Summary
Knuckles the Echidna, sadly, is an iconic staple of Classic Sonic games who hasn’t been as playable as he should have been for quite some time. WhileSonic Maniagave him some spotlight, Modern Sonic fans have been lamenting the lack of playable KnucklessinceSonic Unleashedleft him out of the core cast. Thankfully, Knuckles fans have finally gotten their due as bothSonic Frontiers' DLC andSonic Superstarshave made him playable this year.
Just like his personality, Knuckles is simplistic in nature but is rather complex to play in truth. Climbing may give players an advantage inSonic 1and2inSonic Origins, but gliding can’t be as easily exploited as Tails' flight mechanics can and takes knowledge to use to its fullest potential. For those who enjoy what Knuckles has to offer in the 2D Classic Sonic games,Sonic Superstarsgives them eleven whole stages to play as the guardian of the Master Emerald with, and Knuckles has whole dedicated sections to him inSonic Frontiers, but fans desire him to feel a certain way.
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How Sonic Superstars Eases Up on Knuckles Players
Almost as if Sonic Team learned from its mistakes of giving the power of flight so freely inSonic 2, Knuckles' glide and climbing comes with the weight of a heavier jump inSonic 3, which is brought back inSonic OriginsandSonic Origins Pluswhen playing as Knuckles in the other games in the compilation. Gliding has a firm landing to assure players that they’ve safely reached the ground, and a belly-sliding recovery move if players just narrowly manage to reach a platform. Due to the heavier jump and the way Knuckles only glides down, his skills need to be used wisely.
There’s astrong emphasis on teamwork and co-op inSonic Superstars, so making Knuckles lack in jump height and length to the rest of the cast may have been a handicap for those who prefer him. As a result, the weighty jump has been removed, and his acceleration rate appears to have been beefed up to compensate, but the rest of what makes Knuckles the character players love can still be found inSuperstars.
What Sonic Frontiers Needs to Improve on For the Next Game
Unfortunately for fans of the last of the Echidnas,Sonic Frontiersdoesn’t deliver as well as it does on lore in terms of being able to play as him. While it’s great that Knuckles is playable in a 3DSonicgame again,Sonic Superstarsis still a better experience to turn to for loyal Rad Red fans. Knuckles himself feels great to punch, boost, and climb with, even though he’s limited to select walls, but the issue for many players is his glide. Where Amy and Tails had improvements to their play style, Knuckles feels like a downgrade compared to theAdventuretitles.
Knuckles' glide inSonic Frontiersstarts off with some strange animation where Knuckles shouts and spreads out his limbs before suddenly starting his glide, which means players can waste the crucial starting point of a glide being in the wrong position they were aiming for due to the animation that many fans feel is unnecessary. On top of that,Knuckles has no way to sharply turn inSonic Frontierswithout getting the Infinite Glide upgrade.
Before getting the Infinite Glide skill, Knuckles' glide is slow, and any precise landing and navigation is a chore as one wrong move or shift of the control stick can waste altitude as players have to do long, roundabout turns to get back to where they needed. With Infinite Glide, speed and sharp turns are easier, but for many, controlling the Echidna is thrown out of the window entirely. It makes the Emerald hunting stages inSonic Adventureseem like the perfect balance of his moveset in comparison, which may be what Sonic Team needs to look for as inspiration if Knuckles is to be playable inSonic Frontiers' sequel.
Sonic Superstarsis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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