Yoshi (SSB)

This article is about Yoshi's appearance in Super Smash Bros. For other uses, see Yoshi.

Yoshi
Yoshi
Universe	Yoshi
Appears in	SSB SSBM SSBB
Availability	Starter
Tier	B (6)

Yoshi (ヨッシー, Yosshī, sometimes spelled Yossy in Japan) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros.

Attributes

One of Yoshi's most known attributes is his shield. It lasts slightly longer than other shields, and it is immune to shield stabbing because it covers his whole body. On the down side, Yoshi has a sluggish roll, and it takes slightly longer for Yoshi to exit his shield than other characters. Yoshi's neutral special move (Egg Lay) swallows enemies, does a little bit of damage, and then turns them into eggs. However, the usefulness of this move is questionable. His up special move, Egg Toss, is a projectile. The arc that it travels in can make it difficult to use, even though it has a good explosion range. The Egg Toss is easily one of the games best edge guards when used properly, as while you can block eggs with an aerial attack you cannot block the blast radius of the egg. His down special move, Yoshi Bomb, is only useful when used to stop Yoshi from being juggled and for recovering on the ledge. High level Yoshi players will position themselves above the ledge then Yoshi Bomb to grab the ledge to prevent from being edge guarded. Yoshi's grabs have good range due to being tether grabs (although they are still relatively short for tether grabs), but they have a lot of start-up lag. Yoshi's throws CAN be comboed. Other pros of Yoshi include being a good juggler, since his up smash is both fast and powerful and his U-tilt is very quick and has set knockback, the ability to double jump cancel, having a shield break combo, and having two spikes (his strong F-air and weaker D-air). His D-air can also do up to 56% damage if timed correctly, which makes it the most damaging move in the game.

File:Yoshistoryending.jpg

Yoshi's ending picture in Super Smash Bros.

He also has a good edgeguard move, his D-tilt, which has set horizontal knockback, high priority, and good range, and easily disrupts opponent's recoveries. Yoshi has knockback resistance during his second jump, but he lacks a third jump. Thus, he is highly vulnerable to being hit after his second jump while recovering.

In high level play, Yoshi is known for double jump cancels to break shields and double jump cancel Counters which enables Yoshi to hit opponent who have already hit him. Yoshi can also use his Counter coupled with his ability to parry to escape combos. Yoshi can parry by using the shield at a perfect moment [within 4 frames of being hit] and can then hit his attacker immediately. Yoshi can also Double jump cancel, Edge-Cancel Egg, and Egg Bomb Cancel. What holds Yoshi back, however, is the worst grab in ssb64, the highest overall learning curve, and an overall lack of a high priority move. Yoshi's learning curve is substantial being that Yoshi does not have a single dominant high priority move, and must often use mind games in order to approach characters. Yoshi's weight also makes him one of the easiest characters to 0-death combo with every character being able to combo him fairly easy. Yoshi is also countered heavily by the top 3 characters in ssb64 (Pikachu, Kirby, and Fox), with the biggest counter being Kirby. Yoshi overall does well vs. the lower tiers and does poorly vs. the higher tiers, granting Yoshi a lower middle spot. What sets Yoshi apart is that his unique hit box and the overall lack of high level Yoshi players makes him a unique match up for any character.

Normal Attacks

A Attacks

• A Kick, 3%
• AA Double Kicks, little horizontal knockback on second kick, 3, 5%

Tilts

• Forward A Kicks forward, 10-13% damage. Below-average upward diagonal knockback. Useful for setting up his F-air spike due to its hitstun. Refered to as the best F-Tilt in SSB.
• Up A Upwards headbutt, 9-12% damage with set upwards knockback. Great for setting up combos, and a very powerful move if used correctly
• Down A Tail sweeps in front of him, 8-10%, with set horizontal knockback. Great for edgeguarding.
• Dash attack Headbutt tackle, 9-12%, punishable due to a bit of ending lag.

Smash Attacks

• Forward smash Rears his head back [which can often throw off players attacking Yoshi] and then thrusts his head forward. Short ending lag, and has above-average horizontal knockback, 13-18%
• Up smash Forceful headbutt. Has good horizontal knockback from behind to top, average upwards knockback when hit near the end. 14-18%
• Down smash Tail sweeps on both sides, 11-14% on both sides, weak horizontal knockback for a smash attack, and has some ending lag

Aerial attacks

• Nair Sex Kick with below-average horizontal knockback. Yoshi's back heel has the highest priority of any Yoshi move and can be used to ledge guard. This move also is a great shield breaker when coupled with DJC, 9-14%
• Fair Aerial spiking headbutt , great knockback for a spike of its speed, can KO at medium percentages and combos into other aerial attacks at lower percentages, 15-18%
• Uair Whips his tail upwards, does 12-15%, and very powerful in combos using DJC.
• Bair Double Back Kick that has good horizontal knockback, does 12-14%
• Dair Flutter Kick that is capable of spiking at high percentages, does 14 hits of 3-4%, a maximum of 56 %. Is the most powerful move (in terms of damage and combos) . It is a shield breaker when used fully on platforms and can combo out of and into other moves. Less useful due to being a drill

Throws

His grab consists of pulling his head back and then launching his tongue forward. Has long ending lag if missing, but has a good range.

• Forward throw, reels back with opponent in mouth and throws them forward, 9-12% of damage with good horizontal knockback
• Back throw turns around, and throws his opponent backwards, does 12-16% with better knockback than forward throw.

Taunt

Spins 450 degrees while saying "Yoshi!", facing its left after the 450 degree twirl. It then does the following twice: raises its heels off the ground, raises its arms and opens its mouth, and says "Yoshi!" once while spinning.

Special Combos

• Utilt with a Dair to a finishing move. It should rack a large amount of damage and kill at a low percentage. This can be DI'd out of however due to it being a drill.
• Utilt with a Fair towards the edge of a stage. Great knockout, great spike.
• B Move (Egg Lay) to a Dair. Racks up less damage than a regular Dair due to the Yoshi Egg absorbing half of the damage.
• Spam Utilt and Uair for juggling.
• Utilt to an Upsmash to kill.
• Up tilt to DJC aerials

Special Moves

Yoshi's special moves

Neutral special	Egg Lay
Up special	Egg Throw
Down special	Hip Drop	Yoshi Bomb

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. (N64) Character Matchups

Avg.

Recovery

Yoshi's lack of a third jump is a major hindrance for beginner players, who often steer clear of him. However, Yoshi arguably has one of the best recoveries in the game. This is due to the fact that Yoshi gains knockback resistance during his midair jump, and that it can be canceled. The method of recovery then goes as follows: Yoshi uses his second jump at the last possible moment and then does an aerial attack right when he's above the ground, minimizing the time in which he is vulnerable of being edgeguarded. It is also important to note that while Yoshi only gets a second jump, he can cover much more distance than many other characters.

Palette Swaps

File:Alt-yoshi.jpg

Yoshi's changeable palette swaps in SSB

Trivia

• Yoshi is the only character to boast completely unplayable variants, a regular Blue Yoshi and a pink Yoshi, seen when you fight the Yoshi Team in the 1P Game
• If the player uses Yoshi against the Yoshi Team, all coloured Yoshis still appear, and in the exact same shade as the player's Yoshi.
• Yoshi takes after his look in Super Mario 64, but because Super Smash Bros. came out a while after that game, and animation techniques were improved in that time, his appearance was slightly updated.