Sonic (Clash)

Sonic
Coming Soon
Universe	Sonic
Appears in	Brawl, Clash
Debut	Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	A / A (7/8 (tied with Ike / 7)

Sonic the Hedgehog is an secret playable character in Super Smash Bros. Clash. He's one of the most famous video game characters ever and is known for his attitude and super speed. He enters the Dark Tournament to find out the motives of Master Hand's goons, such as Ganondorf and find what connections they have with Dr. Eggman and the Chaos Emeralds.

Sonic is one of the fastest and most reliable offensive characters in the game. His mix-up ability is incredible and his power is much improved from Brawl; it's very difficult for defensive characters to win against him.

Sonic's incredible speed, anti-camping nature and offensive mindgames land him at 7th (tied with Ike for 7th and 8th with Secret A) on the March 13th Tier List. His power isn't as good as the other top tiers, though, and he still has some mild priority problems.

Means of Unlocking

• Clear Event 20: The Fastest Thing Alive.
• Clear Classic Mode in 12 minutes or less.
• Participate in at least 300 total VS. matches, offline or online.
• Defeat Sonic in The Dark Tournament: Adventure Mode.

With the exception of the last of the tasks above, after accomplishing a task Sonic will send you a challenge via the Smash Tab. Once there, you have one shot to fight and unlock Sonic in a 1-on-1, no item, 2-minute Clash at an about Level 10 AI at Green Hill Zone. To get another challenge from Sonic, should you fail, you need to clear one of the above requirements again.

Unlike in the previous games, though, you can do the challenge whenever you like, as opposed to immediately meeting a condition.

Changes from Brawl to Clash

Buffs

• Various levels of increased knockback on Jab, Side Strong, Down Strong, Up Smash, Down Smash, Back Throw, Forward Aerial, Down Aerial, Homing Attack
• Some of the above moves have various amounts of increased damage.
• Down Aerial is a very powerful Meteor Smash.
• Most attacks are slightly faster
• Most of his moves have better priority.
• Up Strong and Forward Throw are now Launchers.
• Jab and Up Smash, easier to connect all hits.
• Side Smash does slighlty more damage and is faster.
• Heavier. (1.000 from 0.985)

Nerfs

• Slightly harder to control his Spin Dash.
• Spring Jump has decreased vertical travel.
• Up Smash can no longer be used as a Meteor Smash.
• Dash Attack is easier to punish on block.
• Homing Attack travels Down Back instead of Down Forward when no one's near, making it not so good to recover with and removes stall tactics with the move.

Other

• Sound effects for Spin Dash are the same ones from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
• Decreased recovery time on his Side Taunt. This makes it even easier to drive your opponent crazy with.

Pros & Cons

Sonic is much improved from Brawl in every way you can imagine. Just about everything wrong has been fixed, even though he has some problems.

Sonic is insanely fast and is probably the most difficult character in the game to play keep away against. Characters like Fawful and Mega Man who rely on that mostly completely fall apart against him. He also has a lot of great ways to mix-up his offense and has some great combo set-ups.

Sonic's priority, while improved, still isn't too great. He has huge problems dealing with disjointed hitboxes, due to his range and priority, and it takes a lot of time to learn his combos, mix-ups, and develop the execution required to play him well. His killing power, while also improved, still isn't great.

Still, Sonic is a great rushdown character who can really make life hell for some characters. He has his fair share of strengthes and weaknesses, and is a solid choice overall.

Pros

• Insane mobility.
• Probably the best character in the game at fighting defensive characters; almost impossible to keep out.
• Fast attacks.
• Very unpredictable; lots of ways to mix-up his offensive game plan.
• Lots of good combos and great at setting them up.
• Great grab game.
• Not a pro, but his Taunts really, really make you want to kill him as soon as possible.

Cons

• Has some problems consistently landing knockouts.
• Bad range on most of his moves.
• Overall average priority.
• Final Smash 2 is really bad if you aren't good at button mashing quickly.
• Can have trouble in match-ups against high-priority or disjointed hitbox characters.
• High learning curve. Sonic is still far from a newbie character.

Moveset

Ground Moves

Normals

• Neutral Attack: Sonic jabs with his left fist, then his right, and then finishes with a side kick. A decent combo starter, and it's easier to get all the hits in which is nice. The range is pretty terrible and the priority is a bit below average, though.
  • Damage: 3-2-4 / 9%
• Side Strong Attack: Sonic does a horse kick. Hits twice. Can be angled, but it barely changes the hitbox of the move. Works ok in combos and to get foes off you.
  • Damage: 4-7 / 11%
• Up Strong Attack: Sonic does two hop kicks that actually hit three times. This is a Launcher, comes out fast, does great damage for Sonic, makes for an ok anti-air and has decent priority. It's also Sonic's strongest Tilt knockback wise. Probably one of your better moves, making for a good way to start juggles.
  • Damage: 4-4-6 / 14%
• Down Strong Attack: Sonic does a sliding sweep kick that must be blocked low. The tip of Sonic's shoe has a chance of tripping and it does move Sonic forward a bit, letting you move while attacking. It has very little recovery time, comes out fast and makes an excellent combo starter, so you should be using this whenever you have the chance.
  • Damage: 7%
• Dash Attack: Sonic slides while turning into a ball for good distance. This attack deals out a low of blockstun, hitstun and can be used to cross-up (get behind) your opponent, to set-up grabs, combos and the like. Although it is still difficult to punish on hit, even with the awful knockback and ending lag, this is a bit easier to punish on block. This does make for a great combo starter and way of starting Sonic's mix-up game, though.
  • Damage: 6%

Smash Attacks

• Side Smash Attack: Sonic winds-up his fist by spinning it around, and then unleashes a slow punch. This is a bit faster now and has great priority, not to mention it's one of Sonic's better finishing moves. Don't overuse it, since you want it to be fresh most of the time. Range isn't good... at all, and putting it in the end of a combo is hard. Worth it, though.
  • Damage: 15% (uncharged), 22% (charged)
• Up Smash: Sonic crouches, and then jumps up into a ball. This does good damage and knockback, and combined with Sonic's excellent run mix-ups landing it isn't as hard as you think. Great priority, but not very good horizontal range unless you use it as a Dashing Up Smash which is basically mandatory. It makes for an ok combo starter and ender, not to mention probably Sonic's most reliable anti-air. Probably your most useful Smash Attack.
  • Damage: 8 hits worth 17% total (uncharged), 25% (charged)
• Down Smash: Sonic rolls into a ball and spins around the ground. This move does have excellent range, decent priority, and makes an alright killing move but starts and ends slowly. Has three hitboxes, although you want to hit with the first once since it's the strongest and the last one is laughably weak and punishable even on hit. OK air counter and you can only block this low though, which gives this move some merit.
  • Damage: 14% (uncharged), 20% (charged)

Aerial Moves

• Neutral Aerial: Sonic spins around in a ball. The animation is very similar to his jumps, making it good for fake-outs. Average priority and knockback, but does work alright in combos. Has sex-kick properties.
  • Damage: 11-4%
• Forward Aerial: Sonic spins his body around as a drill, like Falco and Pikachu's Forward Aerial, for multiple hits. Knockback is ok, but this is very good in combos and dishes out good damage. Comes out very fast and ends fast, but high landing lag.
  • Damage: 13% across 6 hits
• Back Aerial: Sonic turns his head around, looking to see if anyone is behind him and kicks him. Sonic's strongest aerial (aside from a Meteor Smash Down Aerial) and comes out fairly quickly, with good priority. Makes a fairly reliable finishing move and combo finish.
  • Damage: 14%
• Up Aerial: Sonic stretches his legs out, trying to catch people, and then snaps them. This move is an awesome way to follow-up many of your moves, like a Spring Jump Up Throw, Spin Dash or Sonic Drive. It's a very good juggling move, has decent range, comes, ends, and even lands quickly and has great priority to make up for the mediocre knockback and damage.
  • Damage: 3-7/10%
• Down Aerial: Sonic stalls for a small period of time, then does a 15 degree angle dive kick. It's still a Stall-Then-Fall traveling a lot of distance, making for a good, but very risky, gimping attack, but it can also be used as an extremely strong (usually not survivable around 40%) Meteor Smash and does great damage now. Starts slowly and has high landing lag.
  • Damage: 16%

Grabs and Throws

• Grab: Sonic makes a double-hand grab attempt. Range is awful, but Sonic does have a great dash grab.
• Pummel: Sonic bashes the foe with his knee. Strong and quick, one of the best pummels in the game.
  • Damage: 3%
• Forward Throw: Sonic kicks the opponent into the air. This is his other Launcher and makes for a good move to start other juggle set-ups with. It's easy to DI this backward, though.
  • Damage: 10%
• Back Throw: Sonic hangs on to the fold and rolls into a ball, doing a backflip and slam for good knockback. Sonic's Back Throw is fairly powerful, landing KOs at 160% now.
  • Damage: 10%
• Up Throw: Sonic throws the foe into the air and then gets on the ground and hardens his quills, launching the foe when they come back down. This isn't actually a Launcher, but it does good damage and is a vital tool for low-percent juggles and Spring Jump KO set-ups.
  • Damage: 12%
• Down Throw: Sonic throws the foe onto the ground. He'll then roll into a ball and spin on them. This is a vital move in Sonic's mix-up game since it's one of the best tech chases in the game. Good for setting up combos, getting people off the stage, and just awesome. This is probably the throw you'll be using the most, although the other three are good.
  • Damage: 8%
• Air Throw: Sonic grabs the foe, spins with the foe over his head, and then drops them for a semi-spike. Looks like Spider-Man's Fierce throw from the Marvel vs. Capcom games, but not exactly. This throw does GREAT damage and can even be comboed off of if done near the ground, as the recovery is very small. Sonic's air grab range is one of the worst in the game, though, so landing this isn't easy.
  • Damage: 15%

Special and Super Moves

Standard Special Move: Homing Attack

• If this is blocked, doesn't add any energy to the Super Smash Meter.

Sonic pops up into the air and starts charging. When he's done, he'll home on to the foe's head for a spinning pop attack. Sonic travels about one third of Final Destination when homing in. This has to be blocked high.

Pressing the Special button while it's charging will get it to charge faster, but decrease the accuracy of the homing attack.

This move has good priority and can be used to annoy with your foe, but a few character's can punish this. Don't pull this out randomly, but you should be throwing this into your gameplan when you get 3 meters to Clash Cancel it and go into big combos.

Overall, it's ok, I guess.

This attack does 8%. If blocked, it does 1% chip.

Side Special Move: Spin Dash

Sonic rolls into a ball and starts spinning. Sonic will ram across the screen as a ball as soon as the Special button is released. Sonic can cancel any part of the move with a Jump or his Spring Jump and cancel the charge into putting his shield up.

This move travels REALLY fast; even faster than his already ridiculous dash. It's a good get-the-hell-off-me move and is one of the few things Sonic has on defense aside from his (extremely good) run-away tactics. The range is great and when canceled into a jump, can be used as a great combo starter. It is also ridiculously easy to combo into his Clash Attack with this.

This attack deals 5-10%, depending on how charged up it was. It does 1% in chip regardless.

Up Special Move: Spring Jump

Sonic pulls a spring out of hammerspace and jumps on it. Yeah, weird.

This is slightly nerfed as a recovery move, but is still great as one. Also useful for Sonic's offensive game in setting-up juggles after a Uthrow at mid-high percents.

When done in the air, if land is below when the spring appears, will land and other characters can use it. The spring also does damage on the way down and needs to be blocked high. It does 3%.

Down Special Move: Sonic Drive

This is from Sonic Battle. Sonic pulls out a ring and throws it. Like Yoshi's Egg Throw, using the Control Stick and holding / tapping the Special button determine where and how far the ring gets thrown. This part of the move can not be used in the air. The ring disappears if you don't catch it within 10 seconds.

Pressing Down + Special again will have Sonic roll into a ball and automatically home in onto the ring. Sonic can't catch his ring if he's off stage, although if he's on stage he can use this move in the air.

This move has incredible priority and does very high damage and knockback. It makes for another vital tool to Sonic's mix-up game. Keep throwing your rings out in different places to keep your foe guessing, and if they throw out some random attack, get in a position where you can catch your ring and punish them severely. Also makes for a GREAT anti-air.

This is at a price though. You can think of this part like Shuma-Gorath's Mystic Smash, in a way. If a foe dodges or blocks during Sonic's path to get the shield, Sonic will bounce off the foe's character model and is extremely open to punishment, although this does great chip damage.

Overall a nice move but you can NOT use it randomly. You need to know when and where to throw and catch your rings, but when you've mastered it, Sonic is a mind game master.

This attack does 18%. If blocked, it does 5%.

Clash Attack: Light Dash

• Consumes 1 bar of Sonic's Clash Attack Meter.
• Done with Down, Down Forward, Forward + Special + Attack, and then angling in any direction you please. Do Down, Down Forward, Forward + Special + Attack when near the ring path to catch your rings.
• You can't use this if you have a Sonic Drive ring out on the field.

Sonic takes 10 rings out of hammerspace and aligns them in a straight line. Use the Control Stick to angle the path of the rings. Doing the motion for this attack again when close to the rings will have Sonic dash through the rings at insane speed. The rings disappear if you don't catch them within 10 seconds.

This move is fairly easy to use in combos and much like your Sonic Drive you can use this for punishment mindgames. Damage is great and the priority is good.

Since Clash Cancels are an important part of Sonic's game, you may not always want to use this. The damage justifies the use a bit, though.

This attack does 10 hits worth 3% each, for a total of 30%. Each hit does 1% in chip.

Final Smash 1: Sonic Blast

• Requires at least half his Super Smash Meter to be filled.
• Done with Down, Down Back, Back + Special + Attack

Sonic rolls into a ball and dashes until he either reaches the end of the stage or hits something. If he makes contact, he knocks the foe into the sky and summons Tails and Knuckles to fight alongside them. Tails and Knuckles do a barrage of grappling attacks while Sonic does a bunch of attacks charging through the opponent. It ends in the three creating a BIG tornado that packs a lot of power.

This is based off Team Sonic's Team Blast from Sonic Heroes. This move starts up FAST; it's great for punishing random things with the speed, range, and ok-ish priority. Also does a TON of damage and knockback.

This attack does 82-115%, depending on how much the Super Smash Meter was filled. The spin dash does 1% in chip.

Final Smash 2: Sonic Boom

• Requires at least half his Suoer Smash Meter to be filled.
• Done with Forward, Down Forward, Down + Special + Attack. Hold Forward to delay the move and mash Special / Attack to increase the damage, knockback and hits.

Incase you're wondering about that other Sonic Boom Twinana, Guile Funky Kong has it for a Special. Thank you.

Sonic starts to charge in place, as if about to do his Spin Dash. Instead, though, when he stops charging he unleashes a huge shockwave that extends to about double Bowser's height (max mashing) / Meta Knight's height (min mashing) and reaches the entire arena horizontally. This is also taken from Sonic Battle, in his Sonic Wave attack.

This move is very good for dealing chip damage and is a bit more reliable to place in combos, although you do lose a lot of power compared to the first one. Mashing out for maximum damage is difficult, but very worth it.

This attack does 36-50% with minimum mashing and 61-85% with maximum mashing. This attack does 6-9% in chip with minimum mashing and 10-14% with maximum mashing.

Taunts and Victory Poses

• Up Taunt: Sonic flips over and crosses his arm with his index finger still out, doing a teasing chip noise.
• Side Taunt: Sonic runs in place with his feet in a figure-eight position, like in his dash and Sonic CD, teasing the foe with "You're too slow!".
• Down Taunt: Sonic does a few break dancing moves while saying "C'mon, step it up!".

Costume Colors

Sonic's colors are a bit different from Brawl. The colors of his fur are a bit different to make each costume easier to distinguish. His design is pretty much the same as in that game, though. Most of his colors resemble the color schemes of other Sonic characters.

Sonic's alternate is Metal Sonic. Sonic, unlike other characters, can get his alternate by clearing Classic Mode on Unfair and getting the "Perfect" bonus at Stage 11. That's easier said than done, though.

Metal Sonic's voice clips are changed a bit from Sonic's. "Trim" refers to Metal Sonic's ears, hands, and chest.

Sonic's alternate is also much different from other alternates in that it actually does change some of his character and move attributes, a trait no other alternate has. More on this later.

Main

1. Blue fur, green eyes, red shoes (Blue, Default)
2. Black fur (red tint), red eyes, silver shoes (Black)
3. Silver fur, yellow eyes, cyan shoes (White)
4. Red fur, purple eyes, green shoes (Red)
5. Yellow-brown fur, blue eyes, white shoes with red trim (Yellow)
6. Green fur, cyan eyes, black shoes (Green)
7. Pink fur, green eyes, red shoes (Pink)
8. Gray fur, blue eyes, purple shoes (Gray)
9. Orange fur, green eyes, brown shoes (Orange)
10. Cyan fur, green eyes, cyan shoes (Cyan)

Alternate

1. Blue skin, red eyes, yellow trim, red shoes (Blue, Default)
2. Black skin, red eyes, orange trim, yellow shoes (Black, Metal Sonic 3.0)
3. Maroon skin, gray eyes, white trim, yellow shoes (Red)
4. Gold skin, blue eyes, white trim, red shoes (Yellow)
5. Dark green skin, red eyes, black trim, pink shoes (Green)
6. Silver skin, red eyes, silver trim, silver shoes (White, Silver Sonic)
7. Orange-brown skin, green eyes, cream trim, brown shoes (Orange)
8. Dark cyan skin, green eyes, cyan trim, blue shoes (Cyan)
9. Dark purple skin, yellow eyes, black trim, black shoes (Purple)
10. Magenta skin, green eyes, yellow trim, red shoes (Pink)