Sonic The Hedgehog

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
I know I'd be castrated by most sonic fans for this, but Bunnie is the only Archie character I feel would work in the game universe. Interesting backstory and the one that would have some kinda unique gameplay. Boomer/Rotor is obsolete with Kid Genius Tails, Antoine while more interesting once he evolved beyond being "the coward" doesn't have much going for him, unless we keep the 'boyfriend to Bunnie' and reverse the power dynamic that he's the 'damsel in distress'. Sally has a similar issue as Rotor, in that she's basically Amy, espically with modern Amy being a fighter and leader.

There's nothing against any of these characters, but beyond Nostalgia their roles are already mostly filled in game lore, so they'd have to be altered a lot to fit in... except imo Bunnie. She'd have to be altered some, to be sure, The only character close to similar to her would be Omega at least potential game playwise. But she could still easily be an interesting character, even if they might have to borrow from Rusty Rose for a modern version of her.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
One big advantage Bunnie would have over Omega is not being a cheap reminder of a superior character.
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
Personally I kinda like Omega more then Gamma, but also feel like he could lighten up just a bit. But overall, I do agree that Bunnie could ideally be the middle ground between the two characters, while being completely her own thing. The only thing close to her atm is Rusty Rose from Sonic Prime, but I'm fairly certain Rusty Rose is inspired by her in the first place, so it all comes full circle. Like even in the comics, maybe you could say she's Robotnic's attempt at creating a better a Surge or something, since he's not one to be shown up.
 

ZakuConvoy

Well-known member
Citizen
Story-wise, I guess in a video game, they'd kind of be filling in for the "core" Sonic Team while they're off on their own adventures? Frontiers seemed to want to spin Sonic's "main" cast off into their own games...which was probably just setting up for the DLC, but still. Or they could just be...Sonic's OTHER "family"? Maybe they could be on the other side of the world from where everyone else is, and only Sonic can realistically get all the way over there to visit and help them out?

Still, I think they could work more as "sneaky spy specialists" than Sonic's main game team. Kind of a Sly Cooper band of underground fighters, rather than the rather public frontal assault characters. The Freedom Fighters could be more "Splinter Cell" than Tails and Amy's "Wolfenstein"? I'll admit, they might fit a little better in their own game, rather than a pure-Sonic game.

Gameplay-wise, I think Ian Flynn already gave us some ideas in the post-Genesis Wave Archie comics. It would kind of depend if they'd show up in a 2D or 3D game, I guess. In a 2D game, I think you can just get away with everyone just being a re-skin of Sonic. They'd just be in there for fan-service, but I think there WOULD be people who would pay for Freedom Fighters DLC, especially if they get their own story in the game. Just give them ONE unique move and I think you're good. Like a rocket punch for Bunnie, or the ability to see the whole map to find secrets easier for Sally.


Making them work in a 3D game might be a little trickier while still getting their personalities across. Though, you COULD just stick them into the same mold as the Chaotix. Since Vector, Charmy, and Espio COULD play fairly similar to Bunnie, Antoine, and Sally. And I'd probably make Rotor more like Omega/Gamma, myself. It'd be nice for the Freedom Fighters to have their own things, though.

For Sally, I'd probably play up her using Nicole. Nicole would probably be back to being a palm-pilot like in SATAM, since Sega probably wants to avoid getting too close to Archie canon. Either using Nicole to create hologram-like weapons, or using technology to distract and sneak around enemies. Maybe give her some ninja-like moves, for sneaking around and quick attacks. Maybe some sort of cloaking ability.

For Antoine, I'm thinking gameplay like Link from Legend of Zelda. A lot of dodge-rolls and slashes. A little quicker than the other characters. Maybe some flips. Maybe some sort of Assassin's Creed type "sneak attack" from behind, since he's still a little cowardly?

For Rotor, maybe a mechanic where he can build weapons from the parts of enemies he defeats? Kind of Ratchet and Clank sort of thing where he has a bunch of crazy weapons? He'd also be the heaviest and slowest, so I guess we'd have two tanky characters with him and Bunnie, and two more fragile but faster characters with Sally and Antoine.

For Bunnie, yeah, she'd be a tank. Maybe a little bit of Bionic Commando in there with her grapple-arm. Maybe a little bit of original God of War, turning her arm into a attack-chain-whip. I'd probably make her the strongest core attacker of the group. Rotor would have more powerful weapons, but you'd have to build up to those. Bunnie would be strong right out of the gate. And I think it makes sense for Bunnie to be a little faster than Rotor.




Maybe these don't quite work, but I think there are ways to get the Freedom Fighters to work in a Sonic game. Plus...I just want it to happen!
 
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ZakuConvoy

Well-known member
Citizen
Dulcy could have Panzer Dragoon or Star Fox style levels.

....Unless we use the post-Genesis Wave design. Then maybe she's a ranged fighter using flamethrowers and other types of dragon breath. Or maybe combine the elemental attacks into more of a beat-em-up character, using elemental buffs to add to kung fu moves. Something like Double Dragon.
 
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Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
Out of Mighty and Ray, Team Hooligan, Honey, and the Freedom Fighters, I'd personally assume the Freedom Fighters have the least chance of coming back. Not because of gameplay but because of story. While some individual decisions can be weird, Sonic Team generally does things based on story. The Freedom Fighters are fairly separate from the current canon in addition to the various overlaps in roles Shadewing already mentioned.

Thing is, I think Sally actually has far more problems than Shadewing said. Going off of SatAM (and please correct me in places where Archie varied), Sally's status as princess who fights because her father was dethroned and trapped in another dimension sorta ties her to a specific continuity. Royalty winds up giving her overlap with Blaze (though they have key differences). And of the inevitable shipping battles, the games have a fundamentally different Sonic and Amy has been getting written better recently and Sonic's been reacting to her more positively. And on that, I believe Amy's fairly popular in Japan.

With all that said, I can see ways to incorporate the Freedom Fighters in the game canon. The problem is that it'll require changes to the characters that fans of them may not want. The other, more interesting, problem is that it seems that Sega is trying to utilize more of it's expanded Sonic cast in merchandise.
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
Thing is, I think Sally actually has far more problems than Shadewing said. Going off of SatAM (and please correct me in places where Archie varied), Sally's status as princess who fights because her father was dethroned and trapped in another dimension sorta ties her to a specific continuity. Royalty winds up giving her overlap with Blaze (though they have key differences). And of the inevitable shipping battles, the games have a fundamentally different Sonic and Amy has been getting written better recently and Sonic's been reacting to her more positively. And on that, I believe Amy's fairly popular in Japan.

Oh I've considered that as well, its part of the altered to fit that I didn't fully go into. If you really wanted something close to classic Archie Sally, *bam* princess of some Kingdom we've never seen, have "Nagus" (doesn't have to be him exactly) being the main villian becuase supernatural assholes aren't a stranger to the series; he's locked the king away and is terrorizing the kingdrom. But at that point we're very loosely retreading Sonic 06's plotline, with a princess in trouble who may or may not fall for Sonic, while he helps save her kingdom from an ancient Evil. So if you change her from a Princess, then what do you really do with her? Do you make her a love interest and rival to Amy when they'd be very similar characters? I'm not counting Blaze since she rarely shows up and when she does 'princess' isn't much to do with her, game wise at least. You either can make her work as fan want, and she feel redundant, or you change her up and risk fans ire as you say.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
To be fair, Sally really didn't do much "Princess stuff" in SatAM to begin with. The princess angle just gave her a personal stake in the matter, but it didn't really factor into her character all that much. She was more "rough and tumble underground resistance leader who's not afraid to get her hands dirty" than anything. Just lean into that aspect of her.

She could still have the princess backstory to keep that personal stake, but the biggest difference between her and Elise is that she does her own fighting with her teammates and isn't a constantly-captured damsel in distress who needs to be rescued all the time.
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
I'm not counting Blaze since she rarely shows up and when she does 'princess' isn't much to do with her, game wise at least.

While Blaze's gameplay is usually "Sonic, but on fire", her status as royalty does come up when she's around. The more interesting thing is how it shifts how others interact with her and that's the major shared thing with Sally. In SatAM, Sally didn't lean on her status as royalty but others would react to it. The show version of Antoine tended to do better when trying to protect or impress her. In the "changes that the fans who want the character might not like" category, I'd like to see what would happen if Sally was another royal in Blaze's dimension since the interaction could be interesting. Of course, the games have only taken place in Blaze's dimension once so returning at all would need to be a higher priority.
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Ian reinvented them for the reboot, and tbh, I'd be surprised if he hasn't reinvented them again at least once to fit into the modern game sphere.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Part of my thinks "IDW needs money."

The other part of me thinks "Stuff like this is fun and IDW should have been doing it a long time ago."
 

Confuzor

Koopaling Aficionado
Citizen
About a year ago Amy had her tarot cards used in a scene in the comics and they all looked too fleshed out design-wise to be made just for a few pages. Either this has been in the works for a while or IDW totally had intentions of putting this out.
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
All told, the planning probably happened in 2021. While physical products take a while to get from concept to release, her cards showed up in Sonic Origins and animation takes a while as well.
 

ZakuConvoy

Well-known member
Citizen
They weren't a part of the Freedom Fighters. They made a few appearances in the early days as comedy relief badniks. But, their most prominent appearances would probably be when they ended up as bouncers for Mammoth Mogul's casino...and then later bouncers for Breezie's casino (Mammoth Mogul got erased from the comic after the lawsuits/Super Genesis Wave.)

If you want a summary for the first 77 or so issues of the Archie comic, this guy's got you covered...if you've got a extra 3 hours to kill:

He seems to be planning on doing videos for ALL of Archie Sonic, hitting the high points. The next video, which covers Pender's tenure on the comic should be interesting. I'm not sure if he's going to cover the Knuckles comic in that video, it's own video, or just ignore it entirely.
 


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