Who is Tails?[]
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was one of the more hyped games ever made, partially because of the success of the original Sonic title, and partly because a new character was being introduced to the series. That character was Tails, and in Sonic 2, he did not disappoint.
Tails is to Sonic what Yoshi is to Mario. Not everyone is a fan of his, and not everyone has played his games, but he's one of those characters that is almost impossible to hate. Coincidentally enough, Tails, like Yoshi, made his biggest splash in his first two games. For those who played single player mode with both Sonic and Tails in Sonic 2, you were treated to seeing Tails constantly flying after Sonic as Sonic heartlessly sped in front of him. Tails was also a nice guinea pig in that game. Wonder whether or not the next area is dangerous? Jump forward and see if Tails lives.
Tails may not be as fast as Sonic, and he may not be able to jump as high as Sonic, but he's one of the most loveable characters out there. Anyone who ever saw the Sonic cartoon would likely agree as well, and even though Knuckles would burst onto the scene in the next Sonic title, Tails had his moment of glory during Sonic 2 and has retained his fans ever since.
"Congratulations, you increased your time by one second!" - Sonic making fun of Tails' speed in the Sonic cartoon
Tails's Contest History[]
Win-Loss Record: 3-8
Summer 2002 Contest - North Division - 11 Seed
- Northern Round 1 --- Lost to (6) Alucard, 28190 [45.68%] - 33516 [54.32%]
- Extrapolated Strength --- 28th Place [20.74%]
Summer 2003 Contest - East Division - 9 Seed
- Eastern Round 1 --- Lost to (8) Auron, 38685 [35.53%] - 70199 [64.47%]
- Extrapolated Strength --- 41st Place [19.76%]
Summer 2004 Contest - Chaos Division - 12 Seed
- Chaos Round 1 --- Defeated (5) Viewtiful Joe, 43775 [54.80%] - 36102 [45.20%]
- Chaos Quarterfinal --- Lost to (4) Dante, 33472 [42.60%] - 45109 [57.40%]
- Extrapolated Strength --- 33rd Place [21.71%]
In the first two contests, Tails was essentially the whipping boy used to allow new characters to get acclimated to winning in a contest setting. Tails was the character that Alucard beat in the first round in 2002. Tails was that character Auron beat in the first round in 2003. And in 2004, everyone expected Tails to once again show a new character how to win. Viewtiful Joe came into the 2004 contest with a very high seed, and with Viewtiful Joe being ported for the Playstation 2 merely days before his match with Tails, the match seemed like a wash from the start.
But despite a relatively close match, Tails managed to get his revenge on those who treated him like a whipping boy in contests past as he defeated Viewtiful Joe, and even though he went down to Dante in the second round, Tails was finally able to get the monkey off his back and win a match. And for a character as loveable as Tails is, he deserved to finally break through as much as anyone. He'll never be more than a middle of the pack character, but no one (except Gordon Freeman) deserves to be a loser year in and year out. Kudos to the little guy.
Summer 2007 Contest - Division 4 - Second Group
- Division 4 Round 1 --- 4th place, 22287 [15.60%] - Vincent Valentine, 55265 [38.68%] - Zelda, 42692 [29.88%] - The Boss, 22633 [15.84%]
While it was good to see Tails in these contests again, he certainly did not impress. His little mini-match with The Boss for third place was a good one, but quite frankly, he shouldn't have been in a position to lose to her in the first place. Sonic Team did not have a good contest in 2007.
Summer 2008 Contest - Division 5 - First Group
- Division 4 Round 1 --- 4th place, 20279 [14.81%] - W.C.C., 44096 [32.21%] - Tidus, 43425 [31.72%] - Donkey Kong, 29086 [21.25%]
Tails wasn't even close here. Doubled by W.C.C and Tidus and then losing to badly to Donkey Kong. Somehow he still makes it in despite getting killed every time.
Winter 2010 Contest - Heart Division - 15 Seed
- Heart Round 1 --- Lost to (2) Kratos, 30326 [39.02%] - 47398 [60.98%]
- Extrapolated Strength --- 59th Place [23.36%]
Again, Tails finds himself with too much of a challenge. He looked good coming into the contest by almost winning his vote-in and then managed to only get beat by 60%. Sonic characters (except Shadow) seemed to have gotten a little stronger this year.
Summer 2013 Contest - Division 7 - 17 Seed
- Division 7 Round 1 --- 2nd place, 9409 [31.19%] - (2) Ezio Auditore da Firenze, 13728 [45.51%] - (26) Bomberman, 7029 [23.30%]
It has been a while since Tails has finished ahead of someone, even though this was still technically a loss. Tails managed to break 40% against Ezio which is okay, but at the same time it is a major reason as to why he has only a single win in his contest career. Maybe one day he will get lucky and be given a weak opponent like some of the less deserving characters have received.
Fall 2018 Contest - Division 7 - 13 Seed
- Division 7 Round 1 --- Defeated (4) Nathan Drake, 16405 [56.73%] - 12514 [43.27%]
- Division 7 Round 2 --- Defeated (5) Master Chief, 15923 [55.49%] - 12771 [44.51%]
- Division 7 Semifinal --- Lost to (1) Luigi, 9840 [30.35%] - 22581 [69.65%]
Tails found himself making the third round for the first time after not having made it to round two since 2004. Tails was viewed as an underdog to win his fourpack pre-contest, but a combination of classic characters performing well and modern western characters flopping hard made Tails more favorable by the time of his matches. Indeed Tails easily won and was never threatened by Nathan Drake or Master Chief. His reward for all that was getting killed by fellow iconic second player Luigi. He was able to save a little face by reaching 30% at the end but his demise was somewhat anticlimatic save that. Overall he had a good contest and showed that if given favorable opponents he can win.