Alright~! Double post for EPIC~!!
Nair:
Frames 1-5 are start-up.
Frames 6-9 are the strong hitbox.
Frames 10-19 are the medium hitbox.
Frames 20-38 are the light hitbox.
Frames 39-49 are cooldown lag assuming you don't land on the ground before then.
Nair has 12 frames of landing lag assuming you do land on the ground before it can finish its animation.
That means that if you let Nair attack with all of hits hitboxes, the attack is 50 frames in total, yes. If you're going for the 1-frame strong hit-box followed by landing-lag, then it's 18 frames in total. That is assuming you do not hit a hurtbox/shield/object/whatever to elongate the attack.
(I kind of gave up on finding when the medium to weak hitbox turned on. Sonic wouldn't stop moving, no two characters can occupy the same space when they're both on the ground or when they're both in the air to further complicated things, and (I think but I'm not sure) Sonic's Nair may or may not be able to hit in three dimensions, but please don't quote me on that last part.
You'll have to thank K-Prime since he's the one that gave me the data I had missing/didn't have the patience to find out on my own. PSA is weird, but I trust him and his data.)
If anybody can either further confirm to me those numbers are consistent with either in-game tools or with PSA, or help me find a way to test it reliably in-game (or PSA but I prefer the former method) so I can reach those numbers myself, I will be in your debt forever.
I've already given data for Bair.
Uair:
Frames 1-4 are start-up.
Frames 5-7 are the first hit.
The time between first hit and second is frames 8-13.
Frames 14-18 are the second hit.
Frames 19-39 are cooldown lag assuming don't land on the ground before the animation is finished.
Uair has 21 Frames of landing lag Assuming you do land on the ground before it can finish its animation.
So that's 26 frames total if you get the 1-frame from the first hit and get the landing lag.
Uair is 66 frames total if you land before the 2nd hit last hitbox frame comes out.
Here's some interesting things for everybody about Uair. The cooldown lag is the same as the landing lag (assuming you land before the last second hit hitbox frame comes out). Even more interesting is that after the 2nd hit last hitbox frame goes away, you can autocancel the move and land like you were in a neutral aerial position; it's as if Sonic wasn't already in the cooldown lag of Uair. This is obviously much faster than having to endure all 21 frames of cooldown lag and/or landing lag. This means that Sonic's Uair if timed right (and you don't hit anything on the way down) is only 20 frames (it takes 2 frames to land normally, and 4 frames if you fastfall)! Pretty fast/cool, right?
Chis, I'll let you format it however you want, but I basically wanted to get all of that out of the way for Uair.
Fair:
Frames 1-4 are start-up.
First hit hitbox is frame 5.
Frame 6 is a deadzone.
Second hit hitbox is frame 7.
Frame 8 is a deadzone.
Third hit hitbox is frame 9.
Frame 10 is a deadzone.
Fourth hit hitbox is frame 11.
Frame 12 is a deadzone.
Fifth hit hitbox is frame 13.
Frame 14 is a deadzone.
Sixth and final hit hitbox is frame 15.
Frames 16-35 are all cooldown lag assuming you do not land before the animation is finished.
Sonic suffers 30 frames of landing lag.
Without all the deadzones, that means there are hitboxes from frame 5-15, meaning there's 10 frames with 5 attacks, for 2 frames per attack... somewhat obvious.
62 frames total if you get off all the hitboxes, short-hop it, and land before frame 34. Not much leeway to auto-cancel this move honestly. :/ That's two frames that you can auto-cancel this move before it finishes its animation. You have to start the attack before frame 14 from a short-hop (that includes the time it takes Sonic to jump off the ground, which is 6 frames. That's 8 frames you have to use this move after you SH-jump if you want to AC it (once again, this all assumes you're not hitting anything to elongate that attack~!)). Don't bother asking me what else, do some basic math yourself dammit. :X
Dair:
Frames 1-15 are all start-up.
Frames 16-22 are the first hit.
Frames 23-37 are the second hit.
Frames 38-43 you are stuck in the animation.
On frame 39, you can auto-cancel Dair. More likely than not you'll (apparently) get the fast-fall landing lag, since this game just loves to register Down + A(ttack) as a fastfall even though you meant to do Dair. Same goes for the C-Stick, it wouldn't have made any difference I could've tested it in debug mode with the frame advance.
30 frames of landing lag assuming you do land before you can auto-cancel the attack.
Remember Tenki's wise words of wisdom, that you can apparently press down on the D-Pad again and you'll start to slowfall again. That must suggest Sonic's falling animation after a Spring Jump is unique/ it's own article and pressing down will make you fall slower (for sure). Whether or not it's a slowfall or a fastfall is beyond me, it's just slow enough to give the illusion of a slowfall but in truth may be a fastfall but still compared to that "unique fall" is much slower. You would see the difference if you did it in-game yourself. If anybody would like to tell me which of my theories is right (if it's its own unique article or just a fastfall), that'd be nice. I think it's important to know because any other character with a Stall than (fast)fall aerial can take advantage of the same thing. There may also be other things for other characters to abuse... or it could the fact that Sonic's crap is unique and we have something (else) over every other character lololololol.
Dair also has two hitboxes. I will only say that the first hit does 8% fresh, while the second hit does 7% if neither are decayed. I will not go into how they have a different launch angle. It is somewhat obvious when you play in real matches, but I could not replicate the launch angles. Maybe it's the way I hit my opponent, like where, what part, yada yada yada. Many factors could go into it, but now we have numbers. Hurrah?
Double hurrah for getting all of Sonic's aerials complete. Next thing on the agenda is to get smash attacks, Specials, and some grab data.
I should probably mention this for myself for future reference.
Sonic is at the apex of his Spring Jump at around frames 40-60. Somewhere in that time period Sonic will not rise any further, and may start descending. I'll go over that when I cover Spring Jump.
Edit: WHAT?! I take a look at the guide, and I notice that Uair is missing completely!
No good! No good!
I was going to wait until somebody had something to say. Either about my data or anything else that concerned this guide (or not), but I suppose I should take this time to talk about the aerials too, maybe/yes/no/STFU Kinzer?
I'm sorry, I did say I'd get this all out a day after the last big contribution, but I'm lazy. I'm sorry~! I'm here now though, let me see what I can do. I still have to read individual posts, but for now I just want to see what needs to be added/removed/fixed in the guide.
[Nair]
"Unfortunately from a stale moves point of view, almost all of Sonic's other options are better thus the move is rarely used. "
What? Can this be reworded better or removed altogether? Nair is a very viable move at high %s. If it hits, the opponent cannot punish you, it's usually fresh so it'll usually deal full damage, and at later %s it will kill. Not that difficult considering a lot of people can fall for the SDJ > Nair combo. I'm going to assume the part about how it punishes spotdodges and has very little landing lag was already covered. If not, that should be mentioned too, especially that I have some numbers!
If I'm missing something like the Shieldstun for Nair, forgive me. I'll go over that when I do a complete overhaul of my shieldstun directory. It's off by at least 6 frames for every attack because of the way I calculated it, and I know I'm missing Nair; but I want to make sure I have everything 100% accurate (for real) the next time around.
Nair actually hits on the 6th frame. Get that fixed please.
[Bair]
Only "decent damage?" The stupid thing does 13% damage fresh with the strong hit, and Sonic's uncharged FSmash does 14%! You can't tell me with a straight face that ish ain't broken lol.
/somewhat kidding.
[Fair]
It should be mentioned that Fair does less damage if the opponent is behind Sonic when he does Fair. It can do anywhere between 9% and 14% fresh, and this is assuming you hit with all of the attacks... It is not that reliable for damage-racking, at least it does an okay job at that, and probably placement.
There may or may not be some potential for heaving-landing/AC'd fair on some characters, but I'd need to get the numbers for those to see if there is anything like that. Until then, eh... Works damn great on tall characters though, that's for sure.
"if the opportunity arises this attack should be used when a punish is guaranteed from reading a dodge or a shield is low," wat? I don't even know what's trying to be said here.
[Dair]
Opps, I forgot to get the landing lag from Dair, and I also forgot to mention that it takes Sonic 1 frame to stall in the air assuming he was already working his way down. Just 1 itty-bitty-wittle fwame though.
/cute.
30 frames of landing lag. About the same as Fair. Get that, huh?
I also added that up-on-top, just in case you really do like to copypasta and for the sake of wholeness.
Spring and Dair just seem to tie up with one another huh? I'm not sure if I should mention some stuff now or wait until we get more into that later, as we cover Spring Jump, or save it for another sub-section of the guide. Either way, I'll have ya boys covered. Count me on that.
I want dat visual! Unless I need to submit a picture or something, in which case lemme know, lol.
[Uair]
Since it's missing from the guide all-together, here my synopsis, following the guides format:
"Uair
*Insert nice picture here.*
Damage: 3% first hit, 6% second hit, 9% total. (Fresh)
Range: Good
Frame Data: Look up damn you.
Description: Up air is probably the most versatile of Sonic's aerials. It's tied with Fair for the fastest aerial Sonic has, the range both horizontally and vertically is deceptive as if switching the roles of Bair, and the attack itself sets up for a myriad of possibilities.
When Sonic's jab is too short-ranged; When Sonic's grab is not a brilliant idea, and when Sonic's down and forward tilt are too slow to punish or counterattack out of shield, up air is the next best bet.
The first hit covers as much, if not slightly more range than Sonic's jab horizontally, and the second hit is disjointed enough to beat just about most other characters attacks above Sonic with precise timing. Uair can be used to pressure an opponent on a platform; and is quick and mobile enough to avoid most counter attacks. With Sonic's speed and mobility, it makes for a great attack to use in the hopes of chasing or trapping an opponent.
A good mix-up option for every now and then is to hit an opponent with the first hit of up air, but land just before the second hit comes out. Depending on how the opponent reacts, it could set up for some follow-up attacks. Do note however that none are guaranteed."
