>that makes him less relatable as a character.
Not really, he's suppose to be the better example, that's how Japan wrote him. I get that Americans are a lack of a better word, arrogant and violant, but SOnic isn't that kind of character. He actively saves wildlife, he doesn't kill the man that always nearly destories life on a planet, he always try to make friends with anything that isn't pure evil, be refuses to give up when the tough gets going, and as of the modern games, he actively gets stronger to the point he doesn't rely on his Super Form anymore. He's literally the embodiment of good, right down to what was suggested in SA1 when Sonic turned Super with the corrupted emeralds. There's a reason Shadow was made, but I do think they didn't express that as obviously over the years, but to be fair, Shadow in X was always determined to get the job done, even if it meant killing someone. This shows up again in IDW, where SShadow was going to stop Eggman where he can't harm anyone anymore, when Sonic interens, even if Eggman was under amnisia, I feel like Sonic wouldn't want Shadow to kill Eggman either way. Dark Sonic just highlights a weakness, to a level that makes him worse because it doesn't work for a character with super powers. Superman himself gets this treatment that most don't have a complete appoval of, as some try to give him flaws he has to deal with, then that normally ends up as him being a dick to everyone around him. It's a struggle that wasn't needed for Superman, because his original image was "the ideal man". The ideal man doesn't have flaws, that's how that saying was created under. And Sonic reflects that ideal, he's suppose to be better than you, to set a better example. This is likely why people hated Lost World so much because his flaws in that game actively was out of character for Sonic.