Yoshi (SSBU)

Yoshi in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Yoshi
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter (Unlockable in World of Light)
Final Smash	Stampede!

“	Yoshi is all about egg-related moves, like throwing eggs, swallowing opponents and turning them into eggs, or turning into an egg and charging toward an opponent. With a high jump, recovery is a piece of cake for Yoshi! And for his Final Smash, a Yoshi army stampedes through the stage.	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Yoshi (ヨッシー, Yoshi) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was revealed for the game along with the rest of the veterans on June 12th, 2018. Yoshi is classified as fighter #05.

As in all previous Smash Bros. games and nearly all of Yoshi's game appearances, Kazumi Totaka's portrayal of Yoshi from Yoshi's Story was repurposed for Ultimate.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Yoshi has received a significant number of buffs in the transition from Smash 4 to Ultimate with only a few minor nerfs. His KO power has been noticeably improved, as has his ability to rack up damage at lower percents thanks to changes to moves like back air and forward tilt. All of his aerials have reduced landing lag, and the universal nerfs to air dodging make his edgeguarding with both aerials and Egg Throw much more potent. His aerial speed, already the best in Smash 4, was increased, as was his walk and run speed.

Aesthetics

• As with all veterans returning from Smash 4, Yoshi's model features a more subdued color scheme. His irises appear larger and his shoes feature simple detailing.
• Yoshi now always faces the screen regardless of the direction he turns. Because of this, his stance is now mirrored, and so is his moveset.
• Yoshi no longer reverts to his posture and idle poses from Brawl while holding a small item.
• Yoshi's dashing animation is changed. It is now a more upright run with his arms moving, similar to his dashing animation in Yoshi's Island DS.
• Yoshi has a new idle animation, which is similar to his idle animation in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
• Yoshi's double jump animation is altered to face the screen more.
• Yoshi has new falling animations.
• Yoshi's tail-based moves now make a cartoony pounding sound effect upon connecting.
• Yoshi has a new alternate costume based on his appearance in Yoshi's Crafted World. It replaces his black costume from Smash 4.
• Two of Yoshi's victory poses were slighly altered: the victory animation where Yoshi spins around and strikes a V sign now has him performing a Flutter Jump, before spinning around once and striking a v sign; and the victory animation where Yoshi punches the air once and striking a pose now has him punching the air twice and, strikes a pose with his right leg farther back.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Yoshi's jumpsquat animation now takes 3 frames to complete (down from 6).
• Yoshi runs faster (1.86 → 2.046).
  • Yoshi's initial dash is significantly faster (1.33 → 1.98).
• Yoshi walks slightly faster (1.15 → 1.208).
• Yoshi's air speed has been increased, now being almost as high as Jigglypuff's in Melee (1.28 → 1.344).
• Yoshi has significantly higher traction (0.0426 → 0.095), allowing him to punish out of shield much more easily.
• Yoshi's jumps height has been slightly reduced.
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 36 → 31).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-21 → 4-15).
• Back roll has more startup and grants less intangibility (frames 4-21 → 5-16).
• Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 27).
• Spot dodge grants less intangibility (frames 3-18 → 3-17).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 3-28 → 3-30).
• Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (FAF 34 → 59).
• The reintroduction of directional air dodges benefits Yoshi, as due to Egg Throw not causing helplessness, he can get additional distance with a directional air dodge after using it.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit transitions into the second hit faster (frame 9 → 6).
  • The first and second hits have altered angles and knockback to keep opponents close to Yoshi, akin to other neutral attacks. This allows them to connect better and jab lock, but removes their guaranteed jab cancel setups.
    • Due to this change, and the second hit using the Sakurai angle, grounded opponents hit by the move are launched at a lower angle. This allows it to get them offstage more effectively, but makes followups harder.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has drastically less ending lag (FAF 39 → 30), and launches opponents at a higher, consistent angle across the move. This grants it significant potential as a combo starter.
  • It deals more damage when not angled (7% → 8%).
  • It has increased base knockback, slightly improving its KO potential.
  • Forward tilt's animation has been altered, with Yoshi no longer performing a full spin when swinging his tail.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's hitboxes start from a higher position, making them unable to hit short characters in front of Yoshi.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals slightly more knockback.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 41).
  • It deals more damage (9% → 11% (clean), 6% → 8% (late)), with knockback compensated.
  • Dash attack no longer goes through shields consistently, making it much less safe on shield.
  • Dash attack travels a shorter distance.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has two different hitboxes instead of three, with the sweetspot taking priority over the sourspot and being located closer to Yoshi. This effectively removes its weaker sourspot (14%/15.5%/13% → 15.5%/14%), and makes the sweetspot easier to land.
  • The move has more active frames (frame 14 → 14-16).
  • It grants more intangibility on Yoshi's head (frames 12-14 → 12-16).
  • The sweetspot deals slightly more knockback, improving its KO ability.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash deals slightly more knockback, improving its KO ability.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash deals noticeably more knockback, with the first and second hits' sweetspots now KOing middleweights under 150% and 130% (respectively) from the center of Final Destination.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have reduced landing lag (11 frames → 7 (neutral), 17 frames → 12 (forward), 19 frames → 11 (back), 14 frames → 8 (up), 24 frames → 17 (down)).
• Forward aerial:
  • The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes improves forward aerial's combo potential onstage, compounded further by its reduced landing lag.
  • It no longer autocancels in a short hop, due to Yoshi's lower short hop duration.
  • It has a different animation, with Yoshi no longer flipping after the headbutt.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial deals more damage (2.5% → 3.5% (hits 1-2), 5% → 5.5% (hit 3)), with knockback not compensated on the third hit, improving its KO potential.
  • The first two hits deal drastically less hitlag, while the second and third hits come out faster (frame 17, 25 → 14, 18), allowing them to transition faster and making them harder to SDI out of.
    • However, the move's total duration remains unchanged, giving it more ending lag.
  • The move's first two hits deal much less knockback (similar to its Brawl counterpart), and launch grounded opponents at a higher angle, allowing them to connect more reliably, and combined with the move's lower landing lag, start combos at a wide range of percentages.
  • Back aerial has a slightly altered animation, with Yoshi striking a new pose at the end of the move.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has less ending lag (FAF 39 → 37).
  • Up aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 33 → 31).
  • It has a new animation where Yoshi raises his tail up from behind without flipping.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's linking hits deal drastically less hitlag and use the autolink angle, allowing them to transition much faster, connect more reliably, and making them harder to SDI out of.
  • The landing hit deals more knockback, now causing opponents to tumble even at 0%, which it could not do in previous games due to its set knockback. This allows it to set up edgeguards more effectively, and grants it followups at low percents if the opponent fails to tech.
  • The linking hits deal consistent, albeit overall lower damage (3%/2% → 2.3% (hits 1-6), 2.2%/1.5% → 1.9% (hits 7-12)), while the last hit deals more damage (1% → 2.8%). This reduces the move's maximum damage output (31.2% → 28%), but makes it more consistent.
    • The last hit's knockback has not been fully compensated for its higher damage output, improving its KO potential.
  • Down aerial's initial auto-cancel window has been removed.

Throws and other attacks

• All grabs have noticeably decreased ending lag (FAF 56 → 49 (standing), 68 → 57 (dash), 65 → 52 (pivot)), especially compared to the rest of the cast, as all non-extended grabs have conversely had their ending lag increased.
• Dash and pivot grab have more startup lag (frame 10 → 16 (dash), 10 → 17 (pivot)), no longer being faster than his standing grab. His pivot grab in particular has gone from among the fastest to one of the slowest.
• Yoshi's grab animation has changed. After grabbing an opponent and holding them in his mouth, his cheeks become swollen and jiggle, as if the fighter inside is trying to break out. He also holds his mouth closed with his hands, and no longer crouches down to the ground.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals less damage (2% → 1.3%).
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw deals more damage (7% → 9%) without compensation on knockback, improving its KO potential near edges.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw deals more damage (7% → 9%) without compensation on knockback, improving its KO potential near edges.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw has significantly increased knockback, allowing it to KO at around 230%, compared to being unable to KO under 500% without rage. It is no longer one of the weakest up throws in the game.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw releases the opponent slower (frame 15 → 25), making it easier to DI.
    • However, its ending lag has been reduced relative to its release frame (FAF 44 → 51). Combined with Yoshi's faster jumpsquat and jump speed, this improves its combo potential, leading into a neutral aerial at low percents, and an up aerial even up to high percents.
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 9%).

Special moves

• Egg Lay:
  • Egg Lay has less startup (frame 20 → 18), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 44 → 42).
  • It has a slightly altered animation, inflating Yoshi's cheeks more as he swallows opponents, similar to his grab.
• Egg Roll:
  • Egg Roll deals drastically more damage (4%-≈9% → 10%-≈13.8%).
  • Yoshi always bounces once when using Egg Roll on the ground. This makes the move's execution slower and more predictable.
  • Changing direction takes longer.
  • Yoshi strikes a new pose before using Egg Roll.
• Egg Throw:
  • Yoshi gains slightly more vertical distance on the first Egg Throw, particularly after a jump.
  • Eggs can now bounce on the ground and retain their horizontal momentum before they break, giving Yoshi a new option to stop approaches.
  • Eggs deal a single hit to opponents instead of two, with the same total damage (1% (hit 1), 5% (hit 2) → 6%). As their knockback values have been unchanged, this gives them slightly more knockback.
  • Egg Throw has more startup (frame 15 → 16) and ending lag (FAF 54 → 56).
  • Yoshi can now use his right arm or left arm to throw eggs, due to his mirrored stance.
• Yoshi Bomb:
  • Yoshi Bomb can now sweetspot a ledge even if Yoshi is facing away from it.
  • Both grounded and aerial versions can go through soft platforms if high enough above and the control stick is held down. Will always go through if too close.
  • Yoshi vocalizes when using the grounded version, like in previous games.
• Final Smash:
  • Yoshi has a new Final Smash called Stampede!. He headbutts in front of him and an army of multicolored Yoshis stampede over the trapped players, similar to his part of the Super Smash Bros. Melee opening.

Update History

2.0.0

• Shortened the amount of time the player is unable to grab a ledge after using forward air (71 frames → 68).
• Yoshi is now granted grab invincibility during his grab release and throw animations.

Moveset

• Yoshi can crawl.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	A front kick followed by a roundhouse kick. The two hits transition relatively fast and can connect into a jab lock.
			4%
Forward tilt	↗		8%	Swings his tail in a forward direction. It can be used as a combo starter in certain instances, but the attack still has a high amount of ending lag.
	→		8%
	↘		8%
Up tilt			7%	Brings his tail upwards, the attack has a highly placed hitbox that can make it hard to use on short characters. Regardless, the attack is still a very effective combo starter.
Down tilt			5% (base, 4.5% (mid), 4% (tip)	Lays on all fours and spins his body around to attack with his tail. The attack deals the least amount of damage out of all his tilts, but has the lowest ending lag out of all of Yoshi’s tilts. It can make it useful for tech chasing.
Dash attack			11% (clean), 8% (late)	A far reaching side kick. Its long range and duration can create cross-ups, and is capable of punishing rolls or techs. However, its high amount of ending lag can make it very punishable.
Forward smash			15.5% (sweetspot), 14% (sourspot)	Rears his head back to perform a headbutt. The sweetspot takes priority over the sourspot and can be made into a fast KO option. It can also be angled and his head is intangible during the attack. It has a high amount of ending lag, however, and makes it punishable because of it.
Up smash			14% (clean), 12% (late)	Performs a bicycle kick. The attack has a clean hitbox and can be a potential KO option. Despite its appearance, it can’t hit opponents who are behind Yoshi and has very punishable ending lag.
Down smash			12% (tail), 10% (body)	Crouches and swings his tail forward, and then backwards.
Neutral aerial			10% (clean), 7% (mid), 5% (late)	A flying sex kick that has a small amount of startup lag. Along with its low startup lag and high knockback growth, it’s a very useful approach and edgeguarding option.
Forward aerial		Noggin Dunk	15% (head), 14% (nose)	Rears his head back and then performs a downward headbutt. Both hitboxes deal a impressive amount of damage and the sweetspot is a meteor smash. It can no longer autocancel in a short hop.
Back aerial			3.5% (hits 1-2), 5.5% (hit 3)	Hits three times with his tail. A fast aerial that has effective damage output and knockback.
Up aerial			12%	Flicks his tail upwards. Due to being a very effective juggling option, it’s one of Yoshi’s most useful moves.
Down aerial		Flutter Kick	2.3% (hits 1-6), 1.9% (hits 7-12), 2.8% (last hit)	Yoshi performs a bunch of downwards kicks that closely resembles his feet during a Flutter Jump. Notorious for its damage output, and can deal 28% damage if all the hits connect.
Grab			—	Opens his mouth and lets out his tongue to pull the opponent into his mouth. Compared to other fighters, Yoshi’s grabs have a lot more range, but an considerable amount of startup and ending lag.
Pummel			1.3%	Chews the opponent. A relatively fast pummel that doesn’t deal too much damage.
Forward throw			9%	Spits the opponent forward. It has KO potential near edges and minimal combo potential.
Back throw			9%	Turns around and spits out the opponent. It has no utility outside of dealing damage.
Up throw			5%	Spits the opponent upwards. The throw has significantly increased knockback, allowing it to KO at around 230% compared to 500% in previous games. Otherwise, it has no utility outside of dealing damage.
Down throw			4%	Spits the opponent down to the ground. Its combo potential is improved due to its lower ending lag and Yoshi’s increased speed.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Spins around and swings his tail around himself before getting up.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Headbutts behind himself and then in front of himself before getting up.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Spins around and swings his tail around himself before getting up.
Edge attack Edge getups			9%	Swings his tail inward while climbing up.
Neutral special		Egg Lay	7%	Yoshi swallows the opponent and traps them in a Yoshi Egg. When the opponent is trapped, they can escape by button mashing. They stay trapped longer the more damage they have.
Side special		Egg Roll	10%-13.8%	Yoshi will encase himself in a large Yoshi Egg and begins to roll around the stage. When the roll gets more speed, it will deal more damage. The attack has limited usage due to its predictable movement and ending lag.
Up special		Egg Throw	1% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2)	Throws a Yoshi Egg that travels on a controllable, parabolic arc. When used in midair, the first few throws grant Yoshi a bit of vertical distance. A very effective projectile that can now bounce upon hitting the ground, which makes it a more versatile option.
Down special		Yoshi Bomb	4% (hop), 15% (grounded Ground Pound), 12% (aerial Ground Pound), 4% (stars)	A Ground Pound that produces damaging stars upon landing. The attack deals a good amount of damage and has very little startup lag. It can now sweetspot ledges and go through soft platforms, giving the attack more safety.
Final Smash		Stampede!	6% (hit one), 46% (hits from other yoshis)	Yoshi rushes forward and attacks the opponent with a upwards headbutt. If the attack hits, it cuts to a cinematic cutscene that takes place in a rocky gorge. Suddenly, an stampede of multicolored Yoshis are seen rushing down the gorge, and they attack by trampling the opponent. It has a striking resemblance to the Super Smash Bros. Melee opening movie, where it has a similar stampede as well as the similar rocky environment.

Victory poses

• Does a flutter jump, spins once, and gives the V sign.
• Punches the air twice, spins, and poses while standing on one foot.
• Angrily, he punches a few times, and then turns his back on the screen facing right. A reference to Akuma's pose after a successful use of the Shun Goku Satsu.

A flourished, orchestrated remix of the title music of Yoshi's Story, significantly sped up.

• 
• 
• 

Classic Mode: Jurassic Journey!

Yoshi's adversaries consist of playable reptiles.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Ivysaur	Distant Planet	World Map - Pikmin 2	Ivysaur appears without Pokémon Trainer.
2	Ridley	Great Bay	Yoshi's Tale	Opponent is Giant
3	King K. Rool	Jungle Japes	Wildlands
4	Koopalings	Yoshi's Island	Flower Field	The Koopalings are fought in the order Mario faces them in Super Mario World.
5	Charizard	Garden of Hope	Bandit Valley	Charizard appears without Pokémon Trainer.
6	Bowser	Mushroom Kingdom U	Melty Monster	Opponent is Giant
Bonus Stage
Final	Rathalos	?*	Roar/Rathalos

*: The stage used here is not a normally playable stage, but appears to be one based on the Monster Hunter series.

Note: With the exceptions of Rounds 1 and 6, a song from the Yoshi universe is played regardless of the stage.

Character unlock tree

Yoshi's Classic Mode character unlock tree includes the following characters in order:

• Lucario
• Marth
• Ryu
• Ganondorf
• Lucina
• Ridley
• Chrom
• Ken

Each character can be unlocked by clearing Yoshi's Classic Mode, or the Classic Mode of any preceding character, if all preceding characters have been unlocked. Once all the above characters are unlocked, clearing Classic Mode with any of them will default to Mario's character unlock tree, starting with Sonic.

Role in World of Light

Although Yoshi does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

He can be found in a candy-like hill to be awakened, which can be accessed in short time after taking Sheik's route.

Spirits

Yoshi's Fighter Spirits can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. They are also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking Yoshi in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As Fighter Spirits, they cannot be used in Spirit Battles and are purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, Yoshi makes an appearance in various Primary and Support Spirits.

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  297. Yoshi

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  298. Yoshi (Yoshi's Crafted World)

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  75. Starship Mario

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  84. Turbo Yoshi

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  319. Mega Eggdozer

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  321. Yarn Yoshi

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  1,301. River Survival

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Yoshi's fighter card.

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  Yoshi about to use his forward aerial attack on Tortimer Island.

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  Air dodging a shot from Zelda's Super Scope on Mario Galaxy.

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  Launching his tongue at a shrunken Kirby on Gaur Plain.

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  Chasing his tail on Coliseum.

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  Idling with Mr. Game & Watch in Skyloft.

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  Green and Yellow Yoshis in Skyworld.

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  Green, Yellow, Blue and Red Yoshis on Green Greens.

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  Getting hit by Pac-Man's down smash on Big Blue.

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  Stuck in a Black Hole with Pit on Big Blue.

Trivia

• Yoshi is the only "Original 8" member:
  • That is not playable in the E3 demo.
    • To not have his Final Smash be revealed when the game was announced at E3, as a consequence.
  • That did not appear before Ultimate's title was revealed.
  • To not be seen in King K. Rool's trailer.
  • To not appear in the World of Light trailer, as well as the only member who has never appeared in any CGI trailers.
  • To be the only sole representative starter.
• Yoshi's stock icon in Ultimate bears a strong resemblance to his stock icon from Super Smash Bros. 4.
• Yoshi is the only character to have an alternate costume based on an upcoming game.
  • As a result, this is the second time the Yoshi universe has had, in some way, representation from an upcoming game; Woolly World appeared as a stage in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U before Yoshi's Woolly World released.
  • This is the second time in Ultimate that a character has some representation from an upcoming game, the first being Luigi using his Poltergust G-100 for his grabs, throws, and Final Smash.
• Yoshi is the only starter whose universe has no unlockable characters.