Sonic (SSB4)

Sonic in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Sonic the Hedgehog
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Super Sonic
Tier	A (7-8)

Sonic (ソニック, Sonic) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. His return to the series was announced on October 1st, 2013 during a Nintendo Direct. Sonic is one of the six third-party characters in the game, alongside fellow Sega fighter Bayonetta; Capcom's Mega Man and Ryu; Bandai Namco's Pac-Man; and Square Enix's Cloud. He was the second third-party character to be revealed in the game, and is the first third-party veteran in the series.

In the English version, Sonic is now voiced by Roger Craig Smith, albeit via recycled voice clips from games such as Sonic Generations, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. This reflects his succession of Jason Griffith as Sonic's voice actor, who voiced Sonic from 2005 until 2010 (although some of Griffith's voice clips from Super Smash Bros. Brawl are reused in Super Smash Bros. 4, such as audio of Sonic clicking his tongue and snoring). Jun'ichi Kanemaru reprises his role in the Japanese version, albeit through recycled voice clips from Brawl. For the first time, Sonic has alternate voices for the French, Spanish, German, and Italian versions, as Sonic the Hedgehog games from Sonic Generations onward were dubbed into those languages; he is voiced by Alexandre Gillet, Jonatán López, Marc Stachel, and Renato Novara respectively.

Sonic is ranked 7th/8th out of 54 on the tier list, placing him in the A tier and tying him with Fox. This is a significant improvement over his mid-tier placement in Brawl, where he was ranked 22nd out of 38. Sonic unsurprisingly boasts the fastest dashing speed in the game; when coupled with his special moves allowing him to attack while in motion with little fear of reprisal, Sonic's approach and neutral game are both impressive. The majority of Sonic's moveset also has improved utility, most notably in regard to his KO potential.

However, Sonic's KOing options are hindered by their high lag, which makes them risky and impairs his ability to KO outside of the neutral game. Despite his mobility, the linearity of Sonic's recovery makes him susceptible to gimping. By extension, he has trouble contending with projectile camping, owing to both his lack of a reliable projectile and an effective way to stop them.

Thanks to his newfound and retained strengths outweighing his flaws, Sonic has attained a large playerbase that has consistently achieved excellent results in high-level play.

Attributes

Sonic is a middleweight that, like in his home series, possesses outstanding mobility. He fittingly boasts the fastest dashing speed in the game, yet also possesses the seventh fastest walking speed and ninth fastest air speed, the latter of which is tied with Mario and Donkey Kong's. When coupled with his above-average gravity and jumps, he has high omnipresence and can move around the stage at incredible speeds, despite having below-average falling speed and one of the worst air accelerations in the game. These traits, in turn, make Sonic able to easily and effectively utilize a hit-and-run playstyle. To round out his outstanding mobility, Sonic is capable of wall jumping.

Sonic possesses very useful special moves. Spin Dash and Spin Charge are perhaps Sonic's best neutral game options, as they allow him to roll across the stage at varying speeds while also dealing damage upon contact. Spin Dash allows Sonic to jump even while charging, and can be canceled with a grab or by shielding, which grants it mindgame potential. Spin Charge, however, hits multiple times and moves even faster, making it a reliable alternative to dashing. Both, however, can give Sonic additional protection when recovering and even chain into other attacks. When coupled with their extremely similar animations, opponents have to tread carefully when dealing with these moves, since a single misstep can result in a very fast chain of attacks that can deal impressive damage.

Homing Attack deals a varying amount of damage, but homes in on the nearest opponent, making it useful for punishing laggy attacks and edge-guard breaking. Spring Jump is a useful recovery move that grants intangibility during start-up and covers an impressive amount of vertical distance. It is also one of the few recovery moves that does not cause helplessness, as Sonic can attack and dodge during his descent, while the spring that is dropped can be useful both on-stage and off-stage by allowing him to pressure and gimp opponents, respectively.

Sonic also has a strong air game. Neutral aerial is a great combo starter when SHFF'd, thanks to its long-lasting hitbox, fairly low landing lag, and launching angle. Forward aerial is useful for edge-guarding and, in certain instances, can combo into itself on-stage at low percentages, thanks to its auto-canceling window and Sonic's fast air speed. Up aerial possesses KO potential near the upper blast line and is great for combos, while its auto-canceling window makes it deceptively safe. Back aerial's clean hitbox is powerful, making it one of his few reliable KOing options, like his up aerial. Lastly, down aerial is a stall-then-fall; although it is Sonic's least effective aerial, it has noticeably less ending lag compared to other stall-then-falls, and its clean hitbox meteor smashes aerial opponents.

Sonic's neutral attack, tilt attacks, and throws have decent damage outputs and minimal lag, which makes them hard to punish. Incidentally, his grab game is decent overall. While none of his grabs excel in speed, and each of them has average ranges, they are still fairly easy to land thanks to his mobility. Sonic's pummel is quick and has an average damage output, which allows him to rack up a fair amount of damage before throwing an opponent. Down throw is a semi-spike that has high base knockback, which makes it excellent for setting up edge-guards and tech-chases. Back throw also possesses high base knockback, but KOs much earlier than his other throws, especially if it is used while near the edge. It also moves Sonic backward, which makes it useful for setting up an immediate edge-guard attempt.

Up throw is a fairly reliable combo starter: while its combo potential is not as consistent as Spin Dash and Spin Charge's, it still possesses decently damaging combos beginning at 0%, as well as Spring Jump-assisted aerial combos beginning at medium percentages. It also has KO potential, although it only KOs reliably at very high percentages when used on high platforms, such as Battlefield's top platform. Lastly, the forward throw is his least useful throw, as its primary utility is for forcing the opponent into the air. Like up throw, it can also function as a KOing option, albeit only when used on high platforms at very high percentages.

However, Sonic has some weaknesses, the most noticeable of which is his KO potential. Despite having improved considerably since Brawl, his KO potential is held back by his most reliable KOing options (forward/up smashes, clean back aerial, and up aerial), requiring good positioning and, aside from up aerial, having noticeable start-up and ending lag. His forward and up smashes are also burdened with low base knockback, which forces them to be used for KO attempts later instead of earlier. Despite his outstanding mobility, Sonic also has trouble landing without the use of Homing Attack or Spring Jump, owing to his forward, back, up, and down aerials having at least 21 frames of landing lag. This is further exacerbated by his very slow air acceleration, leaving him susceptible to juggling.

Sonic can also have difficulty dealing with camping, since any ground-level projectile can severely limit his movement options. Lastly, Sonic can be susceptible to early KOs. Unlike other middleweights, such as Mario and Luigi, some of his attacks are very punishable should they miss, and thus allow openings for opponents to punish him. His recovery is also predictable if Spring Jump is his only recovery option, as its linearity makes him susceptible to gimps even at relatively low percentages.

Sonic has many beneficial custom moves at his disposal. Stomp can meteor smash opponents, making it more useful for edge-guarding. Hammer Spin Dash can bury opponents during start-up, allowing for follow-ups that Spin Dash would not permit. In comparison, Burning Spin Dash deals much more damage, and its lower jumps leave Sonic less vulnerable after landing a hit. Auto-Spin Charge removes the need for button mashing in order to charge and has a deceptive charging animation that does not reveal when the move starts losing power, the latter of which makes it suitable for mind games. Lastly, Gravitational Charge has a windbox that pulls opponents in front of Sonic toward him, making it easier for him to hit them. However, it also pushes away opponents behind him, which can make it more difficult for them to punish him directly.

Overall, Sonic is a character with incredible offensive prowess that must force opponents to make a mistake to safely rack up damage and use his excellent mobility to avoid heavy punishment.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Sonic has been heavily buffed in his transition from Brawl to Smash 4. The most noticeable improvement he received was to his KO potential, which was his most glaring weakness in Brawl. A decent number of Sonic's attacks have had their knockback increased, most notably his forward smash, up smash, and clean back aerial, all of which are much more viable kill options. His back throw also now possesses KO potential.

Sonic's moveset in general has also been improved in various ways. Notably, two of his moves (dash attack and down smash) have been completely overhauled. Sonic's new dash attack hits multiple times, which is further supplemented by the weakening of SDI, and it possesses very high knockback growth; altogether, these traits make it better than his previous dash attack regarding punishing and tech-chasing. In comparison, Sonic's new down smash is generally more useful than his previous one, thanks to it being a semi-spike that has a consistent damage output and much less overall lag.

Outside of these two instances, some of Sonic's moves also benefit from both direct changes and modifications to gameplay mechanics. Neutral aerial and up throw's angles have been altered, although the latter move also deals less damage and has compensated knockback, which hinders its damage-racking potential and does not grant it significantly greater combo potential, which it otherwise would have if its knockback were unchanged. When coupled with the changes to hitstun canceling, they, alongside Spin Charge, have improved combo potential. Due to its angle being altered, down aerial's clean hitbox is now a meteor smash against aerial opponents; when coupled with the removal of meteor canceling, clean down aerial is a much more potent edge-guarding option. Lastly, up smash and forward aerial are much more difficult to escape from due to the aforementioned weakening of SDI.

However, Sonic has received some nerfs, mainly to his speed, both in terms of mobility and frame data. A number of his moves have become laggier to varying degrees, with a good example being his back aerial, which incurs drastically more landing lag and has a worse auto-cancel window, which significantly harms its utility despite its increased power. Some moves (such as his forward smash, down smash, up aerial, and down aerial) also have shorter durations. Despite his overall higher KO potential, some of his moves have reduced KO potential, such as up aerial and down smash, and his overall damage output is lower, reducing his damage racking capabilities, although this was the case for most returning veterans.

Sonic's mobility has also taken a hit relative to the cast, although this is mainly due to the changes to Smash 4's mechanics combined with the general increase in other characters received to their mobility. While Sonic still has the fastest dashing speed by a huge margin, it is nevertheless lower relative to the cast, as he was one of the few characters whose dashing speed was left unchanged. His walking speed was also slightly decreased. The removal of DACUS also hinders up smash's versatility, as it hinders its approach potential, and to make matters worse, its running up smash covers significantly less distance. The removal of glide tossing also hinders Sonic’s approach with items.

Although remaining very respectable, Sonic's recovery has nevertheless worsened in two particular ways: Spring Jump covers less vertical distance, its intangibility has increased startup lag, and Sonic cannot act as soon out of it, not only making it a worse recovery option, but also making it a less effective combo breaker. Homing Attack can also no longer be used repeatedly without landing on the ground again, removing Sonic's ability to infinitely stall with it. Lastly, Spin Dash's damage-racking potential was toned down via update 1.0.6, and it can no longer be used with momentum canceling, which significantly hinders Sonic's endurance. 1.0.6 also notably made his back throw weaker.

Ultimately, Sonic's increased KO potential outweighs his reduced speed and damage output, and the changes to the game's mechanics help him more than they hurt him. As a result, he is a significantly more effective character, and he has seen much more usage in high-level play.

Aesthetics

• Sonic's design is now based on his appearances in Sonic Unleashed onwards. His quills are slightly shorter and significantly more rigid, his mouth is now positioned on the side of his muzzle by default, and his irises are spread slightly further away from each other. Additionally, Sonic's fur and skin are slightly more vibrant, and his eye color is slightly more subdued. Lastly, his shoes now have a polished finish.
  • Sonic's mouth is now a texture by default rather than a modeled part of his body. However, he still uses a modeled animated mouth in his victory poses.
• Sonic has received three new alternate costumes, which brings his total up to eight.
• Sonic's red alternate costume from Brawl has been slightly altered. His cuffs and shoes are now orange instead of red, likely to better differentiate them from his default costume.
• Sonic now faces the foreground regardless of whether he is facing left or right. When he turns around, his mouth will also change sides due to his design change.
• Sonic's eyes now appear half-closed when he is in a downed state instead of appearing completely closed like in Brawl.
• Spin Dash-based attacks emit a lower-pitched sound effect similar to the one used in Sonic Lost World. Some attacks also have updated visual effects.
• Idle poses' animations have slightly changed. Sonic's expression now remains unchanged throughout their duration, unlike in Brawl, where he would grow impatient while tapping his foot and grin while wiggling his finger.
• Side taunt's animation has slightly changed. Sonic now grins throughout its entire duration instead of grinning and then assuming a stern expression.
  • Because of Sonic’s voice actor change, his side and down taunts also have new lines: he says "Sonic SPEED!" instead of "You're too slo-ow!" during his side taunt, and "Come on!" instead of "C'mon, step it up!" during his down taunt.
• Sonic’s victory pose involving the blue Chaos Emerald has slightly changed. The Chaos Emerald now levitates in Sonic's hand after he grabs it instead of directly making contact with his hand.
• Due to Sonic’s voice actor change, his victory poses use new lines. He says "That was almost too easy!" instead of "Sonic’s the name, speed’s my game!" during his side-to-side sprint victory pose, "Let’s do that again sometime!" instead of "Hey, we should do this again sometime!" during his breakdancing victory pose, and just "Piece of cake!" instead of "Too easy! Piece of cake!" during his victory pose involving the blue Chaos Emerald. The former also has him smirking upon striking his final pose instead of grinning.
• In the Japanese language, Sonic's previously unused damage yells from Brawl's Sound Test are now heard when taking high knockback.

Attributes

• Sonic walks slower (1.4 → 1.375).
• Sonic's air speed is faster (1.1092 → 1.15).
• Sonic's gravity is higher (0.085 → 0.09).
• Sonic's fast falling speed is faster (2.0 → 2.32), although relative to the cast, it has gone from the 16th highest out of 39 characters to the 37th highest out of 58.
• Sonic is slightly lighter (95 → 94).
• Sonic's traction is lower (0.07 → 0.06).
• Rolls have less ending lag (FAF 32 → 28).
• Rolls have a shorter duration (frames 4-19 → 4-15).
• Air dodge has less startup (frame 4 → 2) and ending lag (FAF 49 → 31).
• Air dodge has a shorter duration (frames 4-29 → 2-25).
• Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 26 → 25).
• Spot dodge has a shorter duration (frames 2-20 → 2-15).
• Sonic's item throw is slower (1 → 0.98). When combined with the removal of glide tossing, this noticeably hinders Sonic's item game.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first two hits of neutral attack have increased set knockback (10 → 18).
  • The angles of the first two hits have been altered (361° (both) → 92°/60°/361° (hit 1), 80°/60°/48° (hit 2)). These changes allow neutral attack to connect more reliably and improve its jab canceling potential, but remove the second hit's ability to lock, and the first hit can only lock when used at close range, making jab locking slightly harder.
  • The first hit's far hit has been moved further away from Sonic (x offset: 4 → 6), giving it more range.
    • However, the mid and close hits have also been moved further forward, reducing the move's range behind Sonic.
  • The first hit's mid hitbox is larger (3u → 3.5u).
  • The second hit's far hit has been moved further away from Sonic (x offset: -3 → 6), slightly improving its range.
    • However, the mid and close hits have also been moved further forward, reducing the move's range behind Sonic.
  • The second hit's mid hitbox is larger (3u → 3.4u).
  • The third hit deals more damage (3% → 4%), and its knockback was not fully compensated (24 (base), 130 (scaling) → 50/110), improving its KO potential.
  • The third hit has more ending lag (FAF 31 → 36).
  • The third hit launches opponents at a higher angle (361° → 50°).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt's second hit has increased base knockback (10 → 30).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 40).
  • Up tilt has a shorter duration (frames 7-10 (hit 1)/8-10 (hit 2)/18-20 (hit 3) → 7-9/8-9/18-19).
  • Up tilt deals much less less damage (3% (hit 1)/4% (hit 2)/7% (hit 3)/14% (total) → 2% (hit 1)/6% (hit 2)/8% (total)), with the second hit only receiving a slight increase to its base knockback (35 → 40), hindering its KO potential.
    • Additionally, the first kick's hitboxes have a lower part value (1 → 0), meaning that Sonic can no longer connect both the ground hit and the kick hit. This results in the move now only having two hits instead of three.
  • The ground hitbox is positioned slightly further out (z offset: 4 → 4.5), giving it more range.
  • The ground hitbox has increased set knockback (80 → 100).
  • The first kick's hitboxes have altered angles (70°/80°/270° → 90°/360°) and set knockback (40/30/12 → 60/35/12).
  • The first hit's upper hitboxes are smaller (5u/7u → 4u/5u) and the foot hitbox is positioned lower (y offset: 8 → x offset: 7), noticeably reducing its range.
  • The second hit launches opponents at a higher angle (70° → 78°). When combined with up tilt's reduced ending lag along with the changes to hitstun canceling and DI, this improves up tilt's combo potential and makes it less susceptible to DI.
  • The second hit's body hitbox is larger (3u → 4u).
  • The second hit's foot hitbox is positioned lower (y offset: 8 → x offset: 7), reducing its range.
• Down tilt:
  • Down now only has one extended hitbox rather than three normal hitboxes, with this new hitbox functioning like the previous foot hitbox. This gives the move consistent base knockback (40/30 → 30), and it makes the move consistently launch opponents horizontally (80°/70°/361° → 361° (all)).
    • This makes down tilt a more consistent locking and tripping tool.
    • However, this also removes its combo potential outside of those scenarios.
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 6-8 → 6-7).
  • Down tilt has a smaller hitbox (3u/4u/5u → 3.4u) with the move having less vertical range, as well as having less range inside of Sonic.
  • Sonic does not slide as far forward during the move (only doing so after he attacks, with the distance being much shorter), hindering its range and making it less effective as a pseudo crawl.
    • However, this also makes it a safer poking tool.
  • Down tilt has a lower extra trip chance (40% → 20%).
• Dash attack:
  • Sonic has a new dash attack. He still performs a Spin Attack, but it now ends with a flying kick. The move acts as a multi-hit, rather than having a clean hit and a late hit (6% (clean)/4% (late) → 1% (hits 1-3)/3% (hit 4)/6% (total)).
  • Dash attack has larger hitboxes (3u (clean)/2.5u (late) → 3u/3u (hits 1-3)/5u/3.5u/3.5u (hit 4)).
  • The final hit deals more knockback compared to the previous clean hit (70 (base), 50 (scaling) → 80/125), greatly improving its KO potential despite its lower damage.
  • Dash attack has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-7 (clean)/8-24 (late) → 5-15 (hits 1-3)/17-20 (hit 4)).
  • Dash attack has much more ending lag (FAF 44 → 62).
  • Dash attack covers less distance.
  • Due to it now being a multi-hit, the dash attack is overall less reliable, as opponents can fall out of the multi hits before the final hit connects.
  • The final hit launches opponents at a less favorable angle compared to the previous clean hit (80° → 70°), hindering its KO potential and making it more susceptible to DI.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has increased knockback scaling (98 → 101), improving its KO potential.
  • Sonic now grunts during the move instead of saying "Go!"
  • Forward smash has a shorter duration (frames 18-21 → 18-20).
  • Forward smash has more ending lag (FAF 44 → 48).
  • Forward smash has smaller hitboxes (2u/3u/4u/5u → 4.5u/3.5u/2.5u).
  • Sonic no longer lunges farther when performing a pivoted forward smash, significantly hindering its approach and whiff punishment potential.
• Up smash:
  • The changes to knockback stacking mean that the knockback from the multi-hits now completely cancel out the knockback of the first hit at higher percents. This drastically improves up smash's reliability at higher percents, as the opponent will no longer fly too far away after the first hit to fall out of the move before the final hit can connect.
  • The weakening of SDI makes up smash more difficult to escape from.
  • Hits 2-7 have smaller hitboxes (4.5u/4.5u/4.5u/4.5u → 4u/4u/4u/4u) and the upper hitboxes are positioned lower (y offset: 26 → 24), reducing their range.
  • The last hit deals more knockback (70 (base), 153 (scaling) → 80/165) and launches opponents at a higher angle (75° → 82°), significantly improving its KO potential.
  • Up smash does not cover as much distance when performed out of a dash. When combined with the removal of DACUS, this significantly hinders its approach potential.
• Down smash:
  • Sonic has a new down smash, a split kick, similar to Fox and Falco's down smashes.
    • Due to this new animation, Sonic now stays completely still when performing the move, reducing its range and making it easier to punish Sonic.
  • Down smash has less startup lag (frame 17 → 12).
    • However, its total duration was unchanged, giving it more ending lag.
  • Down smash is now a semi-spike (361° → 30°).
  • Down smash has larger hitboxes (4u/3u → 5u/5u) which are now extended, and they are positioned further away from Sonic (y/z offsets: 4/(0/3) → 2/(13/-11), giving it much more range relative to Sonic.
  • Down smash has a much shorter duration (frames 17-20 (clean)/21-26 (mid)/27-32 (mid late)/33-41 (late) → 12-13), with the move losing its late hit.
  • Down smash deals less knockback (40 (base), 100 (scaling) → 55/63 (front), 50/80 (back)), considerably hindering its KO potential, especially when hit from the front.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial:
  • Clean neutral aerial deals more damage (11% → 12%).
  • Neutral aerial has a larger hitbox, especially the late hit (4u (clean)/3u (mid)/2u (late) → 5u/4.5u/4u).
  • Neutral aerial now launches opponents vertically (361° → 75°). This improves its combo potential, especially when combined with the changes to hitstun canceling and DI; however, this also removes its edgeguarding and locking potential.
  • Neutral aerial has more landing lag (12 frames → 16).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has less landing lag (30 frames → 26).
  • The weakening of SDI makes forward aerial more difficult to escape from.
  • The far loop hits are positioned further away from Sonic (z offset: 10 → 12.5), giving them more range.
    • However, the near loop hits are also positioned much further away from Sonic (z offset: 1 → 7), making them only cover Sonic's head rather than his body, giving the move a large blind spot.
  • The final hit's hitbox has been positioned slightly further away from Sonic (y offset: 4 → x offset: 4.5), giving it slightly more range.
  • The final hit now always launches opponents in the direction Sonic is facing, making it more reliable.
  • The loop hits now use a normal effect instead of a slash effect.
  • Forward aerial deals less damage (1%/2% (hits 1-5)/4% (hit 6)/9%-14% (total) → 0.8%/3%/7%) and the final hit's knockback scaling was not fully compensated (120 → 135), hindering its damage racking and KO potential.
  • Forward aerial has more ending lag (FAF 36 → 46) and a longer animation (41 frames → 55).
  • The loop hits have smaller hitboxes (3u → 2u).
  • The final hit's near hitboxes have been removed, giving it less range inside Sonic.
  • The final hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1x → 1.5x), making it easier to DI. As forward aerial cannot be frame canceled, this hinders the move overall.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial's hitboxes have been repositioned, with the move now being slightly disjointed, rather than failing to cover Sonic's foot.
  • The clean hit deals more damage (13% → 14%), improving its KO potential despite its decreased knockback scaling (94 → 90).
  • The clean hit has larger hitboxes (5u/5.5u/6u → 6u/6.5u).
  • The late hit deals more damage (9% → 10%) and has increased knockback scaling (90 → 100).
  • Back aerial now always launches opponents in the opposite direction Sonic is facing, as with most back aerials.
  • The clean hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1x → 1.2x).
  • Back aerial has much more landing lag (9 frames → 30), greatly hindering its safety and removing its follow-up potential.
  • Back aerial auto-cancels later (frame 29 → 33).
  • Back aerial has a longer animation (37 frames → 46), increasing the amount of time Sonic cannot grab ledges after performing the move.
  • The near hitbox has been removed.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial's animation has slightly changed. Sonic no longer twirls while performing the kick; instead, he performs a sharp scissor kick while facing the screen during the entirety.
    • This new animation is longer (44 frames → 54), increasing the amount of time Sonic cannot grab ledges after performing the move.
  • Up aerial has less landing lag (22 frames → 21).
  • The first hit has altered set knockback (70 (near)/130 (far) → 90/120), making it connect more reliably into the second hit.
  • The second hit launches opponents at a higher angle (80° → 91°).
  • The second hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1x → 1.2x).
  • The first hit has smaller hitboxes (4u/5u → 3u/4u) which are positioned closer to Sonic, especially the far hit (z offset: 4/9/-4/-9 → 3/7/-3/-7).
  • The second hit has a shorter duration (frames 14-18 → 14-15).
    • However, this also makes the move auto-cancel earlier (frame 19 → 16). When combined with the increase to shieldstun, this noticeably improves up aerial's safety
  • The second hit deals less knockback (63 (base), 90 (scaling) → 66/82), hindering its KO potential.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's late hit has a larger hitbox (5.8u → 7u).
  • The mid hit against aerial opponents is now a meteor smash (32° → 285°). This significantly improves its edgeguarding potential and gives him a better kill confirm option near the edges of stages.
  • Down aerial now has a clean hit, a mid hit, and a late hit. The new clean hit essentially functions the same as the previous clean hit's grounded hitbox, except it now works against grounded and aerial opponents.
  • The mid hit against aerial opponents has less base knockback but more knockback scaling (70 (base), 60 (scaling) → 30/90). This improves its KO potential at higher percents, but this also reduces its knockback at lower percents. As the move is a meteor smash, this hinders the move's edgeguarding potential at lower percentages.
  • The mid hit against aerial opponents has a higher hitlag multiplier (1x → 2x).
  • The mid hit against aerial opponents now always launches opponents in the direction Sonic is facing.
  • Down aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 16-22 (clean)/23-37 (late) → 17-18/19-22/23-32).
  • Down aerial has more ending lag (FAF 44 → 46) and a longer animation (43 frames → 61).
  • Down aerial has more landing lag (30 frames → 38).
  • Down aerial auto-cancels later (frame 39 → 41). When combined with its shorter hitbox duration, this makes it much more difficult to land safely with down aerial.
  • The mid hit against aerial opponents has a much smaller hitbox (6.2u → 3.5u), which is positioned closer to Sonic (y/z offsets: 3/2 → 1.3/2.8). When combined with its shorter duration, this makes it much more difficult to land.