Yoshi (SSB)

Yoshi in Super Smash Bros.
Universe	Yoshi
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Tier	C (6)

Yoshi (ヨッシー, Yoshi) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros.

Yoshi ranks 6th in the C tier on the current tier list, in the very middle position. Yoshi is known for having unique properties compared to the other characters in the game - his shield, an egg rather than the standard energy bubble, doesn't shrink (making him completely immune to shield stabbing), allows parry techniques, and lasts slightly longer than the normal shield. In addition, his midair jump gives him a type of launch resistance throughout its duration, allowing him to escape combos and even hit back. Yoshi's stats are rather unique as well; despite him having above average weight, he has decent dashing speed and the fastest air speed in the game. Yoshi's down aerial is known as an extremely effective damage racking move, dealing a maximum of 56% damage, while landing the move is made even easier using the DJC technique that can also be applied to his other useful aerials. His forward aerial is an effective meteor smash with very quick startup yet high power, along with the ability to combo into it with moves such as forward tilt. Yoshi has useful combo options outside this, including a versatile up tilt that can juggle fastfallers or heavyweights at low percentages, and lead into an aerial or up smash, with a late-hitting neutral aerial being able to followup with another up tilt to continue the string. However, Yoshi's above average weight and size make him rather easy for quicker characters (such as Pikachu and Fox) to combo. In addition, his grab is very slow and punishable, yet having limited range compared to other tether grabs. Yoshi also lacks a rising up special move to use for recovery, forcing him to use his double jump, meaning that if he's flinched out of his double jump, he will be unable to recover. Yoshi's biggest problems, however, are his huge difficulties dealing with pressure, especially shield pressure, as well as lacking reliable approach options with considerable range, making it very easy for characters with disjointed moves (most particularly Kirby's up tilt) to simply outspace him constantly. Yoshi's properties give him very average matchups, with his matchup spread having an average of 50:50. This means he generally has trouble against higher tiered characters, but can do well against lower tiered characters, though he has a handful of even matchups against characters near or below him on the tier list.

Attributes

File:Yoshistoryending.jpg

Yoshi's ending picture in Super Smash Bros.

Yoshi is a surprisingly heavy character (third heaviest character in Smash 64), yet is relatively quick, with the fastest air speed in the game, with a moderately fast dashing speed and fast walking speed to complement this. He has an average falling speed and fast falling speed. Unlike other characters, Yoshi's shield is not a bubble, but a Yoshi egg, which lasts slightly longer than other shields. It is also immune to shield stabbing due to the shield covering his whole body and not shrinking (rather, it becomes darker to indicate how close it is to breaking). However, it takes slightly longer to get out of than other shields. Yoshi has a rather sluggish roll, limiting his OoS options (though he can jump out of his shield, unlike in Melee and Brawl). Yoshi lacks a third jump, but his double jump is very large and also gives him a special type of launch resistance during most of the animation. The unique properties of his double jump allow him to "double jump cancel counter", which enables him to escape combos and counterattack.

Yoshi has many KO moves, such as his forward smash and forward aerial (the latter of which can meteor smash). He has a huge amount of combo moves, such as his forward tilt and up tilt. The former has high hitstun and can easily combo into itself or a forward aerial. The latter hits opponents vertically with set knockback, allowing it to easily lead into aerials such as back aerial and up aerial. This is also an effective KO setup at higher percentages. His up tilt can also juggle fastfallers at low percentages, which can also be done in conjunction with an up aerial. Yoshi's down tilt also has set knockback, and sends opponents on a semi-spike trajectory, making it a useful gimping move. Yoshi can use a well-known glitch-tactic called double jump cancel, allowing him to use aerials quicker and combo with aerials more reliably. It's especially effective with his down aerial, which can rack up a huge amount of damage (maximum of 56%) somewhat quickly. Yoshi can parry attacks by timing a shield correctly (within 4 frames of being hit), which allows him to use an attack out of his shield immediately; and while the foe still has freeze frames to endure. In high level play, Yoshi is known for being able to break shields quickly using his Z-cancelled neutral aerial while using DJC. This is known as a shield break combo. His DJC'd down aerial can also break a shield if used correctly.

Yoshi also has a projectile in his up special move, Egg Throw. It is difficult to control, however, due to the arc that it travels in, and it is too slow and short-ranged to be as effective as some of the other projectiles in the game. The explosion does have good range and power, though.

Yoshi has a number of weaknesses, however. He has a lot of trouble dealing with pressure, especially from characters tiered higher than him. While his recovery can travel a decent distance due to his very high air speed, getting hit out of his double jump basically leaves him helpless, as he lacks a third jump to use. Even weak projectiles such as Fox's Blaster can cause Yoshi to lose his double jump. Yoshi's grab is slow, laggy and lacks range compared to other ranged grabs (Link and Samus's grabs). Yoshi is also fairly vulnerable to some combos due to his tall size and heavy weight. In addition to this, his reliable approach options lack range, giving him large trouble dealing with moves like Kirby's up tilt and Ness's down smash while approaching.

Yoshi has very average matchups overall. Against characters tiered higher than him, he is heavily countered by Pikachu and Kirby, and also has trouble against Captain Falcon and Fox. Overall, Yoshi does well against the lower tiers and poorly against the higher tiers, granting him a spot around the very middle of the tier list. What sets Yoshi apart is that his unique characteristics and the overall lack of high level Yoshi players makes him a unique matchup for any character.

Moveset

Yoshi's aerial attacks

Yoshi in the Smash 64 instruction booklet.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Double Kick	3%	Two kicks.
			5%
Forward tilt		Forward Kick	13%	Kicks suddenly forward. Can be angled. Below average upward diagonal knockback. Useful for setting up his fair spike due to its hitstun. Referred to as the best forward tilt in Smash 64 due to its very fast speed and good power.
Up tilt		Upward Attack	11%	Upwards headbutt, has set upwards knockback. Great for setting up combos, and a very useful move if used correctly.
Down tilt		Tail Sweep	10%	Tail sweeps in front of him, with set knockback while sending opponents on a semi-spike trajectory. Great for edgeguarding.
Dash attack		Running Headbutt	12%	Headbutt tackle, punishable due to a small bit of ending lag. Resembles Pikachu's dash attack, but with less ending lag.
Forward smash		Headbutt Thrust	18%	Rears his head back (which can often throw off players attacking Yoshi) and then thrusts his head forward. Short ending lag, and has above average horizontal knockback. Can be used to intercept linear and/or predictable recoveries.
Up smash		Headbutt Up	18%	Forceful headbutt. Has good horizontal knockback from behind to top, average upwards knockback when hit near the end.
Down smash		Smash Tail Sweep	14% on both sides	Tail sweeps on both sides, weak horizontal knockback for a smash attack, and has some ending lag.
Neutral aerial		Quick Kick	9-14%	Sex kick with below average horizontal knockback. Can be used to edgeguard somewhat. When used while DJC'd and Z-cancelled, it can be an effective shield break combo.
Forward aerial		Air Headbutt	15-18%	Aerial headbutt forward, a meteor smash. Great knockback for a meteor smash of its speed, can KO at medium percentages and combos into other aerial attacks at lower percentages, as well as having some use as a combo starter when used against a grounded opponent. It can KO grounded opponents at very high percentages.
Back aerial		Double Back Kick	12-14%	A kick backward with both feet, the move has good horizontal knockback and can be combo'd into, as well as being a strong edgeguarding move.
Up aerial		Tail Whip	12-15%	Whips his tail upwards, is very powerful in combos using DJC, and can KO vertically, notably from an up tilt at high percentages.
Down aerial		Flutter Kick	56% if all hits connect	Flutter Kick that is capable of meteor smashing at high percentages, does 14 hits of 3-4%. Out of all moves in Smash 64, it has the highest damage output, being able to deal a whopping 56% if all hits connect, being especially effective on characters with large, vulnerable hurtboxes such as Donkey Kong. It can be used on its own as a shield break combo, It is automatically made less useful as a combo move due to being a drill, therefore easy to DI out of. With DJC, it can be a dangerous combo starter.
Grab		Tongue	—	Yoshi, along with Link and Samus, has an "extended grab". He uses his tongue while standing. This allows him to grab opponents from a distance, but the grab is very laggy if it misses. The grab range is notably shorter than Link and Samus's.
Forward throw		Spit Forward	9-12%	Reels back with opponent in mouth and throws them forward, good horizontal knockback.
Back throw		Spit Backward	12-16%	Turns around, and throws his opponent backwards, has better knockback than f-throw.
Forward roll Back roll		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Swirls around, tail extended.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Swirls around, tail extended.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			6%	Twirls up and whips his tail. Short range.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			6%	Steadily gets up, reels his head back, and headbutt forward.
Neutral special		Egg Lay	5%	Sticks his tongue forward (with much less lag than his grab). If it hits an opponent, they will be damaged and trapped in an egg behind Yoshi. Tilting the control stick rapidly back and forth will help the opponent escape the egg more quickly. It can also be performed in the air as a specialized grab.
Up special		Egg Throw	14% (egg)	Throws an egg, which deals damage and moderately low knockback (but rather high for a projectile), being able to combo in very specific situations. The trajectory can be altered using the Control Stick.
Down special		Yoshi Bomb	18%	A Ground Pound attack. If done on the ground, Yoshi leaps forwards and then does the attack. If done in the air, Yoshi simply drops down. Produces vertical knockback that can KO at high percentages, though due to somewhat high startup and ending lag, it is mainly used to intercept linear recoveries that end up onstage, such as Fox's Fire Fox and Donkey Kong's Spinning Kong.

Taunt

Spins 450 degrees while saying "Yoshi!", facing its left after the 450 degree twirl. He then does the following twice: raises his heels off the ground, raises his arms and opens his mouth, and says "Yoshi!" once while spinning.

In Competitive play

Matchups

International versions

Super Smash Bros. (N64) Character Matchups

Avg.

Japanese version

Super Smash Bros. (N64) Character Matchups (JPN Version)

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Yoshi professionals (SSB)

•  Fireblaster
•  Pete
•  Prince
•  SheerMadness
•  Star King
•  tacos
•  Joeshi
•  The Z
•  Wizzrobe

Techniques

Yoshi's hurtboxes when performing a shield counter.

Yoshi (SheerMadness) performing a DJC counter on Fox (Mr Bushido).

Double jump cancel

DJCing is a glitch-technique that can be used by Yoshi and Ness. It involves using an aerial just after starting a double jump. This cancels the momentum of the double jump and allows quicker aerials, while also being able to speed up short hops, making short hopped DJC'd aerials especially effective when Z-cancelled. It can also help with aerial combos, particularly against floaty characters (who he can DJC repeatedly against with the various aerials), and can be used in conjunction with moves such as up tilt and manoeuvres such as soft platform dropping while performing a DJC up aerial on fast fallers.

Parry

Parrying refers to Yoshi techniques that involve using the unique properties of his shield or double jump to counterattack opponents.

Shield counter

By shielding at the precise frame a move hits, Yoshi can drop his shield immediately and attack out of it.

Double jump cancel counter

The unique properties of Yoshi's double jump allow him to use the launch resistance to avoid an opponent's attack, while using an aerial with fast startup (preferably a neutral aerial) to counterattack.

Description

From the Game

Yoshi is the friendly dinosaur of Yoshi's Island. He began as Mario's partner, but has since built his own identity, and now appears in many games. He uses his unique ability to turn whatever he swallows into an egg as his foremost attack. Yoshis come in a rainbow cloud of colors and are said to have a high IQ from a very early age.

Works:

• Super Mario World (SNES)
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
• Yoshi's Story (N64)

From the Instruction Booklet

Yoshi is the cute dinosaur who lives on a tropical island. You'd be surprised what he can do with a simple egg.

Alternate costumes

Yoshi's changeable palette swaps in SSB.

Trivia

• Yoshi is the only character to boast unplayable variants, Blue Yoshi and Pink Yoshi, seen when the player fights the Yoshi Team in the 1P Game.
• If the player uses Yoshi against the Yoshi Team, all colored Yoshis still appear, in the same shade as the player's Yoshi.
• Yoshi takes after his look in Super Mario 64, but because Super Smash Bros. came out a while after that game, and animation techniques were improved in that time, his appearance was slightly updated.
• Yoshi is the only character who has a different shield (an egg).
• Yoshi, along with Donkey Kong, is one of two characters in the original Super Smash Bros. to never be portrayed with head wear in-game.
• Yoshi, Jigglypuff, and Kirby are the only characters without a helpless state.