In an obvious parody of the various "Metaknight is not Broken" threads that go ahead and tell people how to take advantage of Metaknight's weaknesses, I'm going to give a quick overview of Sonic moveset and move tendency issues, starting from the most obvious and common ones, down to nuances in more advanced situations.
This is all in an effort to both break down Sonic's metagame as we understand it, and, if it turns out well, it will help further the metagame, if you as a community, can get past it.
I guess you can say I'm grilling this steak in a way that removes excess fat.
Sonic's Disadvantages
- Aerial max speed is significantly lower than his running speed.
- Most moves have noticeable startup time (fast movement, but attack speed doesn't match)
- His horizontal aerial reach is limited (in front of him)
- Cannot auto-catch ledges from up-B
- Some moves have noticeable commitment.
Down-B Direct Approach (ground)
Dash Attack
Homing Attack
Spring
Spring>D-air
Don't be fooled by your scrubby friends, D-air can be done so that Sonic has little-no landing lag.
But this doesn't mean it's futile to try to punish the landing. D-air is also quite committed in that it will only travel a certain path. And in fact, some characters can grab Sonic out of the D-air (on-stage grab gimp bait). If Sonic springs to escape you, pay attention to the direction he's facing, then run (or roll) in the direction he's facing and prepare a punishment move. Lucas players can pull off a U-smash. Awesome.
Aerial Spring drop > D-air
This one's a little trickier. Sonic uses an aerial spring so that the spring blocks your path, making it safe to do a retreating D-air. However, powershield the falling spring, and you can punish Sonic all the same.
Grab Gimp
Using any grab-style move on Sonic if he up-B's near the ledge, and releasing him (WITHOUT DEALING ANY DAMAGE), is a guaranteed death for Sonic. You also don't have to be near the ledge for this to happen.
For example, if Yoshi grabs Sonic as he's landing from 1/4 of FD from the edge, and air releases, Sonic will still die.
If you grab Sonic as he's landing in the middle of the stage, and grab release, he will still be in this 'airtrip' state until he jumps and lands again. I've grabbed a Sonic out of spring from the center of the stage, jumped off-stage, and laughed as he airtripped on his attempt to chase after me.
Invincible?
Sonic has invincibility frames from the time he leaves the spring, until about full hop height over it. He rises for a little less than his shorthop height, then he can airdodge. That window is your chance to attack.
Some Sonics like to avoid grab gimping by falling below the stage and using spring so they can airdodge past the edge. You can hang on the ledge and SH a spike (Ganondorf's is most noticeable, since it covers so much vertical range), or even drop down and go for a stage spike, as long as you know where the vulnerability window is.
F-air
This move can be seen used in different ways, from shield poking, landcamping, all the way up to gimping and projectile destruction. It's definitely one of Sonic's best moves, and also his quickest overall aerial. But too bad, it's multi-hit.
Aerial Approaches in General
F-tilt
D-tilt
Throws
The general rule is that if you DI the direction the throw is sending you, and it's meant to be a 'combo' or setup throw, then doing DI to send yourself further will make it more difficult for the character to follow you up.
So here are the directions that the throw will send you I highlight the direction that DI has more of an effect for, if you DI the same direction it's throwing.:
D-throw, however, is an interesting exception.
This is all in an effort to both break down Sonic's metagame as we understand it, and, if it turns out well, it will help further the metagame, if you as a community, can get past it.
I guess you can say I'm grilling this steak in a way that removes excess fat.
Sonic's Disadvantages
- Aerial max speed is significantly lower than his running speed.
- Most moves have noticeable startup time (fast movement, but attack speed doesn't match)
- His horizontal aerial reach is limited (in front of him)
- Cannot auto-catch ledges from up-B
- Some moves have noticeable commitment.
Down-B Direct Approach (ground)
THIS MOVE IS NOT TOO FAST TO PUNISH.
With correct timing, it's possible to grab Sonic out of this move. Alot of characters' aerials are disjointed, and performing a SH defensive aerial (For example, Pit's SH D-air, Ganon's SH D-air) can easily knock Sonic out of this.
Spindash Combo
A common followup to a grounded down-B making contact with you is to jump and immediately start an aerial. Sonic's aerials have very little reach behind him (except for B-air, which has noticeable startup time). Do they hit you with a spindash > F-air? Do they do spindash > N-air? Shield the spindash and immediately jump a U-air out of shield. Characters with faster B-airs can improvise and pull this off, but you get the idea.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LOIOerDsRA
2:15 - Even Falcon can counter this move tendency with a U-air out of shield.
With correct timing, it's possible to grab Sonic out of this move. Alot of characters' aerials are disjointed, and performing a SH defensive aerial (For example, Pit's SH D-air, Ganon's SH D-air) can easily knock Sonic out of this.
Spindash Combo
A common followup to a grounded down-B making contact with you is to jump and immediately start an aerial. Sonic's aerials have very little reach behind him (except for B-air, which has noticeable startup time). Do they hit you with a spindash > F-air? Do they do spindash > N-air? Shield the spindash and immediately jump a U-air out of shield. Characters with faster B-airs can improvise and pull this off, but you get the idea.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LOIOerDsRA
2:15 - Even Falcon can counter this move tendency with a U-air out of shield.
Dash Attack
"Sweetspot" Dash Attack (beginning of the move hits you)
Tap shield (minimize wasted time in shield), turn around and attack Sonic, either with a dashgrab, dash attack, or whatever move you feel fit.
Early Dash Attack (latter part of the move hits you)
Take the hit, and counter with D-air. Some Sonics feel like using a spring as you're falling is a good move. If you get caught in the spring, use an aerial as you're rising, and you're bound to catch Sonic as he's rising with you.
Tap shield (minimize wasted time in shield), turn around and attack Sonic, either with a dashgrab, dash attack, or whatever move you feel fit.
Early Dash Attack (latter part of the move hits you)
Take the hit, and counter with D-air. Some Sonics feel like using a spring as you're falling is a good move. If you get caught in the spring, use an aerial as you're rising, and you're bound to catch Sonic as he's rising with you.
Homing Attack
This is Sonic's most underrated and most committed move. It's quite obvious for people to airdodge when they see Sonic charging the Homing Attack. However, this is NOT always the best answer, depending on where you are.
Onstage: close range
You can shield the Homing Attack and after it hits your shield, IMMEDIATELY jump and U-air, or use your punishment move of choice. It also tends to aim for the side that's further away from Sonic, approaching from above, so things like Ganondorf U-smash, reverse Snake U-tilt, etc. They should and have worked.
Onstage: mid range
Try walking or running away from the homing attack. If you space this correctly, Sonic will attempt to chase after you, hover horizontally above the ground for a bit, and fall into horrible landing lag.
Onstage: in the air
If you jump upwards, Sonic's Homing Attack will attempt to hit you from above- as it starts to move, fastfall. Sonic will then begin to fall, unable to do anything for about SH height.
Off-stage: Sonic on-stage, using HA to try to gimp you
Fastfall when Sonic releases, then double jump B-air to knock him away from the stage.
Edge: Sonic uses Homing Attack, on-level with stage
Drop below the ledge, and stagespike/spike Sonic when he enters aerial lag state.
Edge: Sonic is below the ledge and is using Homing Attack to recover
Spotdodge or airdodge, and he'll most likely fall too low to be able to spring up, and more likely, die while he's in aerial lag state.
Homing Stall
CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION... Going out of Sonic's range does NOT break his Homing Stall. In fact, it helps it. If noone is in range, the Homing Attack will bounce Sonic along the ceiling in the direction he's facing. If you ARE in range, it will move towards you, and after being under you, move left and right indefinitely. Easy way to get someone disqualified for stalling, or to make the Sonic player suicide in frustration.
Remember to drag him towards the center of the stage so he can't float towards the edge and spring back.
Onstage: close range
You can shield the Homing Attack and after it hits your shield, IMMEDIATELY jump and U-air, or use your punishment move of choice. It also tends to aim for the side that's further away from Sonic, approaching from above, so things like Ganondorf U-smash, reverse Snake U-tilt, etc. They should and have worked.
Onstage: mid range
Try walking or running away from the homing attack. If you space this correctly, Sonic will attempt to chase after you, hover horizontally above the ground for a bit, and fall into horrible landing lag.
Onstage: in the air
If you jump upwards, Sonic's Homing Attack will attempt to hit you from above- as it starts to move, fastfall. Sonic will then begin to fall, unable to do anything for about SH height.
Off-stage: Sonic on-stage, using HA to try to gimp you
Fastfall when Sonic releases, then double jump B-air to knock him away from the stage.
Edge: Sonic uses Homing Attack, on-level with stage
Drop below the ledge, and stagespike/spike Sonic when he enters aerial lag state.
Edge: Sonic is below the ledge and is using Homing Attack to recover
Spotdodge or airdodge, and he'll most likely fall too low to be able to spring up, and more likely, die while he's in aerial lag state.
Homing Stall
CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION... Going out of Sonic's range does NOT break his Homing Stall. In fact, it helps it. If noone is in range, the Homing Attack will bounce Sonic along the ceiling in the direction he's facing. If you ARE in range, it will move towards you, and after being under you, move left and right indefinitely. Easy way to get someone disqualified for stalling, or to make the Sonic player suicide in frustration.
Remember to drag him towards the center of the stage so he can't float towards the edge and spring back.
Spring
Spring>D-air
Don't be fooled by your scrubby friends, D-air can be done so that Sonic has little-no landing lag.
But this doesn't mean it's futile to try to punish the landing. D-air is also quite committed in that it will only travel a certain path. And in fact, some characters can grab Sonic out of the D-air (on-stage grab gimp bait). If Sonic springs to escape you, pay attention to the direction he's facing, then run (or roll) in the direction he's facing and prepare a punishment move. Lucas players can pull off a U-smash. Awesome.
Aerial Spring drop > D-air
This one's a little trickier. Sonic uses an aerial spring so that the spring blocks your path, making it safe to do a retreating D-air. However, powershield the falling spring, and you can punish Sonic all the same.
Grab Gimp
Using any grab-style move on Sonic if he up-B's near the ledge, and releasing him (WITHOUT DEALING ANY DAMAGE), is a guaranteed death for Sonic. You also don't have to be near the ledge for this to happen.
For example, if Yoshi grabs Sonic as he's landing from 1/4 of FD from the edge, and air releases, Sonic will still die.
If you grab Sonic as he's landing in the middle of the stage, and grab release, he will still be in this 'airtrip' state until he jumps and lands again. I've grabbed a Sonic out of spring from the center of the stage, jumped off-stage, and laughed as he airtripped on his attempt to chase after me.
Invincible?
Sonic has invincibility frames from the time he leaves the spring, until about full hop height over it. He rises for a little less than his shorthop height, then he can airdodge. That window is your chance to attack.
Some Sonics like to avoid grab gimping by falling below the stage and using spring so they can airdodge past the edge. You can hang on the ledge and SH a spike (Ganondorf's is most noticeable, since it covers so much vertical range), or even drop down and go for a stage spike, as long as you know where the vulnerability window is.
F-air
This move can be seen used in different ways, from shield poking, landcamping, all the way up to gimping and projectile destruction. It's definitely one of Sonic's best moves, and also his quickest overall aerial. But too bad, it's multi-hit.
Defending against it
Obviously, if Sonic fastfalls this before it finishes, there's noticeable and punishable ending lag. If you shield it, remember to tilt your shield accordingly so it doesn't shieldpoke. Just like Metaknight's F-air, it has a bit of aerial dead time after the last hitbox goes away, so release shield immediately and punish it either by jumping an aerial out of shield, or by attacking out of shield with something quick. Due to his aerial acceleration sucking so much, Sonic cannot retreat this aerial unless it was done from a standing jump, so you can use that to grab him.
Getting hit in midair
If you're on-stage, SDI/DI downwards. This makes it quicker for you to reach the ground, and puts Sonic in a position to airdodge, double jump, or spring.
If you're off-stage, Sonic will most likely be falling, so SDI/DI upwards and try to footstool Sonic to gain/regain lost height.
Of course, if you get hit by this and it's an "early" F-air, you can't SDI out of it, as you will get launched almost as soon as it touches you, as the sweetspot (tip of Sonic's head) is on the last hit of the attack.
Obviously, if Sonic fastfalls this before it finishes, there's noticeable and punishable ending lag. If you shield it, remember to tilt your shield accordingly so it doesn't shieldpoke. Just like Metaknight's F-air, it has a bit of aerial dead time after the last hitbox goes away, so release shield immediately and punish it either by jumping an aerial out of shield, or by attacking out of shield with something quick. Due to his aerial acceleration sucking so much, Sonic cannot retreat this aerial unless it was done from a standing jump, so you can use that to grab him.
Getting hit in midair
If you're on-stage, SDI/DI downwards. This makes it quicker for you to reach the ground, and puts Sonic in a position to airdodge, double jump, or spring.
If you're off-stage, Sonic will most likely be falling, so SDI/DI upwards and try to footstool Sonic to gain/regain lost height.
Of course, if you get hit by this and it's an "early" F-air, you can't SDI out of it, as you will get launched almost as soon as it touches you, as the sweetspot (tip of Sonic's head) is on the last hit of the attack.
Aerial Approaches in General
Sonic's aerial speed is top-notch. His aerial acceleration is trash though. This means that if he's jumping an aerial towards you (commitment time goes to aerial length), he cannot retreat it. It's similar to Metaknight's problem, but kind of worse, since Sonic doesn't have the aerial reach on most of his moves to be able to make up for it.
Outprioritize
If you have a disjointed aerial, use it while retreating. This minimizes the chances of it hitting you, as Sonic is stuck in commitment time to the aerial.
Outprioritize
If you have a disjointed aerial, use it while retreating. This minimizes the chances of it hitting you, as Sonic is stuck in commitment time to the aerial.
F-tilt
This has deceptively long range. It's almost as long as Marth's F-smash. The main issue with F-tilt is that it shieldpokes with its double hit. Tilt your shield and make sure it covers the first and last part of the hitbox.
D-tilt
Sonic can juggle people at low%'s with D-tilt. It's a surprisingly useful move for Sonic, and the tipper D-tilt can trip people. But don't be fooled - DI upwards if he's juggling you, and either double jump or, if you have a quick aerial (eg, Marth), take the it and counterattack with F-air.
Throws
The general rule is that if you DI the direction the throw is sending you, and it's meant to be a 'combo' or setup throw, then doing DI to send yourself further will make it more difficult for the character to follow you up.
So here are the directions that the throw will send you I highlight the direction that DI has more of an effect for, if you DI the same direction it's throwing.:
U-throw: up/behind Sonic
F-throw: diagonally up/away in front of Sonic
B-throw: diagonally up/away behind Sonic.
D-throw: Horizontally (slightly upwards) in front of Sonic.
F-throw: diagonally up/away in front of Sonic
B-throw: diagonally up/away behind Sonic.
D-throw: Horizontally (slightly upwards) in front of Sonic.
D-throw, however, is an interesting exception.
D-throw
This move sends people very low to the ground. If you hit the ground, you're going to be prey to Sonic's techchasing game. However, there is a way to avoid hitting the ground. If you hold Upwards, you can gain enough airtime to keep Sonic from hitting you with a followup, and buy yourself the time to counterattack if he does try. You can airdodge before you hit the ground, or just double jump. Another thing you can do is to just wait until before you hit the floor and hit shield to tech it. More recently, it was found that if you hold downwards, you can make Sonic launch you into the floor directly in front of him. Tech it, and counterattack with a fast move, like jabs. Except for Jigglypuff, whose DI strangely doesn't affect the throw at all until 139%. What a loser.
This move sends people very low to the ground. If you hit the ground, you're going to be prey to Sonic's techchasing game. However, there is a way to avoid hitting the ground. If you hold Upwards, you can gain enough airtime to keep Sonic from hitting you with a followup, and buy yourself the time to counterattack if he does try. You can airdodge before you hit the ground, or just double jump. Another thing you can do is to just wait until before you hit the floor and hit shield to tech it. More recently, it was found that if you hold downwards, you can make Sonic launch you into the floor directly in front of him. Tech it, and counterattack with a fast move, like jabs. Except for Jigglypuff, whose DI strangely doesn't affect the throw at all until 139%. What a loser.
ichu: