Yoshi (SSBU)

Yoshi (, 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; he and were the last veterans confirmed, with both appearing at the very end of the trailer. Yoshi is classified as Fighter #05.

As in Super Smash Bros. 4, Ultimate uses all of Kazumi Totaka's Yoshi's Story voice clips that were last used in Brawl.

Yoshi is ranked 20th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the A+ tier. This is a significant improvement from his 33rd out of 54 placement in Super Smash Bros. 4, and it's his best placement in the series.

Attributes
Yoshi is a heavyweight fighter with above-average mobility, good frame data, and decent KO potential. He sports a unique shield in the form of a Yoshi Egg, which covers his whole body no matter the damage it has taken; thus, it makes Yoshi immune to shield stabbing.

As stated previously, Yoshi sports excellent mobility: he has the 27th fastest walking speed, the 19th fastest dashing speed (with an above-average initial dash as well), the single fastest air speed in the game, and the 14th highest air acceleration. Additionally, Yoshi sports among the highest jumping prowesses in the game; this can especially be owed to his double jump, which is the second-highest in the game, only behind 's. Along with this, his double jump possesses a unique form of subtractive knockback armor that is active immediately on frame 1, granting him an excellent combo breaker. However, his traction and gravity are the 23rd and 20th lowest in the game, respectively; further compounding this, his falling and fast-falling speeds are among the bottom 10 in the game (the 7th slowest to be specific). Thus, Yoshi is quite speedy overall, yet at the same time, he's one of the floatiest characters in the game, which is incredibly unorthodox for a heavyweight, arguably more so than any other in the game.

Complementing his high mobility, Yoshi's moveset possesses very good utility. Both hits of neutral attack can connect into each other, and the first hit can also be used to jab lock as well as combo into moves such as down special for a kill confirm; forward tilt serves as a reliable combo starter at low-mid percents, due to its moderate base knockback and vertical launch angle; up tilt is an effective combo starter with low knockback growth, and leads to KO confirms at higher percents; and down tilt is his fastest tilt, sporting good range and serving as a reliable tech chasing option. Lastly, his dash attack has a long duration and good range; this, combined with its decent knockback, makes it good for KOing opponents at later percents and punishing rolls or techs.

Yoshi's smash attacks are also useful in their own right: forward smash has a powerful sweetspot that out prioritizes its slightly weaker sourspot, allowing it to KO at reasonable percents. It also has decent start-up, can be angled, and grants Yoshi intangibility for its duration; up smash has good horizontal and vertical range, reasonable start-up, and a powerful sweetspot, allowing it to KO at percents as low as 120% provided the sweetspot hits; lastly, down smash is extremely quick in both start-up and ending lag which, coupled with its good range, makes it an adept option for punishing rolling opponents.

Although his grounded moveset comes with potent attacks, it is Yoshi's aerial attacks that possess high usefulness and make up his fantastic air game. Neutral aerial is a very fast sex kick with low all-around lag, decent range, and good power, allowing it to either KO at surprisingly early percents, serve as an effective combo breaker, be a tech-chase set-up, and be his primary out of shield option. Forward aerial also possesses high range and reasonable all-around lag, and comes with impressive damage; its tipper hitbox meteor smashes opponents, allowing for offstage KOs to occur as early as 20%. Back aerial boasts high speed and high power, with its first two hits being effective combo starters and its final hit KOing below 130%.

Up aerial possesses high vertical range and a hitbox that hits behind the opponent which, in tandem with its impressive damage output and low all-around lag, makes it an effective juggling option. Lastly, down aerial serves as the most damaging aerial in the game; its hits can easily link into each other, with its high vertical knockback allowing it to KO at reasonable percentages near the upper blast zone. His grab game is also relatively decent: his grab release and throws grant invincibility during their animations, pummel is fast and deals average damage, forward and back throws are decent KO options by the ledge, up throw has combo potential into his up air at low percents, and down throw has little ending lag making it his most useful combo throw.

Yoshi's special moves are also very effective tools for the character. Egg Lay is a command grab which traps the opponent in an egg for a short amount of time, allowing it to work as a damage racker, and when B-reversed is an effective surprise trapping option. Egg Roll travels decently fast on the ground and deals effective damage when running into an opponent, Yoshi Bomb gives Yoshi an option to escape juggles if the situation allows for it, can go through soft platforms, does high damage in both the ground and air, and the grounded version deals high shield damage. However, his best special move is easily his Egg Throw, his only but incredibly effective projectile. The trajectory of the move can be changed depending on the angle of the joystick, can bounce on the ground, and allows Yoshi to have an option for zoning.

Although Yoshi's strengths allow him to be effective in many instances, he has some noticeable weaknesses; the main problem being that his recovery is very limited. His double jump and air speed make getting back onstage with him more plausible, but his double jump can only be used once and if his opponent has a move that breaks his armor limit, then he'll likely be in a difficult situation for getting back onstage. His other recovery options outside of his double jump are very short-ranged and punishable, with Egg Throw only giving vertical distance upon its first three usages and directional air dodges having high ending lag. His reliance on his double jump to recover also impacts his disadvantage state - unlike most other fighters, who can use their midair jump to escape unfavorable positions when landing, the height it grants Yoshi can simply keep him landing for longer, and if he is knocked offstage after using it, then much of his recovery is limited. Because of this, Yoshi players must be especially careful in juggling scenarios, which can be exploited.

His approach can also be very punishable as his moves outside of tilts are noticeably slower, with every one of his aerial attacks outside of his neutral and up aerials having below-average speed, and most of his attacks have short-range that leaves him vulnerable to getting stuffed out by disjointed hitboxes. His grab is also very punishable when missed despite its invincibility and long range, Egg Lay is very limited and has no usage if the opponent is far away, Egg Roll has a very predictable trajectory and is hard for Yoshi to get out of if the attack doesn't work well in his current situation, and Yoshi Bomb is also predictable if used unsafely and has high ending lag when Yoshi hits the ground. Finally, his shield, as useful as it is due to never shrinking when weakened, presents a double-edged sword situation: a weakened shield can still be hit easily, and as such can break more easily than a normal shield.

Overall, Yoshi is still a very reliable character despite his glaring weaknesses. With his fast speed and useful moveset, he is very capable of performing combos, scoring KOs, and playing an effective neutral game. As a result, opinions on Yoshi have remained high throughout the game's competitive lifespan.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Yoshi has been considerably buffed in the transition to Ultimate. Many of his most notorious attributes have been improved, with comparatively very few nerfs to balance out his buffs.

One of Yoshi's biggest buffs was to his previously poor KO power for a heavyweight. All of Yoshi's smash attacks have had their power increased, and forward smash has lost one of its sourspots, making it a more consistent option. Moves like forward tilt and back aerial now lead much more reliably into other moves thanks to their improved combo potential, either improving Yoshi's KO confirms into other moves or outright granting him new ones. Egg Throw now consists of one hit that deals more damage, which puts the opponent into a more disadvantageous position at low percentages, allowing Yoshi to win the neutral game with more ease and also improving his combo game; additionally, Egg Throw grants more diagonal distance during its first three uses.

Yoshi benefits from many of the universal engine changes. All of his aerials have reduced landing lag, which combined with his vastly improved forward tilt improves Yoshi's combo and damage racking potential, especially at low percentages. As with other veterans, Yoshi's already excellent mobility has been further increased, helping his approach. The changes to air dodging strengthen his edge-guarding with both aerials and Egg Throw, and also grant Yoshi a useful, invincible recovery tool, which also drastically improves his notoriously limited recovery in combination with his buffed Egg Throw.

However, Yoshi is not without a few nerfs. His up tilt has less range, no longer hitting opponents up close, which limits its combo potential to hitting opponents above or behind him, and forces Yoshi to use his improved forward tilt in front of himself. Dash attack can no longer cross-up shields, making it more punishable and risky as an approach option. Finally, Yoshi's overall jump height, while still impressive, has nevertheless been lowered, hampering his vertical survivability offstage; further compounding this are the increased ending lag on air dodges and the ability to use one at a time before landing or getting hit, forcing Yoshi to cautiously use his own air dodge in tandem with his recovery options to avoid a guaranteed self-destruct. Of note is that Yoshi still retains one of his most noticeable flaws from SSB4, that being his very underwhelming grab game.

Overall, Yoshi's changes have improved his core kit from SSB4, resulting in a lower learning curve; while this doesn't change his playstyle significantly, this allows Yoshi to better play to his strengths thanks his moves' improved consistency and utility. Because of this, and a comparatively lower amount of nerfs, Yoshi is a significantly better character than he was in SSB4, resulting in a positive perception since the game's release that has only improved over time.

Update history
Yoshi received a mix of buffs, nerfs, and a glitch fix via game updates. All of the buffs Yoshi received were homogeneous updates to make Yoshi function more like the rest of the cast. However, the roster-wide increase in shield size in Version 7.0.0 actually nerfed Yoshi due to the impossibility to shield stab, only making it easier to hit without the compensation of being harder to break. Other nerfs include the universal projectile shield damage nerf of Version 3.0.0 affecting Egg Throw and decreasing the push back of forward smash in Version 4.0.0 making making it less safe on certain characters.

Due to changes received being relatively minor, Yoshi's viability has remained virtually unchanged since the launch of Ultimate, and he continues to achieve respectable results in tournaments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Yoshi's hitboxes, see here.
 * Yoshi can crawl.
 * Yoshi uses a as his shield instead of a bubble-like the rest of the cast. Rather than shrinking, his shield grows darker as it weakens, rendering him immune to shield stabbing.
 * Yoshi possesses a special type of armor during the entire duration of his double jump that subtracts 120 units of knockback, with Yoshi not flinching at all if the result is negative, or otherwise only receiving the knockback difference.

On-screen appearance

 * Bursts out of a Yoshi Egg and strikes a pose.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Dances around in a circle, chanting "Yoshi!" as he finishes.
 * Side taunt: Chases his tail in circles, then looks back at it as he finishes.
 * Down taunt: Faces the screen and jumps up and down whilst chanting.

Idle poses

 * Performs a short dance.
 * Looks around.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Does a flutter jump, spins once, and gives the V sign. Based on an animation from "Yoshi's Story" when a stage is completed.
 * Up: Punches the air twice, spins, and poses while standing on one foot. (Based on his "character chosen" animation from Smash 64 and his second-place win animation from .)
 * Right: Angrily punches a few times, does a roundhouse kick, then turns his back on the screen facing right. A reference to Akuma's pose after the successful use of the Shun Goku Satsu.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Yoshi players (SSBU)


 * - The best Yoshi player in Europe, with several strong placements at European events including 25th at the major and the supermajor.
 * - One of the best Yoshi players in the United States for most of the game's competitive lifespan, having placed 33rd at the major as well as the supermajors  and.
 * - One of the best Yoshi players in the world in the early metagame who was a top 5 player in Mexico during his prime. Although he had lower activity in the post-online metagame, he has still seen strong results, including placing 7th at the supermajor.
 * - The best Yoshi player in North America in 2021, ranking 83rd on the OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse and notably placing 13th at the supermajor defeating  and.
 * - One of the strongest hidden bosses in Ultimate, and is also one of the best Yoshi players in the world despite his limited activity, having been ranked 50th on the Fall 2019 PGRU and placing highly at multiple events, including 2nd at the major and 7th at the major.
 * - One of the best Yoshi players in Japan in the early metagame, placing highly at several majors including 13th at the major, 17th at the supermajor , and 25th at the supermajor.
 * - One of the best Yoshi players in the world in early metagame and the first Yoshi player ranked on a notable global ranking, ranking 49th on the Spring 2019 PGRU.
 * - The best Yoshi player of all-time. He is the only Yoshi player to win a major, doing so at, and the only Yoshi player to be ranked top 10 on a global ranking, ranking 10th on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023.

Tier placement and history
Following Ultimate's release, numerous players of all skill levels took an interest in Yoshi due to his overall similarity to how he was in the previous game, making him rather easy to play and learn the game with. Yoshi's new strengths, especially his improved KO power, also reinvigorated his playerbase from the previous game, allowing him to have a sizeable representation in the early metagame, which was spearheaded by players such as, , and. As such, most players considered Yoshi to be a high-tier character, with his overall representation peaking at 20th by the end of 2019.

However, Yoshi's representation began to take a hit as the metagame progressed. Yoshi's best players in the early metagame either saw a stagnation in results (Suarez) or became far less active than before (Meme). Furthermore, Yoshi's weaknesses, particularly his linear recovery and weakness to disjoints, became more apparent. These negatives slowly decreased Yoshi's representation in the metagame, with it ultimately hitting 36th by the end of 2022. Nevertheless, Yoshi players still managed to find success, particularly in Japan thanks to Ron's occasional appearances in tournaments and the rise of, who since the pandemic period has place top 8 at multiple majors. These strong results have helped keep Yoshi's reputation afloat, and as a result Yoshi currently sits at 20th on the tier list in the high tier, with some players believing he should be ranked higher, especially in Japan, where panelists for the first tier list ranked him in the top 10.

: Jurassic Journey
Yoshi's opponents resemble older pop culture depictions of Period animals. His boss, Rathalos, fits with this theme due to it being a classical draconic wyvern.

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

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Yoshi has  accompany the credits.

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

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 's character unlock tree, starting with.

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 ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

He can be found in a ribbon pathway to be awakened, which can be accessed in a short time after taking 's route.

Spirits
Yoshi's default fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold. Unlocking Yoshi in World of Light allows the player to preview the second spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His Crafted World outfit has a fighter spirit of its own, available through the shop. 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.

Trivia

 * Yoshi is the only "Original 8" member:
 * Who was not playable in the E3 demo, and by extension, did not have their Final Smash revealed at E3.
 * Who did not appear before Ultimate's title was revealed.
 * To not appear in the World of Light trailer.
 * To face a boss (namely Rathalos) from a third-party franchise in their Classic Mode route.
 * Yoshi has the most stages out of all playable sole series fighters in a single game, with four.
 * 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 a game (namely ) after Ultimate was released.
 * 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 before  released.
 * Alongside, , and Bowser Jr., Yoshi is one of four characters with a Spirit Battle where all of their alternate costumes appear in a single Spirit Battle, due to the presence of the Baby Mario spirit.
 * Before 4.0.0, when Yoshi charged his forward smash, he pushed opponents so far that it caused some moves to miss him entirely.
 * Yoshi's Crafted costume is the only one that does not appear during his Final Smash, although its texture was added to the palette of the Yoshis that appear.
 * Yoshi's reverse throwing animation with a heavy item will have him turn his back to the screen for a brief moment. This is due to the animation being a carryover from Smash 4.