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Sonic

Jab1 (-13) & Jab2 (-16):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

Jab3 (-26):
FSmash (Frame 26)

FTilt (-20):
GSA (Frame 9)
DSmash (Frame 20)

UTilt (-20):
GSA (Frame 9)
DSmash (Frame 20)

DTilt (-15):
GSA (Frame 9)
Grab (Frame 16)

Dash Attack (-38):
FSmash (Frame 26)

FSmash (-19):
GSA (Frame 9)
Grab (Frame 16)
(Can be spaced out)

USmash (-29):
FSmash (Frame 26)

DSmash (-34):
FSmash (Frame 26)

NAir (-5):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield)

FAir (-14):
GSA (Frame 9)
Grab (Frame 16)

BAir (-10):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

UAir (-9):
GSA (Frame 9)

DAir (-17):
GSA (Frame 9)
Grab (Frame 16)

Homing Attack (-16 to -24):
Unpunishable
(Bounceback)
(Timing a spotdodge correctly makes it punishable)

Spin Dash (-22 to -18):
Unpunishable
(Impossible to react to, jump makes it -1)

Spring Jump (-7):
Unpunishable
(Invulnerable on startup, impossible to reach)

Spin Charge (-33):
Unpunishable
(Same as Spin Dash)

• Neutral Moves: Spin Dash, Spin Charge, Jab, Aerials, Tilts.

• Kill Moves: BAir, Smash Attacks, FAir offstage, UAir.

• Kill Confirms: Spin Dash > FAir, Falling NAir > BAir.

• Common Mix-ups: Spin Dash/Spin Charge > hit shield > Homing Attack/Spring Jump.

• Sonic’s movement is unique, as he forces you to play his game. His movement is mainly through Spin Dash/Spin Charge, which is the core of his neutral.

• Spin Dash and Spin Charge aren’t as good when started in the air, if at all. You’ll want to keep Sonic in the air for this exact reason. His high speed allows him to play a whiff-punish playstyle.

• Spin Dash has a hitbox smaller than his hurtbox. This means normals can win/trade with consistency.

• Sonic’s out of shield options are lacking outside of a Frame 9 NAir, meaning our shield pressure is safe.

• Sonic Tech: Spin Shot. Launches Sonic forward from Spin Dash while cancelling his jump. It sends him at a different arc than normal. This also allows him to jump and Spin Dash in midair. With it, he can use ANY move after a spin dash, increasing his mobility and options.

• Projectiles will never win vs Homing Attack or mid-air Spin Dash and Spin Charge.

• Fire Arrows are lacking in anti-air potential, their use in neutral is mostly for grounded punishes. Aim to hit with Fire Arrow when the intangibility runs out on the Spin Dash or Spin Charge, and when he’s also grounded.

• Bomb is high risk, as Sonic can cover the stage’s length in the time you pull one. Having one in hand allows for projectile pressure while pressuring Sonic with position, but pulling a Bomb usually equates to giving up advantage for it.

• Boomerang is similarly extremely high risk. Sonic can both clank and get around it with little effort. It’s not as useful for covering airspace as just assuming better stage control vs Sonic, since he can easily clank or move around it. It’s use in neutral is confined to high-reward hard reads, since its option coverage is low in this MU.

• Homing Attack can shield poke if your shield is damaged. The best way to counter Homing Attack is to spotdodge. In response, it has a further mix-up of charging the move to punish spotdodge.

• Shield is not threatened by Grabs because of Sonic’s poor Grab game, but rather his ease of poking shield with moves like Homing Attack and UAir.

• This position is common in the MU, and is disadvantage for Young Link. Sonic has a list of options in this position: Homing Attack, fast fall Grab, fast fall shield, fast fall NAir, double jump, and Spring Jump. You can anti-air here with UAir on a read, but the takeaway here is that shielding while under him is a READ at most.

• With the way Sonic’s movement and playstyle works, the deadzone in this MU is more conceptual rather than defined. There’s no defined range to stay out of, just like vs swordies.

• Sonic, in turn, also has a deadzone, but it doesn’t quite exist when he has fast escape options. That deadzone is what we aim for in order to get Sonic to jump, outside of his immediate normal range, and being backed to the ledge.

Boxing

(How do I escape this situation?):

• Sonic threatens immediacy. It's what Sonic thrives off of as a bait and punish character. Prioritize movement over committing heavily. Moves like Homing Attack are great for this strategy.

• Similar to neutral, projectiles cover a low amount of options successfully. The best they can do is force Sonic off the ground.

• Sonic can start tech chases with DThrow and BAir/FTilt at low %s.

• Sonic aims to take away your time. Act on the layers of adaptation, as looking for openings usually isn’t an option.

Platform Pressure

(What tools do they have? How can we escape this pressure?):

• Homing Attack can get caught in-between platforms.

• Sonic can string UAirs while under the platform, and his BAir can threaten kills, most of his aerials can platform pressure.

• He can quickly Homing Attack after any aerial (you need to hold shield or dodge), or he can fast fall and do another aerial (you have a window to escape the platform).

Landing

(How do they cover it? What are my best options):

• Sonic’s UAir can lead into frame traps off of punishing an airdodge.

• Projectiles will never work on the “covering horizontal space” thought train. Sonic can maneuver around them easily.

• DAir from high up is a good landing option since Sonic can’t contest it vertically.

• Sonic will exert rapid positional pressure with his movement. He’s looking for options to punish if he doesn’t opt to anti-air. He uses his fast speed to threaten an immediate move to prompt an early option, only to punish that. That is bait and punish.

Offstage

(How Do I Escape This Position And What Do I Look Out For?):

• Sonic can drag you offstage with Spin Dash, Spin Charge and FAir to edgeguard/kill confirm.

• NAir can clank with Sonic’s Spring.

• Ideally, stay higher up/above ledge with double jump, since being below ledge means he can get away with repeated Homing Attacks.

• DI up for more airtime/mix-up tether timing.

• If his Spring hits you from below, it can send inwards, prompting a stage tech.

Ledge:

• Sonic’s FSmash can 2-frame/hit ledge.

• He mainly covers jump/airspace with BAir. Be wary of inputs after ledge jumping, since Sonic can thrive off of punishing those.

• Sonic NAir works similar to ours, it lingers and has very little lag, so he can spam it at the ledge to cover neutral getup and jump while being hard to hit by getup attack. Roll or double jump aerials can beat it, but can hard punish those if read.

• Sonic may go offstage and double jump back to bait an option.

• Sonic will throw out Springs and retreat to the ledge, so being directly below the ledge is unviable.

Juggling/Boxing:

• If he uses Spring Jump, catch his landing with UTilt or UAir.

• Throwing shield up vs Sonic is only a read to catch a landing aerial.

• UAir is great for juggling Sonic, as he has low range to contest it. Be wary of him extending airtime with Spring Jump and moving left or right.

• Challenge his moves. They all have lower priority except a few.

• NAir and FAir are good advantage tools for stuffing out Sonic’s specials and normals.

• Boomerang is better equipped for reads in advantage state. It works best when he’s grounded.

• The goal here is to encourage Sonic to go into the air, as he can struggle to land, and it gives him less opportunities to Spin Charge and Spin Dash.

Offstage:

• Sonic has access to his aerials/airdodge after using Spring.

• He can choose to go above ledge with his Spring Jump and use a quick move.

• When Sonic is rising during Spring Jump, he is invulnerable.

• When Sonic uses Spin Dash after a double jump, he must land in order for the animation to end. When Sonic has consumed his double jump, the opponent will likely not Spin Dash.

• When recovering from high, Sonic uses Spin Charge to get back quickly. Throwing Bomb up at him from offstage can hit Sonic while he’s doing this.

• Take advantage of having overall higher priority than all his moves to stuff him out.

• Having more space is safe vs Sonic given his speed. If he’s recovering high, he can shoot right past you.

Ledge Info:

XLR8’s Spreadsheet Young Link Ledge Info:

DTilt: Doesn't Hit

DSmash: Hits

FTilt: Hits

Most Reliable Move: DSmash

Animation Info: FTilt only works during the head rise animation.

Note: hard, DSmash is most consistent.

• FD FThrow Ledge %s: 169, 141

• FD DTilt ASA %s: 106, 96

• FD Milkshake %s: 97-131, 86-101

• Sonic Kill Throws: BThrow

• Spin Charge can be SDI’d.

• Sonic has a quick Jab at Frame 3.

• Young Link’s BAir out of shield is too slow to punish Sonic’s short hop rising cross-up FAir.

• Sonic can full hop BAir > landing NAir in one full hop.

• DI’ing out of one of Sonic’s combo can set up for different combos.

• Battlefield:
  Good. Triplats limit his movement and allows you to somewhat have a presence on the stage.

• Final Destination:
  Terrible. Same reasons as Kalos.

• Smashville:
  Indifferent. Hiding under the platform is strong, but there isn’t much room.

• Town & City:
  Terrible. Same reasons as Kalos, and Sonic can kill much earlier.

• Lylat Cruise:
  Great. It’s easy to hide under the platforms, and there’s not a lot of space for Sonic to go to.

• Pokémon Stadium 2:
  Indifferent. The platforms provide a huge buffer to Sonic’s movement, but you still have to deal with him being all over the stage.

• Kalos Pokémon League:
  Terrible. Sonic can easily outpace you on Kalos using his speed to get around the large field effortlessly.

• Yoshi’s Story:
  Good. Similar reasons as BF.

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