Yoshi (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


 * This article is about Yoshi's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Yoshi.

Yoshi (, Yosshī) is a character appearing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He is relatively unchanged from the previous games except for one thing - he can now use his Egg Toss as a recovery move (though it only gives him a small upwards boost). His smashes appear less powerful, but his aerials and tilts are slightly more powerful. He has also taken on his upright posture and his appearance is like the younger Yoshi in Yoshi's Story. He appears to be slightly larger now in relation to the human-sized characters as well.

Yoshi ranks 32nd on the tier list due to his fairly mediocre matchups, extremely high learning curve due to how extremely difficult it is to learn his best advanced techniques, over-reliance on his double jump to recover, making Footstool Jumps, Meteor Smashes, or certain special grabs very dangerous (however, he can air dodge during his second jump to gain invincibility), difficulties with his shield and rolling dodge (although immunity to shield stabbing helps cover this), poor kill power without quick attack speed (except for down smash, which isn't a reliable killing move anyway, and up-air, which is a bit situational), and lacklustre tourney results.

Changes from Melee to Brawl
Coincidentally, Yoshi received both major buffs to some of his moves and major nerfs to other moves. His aerials and tilts are slightly stronger (although his D-air does less damage and his Forward aerial is no longer an automatic meteor smash), but his smashes are slightly weaker (excluding his down smash, which is weakened significantly). Egg Toss can now be used as a recovery move due to the very slight boost it now provides, but Egg Roll now gives very little horizontal distance when used in the air, making it ineffective as a recovery move (however, it completely Momentum Cancels). Yoshi Bomb now shoots downward at a faster speed, but it is weaker in terms of knockback. It also (when used from the ground) takes an enemy standing directly in front of Yoshi up with him, comparable to Final Cutter. His eggs do less damage and knockback, and they can no longer be tossed backwards. They also have a finite number of throwing angles/strengths. Yoshi's air speed has increased to the fastest in the game (up from a tie for second-fastest with Mewtwo). On the downside, if Yoshi attacks during his double jump he does not stop momentum, unless he uses his special moves, like Egg Lay. This means that Yoshi can no longer double jump cancel with his aerials. Yoshi is largely a weaker-hitting character than he was in Melee, but he also is tougher to knock out.

Yoshi also had changes that are either not related to buffing/nerfing or hard to tell which. He has a new forward tilt; a tail swat instead of a strong kick. His stance is different; Yoshi stands upright. His tail is now longer with greater reach. The spikes on his back are curved rather than spiky, like they are in his recent appearances. His tongue makes a different sound. His down tilt no longer has set knockback.

Attributes
Few characters are as unusual in Brawl as Yoshi. Yoshi is a rather heavy character, tied with Wario in weight, but rather small and weak for his weight. He also is very maneuverable in the air with a slow falling speed and the fastest air speed in the game, which are not usually attributes found in heavyweights. His midair jump is the largest in the game, giving limited knockback resistance during the ascent. He's quite speedy on the ground as well, and he has arguably the best Pivot Grab in the game. Yoshi can perform a pseudo-wavedash known as the Dragonic Reverse. Yoshi's moves generally have decent speed (although not as quick as several characters), and his range and priority are both good for jointed moves. His Flutter Kick (downwards aerial) can hit for 33% if used correctly, making it among the most damaging attacks in the game (although this can be escaped with Smash DI). Egg Throw is an effective projectile attack that can help change directions in midair and can help recovery (although it can be hard to use because it travels in an arc, which can make it hard to hit with). As long as Yoshi has his double jump, he can be an effective edge guarder, either finishing enemies off with his Meteor Smashes, or using his Neutral aerial at the right time to knock them back even further.

Yoshi's major advantage is in his grab-release on a large number of cast members. He currently has a grab-release on at least nineteen cast members, and he can grab-release-spike seven of those.

However, Yoshi has several major flaws. Although his shield gives him immunity to shield stabbing and lasts slightly longer then others, it has a long exiting animation, it cannot be jumped out of, it gives him a bad rolling dodge, and it prevents him from Glide Tossing. Yoshi has few effective ways to advance on the opponent. His killing power and amount of KO moves are rather low, and he has only average attack speed. His specials are largely situational due to a mix of poor range, speed, and/or priority. One other significant flaw is that, because of his minuscule third jump, Footstool Jumps, grabs (such as special grabs that can catch in the air) and attacks with enough knockback to cancel his midair jump's resistance can be devastating to Yoshi, should they be performed while he is in his second jump. His standing grab range has lots of start up lag and his dash grab is very punishable, with both being relatively short for tether grabs.

Yoshi is a character with very clear advantages and disadvantages. Many of his advantageous match-ups stem from his grab-release or other tricks he can pull off, but his relatively short and laggy grab can be an impediment (though he can Pivot Grab to remedy this). Yoshi's extremely high learning curve and difficulty in using his chain grabs on some characters means that only truly dedicated Yoshi players can do very well with him. Those new to Yoshi are likely to not fare as well.

Role In The Subspace Emissary
After removing the Master Sword from a pedestal in a forest, Link encounters Yoshi, who is sleeping on a tree stump. However, the passing Halberd drops Shadow Bugs, which in turn form Primids. Peaceful sleep is now impossible, so Yoshi teams up with Link to fight them off. Later, Yoshi/Pit and Link/Mario will be seen running on a path, a Shadow Bug clone of Zelda/Peach will try to turn the duo into trophies, but then Pit/Link slashes the clone's Dark Cannon into two. Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi will then fight the clone. After the battle, Link/Mario will notice Mario and Pit/Link and Yoshi nearby the clone's trophy, thinking that they defeated the real princess, Link/Mario tries to slash/punch Mario/Link. The two teams will then fight each other. After Link and Yoshi/Mario and Pit defeat the opposing characters, King Dedede will pass by and snag the trophies, while Link/Mario notice the real trophy of Zelda/Peach in the back. Kirby then later rescues the Link & Yoshi/Mario & Pit trophies and Link/Pit with come to life and strike the cart with an arrow. After which, Kirby, Link, Yoshi, Mario, and Pit team up to find Dedede's castle.

Later on, they find the Ancient Minister setting off a Subspace bomb, and we see the real regret that he feels in this deed. As the bomb goes off, Yoshi carries Mario to safety by running really fast, while Pit, Kirby and Link fly overhead on a warp star.

Yoshi joins his companions when they reinforce Marth and his companions in the Canyon. Later, he joins the heroes in the battle against the Subspace Gunship and again against Tabuu. After trophization, Yoshi is revived by Dedede and Kirby, and joins Sonic and the others against Tabuu.

Event Matches

 * Event 10: All-Star Battle Regulars- The player must choose a character and take on the "original eight" fighters, two at a time.
 * Event 11: Yoshi's Rainbow- As the Ice Climbers on Rainbow Cruise, the player must KO the Yoshis in the following order: Red, pink, yellow, green, light blue, and blue. Not killing them in order is instant failure.
 * Event 12: Sleeping in the Eggs- Using Yoshi’s Egg Lay standard special move, the player must put Kirby and Pikachu in eggs simultaneously.
 * Event 37: The Pirate Airship- The Pirate Ship will continuously be caught in a hurricane and be sent to the sky. KO both Yoshis as Toon Link when the ship is in the air.

Co-Op Event Matches

 * Co-Op Event 3: Fastest, Shortest, Sudden Death- All Players start with 300%. Survive as Yoshi and King Dedede against Lucas and Pit for 10 seconds on WarioWare.
 * Co-Op Event 5: The Yoshi Team of 50- As Meta Knight and Pit, KO all 50 Yoshis on Rainbow Cruise before completing one lap of the stage.
 * Co-Op Event 9: Those Who Stayed in Onett- KO Luigi and Yoshi, playing as Lucas and Ness on Onett.
 * Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle- Select any character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Normal

 * Neutral Attack- Left kick, then right kick. Deals 9% if both hit. Quick with decent priority makes it a solid "panic" move.
 * Dash Attack- Running headbutt that causes 9% damage. Quick and powerful, with horizontal knockback useful at the edge, where Yoshi can start edge guarding.
 * Forward Tilt- Tail flick. Causes 9% damage. Very quick.
 * Down Tilt- Low tail whip. The attack does more damage the closer the opponent is to Yoshi. Hitting with the larger section of Yoshi's tail causes 10% damage and hitting with the tip causes 5% damage.
 * Up Tilt- Tail uppercut. Deals 11% damage.

Smash

 * Forward Smash- Headbutt that causes 16% damage uncharged and 22% damage fully charged.
 * Down Smash- Double tail whip (hits on both sides). Causes 14% damage uncharged and 19% fully charged. Hitting an opponent behind Yoshi causes 1% less damage. Very quick, but surprisingly low knockback, for a smash attack. Mostly used to rack up damage, set up combos or clear some space.
 * Up Smash- Upward headbutt. Deals 16% uncharged and 22% fully charged. The attack can hit behind Yoshi and cause the same amount of damage.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Aerial- Sex kick. Causes 12% damage. Can be performed immediately after the ending of Flutter Kick to try and break through shields. Good Knockback if it connects with an opponent as it's executed.
 * Forward Aerial- Headbutt with the capability to spike. Deals 15-16% damage. Where and when it hits decides where the opponent goes.
 * Back Aerial- Quadruple tail whip. Causes a maximum of 14% damage. Low priority.
 * Down Aerial- Flutter kick. Most damaging aerial attack. Can potentially Meteor Smash after the last kick. Causes a maximum of 33% damage. Good for wearing down shields or footstool set-ups.
 * Up Aerial- Does a flip and hits hard upward with his tail, good range, great knockback and low starting lag too. Yoshi's best kill move, easy to set up with eggs and double jump.

Grabs and Throws

 * Grab - Along Snake, he is the only character in the game able to force jump breaks in the game and also the only character in the game completely unable to ground release a grabbed character.
 * Standing grab - 17 frame grab and not very long range makes it one of the worst standing grabs.
 * Dash grab - Faster start-up than his standing grab but a lot of ending lag.
 * Pivot grab - Much longer range than his standing grab range and 1 frame faster than his dash grab. It has very little lag for an extended grab.
 * Pummel- Chews on the opponent. 2% damage. When Grab Release Chain grabbing, it counters move decay (Stale Negation)
 * Forward Throw- Spits the opponent out. 7% damage.
 * Back Throw- Spits the opponent backward. 7% damage.
 * Up Throw- Spits the opponent upward. 5% damage.
 * Down Throw- Jumps up and spits the opponent hard into the ground. 4% damage. Has good hitstun, combos well with Up Aerial for a KO.

The following characters can be chain grabbed by Yoshi, though some are harder to chain grab than others: Bowser, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Wario, Link, Ganondorf, Zero Suit Samus, Pit, Meta Knight, King Dedede, Falco, Captain Falcon, Pikachu, Squirtle, Charizard, Ike, Lucas, Snake, and Sonic

Taunts
Up: Dances around in a circle and says "Yoshi!".

Side: Spins around, chasing his tail, then looks at it.

Down: Waves to the screen, saying "Yoshi! Yoshi!"

Trivia

 * Yoshi is the only character with a ranged grab but not a Tether Recovery.
 * Yoshi is the only character that can eat opponents but not items.
 * Yoshi is the only character with a unique shield. Instead of a spherical bubble, he uses an egg for protection. The egg does not shrink when it weakens (instead it darkens), so trying to shield stab Yoshi is futile. However, he cannot jump out of his shield, and it takes longer than anyone else to drop it.
 * The Bunny Hood and Metal Box don't affect Yoshi's second jump.
 * Yoshi holds the world record for Co-op Target Smash!! Level 4 with Pikachu (completed in 4.81 seconds).
 * With a Bunny Hood, Yoshi can start stalling with Egg Throw in some places, such as the under the lip of the original Pokémon Stadium.
 * Yoshi carrying Mario in a SSE cutscene reflects on how Yoshi was used for transportation for Mario (most notably in Yoshi's Island, where he carries Baby Mario everywhere and Super Mario World where Yoshi used to have a taller neck and Mario was able to ride him except in the Ghost House and Castle stages.)
 * When Kirby copies Yoshi's egg lay, the tongue sticks out for less distance.
 * Ironically, while Yoshi's tail got smaller in Brawl, it grows bigger for it's attacks than it did in Melee.
 * Yoshi is an unusual character in Brawl. He's a heavyweight, yet he's speedy, has fast attacks (compared to other heavyweights at least), and not as much damage and knockback with his attacks as other heavyweights. In fact, one could say that Yoshi has more in common with lighter weights than he does with heavyweights.
 * Oddly, while Yoshi is heavy in Brawl, most other games portray Yoshi as light or medium weight.