It's so odd to me when Knuckles is pushed over Tails. Eggman I understand, even Shadow to an extent. But Knuckles is literally 3 in counting 1,2,3.
As far as Tails- given how Sonic plays, I'd have been fine with him as an altered echo- being slower, but being given a unique ability to fly/hover (or even grab people in the air). With just this one change (which granted, changes the entire moveset balancing, heavily), it would still feel like OG Tails, and Sonic would be as fleshed out as ... Castlevania. What an odd sentence.
I guess I expected more echoes, though. Dixie and Tails could have even used similar coding for the helicopter visual (though they'd function differently). Alas... they, along with Protoman/Zero, seem unlikely to be.
Sure, Tails can be a unique character... but I doubt that he would be, or even should be. I love him, but it would definitely feel...different... than the other DLC we have.