StephChars v4 - Echoes Of The Abyss Update v4.2

(Skip portion originally written June 17, 2021)
One of the original GOAT (greatest of all time) character mods in my opinion, Skip is one of my favorite characters ever made for 2.2

Right off the bat, Skip's ENTIRE playstyle and kit are unique and fresh among a good bit of the characters here on the message board. His movement is ludicrously fun, and very simple to understand if you give it enough of a shot. Monitor crafting/the scrap mechanic is very interesting and makes Skip all the more unique. Being able to harvest scrap from enemies to be able to precisely plan for future situations by making yourself the according shield/power up is very satisfying, and is a good way to incentivize badnik hunting for Skip.

Some of the other small details/easter eggs are also pretty cool.

Vanilla game beaten, 7 emeralds in tow. Go play him. :)
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Originally not expecting much, I was pleasantly surprised at how well Jana plays.

For starters, as a GIANT fan of the Megaman X series, this ticked all the boxes of why I like how those games play (for Zero, anyway.) At first glance I thought the double-tap method for dashing would feel odd and unnatural in a 3D space like SRB2's, but it feels ridiculously fun and makes Jana a lot more mechanically interesting. Her saber feels implemented in a pretty solid way, not even being required to beat the game if you wish not to use it. Cutting things in half feels fun, and the action itself is quick and satisfying (it's also not a hard commitment.) While her double jump feels pretty standard, having Rekkouha attached to it made it much more interesting to use in certain situations (especially high up ledges/platforming.) The wall jump feels pretty good, and allows the player to stay away from the ground for essentially however long they want. It's also a very nice way to hold on to your dash from a dash jump.

The easter eggs and several small details also help the experience stand out just a little more than it already does.

Vanilla game beaten, 7 emeralds collected while dashing all over the place. Go play her. :)

10/10
Jana >>> Modern Sonic
in terms of being op

It's all fun and games until SMS uses haymaker/any damage move and you click spin as kou

This is peak i love this, the characters, the abilities, the Goofy dances, the gameplay, i could go on and on but i won't 1000000/10

Bien gracias a Dios y tú cómo estás

when i first saw this mod i thought to my self this looks promising and i downloaded it when i started playing as jana i felt like this in the video https://youtube.com/shorts/3jLgpJM5SzI?feature=share its a amazing mod

peak mod on god

the funny fennec and his fox friend are so much fun to play :D

Skip and Jana are simple to learn, but hard to master characters who can really blast through stages!! Both of them look absolutely adorable and cool respectively, and each bring a lot to the table. They also have really amazing sprites and animation, and their easter eggs are small but get a smile out of me every time.

Skip is really fun to control given his collect-a-thon style and you'll be skipping across levels really easily with his dives and monitor abilities! He's more hard to master than Jana but easier to learn IMO, as his dives will *smack* into walls- but if you get his dives down perfect, you can gain really high speeds and heights that can easily speed through even Aerial Garden. I really adore his monitor crafting, and how mechanical parts spill out of busted badniks and monitors in the zone already. The shields you get from crafting and each zone buff Skip really well, making combat easier as well as platforming. That's my only issue with Skip really... I haven't gotten used to dealing with enemies as him as you can only beat enemies while falling or by diving, and I often miss my dives in Simple controls, which I'm more used to (and also makes him play closely to his inspirations). Bosses aren't as hard thankfully, given their large hitboxes!
Also, the flashlight is a really nice tool even though you don't see it used often. Hopefully levels with dark, secret-filled areas get made so he can take advantage!

Jana on the other hand, is a dream of mine realized. She brings the fast pace and insane mobility of Zero to SRB2 almost flawlessly!! Jana has not only a really fun dash which can be jumped out of for mobility, but the wall jump shenanigans she can pull off make hard levels quiver in fear, and with her saber, put them out of that miserable fear! Her slashes are quick and rarely dampen the pace unlike Amy and her hammer, and the charge slash can get tricky airborne enemies!
Jana's wall detection for wall jumps is also nigh perfect, though at times I can wall jump only to cling to it a second time without height, but given a second jump I hop off perfectly. (Also, a part of me deep down wants her jacket to flap more in the wind when she moves, blame Zero's successor Gunvolt for that. Jana doesn't *really* need it though as she already looks so cool, haha!)

TL;DR, both Skip and Jana bring fun abilities that you'll be figuring out cool tricks with every time you play, while looking awesome doing so.

5 Stars bud (I just wanted to write a that)

skip is a fluffy boi :O

I've always enjoyed Playing a Hat In Time (Except the Non-Boss Death Wishes lmao) so having a similar playstyle in SRB2 feels very welcome, the collecting gimmick is also very clever and enjoyable! Fine work!

So uhh, yeah, time to review this beauty.

Skip: He's fast, he's cute, his abilities are awesome.
Can't say anything else, i have played with him since he released and i had a lot of fun skipping the entire level just literally "run > jump > dive > double jump > dive", also, i love so much the spritework, awesome job steph.

Jana: Ooooohhhh boy, i just played with her and loved it instantly, i am a fan of megaman zero games, and looking at how she has gameplay of that game, made me know exactly how to control her without practice, also just like skip, her spritework is beautiful, again, awesome job steph.

best mod ever me and my brother love this mod!

Jana alone is worth 5 stars. Her design is awesome, full of personality. Her gameplay is incredible; I love her walljump and dash; you can gain lots of height really easily, but in a way that's actually fun, unlike e.g. Tails. My only complaint about Jana is that it's too easy to accidentally do the ground stomp; it's annoying when I'm trying to double-jump, not realizing I can't, and end up falling to the ground instead.

I do have a feature suggestion that I think would work really well for Jana, and I don't imagine would be very difficult to add. That is to allow the player to change the color of her attacking/dashing effects to a custom one, like what Silver has. Maybe it could also apply to her super aura. It's a small thing, but I think it would add a lot of customization value. (If you like the idea but are busy with other things, I'd be happy to code it for you!)

As for Skip, he's a pretty cool character too. Like Jana, he has a lot of personality, and crafting monitors is a really cool mechanic. I understand why you removed the golden monitors, but I think it should be added back, as it would still work really well in co-op. Besides, you can craft Eggman monitors, and unless I'm missing something, that's even more situational.

These characters are amazing, and I'm glad you decided to make another character!

If Skip was good, his new partner is the same quality. Amazing Job!

4 words: Best. Character. Mod. Ever.
I love playing as Jana because you can cheese almost every platforming section.

I love these characters! Use them every single time if I host a server!

Great mod but, when i try to use they’re controls it doesnt work is there a way to fix that?