You think Sonic will be a little hard to use?

[Man_With_Thooo]

I'm not jumping to conclusions here, but I'm just a little worried about Sonic right now. I watched the E for All demo on YouTube, and Sonic actually looks pretty freaking hard to use. Not only does he LOOK hard to use, but the guy who used him also said the same.

So...do you think Sonic will end up like Jigglypuff or Yoshi, being so hard to use that people start hating him. I know there will be a lot of Sonic players out there, and a lot of people will also be willing to get used to him whether or not he's hard to use, but I'm just a little worried, that's all.

Thoughts?

[Cless]

Jigglypuff? Hard to use? What?

We just have to get used to his speed. People can do everything with Fox in Melee.

[Shock the Hedgehog]

If a player can handle Fox, Falco, or Captain Falcon, it seems as if they should be able to handle Sonic.

[Dark Luna]

Hard to use? What do you mean? Sure he's fast, but you would just have to get used to it. Why would you hate him for being hard to control anyway? Jiggly was not hard to control anyway, apart from maybe timing her rest, but even then, after practicing, its rather easy to use. Like everyones moveset, you can practice and master it eventually.

[Dark Sonic]

I'd actually prefer for him to be hard to use. That way we don't have a billion Sonic mains running around. Mastering a difficult character is also more rewarding IMO.

[Cless]

Don't kid yourself. There's going to be a million Sonic mains, but let's see if it sticks in a year or two.

[Barnacules]

I'd actually prefer for him to be hard to use. That way we don't have a billion Sonic mains running around. Mastering a difficult character is also more rewarding IMO.

I completely agree. I hope he has lots of combo potential, but it takes time and effort to master like Captain Falcon in SSBM. Especially since I hate mirror matches, and I don't want to be fighting a bunch of other Sonics on Wi-fi.

[Jonkenden]

I have no problem with sonic being maybe hard to use, though love is good love. I think the two biggest problems when playing sonic is first to learn to handle his speed, and then to get thoose killing hits. Sonic is fast, but he seems to lack a bit of omph in his hits. I'll reserve judgement on that until I get to play, but I think It won't be too bad.

[Dragonbreath]

Yeah, he'll be a toughie. You're going to have to be a big fan of dodging to use him, and with his rather limited kill moves, you're going to have to be patient, too.

But that suits me fine. He'll, I'd main Sonic if was put in Brawl in a wheelchair.

[spindash]

If Sonic is difficult to harness in Brawl, that just means all the more of an accomplishment for me when I master him. *smirks*

[Demon-oni]

like everyone else said, deal with the speed first, find the finishing blows, and create combos of pwnage. Speed is gonna be a problem for some and the other two, not so much. Death blows you can find all of them for one character in about a half an hour and combos you do everyday, just not think of it as one.

[Sp1yd3r]

i think hes gonna be easy because he doesnt have alot of varietys for his attacks

[SmashWolf]

Nah. If you have even slightly good reflexes, he'll be fine. Running smash, anyone?

[Dark Luna]

If Sonic uses his speed to rack up a lot of damage, then killing off enemies shouldn't be too difficult.

[mattram08]

It seems like everyone is worried about Sonic's speed making him too hard to control. I wouldn't worry about this at all. I use to think fox was too hard to control (then I saw the update that sonic was in brawl so I started using him to get used to the speed). The point is that all the "speed" based character's will be hard at first, but with enough practice it will be easy and you will become deadly. I'm expecting Sonic to be faster than fox so I'll probably have to make another adjustment to get to Sonic's speed, but again it will only take some practice.

[darkNES386]

If a player can handle Fox, Falco, or Captain Falcon, it seems as if they should be able to handle Sonic.

The players during the demo had a hard time controlling sonic. They were running past their opponents before actually attacking them.... that's fast. When you are mis-timing your attacks. Not even fox and sheik ever had that problem. Sure fox falls fast in melee... but sonic flat out moves fast.

I would hope that he is a very poor choice for a new player to use. However, once you become very good with him... I would still want him to have weakeness such as dieing at lower percentage and not necessarily being the strongest guy around.

[bballstar23]

The players during the demo had a hard time controlling sonic. They were running past their opponents before actually attacking them.... that's fast. When you are mis-timing your attacks. Not even fox and sheik ever had that problem. Sure fox falls fast in melee... but sonic flat out moves fast.

I would hope that he is a very poor choice for a new player to use. However, once you become very good with him... I would still want him to have weakeness such as dieing at lower percentage and not necessarily being the strongest guy around.

Yeah, I think Gimpy mentioned him being amazingly fast compared to even past characters like Captain Falcon and Fox.

[darkNES386]

Yes. Unlike Shiek from Melee, who any starter can look decent with in melee... I want to see players newer to the smash series and those who "might not be so hot" struggle with Sonic (at least at first). Simply put... I want the sonic learning curve to really drag out there. For those of you think I'm being mean or over competative... I'm sorry. Play this game as you wish, there are those of us who really enjoy the thrill of the competition for the fun. The idea of another player just being able to pick up a character and be really decent with him takes away a large amount of depth from the game (or that character). Let's face it... Sonic's games are becoming more and more about working with his speed. Look at the original Sonic Raceing Adventure game for Gamecube and the lost rings one that turns sonic from this:


http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/characters/images/sonic/sonic.jpg

into this:

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~neschwar/Brawl/darkspineSonic.jpg

Haha, that's a little off topic. But still.... Sonic's games emphasize his speed being something to master. For the sake of the direction Sonic games are going... I see it only fit that the same thing be the case with Brawl. Not a super fast character that easily rocks everyone while making them look like they are standing still.

"SONIC IS IN BRAWL! Pretty cool I suppose, he's a good fit. But how does he play? Well I'll do my best do describe that right now. First off, Sonic runs very, very fast. Sure, we all could've seen that coming, but compared to the rest of the cast he runs way faster than any of us could've guessed. Compared even the fast characters from the demo to sonic and they might as well be crawling. Sonic was one of the hardest characters at the event to actually control. Because of his amazingly fast running speed we had trouble at first almost just running past characters and missing with moves. Sonic's speed is a little bit awkward, he is an unwieldy character. Sonic's grab range seemed to be really high while dashing because of the amount of physical space he covers mid grab. His throws seem to have a fair amount of combo potential as well. He runs so much faster than any of the characters did in Melee comparatively to how the game works, his dash dance is incredible. Think of captain falcon's dash dance but faster and further. Did i mention how fast Sonic runs?" - Gimpyfish's Initial Impression of Sonic

[SmashWolf]

I lolled at that pic.

Anyways, one of the things that you should do is learn everyone's moves and every stages' tricks. Its been a major role at being good in the old AND new Sonic games, and its the same in Brawl. Prediction.

How many times did you fly with your head against a rock at your first time playing an old Sonic game? How many times did you mess up trying to dodge them your first time? But you did better when replaying, didn't you? Its that way in every game, but especially in those old Sonic games if you'd ask me.

[migitman88]

i think that sonic, and metaknight will both be pretty hard to use, but they also look like the most fun new characters.

[Iceman12]

I'm expecting Sonic to be faster than fox so I'll probably have to make another adjustment to get to Sonic's speed, but again it will only take some practice.

From what Gimpy said, Sonic trumps on Fox in the speed department, by like a lot. I also read that Sonic stays in the air a lot longer than Fox does though, even with Fox being made more floaty. Sonic definately has a bunch of potential to be a great character, people will just have to learn just HOW fast he can be, and they will be fine.

[brawlmaniac]

In some of the Internet videos, he looks pretty hard to control due to his speed. I would still try to master him if his attacks were good. Hopefully, he can be even faster than captain falcon.

[Formula1]

He looks cluncky, thats my biggest problem,
With his size he will be an easy target since although he is fast, it seems a lot of his moves have like no priority or range.
And I don't know if he will be too good on a small stage

[Cless]

He looks cluncky, thats my biggest problem,
With his size he will be an easy target since although he is fast, it seems a lot of his moves have like no priority or range.
And I don't know if he will be too good on a small stage

What are you basing the assumption that Sonic will have no priority on?

[FightingGameGuy]

I went to E for all so I'll contribute from my experience with him.

As everyone already knows, he's definitely the fastest on the ground, not in the air. I was stuck in melee mindset and kept thinking SHFFLing was the best way to approach so I spent too much time in the air and actually didn't need to deal with his ground speed that much. That said, his ground speed actually makes landing his running moves, runningA and running grab, easier instead of harder since Sonic covers a lot of ground during them, provided you don't run past your opponent first =D (his running attack is spinning along the ground and it covers a lot of distance, maybe 1/3 of battlefield).

His neutral B and Side B probably contribute to the OMG I can't hit anything factor. The homing attack has does a poor job of homing in on anything that's actually moving. The instant (or random?) hopping in his side B also seems a bit weird, but I'm sure that within a few hours, someone will figure out its mechanics, and it won't be a problem anymore. On the otherhand, his DownB is significantly easier to control than Jigglypuff's, since Sonic can actually cancel his with some attacks.

I had a lot of trouble Dash-Dancing but I attribute that to the classic controller. I fear for anyone trying to dash-dance with a wiimote ...

The only "clunky" experience I had was with the smash balls. Sonic's so puny it takes forever for him to open the darn things.

As for non-control issues I did experience a bit of problem finishing people off. Sonic is also incredibly weak, with few moves doing over 10%. I think this will actually be the strongest discouraging factor, since you really will probably have to hit your opponent twice as much as he hits you. Granted with his incredible speed and assuming that gives him good comboes as my experience in the Demo seemed to indicate, its probably not an issue in the hands of a good player, but it could definitely discourage someone who hasn't yet mastered his speed or any comboes.

In conclusion, I don't think Sonic's difficulty in control will be a serious barrier to anyone with a bit of dedication, but it might stop some beginners from automatically picking him up as their mains.

[Toobz]

Practicing with Fox in melee to get used to his speed won't help you get good with Sonic. Brawl is supposedly much more "floaty" than melee, and the whole reason that fox is fast is because of his fall/fastfall speed, and the speed of his jumps. There will be a huge transition in the game mechanics that no amount of practice in melee can prepare you for. Just my thought.

[Formula1]

So pretty Much What It comes down to is catching people off gaurd with speed and then grabbing them after ward
-DOes his dashing A go through peoples Sheild (doesn't hit them, just prevents Sheildgrabs) if you time it right (Fox's did in melee)

Yeah, Sonics Ariel Looks annoying to use, Especially that uair, that looks like crap, I think I can Deal With the down ariel and the side ariels though even if the down ariel has that initial lag...

Cless-I don't think he will have much priority simply because his moves already have one overwhelming feature (speed) if they game him priority as well that would be a little too rediculous

[darkNES386]

FightingGameGuy ... thanks for the input. It sounds like they're really trying to balance the game if the fastest character has to put in a lot more damage to take out his opponent(due to the overall weakness of his attacks). Bowser might stand a chance against sonic afterall.

[EarthHero]

bowser will never stand a chance against an experienced sonic user. its just not right. lol.

[darkNES386]

bowser will never stand a chance against an experienced sonic user. its just not right. lol.

I would hope so... do you want characters like Ike, bowswer and King DeDeDe to be horrible due to their lack of speed? Is it wrong for me to want to be able to beat any character with any character?

[EarthHero]

granted. very true. im just sayin that when i play melee, certain match-ups work in my favor against experienced players. Ex: Fox vs. Any Swordsman---- The difference in reach can sometimes, most often than not, decide the outcome of the battle.

[EarthHero]

well some characters don't match up well against other characters.

[darkNES386]

However, this is not melee. I want a game where the better player wins... not the better character. I'm not demanding perfect balance. Yes, some characters will be easier than others... but I don't want it to be to the point where you see a fox or a sonic go up against a bowser or a King DeDeDe and you go "oh well... gg for Boswer."

[EarthHero]

true. good point. it will depend on the player in BRAWL. I just know whether someone is Bowser or Falcon, they will still fall beneath my wrath as sonic. lol.

[unnknownz]

nope but he will be the new fox,falco

[Dragonbreath]

However, this is not melee. I want a game where the better player wins... not the better character. I'm not demanding perfect balance. Yes, some characters will be easier than others... but I don't want it to be to the point where you see a fox or a sonic go up against a bowser or a King DeDeDe and you go "oh well... gg for Boswer."

Mmm. But if you put in too much balance, then the characters will seem too similar. One must have the game balanced in a strategic way, so that each character's redeeming qualities do not overpower those of the rest of the cast.

For instance, Dk. and Fox. Dk. had slow moves. It would make sense that he'd have a natural disadvantage against Fox, who is quick. But Fox's quickness was so good, he could even defeat high-accuracy characters like Link easily. To make the game balance, Fox must be fast enough keep the edge on slow characters, but not so fast that he has the same edge over accurate characters.

Hmm. . .But Sonic's even faster than Fox was in Melee. Time will tell, I suppose. . .

[EarthHero]

Indeed. Time will tell. In spite of his phenominal speed, I don't think Sonic will be better than anyone else simply because they made him about as strong as an actual hedgehog (which I would assume isn't very strong), lol.

[kin3tic-c4jun-3]

Hard to get used to, yes. Hard to use, probably not.

[Desruprot]

I think he might be hard to use/get used to then again I can easily play as fox in melee...

[EarthHero]

Well, there is a huge learning curve. If you are used to using fast characters, like Fox/Falco, Pikachu, and especially Falcon, then you will simply have to adjust to his speed and get used to it. If you are unaccustomed to using fast characters then you pretty much have no chance of maining him or even being proficient with him. It really does take years of playing with a type of character before you can main him. It will be difficult, but I'm sure Sonic faithfuls will rejoice in the fact that just some random noob can't all of the sudden beast it with Sonic.