Sonic (Super Smash Flash 2)

Sonic is a playable veteran character in Super Smash Flash 2. His moves are taken directly from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Sonic Battle.

Sonic is currently ranked 1st on the tier list; a tremendous leap from his second to last place position last demo. He has gained buffs from last demo in that he has more priority in his attacks and more KO power. 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 Homing Attack. He has great recovery options in Light Dash (slows Sonic's falling speed as it charges and covers great horizontal distance), Spring Jump covers decent vertical distance, and Homing Attack can home in on opponents near the ledge or home on the ledge to recover back onto the stage giving Sonic one of the best recoveries in the current demo. Sonic has great mobility with having the fastest dashing speed in the game and good air speed. Sonic's Light Dash has so much priority, is abuseable, and can be followed up with different aerials giving Sonic an edge on the entire cast. If he short hops the move close to the ground; he can knock the opponent down and be able to follow up with different attacks due the attack being autocanceled.

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. However, his cons are easily overlooked by his pros and which is why he is ranked the best character in the current demo.

Attributes
Sonic has great mobility with having the fastest dashing speed and one of the fastest air speeds. His great mobility helps him when he is performing combos or trying to close the gap between him and campers. His dashing speed when combined with his other tools gives him excellent follow up ability on every character. With having good air speed, spring jump, light dash and homing attack gives him one of the best recoveries in the game; while also giving him one the biggest ledge sweet spots in the game, distance and special moves wise. He has KO moves in his Forward smash, Back aerial, Up aerial and Homing attack. He has a good grab game, having the 5th longest grab in the current demo which is the longest non-ranged or disjointed grab in the current demo, with his up and forward throw being chain grabs on fast fallers and big characters. His down throw can lead into a lot of different follows up like his up tilt or down aerial. His great mobility and SHFFL aerials gives him good approach options.

However, Sonic has problems in range with the majority of his attacks having short reach which leaves him open to characters with disjointed hitboxes (ex. and ); which gives him problems approaching characters with good spacing. He has a few reliable KO moves which forces him to keep the few ones he has fresh. Adding with his already short range requires Sonic to be close to his opponents at all times in order to KO them. He has a hard time dealing with projectiles that his neutral aerial can't 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. 4%
 * 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 16% uncharged, 4 hits for 23% fully charged.
 * Dash attack: Spin Roll. Sonic curls into a ball and grinds to a stop. 6%.

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 9% damage.
 * Back aerial: Sticks his leg out forward, then kicks out backwards behind him. It has some start-up lag and reach. Does 10% 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. 8%. 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. Can chaingrab. 4%
 * Back throw: Does a back flip while holding the opponent and slams them on the ground, sending them backwards. 9%  It can KO opponents close to ledges and has better priority the higher the damage of the opponent.
 * Up throw: Throws opponent in the air, spinning below them, and does a final spin hit, knocking them upwards with good power. 8%.  This throw can potentially KO light-weight opponents at around 100%. Can chain throw big characters and fast fallers.
 * Down throw: Charges a Spin dash on the opponent. Allows for a lot great follow ups on the opponent. 10%

Other

 * Ledge attack: Climbs onto the stage and kicks forward with both legs. 7%
 * 100% ledge attack: None.
 * 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.

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.

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).
 * 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.
 * 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 which he does in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U.