• Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!

    You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!

Art of True Speed Sonic Guide (Completed)

Art of True Speed Sonic Guide (Completed)

Game Versions
Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
Sonic Full Guide
Hello everyone! Welcome to my sonic guide! I will discuss in each topic about Sonic's game play and include advice, and sometimes videos. Let's read together FAST!

First of all, let's talk about Sonic in general.

Sonic is the fastest character in this game. Of course he is the fastest thing alive! Anyways, Sonic is easy to use but harder to master because of more complicated things you need to pick up after you learn the basics for Sonic.

Sonic's strengths and weaknesses

Strengths: aerial game, combo game, mind games, recovery, edge guarding, neutral, patience
Weaknesses: Getting kills, poor against zoners, landings


Strength: Sonic have soooo many pros mostly because of his spin dash and his speed. His combo game is good but most of it come from two combo starters: spin dash & spin charge. His other combo starters also includes his up throw and up air. His aerial game is decent. His up aerial is very good at juggling and starting the combo if done right like used as an OoS option. His back aerial is the strongest aerial move and is one of his best killing moves. Front aerial and down aerial are good for the edge guarding stuff. However some characters often outclassify Sonic's aerials because Sonic usually loses to moves with disjointed hitbox. Spin dash and his speed are so good because they contributed a lot in his gameplay. Like they can set up mind games and force a reaction pretty well. Obviously, his recovery is amazing thanks to Spin shot, spin dash, spin charge, and spring. His spring has a short window of invincibility frames so Sonic is damn harder to edge guard against (Poor villagers). I don't include Homing Attack because it's too risky to use it offstage. If it doesn't lock on the target (spot dodged, rolled or far away), Homing Attack will send you down to the doom. However if it does lock on, Homing Attack grants you a great recovery. His edge guarding game is good because it's aided by his incredible recovery and good tools.

Notable weaknesses: I'm sure you know Sonic becomes predictable if he uses some certain moves in a repetitive way (no mixups) like spin dash/spin charge. He struggles with securing the kills at high percent even when his opponent is at 100%. Sonic struggles againstzoners because projectiles can wall his spin dash and charge out. His landing isn't as good as you think because it's linear. His aerials often get beaten out by other characters' aerials mostly aerials with disjointed or big hitbox.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
List of topics included in this guide...

Knowing Sonic

Understanding Sonic
Moveset Guide

Ground Game
OOS Options
Aerial Game
Landings
Recovery
Edge guard
Mind Games/Baits

Mix-ups
Simple Combos
Advanced Combos
Frame Traps
Dealing With Projectiles
Advanced/Movement Techniques
Art of Spin Dash/Charge


Understanding Sonic

Neutral
Adaptations
Approaches
Conditioning
Advantages/Disadvantages
Strategies/Playstyles
Stage Control
Matchups (Top 5 hardest MUs for Sonic will be discussed here)
Tips, Tricks, Guides, Demonstrations
Tips On Improving


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Understanding Sonic

Starting with basics....to be able to use Sonic effectively, first, you must understand how he works, know his best tools and his move set. His best tools are spin dash and charge and his speed of course. Spin dash is one of his best tools because it's good in basically everything such as conditioning, mind games, combo set ups, racking up damage, recovery and more. Spin dash is reaaaally amazing! However, when abused, Sonic's options out of spin dash can easily get shut down if his opponent reads and limits them. Keep that in mind, Sonic isn't always safe out of Spin dash because he has to land first which is when his opponent can take advantage of because Sonic's landings are linear. But, that may not be the case because Sonic can mix it up. His speed is godlike seriously. His dash speed is amazing and it's obviously good enough to catch landings, possibly force a reaction and provides good movement options itself. According to his move set, his weaknesses and his abilities, he's a bait n punish character meaning he relies on forcing mistakes/reactions and punish them with his spin dash, speed and mix ups.

Move set
Jabs: his jabs aren't bad and they're usually used as one of fast OoS options whenever other reliable options can't punish the mistake in time. His jab can jab lock and set up the set ups after that. On the other hand, Sonic's jabs endlag aren't very good because it gives his opponent time to punish Sonic before he can react.

Side tilt: His side tilt is decently useful for spacing but most likely not safe on shield and it can be used for setting up the edge guarding game.

Up tilt: His up tilt is useful for anti-air however due to its awful horizontal reach, it's little to never used so it's one of his useless moves.

Down tilt: His down tilt is usually used for setting up the tech options, jab locks, and spacing on shield. It can trip opponents at low percent (0%-20%).

Front smash: His front smash is one of his best killing moves. His front smash can be used for edge guarding if you position yourself well on the ledge or bait your opponent to do something (High percent). Of course I'm not going to forget one most ridiculous thing about his front smash and it's that his front smash is SAFE on shield when spaced right. His front smash range is ridiculous.

Down smash: His down smash is useful for tech reads, and setting up edge guarding options due to its horizontal momentum launch. His down smash isn't used much due to how horrible its endlag is and it doesn't kill as well as his reliable killing moves.

Up smash: up smash can be used for tech reads, catching spot dodge due to its lingering hitbox, air trapping, setting up juggling options, and one of killing options but not the best.
Up smash isn't used as a punish option often because there are some better punish options (Spin dash, Front smash, etc.)


Dash attack: His dash attack is useful for punishing as a reactionary punish tool in case he can't punish his opponent with his best tools on time. On the other hand his dash attack have terrible end lag so it shouldn't be abused.

Neutral air: His neutral air is useful for racking damage (deals 12% > 8% > 5% Sourspot) and stopping combos. Neutral air hitbox comes out very fast and have a lingering hit box. It also can cover air dodge options.

Up air: His up air is useful for juggling, used as one of combo finishers and puts his opponent at a disadvantage state where Sonic can air trap them and secure his advantage state from there. His up air is one of Sonic's best OoS options.

Front air: His front air is useful for setting up follow ups, gimping and racking up damage by chaining into another fair.

Down air: His down air is mostly used as one of his edge guarding options. It can spike and it has some true combos that can lead into down air spike off stage and score a KO.

Back air: His bair is really good at racking damage, used as one of his best options for edge guarding. It is the most damaging aerial attack sonic have (14% sweetspot > 8% (sourspot)). It is one of his best killing options.

Spin dash: too many benefits from this move

Spin charge: His spin charge is useful for being faster, unpredictable when used for approaching (when to let go and goes in a roll without hopping that gives the option away), stronger, deals multiple hits, beats certain jabs and better used for high damage percent combos when spin dash doesn't help lead into guaranteed followups due to its knock back.

Spring: His spring can be used for escaping combos, gimping and recovering.

Homing attack: His homing attack is only useful in mix ups but not really....no need to say more




Ground Game

His ground game consists of running around and looking for mistakes his opponent makes and then punish them with spin combos to rack up damage quickly or other options that lead into followups for racking up damage. Here are some options that you should use and not use for his ground game.

Sonic has a decent ground game because of his two awesome tools, Spin Dash and his speed. His ground game shines more than his aerial game for many reasons. Once he gains an advantage and secure it, it'll become more difficult for his opponent to reset the neutral because Sonic is damn fast on the ground and his spin dash with that invincibility frames on hop beats ANY aerials so his opponent can't land if Sonic positions himself and timed his Spin Dash well. However, his opponent still have some moves that can wall out Sonic generally but Sonic can either wait and force his opponent to approach or try to punish with his most damaging options. When he loses the advantage and goes into the disadvantage state, he can easily reset the neutral due to his speed but he needs to mix up because some of his options can become linear when abused or his opponent took notes of his patterns. He has some good tools that can lead into follow ups. I'll explain about his neutral and his advantage & disadvantage state later. Moving on....

Spin dash/charge are one of his important tools in his gameplay. They are used for many things like mind games, starting combos, racking damage, as an anti-aerial tool (spin dash) and many more. These options are one of his tools that Sonic tend to use in the ground game. He have to either use spin dash & charge or grabs to lead into combos/followups to rack up damage which makes it linear. Because his aerials doesn't beat the shield and he have to rely on baiting his opponent's reactions.

OoS Options

What is OoS? What can it give you? OoS means Out-of-Shield. You press jump while holding the shield. So? What is good about it? You can use buffer aerial to set up something out of shield. Fortunately Sonic has two options besides grab and jabs. His up aerial is the best option for OoS because you can set up juggling options and potentially punish opponent's landing with Spin Dash and rack up damage more quickly and secure the advantage. His up air can also combo into another up air into neutral air or possibly back air on the platform or into spring up air for the kill at high percent or possible frame traps on platforms. His front air can work too but it's better used at low percent (Fair chains) and setting up edge guarding options(?) With these stuff, you won't have to rely on grabs too much. Keep in mind that Uair and Fair buffer won't work on characters that are shorter than Sonic's height like Kirby so grab is a better OoS option against these characters.


I know this isn't exactly an OoS thing but this is similar to OoS except you use buffer aerial out of shield to set up something (No foot stools).


Aerial Game
His aerial game is pretty good but it's often out-classified by other characters aerials because his aerials doesn't have any good disjoint and they lose to the shield so it's better used as followups following by a hit conversing into combos.
Here are some pros and cons for each aerial of his.



Down aerial

Down aerial can be used for edge guarding. Down aerial is useful when it comes to ledge snapping. Please never use down aerial as one of your landing options because it's predictable as heck and it's super easy to punish. Anyways down aerial sometimes can be used to condition your opponent to recover somewhere else so your opponent does not recover where down aerial cross its recovery path. For example, you can condition them to recover mid or high then you can do anything to your opponent.

Up aerial

Sonic's up aerial is good at starting combos, juggling. It also can be used as one of OOS options (out-of-shield -> press jump while holding shield up)

Side aerial
Front aerial is good at pushing opponent off, racking up damage, setting up edge guard, setting up combos. Nothing much to say here.

Front aerial hit box appears at frame 4. Side aerial can make it harder for your opponent to recover back onstage because it can gimp duh.

Back aerial
Back aerial is good for edge guarding, killing, and racking up damage.

Any aerial can be used for ledge snap but there are more options for ledge snap. I'll link the video "Ledgesnapping" specifically for Sonic. I do not own that video for your information.

Neutral aerial
Neutral aerial have two main purposes; one of the most damaging aerials, used as one of the combo enders and combo stopper. Neutral aerial comes up fast and has a lingering hit box so it's good for covering airdodge (it last longer than airdodge). It deals 12% damage (sweetspot) Ain't that sweet?

Sorry if I have to restate some things but I'm highlighting what purposes his aerials tend to have in certain situations.

Landings

Understanding how to land safely is extremely important for Sonic because Sonic doesn't have any reliable safe options to land. Best ways to land are moving toward the ledge and grab it and mix up your options there, empty landing while mixing up where you're going, spin dash away from the opponent as far as possible, spring, landing on platforms (If platforms are available) etc. Knowing how your opponent punishes your landings is important because when you know the pattern, you can take advantage of it to land safely and reset the neutral again. None of his aerials are safe on shield except maybe neutral air sweet spot on shield and fading away.

Why no dair? *Sigh* You heard me, it's not as good as you think it was...

Recovery Game

Your best options to recover are spin dash/charge, spinshot and spring.

His spin shot have really good horizontal momentum making it one of the best recovery options besides spin dash and charge to make up Sonic's spring's poor horizontal recovery. His spring have a good vertical recovery and it has a short window of invincibility frames making Sonic harder to edge guard against. His spin shot sends you a good distance (about half way of the BF stage). Spin shot should not be used mainly to send yourself over the stage because since it has no hit box, you can leave yourself open to attacks. It's always good to mix up where you're recovering because Sonic mains might tend to recover low thanks to his spring's short invincibility frames and his opponent can potentially kill them if they let their guard down during the spring, thinking they're safe.

Even though Sonic recovers with ease, he might have to worry more about what to do out of ledge. Because he doesn't have any reliable options with low risks that will let Sonic recover without getting punished on the ledge. Even if he uses Spin Dash and force his opponent to shield giving him a chance to land safely and he's fast, he have to land in order to be able to do what he wants after that which is what opponent is looking for.

Edge Guarding

Sonic's edge guarding game is amazing because Sonic have an excellent recovery and Sonic can go in and edge guard with low risks thanks to spring's invincibility frames. Sonic's best edge guarding options are back aerial, front aerial, and spring. Basic right? The best ways to set up edge guarding options are back throw, down throw and other options that throws opponent offstage.

Ledgesnapping:

Ledge snapping is a situation when your moves hit your opponent during the vulnerability frame 1-2 before the invincibility frames kick in after frame 2. If you successfully pulled it off, your opponent gains its double jump back, making the recovery possible. His spin dash/charge are the best tools for ledge snapping due to its lingering hitbox and setting up possible follow ups.


Dair Spiking Videos:




Mind games/Baits

Sonic relied on mind games/baits to set up whatever he needs to get kills, setting up edge guards etc. (anything that guarantees him a kill)

Obviously, you know spin dash/charge are his best ways to create a mindgame. His speed can bait out reactions too!

There are no definite ways to create mindgames or bait out besides spin dash/charge so you'll have to create your own ways.

Mixups

Mixups is essential part of your gameplay because it helps mask your true intents, baiting openings and one of the important tools in neutral. Obviously mix-up is basically a neutral thing but it's necessary for everything such as your goal to work in the battle.

Mix-ups also ensures that you don't get hit too often because it keeps your opponent guessing what you're trying to do.

It benefits Sonic a lot because without the mixups, imagine Sonic doing spin dash stuff, approaching, landing without mixups....Sonic is easier to punish without mixups than you think. Sonic has to mix up in order to be able to get in, reset the neutral safely, getting combos/kills, and recover successfully and get away.

I think this guide did a good job at explaining what fundamental is and shows several outcomes from one scenario (mix up and shows how tools can be used according to the frame data, endlag and more) so maybe this video can help give you ideas on what you can do with Sonic's tools.


Simple combos
You know what simple combos are though and most of them are guaranteed.

Down tilt

down tilt (trip opponent at low percent) > side smash damage:20%

down tilt > front tilt damage: 13%

down tilt > jabs damage: 14%

Neutral aerial

neutral air > front tilt damage: 23%

neutral air > down tilt > front tilt damage: 25%

Up aerial

up air auto cancel > up aerial: 15%

up air auto cancel > back aerial > neutral aerial damage: 32%
(up air buffer can work but only at very low percent)


Spin Dash/Charge

spin dash/charge > up aerial damage > neutral aerial damage: 30%

spin dash/charge > neutral air damage: 22%

spin dash/charge > front air damage: 14%

spin dash > back kick damage: 20%

spin dash/charge > up aerial > spring > any follow ups (50/50)

spin dash/charge > spinstool > homing attack damage: 16%

(timing depends on each character's fall speed)

Throws
Up throw > back aerial > neutral aerial damage:

Up throw > neutral aerial damage:

Advanced Combos
Advanced combos is more harder to perform but worth to use it to rack up much damage than simple combos. However, I suggest don't always go for these

spin dash/charge spinstool (footstool) > down aerial (spike)

spin dash/charge > up aerial > spring > any follow ups (50/50)

spin dash/charge > up aerial > back aerial

spin dash > foot stool > spring (jablock) down aerial > weak neutral air > side tilt or any follow up or do it again (low percent)

front aerial > front aerial > front aerial > follow ups

instant spin dash > neutral aerial or up aerial

spin dash/charge > up aerial > spring ride > up aerial

spin dash/charge + down air note: don't use down air right away after you use spin dash/charge. Let your opponent fly toward your down air spike hit box before your opponent air dodges - edge guard option --> spike

This video includes both simple combos and advanced combos

Frame Traps
Sonic have few frame traps. I think you know one of his frame traps is spring > bair (opponent airdodged) > nair. There are some possible frame traps I came up with.

*Spin charge/dash > drag your opponent with you toward the platform > up aerial on the platform (opponent airdodged) > up air buffer > spring up air for the kill. But if your opponent doesn't airdodge, your up air can hit and set up the spring kill set up. (Not tested yet)

*Any up air 50/50s as long as there are platforms to land on

These are just some possible set ups I could think of. I'm sure not many of you know what frame trap is are. Frame trap is basically a situation when your set up into 50/50 situation becomes 100% instead of 50/50 when you use a move that punishes the airdodge attempt after the previous move that did not hit. Because of this, it's even possible to get certain set ups you need with frame trap stuff. Because this video will show you how and what frame trap is all about


How to Deal With Projectiles
It is true that sonic struggles against projectiles characters. I believe the best way to pressure and prevent projectile user from using projectiles again is to throw them up in the air. Just in my opinion that projectile campers are at a disadvantage in the air because projectiles are more useful on the ground than in the air. But, projectiles are still good in the air since some projectiles can set up or extend combos. The best ways to deal with projectiles are: adapting projectile uses, knowing the patterns, staying close and pressure your opponent from a safe distance (Outside the tether grab, burst option range, dash attack and others).


Advanced/Movement techniques

Besides his speed, he have some pretty neat movement options which can be used as mix ups and setting up mind games to get close to his opponent and overwhelm them with his speed and elicit a reaction and punish them.


Sonic-Guide-Movement.jpg

Art of Spin Dash/Charge
There are some interesting ways you can use spin dash/charge besides using them in the neutral.
The most common uses from them is setting up combos and racking up damage


Spin dash > spin dash jump > fast fall > double jump front aerial: Kills at 130%+ offstage

Spin Dash facing the stage offstage, hitting your opponent > back aerial: Kills at 130%+

Spin charge > runs into an opponent's shield and stalls: Sometimes useful for applying a bit of shield pressure

Spin dash or spin charge with double jump used up landing on the stage > mash jump when you're about to land during spin dash or spin charge roll phase > spin dash or charge hop > fastfall during spin dash or charge hop while retaining hit box. If it's done on shield, it's safe and you can mix up by spin dash hopping and air dodge or apply other options out of this movement option. If you hit your opponent with this option, you can combo out of it with back air(?), front air, and up smash at high percent.

In the air, you can change the speed of spin dash/charge by moving back(slower) or front(faster). This is useful for mixing up where you'll land with it and could help with the recovery.

Neutral
In general, the neutral is about finding openings and using your characters abilities to be able to condition opponents in order to find those openings. (Credits goes to Array)

Sonic's neutral consist of using his speed, spin dash shield cancels and other baits to force openings and punish them. His speed can pressure his opponent alone because his speed is so good that it can sometimes pressure your opponent potentially forcing a panic reaction. Spin dash spin cancels is good at forcing your opponent's reaction such as shield, rolls, or other mistakes so it's good at creating mindgames basically in the neutral. Then at the end, he'll go for kills. However he struggles getting kills so he needs to do something to secure kills like mixing up what you're doing, mind games etc........

His neutral is based on bait & punish in summary. Sonic doesn't have any reliable moves that is safe against his opponent besides Spin dash(mix up options out of it). Like his moveset makes him more of a close-combat character and none of his moves are safe against the shield so I'll assume he relies on mistakes to punish with his specials and normals. His approaches are reads because his approaches are linear so he have to read and mix up to get in. He can rack up damage quickly if he keep up the conversions of hits into combos and secure that advantage.

Sonic’s best way of racking up damage is with Spin combos, if you can land a Spin then you should definitely go for it to get damage ASAP. Of course, you can’t just spam Spin Dash as it loses out to shielding and will give up your stage control. Your only option that beats shield is grab, so having only two effective approach options is quite limited. That's why your aim as Sonic is to bait their overcommitments using your superior movement and SDSC to apply pressure, then whiff punishing or using the intangibility on Spin Dash to blow through their attempt to hit you. This is a very general overview and varies greatly depending on the character you’re fighting but keep in mind Sonic is built to bait and punish. (Credits goes to Peligod, a sonic main from Sonic discord)

Adaptations
Adaptations is one of the most important skills in your own gameplay. Adaptations allows you to "download" your opponent's playstyles, habits, patterns and more. Adaptations can help limit your opponent's options by taking notes on your opponent's option and use it as your caution in case your opponent would go for that option again. To adapt, you need a complete understanding of your opponent, how that character was used in the flow, and know the best tools against that character.

When your opponent adapts your playstyle, which mistakes should you keep an eye on and fix it? Well any mistakes can be possible but look out mostly for your landings, out of spin dash/charge options, approaches, edge guard habits, and recovery options (on-stage, ledge options, and landing)

Approaching
Sonic's approachings are linear so what you can do is to mix up what you do when approaching, adapt your opponent's reactions and condition your patterns and change your ways (Adaptations and Mixups). Like I said, his approaches are reads so you have to bait out your opponent's reactions with spin dash shield cancel, movement techniques and fake outs. Sonic's spin dash and charge's optimal distance is mid-range (almost half way of the BF stage).

Conditioning
Conditioning is a very important part of the gameplay for aggressive sonics. Well in general, sonic needs conditioning because....Conditioning is like a mix up but you actually train your opponent to get used to your patterns then you change your patterns suddenly to throw your opponent off. This opened up new possibilities of getting what you need like setting up combos for the kill successfully. Conditioning is more of making your opponent playing in your hand in hopes of scoring a kill. You can condition your opponent to get used to your approaches like spin dash/charge to get your opponent to shield then you can go for the grab (Example). But sometimes conditioning may not work if your opponent has an option that can beat all possible outcomes out of any scenarios.

Advantages/Disadvantages

Advantages

Juggling

  • Sonic’s lack of disjoints make air-to-airs rarely in his favour, however it's important to keep in mind the speed of uair and the good hitbox on bair when challenging your opponent in the air. If they air dodge through a SH uair trying to land you can get the AC and frame trap them with jab or ftilt etc. Usmash has intangibility and will kill but the lack of horizontal range requires a lot of precision. Also keep in mind the good hitbox on nair for whiff punishing.
Trapping Landings

  • This is where Sonic really shines. Spin Dash i-frames make it near impossible to land on Sonic successfully, when combined with his dash speed and the wide coverage with pivot grab, spins and dash attack it can be a nightmare for your opponent to get on the ground safely. If your opponent has bad landing habits abuse them as much as you can.
Ledge Trapping

  • Probably the most important at higher levels, as opponents will be more willing to reset to ledge to avoid getting juggled. Down angled Fsmash will cover 2 frames and if the opponent waits on the ledge for too long. What I personally do is alternate between ‘reactionary’ and ‘pre emptive’ ledge trapping depending on what the opponent does. Holding shield outside the ranges of your opponent’s ledge drop aerials whilst also being able to react to get up attack and regular get up is an example of the former, whereas committing to a bair or usmash to cover ledge jump is an example of the latter. What you should go for depends on three things, your opponent’s habits, your own playstyle and the MU. For example, your timings for covering neutral get up must be adjusted against Palutena as she has a longer animation. Always remember to balance risk/reward depending on the situation and be aware of any ledge habits, these can win you games against anyone!


    • Edgeguarding
    • Because of his good recovery, going offstage with Sonic doesn’t have much risk and is pretty essential in certain MUs. Spring lingers and semi spikes making it one of his most useful tools, but also the one the opponent is most aware of. It will lose to any hitbox. Fair and Bair are good options due to their good power and lingering hitboxes, however the latter might be a bit telegraphed as it requires your back to the opponent. Sonic can dair from ledge height and still recover, making dair spike an option, however it requires precision.

    • Disadvantages
  • Escaping Combos/Strings
    • Aside from the usual jumping/airdodge, Sonic’s buttons include nair because of its good hitbox and uair and spring for their speed. Spring comes out a frame earlier than uair, however it puts yourself in a bad spot so don’t opt for it too often, it becomes better with platforms. Buttons are easily baited out and punished or stuffed out by disjoints, being able to mix up out of situations is crucial.
  • Landing Onstage
    • None of Sonic’s aerials are safe to land with with the exception of a perfectly spaced nair. Most of the time it is a lot better to reset to the ledge due to the opponent being able to easily anti air. Arguably his strongest tool to land is Spin Dash as it still retains some invincibility and opens up a lot of mix ups such as SHSJ or Spinshot, or simply just adjusting your timing on the release to zip past your opponent trying to catch you. Keep in mind that if you don’t mix up well you will get read, and it is easier for your opponent to beat out the Spin Dash in the air, especially if they have disjoints. Autocanceled dair is a useful option as a mix up but Spring > Dair is often very telegraphed.

  • Getting off the ledge
    • Sonic isn’t great at landing, so you’ll find yourself in this position a lot of the time. Keep in mind Sonic’s wall jump and Beefy upb to try and reverse a ledge trapping situation in your favour, although these can have risks if predicted. If you spinshot up a wall, the momentum will still be there when you hit the ground, resulting in a slide along the ground. Jump from ledge > Spinshot is a good option as the opponent has to over commit to punish. Always remember to mix up alongside the normal get up options.
  • Recovering
    • Sonic’s upb has intangibility for most of the ascent, so be sure to snap onto the ledge most of the time to be as safe as possible. When launched far offstage, Spinshot can be your life saver by making your double jump more useful. Spins can also help to mix up offstage if your opponent decides to chase you. If you have to recover high, don’t forget to throw out a bair after spring to give yourself a little extra boost. Homing Attack is a last ditch effort recovery move as its radius is larger than Spring distance, but if it misses Sonic will plummet to his doom. Most characters won’t challenge Sonic offstage, but ones that can such as Marth can be dangerous, so remember to be as safe as possible.
  • Credits goes to Peligod!
Sonic-Guide-Advantage.jpg

Sonic-Guide-Disadvantage-Page-1.jpg

Sonic-Guide-Disadvantage-Page-2.jpg

Sonic-Guide-Disadvantage-Page-3.jpg

Strategies/Playstyles

Combo O' KO:
You focus on using combos to rack up damage quickly while evading opponents attack and get ready to find some openings and punish them.


Edge guard:
You throw an opponent off stage and focus on edge guard to attempt to kill your opponent. This can be used against usually opponents who has a poor recovery


Mind games/Baits and Punish:
You create various mind games/baits to keep your opponent guessing and force them to do something by mistake or intentionally. Then you can punish that opponent to build up damage while exploiting opponents weaknesses, reactions and other patterns.


Passive (Play patiently):
You play patiently and observe your opponent. Wait for them to commit something. This is similar to baits and punish but more defensively.


Air Juggle Game Damage build-up:
This strategy is when you focus on throwing your opponent in the air and attempt to deal as much damage as you can while observing and exploiting their aerial game weaknesses. This is good for gaining stage control. Also this can be used against characters that have poor landing.


Aggressive:
You overwhelm your opponent with speed, pressure, and mix-ups. However it makes it easy for your opponent to punish you since it involves not giving your opponent some breath. But your opponent can sometimes panic so observe how your opponent reacts to your approaches


These are just something I come up with. You can create your own strategies though. Some of these sometimes help in certain matchups. Also sometimes you'll be forced to change your ways too for good reasons.

Playstyles
I'll explain the pros and cons of his playstyles...

Aggressive/Rushdowns: Focus on pressuring and overwhelming your opponent's options and limits them. Speed, conditionings, mix ups and reads play a role here. Movement and mind games are necessary. However when you play rushdowns, your opponent will have easier time punishing you because Rushdowns are sorta unstable and can break down if you mess up something. Because you're exploiting your patterns such as approach to your opponent so it can like break down if your opponent sees the pattern and exploit it hard. It's essential to know when to go in or stay back. Mix ups and conditionings are really important.

Bait&Punish: Play mildly patient and focus on baiting out attacks/reactions/mistakes and punish them. Good movement, reads and other tools are needed but it's beaten by a more patient playstyle

Super Patient (Campy): Focus on playing very safe and focus on punishing every mistake your opponent makes, observing patterns, and habits then exploit them. It requires very good neutral and high patience however it can have weak mix ups and is sometimes predictable. If against aggressive characters, patient sonics sometimes will have a hard time getting out.

Stage Control
To understand stage control better, go watch this video. So basically, stage control is when you have more stage under control than your opponent. Well I'm not good at explaining stage control but I do know that if you try to spring to escape combos or other situations, you will lose your stage control.


Matchups
[Work in progress...]

Tips On Improving
To get better....work on combos, better punishes, better mindgames & reads, patience, conditioning, using his tools effectively, cover up your weaknesses, movement, applying pressure and abuse his strengths, better mix ups, and understand his neutral

Methods to get better:

Practice using his tools in many different ways that could work in competitive plays against real players

Lab new options in the training mode and try it out in competitive plays and see if it works well or not and take notes on which situation it's likely to work better than others

Keep challenging better players and be sure to lose (don't do this intentionally and be natural as play as if you're going all out) because losing helps you learn and get better. Because you'll learn what you did wrong and fix your gameplay and your opponent better than you will always have at least one area that's better than yours in the gameplay like better neutral, faster adaptations, constant mix ups etc.

Try out locals & tournaments online (not recommended) for improvements, gathering MU knowledge, socializing with them etc.

Talk with pro sonic players about issues you had with Sonic

Watch pro sonic players match sets and take notes on:
:Why did that not work?
:Why did that player do that?
:What did that player want?
:What did that player do in MU?
:How did that player do it?
and more


Save replays and watch what you did wrong (take notes on that)

Ask your opponent for advices and feedbacks



https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3SM8yOKKwU8PYqwsNP5rGA

Go there to check out Izaw's videos


Credits goes to all Sonic Mains and everyone who helped me learn and get better with my sonic :)
Author
Sonic Meaper
Views
2,845
First release
Last update
Rating
4.83 star(s) 6 ratings

More resources from Sonic Meaper

Latest updates

  1. UPDATE!

    Hey guys sorry about the update but I edited my Sonic guide and it's looking better! I added...
  2. Sonic Full Guide is Technically Completed

    Hello everyone! Thank you for your patience! It's completed!!! (Technically) Matchup is the only...
  3. Art of True Speed Sonic Guide (Work in progress) [UPDATE] IM BACK SORRY

    Hello guys Im so sorry!! No worries I'm back now! Imma update this old as heck sonic guide and...

Latest reviews

Can Sonic still ''SpinShot'', do a ''Dair Spike Combo'' and do an ''instant Spin Dash Jump'' in Super Smash Bros Ultimate?
Thanks in advance!

Dair spike combo link in SSB4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoH5c6LUwKQ
Spin Shot tutorial link in SSB4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wisyvpoh6JE
Instant Spin dash Jump in SSB4 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOJ3Ri0zALs&t=
Absolutely excellent. However, I didn't see anything about jumping during Side Special charge.
What an excellent guide
Sonic Meaper
Sonic Meaper
thaaaanks btw it's updated. I change most of the part so feel free to come back and check it out again :)
Pure Perfection of Sonic The Hedgehog Guide!
This guide is almost perfect I couldn't have thought of some of these mix ups and I've been playing in tournament for over a year. All you need is the match ups and how to fight them. For example Rosalina, zero suit samus, and fox. I know how to vs fox but not the first two... yet.
It a very good guide I will soon be able to test out the combos.
Sonic Meaper
Sonic Meaper
Tnx. I am not done yet. I am still working on it
Top Bottom