Well, I'll feel like reporting myself for triple posting right now, seeing as how I can't @#$%ing count.
That's fine though, the points will go away.
...
In a month...
Lucario
Introduction: Lucario is one of the 4th generation Pokemon, and the latest addition to the Brawl. Lucario has a unique ability called "Aura" that allows him to channel his "life energy", if you will, into extra burst damage. Playing Lucario is a huge gamble that if played correctly can change what seems to be a lost cause of a match, and just barely snatch the victory flag for himself. Let's go more in-depth to fully understand this character, shall we?
Behaviour: At the very start of the match, Lucario will deal minimal damage... or rather string a lot of those weak attacks into actual, factual combos, no joke! Of course if the Lucario is worth anything, he will charge his signature Aura Sphere and save it for when it is opportune, but I'll explain that later. To understand Lucario you need to know the formula that helps him surpass the likes of Bowser in sheer strength.
For every single point of damage that has accumulated on Lucario before his stock gets knocked out, Lucario's attacks will only keep getting stronger in damage output and knockback, or the ones that are boosted by his Aura (note, Lucario has very few attacks that are not affected by Aura). While at first this could make Lucario pose little threat, it becomes a major problem when he gets to stay alive and you don't kill him off fast enough, and the fact that Lucario can already rack up damage fine when his life force isn't in danger of being taken out. You cannot afford to let him live or you will soon be fighting a very steep, uphill battle to try and turn back the momentum into your favor.
Lucario has a very solid game all-around, and can adapt to any situation regardless of the factors. You will find that Lucario has a lot of attacks that stretch out farther than you might expect and can catch you off-gaurd just barely. The only downside that is obvious is that will have a hard time killing if he isn't about to be knocked off the stage anytime soon. In case you didn't know, the Aura boost usually stops at somewhere at ~180%, so any more damage on Lucario just makes it a little bit easier to kill him as he can no longer gain any benefit at that static percent.
Now that you know what Lucario is capable of, let's just see what exactly he will be using and for what purpose.
Commonly Used Moves:
Aura Sphere: Though I already made mention of this, I was very vague of it, and it is better that you know the fine details of this projectile so that you can have an easier time not getting hit. It is a chargeable projectile that can be canceled to either start recharging again at a later time, or he can release it then to fake you out. From the start Aura Spheres are pretty small, and if you have ever played Super Smash Bros. Melee, they work in the same sense that Mewtwo's Shadow Ball would curve in anything but a straight line. As it gets bigger, it covers more range (duh), and a more linear path.. pretty simple to see it coming, right? Wrong, Remember that I said Lucario can just save the Aura Sphere to fire at anytime, and he can stop the charge before it comes to maximum strength (for him it won't make any difference in the long-run) and he can mindgame you with this if you don't keep track of it, therefore he can catch you off-guard with this if you are not on your toes! When Lucario is low on damage, the enigmatic menace is about half the size of Lucario, but the Aura Sphere is obviously affected by his Aura, and when Lucario is charging this at a high percent, the thing is taller and wider than even Sonic! If this does not kill you, you will take a whopping 21% damage!
Dair:
Falco's Lucario's bread & butter in the air, it stalls Lucario in the air like Marth's first strike Dancing Blade, a very powerful two-hit combo, drains shields very well, spammable, kills, and can be used as a mixup or to end one of his aerial combos. A very potent move indeed. If he's coming down on your shield with this when he's low on the ground do a FTilt OoS.
Nair: Just thought I should make mention of this, even though it won't be used as say the likes of some of his other attacks, but it is still note-worthy. Comes out very fast, covers both sides of him, has a small lingering hitbox, and IASA frames on landing.
Fair: A very elegant move for sure, cover Lucario at about a 120 degree angle, very disjointed, fast, and combos in on itself, mostly used as an edgegaurd doe to it's small lingering hitbox as well.
Just beware of his Bair an Uair, which although have start-up time, are more likely than any of his other aerials to kill, seeing as how Dair will usually be decayed due to being spammed as a damage-racking move... kind of like Sonic's Bair.
Moving away from aerials, let's look at his tilts
Utilt: Like his Fair, covers a lot of him (in fact, it hits around him like Ike's USmash, and if I didn't know any better, could kill the same way). leads into more Utilts, and is fast.
Ftilt: A simple two-hit move, noticeable disjointedness, moderately fast, kills, can be angled up, but I'm not sure if they will do anything significant, and a bit of a shield pushback on it, so if you're hit on shield with it, you will not be able to punish him for it.
Dtilt, though not as fantastic as some other attacks, has some IASA (In As Soon As) frames, kills since it won't be decayed, stops a lot of attacks in their tracks, and has a little bit of lag that you can see if used one after the other.
Let's look into the other special attacks Lucario has.
Double Team: No, this is not a commonly used move, at least not by any good Lucarios, and the reason why I am making a category for this move in particular is because I want you know how easy it is to punish it and how much **** you dish out to Lucario for even attempting to hit you with this trash. If you know how Ike's/Marth's Counter work, you have the same story here, but instead Lucario has terrible ending lag if you don't set off his attack, is a very bad move to use as a stall in midair, and if you do happen to set off Double Team, you can
SHIELD the counter attack as long as you haven't hit him with any of your attacks that have a lot of ending lag behind them, and if you shoeld that you can do whatever you please from there. If you are quick enough, you can even land a Forward on him!
Extreme Speed: Again, you will not ever see this move from good Lucario's unless they are going to use it as a mix-up for recovery to walljump onto the ledge, or they have no other choice but to use it if they want to live. Extreme Speed can be angled to go wherever Lucario wishes to go... of course the distance on ES is finite, but moving on... Extreme Speed does not do damage, so if you hit Lucario at a low angle where not even a double jump would suffice, you are safe to place an attack to hit him back, or if he tries to go for the ledge answer with an edgehog and he shall plummet to his doom.
Force Palm: The only special attack that isn't Aura Sphere and is actually useful. Force Palm acts like a grab such as Bowser's Koopa Klaw or Wario's bite where he punches right through the opponent and send them off. If he doesn't grab anybody at the start, he will later do a small flame from his hand with a small hitbox that trips people. Let's assume he grabs you since he won't be using Force Palm for anything but the thrash. When both Lucario and his opponent are at low %ages, Force Palm will chain in on itself, and depending on the player/opponent, they cannot get out of the "chaingrab" until after 2-5 grabs if not more. If both you and Lucario are at high %ages, and assuming he hasn't decayed the attack, it will kill. Both Force Palm grab and Force Palm Flame share the same stale move decay. Can be comboed from his 1-2 Jab, however there are some dead frames before he does this, so if he does the 1-2 Force Palm teach him a lesson by Springing in his face, or anything that works for that matter.
Grabs: I recall something about Lucario having a bad horizontal grab range, but I also do remember something about how he can grab opponents from his ears and still bind you in place. I believe it was for Force Pal, but just assume it works for one or the other or both, it won't really matter if this is wrong/right. Anyway Lucario has great throws all-around. His Forward throw is a quick thrust that is boosted in power by his aura, his U-throw is a mediocre throw that once it doesn't follow up into things like Utilts/Fairs/Nairs/etc., Lucario will not use it, this throw as well gain a boost from his Aura but will not kill you even with you and him at high percentages. His Back Throw is a seismic toss that throws you quite a ways, not affected by his Aura but if he happens to catch you at the ledge with this, it can still kill you. With Down Throw Lucario will levitate you off the ground, then slam you, and surprisingly has more knockback than his up Throw. I am unsure of whether or not this move could kill, but anyway it can lead into Fair, and is not boosted by his Aura. Lucario also has a blazing fast pummel that can quickly refresh his other moves, and if he is at a high percent can help him gain a couple more percents in on you.
Dash Attack: It's bad, it has bad range, bad lag, can be shield-grabbed, not boosted by his Aura, and will not kill, you will not ever have to worry about this ever.
The last thing to cover is his smash attacks. DSmash is a bad move to use for anything besides punishing Spot/roll dodgers, seriously it has bad range and one of his more laggy if not the laggiest of his attack. Usmash is only used to hit enemies out in the air, for example land-camping a Sonic that used his Spring, but otherwise not worth for Lucario to use. FSmash on the other hand has reasonable speed for it's disjointed range, and is safe on block.
Before we cover how to win, you should know that all of Lucario's standard ground attacks will not clank if you try to beat out the Aura part, you need to hit Lucario's body or you will be outprioritized all the time.
How to Win: With all this said, how doe Sonic in particular win such a match? Well first you need to realize your weaknesses, and then the ones that you can exploit.
1. You cannot kill.
2. You are seriously outranged.
3. You cannot edgegaurd Lucario under normal circumstances.
Lucario outpowers you, outranges you, and is basically everything you are but a little bit more on the defensive side and with less mindgames. You must make as many chances for yourself to kill Lucario early as soon as you can as possible and you cannot mess up or things will go horribly wrong. Don't get hit, you can't afford to, and make every hit counts before you go for that early kill. Do not be afraid to slow down the pace and try to pick-up on the opponent's habits/weakpoints, you have to take advantage of everything you can spot. I am not kidding you need to play 90% perfect and maintain that average.
Recommended Stages: Pick stages where you can take advantage of Lucario's ability to get stronger at higher percentages. You want to kill him off soon, so go with stages that have low blastzones. Depending on your region, some of these recommended stages might be banned, but if you can go with Corneria/Green Greens/Brinstar. If all else fails, then go with your best judgment, no other stages that are a sure-fire legal will have such blastzone boundaries that will make Lucario get on his knees and beg for your mercy. Good luck and pray your TO doesn't limit you.
Matchup Summary: most agree that the matchup is 6:4 Lucario's favor, depending on players and maps, it can either go even or as said before make the matchup highly unwinnable for Sonic due to Lucario's unique characteristics. The thing to do is never give up hope, and never let your guard down, or you will be sparring with a brute fighter on steroids. Be smart with your choices, one mistake can turn it into Lucario's favor, but you will find it hard to regain the momentum you lost.