Sonic (Super Smash Bros. X Zone)

**Sonic** (ソニック, *Sonic*) is a playable character in *Super Smash Bros. X Zone*.

## Attributes

Sonic is a middleweight that, like in his home series, possesses outstanding mobility. This is due to him possessing the fastest dashing speed in the game, the seventh fastest walking speed, and the ninth fastest air speed, the latter of which is tied with Mario and Baxter's. When coupled with his below average falling speed and above average gravity, Sonic has nigh-omnipresence, as he is able to travel at a blinding speed across any stage, and thus easily and effectively utilize a hit-and-run playstyle. To round out his outstanding mobility, Sonic is capable of wall jumping.

Sonic possesses very useful special moves. Spin Dash and Spin Charge are perhaps Sonic's best neutral game options, as they allow him to roll across the stage at varying speeds while also dealing damage upon contact. Spin Dash allows Sonic to jump even while charging, and can be canceled with a grab or by shielding, which grants it mindgame potential. Spin Charge, however, hits multiple times and moves even faster, making it a reliable alternative to dashing. Both, however, can give Sonic additional protection when recovering and even chain into other attacks. As such, opponents have to tread carefully when dealing with these moves, since a single misstep can result in a very fast chain of attacks that can deal impressive damage. These moves are also good for mindgames, considering that they look identical. Homing Attack deals a varying amount of damage, but homes in on the nearest opponent, making it useful for punishing laggy attacks and edge-guard breaking. Its knockback growth has also increased, which makes it a situational KOing option at very high percentages. Spring Jump is a useful recovery move that grants intangibility during start-up and covers an impressive amount of vertical distance. It is also one of the few recovery moves that does not cause helplessness, as Sonic is able to attack and dodge out of it, while the spring that is dropped can be useful both on-stage and off-stage by allowing him to pressure and gimp opponents, respectively.

Sonic also has a capable air game, which is complemented by his air speed having become faster since *Brawl*. Neutral aerial is a great combo starter when SHFF'd, thanks to its long-lasting hitbox, fairly low landing lag, and launching angle. Forward aerial is useful for edge-guarding and, in certain instances, can combo into itself on-stage at low percentages, thanks to its auto-canceling window and Sonic's fast air speed. Up aerial is one of his few KOing options and is great for combos, while its auto-canceling window makes it deceptively safe. Back aerial is powerful and does not have much ending lag, making it one of his few reliable KOing options like his up aerial. Lastly, down aerial is stall-then-fall; while it is Sonic's least useful aerial attack, it has noticeably less ending lag than other stall-then-falls, and its clean hitbox is a meteor smash.

Sonic's neutral attack, tilt attacks, and throws have decent damage outputs and minimal lag, which make them hard to punish. Incidentally, his grab game is decent overall. While none of his grabs excel in speed and each of them have average ranges, they are still fairly easy to land thanks to his mobility. Sonic's pummel is quick and has an average damage output, which allows him to rack up a fair amount of damage before throwing an opponent. Down throw is a semi-spike and has high base knockback, which makes it excellent for setting up edge-guards and tech-chases. Back throw, like his down throw, has high base knockback, but KOs much earlier than his other throws, especially if it is used while near the edge. It also moves Sonic backward, which makes it useful for setting up an immediate edge-guard attempt. Up throw is a fairly reliable combo starter: while its combo potential is not as consistent as Spin Dash and Spin Charge's, it still possesses decently damaging combos beginning at 0%, as well as Spring Jump-assisted aerial combos beginning at medium percentages. It also has KO potential, although it only KOs reliably when used on high platforms at very high percentages. Lastly, forward throw is his least useful throw, as its primary utility is for forcing the opponent into the air. Like up throw, it can also function as a KOing option when used on high platforms at very high percentages.

However, Sonic has some weaknesses. His most noticeable one is his KO potential: despite having been noticeably improved since *Brawl*, it is still held back due to Sonic's small number of reliable KOing options (forward smash, up smash, back aerial, and up aerial), all of which require good positioning and only one of which (up aerial) does not have noticeable start-up lag. His forward and up smashes have low base knockback and high knockback growth, which forces them to be used for KO attempts later instead of earlier. Like his down smash, they both also suffer from noticeable start-up and ending lag. Sonic also has trouble landing without the use of Homing Attack or Spring Jump, since his forward, back, up and down aerials have at least 21 frames of landing lag. This is further exacerbated by his slow air acceleration leaving him susceptible to juggling. Sonic can also have difficulty dealing with camping, since any projectile that covers the ground can severely limit his movement options. Lastly, Sonic can be susceptible to early KOs. Unlike other middleweights, such as Mario and Baxter, some of his attacks are very punishable should they miss, and thus allow openings for opponents to deal heavy damage. His recovery is also predictable if Spring Jump is his only recovery option, as its linearity makes him susceptible to gimps even at relatively low percentages.

Overall, Sonic is a character with incredible offensive prowess that must force opponents to make a mistake in order to safely rack up damage and use his excellent mobility to avoid heavy punishment.

## Moveset

### Smash Attacks

 Down Smash |  | 12% (uncharged), 16% (fully charged) | Sonic performs a Split kick hitting both sides.

## Misc.

 **Idle poses** | * Looks at the camera for a moment while tapping his foot impatiently. It is his idle animation from the *Sonic the Hedgehog* games for the Sega Genesis.
 **Victory pose 3** | Performs the pike, a breakdancing move, and then strikes a pose while saying "Let's do that again sometime!". It appears similar to his victory animation when he clears a mission with an S-Rank in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Sonic Unleashed, as well as Blaze the Cat's victory animation when she clears a mission in Sonic The Hedgehog (2006).