Question about Sonic's HA

[Orange_Soda_Man]

Is it possible for his Homing attack to take a different path than a singular arc?
I ask because Sonic's arc curved kinda' like

(__
......)

It was clear it made two distinct curves, and kinda' even stalled in the air at the end of the move (he started from the bottom of the picture). I was just playing an ordinary game on FD against a CPU G&W who used Parachute at the time of Sonic's HA (I was trying to gimp-kill him).

I didn't enter the command twice, but if it did the move twice it wouldn't have made this pattern because of the positioning of the G&W CPU anyways. Fluke?

 

[darkNES386]

To my knowledge Sonic's home attack will never follow any path other than a standard arc. The degree of the arc may change with respect to the horizon but it will never do a sinusoidal motion you appear to be describing. Can you try to do a better job of describing what happened at:

(_<--

)​

Perhaps game and watch influenced the motion... such as would happen if a F.L.U.D.D was shot at Sonic.

 

[Orange_Soda_Man]

Basically it followed the first curve like normal except it didn't stop; it curled back around the other way a little bit.

 

[Greenstreet]

thats just the opponent moving in a certain way..

 

[Orange_Soda_Man]

thats just the opponent moving in a certain way..

Can you re-create it? Other than this one instance I've never seen sonic move in multiple directions with the move, or rather follow a bizarre flightpath. Before this it's just been the normal arc against other people.

 

[darkNES386]

The game and watch parachute wouldn't have any reflective properties like Mario's cape or a reflector?

 

[Tenki]

I pulled off an "S" shape path one game. I started to do a C-shaped arc, then at the bottom, my opponent ran away so it curved a bit towards him. Laggy landing, so it was pretty pointless.

 

[darkNES386]

Wait a second, this changes my knowledge of the homing attack... it pursuits your opponent even if they try to run away? I thought it locked on to their current location. I guess it wouldn't be noticeable unless an opponent did an attack that moved them very quickly in a direction such as Sonic's own spring or perhaps... game and watch chute? It would be very situational.

Regardless, I have to agree with Tenki. You really can't control what your opponent decides to do after the HA is released.

 

[Orange_Soda_Man]

Yeah! that's a much better way of wording what happened. I chased him off, do the quicker HA and as Sonic charges the HA G&W parachutes towards the stage. He started the move at about (I think) the same height horizontally as me, maybe he was a little higher.

 

[R4ZE]

Dunno where i should put this: But here is what i have noticed. Sub-consciously i have always tried to execute HA while enemies are moving upward in the air... as in right when they jump, HA seems to hit more often when an opponent is ascending, and obviously inversely, it tends to miss when an opponent is falling.

Using this tactic i am often able to chase kill with HA outside of the screen.

has anyone else noticed the same? (agree/disagree) I'm not stating it as fact, more-so as a theory. tho it would make sense because HA tries to hit the upper part of the opponent.

 

[darkNES386]

From the guide:
Basic HA lock-on/success concepts:
-Facing opponent has slightly larger attack range then starting the HA with your back to your opponent.
-I'm pretty sure it is dependent on where the homing attack launches from, not where it starts (in other words canceling can make or break whether or not it "locks-on" to your opponent's current position)
-The move does not home on the center of your opponent's body. If you drew a rectangle around your opponent the attack always tries to pass through a specific corner depending on your location (thus you sometimes are on a path to hit and other times you are not)
-If an opponent is in invincibility frames from their own moves, spot dodging, air dodging, rolling or rolling up from an edge as the HA attempts to lock-on will result in a complete miss.
-Opponents moving towards you: attack from below.
-Opponent moving away from you: attack from above. This explains why snake is so easy to hit and why a character as slow and sluggish as Ike when below the stage is next to impossible to hit with a HA. You can attempt to jump past your opponent and initiate one of these if they are really low. You may be fortunate enough to force a stage spike. Be careful though. This move can get you into trouble.
-The more vertically you are aligned with your opponent, the more likely you will connect.
-The more horizontal distance between you and your opponent you will likely miss. Miss here = locking on... but zipping past your opponent. This is why you need to be careful if you use this move when recovering. You will find yourself flying just over your opponent and probably landing with lag right behind them, begging to be punished by your careless recovery.

 

[R4ZE]

dude i hit some serious horizontal distance HA's ALL THE TIME.

and most of the time when u miss with HA, u are able to UP-b before you hit the ground, thus removing the horrible landing lag.