Mewtwo (SSBU)

Mewtwo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Pokémon
Other playable appearances	in Melee in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Psystrike
Tier	D+ (72)

Mewtwo (ミュウツー, Mewtwo) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It was officially revealed on June 12th, 2018 alongside Meta Knight and the rest of the veterans. Like in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mewtwo is once again an unlockable character. Mewtwo is classified as Fighter #24.

Keiji Fujiwara's portrayal of Mewtwo from Super Smash Bros. 4 was repurposed for Ultimate. This is also the last game for which Fujiwara voiced Mewtwo prior to his death in April 2020.

Mewtwo is ranked 72nd out of 82 on the current tier list, placing it in the middle of the D+ tier. This is a meteoric drop from its 10th out of 54 placement in SSB4; though while considered its worst placement in the series, it is still considered more viable than its Melee counterpart. Mewtwo's greatest strengths lie in its offensive capabilities, being able to rack up large amounts of damage via its strong normals and special moves. Most notably, Shadow Ball is a strong and versatile projectile that serves as a centerpiece to Mewtwo's main game plan, allowing it to apply pressure to opponents by being a strong tool for KOing and allowing for combos at its weaker charges courtesy of Mewtwo's high mobility. Additionally, Mewtwo has a multitude of viable KO tools which allows it to secure stocks reliably, such as the aforementioned Shadow Ball, forward aerial, back aerial, its powerful kill throws and smash attacks. Its other specials have their place in Mewtwo's game plan as well - Confusion and Disable allow Mewtwo to set up into KOs, with the former also acting as a reflector, giving it an answer to camping opponents with projectiles. In addition to being a strong tool for recovery especially when paired with Confusion and its double jump, Teleport possesses low lag, allowing it to be used as an escape option should Mewtwo find itself in a bad spot.

Despite these strengths, Mewtwo packs some severe, glaring weaknesses, most notably in its weight and size. Mewtwo is tied for the seventh lightest character in the game and it is prone to losing stocks at low percents. Unlike the other characters in its weight class, Mewtwo is easier to hit and juggle because of how big and floaty it is, making matchups such as Fox and Falco notoriously difficult. Its slow double jump and lack of combo breaker moves, combined with the aforementioned downsides, leads to Mewtwo having a very poor disadvantage state (outside of recovery), made worse by its infamous tail hurtbox, making Mewtwo easier to be clipped by a lot of attacks while also adding extra risk to the usage of tail moves.

Overall, while Mewtwo possesses strong tools and high KO power, as well as a powerful projectile and combo game courtesy of Shadow Ball, it is difficult for it to find consistency due to its undesirable combination of being a very large and lightweight character. As a result, Mewtwo rarely sees representation in competitive play, with most of its major representation coming from WaDi prior to his leave from competitive play, though it has seen some success from SUZUNE in the post-pandemic era.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Mewtwo being the 60th character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Fox or any character in his unlock tree, being the last character unlocked after Wolf.
• Have Mewtwo join the player's party in World of Light.

Mewtwo must then be defeated on Spear Pillar (the Ω form is used in World of Light).

Attributes

Mewtwo is a large, tall fighter with a slew of powerful moves, but it is actually a lightweight fighter (tied for 7th lightest in the game with Kirby, Pikachu, Olimar, and Sephiroth). Despite its size, Mewtwo's overall mobility is outstanding: it has above-average traction, the 20th fastest walking speed, the 9th fastest dashing speed, is tied (with Bowser, Marth, Lucina, and Lucario) for the 6th fastest initial dash, and has the 3rd fastest air speed in the game. Mewtwo has a low initial jump, but its short hop is rather high, and its double jump is the highest in the game (albeit delayed); additionally, Mewtwo has average air acceleration and falling speed with below-average gravity. Given these attributes, Mewtwo falls squarely into the glass cannon category and must use its uniquely fast mobility to land devastating blows while avoiding close-quarters combat where its size – particularly its notoriously vulnerable tail – and light weight can become a liability.

Mewtwo's overall damage output is very high, especially regarding its grounded moves. Neutral attack is a fairly disjointed neutral infinite that can regularly rack up 20% or more damage if the opponent is caught at close range, but it is unsafe on shield. Forward tilt is a strong tail swipe with good range and a sweetspot that can KO reliably at high percentages while near the edge, but it has moderate start-up and ending lag. In addition to its deceptively high power, it can also be angled to serve as a niche anti-air or ledge-hanging punish option. Up tilt is an overhead tail swipe with a generous range around Mewtwo's entire body and its large but brief sweetspot (located directly in front of Mewtwo) launches opponents up and toward Mewtwo, making it an excellent combo starter in neutral. Down tilt is a low tail sweep boasting relatively low ending lag, quick start-up, and good grounded range while launching opponents at mostly vertical angles. This makes it a great neutral and combo tool, comboing into all of Mewtwo's aerials and up tilt if the opponent is hit at close range. While down tilt is technically unsafe on shield, its overall quick speed and long range make it difficult to punish if an enemy reacts too slowly. Lastly, Mewtwo’s dash attack is relatively fast, covers a significant distance, and has a long-lasting hitbox. Its clean hit is very powerful, and its highly active hitboxes can help punish many common tech options, but it is unsafe on shield and can be heavily punished by opponents with strong out-of-shield attacks.

On the contrary, down smash is safe on shield and is notorious for causing immense shield damage if it connects. Nonetheless, it is still a risky move to use in the neutral game, due to it having the most amount of start-up among all of Mewtwo's smash attacks and being one of the few down smashes in the entire game to only hit on one side. In contrast, Up smash has the quickest start-up of all Mewtwo's smash attacks and is a great anti-air to catch forced landings, but also has the highest ending lag and is generally the most punishable move in Mewtwo's moveset. Forward smash has decent range, can be angled and is Mewtwo's most powerful smash attack in terms of knockback when spaced (being able to KO at mid percentages while close to the edge) and can potentially allow it to dodge attacks via shifting its hurtbox, since it leans back just before charging it, but has noticeable ending lag and is also not safe on shield if landed at close range. These traits make Mewtwo one of the strongest characters in the game in terms of outright KO power, though it is optimal for players not to play too close to opponents with quick movement, disjointed range, or attacks that are fast enough to punish any mistakes. However, Mewtwo can also use its great ground and air speed to mix up approaches and punish mistakes using these moves, making it necessary for high-level players to recognize when to approach offensively.

Mewtwo's aerials are some of the best in the game, with generally quick start-up, low landing lag, long range, and great power. Forward aerial is a claw swipe that serves as a safe poke when spaced on landing, a useful combo starter at low percentages, and a reliable KO option; it is considered by many to be among the best forward aerials in the game due to its safety, speed, and power. Neutral aerial consists of Mewtwo emitting electricity from its hands and feet for multiple hits, before launching opponents away with a large electricity discharge surrounding its full body. The move is a capable combo starter at all percentages, and is a safe poke when it is spaced sufficiently; it is also Mewtwo's best out-of-shield option due to his aerial speed allowing it to safely escape pressure (compared to committing to its laggy up smash). Though its forward and neutral aerials are fast and threatening, they are only slightly disjointed, and the former lacks range. This makes Mewtwo's approach game with these moves significantly weaker against opponents that have long weapons or strong projectiles.

Back aerial is Mewtwo's second slowest aerial, primarily being used to wall out offstage opponents who have poor range and/or recoveries. However, it can be beaten out by disjoints easily, cannot reliably hit close to the ground at any height, and leaves Mewtwo's tail very vulnerable if it whiffs. Since it swings its tail upwards, it is also less effective when Mewtwo is falling downwards, and is better used while Mewtwo is rising from its midair jump. As a result, it cannot fulfill the role of giving Mewtwo a good, effective range in the neutral game. Up aerial is one of Mewtwo’s best moves, as it has decent start up, short end and landing lag, covers a large arc starting directly in front of Mewtwo’s face, and has incredibly strong power. Altogether, these traits make the move relatively safe to use in neutral and excellent for punishing landings or reckless edgeguards. Down aerial has the most startup of Mewtwo's aerials, but is a very strong meteor smash when sweetspotted, has a decently disjointed hitbox directly beneath Mewtwo that can two frame punish, and can also serve as a situational combo starter at low to medium percentages.

Mewtwo's neutral special, Shadow Ball, has excellent versatility, as it can combo into virtually any of Mewtwo's quicker moves at any percent, depending on the charge of the projectile. When fully charged, it also becomes a reliable KO move at high percents, and deals decent shield damage for good measure. In midair, it can even be used as a landing mixup, as the recoil from the fully charged variant pushes Mewtwo back a considerable distance. Mewtwo can utilize techs like wavebounces, B-reverses, Shadow Ball cancels, and turnaround specials to make its movement even more tricky, improving its baits and punishes. However, it has a decent amount of startup, making it risky to use at close range. Its side special, Confusion, is a command grab with a very large grabbox that doubles as a somewhat slow but very active reflector and can be used for combo setups, though alert opponents can react out of it before Mewtwo below a certain amount of damage.

Mewtwo's down special, Disable, is a risky option in most situations due to its start-up, high ending lag, and its requirement that the opponent be within a very short distance away while also facing Mewtwo on the ground for it to work. However, if landed at mid to high percentages, it more often than not leads to a guaranteed stock by allowing Mewtwo to punish the opponent with any option that will KO, such as with Down Smash or a charged, upward-angled Forward Smash. It additionally has intangibility frames before the attack comes out, making it easier to beat out poor grounded approaches while also ensuring that Mewtwo will not stun the opponent while simultaneously taking a hit, and serving as a very niche defensive option in the air.

Mewtwo also possesses a strong grab game. Its up throw and back throw are both among the strongest in the cast, while forward throw is excellent at racking up damage at low percentages and possibly killing near the ledge at higher percentages. Mewtwo's down throw has respectable combo potential: it can combo into upward angled forward tilt and up tilt (depending on the opponent's DI) at low percentages, and into forward aerial at medium percentages, with the latter also being a reliable KO combo on the majority of the cast at high percentages if they fail to DI properly. Mewtwo's grab range is only slightly above average, which can sometimes hurt the utility of its throws in close-quarters combat or out of shield, but its dash grab is relatively quick and has great range due to Mewtwo's very fast dashing speed, making it useful as a surprise burst option.

Due to Mewtwo's varied attributes and special moves, its recovery potential is arguably the best in the game. Its combination of having the 3rd fastest air speed, the highest double jump in the game, low gravity, and average falling speed gives it great longevity and mobility off-stage. Teleport, its primary recovery move, covers a long distance and provides full intangibility and directional mobility, making it nearly impossible to edgeguard if Mewtwo chooses to teleport to the edge from above. Furthermore, two of its other special moves offer a form of assistance with recovery: a fully charged Shadow Ball's recoil can push Mewtwo back far enough to be a viable horizontal recovery option if aimed away from the stage, and Confusion can turn it around, temporarily stalls it in the air when used once and can be combined with the momentum from a rising double jump when used twice to go even higher. With these options, Mewtwo has many ways to mix up its recovery and get safely back on-stage, while still being able to punish reckless edgeguarders with its powerful and long-range up and back aerials without losing recovery distance.

Mewtwo has surprisingly good range for a lightweight fighter. All of its smash attacks have disjointed hitboxes that allow them to beat out attacks safely; this is especially evident with up smash, as using it at the right time can prevent any stall-then-falls. Forward smash can be angled up or down to catch an airborne opponent or to edgeguard low recoveries, respectively. Mewtwo's tail attacks also offer excellent range, despite not being as disjointed. Its back aerial in particular offers very extensive coverage behind Mewtwo and can be used in decently quick succession, making it a useful walling tool against opponents with low-range attacks. Its tilts also uses its tail, so they have a good range as well. Tying into this is its aforementioned mobility; Mewtwo's extremely fast horizontal movement speed grants it a very potent punishment game with its range, allowing it to bait approaches and easily punish them with its long-reaching moves.

To compensate for its large size, Mewtwo is granted traits and unique defensive options that allow it to escape pressure. Its forward and back rolls have among the longest traveling distances in the game, making them deceptively effective for movement compared to those of other characters of similar size. Its edge attack has among the longest ranges out of the roster, allowing it to punish ledgetrapping attempts. All of its air dodges render it invisible; combined with its fast air speed and moderate air acceleration, Mewtwo can play mind games with its aerial drift while invisible. Offstage, Mewtwo's incredibly long-distance recovery enables it to use air dodges and safely recover in situations when many other fighters wouldn't. In addition, using a neutral air dodge immediately after using Mewtwo's double jump causes it to immediately gain height while maintaining intangibility and invisibility, making it useful to mix up opponents in the air. Mewtwo's Teleport travels a significant distance and can be used very quickly out of shield (frame 9 intangibility) as a long-ranged evasive maneuver, allowing it to gain more favorable stage positioning and space from aggressive opponents – especially when teleporting off of platforms to avoid pressure. And though it is brief, Disable provides intangibility frames just before Mewtwo emits the light from its eyes, giving it niche defensive use with good timing even in the air, where the projectile cannot be clanked with.

Despite Mewtwo's strengths, it has some noticeable weaknesses, the most glaring of which is its infamously poor endurance. Mewtwo's very light weight makes it easy to KO, while its tall frame, average falling speed, and below average gravity make it easier to combo compared to other characters of its weight class. Furthermore, Mewtwo lacks an effective aerial move to disrupt combos, and an attempt to Teleport out of a combo can be interrupted due to its startup or punished due to its noticeable ending lag and momentum. And compared to all other characters in the game, Mewtwo is also unable to reliably double jump out of juggling pressure due to it taking a noticeable amount of time for his hurtbox to shift vertically. However, its aerial speed and recovery mix-ups can mitigate some of these shortcomings.

Although Mewtwo has a multitude of KO options, it often has trouble landing them due to its needing to approach the enemy safely. Up and back throw can be risky to attempt because of Mewtwo's aforementioned average grab range. Forward and down smash have slow start-up lag, whereas up smash has minimal horizontal range below its blast of dark energy and high ending lag (it can also unreliably connect due to some jostle animations). Forward aerial and Shadow Ball's KO potentials can be hindered via staleness because of their frequent usage in Mewtwo's combos and neutral game. Lastly, its frame data is slightly below average, making its attacks even more vulnerable to punishment if they are not spaced well or used intentionally. As a result, Mewtwo cannot effectively pressure through offensive means, yet needs to rely on its movement options and special moves to create openings from which it can proceed to punish the opponent. During Mewtwo's disadvantage state, it often cannot depend on its offensive options to relieve pressure, and instead must rely on evading and only attacking when necessary.

Overall, Mewtwo is a non-traditional glass cannon who falls under the category of the zoner archetype; it must play cautiously and be aware so the opponent does not capitalize on its large hurtbox and light weight. However, this does not mean Mewtwo is forced to rely on turtling, as its outstanding mobility, excellent air game, and overall powerful moveset make it a force to be reckoned with. Instead, Mewtwo should be played very patiently by controlling space (zoning) as well as baiting and poking with Shadow Ball, its aerials, and its movement.

As a result, Mewtwo is a character with a fairly high learning curve, as it has to capitalize on reads more often than not because of its frailty and susceptibility to pressure. While Mewtwo's moveset may not be as versatile as other characters, such as Wolf's, it makes up for it with comparatively huge power and damage output. In short, Mewtwo has the attack power and range of an archetypal heavyweight, yet retains the combo game and mobility of a lightweight.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

In the late metagame of SSB4, Mewtwo was regarded as a strong character thanks to its combination of a potent neutral game, excellent mobility, a powerful projectile, and a dangerous combo game. Likely owing to this, Mewtwo has received a large mix of buffs and nerfs in its transition to Ultimate, but despite receiving more buffs than nerfs, the latter are especially more prevalent due to the weakening of its most useful options and its much more defined main weakness. Because of this, Mewtwo was greatly nerfed overall.

Mewtwo's largest direct nerf was to its hurtbox. It now has an additional hurtbox on its tail, which widens its hurtbox overall, making it even easier to hit and reducing the disjoint of its tail-based attacks. Considering Mewtwo is already one of the lightest characters in the game and many of its attacks utilize its long tail, this forces Mewtwo to be much more cautious with using its tail attacks, as trading with even a decently strong attack can prove fatal. Additionally, this now causes Mewtwo to be usually clipped by attacks during some situations (such as when turning around). Even after game updates later reduced its hurtbox sizes, it remains easy to hit. This worsens both its spacing and defensive game and makes its endurance even more problematic despite Mewtwo's increased weight.

Mewtwo has also received many nerfs to its best moves, hindering both its previously strong neutral game and combo ability. Shadow Ball now deals less shield damage, making it less viable as a zoning and pressuring option from a distance. Neutral attack, as with most others, can no longer effectively jab cancel, removing its wide range of previously true followups; down tilt has more ending lag, which combined with the changes to knockback, impairs its combo potential and narrows Mewtwo's KO setups, especially into forward aerial. Neutral aerial has heavily increased ending lag, a shorter duration, and much smaller hitboxes, making it less viable for covering options and removing its aerial combo potential, limiting Mewtwo to land with the move and read the opponent's trajectory accordingly. Forward aerial is slightly slower and launches at a slightly lower angle, hindering its combo ability into itself and almost completely removing its ability to initiate a deadly wall of pain at low to medium percentages.

In terms of gameplay changes, the changes to air dodges in Ultimate have also hindered Mewtwo more so than any other character. Since air dodges can now only be utilized once before landing or getting hit, combined with them generally having more ending lag, this especially affects Mewtwo as it previously held the distinction of having the air dodge with the lowest ending lag out of the entire roster (allowing it to be spammed rather safely to play mindgames), which renders it even more susceptible to combos and juggling, given its large hurtbox for its weight class.

However, Mewtwo has received a multitude of buffs in the transition as well. Mewtwo's KO potential is considerably better and more consistent overall; moves like its neutral attack, forward tilt, dash attack, and fully charged Shadow Ball deal more damage and knockback, with all of them now gaining KO potential at high percentages. Other attacks, such as Disable and its smash attacks, have noticeably increased range, allowing them to secure KOs more easily from deceptive ranges. Shadow Ball has also received a decrease in ending lag when uncharged, which, coupled with its reduced ending lag, makes it an even more versatile option. Mewtwo has also seen a slight weight increase, improving its endurance.

Most of the universal changes to gameplay mechanics have also benefited Mewtwo. Although the changes to air dodging mostly hamper it, they also make its edgeguarding game more potent, thanks to its quick air speed, large variety of aerial attacks, useful projectile, long double jump, and powerful recovery. The universal increase in mobility and traction across the cast, the reintroduction of dash-dancing, and the expanded utility of dash-canceling each benefit Mewtwo, as it can now move around much quicker, occasionally play mindgames on its approach, and punish opponents easier both in the neutral game and out of shield; notably, the increase on its mobility has granted Shadow Ball a significant increase on its combo potential, with access to combos it previously didn't have. Finally, the near-universal reduction to landing lag has made Mewtwo's aerials safer on hit and opened some new combo routes due to its streamlined jumpsquat.

Overall, despite the improvements made to Mewtwo's mobility, endurance, KO power, and the distinct benefits it received from Ultimate's mechanics, these changes do not completely compensate for the considerable nerfs it has received to its defensive potential, combo game, and hurtbox. Game updates have offered Mewtwo numerous buffs that have either helped alleviate some of its issues, improved its strengths, or fixed a few of its moveset's inconsistencies, though these haven't fully compensated for its more drastic issues. Because of this, Mewtwo is much less effective than it was in SSB4, retaining its reward but with its much further defined weaknesses impairing its effectiveness.

Aesthetics

• As with other previous downloadable fighters in SSB4, Mewtwo's appearance is largely unchanged, though its model features a more subdued color scheme. Its body appears to have a glossy sheen, and the end of its tail is also slightly larger.
• Mewtwo's idle pose has been altered; it now keeps one of its arms lifted and stands more upright, similar to its stance in Pokémon Stadium. However, it will revert to its idle animation from SSB4 while holding a small item.
• Mewtwo's falling animation has been altered; it does not keep its arms folded, only doing so when falling forward or backward.
• Side taunt now has it slightly levitate over the ground.
• Mewtwo's victory poses have been slightly altered:
  • The pose where Mewtwo laughs and floats has it float higher and look farther away from the screen.
  • The pose where Mewtwo thrusts its hand outward has an altered camera angle more towards its hand.
  • The pose where Mewtwo faces away from the screen has Mewtwo keep its eyes shut for slightly longer.
• As with all previous downloadable fighters in SSB4, Mewtwo now has a unique Palutena's Guidance conversation.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Mewtwo's jumpsquat takes 3 frames to complete (down from 5).
• Mewtwo is heavier (74 → 79), weighing as much as Kirby. This improves its survivability.
• Mewtwo runs faster (2.05 → 2.255).
  • Mewtwo's initial dash is significantly faster (1.4 → 2.255).
• Mewtwo walks slightly faster (1.2 → 1.26).
• Mewtwo's traction is significantly higher (0.04 → 0.116), going from the second-worst in the game to above-average. This makes it easier for Mewtwo to punish out of shield.
• Mewtwo's air speed is higher (1.25 → 1.313).
• Mewtwo performs its double jump more quickly, improving its recovery and combo game.
• Mewtwo's falling speed is faster (1.5 → 1.55). This improves its vertical survivability, but makes it more susceptible to combos.
  • Mewtwo's fast falling speed is faster (2.4 → 2.48).
• Both rolls grant more intangibility (frames 4-13 → 4-15 (forward), 5-16 (back)).
• Back roll has more startup (frame 4 → 5) and ending lag (FAF 30 → 35).
• Spot dodge grants more intangibility (frames 2-14 → 3-17).
• Spot dodge has more startup (frame 2 → 3), with its total duration increased as well (FAF 25 → 26).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 2-24 → 3-26).
• Air dodge has more startup (frame 2 → 3) and significantly increased ending lag (FAF 29 → 52), no longer being the fastest in the game. In combination with the removal of unlimited air dodging, this greatly hinders Mewtwo's approach and defensive options.
• Mewtwo has an additional hurtbox in its tail that extends to near the tip. This reduces the disjoints of Mewtwo's attacks involving its tail, and gives it a bigger hurtbox overall.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit has a longer hitbox duration (frame 5 → frames 5-6) and less ending lag (FAF 25 → 22).
  • The first hit transitions into the infinite faster (frame 10 → 7).
  • The first hit has altered angles to keep opponents closer to Mewtwo (76°/70° → 361°/180°), and a hitstun modifier of 6, allowing it to lock opponents and connect better into the infinite.
  • The infinite has received several changes to allow it to connect much more effectively and rack up more damage overall, despite dealing slightly less damage per hit (1% → 0.8%):
    • It has less startup (frame 8 → 5), a shorter gap between hits (6 frames → 3), and a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.5×) and SDI multiplier (1× → 0.4×), making it harder to escape.
    • It has a different launch angle to keep grounded opponents closer to Mewtwo (70°/89° → 361°).
    • It deals less knockback (14 base/30 scaling → 8/10) and each hit has a hitstun modifier of 3.
    • It has a larger hitbox (5.2u → 5.6u).
  • The infinite's finisher has a longer hitbox duration (frame 6 → frames 6-7).
  • The finisher deals slightly more damage (2% → 2.5%) with no compensation on knockback, allowing it to KO under 200% near the edge.
  • The first hit deals less damage (4% → 3%) and knockback (50/20 base/20/60 scaling → 25/20 base/15 scaling), removing its guaranteed jab cancel setups from Smash 4, despite its lower ending lag and hitstun modifier.
  • Like other neutral attacks, the first hit can transition into the infinite by simply holding the attack button or pressing it once more if it hits an opponent, rather than only by pressing it multiple times. This makes it harder to jab cancel, as the window to input other attacks instead of triggering the infinite is effectively shortened.
  • The finisher has more ending lag (FAF 36 → 41).
  • The first hit and the finisher have higher hitlag multipliers (1× → 1.8× (hit 1), 2× (finisher)).
  • The infinite has gained a shieldstun multiplier of 4×. This allows it to lock opponents into their shields between each hit, and thus pressure them more effectively, but also allows them to cancel shieldstun and punish Mewtwo more easily if they shield 10 hits or more.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt deals more damage (10%/9%/8% → 11%/10%/9%) and knockback (20 base/100 scaling → 70/75), increasing its safety on hit at low percents and greatly improving its KO potential.
    • However, this removes its ability to lock opponents at low percents.
  • It has larger hitboxes (4.3u/3.7u/2.9u → 5u/4.6u/4.2u) with altered placements (X offset: 0u/1.8u/0u → 1.5u/2.5u/2u, Z offset: 0u/-2u/0u → 0u/0u/0u (Z-offset)), improving its range.
  • It has an altered animation: Mewtwo spins its full body around before swinging its tail.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt deals more damage (6%/5%/4.5%/4.5% → 7%/6%/5.5%/5.5% (clean), 5%/4%/3% → 6%/5%/4% (late)), with knockback mostly compensated on all but the clean fourth hitbox (114/80/55 → 105/71). This slightly improves the move's KO potential, without worsening its combo ability due to Mewtwo's faster jumpsquat.
    • The clean fourth hitbox has more knockback scaling (50 → 71). This makes it safer on hit at lower percents, but hinders its combo potential at higher percents, removing guaranteed KO setups into up smash.
  • The clean tipper hitbox launches towards Mewtwo like the rest of the hitboxes (361° → 110°), improving the move's consistency.
  • The move has a slightly altered animation, with Mewtwo beginning its tail swipe lower to the ground and landing on its feet immediately after the flip. This improves its overall reach on both sides, but makes landing the clean fourth hitbox noticeably harder due to being outprioritized by the other hitboxes.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt has slightly more ending lag (FAF 21 → 24), hindering its combo potential.
  • It has an altered animation: Mewtwo sweeps its tail inward instead of outward.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has a new animation that puts Mewtwo's body more parallel to the ground during the attack.
  • Its clean sweetspot and late sourspot deal more damage (10%/4% → 12%/4.5%) with no compensation on knockback, granting the clean sweetspot KO potential at realistic percentages.
  • It has gained a shieldstun multiplier of 1.3×. In combination with its higher damage and the increased shieldstun for ground attacks, this makes it safer on shield.
  • Due to the changes to jostle mechanics, it can no longer cross-up shields unless done at point-blank on smaller characters, allowing it to be punished more easily despite its increased shieldstun.
  • It has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.25×), making it easier to DI.
  • It launches at lower angles (60°/70°/80° → 54°/60°/70°), further improving the clean hit's KO potential, but hindering the late hit's combo potential.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash can be angled.
  • It has a longer hitbox duration (frames 19-21 → 19-22).
  • The sweetspot deals more damage (19% → 20%) and knockback (21 base/85 scaling → 30/90), significantly improving its KO potential (allowing it to KO under 90% from the center of Final Destination, compared to previously not KOing until around 110% under the same circumstances).
  • The sweetspot is larger (5.6u → 6.3u), improving its range.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's first hit sends at an autolink angle (100° → 368°), allowing it to connect better into the subsequent hits.
  • The last hit has a longer duration (frames 34-35 → 22-25).
  • The last hit has more knockback scaling (107 → 111), improving its KO potential.
  • The move hits four times instead of seven. However, the first three hits deal more damage (1% → 2%), leaving its total damage output unchanged.
    • The last hit has less startup to accommodate for this change (frame 34 → 22). This significantly shortens the move's hitbox duration, while its total duration remains unchanged, greatly increasing its ending lag as well. As a result, the move is much less effective as an anti-air, and easier to punish if it misses or is shielded.
  • Due to the changes to jostle mechanics, the first hit is notably more difficult to land, sometimes missing opponents even at point blank range due to Mewtwo's character model pushing them away. As a result, the move is much less consistent at hitting opponents than in Smash 4, especially as an out-of-shield punish.
  • The energy swirl is opaque and stylized, instead of a translucent whirl of particles.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 44 → 41).
  • It deals more damage (15% → 16%) with no knockback compensation, improving its KO potential. Alongside its reduced ending lag, this also makes it safer on shield.
  • It deals additional shield damage (0 → 8 (close)/4 (far)), allowing it to better wear down shields, even with the potential of breaking them depending on charge.
  • It has a longer hitbox duration (frames 21-22 → 21-23).
  • It has much larger hitboxes (4u/8.7u → 7.5u/11u) that are placed higher (Y offset: 3.5u/3.5u → 4u/4u), improving its range. In combination with its longer hitbox duration, this makes it more effective for 2 frame punishes.
  • It has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.3×), making it easier to DI.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (13 frames → 10 (neutral), 14 → 8 (forward), 17 → 10 (back), 13 → 8 (up), 18 → 11 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • The looping hits' deal more set knockback (22/46 → 30/60), and their feet hitboxes send at an autolink angle (110° → 367°), allowing them to connect more reliably.
  • The move takes longer to interrupt (FAF 46 → 50).
  • The looping hits have smaller hitboxes (3u → 2.5u), reducing the move's range for most of its duration.
    • However, the last hit has a larger hitbox (10.9u → 13.5u).
  • The move hits six times instead of nine. However, the first five hits deal more damage (1% → 1.6%), leaving its total damage output unchanged.
    • The last hit has less startup to accommodate for this change (frame 39 → 27), This considerably shortens the move's hitbox duration, and significantly increases its ending lag in combination with its slower interruptibility, no longer allowing Mewtwo to act only five frames after the hitboxes cease.
  • Due to the change to the Sakurai angle against aerial opponents (45.2637° → 38°), the move has improved edgeguarding potential, but coupled with its increased ending lag, it has almost entirely lost its combo potential into other aerials without landing.
  • The last hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.2×), making it easier to DI, but giving Mewtwo more time to react to the direction the opponent is sent into.
  • The move has altered visuals: rather than emitting multicolored orbs, Mewtwo discharges electricity around itself while flashing with a blue overlay.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial's arm hitbox is larger (3.9u → 4.5u).
  • It sends at a lower angle (50° → 47°), slightly improving its KO potential near the edge.
  • It has more startup (frame 6 → 7) and ending lag (FAF 38 → 40). In combination with the new knockback speed up effect decreasing hitstun for higher knockback values, this removes its combo potential into itself.
  • It auto-cancels later (frame 36 → 37).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial's sweetspot has increased knockback scaling (90 → 101) while its middlespot and sourspot deal more damage (11%/9% → 12%/11%), improving its KO potential.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial deals more damage (11%/10%/9% → 12%/11%/10%) and has increased knockback scaling on the sweetspot, with its middlespot and sourspot mostly compensated (97 → 98/92/92), notably improving its KO potential.
    • Its increased knockback hinders its combo potential at higher percents, especially out of an immediate double jump.
  • It has an altered animation: Mewtwo no longer faces the screen after finishing its tail sweep.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's sweetspot is placed lower (Y offset: -6.5u → -7.7u), improving its vertical range.
  • It has more ending lag (FAF 46 → 48).
  • The sourspot has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.2×), making it easier to DI.
  • It now uses a darkness effect.

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • All grabs have more ending lag (FAF 36 → 40 (standing), 43 → 48 (dash), 41 → 43 (pivot)).
  • Dash and pivot grab have more startup (frame 9 → 10 (dash), 10 → 11 (pivot)).
  • Dash grab has less range (Z2 offset: 12.7u → 12u).
  • Pivot grab has more range (Z2 offset: -15.2u → -17.3u).
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals more hitlag (7 frames → 14), but has less startup (frame 4 → 1) and significantly less ending lag (FAF 19 → 7), shortening its duration.
  • It deals less damage (2% → 1.3%).
  • It has a new animation where it clenches its hand to attack. Additionally, Mewtwo no longer leans into the opponent when performed.
  • It now attacks with dark energy rather than electricity, accompanied by the attack having a darkness effect instead of an electric one.