Sonic (SSB18)

**Sonic** (ソニック, *Sonic*) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. OC 2018. He is the sixth third-party character to be in the game.

## Attributes

Sonic is a middleweight that, like in his home series, possesses outstanding mobility. He has nigh-omnipresence due to possessing the fastest dashing speed in the game, the seventh fastest walking speed, and is tied with Mario and Donkey Kong for having the ninth fastest air speed. When coupled with his below average falling speed and above average gravity, Sonic is able to travel at a blinding speed across any stage, which allows him to 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. Homing Attack deals a varying amount of damage, but homes in on the nearest opponent, making it useful for punishing laggy attacks and edgeguard 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 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. 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 and while dealing damage upon contact. The former allows Sonic to jump with it even while charging, and it can also be canceled with a grab or by shielding, which grants it mindgame potential. The latter hits multiple times and moves even faster, making it a reliable alternative to dashing. Both, however, can give Sonic additional protection when recovering and 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 deals impressive damage.

Sonic also has a capable air game, which is complimented by his air speed having become faster since Brawl. Neutral aerial is a great combo starter on grounded opponents due to its long-lasting hitbox, fairly low landing lag and launching angle. Forward aerial is useful for edgeguarding and, in certain instances, can combo into itself on-stage at low percentages due to its autocanceling window and Sonic's fast air speed. Up aerial is one of his few KOing options and is great for combos, while its autocanceling 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 Sonic's least useful aerial attack, but it is a meteor smash when sweetspotted.

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 performing a throw. Down throw is a semi-spike and has high base knockback, which make it excellent for setting up edgeguards and tech-chases. Back throw, like his down throw, has high base knockback and KOs earlier than his other throws so long as Sonic is near the edge. It also moves Sonic backward, which makes it useful for setting up an immediate edgeguard attempt. His up throw is a fairly reliable combo starter: while its combo potential is not as consistent as Spin Dash's 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. Additionally, it is a situational KOing option at very high percentages. Lastly, his forward throw is his least useful throw, as its only utility is for forcing the opponent into the air and, like up throw, functioning as a situational KOing option at very high percentages.

However, Sonic has some weaknesses. His most serious one is his KO power: 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 KOing a little later rather than sooner. Additionally, they are both very laggy overall like his down smash. 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.

## Moveset

### On-screen appearance

* Spin Dashes onto the stage from the foreground and strikes a pose.

### Taunts

* Up: Somersaults and then crosses his arms with his index finger pointing out, one of his signature poses, while emitting a "tsk tsk tsk" sound.
* Side: Performs the Super Peel Out, a technique that debuted in Sonic the Hedgehog CD, while saying "Sonic Speed!" (遅すぎだぜ！, You're too slow!).
* Down: Performs the windmill, a breakdancing move, while saying "C'mon!" both in English and Japanese.

### 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.
* Turns towards the player and waves his finger in a patronizing manner while grinning, similarly to an animation he uses after clearing an Act or defeating a boss in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

### Victory poses

* Collects the blue Chaos Emerald and poses with it before saying "Piece of cake!" or in Japanese, "A piece of cake! 楽勝だぜ!" (A piece of cake! An easy win!)
* Sprints off-screen then sprints back on-screen before giving a thumbs up and saying "That was almost too easy!" In Japanese, he says "モタモタしてると置いてくぜ!" (Leaving behind to be dawdling!)
* Performs the pike, a breakdancing move, and then strikes a pose while saying "Let's do that again sometime!" or in Japanese, "Hey guys! また遊んでやるぜ!" (Hey guys! I'll play again next time!) His breakdance is similar to Blaze the Cat's when she clears a mission in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).