Yearning for Sonic Pwnge

[Napilopez]

I posted this in another thread, but I thought perhaps it might be better in a new thread, so I'm just going to paraphrase what I said before:

Hey guys, I'm new here and to competitive Smash play, but I'm glad to join this community. Seems like there's lots of cool peeps here.

I've always been a huge Sonic fan, so when I heard initial reports of his stinkyness in brawl, I was sad. *cries*
However it seems that Sonic is starting to emerge as a competiive character, like when Lucky plays him.

Anyways, just thought I'd share some awesome non-Lucky Sonics that I haven't seen posted here. I'm really eager to main Sonic, and as such I've scrutinized youtube in search for awesome Sonicness =P

Don't worry Lucky, you're still my fav =P

Yea its, against a cpu, but smart use of the homing attack, and great Spring and Uair usage. The end is specially awesome.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ihP_E8aeamU

Even though the Peach didn't seem too great, starting from about 1:50, its just absolute Sonic ownage, especially near the very end:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Uk4soVWrNts

Now I don't have the game, nor have I played it, but from these vids and Lucky's, I'm starting to see lots of potential for Sonic as a competitive character who's not good only with items, teams or with more than 2 players. I see lots of potential for using the spring + Uair as a finisher. Also Sonic's running speed could be highly advantageous for keeping enemies in the air while you smack them left and right, like towards the end of the second clip. It must be frustrating that he's so quick and he wouldn't let them touch the ground! Also, maybe I'm just not seeing right, but it seems like Sonic's Dair can "overcome" alot of his enemies moves(forgive me, I'm new to smash terminology as well, is that what's called cancelling?) Finally, if Sonic's homing attack is used as described in the first video(read the "about this video"), it could become useful, especially since Sonic has such a great recovery.

Just observations from a Smash noob though. Feel free to disagree! =P

Also, post any Sonic awesomeness vids here if you'd like! Rather than complain about his weaknesses, I think it would be great to discuss his strengths and techniques that could be used in a competitive situation.

P.S. Can someone explain to me what "priority" means? Mucho appreciated.

 

[cr00mz]

hey i'm also new here, but i'm not very competetive or anything like that i mostly play for fun/casual. But i thought those videos were cool, i like the second one better. It's cool how the forwardB makes a good combo starter for other moves

 

[Napilopez]

Yea I agree, and welcome to the boards! Even if I'm just as new as you.

I've never been a competitive player, but I've wanted to become ever since I heard Sonic might be in.

His weaknesses haven't changed my opinion.

 

[Televangelist]

'Priority' is all about answering a simple question: When you and an opponent hit each other, each with your own moves, who 'wins'?

Take an example from SSBM: Peach's up-b umbrella. The umbrella coming out has very high priority. So, almost anything you try and hit Peach with from above will fail.

There might be a full 'list' of the priority of all the moves somewhere, but you wouldn't really need it -- you get a sense, when playing, of which attacks succeed in breaking through your opponent's moves and which attacks fail. Some attacks have their priority change at different points during the attack.

Having some good, high-priority moves is especially important against skilled players, when you're less likely to get 'free' hits against opponents due to their own ignorance, and you're fighting harder for every stock.

When two moves with the same priority hit, you'll see both characters bounce off each other. Try testing it, for instance, by having two Marths do the same fsmash against each other simultaneously.

 

[Napilopez]

Thanks very much for the answer televangelist, I actually had just found the answer, but yours was much more comprehensive.

 

[MrLegend]

I liked that homing attack kill in the first video.

 

[Napilopez]

One thing I've noticed in several videos is that the homing attack SEEMS to be much more useful in when both players are midair, as your enemy has much less mobility in air and thus the attack is more difficult to evade without endangering oneself. Plus if the attack misses, you still have your midair jump and spring left, so it should be easy to recover.

Again, I'm not stating anything as fact, since these are only observations.

 

[MrLegend]

Yeah. I've seen homing attack hit 2 to 3 times in the air because the opponent could barely move.

 

[samper]

Hey all, I think i just discovered something (though this is my first post so it may well be old news). I was poking around in the general forum when i happened across a competitive video match thread with some sonic fights. I started watching one between sonic and pikachu when I noticed that close to the end of the fight sonic did his down air attack pretty close to the ground, and the instant he landed he did a down a attack and bypassed the usually recovery time that his down air has.
You can see the video here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DOLWKzVPvTA
It happens around 3:45-3:46, only time the guy uses it but i found that to be pretty interesting. If the only way to get around the usual lag that that down air has is to use down a right after I'm not sure what good that would do, but I think it's worth looking into.
(also, can someone explain two things for me? 1: why is it sometimes sonic's forward smash throws his target high but close and other times far and low? is it aim-able, dependent on how close you are when you hit them [like Ike's forward smash], or is it random? and 2: I read somewhere that the down air was a spike, which I'm pretty sure means it throws them straight down, but I've never seen it do that. Is that false or do you just have to hit them with it really early into the attack while they're in the air [like right as it starts up]?)
-edit-
just noticed this an hour later, in a sonic vs. sonic fight by the same guys as the above video it *looks* to me like sonic ended his down air a little earlier than normal with his up b spring. please watch and correct me if I'm wrong: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fyMP1RL8Tqk
it happens around 3:50 and again around 4:49.

 

[InterimOfZeal]

If you short hop then up-b before you dair, it cancels all lag. Great for pressure, yadda yadda, etc etc.

 

[Napilopez]

Nice find, the d-tilt did indeed cancel the dair recovery lag.

 

[TheMagicalKuja]

The first video samper post was more hilarious in the fact that Pika and Sonic constantly killed each other at the SAME time.

Also the first video with the clever homing attack gimp was AMAZINGLY epic.

 

[samper]

"If you short hop then up-b before you dair, it cancels all lag. Great for pressure, yadda yadda, etc etc."

That's the thing though Zeal, on the first video i mentioned sonic doesn't use his up b before doing down air and canceling the usual down air lag with down a. For all the other times I've seen down air's lag get canceled he is high enough to come out of the animation first, but for that particular one he only does one jump before the down air.

 

[Napilopez]

The first video samper post was more hilarious in the fact that Pika and Sonic constantly killed each other at the SAME time.

Also the first video with the clever homing attack gimp was AMAZINGLY epic.

Yea, that was funny, reminded me of a Dragon Ball match with both fighters flying away after an impact on the same time.

And I loved that first fight I posted, I'd like to see that player fight against a human, not just a CPU.

The end of the second one was pretty epic as well.

Vids like these inspire me as a future Sonic player.

And I do think Samper's find could be very important to Sonic players.

 

[Bakemonky]

I was going to make an entirely new thread. But I will just add on to this one. I don't own Brawl, and I have been dying to see someone use Sonic to his full potential. I was going to ask someone to make a video using his homing attack in various situations (because i believe it to be one of his most versatile attacks) and your first vid you posted finally showed sonic using his homing attack in a KO off the ledge.

This is what I want. I want vids of Sonic knocking people off the ledge, and instead of waiting around for them to get back to the ledge, JUMP OFF and homing attack at them while they are still flying to the left or right. it seems like that would have great KO potential, and Sonic should be able to recover and get back to the stage.

The only thing I'm worried about is what happens when Sonic does a homing attack and there is no enemy present (ie. they are KO'ed and haven't yet come back to the stage). Will he move forward in his current momentum? or will he just... not move.....

 

[TheMagicalKuja]

I was going to make an entirely new thread. But I will just add on to this one. I don't own Brawl, and I have been dying to see someone use Sonic to his full potential. I was going to ask someone to make a video using his homing attack in various situations (because i believe it to be one of his most versatile attacks) and your first vid you posted finally showed sonic using his homing attack in a KO off the ledge.

This is what I want. I want vids of Sonic knocking people off the ledge, and instead of waiting around for them to get back to the ledge, JUMP OFF and homing attack at them while they are still flying to the left or right. it seems like that would have great KO potential, and Sonic should be able to recover and get back to the stage.

The only thing I'm worried about is what happens when Sonic does a homing attack and there is no enemy present (ie. they are KO'ed and haven't yet come back to the stage). Will he move forward in his current momentum? or will he just... not move.....

That's why I made an entirely new thread to gather all viable strategies of Sonic in one place, because quite frankly so few people are getting it.

 

[samper]

can someone with the game test the down air canceling thing i mentioned earlier though? I'd like to know if down a is the only thing that can cancel the lag or if you can use any other attacks to cancel it as well.