time gear
Eternity in an hour
This is something that has been on my mind for a long while now, and I figured it was about time I put my thoughts into writing and give others a chance to share their opinions on the matter as well. There's been a wealth of new lore getting injected into the Sonic franchise since after Forces, and with this new lore comes a wealth of new characters as well. These new characters are almost but not quite entirely provided to us through the IDW comics, and many of them feature a really cool gameplay potential that I'd like to talk about.
Trip
Trip the Sungazer debuted in Sonic Superstars, and appears again in the recent Knuckles issue of the IDW Sonic series. As a Superstars character, she's already had a playable appearance, though because Superstars is a strictly 2D game in the main gameplay she's not yet had a proper 3D outing. Her moveset is very exploration focused in my opinion, and she'd be perfect for a more open world type environment similar to the islands present in Sonic Frontiers.
Tangle
Tangle is a Lemur that debuted in the IDW comics. Her primary distinguishing feature from other Sonic characters is her long tail which she can grab things with and swing from. I can easily imagine this functioning similarly to a rope and grapple hook, but could also be used to move objects around as though it were a big, long arm for grabbing with as well as a means of attacking enemies both directly and indirectly. Similarly to Trip, I think this provides a lot of potential for exploring a big open world environment with puzzles to solve and enemies to beat. Her ability to swing around and launch herself could allow her access to locations that more ground based characters would find to be out of reach, and she could use her tail to interact with objects necessary to complete objectives that likewise other characters can't reach.
Whisper
Whisper is often paired together with Tangle, making the two a dynamic duo of sorts. Also from the IDW comics, Whisper's a character with a strong bond with a group of various Wisps. This allows her to make use of their various powers to her advantage. This I think would be perfect for either a collect-a-thon platformer or a metroidvania. There's a ton of potential to the idea of her needing to search for her missing Wisp friends, with them gradually adding to her moveset as the story progresses.
Mimick
More of an antagonistic character, Mimick is a villain in the IDW comics focused on stealth and blending in. He can take on the appearance of other characters, which makes him perfect for the idea of a more child friendly adaptation of the sort of thing going on in the Hitman franchise with Agent 47. I can easily imagine him being the star of a more stealth oriented game in which he must infiltrate into locations and complete various objectives, all while using various disguises to blend in.
Starline
Another IDW character, Starline is a scientist with an obsession towards Dr. Eggman. Eventually becoming disillusioned towards the Doctor and viewing himself as superior, he takes matters into his own hands and invents a gauntlet that allows him to shift himself into Speed, Flight, and Power modes. This could in effect be used as a gameplay reason for him to possess an entire Sonic Heroes moveset within similarly designed stages without needing any allies to help him through them.
Surge and Kitsunami
Surge and Kit were once normal individuals but were captured, modified, and brainwashed by Starline Dr. Gero style to become the perfect rivals for Sonic and Tails. Surge is not only fast, but also has electric powers that add an extra punch to her moveset. Kit backs her up with his water powers. Together, they act as anti-heroes on occasion and outright villains in other occasions. It's not at all hard to imagine the two thriving in similar environments as seen in previous Sonic games, but their movesets also give them an added combat focus that could make them really fun to use in something more focused on clearing waves of enemies rather than getting from point A to B quickly. Perhaps something of a mix between Unleashed's night and day stages in which you have occasional sections in which you slow down to fight enemies before your can progress? Either way, I'd imagine that these two would stick together pretty much all the time in gameplay, and might even be able to be swapped between freely. I can also see their elemental attributes allowing them to cross certain terrain that other characters wouldn't be able to or would only with great difficulty.
Sage
Eggman's newest AI companion which he considers to be his daughter, Sage debuted in Sonic Frontiers and was pivital in getting Eggman to work together with Sonic to overcome The End. She's capable of interfacing with technology and can even take control of it to a limited extent. This would make her a character perfect for a hacker type playstyle that completes puzzles to open the path forward while also turning enemy robots into allies to fight for and defend her. She possesses the ability to teleport and fly, which would be overpowered in most linear level design but could be quite fun if limited to more open ended locations. I'd imagine her gameplay to be somewhat similar to 9S from NieR Automata.
Trip
Trip the Sungazer debuted in Sonic Superstars, and appears again in the recent Knuckles issue of the IDW Sonic series. As a Superstars character, she's already had a playable appearance, though because Superstars is a strictly 2D game in the main gameplay she's not yet had a proper 3D outing. Her moveset is very exploration focused in my opinion, and she'd be perfect for a more open world type environment similar to the islands present in Sonic Frontiers.
Tangle
Tangle is a Lemur that debuted in the IDW comics. Her primary distinguishing feature from other Sonic characters is her long tail which she can grab things with and swing from. I can easily imagine this functioning similarly to a rope and grapple hook, but could also be used to move objects around as though it were a big, long arm for grabbing with as well as a means of attacking enemies both directly and indirectly. Similarly to Trip, I think this provides a lot of potential for exploring a big open world environment with puzzles to solve and enemies to beat. Her ability to swing around and launch herself could allow her access to locations that more ground based characters would find to be out of reach, and she could use her tail to interact with objects necessary to complete objectives that likewise other characters can't reach.
Whisper
Whisper is often paired together with Tangle, making the two a dynamic duo of sorts. Also from the IDW comics, Whisper's a character with a strong bond with a group of various Wisps. This allows her to make use of their various powers to her advantage. This I think would be perfect for either a collect-a-thon platformer or a metroidvania. There's a ton of potential to the idea of her needing to search for her missing Wisp friends, with them gradually adding to her moveset as the story progresses.
Mimick
More of an antagonistic character, Mimick is a villain in the IDW comics focused on stealth and blending in. He can take on the appearance of other characters, which makes him perfect for the idea of a more child friendly adaptation of the sort of thing going on in the Hitman franchise with Agent 47. I can easily imagine him being the star of a more stealth oriented game in which he must infiltrate into locations and complete various objectives, all while using various disguises to blend in.
Starline
Another IDW character, Starline is a scientist with an obsession towards Dr. Eggman. Eventually becoming disillusioned towards the Doctor and viewing himself as superior, he takes matters into his own hands and invents a gauntlet that allows him to shift himself into Speed, Flight, and Power modes. This could in effect be used as a gameplay reason for him to possess an entire Sonic Heroes moveset within similarly designed stages without needing any allies to help him through them.
Surge and Kitsunami
Surge and Kit were once normal individuals but were captured, modified, and brainwashed by Starline Dr. Gero style to become the perfect rivals for Sonic and Tails. Surge is not only fast, but also has electric powers that add an extra punch to her moveset. Kit backs her up with his water powers. Together, they act as anti-heroes on occasion and outright villains in other occasions. It's not at all hard to imagine the two thriving in similar environments as seen in previous Sonic games, but their movesets also give them an added combat focus that could make them really fun to use in something more focused on clearing waves of enemies rather than getting from point A to B quickly. Perhaps something of a mix between Unleashed's night and day stages in which you have occasional sections in which you slow down to fight enemies before your can progress? Either way, I'd imagine that these two would stick together pretty much all the time in gameplay, and might even be able to be swapped between freely. I can also see their elemental attributes allowing them to cross certain terrain that other characters wouldn't be able to or would only with great difficulty.
Sage
Eggman's newest AI companion which he considers to be his daughter, Sage debuted in Sonic Frontiers and was pivital in getting Eggman to work together with Sonic to overcome The End. She's capable of interfacing with technology and can even take control of it to a limited extent. This would make her a character perfect for a hacker type playstyle that completes puzzles to open the path forward while also turning enemy robots into allies to fight for and defend her. She possesses the ability to teleport and fly, which would be overpowered in most linear level design but could be quite fun if limited to more open ended locations. I'd imagine her gameplay to be somewhat similar to 9S from NieR Automata.