You mentioned both, without refering which meant what games, and I mentioned both as well, explaining reasons.
In the same sentence in which I mentioned both, I also mentioned that they are both "Sonic-solo". A Sonic-solo game may have level tweaks, but those level tweaks cannot be the result of playing as friends who are not playable. I can't get more specific than that.
But as always, not quoting my entire post instead of half a damn phrase leads to this [parasitic bomb].
Whether a statement is or is not placed in quote tags holds no correlation to whether or not a person has read it. If I quote your point, be assured that I have read all further comments that you supplied, whether I included them in the quote or not. I may have nothing to add, or an un-quoted detail may be covered in the broader scope of my response. If you're going to whine that I'm ignoring parts of your post, then tell me how it is that whatever I neglected is relevant to my response, rather than just complain that it's not in the quote tags.
The last two times you quoted me you either failed to read or simply chose to ignore particularly relevant comments. First about Colors and Secret Rings being Sonic-only, and second about WHY I was not able to write a full response immediately. Copying a post without actually acknowledging the information contained within is pointless. If you didn't even bother to read what you're responding to then you're only cluttering the boards.
Anyway, this video from the other topic:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YCcj0Foq8w&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Basically shows that the racing contained within the game doesn't really show Knuckles proceeding through the level. He just digs all the way through, sometimes popping up to throw some punches.
I have nothing to add to this. It's relevant to the topic, but irrelevant to the debate. Whether or not an NPC traverses a stage in any manner comparable to Sonic has no relevance to whether or not another player-controlled character can.
If you thought that I was implying otherwise
in my earlier post, I wasn't. I was just poking fun at the way your post was worded.
Rewind time:
Secret Rings didn't let you play as anyone other than Sonic, they just gave you stat-changing stuff which made the level designs less retarded to play through. If you're talking about that turd Black Knight, you know how well that was received. Colors allowed for Miis to play, but they were basically Sonic reskins with which you could play through virtual side-levels.
Secret Rings and Colors were disussed above, but I reiterate: I was not referring to character choice, because there isn't any. I was referring to other gameplay circumstances that require a similar effect. In the case of Secret Rings, it is alternate mission goals. In the case of Colors, it is the absence of wisps during Super Sonic mode.
Another such example is the multiplayer mode in Sonic Adventure 2, where spring boards are used to allow passage in areas where the homing attack or light dash were otherwise required.
I did not mention Black Knight and see no way that it is relevant to the topic of level alterations. Character-specific abilities in that game have little to nothing to do with stage navigation. As for its reception, the game was rejected more on the grounds of concept than it was gameplay.
Were they big deals? No. People hated playing through the story 4 times in Heroes, for example. Adventure 2 had less characters than Adventure 1 when they realised that the small changes formula didn't work anymore, so they could focus on the different gameplay styles that WORKED.
Heroes came after Adventure 2. The "small change formula" is, in Adventure 1, applicable only to Tails and Amy, as they're the only ones who share fairly similar play styles to Sonic. However, they are both limited to considerably smaller and simpler stages than Sonic, which damages their presence in the game far more so than any failure to differentiate themselves.
The presence of multiple characters should in no way require a playthrough as each one, and players complaining when they do is not new to 3D gaming. That criticism is as old as Doki Doki Panic. This actually does depend on how unique the players are. If they play differently, then sure, it makes sense because you're effectively talking about clearing different gameplay modes. If they do not, if you are talking about only personal preference and minor ability changes, then there is no reason one should be forced to replay the game using every possible choice.
When you unlock Luigi in Super Mario Galaxy 2, are you required to re-capture every Star as him? No. It's senseless. Luigi jumps higher and skids around, that doesn't excuse ignoring the progress made as Mario. That was Sonic Heroes' mistake.
The Advance games evolved to two characters in Rush, which evolved to a single character in Colors DS/Generations 3DS. The formula became less about having different characters with little different things to begin with, and became more about Sonic, which overall evolved the core gameplay. Sonic levels now have a smarter design, and speaking about the 3D levels, boosting homing attacks play a big part. Now, Sonic levels have multiple paths to proceed by, each making smart use of those mechanics. It no longer makes sense for so many characters to be in the same game with similar gameplay. If Sega adds them later as unlockables, or DLC, sure. But don't give them an entire story of their own which is exactly like the regular one.
Nowhere did I say that any additional characters should require additional stories.
The story of Sonic Advance is negligible. The story of Sonic Rush Adventure never splits with the players; Blaze simply joins Sonic and becomes an alternate choice.
The use of multiple paths in level design is irrelevant to the number of characters that can traverse them. Inevitably, some will be exclusive, some will not, such things are to be handled case-by-case.
Several Sonic game stories already feature non-playable friends, most infamously Tails, who appears in nearly every game yet constantly remains on the sidelines, whether the story gives him a reason to or not.
I don't really see these "other companies" being well within the habit of granting several characters slightly-changed levels to fit the gameplay in recent times. Unless you mean Nintendo's NSMB, Kirby and DK games, in which the level doesn't really change when you change characters, to my knowledge. It's not a trend anymore like it was in the 90s, I guess. Doesn't serve much of a purpose anymore, really.
All three of your examples are irrelevant as they allow only one character in single-player. NSMB doubly so as there are no player-specific abilities in the game.
In fact, that entire tangent is weak, because you're adding the condition of player selection while I already stated above, repeatedly, that levels see minor tweaks for any number of reasons, and Sega did it just last year when they brought Super Sonic into 3D stages. Even if the cause is different, the solution is the same.