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Actually I have things to say about that...
Sonic was crafted to be this 90's mall-rat attitude thing, but that personality only ever manifested through animations and box art. In the 3D era his personality shifted to something of a... superhero, I guess. Not as rude, more selfless. And Shadow inherited the darker points to build contrast between them. Even still, I don't consider Sonic to be a character of deep personality. To be honest, very few icons from back in the day did. They survived of the strength of their gameplay - so whenever a recent game tried to explore them... it falls short.
I personally consider Sonic to be elemental, a collection of broad strokes that wouldn't really fly in today's character design. Like all the icons from back then (including Mario and Link), their 'character' can be summed up by your actions. Sonic's a freedom fighter with attitude. Mario's an inter-dimensional rescuer who plays sports. Link is a timeless title given to boy adventurers who also rescues princesses.
They don't need character so much as vague job titles - but then you play their games. I think that's actually something today's developers forgotten. And when it peaks back out (through DKC and Metroid reboots, Mario revivals) we're reminded how much we were content with that provided the game was awesome. Now it's like... dialogue, motivations, backstory. Can you imagine an origin story for Mario? Where would you even start? I mean with Link you're always playing an origin story of sorts at the start of a Zelda game, but it's hardly Batman Begins.
tldr: I miss Super Mario 64.
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