Sonic (Super Smash Flash 2)

Sonic is a playable veteran character in Super Smash Flash 2. Unlike the main Super Smash Bros. games, he is not the only representative of the Sonic franchise. He is joined by his sidekick. His moveset is taken directly from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and has his voice clips from said game.

Sonic is currently ranked 27th of C tier on the current tier list; a large drop from his 20th place of B tier last tier list, and overall suffering the largest tier drop from version 0.9a, falling 26 places. Sonic has fast attacks, useful techniques, decent combo ability, a good grab game and K.O. moves in his forward smash, up and back aerials, and Light Dash. Sonic has great ground mobility with having the fastest dashing speed in the game and fast walking speed. Sonic has an average recovery with mutiple recovery options in Spring Jump, Homing attack and Light Dash.

However, Sonic has his flaws in that he has short range in the majority of his attacks and that makes him vulnerable to characters with disjointed hitboxes (ex. and ). He lacks a projectile and reliable ways to deal with them especially projectiles that are high in priority or transcendent. Sonic may have problems KO'ing his opponents due to having few KO moves.

His pros are vastly overlooked by his inadequacies and that is why he is ranked close to the bottom.

Sonic appears to have a small player base and lackluster representation in online tournaments. Sonic normally places low to mid in tournaments that his mains participate in.

Attributes
Sonic has great mobility and the fastest running speed in the game, which allows to easily extend his combos against almost any character, have a fast and somewhat unpredictable approach and helps him close the gap against zoning opponents. He has KO moves in his Forward smash, back aerial, up aerial and Light Dash. His down throw can lead into a lot of different follows up like his up tilt or down aerial.

However the majority of his attacks have short reach, makes it hard to approach characters with disjointed hitboxes such as and  and has to always be up close to his opponents, which is a risk in itself. He has a few reliable KO moves which forces him to keep the few ones he has fresh. He has a hard time dealing with projectiles that his neutral aerial cannot out-prioritize like those with transcendent priority (ex. 's bombs).

Due the physics of SSF2, new additions to Sonic's moveset and a few tweaks to some of his moves make Sonic a better character then he was in Brawl.

Ground attacks

 * Standard attack 1: Left Jab. 2%
 * Standard attack 2: Right Jab. 2%
 * Standard attack 3: Side Kick. 3%
 * Down tilt: Slides his feet forward while ducking. This move has upwards set-knockback. 5%
 * Down smash: Spin Dashes to one side, then to the other, like in Brawl, but has more range. 12% uncharged, 17% fully charged.  This is probably Sonic's best ranged attack.
 * Side tilt: Does a mule kick. 4%.
 * Forward smash: Does a wind-up punch. 13% uncharged, 19% fully charged.  It has greater KO than the previous demo with above average KO power.
 * Up tilt: Kicks upwards out in front of him twice. The first kick is weak, but traps opponents into the second kick. It is the only up tilt to be a combo. 7% for the first kick, 7% for the second.
 * Up smash: Spin pops into the air, ripping out multiple hits and then coming down. 4 hits for 10% uncharged, 4 hits for 13% fully charged.
 * Dash attack: Spin Roll. Sonic curls into a ball and grinds to a stop. Strong it does 10%. Weak hit does 4%

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial: Insta-Shield. Curls into a ball and spins in place. It deals one hit for 11%. This may be Sonic's best air move both for defense and offensive as the attack lasts longer than most other air attacks.
 * Forward aerial: Dives forward spinning his head, dealing eight hits, with the last hit having good knockback. Deals 5% damage.
 * Back aerial: Sticks his leg out forward, then kicks out backwards behind him. It has some start-up lag and reach. Does 12% and is one of his few reliable KO moves.
 * Up aerial: Spreads his legs out, then brings them together while kicking upwards. Two hits. One of Sonic's few KO moves. First hit deals 7%, second hit deals 8%.
 * Down aerial: Downwards rocket kick. 9%. This move can be used quickly for ground recovery. If the opponent DI's incorrectly, the kick can be followed up with a Homing Attack.
 * Down special move: Unlike other characters, Sonic has an extra move when he uses his down special in the air: the bounce attack. Sonic will pause in midair and bounce to the ground. 6%. The move travels all the way to the ground, so it can be a SD if he is over the edge, however, Sonic can still move horizontally and even grab ledges during the move. If he hits the ground or a grounded opponent, Sonic will bounce slightly off the ground where he is free to do other attacks or even use his up special again even if he already used it. If he hits a ground opponent, the opponent with bounce slightly off the ground and sometimes become stunned by the attack. If Sonic hits an air opponent, Sonic will bounce off the opponent, but the opponent will be smashed directly to the ground or off the screen. This is his meteor smash and is one of the most powerful meteor smashes when used on an aired opponent (though it has little KO power on ground ones). This move is great as a defense move or to use on numerous opponents and is a great move to recover from a possible star finish.

Grabs & throws

 * Grab: Reaches both hands out to grab.
 * Pummel: Knees opponent. All hits do 1%.
 * Forward throw: Kicks opponent diagonally forward. Good combo starter. 4%
 * Back throw: Does a back flip while holding the opponent and slams them on the ground, sending them backwards. 9%
 * Up throw: Throws opponent in the air, spinning below them, and does a final spin hit, knocking them upwards with good power. 7%. Can chain throw big characters and fast fallers.
 * Down throw: Charges a Spin dash on the opponent. Allows for some follow ups on the opponent. 7%

Other

 * Ledge attack: Climbs onto the stage and kicks forward with both legs. 7%
 * 100% ledge attack: None for now.
 * Floor attack: Does a kick similar to his forward tilt in appearance. Risky because it only attacks in front of him and leaves him vulnerable if the opponent is behind him. 8%

Misc.

 * Entrance: Sonic jumps onto the stage in ball form from the foreground and makes his Brawl pose. He then says, "Hey, I'm ready when you are."
 * Taunts:
 * Standard: Sonic runs in place and then faces the camera taunting, "You're too slow!"
 * Side: Sonic does a backflip and poses, tutting.
 * Down: Sonic flips, does his Sonic Adventure pose, exclaiming, "Come on, step it up!"
 * Fanfare: Remix of Act Clear theme from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * Win poses:
 * Gives a thumbs up and says, "Nobody can keep up with me!".
 * Rubs his palms of the hands and say "Too easy. That was a piece of cake!" while stretching a hand.
 * Does a flip and pose, all while saying, "Man, I looked forward to that!".
 * Loses: Claps to the winner while smiling.

Changes from v0.9a
Sonic has received a mix of buffs and nerfs. Sonic has gained buffs in that he has more KO power, but his recovery has been nerfed and Light Dash, the move that made him broken, has been changed. Sonic is seen as a less effective fighter than he was last demo.

Notable Players

 * Lite2Key
 * AfroAkira
 * Miracle—7

Tier placement history
In tier lists for demo v0.6; Sonic was seen as a top tier character ranking 3rd of B tier on the first list and 1st of S tier on the second list. In demo v0.7; Sonic was seen as a high-top tier character where he ranked 6th of B tier on the first list and 4th of A tier on the second list. In demo v0.8b; Sonic had his worst tier position yet where he ranked 19th of K tier and was seen as a bottom tier character. However, in demo v0.9a; Sonic would once again make his way back into the top tiers where he ranks 1st of S tier and he was once again seen as the best character in a demo. In demo v0.9b, Sonic dropped to 20th of B tier where he was seen as a mid tier character. However, the changes in the metagame showed that Sonic was really less effective then originally thought and he dropped down to 27th of C tier on the second tier list of demo v0.9b, where he is seen as a bottom tier character again.

Trivia

 * Sonic is the only character who has appeared in the main Super Smash Bros. games to gain two new specials.
 * Sonic along with, , and  are the only characters so far who wear their default costumes in team battle when they are on the blue team.
 * Sonic is the first character so far to be 1st on a tier list twice (demos v0.6 and v0.9a respectively). The second was.
 * He is also the first character to rise from the Kirby tier directly into S tier during the transition from demo v0.8b to v0.9a.
 * He is the only character to have been moved from bottom tier in one version, top tier in the next, and bottom tier in the version after.
 * Sonic's first pixel art is based on a victory pose he makes in Brawl.
 * His current pixel art looks like a position he takes before performing his up smash.
 * Originally during Sonic's lose pose he would not smile when clapping for the winner like he did in Brawl. However, starting with demo v0.9a he smiles while clapping for the winner. Interestingly enough, Sonic does this in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U also.
 * Sonic,, , and  are the only characters who had an unlockable status in the main Super Smash Bros. games to be starters in SSF2. While  and  are also starters; they had to be unlocked in the demo they debuted in.