Sonic the Hedgehog

Smash Attacks

SIDE SMASH

Sonic winds up and unleashes a straight punch attack. This can be aimed up or down.

DOWN SMASH

Sonic drops into the splits, kicking both in front of and behind himself.

UP SMASH

Sonic balls up and jumps at your opponent, spinning while hitting that opponent multiple times.

Basic Attacks

Standing Attack

Two punches followed by a kick that knocks opponents away.

Forward Tilt

Sonic planks and kicks out his legs at the opponent. This can be aimed up or down.

Up Tilt

Sonic jumps and spins while kicking vertically, launching the opponent vertically as well.

Down Tilt

Sonic crouches then whips his leg around in a sweep attack.

Dash Attack

Sonic balls up to strike multiple times before ending with a kick attack.

Edge Attack

Sonic returns to the stage balled up to strike the opponent.

Air Attacks

Neutral Air Attack

Sonic balls up while moving in a small circle to hit opponents. This is active for quite awhile.

Up Air Attack

Sonic gets upside down and claps his feet together, hitting opponents above him.

Down Air Attack

This divekick attack moves at a sharp angle toward the ground. It has a meteor effect if it hits airborne opponents.

Forward Air Attack

Sonic spins at your opponent headfirst, hitting multiple times.

Back Air Attack

Sonic winds up then quickly kicks behind him.

Special Attacks

Homing Attack (Neutral Special)

Sonic homes in on the closest opponent. Make sure Sonic is in range, otherwise Sonic bounces into the ground.

Spin Dash (Side Special)

Sonic spins up and rolls around. You can control him, and if he collides with the enemy, he deals damage. You can cancel this into Homing Attack or Spring Jump.

Spring Jump (Up Special)

Sonic launches himself up from his spring. The spring sticks around for a while for anyone to use. If dropped from the air, it causes a little damage to whomever it hits below. While falling from the air, you can use aerial attacks but not Specials.

Spin Charge (Down Special)

Sonic dashes forward in a ball. This can be powered up by rapidly pressing the Special button while holding Down to make it faster and stronger. When you release Down, Sonic moves forward with the attack. You can transition into Homing Attack or jump from this attack as well.

Final Smash

Super Sonic

Sonic transforms into Super Sonic—he is completely gold and able to fly. Flying into your opponents deals damage, and the faster you fly, the stronger the attacks and knockback are. The initial blast of his transformation deals about 18% damage, the least damage you do is around 5%, and the most per hit is around 16%. Though Super Sonic can be difficult to control, you don’t have to worry about self-destructing. In this form, you are invulnerable, and you can fly to any edge of the stage without being KO’d. Just be sure to make it back to the stage before transforming back to regular Sonic! Super Sonic starts to glow white when he is about to revert back to regular Sonic, so keep an eye out for this! Finally, note this can’t move through platforms or stage walls, so it’s much more effective on open stages like Final Destination instead of Reset Bomb Forest.

Strategy

Sonic is the fastest character in the game, so harnessing his full potential certainly takes some time! He has an assortment of attacks in which he balls up and does spin attacks at the opponent. One of the benefits of this is it can be very confusing for opponents to figure out what you’re up to. Along with Sonic’s speed, his aerial mobility and recovery are good as well. Using his Homing Attack, Spin Dash, and Spin Charge with just his movement speed on the ground will be a challenge for opponents to keep up with. Sonic is fairly lightweight, though, with limited range, so try not to get too carried away with his speed!

Homing Attack is best used in the air, as long as your opponent is within range. Sonic automatically flies at them, and you can repeat this same attack from the air. Generally, your goal with Homing Attack is to make sure your opponent is in range. Spin Dash is another quick spinning attack, one that gives you a little bit more control over your direction. It does have a little bit of invincibility on startup, and it doesn’t actually attack while turning. If you’re going for a horizontal recovery, Spin Dash is your better choice over Spin Charge. Similar to Spin Dash, Spin Charge has Sonic balled up and speeding back and forth around the floor. It differs, however, by moving considerably faster and allowing you to cancel its startup. Additionally, the first hit of this knocks opponents up fairly well, so consider using this to surprise opponents for a vertical KO. Spring Jump is mainly a recovery tool, but you can also use it to damage opponents by dropping the spring onto them. On stages with platforms, if you use it from the ground, it can be used for three jumps by anyone before disappearing.

In the air, Sonic’s best options for KOs are Back Air for horizontal KOs and Up Air for vertical KOs. Neutral Air is useful to interrupt opponents, while Forward Air is good to rack up damage in combos. Down Air has a decent meteor effect, so you can use this against opponents’ recovery when you’re edge-guarding. For KOs on the ground, Forward Smash and Down Smash are your best options. Use Sonic’s jabs, Forward Tilt, and Up Tilt from the ground as well.

Recovery

Sonic has some decent vertical recovery but not very well-controlled horizontal recovery. Of course, his Spring Jump is his main vertical recovery tool, and it launches Sonic very high into the air. Horizontally, though, Sonic’s options aren’t as straightforward. He can use his Spin Dash, but it has very short range to send him forward. If an opponent is close enough, he can use his Homing Attack, but that relies on your opponent’s distance from you and your distance from the stage.