So I beat Chaotix today, and after messing with all the characters for a bit, I made a tier list based on how useful I thought each character was (image below the text). But these were admittedly surface level opinions, so I wanted to watch a speedrun to see how accurate I was... wow, this game has been fucked beyond belief. XD

The ring bond mechanic is way more busted than I thought it already was, letting you basically fly and also go through walls. It's some cool stuff and I like it, but it does leave me with questions about how good each character is. Character dependent abilities are hardly ever used with how speedruns are played now, but each character also has their own stats apparently? Which I didn't even notice outside of Knuckles' low jump.

I have no idea how accurate my tier list is now, so I was hoping that people who know this game better than I do could explain how good each character actually is and what changes would be made to it. If anyone does do that, thank you!

P.S. If you want my initial reasoning for the tier placements, here they are:

I figured Knuckles and Vector were alright for most situations - I consider Vector the better of the two since I think his 8 directional dash to be more useful than Knuckles' glide, enough to be worth not getting his ability back after a wall jump.

Mighty was the character I mained for my playthrough, and he was not only fun as hell, but I would (have) genuinely consider him one of the best characters! He may not have a midair ability like most of the other characters do, but his wall jump is extremely versatile! It sends you so far/high with such a quick burst of speed, you can aim your jump in 5 directions, and you can even chain wall jumps anywhere - even on the same wall!

Espio being able to run on walls, while cool as hell, is nowhere near as versatile as Mighty's wall jump. He has to gain momentum when running as usual, and he can only jump in one direction. He doesn't even have another ability. If character abilities actually mattered, I would see no reason to pick him over Mighty, unless the running led to some crazy jank.

And Charmy, Bomb, and Heavy speak for themselves. lol

After a small talk in the Discord, I revised the tier list.

Of course Mighty is Top Tier. ;)

And while Bomb isn't is exactly the best, he is still rather reliable (except if you're in Amazing Arena).