Sonic The Fighters

[Team Giza]

I bought Sonic Gems Collection for pretty cheap. Hoping to finally play the one major sonic game that eluded me for so long, Sonic CD. After playing Sonic CD and being horribly disappointed, I thought I might as well get some time in Sonic the Fighters. I liked it... a lot. So I wanted to see if anyone could help me compile info on techniques and combos and stuff.

Now I am just gonna copy a post I made on another message board some months back.

Sonic the Fighters as many of you know is the first Sonic fighting game. First released in the arcade and then finally released for consoles inside of Sonic Gems Collection. Upon its release in Gems, Fighters did not get many good reviews. In fact, most reviews ranked it much lower than Sonic R. I do not understand these reviews. Sonic the Fighters is fairly good fighter and has a lot of sonic charm. The game play is fast and smart as well. The CPUs are smart and use some very intelligent tactics as well. The game has various techniques that make it even faster paced then the majority of people tend to think.

Now onto the point of my post; I want to revolutionize this game so its game play will be on a more competitive level. Recently, I have been playing Super Smash Bros Melee and have noticed how much the game has changed within the last two year. In melee recently people able to figure out how to do more effective combos and even more effected escape methods against such combos. I want Sonic the Fighters to evolve this way even though I am sure it can never be revolutionized to anything near SSBM level.

Now many people I am sure a few people are wondering "Why not try to revolutionize Sonic Battle?" since it is the newer Sonic fighting game. I have many reasons for this. Sonic Battle has no escape tactics and the game play can get extremely cheap making competitive play almost impossible. Characters like Cream, Tails and Rouge destroy everything with infinites that you don’t even have a chance of escaping for, and worse yet they are easy to perform. Sonic the Fighters avoids such tactics and allows you to escape from most things.

To those of you who have Sonic the Fighters and disliked it, I urge you to play it again. At first I didn't like the game either but after playing it with my friends learning how to play a bit better it ended up being an extremely fun game for me.

Anyway on to revolutionizing it.
---
Basics
I'm sure you are wondering "Why are you posting basics if you are trying to revolutionize the game?". Well, from what I have seen and heard of the people who play the game they really have no idea on how to play the game in an effective manner.

Barrier: Sounds simple, on the gamecube version you just press B and the shield comes up. It blocks the opponent’s moves. But some moves break the shields and the number is limited! Lets try to remember this when we get into more advance tactics about in the game. There are times to block and times were it is better to get hit actually since you don’t want to waste all your shields since they have other uses and being barrierless leaves you open for the stronger set up attacks.

Dodging: Its very important. The gamecube version makes it easy, simply press Z and a direction and you can dodge in a few ways. However you really need to learn when its a good time to dodge, if they are standing and you are fairly close to them it is not always the best time to dodge, they can dodge right after you and strike, or some of there attacks might follow the dodge and you will lead yourself right into is (which is bad).

Hyper Mode: Also simple to perform. Just hit the joystick away from the opponent and hit the R trigger to activate Hyper Mode. In hyper mode you're attacks become weaker and so do your shield breaking abilities, in most cases they go away. But you become way faster and it can get you out of a touch stop and even get you a grab.

Grabs: A huge part of the game, they do good damage are quick and interrupt most attacks. However you need to be very close and missing will get you punished. Easiest grabs are ones were you scare your opponent into shielding and then grab instead of what they thought you would do. Or shielding against a laggy attack and then grabbing them right after.

Crouch: Most people see this and think why is this in the game? But it serves a good purpose. It’s to avoid grabs. While crouching you can not be grabbed and there is barely any lag coming out of the crouch on most attacks. With good timing you can avoid someone’s grab and get one in yourself.

Landing: Also easy. Press Z in air after you were hit by an attack and press a direction. You will dash in that direction a certain distance (which depends on how high you are and the attack and such) it is a good and easy escape tactic however its not always safe. Sometimes it can be punished if they predict your direction.

Getting Up: After hitting the floor without landing you will find that you can not be hit by most ground performed attacks. However some attacks will still hit you and you need to get up sometime. There are a few ways of getting up. Pressing up or down rolls out of it and give you some distance, left or right makes you get up and move slightly forward and waiting too long makes you get up in place. All are easily punishable but sometimes the punishment isn’t as bad as the landing punishers.

Catch Up System: Probably the thing that turns most people off of the game. The catch up system makes it so the character with less health deals more damage and this damage increase stays when hits are done in chain. This is why people always seem to make comeback in the game. Now at first you are probably thinking this limits the skill of the game, which it easily can make moderate players lose to beginners but you can also use the system to your advantage if you are good enough. Sandbagging can really help you in this game.
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Those are a few of the basics that I think most people miss when they first play the game. I will provide some more complex tactics in later days but first I want to set up how I would like the rules for the industrialization of the game. We will discuss this more and decide on what the community wants.

Rules
Vs. Mode
Match Count - 2
Round Time - 30
Energy Max - Normal
Barrier - 5
Barrier Reset - off
Automatic - Off
Hyper Mode - On
Damage - Low
Tournaments will run best 2 out of 3. And best 3 out of 5 for finals.
The first match level will be set to random.
After each match, loser is allowed to change character and choose the level.

These are the default rules to the game and will be used for tournament play. I am sorry about my foolishness over the last few months.
I am going to need a lot of help revolutionizing this game. So please, tell us some strategies and let’s get started!

Tier List (still probably way off)
-As of 4/30/2007-

Top Tier:
Knuckles- (Corner Combo-er. Knuckles has good moves to push opponents into corners. Sub-par throw damage but throw is a great set up move. Good damage, good follow ups. Hyper Mode is pretty devastating since you can continue it into a normal combo easily. Useful kicks and a good dodge.)

Espio- (Long Tongue Allows him to Land Chase well and continue combos. Lots of Ways to Deal with Projectile Spamming. Powerful Hyper Mode potential. Has a beautiful approach in his Overhead Chop. Powerful throws and follow ups.)

High Tier:
Bean- (Double Air Bomb add up damage fast, Decent Hyper Mode, fast neutral punch combo, Powerful and useful throws, Powerful kicks. Melee moves are a bit slow.)

Fang- (Tons of Projectiles, nearly untouchable in hyper mode. Good Land Chases namely Quick Shot, or Super Shot closer to corners. Powerful throws and follow ups. Fast attack tend not to follow. Definitely not the god most people think he is. Has a few unlockables though.)

Mid Tier:
Tails- (Fast dodge, Deadly Throws. Has a Unblockable. Lack of Pushing moves.)

Sonic- (Great Barrier Breaker but those moves actually do weak damage if they aren't blocked. Decent Neutral Punch combos and a few good launchers, grabs are decent. All around poor damage minus jab combo, but fast)

Low Tier:
Bark- (Powerful moves. Devastating throws. Good Barrier breaking moves. Lack of Hyper Transformation in Air. Slow, very slow, lacks the ability to crouch.)

Amy- (Slow. Damage isn't too great for her speed. Throws aren't great and only give set ups in corners. Sub par projectiles. Has some good combos but are hard to perform or can be rolled out of easily except in corners.)
----
~Videos~
Giza (Espio) vs _jFK (Bean) [4/21/07]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOQL6ql7NOs

Giza (Fang) vs _jFK (Bean) [4/21/07]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMz3VL4KKc

Giza (Knuckles) vs _jFK (Sonic) [4/21/07]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jri4IYnBXVM

Giza (Espio) vs _jFK (Sonic) Set [4/21/07]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsIOcBqOecc

Giza (Bark) vs _jFK (Sonic) Set [4/21/07]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrj9QgBSLIA

\/-Following are played on Bad set of rules :infinite apologies:-\/
Chucoo (Amy) vs Gai (Knuckles) [10/18/06]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD-WyOuUV6A

Giza (Bean) vs NwordTim (Sonic) [03/3/07]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8XN874O-Fk

 

[Brawlmatt202]

Sonic the Fighters was hard, but I liked how Fang was in it! And Dr. Eggman in is old round look was just hilarious!

BTW, my favorite/best character is Fang, while my secone best is Sonic!

 

[Cupcakes]

I've never heard of this game...

 

[Mic_128]

Ahh this game was brilliant in the arcades. Tails and Knuckles were my favorites.

 

[Knickknacks]

lol i played this game in the arcade like 10 years ago! My fave character was uuuhh Espio i think. IMO you dont need to combo coz you can just button mash until something cool pops out.

 

[Pit 42]

Sonic the Fighters is OK...it's no Smash Bros., but it's kinda fun. And REALLY REALLY hard.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

I've never heard of this game...

It was an arcade game that wasn't very widely disturbuted in America, but it's one of the main games in Sonic Gems Collection. Pick up a copy and try it out.

 

[Team Giza]

Sonic the Fighters is OK...it's no Smash Bros., but it's kinda fun. And REALLY REALLY hard.

Gotta love how overpowered Metal Sonic is.

It was an arcade game that wasn't very widely disturbuted in America, but it's one of the main games in Sonic Gems Collection. Pick up a copy and try it out.

Yes! Pick up a copy! Its pretty cheap, plus you get all the other games that I guess are okayish. I dont like Sonic CD as Ive already said. But you get Sonic R (weirdness), and a bunch of gamegear games, oh and the Vectorman games (a real sonic gem).

 

[TJK1997]

It was fun.Not better then SSB or SSBM thourgh.

 

[Team Giza]

Nobody ever said it was better than SSBM and I dont understand why people keep bringing this up so much. I am trying to get some help on making game guides and coming up with the techinques that work best in many situtations so that I can get a better idea of this game being played competitively.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

Gotta love how overpowered Metal Sonic is.

Yes! Pick up a copy! Its pretty cheap, plus you get all the other games that I guess are okayish. I dont like Sonic CD as Ive already said. But you get Sonic R (weirdness), and a bunch of gamegear games, oh and the Vectorman games (a real sonic gem).

I keep dying in Vectorman, and also, Sonic CD was the first game to offically introduce Metal Sonic, and is a very popular game among fans (though I find it very hard).

But, anyway, if anyone wants to know more about it, go here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Fighters

 

[Team Giza]

You find Sonic CD hard? ... I found it to be one of the easiest 2d sonic games ever and one of the most boring. I still give Sonic 2 credit for Metal Sonic (though I guess technically that one is Silver Sonic).

Anyway, if any of you find some sort of strategies with certain characters could you send them to me or just post them? I am trying to put together character guides.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

You find Sonic CD hard? ... I found it to be one of the easiest 2d sonic games ever and one of the most boring. I still give Sonic 2 credit for Metal Sonic (though I guess technically that one is Silver Sonic).

Anyway, if any of you find some sort of strategies with certain characters could you send them to me or just post them? I am trying to put together character guides.

Actually, it was fairly challenging, espically when you get to Tails. But the REAL challenge is Metal Sonic! ****, that guy is hard!

 

[Team Giza]

Tier List updated. Fang is back on top.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

Tier List updated. Fang is back on top.

SWEET! Fang rocks!

 

[Team Giza]

I'm thinking about dropping Bark down even though he does great damage he is too slow and since he cannot crouch.... Tails is very good with his punch kick combo and his special grab move (it can combo if you are near a wall). I might lower Sonic too. But I would hope to get others advice. Would someone else help by making there own tier list so I can have a better idea of certain combos and strategies. I need more help figuring out this game.

For any of you in SoCal, I am hoping to have a sonic the fighters tournament sometime. So I need to get this started.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

I'm thinking about dropping Bark down even though he does great damage he is too slow and since he cannot crouch.... Tails is very good with his punch kick combo and his special grab move (it can combo if you are near a wall). I might lower Sonic too.

Okay.

Sonic seems like the type of character who's good for beginners, you know?

 

[Team Giza]

I suppose... I tend to think Espio is good for beginners because all you have to do is spam the Diagonal Forward Punch (I call it the Choppers) and try to combo it into the neutral or a grab. Sonic on the other hand really needs to learn good positioning so he doesnt get grabbed after his great barrier breakers, I guess his fast neutral and good damage make him a beginner character though.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

I suppose... I tend to think Espio is good for beginners because all you have to do is spam the Diagonal Forward Punch (I call it the Choppers) and try to combo it into the neutral or a grab. Sonic on the other hand really needs to learn good positioning so he doesnt get grabbed after his great barrier breakers, I guess his fast neutral and good damage make him a beginner character though.

I never really thought about it that way.

When you explain it to me like that, it seems true, but Iget that sort of impression, because it's Sonic games, and most people would start off playing as Sonic, you know.

I had a hard time playing the game with anyone other then Fang and Sonic.

 

[Team Giza]

I guess in some way Sonic has more going for him. I am probably overthinking all of it. If you are going against the CPU I guess Sonic is probably one of the best picks cause all of his moves are semi-effective.

I seem to find the characters with simple spammer moves good for myself as a beginner. Someone just tells me the basic idea of the character. Like Tails, Punch-Kick combo and grab.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

I guess in some way Sonic has more going for him. I am probably overthinking all of it. If you are going against the CPU I guess Sonic is probably one of the best picks cause all of his moves are semi-effective.

I seem to find the characters with simple spammer moves good for myself as a beginner. Someone just tells me the basic idea of the character. Like Tails, Punch-Kick combo and grab.

For the most part, all I ever fight is CPU characters, because I usually play video games alone, so you'd be right about that.

Tails' grab technique, where he picks you up then drops you, is very annoying whenever I fight against him.

Am I boring you with this? Because I'm trying to explaion my perspective of the game.

 

[Team Giza]

I definitely am not bored. In fact your posts have been probably some of the most helpful I recieved of all replies to this topic (and Ive posted this on many different message boards). Its nice to see someone actually showing an interest in the game.

Try to use Tails' Punch-kick combo something, you can even dodge and go right into it. Its very nice.

The CPUs in this game are good o.o I cannot go through the hardest setting without dying. And metal sonic is just... ****.... too good. I wish my action replay would let me play him. >> hopefully the people from the last san diego triweekly will read this. Im trying to get people to play it more.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

I definitely am not bored. In fact your posts have been probably some of the most helpful I recieved of all replies to this topic (and Ive posted this on many different message boards). Its nice to see someone actually showing an interest in the game.

Try to use Tails' Punch-kick combo something, you can even dodge and go right into it. Its very nice.

The CPUs in this game are good o.o I cannot go through the hardest setting without dying. And metal sonic is just... ****.... too good. I wish my action replay would let me play him. >> hopefully the people from the last san diego triweekly will read this. Im trying to get people to play it more.

Oh, thanks you. I'm glad my posts are helpful to you. I really do like this game, epsecially since it features Fang, who's one of my favorite "Scrapped" characters.

I agree, the CPUs ARE good, a little too good if you ask me. I swear I had to fight Metal Sonic 10 times with anyone other then Fang or Sonic before getting to Eggman.

 

[Team Giza]

Hopefully I can get some Fang videos up for ya.

I going to try to host a small tournament sometime. Mainly just so I can set up some sort of power ranking system and find new techiques.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

Hopefully I can get some Fang videos up for ya.

I going to try to host a small tournament sometime. Mainly just so I can set up some sort of power ranking system and find new techiques.

Oh, I'd really like to see those Fang videos! Fang just rocks!

A tournament, eh? I don't know if I would be able to participate in it, but it certainyl soudns neat!

 

[Team Giza]

I am desperately looking for San Diego opponents for it. Hopefully I can find enough.

I am fairly sure I have some Fang vids, but they are on a friend's computer and he is too lazy to put them on a DVD... a dvd that was left there that was meant to hold the files over to my house. For some reason he just refuses to put the files on there and give it to me at school arggg...

 

[Brawlmatt202]

I am desperately looking for San Diego opponents for it. Hopefully I can find enough.

I am fairly sure I have some Fang vids, but they are on a friend's computer and he is too lazy to put them on a DVD... a dvd that was left there that was meant to hold the files over to my house. For some reason he just refuses to put the files on there and give it to me at school arggg...

Good luck with that.

Actually, it's been a while since I played Sonic Gems Collection, maybe I should play it again sometimes, and get re-aquainted with Sonic the Fighters. Usually after long periods of time, I get really rusty and suck a lot.

 

[Team Giza]

Sometimes I feel that the gamecube version is a little unresponsive. I wonder if it would play better if I had an arcade stick.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

Sometimes I feel that the gamecube version is a little unresponsive. I wonder if it would play better if I had an arcade stick.

I never played the arcade version, so I woulnd't know.

then again, I'm glad for the GameCube version! That way, you don't have to spend extra coins to continue!

 

[Team Giza]

Ive played it quite a bit, and sometimes the controls seem unresponsive and from what I hear the arcade version wasnt like that.

I am hoping the Arcade versions werent on Hard mode all the time... cause that would eat my money like heck.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

Ya but you seem to see the continue screen alot more in StF.

Exactly my point.

 

[Team Giza]

Sonic is probably going down next time I get the chance to update the tiers. It most of his moves leave him to open for someone to grab/start comboing him.

 

[Brawlmatt202]

Sonic is probably going down next time I get the chance to update the tiers. It most of his moves leave him to open for someone to grab/start comboing him.

O rly?

I just played Sonic the Fighters again, recently. I really stunk at it. Proving my point that I get rusty. I only used Fang though, so maybe I'm still good with other characters.

 

[Team Giza]

I probably got confused about how good Sonic is because of Fang. Sonic is pretty good against Fang oddly enough but he isnt too good against others (like Knuckles, Espio or Tails)

 

[Brawlmatt202]

Yeah, not to change the subject or anything, but I remembered just playing the Arcade mode of Sonic the Fighters, and I couldn't get past Tails (or I would have, but I gave up after the first try).

It reminded me of how the CPU players fight in the arcade mode. Like certain character use sheild all the time, and some character are vulnerable to kicks, you know that sort of thing.

 

[phate]

Though it may not seem like this matters, I'm a huge sonic fan and love the idea of trying to make sonic fighters a competitive game. I haven't played it yet but I'm going to buy sonic gems collection this week or next week and I'm going to try to get skilled at the game.

 

[Team Giza]

I am glad to see some interest. Now I have an important question to those how have played the game.

Would you want to have shield recovery turned off? This might make the game more balanced in some ways, plus the default setting for the game is having it off.

EDIT: I have been a complete idiot... I ruined the true competitiveness of this game with my settings. From now on it will go back to the default setting... posts will be updated later.

And for all you San Diego gents...

 

[Brawlmatt202]

I am glad to see some interest. Now I have an important question to those how have played the game.

Would you want to have shield recovery turned off? This might make the game more balanced in some ways, plus the default setting for the game is having it off.

EDIT: I have been a complete idiot... I ruined the true competitiveness of this game with my settings. From now on it will go back to the default setting... posts will be updated later.

And for all you San Diego gents...

I didn't realize you could turn the sheilds off. Not that I ever use sheilds, that is...

Nice poster, BTW.

 

[Team Giza]

Entry will be free by the way for anyone who contacts me about it.

You cannot turn shields off (edit: Yes you can wtf) ... and they are an important part of the game. But you can turn the recovery off, so that after a round 1 if you lost 3 barriers at the beginning of round 2 you still have those barriers gone.

I will soon put together a better idea of how to explain the game.

 

[phate]

I got gems collection and I'm trying to get better using tails. I think I'm doing ok with learning combos and stuff but one thing i can't get down is throwing. Sometimes i will press L and tails will do a regular punch, and when I do grab, I usually come short. Are there any good techniques to throwing?

Also I am gonna try to get my friends to play this game too. So far I got one to start playing and he uses bean.