Yoshi (SSBB)

Yoshi in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Yoshi
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Super Dragon
Tier	D (27)

Confirmed on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! website on July 24, 2007, Yoshi (ヨッシー, Yoshi) is a returning veteran in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Yoshi is once again voiced by Kazumi Totaka, albeit with recycled voice clips from Yoshi's Story, SSB64, and Melee.

Yoshi currently ranks 27th on the tier list at the last spot of mid tier, a vast drop from his 10th position in Melee, and his worst placement in the series. Yoshi is a unique character; he is a heavyweight with the fastest air speed in Brawl, possesses a recovery that revolves around the best midair jump in Brawl, and possesses a unique shield that does not shrink, making him completely immune to shield stabbing. Yoshi in general has great all around movement speed (possessing a fast walking and dashing speed to compliment his air speed), and fast attacks throughout his moveset. Additionally, Yoshi possesses grab release options on several characters (which include chain grabs on nearly half the cast and a forward aerial meteor smash follow up), which is complimented by one of the best pivot grabs. Yoshi also has among the best horizontal survivability with above-average vertical survivability due to his heavyweight status and average falling speed, good reach all around, a great get off move in his jab, and a great anti-air projectile in Egg Throw. Yoshi has some strong flaws however, the most major of which being his almost non-existent out of shield options, as he is unable to jump out of shield (the only character with this hindrance), which combines with his slow standing grab and poor roll dodge for one of the worst close up games (resulting in Yoshi being easy to pressure). Yoshi also has an over-reliance on his double jump to recover, making footstool jumps, meteor smashes, or certain special grabs very dangerous to him (although he can air dodge during his second jump to gain invincibility). Other flaws include his slow and laggy standing and dashing grabs and an awkwardly large hurtbox on his nose that makes it easier to hit and space Yoshi. He also has poor KO power, since outside of his forward smash, up aerial and neutral aerial, he lacks other effective finishers, since his up and down smashes are among the weakest and back aerial cannot KO reliably. Overall, this has resulted in average matchups and average tournament results for Yoshi.

Attributes

Yoshi is a rather heavy character, tied with Wario in weight, but rather small and fast for his weight. He is very maneuverable in the air with a slow falling speed and the fastest air speed in the game, which are not usually attributes found in heavyweights. His moves generally have decent speed (although not as quick as several characters), weak knockback, and his range is good for non-disjointed moves. His Flutter Kick (down aerial) can hit for 35% if used correctly, making it among the most damaging attacks in the game (although this can be escaped with SDI). Arguably the most notable aspect of Yoshi's moveset is his midair jump, which is the farthest-reaching in the game, and gives him limited knockback resistance during the ascent. As long as Yoshi has his double jump, he can also be an effective edge guarder, either finishing enemies off with his meteor smashes, or using his neutral aerial at the right time to knock them back even further. This also allows Yoshi to perform a pseudo-wavedash, known as the Dragonic Reverse, which allows him to move and attack somewhat spontaneously. However, it is very difficult to execute, so its actual usage is limited.

One significant flaw with Yoshi is that, because of his minuscule third jump, Footstool Jumps, grabs (such as special grabs that can catch in the air), and attacks with enough knockback to cancel his midair jump's resistance can be devastating to Yoshi should they be performed while he is in his second jump. He is quite speedy on the ground, but he has few effective ways to advance on the opponent. Yoshi's standing grab range has lots of start up lag, and his dash grab is very punishable, with both being relatively short for tether grabs. However, Yoshi arguably has the best pivot grab in the game. His specials are largely situational due to a mix of poor range and speed. Egg Throw, for example, is an effective projectile attack that can help change directions in midair and can help recovery, but it can be hard to use because it travels in an arc, which can make it hard to hit with. Although his shield gives him immunity to shield stabbing and lasts slightly longer than others, it has a long exiting animation (taking 15 frames to shield drop instead of 7 frames for anyone else) and it cannot be jumped out of, giving him arguably the worst out of shield options in the game when considering his very slow standing grab, making him have a near impossible time punishing the opponent for hitting Yoshi's shield. His roll is also poor, though he has one of the best spot dodges in the game.

Yoshi's major advantage is in his grab-release on a large number of cast members. He has a grab-release on at least nineteen cast members, and he can grab-release-spike seven of those.

Yoshi is a character with very clear advantages and disadvantages. Many of his advantageous match-ups stem from his grab-release or other tricks he can pull off, but his relatively short and laggy grab can be an impediment (though he can pivot grab to remedy this). Yoshi's extremely high learning curve and difficulty in using his chain grabs on some characters means that only dedicated Yoshi players can do very well with him.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee

Yoshi has received noticeable buffs, such as a much better grab game due to his new air release option on a large portion of the cast and his new effective pivot grab, his superior mobility especially in the air, a majorly improved recovery due to him now performing a small jump when using Egg Throw and he was initially considered to be overall greatly buffed in the transition from Melee to Brawl due to him being thought as a low tier character, or even among the worst. However, as Yoshi's metagame in Melee developed, he is now considered much better that he was thought to be before, while the changes caused by the transition to Brawl caused him to be significantly nerfed.

Yoshi has received several big direct nerfs, and the new mechanics introduced in Brawl overall plagued him. His KO potential was drastically reduced, as the severely decreased knockback to many of his attacks, most notably his smash attacks, sweetspotted forward aerial and Yoshi Bomb and damage to his down air removed down smash and Yoshi Bomb's KO potential and up smash is now among the weakest, leaves him capable of KOing reliably only with his now weak forward smash, his neutral aerial and his up aerial, while Egg Roll no longer gives him horizontal distance, making it completely useless for recovering and removes its utility outside of momentum canceling, and the drastic changes applied to his double jump and worsened comboing ability due to the loss of double jump canceling and the addition of the hitstun canceling have harmed Yoshi very significantly. Yoshi's biggest nerf however is his already abysmal shield game. His shield is significantly worse going from being different but still useful in Melee to being almost unusable compared to the rest of the cast. He still cannot jump out of shield and has lost all his advanced techniques out of shield, which is an exacerbated problem in Brawl's defensive play, where a character's out of shield game is much more important. This is made worse by the fact that Yoshi now suffers from the same amount of shieldstun as the rest of the cast. His shield grab while improved from Melee is still among the slowest in the game and is extremely situational at best. The only positives his shield has are the fact it still cannot be shield poked and that he possesses one of the best spot dodges in the game which has had its invincibility increased from Melee. This causes him to have the worst defensive game in Brawl, with terrible out of shield options and the loss of all his advanced techniques.

As such, the intensity of the nerfs heavily overshadow the buffs he received, making him a much less effective character than in Melee.

Aesthetics

• Yoshi's appearance is that of his upright, bubblier appearance used in all future Mario games, starting with Yoshi's Story. His skin is more smooth and his eyes now have blue irises.
• While Yoshi's tail is smaller in Brawl, his tail grows bigger for attacks where it is used than it did in Melee.
• The spikes on his back are curved rather than spiky, like they are in his appearances recent prior to Brawl's release.
• His tongue also makes a different sound.
• Yoshi's skin color is a darker tone.
• Yoshi's previous taunt has been moved to his down taunt and has a new voice clip.
• Yoshi no longer uses his stun voice clip when waking out of sleep status.

Attributes

• Yoshi dashes faster (1.6 → 1.68).
• Yoshi's air speed is faster (1.2 → 1.316). Excluding Wario-Man, he now has the fastest air speed in the game.
• Yoshi's falling speed is slower (1.93 → 1.29). However, Yoshi still falls faster when comparing to the returning veterans, making him even easier to combo due to his hunched stance but improving his endurance.
• Yoshi's gravity is lower (0.093 → 0.07347).
• Yoshi is one unit lighter (108 → 107), slightly worsening Yoshi's endurance.
• If Yoshi attacks during his double jump he does not stop momentum, unless he uses his special moves, like Egg Throw. This means that Yoshi can no longer double jump cancel with his aerials, significantly hindering his combo ability although it increases his recovery's safety.
• Yoshi's jumpsquat is longer (5 frames → 6).
• Yoshi's traction is lower (0.06 → 0.0426), especially when comparing with the returning veterans, now going from the 15th highest in Melee to the 4th worst. Due to the removal of wavedashing, this hinders him overall, which is further exacerbated by his poor shield game and a character's out of shield game being more imperative than ever.
• Yoshi's double jump now uses standard knockback based armor, rather than subtractive knockback-based armor. This mean's that once Yoshi's double jump armor is broken, he will now receive full knockback from the move that caused it, rather than the difference in knockback.
• Yoshi's powershield window has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 3-4 → 1-3).
  • However, he can no longer setup up at any point of his shielding animation in the right circumstances, now functioning like every other character.
• The removal of light shield hinders Yoshi more than the rest of the cast as he can no longer use his light shield to slide across the stage to escape shield pressure when hit.
• Yoshi now suffers from the same amount of shieldstun as the rest of the cast rather than having no shieldstun. This especially hurts him considering the fact that every other character suffers from less shieldstun.
• Yoshi can no longer jump out of his initial shield animation, removing his ability to parry.
• Yoshi can no longer throw items out of a roll, preventing him for glide tossing.
  • Altogether, these changes combined with Yoshi's shield drop only becoming one frame shorter (which especially hurts him considering the fact that every other character's shield drop animation is 8 frames shorter) and with Yoshi still being unable to powershield cancel have drastically hindered Yoshi's shield game, going from being unique to the absolute worst in the game by a large margin.
• Spot dodge has a longer duration (frames 2-15 → 2-20).
• Yoshi now has the ability to crawl, giving him the ability to duck under moves or shrink his hurtbox.
• Yoshi now has access to super glide tossing giving him an additional approach option when holding an item. Yoshi's super glide toss can cover almost half of Final Destination.
• The changes to meteor canceling benefits Yoshi more than most other returning veterans as it improves his forward and down aerial's reliability and he is less vulnerable to meteor smashes compared to the rest of the cast as his meteor cancel window is larger than any other returning veteran.
• Yoshi has an overall drastically improved recovery, due to his increased air speed and his Egg Throw now giving him a slight hop, as well as the fact that since he can not double jump cancel; he can now use his aerials during his midair jump to fend off edge-guarders without killing the momentum from his midair jump. Additionally, Brawl's new air dodge mechanics allows Yoshi to air dodge while keeping the momentum of his midair jump, essentially giving him an invincible recovery move.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The second hit deals slightly more damage (5% → 6%), making it stronger despite its altered knockback, which makes it safer on hit at lower percentages (8 (base)/120 (growth) → 25/100).
• Forward tilt:
  • Yoshi has a new forward tilt: a tail swat instead of a strong kick.
  • It has more increased range, improves its combo potential at lower percents due to its now lowered damage output.
  • It deals less damage (13%/12%/11% → 10%/9%/8%), making it weaker.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has slightly less startup lag (frame 8 → 7), and, due to no animation change, it can hit grounded opponents better overall.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt no longer has set knockback, instead having very small knockback growth (100 (set) → 65 (base), 30 (scaling)). It also now has a sourspot located at the tip of his tail that deals half damage (10% → 5%) and sends opponents at the Sakurai angle.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has less reach (9.54u → 6u).
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash deals noticeably less knockback (32 base/94 growth → 20/92). It also has smaller hitboxes (4.8/4/2.4 → 4.2/3.7/3) and more ending lag (FAF 44 → 51).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash deals more damage (14% → 16%) and has a longer duration (frames 11-15 → 11-16).
  • It has drastically less knockback (26 (base)/108 (growth) → 23/83), greatly hindering its KO potential despite the higher damage, and has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 44).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash's knockback was weakened drastically (50 (base)/75 (growth) → 30/63), to where it can no longer reliably KO under 150%. Despite Yoshi's tail being longer when performing this move, it is less disjointed by comparison, slightly hindering its reach.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have decreased landing lag (15 frames → 9 (neutral/back), 21 frames → 16 (forward), 19 frames → 14 (up), 26 frames → 24 (down)) however due to the removal of L-canceling, their landing lag was not fully compensated.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial can now be used to lock opponents.
  • It deals less damage (14% (clean), 10% (late) → 12%/9%/6%) hindering its KO potential. It also has a shorter duration (frames 3-33 → 3-31) and auto-cancels later (frame 36 → 38).
  • It has an altered animation.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial is now a much more reliable KO option onstage due to its new sourspot.
  • Forward aerial's meteor smash is much weaker dealing less damage (17% → 15%) and knockback (30 (base), 100 (scaling) → 0/90), going from the third strongest meteor smash in Melee to a meteor smash of average power in Brawl and harder to land, since it now has a sourspot that launches horizontally, even though it deals 1% more damage than the meteor smash hitbox.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has more ending lag (FAF 38 → 40) and auto-cancels later (frame 33 → 38).
  • With the exception of the final hit, back aerial deals less damage (7% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2), 5% (hit 3), 4% (hit 4) → 4% (hits 1 & 4), 3% (hits 2 & 3)). This hinders its damage racking potential but makes it connect more reliably and it improves its combo potential as the first three hits deal less knockback. The final hit also has higher base knockback (40 → 50).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has less ending lag (FAF 39 → 38) and it can now be performed twice in a short hop. The universally decreased falling speeds also make it a more reliable KO move.
• Down aerial:
  • All hits of Yoshi's down aerial flow into each other much more easily, strengthening its combo ability.
  • It has less startup lag (frame 18 → 16).
  • It has a drastically lowered overall damage output (53% → 35%), though it's still the most damaging aerial attack in the game by a considerable margin (beating Snake's neutral and down aerials by 7%).

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Standing grab has less startup lag (frame 18 → 17) though it is still the slowest standing grab in the game tied with Samus. Yoshi's grabs also have less ending lag (FAF 79 (standing), frame 70 (dash) → frame 63 (both).
  • Yoshi will now always force his opponent into an aerial grab release if he doesn't throw his opponent. This combined with the changes to aerial grab releases give him grab release followups on a significant portion of the cast, such as a chain grab on 17 characters and a guaranteed followup into his forward aerial meteor smash offstage.
  • Introduction of a great pivot grab significantly improved Yoshi's grabbing game, and help boost his defensive game. Yoshi's pivot grab has the least amount of startup out of his grabs (frame 10) and more significantly; ending lag (FAF 36).
  • Yoshi no longer vocalizes when grabbing; the relevant vocalizations are moved to Egg Lay.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel has less ending lag (FAF 25 → 16).
  • It deals 1% less damage (3% → 2%).
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw deals more damage (6% → 7%), improving its KO potential but hindering its chaingrabbing potential although this is compensated with the fact that moves which do not put opponents into tumble can no longer be DIed.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw deals more damage (6% → 7%), improving its KO potential but hindering its chaingrabbing potential although this is compensated with the fact that moves which do not put opponents into tumble can no longer be DIed.
• Up throw:
  • Down throw has reduced knockback (120 (base), 20 (scaling) → 100/25) making it a better combo move however, the introduction of hitstun canceling limits its combo potential.

Special moves

• Egg Lay:
  • Egg Lay has a longer duration (frames 17-21 → 17-22) and can now be B-reversed.
  • Due to universally decreased fall speeds, Egg Lay is much less effective at edgeguarding.
  • Yoshi now vocalizes when using Egg Lay.
• Egg Roll:
  • Egg Roll has different sound effects.
  • Egg Roll now gives virtually no horizontal distance when used in the air while still sending him into a helpless state if the move has been canceled, making it completely ineffective as a recovery move (even though it also almost completely negates momentum, this is negligible, as Yoshi will be guaranteed to fail to make it back to the stage if he uses it this way under normal circumstances).
• Egg Throw:
  • Egg Throw now gives Yoshi a slight hop in the air, improving his recovery.
  • The eggs from Egg Throw deal less damage (10%/12% → 9%) and knockback, and they can no longer be tossed backwards (although this nerf is nullified because he can now reverse this move); they additionally have a finite number of throwing angles and they have more startup lag and a shorter duration (frames 18-55 → 20-40).
  • Yoshi no longer vocalizes when using Egg Throw.
• Yoshi Bomb:
  • When Yoshi Bomb is used from the ground, it produces a weak hitbox during the rise that takes an enemy standing directly in front of Yoshi up with him, comparable to Final Cutter.
  • The aerial version has more startup lag (frame 19 → 20), deals less damage (14% → 12%) and significantly less knockback (46 (base), 96 (scaling) → 55/70) and is no longer a KO move under 150%. The grounded version also deals less damage (16% → 15%) and knockback (50 (base), 98 (scaling) → 60/70).
  • The move's plummet is slower.
  • The move's produces a different sound effect when landing.
• Super Dragon:
  • Yoshi now has a Final Smash, Super Dragon. Yoshi sprouts wings from his back and starts flying. In this form, Yoshi can fly around freely, damaging opponents by simply touching them (similar to Super Sonic) and breath streams of fire that deals heavy damage. After 20 seconds, Yoshi will turn back to normal.

Moveset

For a visual representation of Yoshi's attack hitboxes, see this page.
For a more detailed information regarding Yoshi's moveset and attack hitboxes, see this page.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Yoshi quickly kicks with his left leg, then with his right leg. The feet Yoshi strikes with are invulnerable.
			6%
Forward tilt	↗		10%	Yoshi spins and swipes opponents with his tail. Can be angled up or down. When angled up, it can KO at 197% from the center of Final Destination.
	→		9%
	↘		8%
Up tilt			11% (tail), 10% (tail tip)	Yoshi crouches and flicks his tail upwards.
Down tilt			10% (tail), 5% (tail tip)	Yoshi performs a low sweep with his tail.
Dash attack			9% (clean), 7% (late)	Yoshi does a running headbutt. Does decent knockback and can KO at 187%.
Forward smash			16%	Yoshi slams his head forward with a powerful headbutt. Yoshi's head is invincible during the attack. Can be aimed up or down. KOs at 112% when uncharged and 72% when fully charged.
Up smash			16%	Yoshi headbutts upwards. Yoshi's head is invincible during the attack, similar to his forward smash. KOs at 131% when uncharged and 85% when fully charged.
Down smash			14% (front), 13% (back)	Yoshi strikes on both sides with his tail. Very quick, but has surprisingly low knockback. KOs at 178% when uncharged and 123% when fully charged with the front hit.
Neutral aerial			12% (clean), 9% (mid), 6% (late)	Yoshi performs a sex kick. The size of his foot is larger during the attack to indicate an extended reach. KOs at 142% from the center of Final Destination.
Forward aerial		Noggin Dunk	16% (body), 15% (head)	Yoshi winds up and slams his head downward. The head meteor smashes and can KO at 187%, while the body deals horizontal knockback and can KO at 132%.
Back aerial			4% (hits 1), 3% (hits 2-3), 4% (hit 4)	Yoshi wags his tail rapidly, hitting four times.
Up aerial			13%	Yoshi flips his body and flicks his tail upward. Considered Yoshi's best KO move.
Down aerial		Flutter Kick	2-3% (hits 1-7), 1-2% (hits 8-15)	Yoshi rapidly peddles his feet as he descends. Can deal up to 33% on large opponents.
Grab			—	Yoshi uses his tongue to grab an opponent and pull them into his mouth. His dash grab cause him to trip if he doesn't get anyone. Despite the appearance, Yoshi's tongue isn't a tether, though it's range and lag is between tethers and normal grabs.
Pummel			2%	Chews on the opponent.
Forward throw			7%	Yoshi spits the opponent forwards.
Back throw			7%	Exactly the same as the forward throw, just backwards.
Up throw			5%	Yoshi spits the opponent upwards.
Down throw			4%	Yoshi spits the opponent into the ground.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Gets up and headbutts both sides of himself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Gets up and spin kicks both sides of himself.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Gets up and whips his tail both sides of himself.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			6%	Gets up and whips his tail.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			12%	Slowly gets up and slams his head forward with short range. The third most damaging ledge attack in the game.
Neutral special		Egg Lay	7%	Yoshi swallows the foe and turns them into an egg.
Side special		Egg Roll	4-12%	Yoshi eggs himself and rolls around. The damage done is based on how fast he's moving. At max speed, it can KO at roughly 170%.
Up special		Egg Throw	1% (contact), 8% (explosion)	Yoshi throws an egg in a controllable parabolic arc. This moves gives Yoshi a small boost when used in the air.
Down special		Yoshi Bomb	4% (hop), 15% (ground drop), 12% (air drop), 4% (stars)	Yoshi plummets downwards, producing stars when he lands. KOs at 111% (both hits), 123% (ground drop), and 163% (air drop).
Final Smash		Super Dragon	8% (ram), 6% (fire breath), 17% (fireball)	Yoshi grows wings allowing him to fly, rendering him invulnerable whilst in this state, and starts spewing fire. Pressing the special button will also allow him to shoot fireballs. If Yoshi remains standing for around 3-5 seconds, he starts spewing fire automatically similar to the Superspicy Curry. However while in this form, Yoshi has no inertia hence he'll be a bit hard to control for beginners.

Chain grab list

The following characters can be chain grabbed through an air release by Yoshi, though some are harder to chain grab than others:

• Bowser
• Donkey Kong
• Diddy Kong
• Wario
• Link
• Ganondorf
• Zero Suit Samus
• Pit
• Meta Knight
• King Dedede
• Falco
• Captain Falcon
• Pikachu
• Squirtle
• Charizard
• Ike
• Lucas
• Snake
• Sonic

On-screen appearance

• Yoshi breaks out of a Yoshi Egg and shakes his rear end. Even if a Yoshi is selected with a color other than green, he will still break out of a white egg with green spots.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Dances around in a circle and says "Yoshi!".
• Side taunt: Spins around, chasing his tail, then looks at it.
• Down taunt: Waves to the screen, saying "Yoshi! Yoshi!" This is an update of the taunt he had in SSB and Melee. Because Yoshi's down taunt involves leaning forwards out of the plane of gameplay, certain fast and thin hitboxes including Palutena's Arrows and R.O.B. Blaster shots can be dodged with it.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle pose

• Does a short dance.
• Looks around.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer	File:Yoshi Cheer NTSC Brawl.ogg	File:Yoshi Cheer JP Brawl.ogg
Description	Yo-shi!	Yo-shi!
Pitch	High female	High female

Wii Remote selection sound

• A sound effect is heard and Yoshi says "Yoshiii!"

Yoshi's selection sound

Victory poses

A orchestrated flourish combining two small musical excerpts from Yoshi's Story.

• Up: Punches the air, then makes a "ta-da" pose. (His "character chosen" animation in Super Smash Bros.)
• Left: Looks up at the sky with his hands together, spins once, and gives a V sign with his hand. (a la Yoshi's victory pose in Yoshi's Story)
• Right: Angrily, he punches a few times, and then turns his back on the screen facing right.

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Yoshi has average matchups all around. He is hard countered by one character, Falco, countered by four characters, soft countered by eleven characters, has 10 even matchups, soft counters five characters, counters three characters, and hard counters two characters. Yoshi struggles against characters who can shut down his approach options, such as Falco and Olimar. On the other hand, Yoshi does well against characters that can be chain grabbed through an air release, such as Lucas and Ganondorf.

Notable players

See also: Category:Yoshi professionals (SSBB)

•  Deltacod
•  Karamity
•  HadesBlade
•  Poltergust - Was widely considered to be the best Yoshi player in the world when he actively played.
•  Raptor - Formerly ranked 10th on the Tristate Brawl Power Rankings.
•  Zudenka - Best Yoshi in Europe. Placed 5th at Super Lion 4 and 17th at Bushido Brawl Impact.

Tier placement and history

Opinions on Yoshi's viability have greatly fluctuated throughout SSBB's metagame. During the initial release of SSBB, Yoshi was very flawed due to his shield being notoriously bad, low knockback on his moves, and almost non-existent out of shield options. As a result, Yoshi was considered to be one of the worst characters in the game due to his poor matchups and poor tournament results, leading him to being ranked 32nd on the first tier list. Due to his low tier placements on tier lists, many smashers predicted that he would fail to rise out of low tier and he wouldn't do well in the future.

However, players such as Poltergust started to gain good tournament results with Yoshi, notably WHOBO 3, where he placed 17th, as well as 2nd in Brawl low tier singles using only Yoshi. Because of this, Yoshi then rose into mid tier on the sixth tier list (July 2011), where he ranked 28th place. Yoshi also jumped up two places in the seventh tier list (April 2012), his highest placement so far. He is currently ranked 27th in mid tier in the eighth and current tier list, as of April 2013. His current placing is, however, debatable by the community: there are some players that think Yoshi should be slightly higher, while some players think Yoshi should be even lower.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Yoshi in SSE

After removing the Master Sword from a pedestal in a forest, Link encounters Yoshi, who is sleeping on a tree stump. However, the passing Halberd drops Shadow Bugs, which in turn form Primids. Peaceful sleep is now impossible, so Yoshi teams up with Link to fight them off.

Yoshi's next role in the story depends on which princess Kirby saved at the stadium. If Peach was rescued, Yoshi and Link battle against a Shadow bug clone of Peach (who was recently trophied by Bowser), who was trying to trophify an unsuspecting Mario and Pit until Link sliced the cannon in half. After the battle, the trophy disintegrates. Thinking that they killed the real princess, Mario and Pit attack Link and Yoshi. If Zelda was saved, then Mario and Pit would fight a Shadow Bug clone of her instead, and Link and Yoshi would attack Mario and Pit. Either way, both teams fight each other. After Link and Yoshi/Mario and Pit defeat the opposing characters, King Dedede passes by in the cargo and snags the trophies with a metal arm, while Link/Mario notices the real trophy of Zelda/Peach in the back. After King Dedede raises his fist in triumph, Kirby jumps onto the cargo and performs a Final Cutter, severing the arm and reviving the trophies. Pit/Link quickly hits the cargo with an arrow as it passes by, damaging it. Kirby, Link, Yoshi, Mario, and Pit then team up to find Dedede's castle. After going through a set of caves, they arrive at the castle, only to find it in ruins from an ambush by Bowser. They only find a hole in the wall and they venture through a second set of caves until they catch up to Bowser at a cliff. They try to stop him from taking Zelda/Peach, but fail. Bowser then takes the princess' trophy up to the Halberd.

Later on, they find the Ancient Minister setting off a Subspace bomb, and see the real regret that he feels in this deed. As the bomb goes off, Yoshi carries Mario to safety by running really fast, while Pit, Kirby and Link fly overhead on a warp star. Yoshi carrying Mario in this SSE cutscene reflects on how Yoshi was used for transportation for Mario (most notably in Yoshi's Island and Super Mario World).

Yoshi joins his companions when they reinforce Marth's team in the Canyon. Later, he joins the heroes in the battle against the Subspace Gunship and again against Tabuu. After being trophied by Tabuu's Off Waves, Yoshi is revived by Kirby, and afterward, joins Sonic and the others against Tabuu and successfully defeat him to end the Subspace Invasion.

Playable appearances

• The Forest
• The Lake Shore
• The Cave
• The Wilds (Part II)
• The Canyon
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part II))

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Event 10: All-Star Battle Regulars: Yoshi is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are starters from the original Super Smash Bros. game.
• Event 11: Yoshi's Rainbow: As the Ice Climbers on Rainbow Cruise, the player must KO the Yoshis in the following order: Red, pink, yellow, green, light blue, and blue. Not KOing them in that order is an instant failure.
• Event 12: Sleeping in the Eggs: Using Yoshi’s Egg Lay, the player must put Kirby and Pikachu in eggs simultaneously. [1]
• Event 37: The Pirate Airship: As Toon Link, the player must KO both Yoshis on Pirate Ship while the ship is in the air.

Co-op Events

• Co-Op Event 3: Fastest, Shortest, Sudden Death: Yoshi and King Dedede must survive for 10 seconds against Lucas and Pit on WarioWare Inc. All players start at 300% for this event.
• Co-Op Event 5: The Yoshi Team of 50: As Meta Knight and Pit, KO all 50 Yoshis on Rainbow Cruise before completing one lap of the stage.
• Co-Op Event 9: Those Who Wait in Onett: Lucas and Ness must defeat Luigi and Yoshi on Onett.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Two players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Trophies

Yoshi's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Yoshi.

Yoshi

A creature that hails from Yoshi's Island. Yoshi's come in a variety of colors, and all possess gentle personalities. No matter what problems they face, they always look like they're having fun. Yoshi's use their long tongues to grab and swallow fruit and enemies. They can convert what they swallow into eggs, which they then lay. They also give Mario rides.

: Yoshi's Safari

: Yoshi's Story

Super Dragon

Yoshi with wings on his back that give him the power to fly freely across sky. In this state, he can spew giant fireballs. He is more mobile and powerful, but the inertia makes movement quirky, so it takes some skill to master flight. Yoshi returns to a normal state after a set period time has passed.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• 

  Classic Mode trophy

• 

  Super Dragon trophy

Alternate costumes

Trivia

• Although Yoshi's in-game appearance has him stand with back hunched over, he stands upright (which is akin to his appearance in most modern Mario games as well as Super Smash Bros. titles following Brawl) in both his character artwork and victory animations.
• Yoshi is the only character with a tether or extended grab but no tether recovery.
• Yoshi is one of only two characters who never uses their hands for any attack (including grabs), the other being Ivysaur. He is also the only veteran to not use hand for any attacks, including grabs.
• Yoshi holds the world record for Co-op Target Smash!! Level 4 with Pikachu (completed in 4.81 seconds).^{[citation needed]}
• With a Bunny Hood, Yoshi can use Egg Throw to stall in certain places, such as under the lip of the Melee's Pokémon Stadium.
• Yoshi's grab puts the opponent in a unique state and uses a different pulling technique than all other extended grabs. Due to how these interact, the opponent is considered grabbed before Yoshi is considered fully grabbing. As a result, it is possible to begin mashing out of Yoshi's grab before actually entering Yoshi's mouth. Should the opponent be grabbed at near the maximum distance the grab can reach, it is possible to break out of the grab before they even reach Yoshi's mouth, in which case the game will crash. While this may result in a forfeit under tournament rules, it can only happen at extremely low damages, and only with extreme mashing skills in addition to exceptional reaction time, thus there are no known instances of this scenario actually occurring in a tournament match.
• Yoshi is the only veteran character possessing an unusual meteor cancel window.

External links

• Confirmation of Event Match
• Yoshi's page at Smash Bros. DOJO!!.
• Yoshi Character Guide on SmashBoards