Sans

"sans is here."

Sans is a major character in UNDERTALE, as well as a minor character in the first two chapters of Deltarune.

He is also a playable character in Nexed.

Real-World History
Sans was primarily designed by Toby Fox, the lead developer of UNDERTALE. However, the game's credits give mention to J.N. Wiedle, the author of the webcomic Helvetica, as a source of inspiration, likely influencing Sans' name and usage of Comic Sans MS in the bulk of his dialouge. The first "appearance" of Sans was in one of Fox's college notebooks, which was displayed on his Twitter in 2017.

In regards to UNDERTALE, Sans first appeared in a demo released in 2013, sharing a brief cameo role with his brother Papyrus after completing the demo on either the Neutral or Pacifist routes.

After UNDERTALE's 2015 release, Sans quickly gained popularity among the fandom as well as the general public, with critics praising his characterization and boss fight. As such, Sans essentially became the face of UNDERTALE, appearing in official crossovers such as Groove Coaster and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a Mii Gunner costume.

Gameplay Information
"heya. the name’s sans. sans the skeleton. i’m just one of the many monsters in snowdin town, usually hangin’ at grillby’s or with my brother, papyrus. my bro loves to hunt for humans and make puzzles, but i really can’t be bothered with all that. i try to help, but sometimes, a guy just has to take his breaks, y’know?

that said, it looks like papyrus got invited to some kind of fightin’ tournament. that stuff isn't really my thing, but someone’s gotta keep an eye on him. i wouldn’t want him feeling bonely, would i? just try and be a little easy on the guy, ok? i know i can count on you, bucko."

On the surface, Sans appears to be a character with more weaknesses than strengths. His mobility is sluggish, having some of the worst recovery in the game, and his low weight makes it easy for him to be KO'd relatively early. On top of this, Sans' best kill moves tend to be fairly situational or have high startup, making them only suitable for hard reads or traps.

However, beneath all that, Sans has the potential to be an incredibly strong fighter. His bone attacks are all multi-hits which ignore guarding, while his Neutral Special is one of the strongest in the game if properly used. Aside from his standard attacks, Sans has some of the game's best throws, and his dodges tend to cover lots of ground fairly quickly. Overall, while Sans can't take much abuse, proper mastery of his strengths can make him a force to be reckoned with in battle.

Moveset

 * Sans' Bones: Sans’ grounded strong attacks and directional aerials cause him to fire bones. Each of these bones is a multi-hit, dealing 1% every few frames and launching opponents with the final hit. This frame-based damage output ignores guarding, but not dodges.
 * Sans rides his tricycle in his dash animation.

Grounded Attacks

 * Jab: Sans extends his hand with a joy buzzer, being able to deal multiple hits of damage.
 * Dash Attack: Sans pushes himself forwards with a burst of momentum before coming to a stop.
 * Forward Light: Sans throws a lazy slap.
 * Up Light: Sans dozes off for a moment before jolting back awake, with his head acting as a strong hitbox.
 * Down Light: Sans extends his leg, dealing very little damage but being able to trip opponents.
 * Forward Strong: Sans sends a bone flying forward.
 * Up Strong: Sans sends a bone flying above himself.
 * Down Strong: Sans sends a small bone flying on each side of himself.
 * Counter: Several bones stab into the opponent from below, dealing multiple hits of damage before launching them upwards. This resembles Sans' "mercy" attack in UNDERTALE.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Air: Sans squeezes a whoopie cushion, creating a soundwave around himself.
 * Forward Air: Sans sends a bone flying forward.
 * Back Air: Sans sends a bone flying behind himself.
 * Up Air: Sans sends a bone flying above himself.
 * Down Air: Sans sends a bone flying below himself.

Grabs / Throws

 * Grab: Sans grabs the opponent with his telekinesis.
 * Pummel: Sans sends a bone through the opponent.
 * Forward Throw: Sans slams the opponent forwards.
 * Back Throw: Sans slams the opponent backwards.
 * Up Throw: Sans sends the opponent into the air.
 * Down Throw: Sans dunks the opponent onto the ground, launching them at a diagonal angle.

Stage Intro
A shadowy fog is seen on stage, with Sans stepping through it and winking at the camera before entering his “battle” stance.

Taunts

 * A hot dog appears on Sans’ head. This taunt can be repeated to add additional hot dogs for a maximum of ten. However, these hot dogs are merely cosmetic, and fall over once Sans performs any other action.
 * Sans plays three notes on his trombone.
 * A rimshot is heard as Sans shrugs.
 * Sans stares at the camera with pupil-less eyes.

Victory Animations
Sans' victory theme is a slightly remixed excerpt of sans. from UNDERTALE.
 * Sans is seen sleeping while standing up.
 * Sans is seen staring at the camera. It begins panning to the right, but Sans inexplicably follows it despite not being seen moving. He then shrugs at the camera.
 * Sans has his back ominously turned to the camera, but when he turns around, it’s revealed that he was just drinking a bottle of ketchup.

In addition to these, Sans has a secret fourth victory animation if he wins a match with his Level 3 Nexus Attack. Upon the end of the attack, the Game Over screen from UNDERTALE fades in as the Genocide version of Dogsong begins to play. Text from Sans then appears on-screen; "geeettttttt dunked on!!" . After this, the results screen appears as normal (although Dogsong will continue to play instead of the normal results music).

Colors / Costumes


Trivia

 * Sans was the first character to be added to Nexed post-launch (excluding modded characters).
 * Sans' tagline, "the weakest enemy." references the text which appears when Sans is checked during his boss battle in UNDERTALE. The line is also written in lowercase as opposed to the usual camelcase, resembling Sans' use of lowercase in most of his dialouge.

Gameplay-Related

 * Sans emits a blue aura when jumping, implying he’s using his telekinesis to “jump”.
 * Sans closes his eyes while guarding instead of entering a defensive stance.
 * Sans has no dodging animation. Instead, he slides to his desired location while retaining an idle pose.
 * Whenever Sans dodges an attack, the word “MISS” appears in his position.
 * If Sans is the last fighter to lose their final stock in a Stamina match, he will fade into dust.

Credits

 * MrYanpai: Creator of Sans' render.
 * Shaunt: Creator of a Rivals of Aether mod which inspired parts of Sans' moveset.