General Gameplan:

• Center stage is your best friend. STAGE CONTROL STAGE CONTROL STAGE CONTROL!
  • Once you have stage control, you can start picking up on the Sonic player’s habits. (i.e. What they like to do in the corner, how long they charge their spin moves, what they do if they get into close quarters, etc.
• Move around when you can. Don’t just sit in shield all day. (Don’t fully neglect your shield either)
  • Use all of these options to control space & bait Sonic into doing something: Slow walk, light stroll, dash dance, fox trot, empty SH’s, SH-Nair, flickshot, etc.
  • Mix up the speed & timing.
  • If you have to shield, make sure to angle it.
• When Sonic hits your shield w/ either Spin Dash, it won’t cross you up on shield unless he’s fully charged. He shines a golden aura at full charge.
• N-Air will either beat or trade w/ Homing Attack & Spin Dash if you time it correctly. In general, N-Air is a pretty good approach option against Sonic.
  • You can also inhale both Spin Dashes & Homing Attack.
• Sonic cancels both Spin Dashes by jumping. Take note of what he does afterwards.
  • Being aware of the situation you’re in (adv., disadv., neutral, etc.) can also give a good indicator on whether he’s gonna use Spin Dash or cancel it.
• Sonic has a lot of ways to edgegaurd, but his easiest & safest way to do so will be sniping you w/ Spring (Up-B),.
  • If you can’t avoid the spring, use an aerial to clank w/ it.

Homing Attack Counterplay:

• How Homing Attack(HA) Works:
  • HA has MASSIVE range. He can just skip neutral altogether w/ it. It can be hard to react to because he can mix up the timing.
    • If he’s facing towards the opponent, he can reach you from halfway across the stage.
    • If he’s NOT facing towards the opponent, the range is much shorter.
  • It can be charged for up to 82 frames. The longer it’s charged, the more damage it does. Fully charged HA can easily break your shield. It can also poke your shield, so try to angle your shield.
  • If he lands HA, he has frame advantage.
  • If he lands HA facing away from you, he’ll be closer to you. Facing towards you has the opposite effect.
    • If you’re offstage & Sonic lands a HA facing away from you, he puts you in a 50-50. You can either airdodge immediately or do nothing.
• How To Counter Homing Attack(HA):
  • When Sonic hits the ground w/ HA, Sonic suffers 74 frames of lag. This can be broken into 2 phases:
    • Slams his skull against the ground, suffers a concussion.
    • Lands on the ground, has a stroke.
  • There are ways Sonic can avoid one phase of lag:
    • If Sonic hits a quarter of HA or hits someone’s shield, he’ll avoid the 2nd phase
    • If Sonic doesn’t slam into a surface & slides onto the ground, he’ll suffer through the 2nd phase.
  • If Sonic buffers HA (grounded or SH) & you shield it, he’ll go into his 2nd phase of lag. Be aware of your positioning in this instance. If you’re in front of him & you shield his HA, he’ll land in front of you & vise versa.
    • If you PARRY buffered HA (grounded or SH), he’ll ONLY suffer from phase 1 lag
  • Sonic’s HA ALWAYS hits above the target. It can make it hard for Sonic to reliably hit you w/ the move if you shift your hurtbox (i.e. crouching, D-Tilt, dash attack, etc.)
  • If Sonic isn’t locked onto you w/ HA, he’ll always launch himself downwards. This is great because if he misses a homing attack off stage, he can die.
    • HA offstage below ledge is pretty much GG for Sonic.