Marvel vs Capcom 2/SonSon/Strategy

Strategy

SonSon's six special moves and three Hyper Combos give her a longer movelist than most characters, and her staff gives her pretty great range and she attacks quickly even without it. Her normals make it easy to cancel into specials and supers as some are multi-hits. For starters, I want to break down her moves and their main use cases, to help build a rough gameplan draft you can use. I'll be using less objective wording here, and with as many options as SonSon has, knowing when to use each one can make or break a match.

Assist Choice

Heal

SonSon's Heal assist spawns a tangible peach that the point character needs to touch in order to restore some of their red health. The collision for the peach is accurate to the sprite (which means it isn't very big), so it can easily be low profiled by crouches or dashes, so be careful. She comes out behind the point character, so by default they're protecting her, but if they jump then she becomes an easy target for long ranged attacks. Always try to call this assist when you have more than enough time to grab the peach and go back to your gameplan. Depending on the point character, they may have special moves that can make grabbing the peach easy or simply faster than backdashing, such as Strider's LP Wall Cling~Kick (use that move with caution, as always) or Marrow's Ricochet Slash. Since SonSon is still treated like a character, she can be dragged around by the screen's corners moving. What this means is that certain attacks like Captain Commando's Corridor or Gambit's Cajun Explosion can also 'bring' her to you (by sending your opponent away, making the camera pull her to you) if you're midscreen, so in theory you could call her during a combo and get red health back uncontested! What might be the worst aspect of this assist is that its Alpha Counter is Fuusetsu Zan, which doesn't give her much to work with after spending the bar to switch in. The range on it is still nice, so it can reach from distances where Alpha Counters may usually whiff, but you don't exactly benefit on hit.

Projectile

SonSon's Projectile assist is HP Shienbu. She starts behind you, so the monkeys will need a bit of time to get in front of you if you want to use them as makeshift shields against other projectiles or extended hurtboxes. Despite that, their travel speed isn't especially fast, so you have ample time to dash behind them, similar to slow Sonic Booms, which can give you a chance to get in. The damage isn't bad, and each monkey deals a hit of chip, so this assist can be used for a little bit of lockdown on block as well as giving you a chance to go high/low. With the angles that the monkeys travel at, there's a variety of uses for this assist: first, it's a fine combo extension assist for getting more damage out of grounded combos. Second, as the monkeys spread apart vertically, you get a constant hitbox travelling at a 45 degree upwards that will continue until it reaches the end of the screen (so if they're up-backing and you approach, it'll stay on screen as the screen end moves). If they jump forwards into it, the pushback can bump them into the forwards monkey on their way down too. Third, it can be a tool for OTGs or guaranteed Juggles thanks to the forwards monkey being low to the ground and the other two going downwards (one before going upwards instead, and the other before continuing into the floor). The Alpha Counter for this assist is actually LP Shienbu, where the monkeys travel slower, which can give her a little more breathing room on her way in from their screen presence lasting longer.

Anti-air

SonSon's Anti-air assist is HP Seiten Rengeki, and it's her popular assist for good reason. It's fast, big, disjointed, and covers a great range in front of you on the ground and pretty high into the air too. The damage is good on hit and it sets them up around super jump height, which can work great for combo extensions or character-specific setups like infinites or supers. The active frames last for a while, up to the very top of the move's height. The hitboxes start while she's still grounded, so this assist can also OTG if you need it to. This assist is what SonSon might be most known for, as its short total duration makes it spammable and the knockback it provides puts people high in the air which isn't a great spot to be in for most characters. With HP Seiten as its Alpha Counter, you can cancel straight into Tenchi like you would on point, and you still have no landing recovery.

People tend to pick either Y, as its great traits are more immediately useful. Team Hyper Combos with her A and B assists have the THC-exclusive and automatic version of En'Ou, so depending on the team setup that can be a stronger asset to have for damage output, chip potential, as well as and screen clearing.

Normals

Lights

5LP, 2LP, and 5LK all have the same speed at 5 frames, so which one you'll use basically depends on where you need the hitbox to be. Since 2LP reaches a bit further and has a shorter hurtbox than both, it'll be the most useful when you're close but not next to your opponent. Since 2LP has more reach, it also has a wider hurtbox than the others, so in a pinch you may prefer her other lights.

2LK is her first low, and while it has shorter reach than 2LP, that's a fine trade-off if it means you get the hit if they weren't blocking low.

While j.LP and j.LK can both instant overhead, j.LP's lower-placed and farther-reaching hitbox makes it your go-to for IOHs as well as potential air-to-airing. j.LK's higher hitbox placement and longer active frames can benefit you in air scrambles where j.LP would whiff, and it can also be used to shrink her air hurtbox upwards a tiny bit.

Mediums

Since all four of SonSon's grounded lights combo directly into 5HP, 2HP, and 6HP, she doesn't need to use her mediums in grounded Magic Series chains. That said, they still have uses!

5MP and 5MK are both two-hit normals that can give you ample time to hitconfirm into heavies, or even straight to Seiten Rengeki. They can also see use in combos for buying time for slower assists to connect before you cancel into a special or super. Due to pushback on hit/block, comboing both hits of 5MP into both hits of 5MK is a little tricky. If you need to use her MPs, she's better off doing one hit of 5MP into both hits of 5MK or both hits of 5MP into one hit of 5HK.

2MP has great reach, but hits mid. Can be nice when delayed after 2LP (or quickly after a spaced 2LP while you're still in range) to keep them in blockstun for a bit longer.

2MK is her second low, and makes up for its short horizontal reach by having a pretty tall hitbox. On hit, 2MK actually pops the opponent up for a hit, which lets her do some neat tricks. With her normals, 5HP, 2HP, 6HP, and 5HK don't combo, so 2MK may seem like it isn't very useful... but she can cancel it into 2HK and put the opponent a bit higher up than its normal launch height, which can make certain air combo routes easier. The real reward of 2MK on hit actually comes from certain special cancels*:

• 2MK > Seiten works similarly to 2MP > 2HK in that they end up a bit higher, which can be useful for combos.
• 2MK > Kingin can be a gimmicky frametrap if your opponent tends to press out of hitstun. Not really advisable, but one of the easier solo set ups into it.
• 2MK > Wall Walk is great if you need to quickly get away. The pop up 2MK has on hit basically prevents them from doing anything until they land (at which point SonSon's much closer to reaching the wall than if she cancelled from anything else).
• *While 2MK > 5HK doesn't combo, 5HK moves her collision forwards a few frames before it becomes active. It's possible to use 2LK > 2MK > 5HK and kara-cancel the 5HK into a cross-up Seiten, Tenchi Tsuukan, or anything else if you're feeling silly enough. This is best done after a dash, so your momentum can carry you under them and give you more time to cross under.

j.MP and j.MK are standard air combo filler. j.MP's hitbox is higher and reaches farther out. For jump-ins, both are outclassed by j.HK's higher damage and lower hitbox.

Heavies

5HP is one of her key normals. It's fast, hits hard, and has a bit of disjoint at the end. The hitbox is great, as it covers a square of space in front of her and is a key OTG tool since the hitbox hits the ground.

2HP is her third low as well as her sweep. Nice range for how fast it is, and she has a few decent OTG options if they don't roll it. Seiten Rengeki can OTG into Tenchi Tsuukan, while Shienbu is best used as an OTG exclusively to combo into POW if you have the meter, or assists that won't connect if you use Seiten. You can also OTG with Snap.

5HK has great damage like 5HP, but the startup makes it riskier to throw out than her other heavies. While she's swinging around the Ruji Jingu Bang, she has a high-profile hurtbox, so a fair number of moves will go clean under her. As mentioned earlier, 5HK after 2MK can let SonSon actually cross under her opponent if she kara-cancels into a special or super, so 2MK > 5HK can be a tricky tool if you're close enough when you go for it.

2HK is SonSon's launcher. The horizontal range is very short: it won't combo off of 5HP nor 6HP (even in the corner) so try using it after 2MP or 2MK instead. It launches at a diagonal angle, but her air lights are plenty capable of connecting if you Super Jump forwards, so it's not a problem. The diagonal launch angle actually sets up perfectly into HP Seiten, so it benefits her. An important quirk of 2HK is that it's actually Super Jump Cancellable during startup. As an advanced (it's hard and not necessary to learn!) technique, if you're fast enough (very fast) you can cancel other normals into 2HK and immediately Super Jump Cancel it for a pinch of extra meter on your way up. If you'd rather stay close to the floor, you can airdash once you're airborne (or cancel the Super Jump's startup into moves on the ground if you're crazy).

j.HP's hitboxes aren't as big as the animation might suggest, and its three hits can lead to combo scaling that would make j.HK a better choice. Where j.HP shines is as an air to air and in specific sequences to allow SonSon to perform FSD combos. When she's in Super Jump state, j.HP can meet all the necessary conditions to trigger Flying Screen, and if done close enough to the floor, she can OTG off of the knockdown provided.

j.HK is your main air combo ender and jump-in tool. It deals less total damage than j.HP when done raw, but during combos it's single hit can deal more damage than j.HP's three. If you're close enough to the opponent or simply in the corner, you can end air combos with j.HP > j.HK for a bit of extra damage. Normal Jumping with j.HK can hit lots of characters standing as well.

Command Normals

6HP knocks opponents back on hit. Does less damage than 5HP and 5HK, but its range makes it easier to use as a giant stop sign of a counterpoke or whiff punish tool thanks to its half-screen hitbox. The hitbox also reaches low enough to OTG, and thanks to its longer active frames, 6HP can be a fine choice if timing 5HP for OTGs is difficult for you. The pushback on hit also lets SonSon cancel into specials like Shienbu and Wall Walk pretty safely.

3HP shares sprites with the second hit of 5MK, and it uses its hitbox to great effect as SonSon's second launcher. Faster than raw 2HK, and has more horizontal but less vertical range. As a universal launcher, it can only be done raw and can't cancel into, nor be cancelled into from other normals. (Inputting 5LK > 3HP will give you 5LK > 2HP. Inputting 3HP > 5HK will only give you 3HP.)

Throws

SonSon's throws are pretty decent. Her HP throw will either put her point-blank behind her opponent if you do a forward throw, or about a character length away on the original side if you do a backward throw. For whatever reason, this throw actually carries her horizontal momentum into the falling animation afterwards: if you're frame perfect, she'll fall back down where she started the throw. The grounded version keeps the opponent where they were, as it puts them in knockdown. Her air HP throw sends them down and slightly forwards, and works similarly to its grounded counterpart when it comes to her falling trajectory afterwards. It's easier to see that quirk there if you jump straight up. Her HP throws, both grounded and airborne, leave her at a frame disadvantage unless the opponent Tech Rolls.

Her HK throw gives her considerable frame advantage at the cost of 1 less point of damage. It also actually moves the opponent depending on the direction used, unlike her HP throws, and its longer total duration lets it combo into directly assists hitting normally or as an OTG if they hit late enough.

Specials

Shienbu

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Seiten Rengeki

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Kingin no Hisago

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Fuusetsu Zan

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Wall Walk

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Hofuku Zenshin

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Hypers

Tenchi Tsuukan

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En'Ou

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POW

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Strategies

*Offensive and Defensive Balance is key! - It's good to lay on the pressure, but if you openly attack at every chance you get, your opponent will read for holes in your defense. What you want to do is be inconsistent to throw your opponent off their game so they can't predict your movements and options. It's an easy pitfall to get stuck in since SonSon can attack so fast and so often, but if your opponent is blocking all your attacks and making you bleed when it's their turn, what's the point? On the other hand, blocking too much will get you killed for sure. [?Once you're in the corner you will get assist spammed to hell and back since SonSon cannot get out of the corner easily nor does she have a wide radial attack for clearing space as other characters do.?] Kinggo could be a saving grace, but that move is Very conditional since it can be blocked.

There really isn't much of a specific "advanced" strategy that is only for SonSon, it's applicable to all characters: play smart, capitalize on openings and human error, and anticipate.

Against Gods

Against Storm? You're going to die. BUT if you are trying to do something, tiger knee (SJ) Shienbu can be okay if she's far away, since you can block on the way down. If you do normal jump monkeys, you are helpless afterwards. Wall Walk is also a good tool. If you predict a ground typhoon correctly, you can kick her out of it into Seiten -> Tenchi. If she's flying and typhooning in the air, you can try anti-airing with Tenchi. Also remember that you can use En'Ou's invincible startup to get through her hailstorm. Even at top level play, don't expect this matchup to be fair.

Against Cable? You are REALLY going to die. If you try ANYTHING, you are getting shot. You have to be patient and navigate the minefield to get close to him. If he does a normal shot near you, you can sweep him with down fierce. But yeah, anything you do is very punishable by Cable. You can fake a Wall kick by doing the Wall Walk~P to cancel it, in order to bait out an AHVB[?why would you risk this LOL?]. But that's pretty much all you have :( If you have enough energy, you could monkey-up and take an AHVB, but you can punish him after the first one and then DHC.

Final Thoughts

SonSon can be quite versatile if used correctly. There are few weaknesses she has[?, namely her assists aren't that strong?]. I've been able to rival some very very skilled Magnetos because SonSon's 2LK is almost as quick as his LK. If you like her, then use her, because the tier guides don't mean anything if the players aren't skilled.

--Yeyzor 05:57, 9 July 2010 (UTC)yeyzor