Writing down a lot of complaints. But, before I do, I just wanna make sure it's known that all of these characters are still some of the best ever made for SRB2, regardless of my nitpicks. Amazing sprites and it's very clear that there's been so much love put into this release!
- Espio - 4/5
A lot of my issues with Espio are things that existed in the old version too, and I wasn't expecting to see any differences to them, so the stuff that is improved is a pleasant surprise. The old Espio just had that very straight-forward charge double jump slow fall, where you just charged to max and released and that was pretty much all there was to the depth. Comparatively, Focus Shift is way more fun & interesting, and has more ways to use it. I actually appreciate that it's harder to get on ceilings using it.
I still would like to see wall running to be more natural and momentum based. I would prefer to see your current movement speed transition into the wall, instead of it being mostly just a set speed. Instead of slowing down a bunch at the end of an arbitrary timer, apply a constant force and slip off when you lose too much speed. It's also just feels strange how you need speed to stay on walls, but you don't need any to stick to the ceiling. As it is now, it's fine I guess, but it feels very obvious just how arbitrary/fake the wall cling is. But again, these are all of the same suggestions I made for the old Espio, and I wasn't expecting these things to be changed any, so it's whatev.
- Mighty - 2/5
I'm going to be honest. I used to be a Mighty fan, but after Mania Plus I have to put an asterisk on that, because they made his ability a stomp. I really don't like stomp moves, and because of Mania all fan projects are now going to make him "the guy with the boring stomp move" instead of "the guy with the cool wall kick". I like that you can go into Drop Dash with Hammer Drop, that's kind of neat and gives it an option to keep flow going. But I go back to not liking it, because Hammer Drop is on the same input as Wall Kick, which is very nasty since they're two polar opposite abilities.
I'm really not sure what to recommend for this, since even though I don't like Hammer Drop, I wouldn't dare suggest deleting it because there's a lot of effort put into it + I get the desire to replicate one of his official abilities from the games. Maybe make Hammer Drop itself a charge input like Drop Dash (charge up, hear sound cue / see animation change, release to slam down), so it's harder to do on accident? I dunno. As it is now, the input mix ups are too frustrating when they happen, this is unfortunately the only character from this pack I won't return to as is.
- Charmy - 5/5
His abilities are a bit spammy, but that's just accurate to Charmy, so I wouldn't feel right docking points for that. The abilities themselves are still more swag compared to actual Chaotix, so they're a super fun character. The extra touches like getting your stinger stuck in geometry, and the bee sounds when running, are also really fun. In particular I like the stinger getting stuck as a punishment for missing enemy bounces with the downwards sting, that makes it feel just a touch more risk-reward than it would be otherwise.
- Vector - 4/5
Vector is absolutely gorgeous, and his abilities are extremely cool, but they have a lot of minor annoyances which make him, well, annoying to use.
Beat Bash is fun, I like that it's Rebound Dash but with the dumb wall humping that makes it annoying to witness removed. So, I want to clarify that I like that it's punishing and that there's a timing element. The problem I have is that the feedback for the correct timing is very vague. I think the character blinks, but even when I'm looking for that I can't always see it. (I only even noticed it after playing for a long time, I thought for a good while you just had to guess...) I wish there was a sound cue or some kind of big particle effect to make it more palatable, as it is now it can feel pretty inconsistent. It's also a huge shame that this ability does not take cmd.latency into account to make the timing more lenient under netgame lag, so it's practically unusable in multiplayer.
Record Rush is the most fun part of Vector to me, but it feels kind of like this ability was only designed for largest of empty sandbox maps. Even using it in GFZ is pretty finnicky and difficult, and you can forget about it in any harder zones. Just always find myself wishing for just the sliiightest bit of extra turning, feels like I just barely touch the corner of everything. Not sure what to suggest for harder stages, rolling loses you a lot of control for very few tangible benefits. Maybe a higher jump while you're in this state, and/or make colliding with a ledge while in the air bump you up & away from it so you can go into Beat Bash and recover.
- Heavy - 3/5
I feel so conflicted about this guy. I want to put this guy at 5/5, I really do. I love seeing the two Chaotix robos get attention and love, they're my favorite designs besides maybe classic Vector. They are basically Wario dash + Plague Knight charge jump rolled into one character, which feels made for me. I really want them to be my favorite in the whole pack.
But I really can't stand the stomp, it's my kryptonite.
- All of the problems as Hammer Drop on Mighty; it's a very touchy "go down instantly" ability on the same input as the "go up slightly" ability.
- Sets all horizontal momentum to 0. I generally find stomp moves boring period, but even Hammer Drop doesn't do this.
- Since the jump encourages you to charge it in advance, it makes the random accidental slope launches even more frustrating.
- I just don't understand why it exists at all. It's not a reference to an actual game like Hammer Drop is for Mighty. Is there some very niche scenario in the vanilla campaign that I couldn't find where you can't get the stomp effect from falling from a high jump?
All of my suggestions to fix this would be:
- Delete the stomp ability.
- Make the jump chargeable in the air.
- Charging jump in the air increases your gravity.
- Remove the nerf on air-jumping.
The idea being that if there needs to be a way to get the strong falling effect on-demand, it should be wrapped into one of his other abilities. Going into "wide mode engaged" in the air just feels like the perfect way to do so. I suggested removing the nerf on air-jumping, because ideally the extra gravity while doing so should balance out against the extra jump power.
Also, Heavy is currently the only character in the whole pack whose abilities are still enabled in SRB2infinity. This means there's 5 whole characters that already work out of the box flawlessly that I can't use, just because there's 1 character in the pack that doesn't work. Not a big deal, but it's just an example of a bit of a pet peeve I have with trying to host and maintain servers with characters that are only packed together because "it's hype" :p
- Bomb - 5/5
This guy is pretty simple but they are pure raw cocaine. Probably the best and my favorite in the whole pack, but again I am biased in favor of Eggman's mechanics. Honestly, do I have to say anything other than "this character has hitstun"?
