Speaking of Knuckles vs Crash as a matchup, is it just me or does DB keep using less and less lighthearted characters in fights? Like, Season 5 had Crash vs Spyro, Pit vs Sora, Mario vs Sonic 2 and debatably Roshi vs Jirahya. Season 6 had the Mega Man Battle Royale and Wario vs Dedede. Season 7 had Leo vs Jason, Danny vs Jake and Red vs Blue (That series got more serious later but that matchup was mostly based on the earlier seasons). Every other matchup had at least one character from an at least somewhat serious series.
Like, it makes sense and I kinda like it better this way, if you're going to brutally kill characters it makes more sense to take them from more mature properties, but it's a trend I've noticed. I'd rather not spend an entire fighting animation wincing and wondering how either Smokey the Bear or McGruff the Crime Dog is going to horribly die.