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Yoshi (SSBM)

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This article is about Yoshi's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. For the character in other contexts, see Yoshi.
Yoshi
in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Yoshi in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
YoshiSymbol(preBrawl).svg
Universe Yoshi
Other playable appearances in SSB
in Brawl
in SSB4
in Ultimate
Availability Starter
Tier D (12) (North America)
D (11) (Europe)
YoshiHeadSSBM.png
A dinosaur that boasts surprising jumping prowess.
—Melee's instruction manual

Yoshi (ヨッシー, Yoshi) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He was announced as a playable character at the E3 2001.

Like most of his appearances, he is voiced by Kazumi Totaka, albeit via recycled voice clips from Yoshi's Story and Smash 64.

He is currently ranked 12th out of 26 on the current tier list, placing him in the D tier. This is a slight drop from his previous placement in Smash 64, where he was ranked 5th out of 12. Yoshi has outstanding combo ability with his double jump cancelling (especially against fast-fallers like Fox), a great aerial game (coupled with the third most powerful meteor smash in the game), and some decent approach options. He can also play mindgames and extend combos with his unpredictable Egg Throw, and has a very reliable finisher in his down smash, which has almost no start-up lag, outstanding reach and knockback, and a very favorable launch angle that is hard to DI against or recover from. Yoshi also has very unique mechanics, such as a knockback reduction armor active during his double jump, which he can use to tank hits or create counter punch opportunities by double jump cancelling out of it. However, his lack of a "true" third jump means he can be vulnerable when hit out of it, or after cancelling it. His high falling speed also makes him a target for combos. Yoshi's shield is also very unique. He cannot jump out of it once in the egg, but cannot be shieldstabbed, and suffers no shieldstun, meaning situations involving his shield play out very differently that they do for the rest of cast. On the other hand, his shield startup animation has invincibility frames, and can be jumped out of -the mechanic known as parry- giving him unique punish opportunities when an opponent hits him during that startup animation.

Yoshi has long been considered to have some of the worst matchups all around, with five matchups considered nearly unwinnable, and only one being considered favorable against Kirby; he also has the dubious distinction of being one of only two characters that have an even matchup against Bowser. However, due to large innovations in Yoshi's metagame by aMSa, as well as strong tournament placements by him, Yoshi's matchups have been debated in the Melee community, and his placement has greatly improved in the most recent tier lists. Yoshi has also seen a significant increase in his playerbase in recent years, thanks to aMSa.

Attributes

Yoshi's unique shield allows him to escape pressuring situations.
Yoshi's unique double jump causes him to turn around during the animation if the control stick is tilted to that direction. This allows him to quickly grab the edge by simply running offstage.
Yoshi's edgeguarding game is complimented by his unique double jump, which allows him to turnaround, so he can quickly edgehog by simply running offstage and using his double jump in the opposite direction. Yoshi can also grab the edge facing either direction whilst using Egg Throw.

Yoshi does not fall into an specific character archetype, due to a large amount of strongly varying characteristics. Yoshi has among the highest jumping prowess in the game, as well as a very high air speed, fast falling speed, low traction, and fast dashing speed. As a result of these properties, Yoshi has the fifth longest wavedash. He is also a heavyweight, giving him great survivability all around, and when combined with his super armor on his double jump, it's somewhat common for Yoshi to survive at over 200% damage.

Among Yoshi's greater strengths is his air game. His high air speed and a highly maneuverable midair jump, as well as fast, low-lag, sometimes multi-hitting aerials, aid his comboing game; the addition of a meteor smash via his forward air also gives him a viable combo finisher. Adding to this, Yoshi's small short hop, above average falling speed and low-lag aerials give him a good and useful SHFFL. Additionally, Yoshi's aerial attacks themselves can be of significant power; his neutral and up aerial have KO potential, as does his forward aerial due to its meteor smash potential. Yoshi's down aerial is also one of the most damaging attacks in all the game; if all hits connect, it can deal 53% (38% in PAL) on the outset, aided by a variety of weak meteor smash hitboxes. Adding to this rather strong aerial game, Yoshi can also double jump cancel, leading to a variety of interesting possibilities and mind games in his combos.

Yoshi's ground approach is also good, due to a variety of ground-based tactics. In addition to a down tilt with semi-spike and fixed knockback properties, Yoshi has among the most flexible projectiles in all the game; Egg Throw is a powerful spacing tool as the eggs can be aimed in nearly limitless trajectories, allowing them to aid in camping on the ledge, playing mindgames against opponents, disrupting enemy recoveries, and extending combos. Yoshi's grab game is also good; in addition to a ranged grab, Yoshi's up and down throws can lead to a variety of combos, and his forward and back throws can force edgeguarding situations.

Historically, people considered one of Yoshi's biggest flaws to be his lack of a true third jump, which was thought to make his recovery game rather polarizing. His midair jump was known to have its advantages; it is the longest-traveling jump in the game, goes a considerable distance due to his good air speed, and comes with armor frames, which makes edgeguarding Yoshi a surprisingly difficult ordeal unless the edgeguarder has extremely powerful attacks or Yoshi is at a very high percentage. However, if Yoshi does end up interrupted during his recovery, he will often be knocked back far enough to where he cannot recover with a directional air dodge, sending him to his doom. While this remains true to a certain extent -Yoshi does have offstage situations where he will be extremely vulnerable and characters that have quick kill setups at low %- his recovery options are not as limited as they were thought to be. Yoshi is notable for being the only character in the game lacking an up special recovery, as Jigglypuff's Sing can now be used if jumped and directly below ledges.

Yoshi's shield is unique in that it is an egg that completely protects his body, leading to an impossibility of shield stabbing and it also has the unusual property of randomly perfectly shielding attacks, including grabs. Additionally, when Yoshi is light shielding and is hit by an enemy, he will slide an abnormally far distance away, especially if the attack has a great deal of knockback; this property of Yoshi's shield allows him to keep himself safe. While his spot dodge and rolls are decent, he is notably unable to jump out of his shield. This limits his punish or escape options in some situations when put on the defensive, as he is unable to wavedash or do a short hopped aerial out of shield to capitalize on an enemy's mistakes, and slow grab is slow can be outspeced, making it mostly impractical to punish an attack on his shield with a shield grab. However, to make up for this, Yoshi's shield also has the unique property that it suffers no shieldstun, meaning that Yoshi can act out of shield when hit faster than any other character, giving him access to exclusive punish and escape options on block.

Changes from Smash 64 to Melee

Yoshi received a mix of buffs and nerfs but was nerfed overall. His out of shield game has been nerfed due to the fact he can no longer jump out of his shield making his already poor out of shield game even worse as well as giving him a significant disadvantage while in shield compared to the rest of the cast. In addition to this, his shield grab is slower and his throws are much weaker. His damage output and KO potential have also been considerably decreased making it harder for him to close out stocks. His combo game is also worse in some aspects as some of his moves (such as up tilt) have been altered to give them less combo potential and the introduction of DI and the reduction of hitstun have also made his combo game less consistent. The introduction of meteor canceling has also significantly harmed him as it hinders the reliability of his forward aerial and it does not make him much less vulnerable to meteor smashes himself due to him only having one double jump and his Egg Throw not granting him any extra height.

Yoshi has also seen some buffs. Yoshi's comboing ability remains strong due to the much faster falling speeds, as well as retaining the ability to double jump cancel. Despite the nerfs Yoshi's out of shield game received, his shield no longer suffers from shieldstun and he can still parry out of shield giving him unique options the rest of the cast does not have. Yoshi also benefits from the introduction of directional air dodges as they give him an extra recovery option and allow him to wavedash. As for buffs to his moveset, some of his moves are slightly faster either in terms of startup lag, ending lag or both and his new side special Egg Roll gives him an addition recovery option.

Despite his nerfs, he is still seen as a viable character although he struggles against most of the top tier characters.

Aesthetics

  • Change Yoshi received a slightly more realistic appearance, with mottled skin and a more dinosaur-like posture.
  • Change Yoshi's taunt has a different animation. He no longer turns around while performing it.

Attributes

  • Nerf Yoshi walks slightly slower (0.38 → 1.15).
  • Buff Yoshi's initial dash is faster (40 → 1.33) and covers more distance.
  • Nerf Yoshi's air speed is slightly lower (44 → 1.2), no longer being the highest.
  • Change Yoshi's falling speed is slightly higher (58 → 1.93).
  • Change Yoshi's gravity is higher (2.7 → 0.093).
  • Nerf Yoshi's double jump grants less height.
  • Nerf Yoshi is significantly lighter (115 → 108) no longer being a super heavyweight.
  • Buff Yoshi no longer suffers from shieldstun, which along with the introduction of light shielding, makes him significantly less vulnerable to shield pressure and allows him to punish out of shield much sooner; even relative to the cast.
  • Nerf Yoshi can no longer jump out of his shield greatly hindering his out of shield options.
  • Buff The addition of air dodges benefits Yoshi as they give him an additional recovery option and they give him access to wavedashing.

Ground attacks

  • Neutral attack:
    • Buff The first hit of neutral attack has less ending lag (FAF 24 → 18).
    • Nerf The second hit of neutral attack has more startup lag (frame 3 → 4).
  • Forward tilt:
    • Buff Forward tilt has less startup lag (frame 8 → 6) and has altered knockback (8 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/80) making it easier to combo from on most characters.
    • Nerf Forward tilt no longer deals consistent damage (13% → 13% (up), 12% (non angled), 11% (down).
  • Up tilt:
    • Change Yoshi has a new up tilt: a tail swipe above him. Unlike the previous up tilt, it does not have high set knockback (130 (set) → 72 (base), 40 (scaling)).
    • Buff New up tilt has a longer duration (frames 7-10 → 8-12).
    • Nerf New up tilt has more startup (frame 7 → 8) and ending lag (FAF 26 → 30) and is less useful for combos. It also deals less damage (12% → 10%).
  • Down tilt:
    • Nerf Down tilt has reduced set knockback (110 → 100) making it less useful for gimping despite sending opponents at a lower angle (30° → 28°), but it still remains a solid gimping tool overall.
  • Dash attack:
    • Nerf Dash attack's clean hit deals less damage (12% → 9%) without enough compensation on its base knockback (10 → 15). It also has more startup (frame 9 → 10) and ending lag (FAF 37 → 42).
  • Forward smash:
    • Buff Forward smash has less startup (frame 18 → 14) and ending lag (FAF 51 → 44).
    • Nerf Forward smash is significantly weaker dealing less damage (18% → 16%) and knockback (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 32/94), going from the fourth strongest forward smash in Smash 64 to the tenth weakest forward smash in Melee.
  • Up smash:
    • Buff Up smash has less ending lag (FAF 48 → 40).
    • Nerf Up smash has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 6-15 → 11-15). It also deals less damage (18% → 14%) and knockback (20 (base), 118/110 (scaling) → 26/108).
    • Change Up smash now always launches opponents vertically (361°/80° → 75°).
  • Down smash:
    • Buff Down smash has higher base knockback (20 → 50) improving its edgeguarding potential at lower percents and making it Yoshi's best KOing option.
    • Nerf The back hit of down smash deals less damage (14% → 12%) and both hits have reduced knockback scaling (105 → 75).

Aerial attacks

  • Nerf All aerials except back aerial have increased landing lag (14 frames → 15 (neutral), 16 frames → 21 (forward), 14 frames → 19 (up), 14 frames → 26 (down)).
  • Nerf All aerials except neutral aerial auto-cancel later (frame 31 → 36 (forward), frame 20 → 33 (back), frame 11 → 33 (up), frame 31 → 50 (down)). Down aerial now cannot auto-cancel in a short hop.
  • Nerf The weakening of L-canceling has hindered Yoshi's combo game with landing aerials as well as their safety with the increasing landing lag and worse auto-cancel windows on his aerials only further exacerbating this.
    • Nerf This combined with the changes to shields has severely harmed Yoshi's shield pressuring potential making his aerials much less safe against shield and completely removing his ability to perform shield break combos.
  • Neutral aerial:
    • Buff Neutral aerial has less startup (frame 5 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 50 → 45). It also auto-cancels earlier (frame 38 → 36).
    • Nerf Neutral aerial has a shorter duration (frames 5-38 → 3-33) and the late hit deals less damage (11% → 10%).
  • Forward aerial:
    • Buff Forward aerial has increased base knockback (0 → 30).
    • Nerf Forward aerial has much more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 11-15 → 19-21) (although most of the meteor smashes have this problem). It also has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 45) and deals less damage (18% → 17%).
    • Nerf Due to the introduction of Meteor canceling, Forward aerial can now be meteor canceled with its altered angle (-85°/-100° → 270°), significantly weakening its edge-guarding ability.
  • Back aerial:
    • Change Yoshi has a new back aerial: he swipes his tail behind him 4 times. Compared to the previous back aerial, it is a much weaker multi-hit attack that is no longer able to KO but is now a very potent damage racking attack with more combo potential, (although it is not as potent as his down aerial).
    • Buff New back aerial has less ending lag (FAF 42 → 38) and deals more damage if all hits connect (14% → 20%).
    • Nerf New back aerial is much less reliable due to being a multi hit move and has lost its KO and edgeguarding potential as the base knockback on the final hit wasn't compensated enough (10 → 40).
  • Up aerial:
    • Buff Up aerial has much less startup (frame 9 → 5) and ending lag (FAF 42 → 39).
    • Nerf Up aerial deals less damage (15% → 13%) without enough compensation on its base knockback (20 → 25). It also has less combo potential due to the weakening of L-canceling and its much smaller auto-cancel window combined with its decreased hitstun and the introduction of DI.
  • Down aerial:
    • Nerf Down aerial has a slightly lower possible damage output due to changes to stale move negation (56% → 53%). It also has much more startup (frame 4 → 18) and slightly higher ending lag (FAF 50 → 53).

Throws/other attacks

  • Buff Yoshi now has a pummel, up throw and a down throw, giving him more versatility after a grab.
  • Nerf Yoshi's new standing grab has more startup (frame 15 → 18) and ending lag (FAF 70 → 80).
  • Buff Yoshi's new dash grab has less startup lag (frame 15 → 11).
  • Nerf Yoshi's dash grab places the hitboxes of his head and tongue in the background for unknown reasons, which may cause the grab to miss thin opponents in certain circumstances. His dash grab also has slightly higher ending lag (FAF 70 → 71).[1]
  • Nerf Yoshi's forward and back throws deal much less damage (12% (forward), 16% (back) → 6% (both)) and knockback (80 (forward base), 70 (back base), 70 (scaling) → 40/66 (both)) completely removing their KO potential.

Special moves

  • Egg Lay:
    • Buff Egg Lay has less startup lag (frame 18 → 17) and deals more damage (5% → 7%).
    • Nerf Egg Lay has a shorter duration (frames 18-23 → 17-21) and has more ending lag (FAF 38 → 40).
  • Egg Roll:
    • Change Yoshi has a new special move: Egg Roll. While the move is not very useful as an attack, it helps Yoshi's very limited recovery options.
  • Egg Throw:
    • Buff Egg Throw has less startup lag (frame 23 → 18) and now has greater versatility. They can now extend aerial combos and set up for various aerial KOing options or a smash attack.
  • Yoshi Bomb:
    • Buff Yoshi Bomb has less startup lag on the ground (frame 30 → 27) and launches opponents at a higher angle (60° → 80°).
    • Nerf Yoshi Bomb deals less damage (18% → 16% (grounded), 14% (aerial), 4% → 1% (stars)) and knockback (50 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/98 (grounded), 46/96 (aerial)).
    • Change Grounded Yoshi Bomb covers less distance both horizontally and vertically.

PAL differences

Like other characters, Yoshi received some changes in the PAL version of Melee which buffed him overall.

  • Buff Yoshi is heavier (108 → 111).
  • Buff Up smash deals 1% more damage (14% → 15) and has higher base knockback (26 → 30).
  • Buff Forward smash deals 1% more damage (16% → 17%) and has higher knockback scaling (94 → 98).
  • Nerf Down aerial deals considerably less damage as each hit deals 1% less damage (53% → 38%).

Moveset

For a gallery of Yoshi's hitboxes, see here.

Yoshi's aerial attacks
  Name Damage Description
Neutral attack   3% Yoshi does a very fast short-ranged kick followed by a more powerful kick.
5%
Forward tilt   13% Sticks his foot out in a similar fashion to the second hit of his neutral attack, only with more range and knockback. Can combo into a forward aerial (especially when angled up), and if DI'd come back onto the stage, Yoshi can followup with a down smash. Can be angled up or down.
12%
11%
Up tilt   10% Does a very fast but short-ranged tail swipe upwards.
Down tilt   10% Performs a low sweep with his tail. Has fixed knockback. It can be used as a gimping move, particularly at base to low percentages.
Dash attack   9% (clean), 8% (late) Does a running headbutt. Yoshi's head is intangible during the early transition of the move.
Forward smash   16% (NTSC), 17% (PAL) Reels his head back, then slams it forward as a powerful headbutt. This move is somewhat predictable, but it has good KO potential. Can be slightly angled up or down. Yoshi's head is intangible while the hitboxes are active.
Up smash   14% (NTSC), 15% (PAL) Headbutts upwards. Just like his forward smash, Yoshi's head is intangible while the hitboxes are active.
Down smash   14% (front), 12% (back) Swipes his tail in front and then back. A very useful edgeguarding move that powerfully sends opponents on a low semi-spike trajectory. Considered Yoshi's best KO move.
Neutral aerial   14% (clean), 10% (late) A sex kick with decent knockback.
Forward aerial Noggin Dunk 17% Brings his head back and forcefully swings it down. It is the third most powerful meteor smash in the game, and isn't particularly slow (though its speed was significantly lowered from Smash 64). It is a good edgeguarding move and can lead into a down smash when used onstage.
Back aerial   7% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2), 5% (hit 3), 4% (hit 4) Swipes his tail four times behind him. Great for racking up damage, although not as great as his down aerial. All hits deal up to ≈20.65% when used fresh.
Up aerial   13% Thrusts his tail upwards very fast. Can be used to juggle, working especially well when DJC'd.
Down aerial Flutter Kick NTSC: 4% (hits 1-14)
PAL: 3% (hits 1-14)
Rapidly peddles his feet downwards as he descends, weakly meteor smashing enemies. Most damaging aerial in Melee, dealing ≈51.32 if all 14 hits connect (NTSC version only).
Grab   Yoshi uses his tongue to grab an opponent and pull them into his mouth. His dash grab causes him to trip if he doesn't get anyone. Despite the appearance, Yoshi's tongue isn't a tether, though its range and lag is between tethers and normal grabs.
Pummel   3% Chews on foe.
Forward throw   6% Spits foe out.
Back throw   6% Turns around and spits foe out.
Up throw   5% Chunks the opponent upwards.
Down throw   4% Forcefully slams foe into the ground.
Floor attack (front)   6% Gets up and headbutts both sides of himself.
Floor attack (back)   6% Gets up and spin kicks both sides of himself.
Edge attack (fast)   6% Picks himself up and whips his tail in front.
Edge attack (slow)   12% Slowly gets up and slams his head forward with short range.
Neutral special Egg Lay 7% (egg), 4% (escape) Yoshi swallows the foe and turns them into an egg.
Side special Egg Roll 4-13% Turns into an egg and rolls around. The damage done is based on how fast Yoshi is moving. If the move is started in the air, it won't do any damage until Yoshi hits the ground. Yoshi also becomes helpless if the move is ended in the air, making it a useless recovery move. If the egg hits a ledge or wall, the egg breaks and the attack is over.
Up special Egg Throw 10% (grounded explosion), 12% (aerial explosion) Throws an egg at an upward arc. The strength and angle of the egg that is thrown can be controlled by holding the B button and tilting the control stick respectively during Yoshi's windup.
Down special Yoshi Bomb 14% (body), 1% (stars) Jumps and plummets downwards, producing stars when he lands. If used in the air, Yoshi will fall straight down. Can sweetspot the ledge only if Yoshi is facing towards one.

Taunt

  • Faces the camera and jumps up and down, waving his hands in the air and saying "Yoshi!"
Yoshi-Taunt-SSBM.gif

Idle pose

  • Looks from side to side.
Yoshi Idle Pose Melee.gif

Crowd cheer

English Japanese
Cheer
Description Yooo-Shiii...! Yo - Shi!
Pitch Deep male Female

Victory poses

An orchestrated combination of two small musical excerpts from Yoshi's Story.
  • Looks up at the sky with his hands together, spins once, and gives a V sign with his hand.
  • Punches the air, then makes a "ta-da" pose. (His animation when chosen in Super Smash Bros. 64.)
  • Angrily, he punches a few times, and then turns his back on the screen, facing right.
Yoshi-Victory1-SSBM.gif Yoshi-Victory2-SSBM.gif Yoshi-Victory3-SSBM.gif

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups
  FoxHeadSSBM.png MarthHeadSSBM.png JigglypuffHeadSSBM.png FalcoHeadSSBM.png SheikHeadSSBM.png CaptainFalconHeadSSBM.png PeachHeadSSBM.png IceClimbersHeadSSBM.png PikachuHeadSSBM.png YoshiHeadSSBM.png SamusHeadSSBM.png LuigiHeadSSBM.png DrMarioHeadSSBM.png GanondorfHeadSSBM.png MarioHeadSSBM.png DonkeyKongHeadSSBM.png YoungLinkHeadSSBM.png LinkHeadSSBM.png MrGame&WatchHeadSSBM.png MewtwoHeadSSBM.png RoyHeadSSBM.png PichuHeadSSBM.png NessHeadSSBM.png ZeldaHeadSSBM.png KirbyHeadSSBM.png BowserHeadSSBM.png Avg.
YoshiHeadSSBM.png -3 -2 -2 -3 -3 -2 -3 -2 -1 Mirror match -3 -2 -2 -2 -2 -1 -2 -2 ±0 ±0 ±0 ±0 ±0 -1 +1 ±0 -2

According to the most recent character matchup chart, Yoshi has terrible matchups all around. He was thought to only have an advantageous matchup against one character, Kirby, while he was hard countered by five characters (three of which are in the top tier), countered by ten characters, and soft countered by three characters. He was thought to have even matchups with only six characters, most of whom were in the low tier.

Current metagame

With new innovations in Yoshi's metagame, however, the vast majority of these matchups are now considered completely inaccurate, based on community consensus, tournament results, and aMSa's own opinions on Yoshi's matchups:[2]

Yoshi's matchups, by aMSa
  FoxHeadSSBM.png FalcoHeadSSBM.png MarthHeadSSBM.png SheikHeadSSBM.png JigglypuffHeadSSBM.png PeachHeadSSBM.png IceClimbersHeadSSBM.png CaptainFalconHeadSSBM.png PikachuHeadSSBM.png SamusHeadSSBM.png DrMarioHeadSSBM.png YoshiHeadSSBM.png LuigiHeadSSBM.png GanondorfHeadSSBM.png MarioHeadSSBM.png YoungLinkHeadSSBM.png DonkeyKongHeadSSBM.png LinkHeadSSBM.png MrGame&WatchHeadSSBM.png RoyHeadSSBM.png MewtwoHeadSSBM.png ZeldaHeadSSBM.png NessHeadSSBM.png PichuHeadSSBM.png BowserHeadSSBM.png KirbyHeadSSBM.png Avg.
YoshiHeadSSBM.png -1 ±0 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 +1 ±0 Mirror match ±0 +1 +1 +1 +1 U ±0 U U U U U U U U U ±0

According to aMSa's incomplete matchup spread, Yoshi has good matchups. From Fox to Young Link, he gets soft countered by 6 characters, has 4 even matchups and soft counters 5. Yoshi tends to do well against characters who have limited ways to combat Egg Throw spacing and do not have the attributes to properly challenge his parry, such as Luigi, Mario, and other lower-tiered characters. Ganondorf has the strength in his aerials to break Yoshi's double jump armor, which was one of the reasons that he was originally viewed to beat Yoshi. However, Yoshi's platform movement, good ground and air movement, strong combo game and strong edge guarding game on Ganon allows for him to stay out of Ganon's range while also being able open him up. He also wins the Ice Climbers matchup because he can easily separate and KO them with attacks such as his forward aerial, back aerials and down smash, and even immobilize one of the pair with the otherwise situational Egg Lay. His unique properties also work against the usual strengths of some top-tiered characters as well. The Yoshi matchup is notoriously difficult for Marth in practice; Yoshi has an even matchup against him because Marth has significant trouble edgeguarding and KOing him because of his double jump armor, somewhat low falling speed compared to the rest of the cast and high weight, which removes many of the advantages he usually has in other matchups.

On the other hand, Yoshi does worse against characters who have the tools to harshly punish him or are able to work against his strengths. It is important to note that even in most of his losing matchups, he can still aggravate the opponent with heavily punishing double jump cancel combos. Fox and Captain Falcon, however, can punish Yoshi just as harshly, and are able to use their superior mobility to avoid Yoshi's openings. Fox even has a multi-hit down aerial that breaks through Yoshi's parrying, removing a key component of his defensive game. Peach is arguably Yoshi's worst matchup, as she is not even susceptible to Yoshi's punishes due to her floatiness, breaks through his armor easily with her hard-hitting aerials and down smash, and can crouch cancel down smash many of his approach options at low percentages.

Overall, Yoshi is considered to have decent matchups in the modern metagame, having at least a fighting chance against the strongest characters in the game with several high-tier matchups even considered to be in his favor.

Notable players

See also: Category:Yoshi professionals (SSBM)

Active

Inactive

  • Australia Bringer of Death - Best Australian Yoshi and one of the first to become notable with the character.
  • Japan Fumi - Known as the best Japanese Yoshi main before aMSa
  • Sweden Leffen - Notably beat Professor Pro, Overtriforce, Dev, Paju, King Funk, and Beat.
  • Netherlands mindtrick - Best Yoshi in Europe when active

Tier placement and history

Yoshi has historically been viewed as borderline nonviable for high-level play. He was often accused of having a terrible shield game, slow attacks, and an inflexible recovery, all of which many top and high-tiered characters could easily exploit. Yoshi's advantageous properties, such as his deadly double jump cancel combos, ability to parry, and flexible projectile, were not fully developed and written off as gimmicks. Initially starting as a mid-tiered character in the first tier list, Yoshi's standing consistently fell, with only Fumi and Bringer of Death making any significant impacts with him. By the ninth tier list, Yoshi had dropped to 22nd place on the tier list, firmly within the bottom tiers and the fifth worst; by this point, Fumi and the other Yoshi professionals retired from Melee, leaving Yoshi's metagame relatively abandoned in the competitive scene.

Several years later, players such as V3ctorman began to use Yoshi in tournaments, revitalizing and innovating Yoshi's previously stagnant metagame. They pushed Yoshi's punish game, becoming much more consistent at double jump cancelling than professionals in the past, and also showed more uses of Egg Throw, developing it as a zoning and edgeguarding tool. Despite these developments, when the tenth tier list was out Yoshi only rose by one spot, and as a result, he failed to rise out of the bottom tier, and eventually, even V3ctorman suffered from declining tournament placings as more people in his region learned the Yoshi matchup. The only top-level representation for Yoshi was arguably Leffen, who never actually mained him and later dropped him in favor of Fox, thus leaving Yoshi's meta game stagnant once again.

In late 2012 to early 2013, however, aMSa made his professional debut in Japan, taking top 8 in a Japanese tournament with only Yoshi. He later finished 25th place in EVO 2013, sweeping his pools and taking a game off of Mew2King, a placement that convinced the Melee Back Room to move Yoshi up 3 places on the tier list following said tournament, making him a low-mid tier. aMSa later reappeared with Yoshi in several future tournaments, including Apex 2014 and Republic of Fighters 3, and, to the surprise of many, placed 5th at Apex 2015, defeating several renowned players of top-tiered characters, namely Lucky, Silent Wolf, Fly Amanita, and SFAT. aMSa's use of Yoshi was considered completely unique from those of Fumi, Leffen, and other previous Yoshi mains; he showed the use of parrying and spacing that was previously never seen before and demonstrated that Yoshi's ability to punish errors made by opponents was far greater than expected. While the Melee community has not yet updated the matchup chart in response to these developments, Yoshi has risen 6 places in the twelfth American tier list and 8 places in the third PAL Tier List, the best improvement on Melee's tier list, making him a solid mid-tier character.

Yoshi's placement in the current tier list has been on a topic of debate since then. Throughout aMSa's earlier years in the scene, many noted his tendency to perform better overseas than in Japan, suggesting that he won mainly through matchup inexperience. However, in recent times, aMSa's performance has gradually gained momentum; not only has he begun to dominate his region, showing that he has erased any reliance on matchup inexperience from his game, he has been able to continue placing well at majors, placing 9th at GENESIS 5, 9th at GameTyrant Expo 2017, 7th at Full Bloom 4, 7th at Smash Summit 6, 5th at Get On My Level, and 4th at EGLX 2018 while defeating the likes of players such as Hungrybox, Plup, Mew2King, Axe, Wizzrobe, SFAT, and many others. To top all of that, aMSa is currently ranked 9th on the 2018 MPGR, becoming the first top 10 player to main a mid-tier character beside Axe since Shroomed's Dr. Mario in 2014. aMSa's astounding achievements led many professionals such as Mew2King and Armada to believe that Yoshi should be ranked higher, even ranking him around or above top 10. Overall, thanks to aMSa, Yoshi has achieved great results, increasing representation and his metagame developed, causing him to be in reality much better than people thought.

In 1-P Mode

Classic Mode

In Classic Mode, Yoshi can appear as an ordinary, giant, metal opponent, or teamed up with Ness or Luigi as well as an ally in team and giant fights. In his appearances in one-on-one fights, he either appears in Yoshi's Island or Yoshi's Story.

Adventure Mode

Yoshi is the only character of a starting universe that does not have his own stage in Adventure Mode. However, the Yoshi universe is incorporated in the Mario universe instead.

Yoshi's appearance in the Adventure Mode occurs halfway through the first stage of the Mushroom Kingdom stage. Once the player reaches an elevated platform, a team of 10 Yoshis will appear, who must all be defeated to continue.

All-Star Mode

Yoshi and his allies are fought on Yoshi's Story.

Event Matches

Yoshi is featured in the following event matches:

Ending Images

Trophies

In addition to the normal trophy about Yoshi as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing both Adventure and All-Star modes respectively with Yoshi on any difficulty:

Yoshi
Yoshis are gentle, fleet-of-foot dinosaurs that make their home on idyllic Yoshi's Island. They come in a variety of colors and have evolved an interesting trait to help increase their numbers: they can transform anything they swallow into an egg. With adhesive tongues and bottomless bellies, Yoshis have been known to eat anything.
  • Super Mario World [08/91]
Yoshi [Smash]
To make up for his lack of powerful airborne attacks, Yoshi has a miraculous jumping ability and is resistant to damage while in the air. Yoshi can also swallow a foe and transform him or her into an egg: try doing this close to an edge! The speed and power of the Egg Roll increases if you hold down the B Button, but it'll be tougher to control.
  • B: Egg Lay
  • Smash B: Egg Roll
Yoshi [Smash]
Yoshi has no third jump, so the timing of his second jump is of vital importance. The angle and distance of his Egg Throw can be altered by how you tilt the Control Stick and how long you press the B Button. When Yoshi lands after doing his Yoshi Bomb, stars appear on either side of him, making it hard for enemies to deliver counterattacks.
  • Up & B: Egg Throw
  • Down & B: Yoshi Bomb

Alternate costumes

Yoshi's palette swaps, with corresponding tournament mode colours.
YoshiHeadSSBM.png YoshiHeadRedSSBM.png YoshiHeadBlueSSBM.png YoshiHeadYellowSSBM.png YoshiHeadPinkSSBM.png YoshiHeadCyanSSBM.png

Gallery

Trivia

  • Melee marked the latest game that Yoshi was not the last "Original 8" member to be confirmed. In later games, he would always be the last of the "Original 8" to be confirmed.
  • Yoshi is the only character who cannot jump out of his shield. He is also the only character to have more than either 5 or 4 costumes as he gains two new costumes that were previously not playable.
  • Yoshi, Mario, Peach, Link, Young Link, Kirby, Falco, and Pikachu are the only characters whose portraits on the character select screen match their official artwork.

References

External links