Sonic (SSB4)

Sonic in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Sonic the Hedgehog
Other playable appearance	in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Super Sonic

Sonic (ソニック, Sonic) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was announced during the Nintendo Direct in October, in celebration of Sonic Lost World being released in the same month. Sonic is one of the three third party characters in the game along with Capcom's Mega Man and Bandai Namco's Pac-Man and is the second third party character revealed in the game, he is however the first 3rd party character in the series to be a veteran, returning from Brawl. As opposed to his more realistic appearance in Brawl, his appearance is based off of his more cartoonish appearances in the Modern Sonic games, such as Unleashed, Generations, and Lost World, as well his official CGI and 2D artworks. Additionally, whereas Sonic's model in Brawl showed him with a centered mouth, his mouth is now on the side of his face, reminiscent of his non-Smash appearances. The official website also refers to Sonic by his full name Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic also has much more variety with his palette swaps in Smash 4, with new colours including a light blue and white.

Roger Craig Smith, who has voiced Sonic since 2010, reprises his role in Smash 4, although most, if not all, of Sonic's voice clips are reused from Sonic Generations and other past Sonic titles since Smith has started voicing him. Sonic is also voiced by a different voice actor in the PAL versions (depending on the region). His Japanese voice actor, Jun'ichi Kanemaru, reprises him as usual.

Changes from Brawl

Sonic has been buffed from Brawl to Smash 4. While he got an overall nerf to his recovery, he generally has less trouble KOing with most of his attacks, and a lot of them have become more useful.

Attributes

• Attacks which involve spinning emit a lower-pitched sound effect, similar to that heard in Sonic Lost World.
• Some of Sonic's attacks produce more visualized lighting effects.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack combo deals slightly more damage.
• Dash attack is now a multi hit attack that transitions into a rolling forward-flying kick, giving the move overall better utility.
• Forward tilt is noted to have more KO power.
• Forward smash is stronger.
• Up smash is much stronger and harder to SDI out of.
• Up tilt deals less damage.
• Down tilt knocks opponents forward instead of up, reducing follow up options.
• Down smash has been changed to a splitting kick, similar to that of Fox.
• Down smash has become much faster while also being a semi-spike.
• Down smash's front hit can no longer KO until 140% fully charged.
• Down smash can hit opponents from behind quicker and stronger. In terms of knockback, it can KO at 97% if fully charged.

Aerial attacks

• Forward aerial is stronger.
• Forward aerial has more ending lag.
• Forward aerial deals half the damage it did in Brawl.
• Neutral aerial deals slightly more damage.
• Neutral aerial now has a bluish sphere around it for the duration of the move, similar to one of his attacks in the Sonic Advance series.
• Back aerial deals more damage, now dealing 14% as opposed to 13%.
• Down aerial is now a meteor smash.

Throws/other attacks

• Pummel deals slightly less damage.
• All throws deal less damage.
• Down throw is slightly stronger and sends foes at a lower trajectory if used standing on an edge, improving its already strong edgeguarding capabilities.
• Back throw has been improved. It deals more knockback to the point where it can KO reliably.

Special moves

• Spring Jump's spring now lingers on after it hits a foe.
• Spring Jump travels slightly less vertical distance.
• Sonic can now auto-sweetspot after some time after using Spring Jump, making it a safer recovery.
• After landing on a grounded spring, Sonic can use Spring Jump again.
• Spin Dash and Spin Charge combo into other attacks more easily.
• The short hop of Spin Dash is much quicker.
• The quicker short hop of Spin Dash makes the move less safe in terms of recovering.
• Sonic can now keep holding Spin Dash while jumping, allowing for mixups.
• Spin Dash now appears to have the same flashing charge animation that Spin Charge uses.
• Homing Attack has less start-up lag, deals more damage, and has higher knockback.
• Homing Attack can only be used once without standing on the ground again, nerfing one of his great recovery options.
• A missed Homing Attack sends Sonic further than it did in Brawl making it less safe to use off stage.
• Super Sonic is much weaker, dealing less damage and knockback.

Aesthetics

Unlike his Brawl design being based off of his standard 3D appearances (barring his 2006 model), Sonic now has his Hedgehog Engine design that has been used in recent Sonic games, beginning with Sonic Unleashed. This sees his mouth being placed more to the side of his muzzle rather than right below his nose, although its placement reverting to being under his nose can be seen in his losing animation and one of his winning animations in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Additionally, Sonic's front now faces the foreground more on either side.

Special Moves

In Super Smash Bros. 4, special moves can be swapped out for different variants. He retains his original special moves and his Final Smash. These are Sonic's special moves:

Special Move	Basic	Custom 1	Custom 2
Neutral Special	Homing Attack	Stomp	Surprise Attack
Side Special	Spin Dash	Hammer Spin Dash	Burning Spin Dash
Up Special	Spring Jump	Double Spring	Springing Headbutt
Down Special	Spin Charge	Auto-Spin Charge	Gravitational Charge
Final Smash	Super Sonic

Moveset

Taunts

• Does a front flip, then crosses arms with his index finger pointing out while making a teasing clicking tune, which forms into one of his signature poses.
• Does a figure eight peelout dash, saying "Sonic Speed!".
• Says "C'mon!" while breakdancing.

On-Screen Appearance

Sonic enters the stage with his Spin Dash

Victory Fanfare

The Stage Clear theme from the 2006 edition of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Trailer

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Trophies

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS trophy descriptions

Sonic

The main star of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He's an easygoing hedgehog who blows past the competition with his speed. Seriously, on the ground he's faster than anyone else in Smash Bros. Use this to your advantage, avoiding blows while landing lightning-fast attacks.

Sonic (Alt.)

Sonic's up special Spring Jump lets him reach great heights by jumping on a spring, becoming invincible for a moment. He can't use any other specials during the jump, but he can attack or dodge. This move's great for returning from a long launch. Other fighters can use the spring, though!

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  Classic

• SonicTheHedgehogEXTrophy3DS.png

  Alt.

Update history

1.0.4

• Spring Jump can now be re-used if Sonic is grabbed mid-air after using it.
• Ending lag of Forward smash increased.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Sonic in the Nintendo Direct from April 8th, 2014.

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  Sonic's amiibo.

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  Sonic's confirmation image on the official site.

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  Sonic blocking Mario's punch with his palm.

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  Sonic using his side taunt (Super Peel-Out).

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  Sonic preparing to dodge Mega Man's attack.

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  One of Sonic's landing animations.

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  Sonic using his Homing Attack, damaging both Pit and Fox at once.

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  Sonic in mid-air.

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  Dodging Samus' aerial by using an air dodge (presumably).

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  Dashing.

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  Homing Attack on Luigi.

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  Sonic's up taunt in the 3DS version.

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  Sonic's forward air.

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  Spin Dash.

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  Spin Charge.

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  Spring Jump.

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  Sonic using his back aerial.

• SonicDownAerial.png

  Down aerial

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  Sonic and Mega Man using Spring Jump and Rush respectively.

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  Mario, Sonic, and Mega Man on Battlefield.

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  Sonic jabs his foot into Bowser's stomach.

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  Mario's Fireball colliding with Sonic's neutral attack.

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  Sonic using a Homing Attack on Bowser.

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  Sonic's idle pose.

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  Sonic's neutral attack (third hit).

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  Sonic's down aerial in the 3DS version.

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  Sonic and Wii Fit Trainer running at a Soccer Ball with Mega Man watching.

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  Sonic hitting Pit with the Ore Club while fighting in Palutena's Temple.

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  Sonic performing his down aerial on Marth, meteor smashing him.

• ChargingSpinDash.gif

  Sonic charging his spin dash; note the flashing animation.

Trivia

• Sonic dashes so fast that if one were to customize Sonic with all speed-based equipment, then combine that with a Bunny Hood and Superspicy Curry, he can outrun the Spirit Train.
  • Additionally, an unedited Sonic with Superspicy Curry runs at the exact same speed as the water slide in the Flood Chamber of the Kalos Pokémon League stage, causing him to run in place.