^^ lol too true!
I see people often describe sonic's main playstyle as bait and punish. But for certain match ups, like snake, it's better to put on the pressure. I think he can be good at any playstyle, and this is a little more theory, but when you change up your "playstyle" you are changing your spacing, approaching and moves. We describe them usually as defensive, bait n punish, Aggressive/Pressure.
Sonic is capable of any playstyle, so think of your approaches in terms of the style you're trying to play in that particular match. You choose a style based on what works against your opponent, so when a certain approach starts working well, that can inform you about the style that counters that opponent + character.
I certainly need help with the specifics for sonic, to figure out exactly which moves and spacing make up the different play styles.
Bait n Punish is the most common style I hear. I think of this as mainly dash dancing to make them whiff an attack and go in for the grab. I can't always seem to get the down b going top speed, sometimes I don't mash that much in the air and land going full speed... So I like to rely on the Run into Grab, Dash Attack Canceled Grab or maybe side b>Grab, and try to tech chase. The Problem I have here is sometimes dashing into their attack or reacting too slow and getting punished. Which is why I think the spin moves can possibly be too vulnerable for this style of play, but maybe I'm just too slow... The point of this style is to minimize the time you're exposed in risky positioning, by attacking carefully.
Aggressive Pressure is of course, everyone's favorite playstyle to watch because it's fast and combo heavy, but I tend to think it requires more skill and awareness to do well, particularly with sonic because you gotta go fast and that's a physical barrier you can only overcome with a lot of practice + experience. u/TwitcH mentioned this style is necessary against snake because he can keep you out if you try to sit back and Bait him, but his moves are kind of slow and laggy besides Cypher so you can overwhelm with speed and the right moves.
So I'm not fast enough yet to really take full advantage of sonic's aggro ability, and I just don't know what the right moves are. I want to do like a SHFFL'd weak nair > down b > jump > any aerial (I mostly connect with nair). My Problem is they seem to DI the jump hit from down b to avoid my aerials, or I'm choosing the wrong moves. I feel like he can pillar with down b > jump > dair, but it's so fast I don't think I do the dair soon enough. SHFFL into down b isn't bad though right? Can you charge it to beat a shield grab?
Defensive is probably the least talked about style because I don't think people consider it much. I am probably shooting in the dark here more than the previous paragraphs, but I think sonic's speed is key here as much as the other styles. It should be similar to the bait n punish, but you basically don't put yourself in risky positions and attempt to counter them with an attack or force them into worse positioning off the stage. Edge Guarding is probably one of the basic areas where you primarily use defensive tactics because you can wait longer than them, and they must choose a way to return and no matter what put themselves in a vulnerable position if you can properly read it. I also think the spin mindgames between down b, side b, nair, HA/BA in the neutral can be a defensive style if done with some kind of plan, because I am mostly random and that doesn't pan out well.
I see a lot of people classifying each character by the playstyle they think the character was designed for. And I'm sure the PMBR did have certain expectations about how their characters should be played. Maybe it's just a literary thing, like terminology, but I think every character can be played in multiple "styles" because that's how people win. What separates characters are the special characteristics that make those playstyles interesting and diverse. Sonic's is speed of course, and so you need to practice getting and staying fast in any style because that's his biggest advantage.
Someone like Marth has one of the best spacing tools in the game, so proper spacing and move timing are key in all of his play styles.
TL;DR Just read it, I may be rambling a bit, but I'm trying to understand sonic and smash better and hoping that a dialogue with real, practical knowledge might come from this.