Announced in today's Nintendo Direct. His page is up on the official website.

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Playing as Sonic was extremely fun in Brawl, so I'm glad he's back.

I guess that answers the question of what other guest character will be in the game. I certainly don't expect there to be a third.

i'm sure people that enjoy sonic will be happy with the news

i thought he was pretty shit in brawl but after reading the backlash on my man toon link i'm not going to be negative about it. more characters confirmed is always a good thing, plus there are a lot of sonic fans out there

Sure, why not.

Gotta go fast. I hope it's not the long-legged new-age punk version of sonic but the more cutesy one.

Fucking. Yes. I welcome backlash, I welcome hate, glad to have my boy back regardless!

Yay, the MegaMan Sonic Show down will not just be in comics :)

That's good. Sonic belongs in Smash now, I feel.

There you go.

I'm still just kinda disoriented by Megaman, Sonic and Mario all being in the same game. If my 8 year old self could see this he'd have some kind of happiness-induced seizure.

Cool, I hope he's easier to play this time around. That and maybe give him another move not based on him becoming a blue spinning ball.

I mained Sonic during my time with Brawl and I still say boo. Bring in new guest characters damn it!

Man if they claim to be trimming the roster down and these are the winners we're stuck with... oh boy.

Whatever, it's not like Kirby will ever be taken out of the game. And even if F-Zero is dead to Nintendo's eyes, we better fucking see the captain.

Sonic was one of my favorite additions to Brawl so I'm very happy.

Alright, that's an OK return announcement. I didn't even know Sonic was in Brawl until we unlocked him, which was a great moment.

@mikkaq: To be fair, they never actually said they were trimming the whole roster down - just that they weren't focusing on increasing it/bringing in new characters like with previous instalments. It seems likely that most of the regulars will still be there .

Chubby Sonic or bust.

Really? I fully expect Pac-Man to be the third and final guest character. This is still a Namco joint, I doubt that they wouldn't get at least one representative.

My teeth are almost grinded down completely sitting alone, waiting anxiously for the King Dedede announcement.

King DeDeDe will be in the game. Do not doubt.

Sonic is cool. I'm glad he's returning. It looks like his moveset will remain mostly the same, which is a big bummer, but I can't wait to pit he, Mario, and Sonic together. That's like, my childhood fantasy. As a matter of fact, my other favorite video game characters from my younger days were Crash and Snake, so if Snake returns... oh boy. I highly doubt we'll see Snake, unfortunately. And Crash is impossible, but my love of him faded long ago (my love for Mega Man WILL NEVER FADE).

Anyways, Mega Man looks fantastic and that is all I have ever really wanted in life.

@hailinel said:

I am willing to bet 50 Brad Bucks that there is at least one more. Do you accept?

@hunter5024: I do, indeed.

Hopefully he is better this time around. I'm glad to have him back.

It is disheartening that of the 17 announced characters, only 3 of them are new.

@trafalgarlaw said:

Sadly, the Sonic branding doesn't ping pong back and forth between old Sonic and new Sonic (except in Generations, which was a weird exception).

If Sonic is in any sort of crossover game (Smash Bros., Sega All Stars Racing, etc.), it's almost guaranteed to be current "long-legged new-age punk" Sonic.

I didn't really like how he played in Brawl, but his inclusion makes sense. While I enjoyed how snake plays, I think they are better off getting rid of him and other "realistic looking" characters. Keeping all the characters cartoon-like gives the game a more consistent look.

Nintendo should buy Sega and start fresh making good Sonic games if they like him so much. Then we can blame another company for not localizing all the cool shit. But Shenmue III a Wii U exclusive? That'd be nuts.

Yep, that's a good get for Smash once again, star power will always generate interest.