Sonic (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


 * This article is about Sonic's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic the Hedgehogmario (, Sonikku za Hejjihoggu) is a character from SEGA who appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as one of the two Third-Party characters (the other being Snake). Sonic was the first unlockable character to be playable prior to the game's release. He was first playable in Nintendo Media Summit in October 2007, shortly after he was confirmed to be in the game. A swift character, Sonic runs at an extremely fast pace that surpasses even Captain Falcon. Sonic dashes so fast that when wearing a Bunny Hood, he can outrace both the Big Blue track and the water slope on Distant Planet to the point of self-destructing. Nintendo Power states that since Sonic isn't well known for his fighting skills, some of his fighting moves were influenced by SEGA's fighting property, Virtua Fighter. A majority of Sonic's moves are also influenced by SEGA's Sonic The Fighters and (to a lesser extent) Sonic Battle. Sonic is unlocked by doing one of these four things, beat Sonic after beating Classic mode with 10 different characters, beat Sonic after playing in Brawls for 10 hours, have Sonic join your party in The Subspace Emissary or beat Sonic after playing 300 Brawls. This makes Sonic the only character who can be unlocked by four separate methods.

Sonic is currently placed 23rd on the Brawl tier list due to his excellent speed, good follow up ability, and being unpredictable, allowing him to fare decently against much higher tier characters. However, his low priority, lack of reliable finishing moves, and few advantageous matchups puts him in the C tier.

Attributes
Sonic is the fastest character in the game, in regards to movement speed (fastest dash speed, sixth fastest air speed, and very fast rolls). His dash speed can traverse the entirety of Final Destination in only 55 frames. However, only about half of his moveset has speed to match, none of them being killing moves. Sonic's relatively small hitboxes and lack of a projectile (excluding his Spring jump which can only be used in the air, travels downward, and can be used by opponents if used on the ground) mean that he must stay close to the opponent in order to attack, but his aforementioned speed helps this problem. His ability to spinshot (hold Side B and release as one pushes the C-Stick downwards) allows him to quickly bypass the effects of most projectile campers, and his Side B has enough priority that it will clank and cancel out the effects of certain projectiles, such as Snakes C4. His tremendous running speed, combined with his Spin Charge special, Spring Jump, and down-air give him excellent follow up ability on pretty much every character. Opponents should always expect Sonic to continue his assault should he get a hit or throw in somewhere, even off the edge. Even though Sonic can easily rack up damage, he arguably has the hardest time landing a KO move, as all of his KO moves are unreliable, he has no guaranteed setups to them and he lacks an early KO move. Sonic has only four ways to reliably kill the opponent (backwards and upwards aerial, and side/down smash), all of which have weaknesses that prevent them from being reliable KO moves. All of Sonic's smash attacks have too slow start-up time to be reliable finishers. Sonic's back aerial has great range and extends past his foot during maximum extension, but this range only lasts for fractions of a second, and his up air is situational because the opponent needs to be in the very top of the screen for it to be reliable because it otherwise won't kill until percents as high as 230% when close to the ground. This hinders his ability to finish off opponents, which often is significant in matches. Sonic is one of the more difficult characters to gimp in the game, given his tremendous vertical recovery, as well as his theoretically limitless horizontal recovery (Homing Attack) should an opponent be off the stage with him. The major flaw to his recovery is that if an opponent grab releases him after using his Spring Jump, when he escapes he can't use his specials and falls which sometimes can happen if the opponents manages to grab Sonic out of his forward aerial. This can be remedied by using an aerial after the Upair is used in order to avoid or push-back a possible grabbing opponent. Sonic has the ability to wall jump, and on Final Destination can use his Spring Jump underneath the lip, should he be required to, and can wall jump off the small wall portion to make it to the edge. However, should an opponent be in place at all, invincible or not, Sonic will not have enough time to both attack and successfully grab the edge. Sonic also has surprising survivability despite being a middleweight by nature. His DownB and SideB serve as excellent momentum cancel-ers, which when coupled with his ability to recover, can allow him to survive until very high percentages, not as long as the heaviest characters but still fairly long.

Sonic's attacks are primarily offensive in nature, and his air game and air speed are good enough to accommodate attacking in the sky, as well. His up-air is quick, good at juggling, and has vertical priority and disjointedness on the second hit, which can out-prioritize virtually any down-air in the game when spaced appropriately(it's hitbox extends well past Sonic's feet). His forward-air is instantaneous, it's multi-hit properties causes it to be a good shield poker, and it can often be chained into itself to bring opponents off the stage. Sonic can remain in the air indefinitely with careful use of his neutral special, Homing Attack, and with proper placement can either stage spike or gimp in this manner. Stage spiking in general is an excellent offensive strategy for Sonic; by running off the edge and immediately using back-air, many characters or opponents who focus on ledge-camping (such as Pit) can be caught off guard for either a kill or a tactical advantage. Sonic's speedy and long-lasting dash attack is another move that can catch opponents unexpectedly, and its traveling distance usually prevents significant retaliation, such as shield-grabbing.

Sonic has good punishment options. His insane speed allows him to techchase effortlessly, follow up with attacks and keep the opponent guessing constantly. Many of Sonic's moves use the same spinning ball animation, making him a very difficult character to predict. Unlike some characters however, practice is required to fully unlock Sonic's punishment potential. Sonic has one of the best shields in the game, because of the speed it pops out and the multiple ways he can go into it. Sonic can cancel any of his Spin Dashes into a shield, Side B Spin Dash from the ground and Down B Spin Dash from the air. This allows Sonic to "fake-out" his opponents, causing them to make hasty moves on which Sonic can capitalize on. When an opponent goes into their knock down animation, Sonic's superior punishment comes into play. By moving closer to the opponent then stopping just outside their range, Sonic has the edge. Because of his speed, if they roll towards Sonic, away from Sonic or use their getup attack, Sonic can grab them as they finish their move. His Dthrow is the best example of Sonic's ability to techchase. Sonic can Dthrow, run towards the opponent, wait for their animation to finish and grab them before they have a chance to react, giving Sonic another Dthrow and more damage, though it's also techable. If the move is done consistently, Sonic can techchase his opponent right off the stage at a downward angle and then use his Fair or Bair as edgeguarding tools to keep the opponent from recovering. Because of his incredible recovery, Sonic can afford to edgeguard far off the stage. Sonic's good punishment options come at a price, however. Sonic is surprisingly easy to grab out of his attacks, because many of his moves launch him straight at opponents, only to have Sonic finish the move next to the opponent.

Mastering Sonic's running game is crucial to Sonic's ability to perform at higher levels, and is one of the factors that makes him so difficult to play competitively. Sonic users take advantage of a variety of dash or dash-related techniques that are seldom used by other characters. Dash Dancing is much less useful in Brawl than it was in Melee, but it can be extremely useful for fake-outs in Sonic's gameplay, such as by running in one direction and then quickly turning the other way around to bait an opponent or catch him/her off-guard. It is often regarded by Sonic players that it is better to run away from your opponent and run back than to use roll-dodges to avoid opponent. This allows you to avoid damage, not be as easily punished, have more control over your actions, and be able to punish your opponents attacks. Dash Dance Pivots(Foxtrot away from opponent, then quickly dashdance backwards) are particularly effective for this, as they can cause almost immediate turnarounds. Grabs can then be used to punish opponents.

Sonic can also use a variety of methods to dash or cancel his dashes for fakeouts. Most of these are universal techniques that are more useful sonic than for other characters. Among these are foxtrots, dash pivot(turnaround animation) cancels, dash dance pivots, dash dancing, reverse aerial rushes, shield cancelling dashes, as well as using Side-B to cancel dashes and foxtrots(which normally cannot be shield cancelled). Foxtrots can be chained together(traveling at almost normal running speed) or into a smash attack, and can be cancelled using SideB. They can also be done in different lengths, and turned into dash dance pivots for avoiding attacks and punishing. The turnaround animation during a dash can be cancelled into any attack, often proving invaluable as a fakeout into a killing move for Sonic, as it appears he is going to run the other direction while he is really going to attack, but it shouldn't be relied too match because all of his KO moves can be reacted and shielded. SideB can be used to instantly change the momentum of Sonic's run, and it can be shield-cancelled for defensive or fakeout purposes, or offensively to combine into grabs. If Sonic does a regular shield cancel to his dash, he will quickly slide a few feet forward, auseful technique for grabbing, as it allows Sonic to shield long range attacks, slide in, and then grab his opponent when otherwise he wouldnt be able to do to the lackluster range on it. Spacing is also key, as Sonic can often dash in and grab an opponent before an attacks start-up animation is even done, and is the only character that can run in between Olimar's grabs. Mastering Sonic's dash will maximize the player's mindgaming ability and allow for excellent punishing.

His primary form of damage comes from combining his two different dashing specials, Spin Dash and Spin Charge, with his grab. Mixing up these maneuvers makes for a speedy, unpredictable Sonic, and the damage accumulated by hitting with these techniques can be tremendous. What significantly hurts his offensive game is that his overall priority is one of the lowest in the game. Athough this is masked by his fast attack speed, even his fastest attacks are still very vulnerable to long lasting hitboxes. Spin Charge is more offensive in nature, requiring button presses to rev up and going straight forward on release, making it the easier of the two to obtain max attacking speed. It's also effective when used just slightly above the stage, as slamming into the opponent from the air yields two hitboxes, combined with the rolling and jumping hits Sonic can obtain once back on the ground. Spin Dash, on the other hand, is defensive in that it can be shield-canceled in the first second or so of holding B to charge, making it great for fakeouts to shield-grabs, and upon release has a little hop that can be immediately jumped out of for a follow-up aerial. The hop itself has roughly five frames of invincibility, and if performed up a steep enough hill, the entire dash along the ground will be an invincible attack. Spin Dash is also useful for recovery provided the second jump is still in reserve, and those with excellent timing can even return to the stage immediately upon leaving it with Spin Dash, rolling forward along the ground towards the opponent.

Sonics matchups are difficult to define, as they vary greatly from player to player, possibly moreso than for any other character. Sonic players to this day find it difficult to agree on which matchups are Sonic's worst. Depending on the play-style of the Sonic, he can have a decent matchup against almost any character in the game, even at competitive levels. Because of his prowess for mindgaming and switching up tactics, as well as the inherent strengths and weaknesses to each style of play, some Sonic's argue that Sonic has no truly disavantageous matchup as a character, and that matchups are much more heavily influenced by playstyle than Sonic's actual attributes. However, most Sonics will agree he does not have many, if any, truly advantageous matchups.

Normal

 * Neutral Attack - A left-handed punch, then a right-handed punch, then finally a side kick with the left leg. 7% damage.
 * Dash Attack - Rolls into a ball to hit anyone in his way, similar to when you press down while running in most Sonic games. 6% damage. Difficult to punish, even when shielded.
 * Strong Side - Stick out both of his feet, with both of his hands planted on the ground (appearance and knockback comparable to Pikachu's F-Tilt in Melee). 11% damage, in two hits. Decent in-close defensive move.
 * Strong Up - Kicks upward which hits two times (appearance comparable to C. Falcon's Up Smash). Decent knockback. 14 damage if both hits connect(7% per hit).
 * Strong Down - Foot sweep (appearance and knockback comparable to Sheik's D-Tilt in Melee). 6% damage. Can trip at tip, be used to pseudo-crawl, and/or combine with itself or other attacks well at early percents due to IASA frames.

Smash

 * Side Smash - Winds up his arm during the charge and attacks with a slow punch and yells "GO!". It has good knockback, but poor range and slow speed hinder it to be reliable. 14-19% damage. Can be angled. Tip of fist has high enough priority to clank with swords, and can punch through Meta-Knight's Mach Tornado.
 * Up Smash - Sonic does a short jump and hangs at its apex for a bit doing a spin. Enemies that get hit are caught into this attack, and gets hit multiple times until the final hit, which does low knockback.  Horrid lag time makes it very punishable. On the upside, it has a somewhat unpredictable nature if dashing and C-sticking from long-range due to Sonic's speed, which works great to land in a hit from a distance.  Has minor meteor smashing properties towards the back of the move on around the 6th-7th hit. This attack is not recommended to use as a KO move due to it's awful knockback, but if used effectively, it works well as a damage builder. 14-20% damage if all hits connect, which doesn't happen as often as Sonic players might like.
 * Down Smash - Spin Dashes back and forth over a short distance around him. It has good knockback, and decent range, but its slow start-up prevents it from being a reliable finisher. 12-19% damage.  Presents a moving hurtbox for Sonic, and works well on opponents descending onto Sonic.  Possesses three hitboxes, 1st with good knockback and the last hit having no KO power.

Other

 * Ledge Attack - Gets up onto stage with a sort of flip-spin attack, returning to near the edge afterward. 8% damage. This attack resembles his 'cliffhanger flip' attack in Sonic Spinball.
 * 100% Ledge Attack - Sticks out foot then the other while on his back, two consecutive hits. 13% damage.
 * Floor Attack - Quick foot sweep, hits both sides. 6% damage.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Aerial - Spins in place. Properties are similar to the properties of the Sex Kick. Low priority. This attack is more effective as a short hop aerial as opposed to high in the air, because its long animation can be punished easily. This move looks similar to his basic jump, which may be referencing the fact that in the classic Sonic games, Sonic only needed to jump in order to damage an enemy.  Since jumping cannot damage in Brawl, this move simply accentuates his spinning motion to turn it into an attack that looks similar to his jump. 11% damage.
 * Forward Aerial - Drills at the enemy head first rotating his body, delivering multiple hits. Similar to Pikachu's/Falco's f-air.Below-average knockback, but is an excellent follow-up move out of throws and easy to follow-up on. Instantaneous start-up. Can also be effective when trying to gimp recoveries. Up to 13% damage. The player should be careful using it too close to the ground as it has terrible lag should Sonic touch the ground before he finishes the attack.
 * Back Aerial - Kicks behind him (appearance and knockback comparable to Samus's B-Air). One of Sonic's best killing moves, however it's too slow and has too low range to be a reliable KO move. 14% damage.
 * Up Aerial - A flip kick. First he splits his legs apart and out (capable of hitting enemies a bit to his sides) doing no significant knockback. Then he kicks up, knocking his opponents up with decent knockback. 9% damage. Good for juggling out of spin dash moves at early-mid percents. Using it in conjunction with Sonic's Spring Jump is a common KO strategy for Sonic; its meager knockback requires Sonic to hit opponents with his Up Aerial at a high altitude to land a KO, which he can attain using the Spring Jump. Has the most priority of any of Sonic's attacks. It can be used from the ground as well as the air to hit opponents. It's lag is minimal, even when landing on the ground Sonic doesn't suffer any lag and can follow through with another Uair.
 * Down Aerial - A Stall-Then-Fall aerial. Sonic stalls for a brief moment, then shoots downwards foot first. Appearance is comparable to Ganondorf's Wizard's Foot. This attack does not continue downwards until landing (although it does go down very far before stopping), but after some frames it can be cancelled with a Spring Jump. When used with a short hop, the attack gives Sonic the appearance of stomping. It has a good amount of lag when hitting the ground if not performed from high enough. Knockback is either diagonally vertical, or slightly down and horizontal at onset of move. 8% damage.

Grabs and Throws

 * Pummel - Knees the opponent. 3% damage. One of the fastest pummels in the game.
 * Forward Throw - Kicks opponent diagonally upward using a straight up kick (like splits vertically). Can follow with Up-Air juggles, but it can be heavily DI'ed backwards. 9% damage.
 * Back Throw - Does a back flip while spinning (and while holding the opponent) and slams them on the ground, sending them backwards with okay knockback. Appearance is similar to Pikachu's back throw in Melee. 8% damage.
 * Up Throw - Tosses the opponent slightly above him and then lands on his hands as if to do a push-up. His quills harden just before they make contact and the foe is shot upwards and at an angle. 12% damage in two quick hits. Excellent juggle early on, and great for follow-ups with Spring Jump later, though advanced players will horizontally DI. This throw is one of the most damaging in the game percentage wise, and its knockback can KO lightweights at high percents.
 * Down Throw - Throws them down and spins on them (similar to Jigglypuff's down throw but not quite the same), then knocks them a bit forward against the stage. Does a good amount of damage but has set horizontal knockback. 8% damage. Great for tech chasing or for getting opponents off the edge.

Taunts
Up: Does a front flip, then crosses arms with his index finger pointing out while making a teasing clicking tune, which forms into one of his signature poses. Side: Does a figure eight peelout dash, saying "You're too slow!" in a teasing manner.

Down: Says: "C'mon, step it up!" while breakdancing.

Role in Subspace Emissary
Sonic does not appear in the Subspace Emissary until the final battle with Tabuu, but unlike the secret characters (Wolf, Jigglypuff, and  Toon Link), Sonic can be chosen to fight Tabuu after The Great Maze. When every fighter reaches Tabuu, he prepares his Off Waves, which had already turned every character into a trophy once before. As soon as he's about to release the attack, a blue blur rams into both of Tabuu's wings, weakening the attack. As the blue blur jumps up on a peak, he reveals himself to be Sonic. While he taunts, Tabuu's wings break apart, and then six fighters are selected to fight Tabuu in the final battle. Sonic's late role in the adventure mode is possibly a reference to the fact that he was added to Brawl's roster late in 2007.

Exclusive Stickers

 * Amy Rose: [Leg] Attack +14
 * Classic Sonic JP Ver.: [Arm] Attack +21
 * Classic Sonic US Ver.: [Throwing] Attack +20
 * Dr. Eggman: Launch Resistance +39
 * Espio The Chameleon: [Body, Spin] Attack +12
 * Jet The Hawk: [Leg] Attack +17
 * Knuckles The Echidna: [Electric] Resistance +23
 * Shadow The Hedgehog: [Specials: Direct] Attack +20
 * Silver the Hedgehog: Launch Power +49
 * Sonic the Hedgehog: [Body, Spin] Attack +32
 * Super Sonic: [Electric] Resistance +27
 * Wave the Swallow: [Arm] Attack +19

Trivia

 * Along with Zero Suit Samus, Sheik and Squirtle, Sonic is one of the only characters to not be seen in trophy form during the Subspace Emissary, due to his late appearance. Coincidentally, all four of these characters' names begin with the letter 'S'.
 * Sonic, Link, Donkey Kong and Snake are the only characters to be playable in a fighting game other than the Smash Bros. series; Sonic appeared in Sonic the Fighters and Sonic Battle, Link appeared in the GameCube version of Soul Calibur II, Donkey Kong was a secret character in Punch-Out!! for the Wii, and Snake appeared in Dream Mix TV: World Fighters.
 * With the most recent Brawl Tier list update, Sonic moved up 8 places from 31 to 23, making Sonic's tier placement the largest increase ever achieved in Smash Bros. history.
 * Sonic's cheer might be partly inspired by the lyrics to the theme song of the anime Sonic X.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog was statistically the most anticipated character for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * In the video game convention E for All, Sonic was the only unlockable character to be playable in the demo.
 * Near the end of The Subspace Emissary, Sonic suddenly appears, seemingly from nowhere, and with no explanation provided of how he got there. One possible explanation is that by harnessing the power of the Chaos Emeralds to use use Chaos Control, he could simply shift himself through time and space into the dimension in which Subspace lies. There are also speculations claiming Sonic was put so late in the game due to his late installation in the game itself.
 * Even though Sonic is usually known for not being able to swim, he is able to swim in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, though it's only for short amount of time compared to the other characters.