Yoshi (SSBM)

Yoshi in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Yoshi
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Tier	B+ (10) (North America) D (11) (Europe)

Yoshi (ヨッシー, Yoshi) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He was announced as a playable character at the E3 2001.

Like most of his appearances, he is voiced by Kazumi Totaka, albeit via recycled voice clips from Yoshi's Story and Smash 64.

He is currently ranked 10th out of 26 on the current tier list, placing him in the B+ tier. This is comparable to his previous placement in Smash 64, where he was ranked 5th out of 12. Yoshi has outstanding combo ability with his double jump canceling (especially against fast-fallers like Fox), a great aerial game (coupled with the third most powerful meteor smash in the game), and some decent approach options. He can also play mindgames and extend combos with his unpredictable Egg Throw, and has a very reliable finisher in his down smash, which has almost no start-up lag, outstanding reach and knockback, and a very favorable launch angle that is hard to DI against or recover from. Yoshi also has very unique mechanics, such as a knockback reduction armor active during his double jump, which he can use to tank hits or create counter punch opportunities by double jump canceling out of it. However, his lack of a "true" third jump means he can be vulnerable when hit out of it, or after canceling it. His high falling speed also makes him a target for combos. Yoshi's shield is also very unique. He cannot jump out of it once in the egg, but cannot be shieldstabbed, and suffers no shieldstun, meaning situations involving his shield play out very differently than they do for the rest of the cast. On the other hand, his shield startup animation has invincibility frames and can be jumped out of -the mechanic known as parry- giving him unique punish opportunities when an opponent hits him during that startup animation.

Although widely considered to be one of the worst characters in the game in Melee's early lifespan, his placement has greatly improved in the most recent tier lists due to large innovations in Yoshi's metagame by aMSa, as well as strong tournament placements by him. Yoshi has also seen a significant increase in his playerbase in recent years, thanks to aMSa.

Attributes

Yoshi's unique shield allows him to escape pressuring situations.

Yoshi's edgeguarding game is complimented by his unique double jump, which allows him to turnaround, so he can quickly edgehog by simply running offstage and using his double jump in the opposite direction. Yoshi can also grab the edge facing either direction whilst using Egg Throw.

Yoshi does not fall into a specific character archetype, due to a large amount of strongly varying characteristics and options that most other characters don't possess. Yoshi has among the highest jumping prowess in the game, as well as a fast dashing speed, fast falling speed, and the second fastest air speed in the game, surpassed only by Jigglypuff. As a result of his low traction and other properties, Yoshi has the fifth longest wavedash. He is also a heavyweight, giving him great survivability all around, and when combined with the armor on his double jump, it's somewhat common for Yoshi to survive at over 200% damage.

Perhaps Yoshi's greatest strength is his amazing air game. In addition to his high air speed and a highly maneuverable midair jump, as well as fast, low-lag, sometimes multi-hitting aerials to aid his comboing game, Yoshi can also double jump cancel, being one of only a handful of characters capable of performing this technique. By interrupting his midair jump with an aerial, Yoshi can use his powerful aerials in rapid succession, opening up a multitude of follow-ups and shield pressure. Yoshi can combine his double jump cancel with an already useful SHFFL (thanks to his low short hop and fast falling speed) to make his attacking and damage rate even faster. Additionally, Yoshi's aerial attacks themselves boast outstanding versatility; his neutral and up aerials have KO potential, as does his forward aerial due to its meteor smash potential (the third strongest in the game), making them incredible combo finishers. Yoshi's down aerial is also one of the most damaging attacks in all the game; if all hits connect, it can deal 53% (38% in PAL) on the outset, aided by a variety of weak meteor smash hitboxes. Meanwhile, back aerial is another highly damaging move that deals 20% if all hits connect. Finally, thanks to his double jump cancel and armor frames on his midair jump, Yoshi can even use his aerials to counterattack to a degree that no other character has access to, known as the double jump cancel counter.

Complimenting Yoshi's amazing air game is a varied grounded approach, thanks to his fast dashing speed and long wavedash. Like in Smash 64, Yoshi's forward tilt has outstanding combo potential, easily setting up his powerful forward aerial meteor smash or his down smash. Up tilt can combo into itself at low percents, and down tilt is a semi-spike with set knockback, giving it utility in tech-chasing and edgeguarding. Yoshi's smash attacks are all strong; forward and up smashes both grant intangibility on Yoshi's head, and down smash is considered his best KO move and one of the best down smashes in the game, thanks to it hitting on frame 6, having an enormous disjointed hitbox (the tail) that hits on both sides, and being an exceptionally strong semi-spike, making it a fearsome edgeguarding option and combo finisher. Yoshi's most useful grounded tool however is his up special, Egg Throw, which is one of the most flexible projectiles in the game; it is a powerful spacing tool as the eggs can be aimed in nearly limitless trajectories, allowing them to aid in camping on the ledge, playing mindgames against opponents, disrupting enemy recoveries, and extending combos.

Yoshi's defensive game is far different compared to the rest of the cast, largely due to his shield. Yoshi's shield is unique in that it is an egg that completely protects his body, leading to an impossibility of shield stabbing and it also has the unusual property of randomly perfectly shielding attacks, including grabs. Additionally, when Yoshi is light shielding and is hit by an enemy, he will slide an abnormally far distance away, especially if the attack has a great deal of knockback; this property of Yoshi's shield allows him to keep himself safe. Yoshi's shield also has the unique property that it suffers no shieldstun, meaning that Yoshi can act out of shield when hit faster than any other character, giving him access to exclusive punish and escape options on block. Yoshi also has an advanced technique unique to him due to his shield, known as parrying; although very difficult to perform, if the shield button is pressed three or fewer frames before an attack hits Yoshi, he will shrug off the attack but is not stuck in lag, allowing him to immediately retaliate. This technique, coupled with his aforementioned double jump cancel counter, can allow Yoshi to punish opponents in situations that would be safe against any other character.

Yoshi's unique traits, however, also give him weaknesses that are almost exclusive to him. One of his biggest flaws is his lack of a true third jump, which makes his recovery extremely polarizing. His midair jump has its advantages; it is the longest-traveling jump in the game, goes a considerable distance due to his good air speed, and comes with armor frames, which makes edgeguarding Yoshi a surprisingly difficult ordeal unless the edgeguarder has extremely powerful attacks or Yoshi is at a very high percentage. However, Yoshi is notable for being the only character in the game lacking an up special recovery, (previously thought to be a problem shared with Jigglypuff, but Sing can now be used if jumped and directly below ledges). As such, if Yoshi does end up interrupted during his recovery, he will often be knocked back far enough to where he cannot recover with a directional air dodge, sending him to his doom. Yoshi can't use his aerials to fend off edgeguarders either; while his double jump cancel is great for initiating combos, it highly compromises his recovery as he loses all upward momentum upon using an aerial (this also means a failed DJC onstage can force Yoshi offstage in a position where he is unable to recover). As such, Yoshi is notoriously easy to edgehog, as he has no methods of attacking aggressive edgeguarders without sacrificing distance on his double jump.

Yoshi's shield game, despite its merits and advanced techniques, is a double-edged sword, as he lacks shield options that every other character has. While his spot dodge is decent, his rolling dodges are among the worst in the game due to their slow speed and short distances. Far more critical, however, is his inability to jump out of his shield. This severely limits his punish or escape options in some situations when put on the defensive, as he is unable to wavedash or do a short hopped aerial out of shield to capitalize on an enemy's mistakes. Shield grabbing is also a largely ineffective strategy, as Yoshi has arguably the worst grab in Melee; as a ranged grab but not a disjointed grab like Link or Samus, its range is much more limited while still having punishable start-up and ending lag, and his dash grab is even worse because it can inexplicably miss opponents at point blank range (his throws themselves have decent utility, with his up and down throws being good combo starters, which makes his woes in landing grabs arguably even worse). Meanwhile, his ability to parry and DJC counter fail to compensate for all of this, as while they are effective, they are considerably harder to perform compared to a simple aerial out of shield or wavedashing out of it.

These two flaws tie into Yoshi's biggest weakness, which is his extreme difficulty in dealing with pressure. While he has great survivability due to his high weight, fast falling speed and double jump armor, Yoshi is also very easy to combo or chain grab, and his awkward hurtbox shape provides an easy target. While dealing with camping is less of an issue, it is still problematic as Egg Throw is slower compared to Fox or Falco's lasers, which makes it less of a camping threat to other characters despite its amazing versatility. Due to his inability to relieve pressure, it is imperative for Yoshi to win the neutral game, as any mistake on his end can result in a heavily damaging combo or an early gimp of his recovery.

Overall, Yoshi is perhaps the most unorthodox character in the Melee cast. He sacrifices several options that every other character has for ones that only he can take advantage of; his ability to DJC counter and parry partially make up for his inability to jump out of shield, and his third jump is replaced with a projectile that serves a wide variety of offensive and defensive purposes. This is also reflected by his archetype; his vulnerability to combos and awkward hurtbox are compensated with remarkable mobility for a character of his weight class, and his fast frame data and multitude of multi-purpose moves make Yoshi extremely dangerous when he gets within range to where he can land his blows. As such, Yoshi has an extremely high learning curve due to his advanced techniques used to compensate for his designed shortcomings, but in the hands of an unpredictable opponent, Yoshi can be a terror to face.

Changes from Super Smash Bros.

Yoshi received a mix of buffs and nerfs but was nerfed overall. His out of shield game has been nerfed due to the fact he can no longer jump out of his shield making his already poor out of shield game even worse as well as giving him a significant disadvantage while in shield compared to the rest of the cast. In addition to this, his shield grab is slower and his throws are much weaker. His damage output and KO potential have also been considerably decreased making it harder for him to close out stocks. His combo game is also worse in some aspects as some of his moves (such as up tilt) have been altered to give them less combo potential and the introduction of DI and the reduction of hitstun have also made his combo game less consistent. The introduction of meteor canceling has also significantly harmed him as it hinders the reliability of his forward aerial and it does not make him much less vulnerable to meteor smashes himself due to him only having one double jump and his Egg Throw not granting him any extra height.

Yoshi has also seen some buffs. Yoshi's comboing ability remains strong due to the much faster-falling speeds, as well as retaining the ability to double jump cancel. Despite the nerfs Yoshi's out of shield game received, his shield no longer suffers from shieldstun and he can still parry out of shield giving him unique options the rest of the cast does not have. Yoshi also benefits from the introduction of directional air dodges as they give him an extra recovery option and allow him to wavedash. As for buffs to his moveset, some of his moves are slightly faster either in terms of startup lag, ending lag, or both and his new side special Egg Roll gives him an additional recovery option.

Despite his nerfs, he is still seen as a viable character although he struggles against most of the top tier characters.

Aesthetics

• Yoshi received a slightly more realistic appearance, with mottled skin and a more dinosaur-like posture. His green skin tone became darker.
• Yoshi's taunt has a different animation. He no longer turns around while performing it.
• Blue Yoshi and Pink Yoshi can now be selected during normal gameplay instead of being exclusive to the AI. Blue replaces Light Blue Yoshi as Yoshi's blue team color and they also switch character selection order.

Attributes

• Yoshi walks slightly slower (0.38 → 1.15).
• Yoshi's initial dash is faster (40 → 1.33) and covers more distance.
• Yoshi's air speed is slightly lower (44 → 1.2), no longer being the highest.
• Yoshi's falling speed is slightly higher (58 → 1.93).
• Yoshi's gravity is higher (2.7 (JPN) / 2.8 (NA/PAL) → 0.093).
• Yoshi jumps higher (1249.744907 (JPN) / 1203.644643 (NA) → 32.36377554) despite his increased gravity, going from the 3rd (JPN) / 2nd (NA) lowest out of 12 characters to the 9th highest out of 26.
• Yoshi's double jump grants less height.
• Yoshi's double jump has less knockback based armor (140 → 120), hindering its ability to protect Yoshi.
• Yoshi is lighter (115 → 108 (NTSC) / 111 (PAL)), no longer being a super heavyweight.
• Yoshi's tail now has a hurtbox. This makes Yoshi easier to hit in the back and makes his tail based attacks less disjointed.
• Yoshi no longer suffers from shieldstun, which along with the introduction of light shielding, makes him significantly less vulnerable to shield pressure and allows him to punish out of shield much sooner; even relative to the cast.
• Yoshi's initial shield animation is longer (3 frames → 6), meaning that Yoshi cannot drop shield as early if he wants to put it up and put it away instantly.
• If Yoshi drops shield early on into his shield animation, it will no longer grant intangibility to Yoshi's shield drop animation.
• Yoshi can no longer jump out of his shield (after its initial animation), greatly hindering his already poor out of shield options.
• Yoshi's parry window is shorter (3 frames → 2). When combined with the fact that the first two frames of Yoshi's jumpsquat are no longer intangible when he jumps out of shield, this makes parrying more difficult to perform and overall makes it worse at avoiding attacks.
• The addition of air dodges benefits Yoshi as they give him an additional recovery option and they give him access to wavedashing.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit of neutral attack has less ending lag (FAF 24 → 18).
  • The first hit transitions into the second hit sooner (frame 10 → 8).
  • The second hit has more startup lag (frame 1 → 4).
    • However, its total duration was unchanged, giving it less ending lag.
• The changes to shieldstun and shield damage have hindered the shield pressuring potential of Yoshi's tilts; with his tilts going from giving him frame advantage against shield to now all being punishable.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less startup lag (frame 8 → 6).
    • However, its total duration was unchanged, giving it more ending lag.
  • Forward tilt has more base knockback but less knockback scaling (8 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/80), which improves its combo potential.
    • However, due to the introduction of DI and the universal decrease to hitstun, forward tilt has less consistent combo potential overall.
  • Forward tilt no longer launches opponents at a consistent angle (70° → 80°/70°/60°).
  • Forward tilt deals less damage when not angled or angled down (13% → 12% (non angled)/11% (down).
• Up tilt:
  • Yoshi has a new up tilt: a tail swipe above him.
  • Up tilt no longer has high set knockback (130 (set), 100 (scaling) → 72 (base)/40).
    • This improves its combo potential at lower percents; especially against floatier characters.
    • However, this hinders its combo potential at higher percents while still being too weak to KO at realistic percents.
  • Up tilt has a longer duration (frames 7-10 → 8-12).
  • Up tilt has more startup (frame 7 → 8) and ending lag (FAF 26 → 30).
    • When combined with the aforementioned changes to hitstun and DI, this hinders its combo potential.
  • Up tilt deals less damage (12% → 10%).
  • Up tilt no longer grants intangibility to Yoshi's head.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt has reduced set knockback (110 → 100) hindering its edgeguarding potential despite sending opponents at a lower angle (30° → 28°).
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack's clean hit deals less damage (12% → 9%) without full compensation on its base knockback (10 → 15). This significantly hinders its KO potential.
    • However, the late hit also has higher base knockback (10 → 15), making it slightly stronger.
  • Dash attack has more startup (frame 9 → 10) and ending lag (FAF 37 → 42).
  • Dash attack grants less intangibility to Yoshi's head (frames 1-12 → 5-13).
    • Additionally, dash attack no longer grants intangibility to Yoshi's nose.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has less startup (frame 18 → 14) and ending lag (FAF 51 → 44).
  • Forward smash deals less damage (18% → 16% (NTSC) / 17% (PAL)) and knockback (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 32/94(NTSC) / 32/98(PAL)), hindering its KO potential.
  • Forward smash has a shorter duration (frames 18-24 → 14-16).
  • Forward smash grants less intangibility to Yoshi's head (frames 6-24 → 12-14).
    • Additionally, forward smash no longer grants intangibility to Yoshi's nose.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less ending lag (FAF 48 → 40).
  • Up smash now has a consistent hitbox rather than a clean hit and a late hit.
  • Up smash has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 9-11 (clean)/12-15 (late) → 11-15).
  • Up smash deals less damage (18% → 14%(NTSC) / 15%(PAL)), significantly hindering its KO potential. It deals less knockback compared to the previous clean hit (20 (base), 118 (scaling) → 26/108(NTSC) / 30/108(PAL)) while also having barely increased knockback compared to the previous late hit (20 (base), 110 (scaling) → 26/108).
  • Up smash now always launches opponents vertically (361° (clean)/80° (late) → 75°). This significantly hinders its edgeguarding (and KO) potential compared to the previous clean hit while also sending opponents at a less favorable angle compared to the previous late hit.
  • Up smash grants less intangibility to Yoshi's head (frames 6-15 → 11-15).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 60 → 50).
  • The front hit has a longer duration (frames 6-7 → 6-8).
  • The front hit deals less knockback (20 (base), 105 (scaling) → 50/(75/60), hindering its KO potential; especially the tipper hitbox.
  • The back hit deals less damage (14% → 12%) and knockback (20 (base), 105 (scaling) → 50/(75/80), significantly hindering its KO potential.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials except back aerial have increased landing lag (14 frames → 15 (neutral), 16 frames → 21 (forward), 14 frames → 19 (up), 14 frames → 26 (down)).
• All aerials except neutral aerial auto-cancel later (frame 31 → 36 (forward), frame 20 → 33 (back), frame 11 → 33 (up), frame 32 → 50 (down)). Down aerial now cannot auto-cancel in a short hop.
• The weakening of L-canceling has hindered Yoshi's combo game with landing aerials as well as their safety; with the increasing landing lag and worse auto-cancel windows on his aerials only further exacerbating this.
  • This combined with the changes to shields has severely harmed Yoshi's shield pressuring potential making his aerials much less safe against shield and completely removing his ability to perform shield break combos.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has less startup (frame 5 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 50 → 45).
  • Neutral aerial has a shorter animation (49 frames → 47).
  • Neutral aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 39 → 36).
  • Neutral aerial has a shorter duration (frames 5-38 → 3-33).
  • The late hit deals less damage (11% → 10%).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has increased base knockback (0 → 30).
  • Forward aerial now has a consistent hitbox rather than having a clean hit and a late hit.
  • Forward aerial has much more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 11-15 → 19-21). The move's shorter duration reduces its range below Yoshi.
    • However, its total duration was not fully compensated, decreasing its ending lag.
  • Forward aerial has a longer total duration (FAF 40 → 44) and a longer animation (39 frames → 49).
  • Forward aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window (frames 1-10 → 1-3).
  • Forward aerial deals less damage (18% → 17%).
  • Due to the introduction of Meteor canceling, forward aerial can now be meteor cancelled with its altered angle (-85° (clean)/-100° (late) → 270°), significantly hindering its edge-guarding potential.
• Back aerial:
  • Yoshi has a new back aerial: he swipes his tail behind him 4 times. Compared to the previous back aerial, it is a much weaker multi-hit attack, no longer being a reliable KO move but it now possesses more combo potential.
  • Back aerial has a longer duration overall (frames 10-19 → 10-12/16-18/23-25/28-30).
  • Back aerial has less ending lag (FAF 42 → 38).
  • Back aerial has a shorter animation (41 frames → 39).
  • Back aerial has less landing lag (16 frames → 15).
  • Back aerial deals more damage if all hits connect (16% (clean)/10% (late) → 7% (hit 1)/6% (hit 2)/5% (hit 3)/4% (hit 4)/20% (total)).
  • Back aerial's angles have been altered (361° → 60°).
  • Back aerial is much less reliable due to being a multi hit move, especially since the first three hits have fairly high knockback; preventing them for reliably flowing into the rest of the move.
  • The final hit only received an increased to its base knockback (10 → 40), drastically hindering its KO potential.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has much less startup lag (frame 9 → 5) with a shorter total duration (FAF 42 → 39).
    • However, its total duration was not fully compensated, increasing its ending lag by one frame.
  • Up aerial has a shorter animation (41 frames → 39).
  • Up aerial deals less damage (15% → 13%) without full compensation on its base knockback (20 → 25).
    • Despite this, it has less combo potential overall due to the weakening of L-canceling and its much smaller auto-cancel window, combined with its decreased hitstun and the introduction of DI.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial deals less damage overall due to the changes to stale move negation (56% → 53%).
    • In the PAL version, each hit is weaker and down aerial does even less damage (56% → 38%).
    • The changes to shields noticeably hinder down aerial's shield pressuring potential; with the move no longer leading into a guaranteed shield break.
  • Down aerial has much more startup lag (frame 4 → 18).
    • However, its total duration was not fully compensated, decreasing its ending lag.
  • Down aerial has a longer total duration (FAF 50 → 53) and a longer animation (49 frames → 59).
  • Down aerial's angles have been slightly altered (-90° → 270°), allowing it to be meteor cancelled.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Yoshi now has a pummel, up throw and a down throw, giving him options after a grab.
  • Yoshi's standing grab has more startup (frame 15 → 18) and ending lag (FAF 70 → 80).
  • Yoshi's new dash grab has less startup lag (frame 15 → 11).
  • Yoshi's dash grab places the hitboxes of his head and tongue in the background for unknown reasons, which may cause the grab to miss thin opponents in certain circumstances.
  • Dash grab has slightly higher ending lag (FAF 70 → 71).
  • Yoshi's throw's are now weight dependent.
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw deals much less damage (12% → 6%) and knockback (80 (base), 70 (scaling) → 40/66), completely removing its KO potential.
  • Forward throw has slightly higher ending lag (FAF 39 → 40).
• Back throw:
  • Back throw has less ending lag (FAF 49 → 44).
  • Back throw deals much less damage (16% → 6%) and knockback (70 (base), 70 (scaling) → 40/66), completely removing its KO potential.
• Edge attacks:
  • Under 100% edge attack has more startup (frame 15 → 19) and ending lag (FAF 50 → 56).
  • Under 100% edge attack has a longer duration (frames 15-17 → 19-23).
  • Under 100% edge attack has more range.
  • Yoshi has a new over 100% edge attack: Yoshi now thrusts his head forwards.
  • Over 100% edge attack has much less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 67-70 → 33-37).
    • However, its total duration was not fully compensated (FAF 90 → 70), giving it more ending lag.
  • Over 100% edge attack has more range.
  • Over 100% edge attack deals much more damage (6% → 12%).
  • Over 100% edge attack has much less intangibility (frames 1-68 → 1-29).

Special moves

• Egg Lay:
  • Egg Lay's grab has less startup lag (frame 18 → 17).
  • Egg Lay deals more damage (5% → 7%).
  • Yoshi releases opponents later from Egg Lag (frame 20 → 25) and it has less ending lag (FAF 35 → 30).
  • Egg Lay's grab has a shorter duration (frames 18-23 → 17-21).
  • Egg Lay's grab has more ending lag (FAF 38 → 40).
  • Yoshi's opponent has more intangibility when they break out off the egg (frames 1-12 → 1-14).
• Egg Roll:
  • Yoshi has a new special move: Egg Roll. While the move is not very useful as an attack, it grants Yoshi an additional recovery option.
• Egg Throw:
  • Egg Throw has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 23-72 → 18-72).
  • Egg Throw has less ending lag (FAF 72 → 55).
  • The eggs now launch opponents vertically (361° → 70°) which along with Egg Throw's lower ending lag, significantly improves their combo potential; being able to extend aerial combos and set up for various aerial KO confirms.
    • However, this also hinders their edgeguarding potential.
  • The eggs deal less damage (14% → 12%) and knockback (50 (base), 50 (scaling) → 45/40), hindering their KO potential.
    • However, this improves their combo potential.
  • The eggs deal less shield damage (6 → 3).
    • When combined with the changes to shields, these changes hinder Egg Throw's ability to lead into shield pressure.
  • The egg explosion has a much shorter duration (frames 1-10 → 1-3) and a much smaller hitbox.
• Yoshi Bomb:
  • Yoshi Bomb has less startup lag (frame 30 → 27 (grounded), frame 24 → 19 (aerial)).
  • Yoshi Bomb has less landing lag (44 frames → 40).
  • Yoshi Bomb launches opponents at a higher angle (60° → 80°).
  • Yoshi Bomb now deals extra shield damage (0 → 10).
  • The stars have altered knockback (30 (set), 100 (scaling) → 50 (base)/50), making them more effective overall.
  • The stars deal more shield damage (-3 → 3).
  • Grounded Yoshi Bomb covers less distance both horizontally and vertically.
  • Yoshi Bomb deals less damage (18% → 16% (grounded)/14% (aerial)) and knockback (50 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/98 (grounded), 46/96 (aerial)). This hinders its KO potential despite its altered angle, especially the aerial version.
  • The stars deal less damage (4% → 1%).

Version history

Like other characters, Yoshi received some changes in the PAL version of Melee which buffed him overall.

PAL

• Yoshi is heavier (108 → 111).
• Up smash deals 1% more damage (14% → 15) and has higher base knockback (26 → 30).
• Forward smash deals 1% more damage (16% → 17%) and has higher knockback scaling (94 → 98).
• Down aerial deals considerably less damage as each hit deals 1% less damage (53% → 38%).

Moveset

For a gallery of Yoshi's hitboxes, see here.

Yoshi's aerial attacks

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Yoshi does a very fast short-ranged kick followed by a more powerful kick.
			5%
Forward tilt	↗		13%	Sticks his foot out in a similar fashion to the second hit of his neutral attack, only with more range and knockback. Can combo into a forward aerial (especially when angled up), and if DI'd come back onto the stage, Yoshi can followup with a down smash. Can be angled up or down.
	→		12%
	↘		11%
Up tilt			10%	Does a very fast but short-ranged tail swipe upwards.
Down tilt			10%	Performs a low sweep with his tail. Has fixed knockback. It can be used as a gimping move, particularly at base to low percentages.
Dash attack			9% (clean), 8% (late)	Does a running headbutt. Yoshi's head is intangible during the early transition of the move.
Forward smash			16% (NTSC), 17% (PAL)	Reels his head back, then slams it forward as a powerful headbutt. This move is somewhat predictable, but it has good KO potential. Can be slightly angled up or down. Yoshi's head is intangible while the hitboxes are active.
Up smash			14% (NTSC), 15% (PAL)	Headbutts upwards. Just like his forward smash, Yoshi's head is intangible while the hitboxes are active.
Down smash			14% (front), 12% (back)	Swipes his tail in front and then back. A very useful edgeguarding move that powerfully sends opponents on a low semi-spike trajectory. Considered Yoshi's best KO move.
Neutral aerial			14% (clean), 10% (late)	A sex kick with decent knockback.
Forward aerial		Noggin Dunk	17%	Brings his head back and forcefully swings it down. It is the third most powerful meteor smash in the game, and isn't particularly slow (though its speed was significantly lowered from Smash 64). It is a good edgeguarding move and can lead into a down smash when used onstage.
Back aerial			7% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2), 5% (hit 3), 4% (hit 4)	Swipes his tail four times behind him. Great for racking up damage, although not as great as his down aerial. All hits deal up to ≈20.65% when used fresh.
Up aerial			13%	Thrusts his tail upwards very fast. Can be used to juggle, working especially well when DJC'd.
Down aerial		Flutter Kick	NTSC: 4% (hits 1-14) PAL: 3% (hits 1-14)	Rapidly peddles his feet downwards as he descends, weakly meteor smashing enemies. Most damaging aerial in Melee, dealing ≈51.32 if all 14 hits connect (NTSC version only).
Grab			—	Yoshi uses his tongue to grab an opponent and pull them into his mouth. His dash grab causes him to trip if he doesn't get anyone. Despite the appearance, Yoshi's tongue isn't a tether, though its range and lag is between tethers and normal grabs.
Pummel			3%	Chews on foe.
Forward throw			6%	Spits foe out.
Back throw			6%	Turns around and spits foe out.
Up throw			5%	Chunks the opponent upwards.
Down throw			4%	Forcefully slams foe 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.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			6%	Picks himself up and whips his tail in front.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			12%	Slowly gets up and slams his head forward with short range.
Neutral special		Egg Lay	7%	Yoshi swallows the foe and turns them into an egg.
Side special		Egg Roll	4-13%	Turns into an egg and rolls around. The damage done is based on how fast Yoshi is moving. If the move is started in the air, it won't do any damage until Yoshi hits the ground. Yoshi also becomes helpless if the move is ended in the air, making it a useless recovery move. If the egg hits a ledge or wall, the egg breaks and the attack is over.
Up special		Egg Throw	10% (grounded explosion), 12% (aerial explosion)	Throws an egg at an upward arc. The strength and angle of the egg that is thrown can be controlled by holding the B button and tilting the control stick respectively during Yoshi's windup.
Down special		Yoshi Bomb	14% (body), 1% (stars)	Jumps and plummets downwards, producing stars when he lands. If used in the air, Yoshi will fall straight down. Can sweetspot the ledge only if Yoshi is facing towards one.

Taunt

• Faces the camera and jumps up and down, waving his hands in the air and saying "Yoshi!"

Idle pose

• Looks from side to side.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer	File:Yoshi Cheer NTSC Melee.ogg	File:Yoshi Cheer JP Melee.ogg
Description	Yooo-Shiii!	Yo - Shi!
Pitch	Deep male	Female

Victory poses

An orchestrated combination of two small musical excerpts from Yoshi's Story.

• Looks up at the sky with his hands together, spins once, and gives a V sign with his hand.
• Punches the air, then makes a "ta-da" pose. (His animation when chosen in Super Smash Bros. 64.)
• Angrily, he punches a few times, and then turns his back on the screen, facing right.

In competitive play

Most historically significant players

Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the 2019 MPGR, which recognizes the official top 100 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Melee from 2019.

See also: Category:Yoshi professionals (SSBM)

•  aMSa (#7) - Widely considered to be the best Yoshi main of all time and the most influential. Placed 4th at GENESIS 6, and 5th at Smash Summit 7, Smash Summit 12, and Super Smash Con 2018. He has defeated many top players such as Hungrybox, Mew2King, Plup, and Mango. One of only 2 Yoshi mains on the 2018 MPGR along with nebbii.
•  Bringer of Death - Best Australian Yoshi and one of the original high-level Yoshi players. Placed 1st at @M and 4th at Comrades of Anfology.
•  Faxx - Best Yoshi main in Florida, 33rd at CEO Dreamland and 9th at Frame Perfect Series 2.
•  Fumi - Known as the best Japanese Yoshi main before aMSa.
•  HP - Currently dual mains Yoshi/Fox. Currently ranked 3rd on the Chilean Power Rankings.
•  nebbii - Was formerly the best European Yoshi main and one of the best in the world. Placed 7th at Heir 4 and Syndicate 2017 with wins over Amsah, Android, and Stango. Ranked 98th on the 2018 MPGR, with him and aMSa being the only 2 Yoshi mains on it. Has switched to Falco.
•  Peanutphobia - Placed 33rd at Pound 2019 and 49th at Super Smash Con 2019 with wins over Druggedfox and Krudo. Previously ranked in MD/VA.
•  Plata - 2nd Best Japanese Yoshi, after aMSa. Power ranked in Japan. Has a win over Darkatma.
•  V3ctorman - The best Yoshi in Arizona and known as the best Yoshi in the world before aMSa.

Tier placement and history

Yoshi has historically been viewed as borderline nonviable for high-level play. He was often accused of having a terrible shield game, slow attacks, and an inflexible recovery, all of which many top and high-tiered characters could easily exploit. Yoshi's advantageous properties, such as his deadly double jump cancel combos, ability to parry, and flexible projectile, were not fully developed and written off as gimmicks. Initially starting as a mid-tiered character in the first tier list, Yoshi's standing consistently fell, with only Fumi and Bringer of Death making any significant impacts with him. By the ninth tier list, Yoshi had dropped to 22nd place on the tier list, firmly within the bottom tiers and the fifth worst; by this point, Fumi and the other Yoshi professionals retired from Melee, leaving Yoshi's metagame relatively abandoned in the competitive scene.

Several years later, players such as V3ctorman began to use Yoshi in tournaments, revitalizing and innovating Yoshi's previously stagnant metagame. They pushed Yoshi's punish game, becoming much more consistent at double jump canceling than professionals in the past, and also showed more uses of Egg Throw, developing it as a zoning and edgeguarding tool. Despite these developments, when the tenth tier list was out Yoshi only rose by one spot, and as a result, he failed to rise out of the bottom tier, and eventually, even V3ctorman suffered from declining tournament placings as more people in his region learned the Yoshi matchup. The only top-level representation for Yoshi was arguably Leffen, who never actually mained him and later dropped him in favor of Fox, thus leaving Yoshi's metagame stagnant once again.

In late 2012 to early 2013, however, aMSa made his professional debut in Japan, taking top 8 in a Japanese tournament with only Yoshi. He later finished 25th place in EVO 2013, sweeping his pools and taking a game off of Mew2King, a placement that convinced the Melee Back Room to move Yoshi up 3 places on the tier list following said tournament, making him a low-mid tier. aMSa later reappeared with Yoshi in several future tournaments, including Apex 2014 and Republic of Fighters 3, and, to the surprise of many, placed 5th at Apex 2015, defeating several renowned players of top-tiered characters, namely Lucky, Silent Wolf, Fly Amanita, and SFAT. aMSa's use of Yoshi was considered completely unique from those of Fumi, Leffen, and other previous Yoshi mains; he showed the use of parrying and spacing that was previously never seen before and demonstrated that Yoshi's ability to punish errors made by opponents was far greater than expected. While the Melee community has not yet updated the matchup chart in response to these developments, Yoshi has risen 6 places in the twelfth American tier list and 8 places in the third PAL Tier List, the best improvement on Melee's tier list, making him a solid mid-tier character.

Yoshi's placement in the current tier list has been a topic of debate since then. Throughout aMSa's earlier years in the scene, many noted his tendency to perform better overseas than in Japan, suggesting that he won mainly through matchup inexperience. However, in recent times, aMSa's performance has gradually gained momentum; not only has he begun to dominate his region, showing that he has erased any reliance on matchup inexperience from his game, he has been able to continue placing well at majors, placing 9th at GENESIS 5, 9th at GameTyrant Expo 2017, 7th at Full Bloom 4, 7th at Smash Summit 6, 5th at Get On My Level, and 4th at EGLX 2018 while defeating the likes of players such as Hungrybox, Plup, Mew2King, Axe, Wizzrobe, SFAT, and many others. To top all of that, aMSa is currently ranked 7th on the 2019 MPGR, becoming the first top 10 player to main a mid-tier character beside Axe since Shroomed's Dr. Mario in 2014. aMSa's astounding achievements helped push Yoshi into the top 10, and he now sits at 10th on the thirteenth and current tier list. Overall, thanks to aMSa, Yoshi has achieved great results, which increased his representation and helped develop his metagame, causing him to be much better than people thought.

In 1-P Mode

Classic Mode

In Classic Mode, Yoshi can appear as an ordinary, giant, metal opponent, or teamed up with Ness or Luigi as well as an ally in team and giant fights. In his appearances in one-on-one fights, he either appears in Yoshi's Island or Yoshi's Story.

Adventure Mode

Yoshi is the only character of a starting universe that does not have his own stage in Adventure Mode. However, the Yoshi universe is incorporated in the Mario universe instead.

Yoshi's appearance in the Adventure Mode occurs halfway through the first stage of the Mushroom Kingdom stage. Once the player reaches an elevated platform, a team of 10 Yoshis will appear, who must all be defeated to continue.

All-Star Mode

Yoshi and his allies are fought on Yoshi's Story.

Event Matches

Yoshi is featured in the following event matches:

• Event 4: Dino-wrangling: The player chooses any character and must defeat a extremely large Yoshi on Yoshi's Story. The player has three stock while Yoshi has one.
• Event 10: All-Star Match 1: Yoshi is the third opponent to be fought in this series of staged battles. The player battles him on Yoshi's Story, which will transition to the next stage if Yoshi gets defeated. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him along with Mario, Donkey Kong, Peach, and Bowser.
• Event 13: Yoshi's Egg: The player controls Yoshi and must protect a unique item, Yoshi's Egg, from Pikachu, Fox, and Donkey Kong for 55 seconds on Rainbow Cruise. If the egg breaks, the match will result in a failure.
• Event 24: The Yoshi Herd: The player chooses any character and must defeat a group of 30 Yoshis on Yoshi's Island, with the last one being giant. The player has two minutes to KO all 30 Yoshis.

Ending Images

• 

  Classic mode

• 

  Adventure mode

• 

  All-Star mode

Trophies

In addition to the normal trophy about Yoshi as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing both Adventure and All-Star modes respectively with Yoshi on any difficulty:

Yoshi

Yoshis are gentle, fleet-of-foot dinosaurs that make their home on idyllic Yoshi's Island. They come in a variety of colors and have evolved an interesting trait to help increase their numbers: they can transform anything they swallow into an egg. With adhesive tongues and bottomless bellies, Yoshis have been known to eat anything.

• Super Mario World [08/91]

Yoshi [Smash]

To make up for his lack of powerful airborne attacks, Yoshi has a miraculous jumping ability and is resistant to damage while in the air. Yoshi can also swallow a foe and transform him or her into an egg: try doing this close to an edge! The speed and power of the Egg Roll increases if you hold down the B Button, but it'll be tougher to control.

• B: Egg Lay
• Smash B: Egg Roll

Yoshi [Smash]

Yoshi has no third jump, so the timing of his second jump is of vital importance. The angle and distance of his Egg Throw can be altered by how you tilt the Control Stick and how long you press the B Button. When Yoshi lands after doing his Yoshi Bomb, stars appear on either side of him, making it hard for enemies to deliver counterattacks.

• Up & B: Egg Throw
• Down & B: Yoshi Bomb

• 

  Classic

• 

  [Smash]

• 

  [Smash]

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Official artwork of Yoshi

Trivia

• Melee marked the latest game that Yoshi was not the last "Original 8" member to be confirmed. In later games, he would always be the last of the "Original 8" to be confirmed.
• Melee is the only game in which Yoshi does not have the highest air speed.
• Yoshi, Mario, Peach, Young Link, Kirby, Falco, and Pikachu are the only characters whose portraits on the character select screen match their official artwork, although Yoshi's artwork is flipped vertically.

External links

• The Red Essence - A Yoshi tech skill video by aMSa