Yoshi (SSBM)

Yoshi in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Yoshi
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Tier	B (18)

“	A dinosaur that boasts surprising jumping prowess.	”
—Melee's instruction manual

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. He possesses a more realistic dinosaur crouching posture and mottled skin in Melee.

He is currently ranked 18th on the current tier list, in the B tier. Yoshi has outstanding combo ability with his double jump cancelling (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. However, Yoshi has a number of significant flaws. One is his lack of a "true" third jump, which creates a reliance on his large double jump; although it gives Yoshi super armor, he has almost no chance of recovering if he is hit out of it. His high falling speed also makes him a target for combos. Additionally, his shield acts as a double-edged sword; while it protects Yoshi from shield stabs, it cannot be jumped out of, limiting Yoshi's defensive options. Yoshi has poor matchups all around, with five matchups considered nearly unwinnable, and only one being considered favorable against Kirby; he also has the dubious distinction of being one of only three characters that have an even matchup against Pichu. However, due to large innovations in Yoshi's metagame by aMSa, as well as strong tournament placements by him, Yoshi's placement on the tier list and matchups have been debated in the Melee community. When aMSa's results are not counted, however, Yoshi has had one of the worst representations in top-level play.

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 an specific character archetype, due to a large amount of strongly varying characteristics. Yoshi has among the highest jumping prowess in the game, as well as a very high air speed, fast falling speed, low traction, and fast dashing speed. As a result of these properties, Yoshi has a rather long wavedash.

Among Yoshi's greater strengths is his air game. His high air speed and a highly maneuverable midair jump, as well as fast, low-lag, sometimes multi-hitting aerials, aid his comboing game; the addition of a meteor smash via his forward air also gives him a viable combo finisher. Adding to this, Yoshi's small short hop, above average falling speed and low-lag aerials make his SHFFL useful for approaching. Additionally, Yoshi's aerial attacks can be of significant power; his neutral and up aerial have KO potential, as does his forward aerial due to its meteor smash potential. 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. Adding to this rather strong aerial game, Yoshi can also double jump cancel, leading to a variety of interesting possibilities and mind games in his combos.

Yoshi's ground approach is also good, due to a variety of ground-based tactics. In addition to a down tilt with semi-spike and fixed knockback properties, Yoshi has among the most flexible projectiles in all the game; Egg Throw 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 grab game is also good; in addition to a ranged grab, Yoshi's up and down throws can lead to a variety of combos, and his forward and back throws can force edgeguarding situations.

One of Yoshi's biggest flaws, however, is his lack of a true third jump, which makes his recovery game rather polarizing. His midair jump does certainly have 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, 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. A lack of damaging hitboxes in his limited recovery options makes Yoshi easy to edgehog, and gives Yoshi almost no mix-up choices in his recovery. However, he can protect himself to some degree by using a well-timed forward aerial during the jump, threatening incoming foes with a quick meteor smash down into the abyss should they improperly space their attacks.

Yoshi's shield game is also decidedly poor. Yoshi's shield is unique in that it 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. However, such a shield also takes away options from Yoshi that all other characters in the game have. While his spot dodge and rolls are decent, he is notably unable to jump out of his shield. This leads to a lack of options, especially in the punish game, when put onto the defense, and also significantly hinders his approach as it prevents him from getting much, if any, benefit from wavedashing. Yoshi's grab is slow, short, and easily telegraphed, making it difficult to punish an attack on his shield with a shield grab, and he is unable to wavedash (as mentioned) or do a short hopped aerial out of shield to capitalize on an enemy's mistakes. Additionally, while Yoshi's light shield is able to keep him safe, it may also move him into less desirable positions on the stage, especially if the enemy is looking for stage control. It is difficult for Yoshi to regain momentum near the edge after an enemy in the middle hits his light shield away.

Changes from Smash 64 to Melee

When making the transition from Super Smash Bros. to Melee, Yoshi received both buffs and nerfs, but was slightly nerfed overall.

Aesthetics

• Yoshi received a slightly more realistic appearance, with mottled skin and a more dinosaur-like posture.

Attributes

• The addition of directional air dodges improves his recovery.
• Has more trouble with combos against floaty characters.
• Air speed is slightly slower, though it remains one of the best air speeds in the game.
• Although they are still extremely useful, his DJC combos are slower and somewhat harder to perform.
• Can no longer jump out of his shield, significantly hindering his OoS options and exacerbating his already-poor ability to deal with shield pressure.

Ground Attacks

• Forward tilt is easier to combo from at higher percentages on most characters.
• Forward and up smashes are slightly quicker.
• Up smash now only hits opponents vertically, making it much easier to combo from.
• Down smash now has negligible startup lag, considerably more power, and a more favorable semi-spike launch angle, making it Yoshi's best KOing option.
• New up tilt is less useful for combos at lower percentages.
• Down tilt is less useful for gimping at very low percentages, but it still remains a solid gimping tool overall.
• Forward smash is significantly weaker.
• Forward tilt and up smash are slightly weaker. The latter can also no longer be used as a horizontal finisher.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral, forward, and up aerials are stronger.
• Forward aerial has much more startup lag, (although most of the meteor smashes have this problem).
• Down aerial has a lower possible damage output, from a maximum of 56% in Smash 64 to 53% in Melee.
• New back aerial is a much weaker multi-hit attack that is no longer able to KO but is now a very potent damage racking attack, (although it is not as potent as his down aerial).

Grabs and Throws

• Yoshi now has an up throw and a down throw, giving him more versatility after a grab.

Special Moves

• Yoshi has a new special move, Egg Roll. While the move is not very useful as an attack, it helps Yoshi's very limited recovery options.
• Egg Throw now has greater versatility. They can now extend aerial combos and set up for various aerial KOing options or a smash attack.

PAL differences

Like other characters, Yoshi received some changes in the PAL version of Melee.

• Yoshi is heavier (111 instead of 108).
• Forward and up smashes deal 1% more damage.
• Down aerial deals considerably less damage (38% instead of 53%).

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), can lock and if DI'd come back onto the stage, Yoshi can use this to fastfall and then 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 rather high base knockback, but zero knockback scaling, making it set 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			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			12%	Thrusts his tail upwards very fast. Can be used to juggle, working especially well when DJC'd.
Down aerial			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 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			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% (egg), 4% (escape)	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!"

Cheer

File:YoshiChantNTSC.ogg

Yoshi's NTSC and PAL cheer

File:Yoshi JP Crowd chant.ogg

Yoshi's Japanese cheer

NTSC and PAL: Yooo-Shiii...!
Japanese: Yo - Shi!

Victory theme

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

Victory poses

• 
• 
• 

• 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

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Yoshi has very poor matchups all around. According to the most recent matchup chart, he only has an advantageous matchup against one character, Kirby, while he is hard countered by five characters (four of which are in the top tier), countered by ten characters, and soft countered by three characters. He has even matchups with six characters, although most are in the bottom tier. A majority of these poor matchups are currently due to Yoshi's poor range and recovery; top tiered characters, especially against (Fox, Falco, Sheik, Peach, and Samus), are especially powerful in both of these departments, and are considered his primary hard counters.

With new innovations in Yoshi's metagame, however, many of these matchups are being reevaluated as disputable or outright inaccurate altogether. Appropriate applications of Yoshi's combo ability, punish game, double jump armor, and parrying are able to force a greatly limited room for both error and fighting options alike in a wide range of situations. Yoshi's most controversial matchups that are currently being disputed in the metagame are those against Marth and Ice Climbers, where even top professional smashers of those characters claim that Yoshi has the appropriate tools to hold an even or advantageous matchup against them.

Notable players

See also: Category:Yoshi professionals (SSBM)

Active

•  aMSa
•  Mind Trick
•  V3ctorman
•  Chu12ch

Inactive

•  Bringer of Death
•  Fumi
•  Leffen

Tier placement and history

Yoshi has almost always been viewed as a nearly nonviable character 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; by this point, Fumi and other Yoshi professionals had begun to retire from Melee, leaving Yoshi's metagame relatively abandoned in the competitive scene.

Several years later, Leffen and V3ctorman both began to use Yoshi in tournaments, revitalizing and innovating Yoshi's previously stagnant metagame. They found that Yoshi's combo and punish game could easily capitalize against characters who were once thought to outperform him in every situation, especially against fastfallers, who were found to be vulnerable to Yoshi's deadly double jump cancelling combos. They also showed the many uses of Egg Throw, developing it as a zoning and edgeguarding tool. Despite these developments, Yoshi failed to rise out of the bottom tiers, and eventually, their standings with Yoshi started to falter as well. Leffen lost the drive to develop Yoshi and switched to Fox, while V3ctorman suffered from declining tournament placings as more people in his region learned the Yoshi matchup.

In late 2012 to early 2013, however, aMSa made his professional debut in Japan, taking top 8 in a Japanese tournament with only Yoshi, with his performance quickly piquing the interest of the American and European scenes. 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. 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 (such as Lucky, Silent Wolf, Fly Amanita, and SFAT) in them and exceeding expectations of Yoshi's viability by placing consistently high. 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 tier list or matchup charts in response to these developments, it has continued debating and discussing Yoshi's potential at top-level play; Yoshi has been expected by the community to rise several places in the next tier list. This was shown in the third Melee PAL Tier List, in which Yoshi rose 8 places to 11th place in the mid tier, an unprecedented feat considering Yoshi's previous tier placings in Melee's history.

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. His universe (Yoshi), however, is incorporated in the Mario universe in Stage 1.

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

Trophy descriptions

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

Yoshi's alternate costumes in Melee

External links

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