and his whole thing being lightning really sells the whole "self-control" thing. Surge has lightning abilities too, though hers are artificial and as such are completely under her mastery, but Mach's powers are innate from the looks of things and so he can't control them that well. I'd love to see some lore/backstory to him too, this feels like a really fleshed out character even though I know next to nothing about him.

quick edit: i didn't read the part of the mod page where it gave his backstory ummmm whoopsies

Ehhh, I feel pretty mixed with this guy.

I'll go over what I like firstly. I love the HUD! I feel like at least some of it was inspired by Persona. Lastly, the spritework. I like it! Mach, uh, matches the SRB2 style very nicely.

That's all the compliments I can really give. Now for some complaints and improvements. Firstly, the character design himself. He just looks too much like Sonic for my liking. The back-facing sprite looks like an edit of the Modern Sonic v5.12 mod(not saying it is, just saying they look similar). Just kinda wish he looked more Pangolin-like and not Modern Sonic, but with The Flash's color scheme. This could be improved by shortening the spikes(?). A little nitpick, but he has several running sprites, but no running sprites for when he isn't boosting. His walking sprites look and function like running sprites, which looks weird.

Now, for the abilities. Meh, they're fine. He just feels like a more beefier Modern Sonic, just with an overheat mechanic(that punishes you by killing you, for some annoying reason). The abilities here aren't too dissimilar to any other Sonic edit on the MB. Mach really needs an ability(or abilities) that truly show off the character he is. Side-tangent, but I really wish there were more varieties with character types besides speedsters. Recent uploads have been just speed-based characters or a speed-focused ability has breaks the game.

Overall, he's a fine addition. Couldn't say too much about him since there isn't really anything outstanding about him, but I also understand that this is your first mod(ignoring the Kart mod off to the side). Things can only improve from here!