I had an idea of a potential move to give Sonic when his thok is replaced: "Drop Bounce". In the past I have suggested giving Sonic the SA2 bounce, but it seems to have been met with criticism that it would require a level of precision that new players can't be expected to perform. I still disagree, but I thought up a solution regardless.
The "Drop Bounce" idea I had works as follows:
-While in a jump state, the player can press jump again to enter a preparation state, with a visual and audio indication similar to when the player is entering a Drop Dash. This does not shoot Sonic downward, but rather he finishes his jump normally as if jump hadn't been pressed again at all. When touching the ground, the player will bounce back up into the air immediately, reaching ordinary jump height. This height is boosted somewhat by landing on a monitor or badnik instead of the ground. From here, the player can press jump again at any time to uncurl into a double jump that leaves Sonic vulnerable but grants him additional height. Sonic can still use shield powers in this state, so for example if you want to turn it into a triple jump with the whirlwind shield or electric shield, you can.
-If the player is in the preparation state and touches a wall instead of an enemy, monitor, or the floor, it will send Sonic straight up, giving him a little bit of a boost over his normal jump height to help clear certain cliffs he otherwise couldn't reach.
-If the player jumps from a high cliff and enters the preparation state, they will bounce back up just as high as they fell from after hitting the ground. Hitting a badnik or monitor adds a bit of height.
-If the player is in the preparation state and is physically touched by an enemy in a way that wouldn't hurt the enemy, the state is canceled and Sonic takes a hit. If he is touched by a projectile fired by a non-player, it is returned in the direction it was sent. In PvP, projectiles fired by players will cause Sonic to take a hit.
-Because the preparation state does not shoot Sonic downward, the player should have plenty of control over where Sonic lands, the same amount of control as usual.
-After transforming into Super Sonic, Sonic can enter the preparation state again after performing a double jump out of the bounce. This can allow Sonic to slowly gain height so long as he doesn't touch a bottomless pit, which will still kill him.