- Game Versions
- Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by to check this guide! If you're new here, we sincerely hope you'll give our humble character a go, and if you're a regular I hope you'll still manage to find some use for this guide. Your input is more than welcome, so if anything needs re-writing or if you have suggestions, please say so and I'd be more than happy to change things around as needed.
"Who or what's a Yoshi?"
Yoshi is an anthropomorphic, fruit-munching, shoe-wearing lovable little reptilian dinosaur who's roots go back to Super Mario World, where he would go on to continue to help Mario in future quests and earn a reputation for himself-both as a hero and a trusty sidekick. Since then he's appeared in his own titles, but mainly appears in Mario spin-off titles as a playable character and some main games as Mario's trusty steed. In the sports games he's almost always a speed-type character, and this trait of his stays true in Smash as he remains a highly agile fighter.
Lets not forget his multi-coloured brethren though!
Attributes:
Mobility: Yoshi's ground and air mobility & speed are top class, and as such he's a very heavily momentum based character. His mobility lends him the advantage of not only controlling the pace of the battle, but being able to switch between a grounded and an air game, and being able to switch aggressive and defensive play instantaneously.
Running speed rank: 11th/12th
Walking speed rank: 22nd
Weight: Yoshi is ranked as 13-15th in weight, meaning he's one of the heavier characters, and as such you can expect him to naturally live longer than most other characters.
Part 1: Moveset
Here's a quick key if you're not used to some of the abbreviations in this guide to help you out:
Nair=Neutral Air
Dair=Down Air
Bair=Back Air
Uair=Up Air
Fair=Foward Air
Another example is Ftilt=forward tilt, while Dsmash=Down Smash, you get the idea.
Yoshi is a character who you can have many play styles for, so there's really no right or wrong way on how to play him, just whatever's comfortable for you. With that said, it's always a good idea to learn a trick or two from other fellow Yoshi's, whether it be discussion in these boards or through gameplay, you'll be sure to find something neat to spice up your game with.
But it all starts with knowing your moveset...
Here we go~!
Yoshi's bread and butter:
These are Out of Shield (OoS) Nair, short hop Egg Throws, Jabs, grabs Dash Attack, Fair, and Utilts.
Moves+descriptions/attack notes:
Jab 1: 3%
*Notes: Good anti air, can link into down B or Usmash. (possibly jump cancelled)
Jab 2: 4%
*Notes: If your opponents headed right at you, I highly recommend this move due to it's range and speed, you'll either beat out their option or at the very worst clank with theirs. It can beat grabs too!
Dtilt: 5% at base, 4% on tip
Utilt: 7%
Ftilt: 7%
Dash attack: 8%
Usmash: 14% uncharged, 19% charged
*Notes: His feet are invincible during part of this!
Dsmash: 12%, 12% uncharged, 16% 16% charged
Fsmash: 14% uncharged, 19% charged
*Notes: This move has good range and can serve as a dodge-and-strike due to the way Yoshi rears his head back so far.
Uair: 12%
Nair: 10%, soft nair: 5%
Fair: 14%
Bair: 2%, 3%, 5%, 5%
*Notes: Some hits on this move are powerful enough to kill, and some hits drag them down. Fantastic offstage but not that good of an approach tool.
Dair: 32% (all hits)
*Notes: The last hit of Dair (2nd picture) sends your opponent vertically
Neutral B: 7%
Up B: 6%
Side B: 9%
Down B: grounded: 1st hit 4%, 2nd hit 15%, airborne: 12%
Standing grab:
Dash grab:
Pivot grab:
Grab pummel: 2%
Uthrow: 5%
Dthrow: 4%
Fthrow: 7%
Bthrow: 7%
Shield:
Taunts!^o^
Down taunt:
Side taunt:
Up taunt:
Part 2: Survival
Recovery
How you determine the best way to recover highly depends on who you're playing, eg how well they can edgeguard or chase you offstage. You wouldn't want to recover low against someone with multiple jumps like MetaKnight for example.
Double jump:
Yoshi's second jump offers heavy armour. If you're new to Yoshi and don't know about this mechanic, heavy armour lets you take hits without being knocked back or flinching, but this armour gets weaker at higher %'s and as such, you can be knocked out of it leaving you without a double jump and potentially gimping you if you're not careful! A good strategy when recovering is to mix up your double jumps with airdodges and your upB using different timings, being mindful of your opponent and trying to stay as unpredictable as possible. Yoshi has great horizontal airspeed, so airdoges are usually pretty safe so long as you're not mindlessly spamming it, otherwise they'll catch on and you'll be punished for it. Also be careful to not get footstooled out of your double jump, the results are fatal. If you can help it, it may be a good idea to use your first egg toss and save your double jump for when you really need it.
Eggs:
Yoshi's first aerial egg toss gives a small vertical boost by about one Yoshi height, and lets you stall in the air a little. Your horizontal momentum carries over as well. The second throw doesn't give very much height, and the 3rd gives you non but stalls a little, the rest just make you fall.
Tap Jump:
This isn't absolutely necessary, but it's highly recommended to turn off "Tap Jump" in custom controls. Why? While you can always try and adapt...you'll make life much easier for yourself by disabling this feature because Yoshi's Up+B can cancel out your double jump accidentally, robbing yourself of your recovery. Having it set to off gives you full control of all your options and recovery, you'll thank yourself for turning it off later.
Landing and getting back to the stage:
Tactics:
B-reverse your landing (see Advanced Techniques)
Edge thrown eggs (see Advanced Techniques)
Fast falling Dair (Be sensible about this)
Neutral-B (This one's a bit risky)
Down B ledge-snap:
If you're facing in the direction of the ledge off-stage, and you Down B when close enough you'll grab it. This is a good way to get back down to the ground quickly.
Note: Be careful to not be too far away when doing this, and be careful to not hold down as you're passing the ledge or you'll plummet right past the ledge without grabbing it!
Note: Be careful to not be too far away when doing this, and be careful to not hold down as you're passing the ledge or you'll plummet right past the ledge without grabbing it!
Defensive play
Basic defensive play mostly revolves around the use of ETS (see advanced techniques), grabs, keeping as much stage control as possible (eggs are great for this), using moves that are safe/have little lag without needing to commit to it, and keeping a safe distance from your opponent at all times while spacing them out. You want to be in a position where you can escape when needbe, but can also go in for a quick sneak attack while staying out of their range so you're not in danger. Yoshi's mobility is an amazing asset to have here since he can swap between the two whenever he likes. He's super slippery so your opponent will have a hard time getting the final blow on you if played right.
Shielding is a great option now, since his shield doesn't decrease in size, and he can now jump out of shield and act out of it really quickly.
Another important aspect is to play smart. Watch your opponent like a hawk at all times and think of their options at the same time as your own. "Am I in their Fsmash range? Is it safe to rush in or are they already expecting it?" Thinking ahead but still staying in the moment is key.
projectile defense
You can cancel some projectiles like Samus's missiles, Links arrows, Mario/Luigi's fireballs and more. There are projectiles that you can't cancel out however, such as Sheik's needles.
With the right timing, you can cancel out some projectiles with:
Jab
Fsmash
Nair
Bair
Dash attack
Eggs
Dash attack can cancel out a fully charged Samus charge beam shot! You have to time it so that the hitbox clashes with the projectile which is about half way through the dash attack for it to cancel it out.
Lots of testing needs to be done on this to see what other moves can cancel out projectiles and which ones, this is just the beginning of a long project...
More coming soon.
Part 3: Offensive play & Combos
Kill setups
*Note at this point in time none of these setups are actually guaranteed. I highly recommend you don't rely on these too much, stay sharp and be creative.
*Jab > Down B
*Jab > Usmash (or jump cancelled then run-up )
*Jab > Dtilt > off stage Fair
*Dthrow > Usmash (if they're conditioned into airdodging)
*Dthrow > Uair
*Grab release > Usmash on some characters (section on this coming soon)
*Egg to Uair, Fair, or Nair
Combos
*Note at this point in time none of these combos are actually guaranteed.
You can mix and match these however you like, mix it up and throw your own things in there too to spice it up a bit!
Standards:
*Jab > Usmash
*Jab > Fsmash
*Jab > Dsmash
*Jab > Utilt
*Jab > Dtilt
*Double jab > dash attack
*Utilt > Utilt > Uair strings
*Utilt > Utilt > Dair
*Utilt > Nair
*Uair > Nair
*Utilt > Bair
*Utilt > Usmash
*Dash attack > Uair
*Soft Nair > Basically anything! (lower %'s)
*Fair > Nair
*Fair > Utilt (low %)
*Fair > Double jab (low %)
Specials:
*Diagonal downwards aerial egg toss > Neutral-B > Anything you want!
*Neutral B > Anything (bear in mind they'll only take half damage while trapped in an egg, sometimes anticipating the break-out and then striking is a good idea, but you'll want to mix it up to keep them guessing, don't just wait there)
Throws:
*Dthrow > Dair
*Dthrow > Uair
*Dthrow > Usmash (if you've conditioned them into airdodging, FANTASTIC on Little Mac)
Any throw > egg toss-either the egg hits and you can hit them again, or it baits an airdodge and you hit them.
Grab releases:
*Note: These are currently untested since the 1.04 patch
Grounded release > double jab
Grounded release > Jab > Usmash
Grab release to Dash Attack on
Grab release to Usmash on
(you have to dash forward a little first before the Usmash or it won't quite reach)Grab release to Fair on
More coming soon.
Part 4: Advanced techniques
Ledge Cancelled Eggs:
When you're hanging on the ledge, pressing down on the control stick/circle pad then pressing Up+B will let you regrab the ledge and throw an egg in a small amount of time, useful if your opponent's giving you a hard time waiting around at the ledge for you to come up, just be careful you don't get hit out of it. If you press back on the ledge then throw the egg you can land on stage with it.
After the first throw however, your Up-B won't give you enough height to repeat, so you have to drop down from the ledge, then double jump back up and Up-B at the ledge to regrab it and throw an egg at the same time.
Egg Toss Slide: (ETS)
Run in a direction, press X/Y (jump) and Up-B in quick succession.
The result: Your jump will be cancelled and you'll throw an egg wherever you chose to aim it and slide in the direction you chose initially.
Great for defensive play.
Pivot grab:
What it is: a fast starting turn-around/reverse grab. While it's startup is fast though, unfortunately it has a fair bit of ending lag, so you have to be precise or you'll be punished hard.
How to perform: Dash one way, then quickly flick the circle pad/control stick in the opposite direction and grab.
You can use this in lots of situations, like after baiting an aerial approach from your opponent, then moving out of the way and punishing with a pivot grab.
This can also be used aggressively in situations like running past your opponent and baiting the spotdodge then grabbing.
B-reverse:
This technique completely reverses your momentum in the air and can be used to trick the opponent, catch them off guard, mix up your landings and more. This technique applies to both Neutral B and Up B.
How to perform: Upon performing the move you want to B-reverse, flick the control stick/circle pad in the opposite direction from which you're facing at the beginning of the move. Video/gif demonstration soon!
Turn around U-smash:
As the name implies, lets you turn around...and U-smash. Cancelling the jump with the U-smash completely cancels the turn around animation. Useful due to the hitbox of this move hardly hitting behind him, but having good range in front and above him.
How to perform: Run one way and pivot (turn around), press the jump button (X is easiest) and perform an U-smash in immediate succession.
Buffered Dash attack:
Not much of an 'advanced' technique but I feel its still worth mentioning, just buffer a dash and press A, you can chain dash attacks to cover a lot of ground quickly, and combine it with pivots to keep your opponent guessing. What's even better is you can delay the dash attack to mix up the timing!
You can also do this on stage at the ledge and you'll dash attack in place.
'Egg shot':
In this game Yoshi's egg roll stops at a ledge by itself when there's no input, this counts on platforms too. In this state, by jumping forward while inputting a direction you can shoot yourself in a direction, to the other Battlefield platform in a practically straight line for eg. You can also use this to chase someone offstage if you dare, since if you use egg roll while grounded and break out of it offstage you can still jump out of it.
Part 5: Matchup chart
coming soon
Please note that this guide is a work in progress, and as such I will continue updating it regularly.
Thanks for your patience
