Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26167440-20160111225919/@comment-679780-20160204062127

Think about it from a players perspective. Super Sonic is an unlockable bonus after getting all the emeralds, whenever by story or Special Stages. He is suppose to be an over-powered character as a reward for the hard work of collecting the emeralds, or for Dreamcast and Modern games sake, playable for the grand finale of the story.

To compensate being all powerful, his very existance cost a single ring every second. It doesn't sound like much given Super Sonic is suppose to be OP, something as minor as being knocked back a bit can be rather severe.

You see, being hits means you need a few seconds of time to recover which doesn't sound much of a big deal but it all adds up, often critical! It cost a bit of time for Super Sonic to recover all the while his ring count is still going, so not only does he loose some time but rings as well sustaining him. Times it can be enfuriating is when you're just about to hit an attack or you're low on rings. These days final boss fights take place during flight over some void so it's death the moment you're out of rings.

Often the bosses are either rapidly moving away from you (The Doomsday Zone for example where the meteors, rockets and lasers can stall you for a few seconds as you try to catch up with Dr. Eggmans mecha) or there attacks can push you back a bit (Perfect Chaos is a statio nnary target but his lasers can push you back and ruin your vitally needed momentum.)

So while Super Sonic is physically invincible, being knocked back is still a weakness given all he can acomplish in those few short seconds.