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by FrosD19
I’m FrosD19! As of writing this, I have been in the amiibo competitive scene for around 8 months and been labbing out and training Sonic amiibo for just over 2 months at this point. In this span of time I have trained 45+ Sonic amiibo, and with these Sonic amiibo I have achieved a few 1st place finishes as well as many other top 8 finishes in tournaments in the USAC Discord server.
If you’re interested in a Sonic amiibo of your own, check out this Amazon listing! That’s an Affiliates link, so we’re supported by sales made using that link!
AI Issues
First off it is very important to note some of the Sonic amiibo’s AI issues.
One of the first problems you will notice when training your Sonic amiibo is that it loves to move. The AI tends to run, roll dodge, jump, and air dodge a lot. Problem is, these are all things you don’t want your Sonic amiibo to do. There is no way to completely stop your Sonic amiibo from doing those things, but you can reduce the amount they run, roll dodge, jump, and air dodge by simply not doing them yourself (of course, it’s still acceptable to jump offstage).
The second problem is that the Sonic amiibo AI favors specials at low levels. If you play Sonic at all you may be asking, “How is this a bad thing? I think Sonic’s specials are great.” In human play, you’d be right; however in amiibo this is not the case as the Sonic AI does not use his specials well and can often SD as a result of his special moves. Because of this, I recommend never using his specials, except for one unique instance which I will cover later, and resetting the match if either you or your amiibo ever uses them (this does not include Sonic’s Up Special which is used to recover).
That just about covers the Sonic amiibo’s AI flaws, now on to the optimal play-style.
Spirit Loadout
Sonic works best with a balanced loadout of 2100/2100. His best spirits are:
- Super Armor
- Great AutoHeal
- AutoHeal
- Instadrop
Bear in mind that these spirits are all banned in typical amiibo tournament rulesets. If you’re wanting to compete in a proper competitive tournament, I recommend these spirits instead:
- Floaty Jumps
- Physical Attack
- Hyper Smash Attacks
- Fist Attack
- Critical Healing and Metal (if legal)
Small Tips
- Never do a roll getup. Always use getup attack.
- Unbind your B Button when training. Seriously, do it. The amiibo will still recover fine on its own.
- Use the Ladder Method when training.
- Go to Special Smash and turn Reflect on. Sonic’s Up Special has a projectile, and if either you or your amiibo is hit by this projectile it can cause your Sonic amiibo to use Up Special on stage which can lead to your amiibo being punished.
- When training it is very possible that either you miss input or your amiibo will decide to use a special attack. To help with this, I recommend playing with shorter match times as not to lose as much time when you inevitably have to reset the match.
Overall Playstyle
The optimal play style for Sonic is mostly grounded, but he should go off stage to gimp at every opportunity. It should take the opportunity to parry without being defensive, and should consist of a few moves including Forward Smash, Forward Tilt, Forward Air, Up Smash, Back Air, and a couple of others. I’ll go over these moves, in detail, by order of importance.
How to Train the Sonic amiibo in Smash Ultimate
Forward Smash is the main tool for racking up damage as well as his second-best kill option. The main reason this move is so great is because it has great frame data and can be spammed with little consequence other than the move staleing.
Forward Air is by far Sonic’s best kill option. The move should be used at every opportunity: upon landing, off stage to gimp, or any time Sonic is in the air; however it is important to not use Forward Air or any aerial when returning to the stage. The reason being that Sonic can attack after using his up special and while using an attack Sonic is unable to grab the ledge, this will lead to SDing.
Up Smash is a very powerful anti-air. This move should be used every time the opponent is above him; however if during training you happen to miss an Up Smash I recommend you reset the match or your Sonic amiibo will use Up Smash when the opponent is not in range leading to Sonic getting punished.
Shielding and parrying are also important for Sonic as the character is rather fragile. This will keep your Sonic from dying early in the match. I recommend you only teach this for around 5-10 minutes depending on how good you are at parrying.
Back Air, more specifically drop down from ledge into Back Air is another tool that is great for gimping and landing. This can lead to some early kills and free damage.
Throws on Sonic are very solid tools. A few of his throws (up throw and down throws) are combo starters. These combos consist of down throw -> neutral special, up throw -> back air, up throw -> up air, and up throw -> neutral air. The rest of Sonic’s throws (forward throw and back throw) set up well to gimp with forward air.
Down Smash is an okay move with a great launch angle, and while it is okay to use in moderation it most likely is not necessary.
Sonic’s kit also contains a few nonvital optional moves that you can use if you’d like.
Dash attack is a decent approach option for Sonic that keeps his other moves from staleing. Unfortunately if the dash attack is shielded Sonic will likely be punished, and there isn’t much reason to teach your Sonic amiibo this move because he will use it some on his own.
Up Air is a decent move however it is greatly outclassed by up smash, nonetheless, it doesn’t hurt to use it in training from time to time as it is a combo tool and can be very niche.
Neutral Special is by no means good on the Sonic amiibo; however, if you want your Sonic amiibo to do the combo down throw -> neutral special you should use this move exactly once or twice during training (preferably around level 43). It is important to keep in mind this is a completely optional combo but it doesn’t usually hurt for your Sonic amiibo if he uses it sparsely.
Why It Works
This works because while Sonic can struggle with killing, the entire playstyle revolves around racking up damage without dying so Sonic can kill with Forward Smash. In my findings, this is the most consistent playstyle for Sonic and has even led me to a couple of wins and a few high placements in tournaments with a poorly represented character.
Amiibo Doctor 
I’d recommend using Spin Charge over Spin dash, mainly because it’s a great way to rack up damage and Sonic doesn’t really seem to fail as often. Keep doing Spin Charge into Forward Air, Up Air, or even back air if you have the position, as he is capable of learning that. (Like how Bowser Junior is capable of learning CKD into Bair.) You can also try teaching him Spin Charge into Homing Attack, I’ve been trying to teach mine to do it, didn’t work. Also, let the automatic Jump kick in instead of Having to jump Manually. Sense the Amiibo tends to jump either too early or too late, and it will allow the extra hit to kick in for even more damage. Only do it when at a distance. More accurate that way.
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Also, Down Throw over forward throw when edgeguarding. Sends the opponent at a downward angle and Sonic could even possibly homing attack them when in range.
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Also, Down throw over forward throw when edgeguarding. Sends the opponent at a downward angle making it harder to recover, and Sonic is most likely going to go off the ledge for a forward air, or even try to combo it into a Homing attack, but that’s only if the opponent is in range for it, and kinda RNG based.
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Oops, my fault didn’t know the other one sent lol
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