- For fighter info, see Mewtwo (SSBM).
Mewtwo (ミュウツー, Myūtsū) is a fictional creature from the phenomenally popular and expansive Pokémon media empire. It was introduced as the "final Pokémon" in the very first game in the franchise. Mewtwo enjoys a good degree of fame and popularity in the Pokémon fan community for being far more of a human-like character than most of the other species, and it was included in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a playable character.
Creature description
Among the 151 Pokémon introduced in this First Generation period were the likes of Pikachu and Jigglypuff, and the final Pokémon in the game were Mewtwo as Pokémon #150 and Mew as #151. Mewtwo was made to be far away the most powerful Pokémon of all during the First Generation, enough that its presence in the RPGs made the games unbalanced, giving it infamy until the playing field in the RPGs of subsequent generations were made far better balanced and Mewtwo was made less overpowered. Even today in the Fourth Generation of RPGs, however, Mewtwo remains one of the most powerful of all Pokémon species in battle.
The Pokémon franchise features several separate continuities within its various media, which are primarily the full series of Pokémon handheld RPGs and spin-off games, the Pokémon anime continuity consisting of a long-running anime with one movie adventure per season, and the various Pokémon manga series which primarily includes the Pokémon Adventures manga. In each of these continuities, Mewtwo is portrayed quite differently. In the first generation of RPGs, Mewtwo is a genetically twisted "super-clone" of the rare and powerful Mew, created by scientists looking to make the most powerful of all Pokémon, but they failed to endow Mewtwo with a caring heart. Mewtwo hides away in a cave near Misty's hometown of Cerulean, and the player's trainer protagonist may enter the cave and try to capture the very powerful being for himself. In the Pokémon Adventures manga, which is a different and rather darker take on the Pokémon franchise, Mewtwo was created much the same way, but it is infused with the DNA of both Mew and its scientist creator, a "Gym Leader" trainer named Blaine who works for the criminal Team Rocket organization in the manga series. At first a rogue, Mewtwo is later caught by Blaine, and it is later released.
Perhaps what most contributes to Mewtwo's popularity in the Pokémon community is its rather large and dramatic role in the anime continuity. Mewtwo in this appearance is physically structured different from its normal game appearance, with a larger body-to-head ratio, and it possesses an inhuman amount of psychic power, able to levitate itself with enough proficiency to simulate flight, remotely levitate and hurl about others with mere hand motions, employ powerful psycho-kinetic attacks, and use telepathy to communicate with people and Pokémon with full knowledge of human language; it can telepathically speak coherently like a human, with the simulated voice of an adult human male. This, coupled with a disposition that allows for the virtues and failings of a human being, makes Mewtwo seem a far more human-like character than any typical specie of Pokémon.
Mewtwo, in its starring role in the first Pokémon feature film, Pokémon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back, is portrayed as a Frankenstein-inspired laboratory experiment gone awry, destroying the laboratory of its creators in a rage over the idea that it is merely a lab specimen and a shadow of Mew, and it is portrayed in an outright villainous light as it plots and plans revenge against the humans on a global scale (On the contrary, however, the original Japanese version of the film portrays Mewtwo as a confused, yet aggressive, individual who simply plans to prove that its existence has meaning, rather than trying to eradicate mankind). When Mew appears, Mewtwo engages in an epic duel with it to prove that Pokémon clones can be superior, but when main anime trainer Ash Ketchum appears to selflessly sacrifice himself by throwing himself in the psychic crossfire, Mewtwo has a change of heart and sees that humans are indeed capable of virtue. Mewtwo uses its psychic powers to cleanse from everyone's mind all their immediate memories of it and departs for a natural place to live in peace. Mewtwo's anime saga continues in the OVA sequel released in 2002, Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns, where it must contend with its vengeful creators at Team Rocket looking to recapture and use it to take over the world, but Ash Ketchum once again appears and goes out of its way to help the super-clone. Mewtwo is deeply moved and personally thanks Ash, and it departs once again to live a night life amongst the rooftops of a "faraway city". Since then Mewtwo's holographic likeness has appeared in Pokémon's tenth anniversary special, The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee
As a Playable Fighter
- Main article: Mewtwo (SSBM)
Mewtwo makes its Smash-series debut as an unlockable character in Melee; it is interesting to note that it could have appeared in the previous game in some form but didn't. It is much more difficult to unlock than most other secret characters in Melee, however; it can be battled to be unlocked after either playing 20 man-hours worth of Vs. Mode matches (meaning if four players at a time always play, it will take five hours), or playing 700 Vs. mode matches.
In the Pokémon RPGs, every Pokémon species has an extremely rare alternatively-colored version, and such individuals are called "Shiny Pokémon". The shiny Mewtwo's coloration is green instead of purplish pink, and this is one of Mewtwo's alternate costumes in the game.
As a Collectible Trophy
By tradition, Mewtwo as a playable character is featured on its personal three trophies. Its normal trophy is acquired by beating the Classic mode with Mewtwo on any difficulty, and its Smash Red and Smash Blue trophies are acquired the same way by beating the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively. Its Classic mode trophy reads:
- A genetically created Pokémon, Mewtwo is the result of many long years of research by a solitary scientist. Although Mewtwo was cloned from the genes of the legendary Pokémon Mew, its size and character are far different than its ancestor. Its battle abilities have been radically heightened, making it ruthless.
- Pokémon Red & Pokémon Blue, 9/98
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
As a Collectible Trophy
Mewtwo appears in Brawl as a collectible trophy. This trophy can be obtained by completing All-Star mode on Intense difficulty. The trophy describes Mewtwo's appearance in the Pokémon games, and makes no reference whatsoever to its appearance in Melee:
- A Genetic Pokémon. This legendary Pokémon was based on a recombination of Mew's DNA, created by a scientist after years of research. However, Mewtwo greatly differs from Mew in both size and personality and is said to be the most twisted and savage Pokémon ever. Mewtwo has incredibly high combat abilities and uses Psychic- type attacks.
- Pokémon Red/Blue
- Pokémon Diamond/Pearl
As a Removed Character
Mewtwo has found to have been partially programmed, possessing its own character model and victory tune as did Roy, suggesting they were both further along production than other removed characters. It is also possible that this data simply existed for referential purposes by the programmers, or that data was imported from Melee for some reason. Further hacking has revealed that Mewtwo's sound when selected on the character selection screen is also intact, supporting the theory it was planned for Brawl but scrapped in development.
Trivia
- Mewtwo along with Roy, Dr. Mario, Pichu, and, to a lesser extent, Young Link, does not return in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It's replaced by Lucario, a Pokémon that also has starred in a movie and is capable of communicating via telepathy. Lucario's Aura Sphere is even seen to operate very similarly to Mewtwo's Shadow Ball. Lucario's moves are also very bulky and focus on its "Aura" abilities. However, with the exception of their forward Smash and the aforementioned Aura Sphere/Shadow Ball, all of their attacks are considerably different from each other. Mewtwo is the only fighter that was not a clone in Super Smash Bros. Melee to be excluded from its sequel.
- In the Pokémon universe, Mewtwo was created as the strongest Pokémon in the world. Ironically, Mewtwo is the statistically the lowest ranking fighter in Melee, according to the tier list.
