The Sonic Cycle is a meme that has been used by fans of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise to explain the excitement and eventual disappointment many feel during the lead-up to a new game in the franchise. While Sonic Boom effectively skipped much of the Sonic Cycle by giving fans doubts from the get-go with poorly-received character designs, the moment the excitement starts floundering, according to the Sonic Cycle, is when new characters outside of the core group are announced.
Let me start off by saying that there are many characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog games that I absolutely love. I've grown up playing the Sonic games from Genesis all the way up to Xbox 360 and Wii U, and spent a lot of time with these characters. Sonic was as cool as I thought anthropomorphic characters could get, and I always loved his partnership with Tails. Knuckles and Metal Sonic are arguably the best character additions in franchise history, and facing off against Dr. Robotnik (NOT Eggman) never gets old. Speaking of facing off against awesome enemies, I still can't shake how much I loved Chaos in Sonic Adventure, and how bummed I am that the series has moved away from the less goofy tone that the character brought with it. I also really like most of the Chaotix team, even if the best ones – Mighty and Espio – are underutilized.
Unfortunately, there have been many more misses than hits when it comes to the new characters being introduced in the more recent games. Check out my picks for the worst characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and sound off about which ones you hate the most in the comments below.
Silver the Hedgehog
First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
I'm not entirely certain if Silver is actually a bad character or just a tragic victim of circumstance. Appearing in arguably the worst game in the series, he's infamous for his boss fight where you'll be hearing "It's no use! Take this!" over and over until you finally defeat him. On the surface, he's actually a pretty cool concept: a time traveling hedgehog with the ability to use telekinetic powers. It should have opened up some incredible gameplay sequences, but unfortunately, he was thrown right into the fire of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 and his character took a massive hit as a result.
Sticks
First Appearance: Sonic Boom
Like Silver, Sticks may very well be another victim of timing and circumstance. Her energetic nature is actually fine by me given her feral background, but her odd behavior and awful schemes landed her on this list. The odd thing is that while she was added to the core team alongside Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy in the Sonic Boom universe, thanks to the weird redesigns of the characters, Sticks may actually be my favorite character model in Sonic Boom. Still, she doesn't match up to the other characters in the line-up, and as a result, she is underwhelming and, at times, annoying.
Cream the Rabbit
First Appearance: Sonic Advance 2
Cream's appearances aren't necessarily imposing, as much as they are almost always unnecessary. I've never been playing a Sonic game and thought "I wish Cream was here to help out!" Admittedly, her politeness can be a breath of fresh air when you look at how aggressive and boorish most of the other characters are, but when the most memorable part of your character is that you have a Chao called Cheese as your sidekick, it's a surefire way to land on a list such as this.
Shadow the Hedgehog
First Appearance: Sonic Adventure 2
I'll fully admit that I was a fan of Shadow the Hedgehog when he first hit the scene. In my youth, I thought it was a cool concept to have a rival hedgehog to Sonic who could not only match his speed, but also double down on his attitude. Unfortunately, Shadow's story arc played out too similarly to Knuckles' in his debut games, only it wasn't as well done. In addition, Shadow's brooding "tortured soul" personality wore on a lot of fans quickly, dropping much of the cool factor that Sonic Team was going for with his creation. The moment I think the world turned on Shadow, however, was when he got his own game, Shadow the Hedgehog, which ended up being just awful.
Rouge the Bat
First Appearance: Sonic Adventure 2
While Rouge's personality is fine, her character design is the first thing that stands out to me. Lots of weird choices for how they went about creating Rouge stick out, but in all honesty, her concept as a rival to Knuckles isn't a terrible one. Sadly, she entered the fray during a time when Knuckles' missions were the annoying treasure hunt quests of the Sonic Adventure series, which ended up making many fans turn on Rouge from the get-go. She is one of the few characters that has actually gotten better as time has gone on, but that isn't enough to completely save her.
On the next page, we tackle the five worst characters in series history!
