Mewtwo (SSBM)

Mewtwo in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Pokémon
Other playable appearance	in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	B (21)

“	Mewtwo is definitely not a speedy character, but its ESP-powered grab and throw moves are comparatively strong.	”
—Description from Mewtwo's trophy.

Mewtwo (ミュウツー, Mewtwo) is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. It is one of eleven playable characters that can be unlocked in the game.

Mewtwo is ranked 21st on the current tier list, in the B tier. While initially deemed the worst character in the game, the changing metagame of Melee caused Mewtwo to experience a rise of five places. Mewtwo's good attributes include a long, safe, and difficult-to-counter recovery, a rather good chaingrabbing ability, a large variance of mix-up options, a decent combo ability, and among the best throws in the game. However, Mewtwo suffers from an unusual combination of being a large target and a lightweight; this, combined with its floatiness, makes it easy to KO. Additionally, Mewtwo has limited KOing options, with most of them having little reach, and many weak attacks, giving it relatively fewer approach and offensive options as other characters.

How to Unlock

To unlock Mewtwo, the player has to play 20 hours of VS. matches. The time is reduced by the number of human players in said matches; 1 player requires 20 total hours, 2 players require 10 total hours, 3 players require 6 hours and 40 minutes, and 4 players require 5 hours. Alternatively, the player can play 700 VS. matches to completion to get a chance to fight Mewtwo.

When fought, Mewtwo appears on Final Destination, with the music from Poké Floats playing.

Attributes

Mewtwo defies any typical character archetype; despite being a big target with some powerful moves and a very high air speed, Mewtwo has a rather slow dash, a low weight and a low falling speed. As a result of these traits, Mewtwo has among the longest wavedashes in the game, but a very poor SHFFL, despite its low lag, high speed aerials. Mewtwo also can effectively moonwalk, potentially aiding its edgeguard game.

Among Mewtwo's primary strengths is its varied grab game. Despite an only average grab range, Mewtwo's throws can serve a variety of purposes; its forward throw is good for racking up damages or starting combos and its down throw can potentially start chainthrows or be used as potential combo starters when compounded with one of its tilts. Mewtwo's back and up throws are also among the most powerful in the game, and both can KO reliably on some characters at 100%; the differences in their trajectories also gives Mewtwo varied options against both fast fallers and floaty characters (the up throw works better against the latter, while the back works better against the former).

Mewtwo also has very good approach and combo options. Despite a poor SHFFL (among the worst in the game), Mewtwo's high air speed, low falling speed, and fast, low lag, high hitstun aerials also gives it plenty of options in the air, easily and effectively comboing against a slew of characters. Mewtwo also has a very long wavedash (the third longest in the game), making tactics such as wavesmashing and wavegrabbing considerably more useful and deadly tactics for Mewtwo.

Mewtwo also has rather good range. Its forward smash can extend relatively far, and all of its tilts have long, disjointed hitboxes, allowing Mewtwo to effectively attack from a distance, especially when compounded with its long wavedash. Mewtwo is also owner of one of the strongest projectile in the game, its Shadow Ball. When fully charged, it can KO reliably at roughly 100%; its jagged path also can make it difficult to dodge, and its recoil can potentially extend Mewtwo's recovery.

Mewtwo also has possibly the best recovery in the game. While it cannot harm edgehoggers, Mewtwo has many traits that make it good at recovering. A combination of a low falling speed, a high air speed, among the best jumping prowess in the game, and long distance with its Teleport give Mewtwo a very long and safe recovery. Additionally, its neutral air slightly slows down its movement in air, and slightly charged Shadow Balls can give recoil sufficient enough to send Mewtwo backwards a good distance. Lastly, his Confusion attack can act as a second jump (when used in the opposite direction of its momentum) and Disable can be used to stall its descent.

Mewtwo's biggest flaw, however, is that its varied attributes hinder it in terms of survivability. A combination of a large frame and floatiness makes Mewtwo easy to juggle and KO; while other large characters such as Donkey Kong have added weight to make them resilient to some KOs, Mewtwo has no such advantage. Mewtwo's defense game is also mixed; its air dodge makes it invisible and opponents cannot guess where it will appear and its rolling dodges are fast and cover much distance, but Mewtwo's large frame makes it prone to shield stabbing, with its sidestep dodge also being rather poor. Mewtwo also has possibly the worst tech ability in the game; although its rolling tech covers a long range, it is very slow compared to that of other characters, and as a consequence, Mewtwo is particularly easy to tech chase.

Mewtwo also suffers from bad KO options; all of its strongest moves have either poor range or low speed. Its back and up throws are powerful, but they require Mewtwo to grab the opponent first, and the latter throw's KOing capabilities are extremely dependent on the opponent's falling speed (for example, Falco would survive the longest despite having the third highest vertical endurance). While having a wide variety of other KO potential attacks, most of his attacks suffer from range and/or speed problems, such as its forward air, down smash, down air, and Shadow Ball. Mewtwo also has highly situational specials. While Confusion can temporarily distract opponents, it has high ending lag and relatively little use; additionally, while it can reflect projectiles, they still remain property of the original character's. Disable only works in close ranges, and cannot combo effectively into other attacks.

Moveset

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

Mewtwo's aerial attacks

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			6%	Mewtwo reaches its arm out, blasting out a bit of shadow energy. Mewtwo will then blast out a stream of shadow energy. The blasts are somewhat awkward to combo with.
			1-2%
Forward tilt	↗		8%	Mewtwo flicks its tail forward. Quick and with decent range, but has a disjointed hitbox.
	→		9%
	↘		10%
Up tilt			5-10%	Damage depends on where it hits. Mewtwo flips upward, hitting with its tail. Good combo starter; great for juggling.
Down tilt			9%	Mewtwo spins around, sweeping its tail low. Has a disjointed hitbox. Can juggle more reliably than up tilt on fast fallers. Leads into a forward/down smash or even itself.
Dash attack			9% (Fresh), 6% (Stale)	Mewtwo holds its arms out while sliding, inflicting damage with shadow energy. Rather long ending lag.
Forward smash			20% (Sweet), 12% (Sour)	Mewtwo shoves forward, releasing a pulse of shadow. Similar to Mario's Forward Smash in that it is most powerful the farther away the enemy is. Fairly good range and damage, but rather low knockback. The sweetspot has transcendent priority.
Up smash			15% (Total)	Mewtwo holds its palm up, releasing a storm of shadow energy above itself that hits multiple times. Can easily be SDI'd out of, and deals rather low knockback. Last hit of the attack can KO around 120%, but can be difficult to land. Hits 7 times.
Down smash			15%	Mewtwo hits downward with shadow energy. Good knockback and speed, with moderate range and a good edgeguard and or combo finisher; however, it has the unusual property of being unable to hit both sides of it. This attack has transcendent priority.
Neutral aerial			0-2% (Hits 1-8); 3 (Hit 9); 20% (Total)	Mewtwo releases a long lasting shock out of its body. Good punishing option and great OOS option. Good damage if the entire attack hits, as well as good combo extender. Also slows down Mewtwo's falling speed slightly, making it useful for recovery. Hits 9 times.
Forward aerial			14%	Mewtwo slashes forward with shadow energy. High vertical knockback, useful for combos, juggling, and KOs, but mediocre range. Can lead into an utilt if DJC'd, depending on the character. Can KO at 120%.
Back aerial			13% (Body), 11%(Center of Tail), 9% (Tip of Tail)	Mewtwo hits behind itself with its tail. Decent range and is a decent Wall Of Pain technique. Sweetspot is the body, Sourspot is the tip of the tail.
Up aerial			14% (Sweet); 12% (Sour)	Mewtwo flips upward, hitting with its tail. Good juggling move. Sweetspot is the tip of the tail.
Down aerial			16% (Sweet); 14% (Sour)	Mewtwo flips backward and hits with its foot downward. Acts as a meteor smash, albeit a very weak one, due to its low ending lag and Mewtwo's stellar recovery, it is of low-risk to use. Sweetspot is the foot, Sourspot is the underbelly.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	Mewtwo electrocutes the opponent in its grasp. Moderately slow.
Forward throw			9% (Total)	Mewtwo throws its foe diagonally forward and shoots with multiple small Shadow Balls (which can be absorbed and reflected). Great damage racker if used against a wall or overhang but can be SDI'd. Hits 6 times.
Back throw			11%	Mewtwo uses Psychic to throw its enemy backward powerfully. One of the strongest back throws in the game, among its best KO moves, being the third strongest back throw (only losing out to Dr. Mario and Ness)
Up throw			12%	Mewtwo uses Psychic to throw its foe upward, spinning. Strongest throw in the game, one of Mewtwo's best KO moves, KOing at 105%. At low percentages, it can chaingrab fast fallers and can lead into forward aerial to regrab on Fox/Falco.
Down throw			11%	Mewtwo throws its enemy down and hits with its tail. Can reliably lead into follow-ups, usually Forward aerial. Can be used to chaingrab large characters like Bowser. Can hit nearby opponents
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			5-7%	Mewtwo telekinetically gets itself up and spins around with its tail extended.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			5-7%	Mewtwo telekinetically gets itself up and spins around with its tail extended.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			8%	Mewtwo flips onto the stage, using its tail to attack.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Mewtwo telekinetically walks on the side of the stage, then suddenly jumps on the stage and swipes with a claw.
Neutral special		Shadow Ball	3% uncharged, 25% fully charged, 1% (Charge hits)	An auto-charge special with saveable charge. Most unusually, the attack can still be "charged" even when fully charged. During this phase, opponents can be damaged by the shadow ball. The attack itself is a powerful projectile that travels in a wave path.
Side special		Confusion	10%	A special grab that spins foes around, flipping them, similar to Mario's Cape. This is very punishable, as hitstun is only as long as the character is spinning. The attack also reflects projectiles, but this has a fatal flaw: the projectile's ownership does not change. This means that only projectiles that would normally hurt the user would feel any effects of this.
Up special		Teleport	0%	A non-damaging recovery attack. The recovery renders Mewtwo intangible, then sends Mewtwo up and to the side the control stick is being tilted.
Down special		Disable	1%	Mewtwo shoots out a short beam from its eyes in front of it, and any opponent right in front of Mewtwo that is facing it will be dazed for a short period. If the move is performed whilst the character is already dazed, he or she will fly off taking 1% damage, but will recover when they land. If the move hits an opponent in the air, they will flinch but instantly recover after the freeze frames, taking no appreciable knockback. This attack can be reflected. This attack has transcendent priority.

Taunt

Crosses its arms and spins in mid-air, laughing.

Victory Theme

An excerpt from the main theme of Pokémon.

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Mewtwo professionals (SSBM)

•  Mew2King
•  Taj
•  Zoma

Tier placement and history

Mewtwo has traditionally placed very low in tier lists, with a very small playerbase dedicated to using it. It was initially seen as the worst character in the game, according to the first tier list (dated October 2002), and hovered around the bottom 4 spots for many years, once even falling back into last place position (eighth tier list; July 2006). Mewtwo eventually moved out of the bottom tier due to increasing tournament placings by Taj, who is widely considered to be the best Mewtwo player in the world, though it never surfaced into the higher tiers. Today, even with continued representation by Taj and sometimes Mew2King, Mewtwo is still in the lower echelons of the B tier, cashing in at 21st place.

In Single Player modes

In Classic Mode

Mewtwo can appear in Classic Mode as an ordinary opponent, as an ally or in a team with Ness or Bowser in team battles or as a metal character in the penultimate stage. In Mewtwo's appearances, it either appears on Pokémon Stadium or Final Destination, with the Poké Floats theme playing; when fighting alongside Ness, however, it appears in Fourside, and when fighting alongside Bowser, it appears on Battlefield.

In Adventure Mode

Adventure Mode makes no concessions to Mewtwo when it is unlocked.

In All-Star Mode

In All Star Mode, Mewtwo and its allies are fought on Battlefield, as all other Pokémon stages are already used by Pikachu and Jigglypuff. On the stage, the music from Poké Floats plays.

In Event Matches

Mewtwo appears in the following Event Matches:

• Event 40: All-Star Match 4: Mewtwo is the fourth opponent fought in this series of staged battles. The selected character battles it on the Final Destination stage with a stock of 2 while Mewtwo has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat it and the other four characters one-by-one with the overall time and damage: Marth, Luigi, Jigglypuff, and Mr. Game & Watch.
• Event 44: Mewtwo Strikes!: In this event, the player is initially placed on Battlefield, against Zelda. After fifteen seconds, however, Mewtwo appears on stage and will fight the player. The player's goal is to KO Mewtwo; while Zelda can be attacked, KOing her will result in failure.
• Event 51: The Showdown: In the game's final event match, the player must fight against a team consisting of Mewtwo, Ganondorf and Giga Bowser. All characters have three lives, with no time limit.

Ending images

• 

  Classic Mode.

• 

  Adventure Mode.

• 

  All-Star Mode.

Trophies

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

Mewtwo (Classic Mode, Trophy #52)
A genetically created Pokémon, Mewtwo is the result of many long years of research by a solitary scientist. Although Mewtwo was cloned from the genes of the legendary Pokémon Mew, its size and character are far different than its ancestor. Its battle abilities have been radically heightened, making it ruthless.

• Game: Pokémon Red & Blue

Mewtwo Smash (Adventure Mode, Trophy #53)
As Mewtwo relies mostly on its powerful brain, there are times when it scarcely uses its arms and legs. Since Mewtwo spends much of its time floating, it flies far when struck. Shadow Ball traces a jagged path once released; the longer Mewtwo holds it, the more powerful it becomes. Mewtwo uses Confusion to spin its foes around.

• B: Shadow Ball
• Smash B: Confusion

Mewtwo Smash (All-Star Mode, Trophy #54)
Mewtwo is definitely not a speedy character, but its ESP-powered grab and throw moves are comparatively strong. Teleport has a short range, but doesn't leave it open to attack. It's best used as an escape move during disturbances. Mewtwo can daze a foe if it makes eye contact and uses Disable; the move is useless unless Mewtwo is facing its enemy.

• Up & B: Teleport
• Down & B: Disable

Alternate costumes

Mewtwo's alternate costumes in Melee

Trivia

• Mewtwo picks up and uses items via its telekinetic power, never actually touching them outside grasping the Parasol while falling. One of its idle poses involves it spinning its held item around.
  • This results in Mewtwo having poor usage of the Hammer; unlike all other characters, it spins the Hammer sideways around itself, and so is vulnerable from above while using it.
  • Oddly, when air dodging with an item, the item is visible while Mewtwo is not, spinning in a tight, flickering circle once every 4 frames.
• When hit, shooting a charged Super Scope blast, or using Disable, Mewtwo's irises turn yellow, similar to how Mr. Game & Watch's body turns yellow when shooting charged Super Scope shots.
• If the game language is switched to Japanese, Mewtwo will speak in full sentences for some of its victory poses. In English, Mewtwo only laughs during its victory poses and its taunt.
• Mewtwo being of light weight (85 units, tied with Young Link) contradicts its Pokédex information, where it is supposed to outweigh any non-overweight human.
• Mewtwo's fully charged Shadow Ball is seen hitting Donkey Kong in the introduction to Melee, making it one of the five hidden characters, along with Ganondorf, Jigglypuff, Young Link, and Pichu, to have some kind of involvement in the intro.
• Mewtwo, like Marth and Roy, when faced in Classic or All-Star mode, is fought on a stage that does not match its universe (either Battlefield or Final Destination). However, the music that plays when fighting it is from Poké Floats.
• Mewtwo is also the only character in Melee whose down smash only hits on one side; this concept has been used by several characters in later games.
• Mewtwo is the only Legendary Pokémon that existed at the time of the release of Melee that wasn't a Pokéball Pokémon in that game.

External links

• SuperDoodleMan's frame data
• DARKFORCE's Mewtwo video Compendium
• DJLO's Mewtwo technique and terminology animated .gif gallery