I'm gonna be kinda nitpicky here...
Is Classic Shadow going to have his skating animations, or is he going to be like Shadow unleashed which honestly, looked really ugly.
Also, is there no way to allow the Young Sonic model run with the figure 8 motion that he does in SRB2 and the classic games? You made Young Tails pretty much perfect in his running and flying animations, I was hoping you would try to do the same for Sonic.
Ok, I'll be nit picky with your post as well, hopefully I can help you understand why I haven't already done what your requesting.
First off, Shadow Unleashed was HORRIBLE, I know that. It was one of my first models, made pre-2.0 and I would NEVER recommend using it. Brawl Shadow is an improvement, but a rushed job, and I am fixing him up as well.
As for skating, SRB2's uses four quickly changeing frames for it's running animation. This works great for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles because they do not move much. But to use only FOUR frames to correctly show shadow skating is almost impossible. To make it even less obtainable, SRB2 renders MD2 animations with what I call Auto-filling. This is what causes the "Paper" effect. Basicly, what it does is has the moving parts of the model move to their next position as quickly as possible, with the most direct route. This effects skating because the auto-fill+four frames= Un-natural Movement. Trust me, it just looks horrible. But, all hope is not lost, I noticed somehow in SRB2 Riders, Shadow uses his super/ability frames for running, allowing for more frames. If I could mimic this, I could create a blank WAD and animate Shadow correctly with skating. Although, you would HAVE to use the WAD.
On to Sonic's running frames. Hopefully after reading the above paragraph you understand what I'm up against. I have been toying around with the idea you guys want, but not for awhile. I plan to study that video of classic sonic in modern stage for inspiration.(Sonic Generations) I already have a couple of ideas, We'll just have to see how they turn out. Quick question- Same for Knuckles?
I appreciate the advice, and I will try my best to comply.