Every Playable Character In Sonic Origins, Ranked

With Sonic Origins finally allowing Sonic fans to play some of the oldest yet most memorable games in the franchise, it’s natural for long-time Sonic fans to feel excited about reliving the moments where they can encounter some of the franchise’s most iconic characters for the first time but in improved devices. Now is another time for players to stop Doctor Eggman from pulling off yet another evil scheme with today’s modern consoles!

However, in the context of this four-game remaster set, just which characters remain the best leads in Sega’s hit platformer? Surprisingly enough, Sonic the Hedgehog may not necessarily be the best choice for a playable character in some games!

3 Miles “Tails” Prower

Serving as the archetypal sidekick, Miles “Tails” Prower may be looked down on for his diminutive size and lack of any “impressive” outright abilities. However, Tails is rather impressive for what he offers in games - primarily his rather flexible flight mechanics that allow him to reach areas of the game that both Knuckles and Sonic couldn’t necessarily reach. Players who love exploration will appreciate using Tails.

Playstyle: Flight Is Fight

Flight is the defining characteristic of Tails’ abilities, as his two tails can be rotated like a helicopter in order to propel him to different heights. Whereas Sonic needs momentum to reach distant places, Tails can simply fly onto them. Here are unique mechanics associated with Tails’ core abilities:

Accessibility: A rather core mechanic than a special feature across good and bad Sonic games, Tails can use his flight to be able to reach extremely high-up places that Sonic can’t reach. Outside speedruns and time-based mechanics, exploring with Tails is an ideal option for completionists.
Collection: In speaking of exploration, the flight feature of Tails is extremely useful in Origins, where each featured game has additional collectibles that players may want to try to consider exploring with Tails in order to acquire. This is especially the case with regard to special Rings that can give players access to Special Stages exclusive to the game.

2 Knuckles The Echidna

Being the first rival to Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna immediately steals the show upon his introduction in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 after Doctor Eggman lures him into fighting Sonic and Tails. And while his personality oftentimes switches from “dumb fighter” to “hotheaded puncher,” Knuckles retains his impressive streak of being a competent fighter to give any Sonic villain a run for their money.

Playstyle: Punch Through Everything

Due to his presence as a melee-oriented fighter, Knuckles definitely doesn’t have a lot of speed and a lot of flying power in even the most iconic Sonic games, unlike Sonic and Tails, respectively. However, Knuckles does offer unique movement mechanics that can change the way stages can be played and make different boss fight mechanics. Here are interesting features of Knuckles throughout the games:

Break Stuff: Central to the playstyle of Knuckles is his ability to use his spike-ended knuckles to punch through a lot of things. In the game, this translates to the ability to be able to punch through breakable walls and destroy rocks, allowing him to take routes that Sonic and Tails wouldn’t necessarily be able to traverse. This allows Knuckles to discover hidden treasures or even reach boss levels much faster.
Climbing: One unique mechanic for Knuckles is a climbing feature, wherein he can scale walls instead of running to reach extremely high distances. Whereas Sonic has a height limitation with his upwards dashes, Knuckles has the comfort of scaling walls at the speed that he prefers, allowing players to make precision dodges against wall attacks.
Gliding: Another unique feature of Knuckles is his ability to do horizontal glides, giving him a degree of control over the kinds of platforms he can reach depending on his jumps. Players with a penchant for timed controls may appreciate the game’s platforms further with this gliding mechanic.

1 Sonic The Hedgehog

The star of the Sonic series is easily the best character to play in terms of practicality, simply because Sonic the Hedgehog is the protagonist and is made to be perhaps the most flexible among the three main characters.

His characteristic speed is the mechanic on which the rest of the game is built on, making Sonic the ideal first character to learn before messing around with the rest of the gang regardless of the game, be it 2D or 3D Sonic titles.

Playstyle: Gotta Go Fast

One of the most defining aspects of Sonic’s playstyle across the games in Sonic Origins is his speed. After all, it’s through his speed that Sonic gains momentum and the necessary “strength” to jump on and knock his opponents off. As such, a lot of the unique mechanics associated with his gameplay make him such an icon for the platforming genre. Here are some of the defining characteristics of his playstyle in the game:

Drop Dash: Players can press jump whenever he descends in order to maintain his momentum with his drop, allowing him to dash further without interruption. It’s this drop mechanic that makes speedruns extremely possible, as they bypass ordinary drops that oftentimes take split seconds to fulfill.
Insta-Shield: Specifically in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic can perform something called the Insta-Shield where he uses his speed to become invulnerable for an extremely short period of time. This can be extremely helpful when used in tandem with his speed to hit Sonic bosses from afar.
Shield Abilities: Unique to Sonic are his abilities to augment his speed with Shield Abilities, wherein his Insta-Shield can have additional effects depending on the shield type he acquires. For instance, Electric Shield allows him to double jump, the Bubble Shield gives him an extra bounce, and the Flame Shield gives him a damaging fired ash.