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5 tips for fighting Sonic Online in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Having trouble against online Sonics in Smash? Canada’s best Sonic player, SuperGirlKels, has given us the keys to the matchup to help you against the blue blur.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate online is a completely different game from how it is offline. Players must adapt to the online arena, refining their strategies as new character metas develop, to take advantage of the battlefield. One fighter who makes use of these changes in best practices, seeing success online, is Sonic the Hedgehog. He’s one of the most effective campers in the game, able to consistently take things to time out in the hands of a capable player.
He’s the fastest thing alive, with the slowest running sets, and a source of constant frustration for unprepared opponents. According to The Art of War, “if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” So we’ve reached out to Montreal’s SuperGirlKels, regarded as the best Sonic player in Canada and one of the best in the world, for tips on how to handle the blue blur.
Why all the Sonic hate?
To deal with an online Sonic, you need to understand what makes him strong in the first place. It’s not like hopping online gives the spiky wonder a bunch of new tools out of nowhere.
It's not really the issue of Sonic online. It's the issue of Sonic camping.
Sonic has been nerfed from his Smash 4 incarnation, moving from the middleweight class into the lightweight class (making him easier to kill). When Ultimate came out, he was no longer a contender for top 10 like he was in the previous game, so Sonic’s recent results come from people that main him adapting.
“It was not looking good for our blue blur. We've all been talking and trying to figure out new ways of playing. We found that, sometimes, waiting and letting the opponent come to you is the best thing. Sonic is so fast and we can use that to our advantage, so the reason why people are hating Sonic online is just because of the camping situation. It's not fun to watch Sonic. His moveset looks the same. His moves make the same noise. You hear that spin, it gets drilled into your head, and it makes you just want to cry.”
The successful Sonic playstyle kills the hype for a lot of audiences. It’s not like Sonic players want to adopt that style, but it’s optimal and they’re doing what they have to do when results are on the line. Adding online issues into the mix increases the frustration as well. With input delay causing people to miss punish windows, players hoping for success need to adopt a more pre-emptive playstyle borne of matchup knowledge.
How to beat Sonic
According to SuperGirlKels, the following tips will help you see a lot more success against Sonic online:
1. Don’t try to chase him down
Sonic is good at getting the lead and then just running away. Even other fast characters like Little Mac, Captain Falcon, and Fox have a tough time catching him. You have to accept that Sonic is the fastest character in the game and, if you're trying to catch him, good luck. If you're trying to force yourself on top, it's not going to happen and you're going to lose. Sonic controls the speed of the matchup. He's able to dictate if it's going to be a slow paced match or if it's going to be a very quick one. You need to respect that as his goal, and let him make mistakes early before he gets ahead and runs away with the W.
2. Recognize the different Spin Dashes
Knowing the difference between his Spin Dashes is very important. Down B is a move used for shield pressure. It hits about five times, so be aware of that. Side B is noticeably different because Sonic will move backwards slightly before letting go and doing a little hop. That hop is invincible on the way up, but loses that property once it reaches its apex. It also doesn’t cross up if it's not charged. That Spin Dash will stop right in front of your shield, giving you an opportunity for grabs and a huge punish. Some Sonics will abuse Spin Dash by pressing it over and over and over, but they're not charging it. You can just go ahead and punish it. If he’s rolling at you with Spin Dash, and you’re able to shield it, Sonic gets put in a very vulnerable position.
3. Capitalize on him being in the air
Sonic is extremely quick on the ground but, as soon as he's in the air, it’s a trainwreck. He’s floaty and he’s light, so he’s very slow in the air and has no momentum, making it extremely easy to catch his landings. One of Sonic’s Spin Dashes puts him in the air and that’s his worst spot. All you have to do is get under him and stay under him. As soon as he lands, you can counter him there if you bait him. He might sneak out a little back air or try to save himself with a homing attack but, if you just shield it, you're going to get him. Shielding is very, very important against Sonic.
4. Keep him cornered
Sonic struggles with being in the corner. Even though he’s really great at camping from coast to coast, he doesn't really have many options there besides Spin Dash. It looks like a wall of torture, but it’s really all he can do. A Sonic player is just as nervous as their opponent. If you walk up, put in a dash attack, and hit the Spin Dash while he's going, you're going to win. Don't be afraid of it. If you're the one in the corner, that's what he wants. He wants to feel empowered from that stage control. If he's got room to run around that stage, he's going to feel free. If he's cornered, he's got nowhere to move and nowhere to run. He'll have no choice but to jump over you, or to try and hit you with Spin Dash.
Staying centre stage is so important. Don't corner yourself and don't be afraid of him while he tries pushing you to the ledge. If you stay centred and keep him cornered, he’ll have no options and you can just counter him.
5. Stick to flat stages
Choose stages with as few platforms as possible. People think that Sonic is really good on flat stages because he's got so much room to run around, but it's the exact opposite. The more platforms there are, the more escape options he has. Having platforms also means he spends less time in the air, which helps him a lot. Taking the fight to flat stages, like Final Destination, is a lot better. You’ll have more chances to catch him landing if he messes up. His only option will be going from one corner to the other, which can get very predictable.
Online state of mind
Use these tips to find a little more success, but also try not to let online performance affect your mind state too much. Trying to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at a competitive level online will test your patience more often than it tests your fundamentals. Its use of delay based netcode is not friendly to long distance rivalries. Even if players do their due diligence and avoid WiFi by picking up an ethernet adapter for their Nintendo Switch, inherent input lag makes the online sets pale in comparison to their offline counterparts.
This isn't a time where we're counting for PGRU stats. This isn't a time for rankings. This is really a time just to stay in shape for the next season. So, focus on practice, and stop worrying about your results.
“Stop worrying like ‘Oh, man, it's so laggy. Oh, I can't even play. I can't even do what I want.’ The fact is, you don't have control, and that can be the most frustrating thing. That's not our fault. But you can take what you have and learn from that. Just get as many matchups as possible,” says SuperGirlKels.
