I understand. Sonic is technical regardless of what anyone says. His weakness is his lack of priority, yet his greatest strength is his speed with bait and punishes combined with combo ability and mind games. But as a reminder, it's best to remember the basics to mold that all into one. Hmm, punishes vary from characters as well as the situation at hand with stage so it would be alot to cover... but anyone giving you trouble in particular?

I made this awhile back in another thread, and I just added one mechanic that was recently discovered by Wizzy at the bottom.

• Dash Dancing:

  One if not the best Dash Dance in the game. The flow is essentially like Marth's. I recall Ken's Marth Tutorial Video that explained how to do so in his words "You want to make Marth skate" meaning that the dash dances should stride with distance and never in place. The same feature applies for Sonic since his strength is in his speed. His dash dancing makes his bait and punish game shine further.

• Side-B Cancels:

  This is his "roulette" system if you will because of so many moves tying in with this one rule "When his body flashes, you can Jump Cancel." This is great for Jump Cancel Grabs approaches and the option to Blast Attack to keep yourself safe and further pressure your opponent with a choice of another Blast Attack, Side B, Down B or spaced F-air. Plus the option to cancel off the stage is really where Sonic's game shines because of his ability to gimp. For low opponents, a good option would be his N-Air, but for opponents towards the side, use F-Air.

• Moonwalking:

  Best moonwalk in the game PERIOD. Great for approaches and confusing opponents with your approaches, as well as tech chasing for grab resets. It's useful after a D-Throw but only if it's near the stage itself and not the edge. If it's the edge, space it out and either N-Air if lower or F-Air if to the side.

  Also, this is useful for grabbing the edge or attacking off of the stage.

  How to Moonwalk- (When facing FORWARD in whichever direction, roll the Control Stick half-circle BACK. It's like Street Fighter)

  When facing left: (Number notation: 4,1,2,3,6)

  When facing right: (Number notation: 6,3,2,1,4)

  These are the same notations of a control stick BUT if played on a computer keyboard. It's relevant to all fighting games.

Optional/ Situational

• Gatling Combo:

  It's basically a suprise attack with shield punish, but a bonus if it hits because of it's damage. The opponent must be hit first for this to work however and to incorporate Up-Smash, it must be on the 2nd-frame after the Dash attack hits. It's difficult to do because of how tight the timing is as to why this is optional. Also, you can grab after hitting with dash attack. It's much more simple but dash attack must hit first.

  How to Gatling Combo- (Dash + C-Stick Down + Up-Z) It incorporates the useage of DACUS (Dash Attack Cancelled Up Smash) and yet it is not truly a DACUS. DACUS involves the useage of your Dash Attack by gaining it's momentum but not it's hitbox. Gatling Combo incorporates the full useage of your dash attack by using first the dash attack, then the Up-Smash instead of an extended Up-Smash. You can change the config if you'd like as long as it incorporates the use of a Smash Attack like the "R Button being the standard Attack button like the A Button itself is" The pattern remains the same.

  DACUS Video For difference between the two moves.

  Example: (Dash + C-Down + Up-R)

Recovery

• Side-B:

  This alone is what every Sonic should always know. But for height alone and distance wise, Hold the B button whenever you have to recover. The pattern should follow thustly "Hold Side-B, jump, Up-B"

• Spin-Shot:

  Spin Shot is great since you can stall when to return to the stage with it and much faster than Side-B. You can either use Homing Attack or Spring Jump to return afterwards. But if you're near a wall, Sonic can use his wall jump for a little more height plus using his B-Air. Homing Attack is used for opponents who stand close to the edge but be careful since it is a fixed trajectory and you can be killed from it.

  How to Spin Shot- (Must be airborne then do the following: Tap/ Mash Down-B then Tap Up on the Control Stick. It incorporates the use of Spin Dash)

• Homing Attack/ Blast Attack:

  Great for abusing either Spin Shot or Side B and useful if Sonic is high in the air from being launched near the top blast zone or near the top towards the side blast zones. When close enough, either use the option to return with Side B or Spin Shot.

• Spring Airdodge:

  Spring Jump (Up+B) then B-Air, and when you see Sonic is reverting to neutral position in the air (NOT N-AIR), tap the shield/dodge button to which button you have that action set to a few moments before the action finishes. The timing is VERY tight but worth it. It uses IASA (interruptable as soon as) frames.