Sonic (Super Smash Flash 2)

Sonic is a playable veteran starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. Unlike the Super Smash Bros. games, he is not the only representative of the Sonic franchise — he is joined by his sidekick. Most of his moveset is taken directly from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and his voice clips also come from said game. His sprites are based on his modern appearance, which includes Sonic Generations and Sonic Lost World.

Sonic is currently ranked 33rd of C- tier on the current tier list. Sonic has fast attacks, useful techniques, decent combo ability, a good grab game and KO 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 multiple 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, that also lack a lot of priority, and that makes him vulnerable to characters with disjointed hitboxes (ex. and ) or characters with high priority. 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.

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 the best ground mobility in the game with possessing the fastest dash and one of the fastest walk speeds. He has KO moves in his Forward smash, back aerial, up aerial and Light Dash.

Sonic has a decent grab and throw game, possessing one of the longest grabs in the game. His up throw is useful for setting up combos, while also being a chain grab on fast and high fallers. His down throw can be a potential chain grab.

However, the majority of his attacks have short reach, which makes it hard to approach characters with disjointed hitboxes such as and Sora and requires him to stay close to his opponent at all times, providing extra risks. He has a hard time dealing with projectiles that his neutral aerial cannot out-prioritize, like those with transcendent priority (ex. 's bombs).

He has a few reliable KO moves which forces him to keep the ones he has fresh.

Sonic's combo game is below average, which prevents him from racking up a lot of damage like other characters. Sonic is also a medium weight and an above average faller, which makes him easy to combo.

His recovery is only average at best now, with Spring Jump covering little vertical distance. Light Speed Dash only covers little horizontal distance and little vertical distance, although it can be angled to sweet spot the ledge. Homing Attack needs to be used to help Sonic recover vertically and horizontally in order to gain any distance.

Ground attacks

 * The Punch + Punch + Kick from Sonic the Fighters. Has jab lock capabilities.
 * Down tilt: Slides his feet forward while ducking. This move has upwards set-knockback. 9%
 * Down smash: Does a split kick. 13%
 * Side tilt: Does a mule kick. 10%.
 * Forward smash: Does a wind-up punch. 14% 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 12% uncharged, 4 hits for 16% fully charged.
 * Dash attack: Spin Roll. Sonic curls into a ball, hitting three times 2% each, finishing with a kick 6%.

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial: Insta-Shield. Curls into a ball and spins in place. It deals two hits, 7% each. 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: A fast front-flip kick, based on the Sonic Eagle from Sonic Battle. It covers a wide area in front of Sonic and meteor smashing at the heel of his foot, which when combined with his fast air speed gives Sonic a deadly Ken Combo. Forward-hit deals 12%, meter dealing 10%.
 * 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. Has high landing lag.
 * Up aerial: Does an upwards scissor kick. Two hits. One of Sonic's few KO moves. First hit deals 7%, second hit deals 8%. The first hit does not flinch the opponent.
 * 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.

Grab & Throws

 * Grab: Reaches both hands out to grab.
 * Pummel: Knees opponent. All hits do 1%.
 * Forward throw: Kicks opponent forward. Good to set up an edgeguard.  10%
 * Back throw: Back flips multiple times then kicks opponent midair, a powerful throw. 11%
 * Up throw: Throws opponent in the air, and stabs them with his quills, can lead to a lot of follow ups. 9%
 * Down throw: Charges a Spin dash on the opponent. 10%

Other

 * Ledge attack: Quickly spins onto stage then retreats. 7%
 * Floor attack: A sweeping kick to both sides. 8%

Misc.

 * On-screen appearance: Sonic jumps onto the stage in ball form from the foreground and makes his Brawl pose.
 * Taunts:
 * Standard: Sonic runs in place and then faces the camera taunting, "You're too slow!"
 * Side: Sonic does a front flip and poses, tutting.
 * Down: Sonic breakdances, exclaiming, "Come on, step it up!"
 * Victory theme: Remix of Act Clear theme from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * Win poses:
 * Runs onto screen and gives a thumbs-up, saying "Sonic's the name, speed's my game!"
 * Loses: Claps to the winner while smiling.

Changes from v0.9b
Sonic has received a mix of buffs and nerfs. Sonic has gained buffs in that he has more KO power, his once great recovery has been somewhat restored and the changes to priority has helped him. Sonic has gained a lot from his move set from his appearance in "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U". The changes to priority have helped Sonic in allowing him to stand against the rest of the cast.

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 official Super Smash Bros. games to gain two new specials.
 * From demo v0.3a to v0.4b, Sonic's portrait was taken from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * From demo v0.5a to v0.5b, Sonic's portrait was taken from Sonic Rush Adventure.
 * From demo v0.6 to v0.8b, Sonic's portrait was taken from Sonic Advance.
 * 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 second pixel art resembles the position he takes before performing his up smash.
 * If the player is using the 3rd color palette for Sonic and then uses his Final Smash, instead of using his original Final Smash (Super Sonic) he would resemble Hyper Sonic from Sonic 3 & Knuckles instead.
 * 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 and Wii U also.
 * Sonic,, , and  are the only characters who had an unlockable status in the 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.

External link

 * Sonic's v0.8 dev blog (old)