So I was all set to play as Pokemon Trainer. I read up Card's insanely detailed guide (a must read for PT mainers:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=142987) and obtained a few victories early on against my friends. I was feeling pretty good about myself as the matches continued.
Suddenly, sirens blared as an all-too familiar silhouette proclaimed its challenge. Why, it was the Blue Blur, Sonic the Hedgehog! I had just lost the most recent match, so my friend Kevin as Link stepped up to the challenge. Sonic fell quickly, and my girlfriend Victoria squealed over the chance to play as her favorite character. Whatever. Pokemon Trainer is where it's at.
She tried out Sonic for a few matches, lost, declared that Sonic wasn't her character, then returned to her normal main, Ness. We continued a few more matches, and then the character select screen popped up.
I COULD choose PT again...but what about Sonic? I mean, I had a Genesis and all three Sonic games plus Sonic & Knuckles growing up, I even possessed a Dreamcast just for playing Sonic Adventure. Maybe I should give my old friend a try? But I mean, come now, I would surely return to PT soon, Sonic was reputedly too fast and an overall poor character to play with.
Wrong.
I had barely placed my character select coin on his image before I was bowled over, face first, as the fastest thing alive ran headlong into me. In my mind, he then stood tapping his foot over my prostrate body on the ground while I gasped for breath.
"Come on, step it up!"
I glanced up and only saw a brief wag of the finger and a familiar cocky grin flash my way as my childhood video game hero whizzed off again.
The match began, and I fumbled over the controls as Ness, Link, and Marth all pounded on me. Perhaps...perhaps I was wrong in my choice? Sonic's running speed was INSANE, and all my moves demanded that I be close up, my lives kept disappearing...
There! That glowing, floating ball!
Hit it!
Again! Again!
Once more-
NOW I'LL SHOW YOU! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Three stocks from three different characters broke off immediately as I tore across the screen! This was the power of Sonic! The victory screen was mine!
"Sonic's the name, speed's my game!"
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So...yeah. I haven't gone back to PT yet, though he's my second main, followed by Olimar. I simply love Sonic too much. As I kept playing I realized that yes, his hitboxes were all poor, yes, his moves had no priority, and yes, he had no really good killing moves...but still. He's Sonic. And I'm good with him. It's so satisfying to win matches with a character that everybody shuts down or writes off too quickly as being "bad".
There was a stint where I repeatedly lost as Sonic and my friends suggested I switch back to PT, but I...I just couldn't. Sonic's an addiction to play as once you've tried him out.
Plus, one of my friends has now switched to Snake, and Sonic is the PERFECT counter to Snake. All of Snake's landmines and moves mean nothing to Sonic as the Blue Blur can zip over to Snake even before he can finish burying the mines, usually landing several combos. Course, Snake's raw power is more than a match for Sonic, so these matches usually come out pretty even.
LONG LIVE THE BLUE BLUR