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Miles "Tails" Prower
First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog 2

What a wild stretch Tails has had in this series. I enjoy him quite a bit as Sonic's defacto sidekick.

His look just works. He's a cute little orange fox with two tails and sneakers. He's often shorter than Sonic, but his appearance works throughout the entirety of the series. You don't need much here. It's simple and works. Oh and he's got two tails. The freak.

What is cool is how they use Tails to tag along with Sonic in the levels in his first appearance. It's just awesome to have a legitimate sidekick who was just there with you. Oh, and he can fly!? And he has a cool plane!? Nah, Tails just works in his debut appearance by virtue of just bringing so many new elements to Sonic, and for a lot of times platformers as a whole. And then he can actually help Sonic fly to areas in Sonic 3 & Knuckles! He got an upgrade! My man.

So already established easily is that Tails is Sonic's flying buddy who is trying to help him out and tag along where he can, and also flies a freaking plane for him. He's got a bunch of savvy uses that are explored later in the Sonic Adventure series. Where he has the worst of it is just that... god, his voice acting just sucked for a WHILE. But that doesn't stop him from being a solid character.

Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 get a lot of love because for the most part, it has a lot of character-based storylines in it. Tails has to strike out on his own in Sonic Adventure 1, and eventually he is thrust into having to save the day without Sonic there. He actually saves a city! And in Sonic Adventure 2, he often has to fight against Eggman himself, trying to be the best hero he can be without Sonic most times. And he gets to show he's quite an engineering wizard in his own right. Everything they do with Tails in these games is great and it's very clear they had a distinct character in mind for him.

And then we get to... the rest of his appearances. He's a lot less important, mostly relegated to background sidekick guy. It's usually not that interesting though. When he's given more to do, he's usually great though, especially when they actually bother to show off his personality. Lost World and Forces are two games I think do a little bit better of a job with Tails and make his appearances there more meaningful. But he always has a purpose in the games where he's just the sidekick role supplementing Sonic.

I keep mentioning Sonic Frontiers, but I have a lot of faith they're going to do something great with him in that game. Ian Flynn is involved, and he's been writing Sonic stuff for longer than a lot of Sonic's fans have been alive now, and I think he really gets why Tails is such a good character and how they can explore him more than just Sonic's sidekick.

Please stop having Tails cowering and then Sonic running in to save him though. That's a trope in the games I haaaaate. Especially when he's super competent in them after that. Like have Tails be fighting them off and just needs Sonic to get his back. He deserves that respect by now.

Rank: A

https://youtu.be/0DizopdPMBw