Sonic (PM)

Sonic is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He has been buffed for his Project M showing. Sonic is currently ranked 10th out of 41 characters on the official tier list, near the top of A tier, and a considerable improvement over his placement in Brawl, where he was 22nd out of 38. In the official Project+, he is ranked 4th at the top of the A+ tier, another considerable improvement over his placement in Project M.

Attributes
True to his series, Sonic is the fastest character in the game, having the fastest dash speed and a fast air speed. These traits make him able to rack up damage very easily and execute combos across the stage. His strengths include extremely fast and tricky movement, a great combo game, good edgeguards, and one of the best recoveries in the game. He has been given the option to moonwalk as a result of the game's return to Melee physics, which can help mix up his approach. He also now has the ability to dash jump, which almost doubles his already fast air speed. Sonic also sports a plethora of recovery options, as all four of his special moves can help him recover in some capacity.

While Sonic was known in Brawl for his high speed and movement, he was held back by his poor KO potential due to his extremely weak attacks and few finishers, all of which were unreliable and ineffective. This has been addressed in Project M, as he has been given more KO power in his moveset, making him stronger than before.

Sonic's flaws include having poor range on most of his moves (in addition to a lack of projectiles), poor hitbox placements, and weak horizontal and vertical endurance due to being light with only an average falling speed (even floatier characters like take less vertical knockback due to her extra weight), while also being very susceptible to juggles despite generally not being easy to combo. As such, while Sonic can combo easily due to his maneuverability, he himself is very easy to K.O. at lower percents, as attacks with high power can send him flying off the stage for good despite his multitude of recovery options, and his low range and lack of projectiles compel him to come close to his opponents rather than harass them from afar. As such, Sonic must make use of his speed and movement options in order to open up opponents and compensate for his weaknesses.

Changes from Brawl to PM
Sonic was buffed in transition to PM. His already impressive mobilty has been improved, he has more KO power and many of his moves have been altered to be more reliable and have more utility. While he has seen some nerfs mainly to his endurance and recovery, he overall has much better tools and the new mechanics of Project M benefit him more than they hinder him.

Moveset
Up to date as of version 3.6.

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the PMRank 2019, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Project M during 2019.

See also: Category:Sonic players (PM)
 * - Formerly ranked 3rd on the SoCal Power Rankings and is an Honorable Mention on PMRank 2017. Has notable wins over and . Placed 13th at Low Tier City 5 and 33rd at Smash 'N' Splash 4.
 * (#15) - Co-mains Sonic with . Ranked 3rd on the NorCal Power Rankings.
 * (#32) - 4th on the Massachusetts Power Rankings. Placed 13th at The Encore, 7th at Resting Stitch Face 2, and 2nd at Invincible 5.
 * - Formerly ranked 41st on PMRank 2018. Placed 17th at The Bigger Balc, 3rd at Tipped Off 12, 9th at SuperNova 2, 17th at Low Tier City 5, and 9th at Smash 'N' Splash 4.
 * - Best Australian Sonic main, now dual mains with Ike. Ranked 3rd on the Australian Project M Power Rankings. Placed 33rd at Smash 'N' Splash 3.
 * (#34) - Formerly ranked 2nd on the Illinois Power Rankings. Placed 25th at Smash 'N' Splash 4 and 9th at Frozen Phoenix 2019.

Project M
Sonic's colours have been changed to be significantly more obvious, improving his readbility in team battles. The non-default colours are all references to other Sonic characters, while his alternate costume is based on another series that was created by SEGA, Jet Set Radio.


 * Blue
 * Red, a generic red costume that was planned to become a Dr. Eggman reference prior to Project M's development ending.
 * Purple, a generic purple costume.
 * Green, a generic green costume that was planned to become a Jet the Hawk costume prior to Project M's development ending.
 * Black, a reference to Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Yellow, a reference to Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Grey, a reference to Silver the Hedgehog
 * An alternate costume based on Beat from .

Project+
In Project+, he also receives a set of recolors for his Jet Set Radio costume for Team Battles, while also receiving a new costume based on his Racing Suit from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, while also receiving recolors for Team Battles.



Z-Secret Costume: Sonic Adventure design

R-Secret Costume: Sonic the Werehog from ''Sonic Unleashed

Trivia

 * One of the poses Sonic performs when using the Homing Attack shows a strong resemblance to his pose in the box art of Sonic Adventure.
 * Jet Set Radio composer Hideki Naganuma has expressed approval of Sonic's Beat Costume.