24-
Mewtwo

Jab1 (-12):
NAir (Frame 7)

Rapid Jab Finisher (-30):
FSmash (Frame 26)

FTilt (-15):
Grab (Frame 16)
(This move can be spaced out)

UTilt (-14):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

DTilt (-11):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)
(This move can be spaced out)

Dash Attack (-14):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

FSmash (-18):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)
Grab (Frame 16)

USmash (-39):
FSmash (Frame 26)
(This move has trouble connecting, and typically whiffs on opponents next to Mewtwo)

DSmash (-11):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)
(This move has pushback)

NAir (-7):
NAir (Frame 7)
(This move is unpunishable if landed behind Young Link)

FAir (-3):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield)

BAir (-5):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield, can be spaced out)

UAir (-3):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield)

DAir (-6):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield)

Shadow Ball (-16 to -2):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield, projectile usage)

Confusion (--):
Command Grab

Teleport (--):
--

Disable (-30):
FSmash (Frame 26)

• Neutral Moves: Tilts, Aerials, Jab, Grab, Shadow Ball.

• Kill Moves: Shadow Ball, BAir, Smash Attacks, Fair, FTilt, UTilt.

• Kill Confirms: Disable > Smash Attack, Confusion > FAir, uncharged/partial charge Shadow Ball > Dash Attack, DThrow > FAir (doesn’t work on DI out).

• Mewtwo’s hurtbox extends to and covers most of his tail. Mewtwo is already a large-stature character, but his tail hurtbox extends it even more. This issue is exacerbated by Mewtwo using his tail for several attacks. Mewtwo has range, but said range can be contested, as a result.

• Shadow Ball is a core part of Mewtwo’s neutral. As a chargeable projectile, it can be used as a conditioning/information tool, landing mix-up, force approaches, and projectile approaches.

• Lower charges of Shadow Ball move slower than higher charges, which allows Mewtwo to use Shadow Ball as a projectile approach.

• Higher charges of Shadow Ball have more kill power and speed, and full charge displaces Mewtwo backward, allowing for landing and recovery mix-ups.

• A projectile approach is essentially an approach with freedom alongside a hitbox. Mewtwo can stuff jumps out of shield with FAir, Grab, directly shield pressure after the projectile approach, etc.

• Using platforms against Shadow Ball gives more options to get around Shadow Ball. It forces Mewtwo to reconsider and launch Shadow Ball onto/above platforms, which means it won’t cover the ground.

• Mewtwo wants to force an approach from the opponent. Mewtwo does not want to be forced to approach, for several reasons.

• One reason is that Mewtwo doesn’t have any consistent moves to hit shield with. He doesn’t have anything fast and safe, the closest move he has to being safe is FAir at -3, which lacks significant range.

• Mewtwo can pressure with spaced moves, with spaced FTilt and DTilt in the deadzone, though. This is one of the few ways Mewtwo can pressure shield consistently vs Young Link. His tipper DTilt is low reward.

• Another reason as to why Mewtwo is subpar at approaching is that his tail moves in neutral are often lackluster. This is because they aren’t safe, aren’t fast, and extend his hurtbox. Additionally, they offer less reward when spaced, so Mewtwo doesn’t gain much from actually spacing most of his tail moves (Tilts, UAir, BAir). This mostly limits Mewtwo to Jab, Dash Attack, NAir, FAir, and Grab.

• Also, Mewtwo’s out of shield game is weak vs Young Link. Mewtwo can use movement out of shield to escape, but his best options (NAir, USmash, FAir) are too slow against Young Link’s pressure.

• However, Young Link can outcamp/disrupt Shadow Ball from long-range. Fire Arrow will be the main projectile in disrupting Shadow Ball and Mewtwo due to his big hurtbox.

• Mewtwo will often give up stage control to charge Shadow Ball and play his ideal game with it. This means Young Link can take stage control for free.

• Positional pressure can be used to dissuade Shadow Ball charges. Because Mewtwo is threatened with the immediate possibility of being hit, Mewtwo has to think twice about charging Shadow Ball. When outside of the burst range, Fire Arrow can disrupt charges.

• From center stage, Fire Arrow usage forces Mewtwo to stop charging Shadow Ball. This will condition Mewtwo to charge Shadow Ball in the air.

• Short hop Fire Arrows will travel over Mewtwo’s uncharged/semi-charged Shadow Balls, and hit Mewtwo.

• This sets up nicely for Boomerang, which is best used in advantage state to catch aerial Shadow Ball charges, and Mewtwo jumping out of the corner.

• Mewtwo’s tail moves aren’t sufficient tools, as described before, because they extend Mewtwo’s hurtbox. For example, there is 1 Frame before FTilt’s hitbox and 2 Frames after where Mewtwo extends his hurtbox to use the move. This means that Young Link can stuff out the move before the hitbox activates. This rule of thumb applies to all of Mewtwo’s tail moves except for UTilt (the frames before and after may vary).

• Bomb is useful as a safety net against higher charges of Shadow Ball.

• Confusion is a command grab that doubles as a reflector. Reflected Fire Arrows will not usually travel fast/far enough to hit Young Link reliably.

• Young Link can break out of Confusion with NAir until 90%. At 140%+, Confusion > FAir is inescapable or near inescapable.

• Because Mewtwo’s Teleport is just that--a teleport--he can edge cancel it on platforms like Zelda and Palutena, which offers landing/movement mix-ups.

Boxing

(How do I escape this situation?):

• Disable stuns the opponent, leaving them wide open to a heavy punish. In compensation, the range and hitbox is rather small. It’s mainly used as a hard read option and on tech chases, covering all options with timing and prediction.

• Mewtwo can tech chase with: NAir (low %s), BAir (mid %s), and semi-charged Shadow Ball.

• Mewtwo’s Disable will not work if the opponent is facing away from him.

• Mewtwo’s tail moves are less of a liability in advantage. The hitboxes cover large amounts of area, and with stage control, Mewtwo has the space and time to use them safely, since they’re only risky in neutral.

• Tail moves allow Mewtwo to hit Young Link while standing in his deadzone (just outside of Young Link’s burst range). Of these moves, BAir and FTilt cover the most horizontal space. Mewtwo can use these to cover retreating movement and space out Young Link’s aerials.

• Either retreat out of the deadzone with tail moves involved, or move in closer. Moving in closer allows Young Link to hit Mewtwo’s tail hurtboxes, and makes FTilt unsafe.

Platform Pressure

(What tools do they have? How can we escape this pressure?)

• Mewtwo’s UTilt can cover an entire platform, and Young Link can’t really hit him for it when on the platform, since his hurtbox is below it.

• Mewtwo’s USmash is a kill move that can be used on a read as platform pressure. It can’t be challenged directly. It has some inconsistencies in connecting.

• Mewtwo’s DThrow sets up for platform tech chases. From a platform tech chase, Mewtwo can hit from under the platform with USmash, or use Disable/FAir as a tech chase option. Mix up the chosen option and timing when forced onto a platform tech chase, and/or DI out/up to potentially avoid the platform tech chase altogether.

• Because Confusion is a command grab, it’s one of Mewtwo’s instant ways to punish shielding on platforms. This is common, because shielding on platforms when landing or in disadvantage is a strong option. Take Confusion into account when shielding on platforms.

Landing

(How do they cover it? What are my best options):

• Mewtwo’s tail aerials (UAir and BAir) cover a wide amount of space in the air. They can’t be challenged horizontally.

• Mewtwo’s BAir and UAir trade/lose against Young Link’s DAir.

• Shadow Ball can beat any option when placed correctly, it is a timing mix-up. Mix up landing speed and position. Bomb can be used as a safety net for absorbing Shadow Ball.

• Mewtwo can space out landing moves/airdodges with FTilt, UTilt, and BAir. Landing ZAir outspaces these options.

• Confusion can be used to beat shield upon landing. Try to land away from Mewtwo to avoid the 50/50 on shielding or not shielding.

• If Mewtwo is charging Shadow Ball away from Young Link, he can disrupt the charge with Fire Arrow.

Offstage

(How Do I Escape This Position And What Do I Look Out For?):

• Using B-Reverse Shadow Ball offstage, Mewtwo can position himself below the ledge. This is useful for intercepting recoveries to ledge with BAir.

• This allows Mewtwo to edgeguard lower with moves like BAir and NAir. Mix between high and low recoveries.

• Mewtwo can intercept instant tether with NAir and FAir. NAir intercepts with a lasting hitbox, both when Mewtwo is rising and falling, meaning he can cover tether twice. Mix up reel-in timings when using tether.

• Mewtwo’s floatiness, airspeed, and high double jump gives him a lot of airtime and ability to extend far offstage.

• Mewtwo will mainly edgeguard with FAir, NAir, BAir, DAir, and Shadow Ball. His FAir and NAir are direct callouts on positioning, beating most of Young Link’s hitboxes.

• Against Shadow Ball, use a Bomb if you already have one in hand. DI up when launched offstage if the move doesn’t kill to have more airspace to move around Shadow Ball. Shadow Ball is strongest in edgeguarding when Young Link is already at a low-altitude offstage.

• Mewtwo’s BAir for edgeguarding purposes is a large hitbox he can use to swat the area around the ledge. It does well at outspacing GSA and stuffing double jumps. Be wary of Mewtwo’s position relative to Young Link when using GSA.

Ledge:

• If Mewtwo is charging Shadow Ball near the ledge when Young Link is sent offstage, Fire Arrows can be used to disrupt the charge.

• Mewtwo can hit ledge with DSmash, down-angled FSmash, DTilt, and fully-charged Shadow Ball.

• Shadow Ball, when fully-charged, covers every option with timing and prediction. This allows Mewtwo to force extra positional pressure through an implied threat of a killing projectile.

• Mewtwo uses FAir for swiftly calling out jumps and neutral getups.

• Mewtwo has to have a killing Shadow Ball charged to gain its implied threat. Disrupting charges before getting to ledge might strip Mewtwo of gaining the implied threat.

• Double jump FAir/ZAir and wall jump Fire Arrow can’t easily be covered by Mewtwo, he has to predict that Young Link will choose those options.

• Using tether cancel to pull out a Bomb gives more counterplay to Shadow Ball once Young Link climbs back onto the stage.

Juggling/Boxing:

• Fire Arrows are important in corner pressure for dissuading Shadow Ball, and conditioning jumps out of the corner.

• Once jumps are conditioned, Boomerang is strong at anti-airing Mewtwo in the corner, although Mewtwo can clank the move easily with NAir.

• Mewtwo’s high jump, airspeed, floatiness, and lingering NAir enhance his cross-up jumps out of the corner. When you have Mewtwo pressured in the corner, be wary of jump out of the corner most especially, and how he drifts.

• Mewtwo’s double jump is a slower and floaty double jump. It takes about 40 frames for him to reach the apex of his double jump.

• Additionally, his roll travels farther than most of the cast, giving Mewtwo more space to cross-up with rolls.

• Shield pressure vs Mewtwo is strong due to his lack of out of shield options. His fastest out of shield are USmash at Frame 9, and NAir/FAir at Frame 10. Most, if not all of Young Link’s pressure will be safe vs Mewtwo’s shield.

• ZAir is easier to hit vs a large character like Mewtwo. Mix up ZAir usage with landing NAir and empty hops, as Mewtwo can counter ZAir by shield dashing in preemptively.

• Confusion stalls Mewtwo’s fall in the air, and gives Mewtwo some height. It’s also used out of tumble, so that the second Confusion before landing does not stall Mewtwo’s fall.

• Confusion out of tumble allows Mewtwo to negate projectile extensions in advantage state. Mix between projectile extensions and positional advantage.

• Shadow Ball can be B-Reversed as a landing mix-up, and launching fully charged Shadow Ball launches Mewtwo backward.

• Teleport can be used to mix up landing positions, and has some intangibility. It works best when the opponent has already jumped.

• Mewtwo’s landing options also include NAir, FAir, and airdodge. Mewtwo’s NAir is a lingering hitbox (21 Frames total) and Young Link’s NAir doesn’t beat it. Use FAir/ZAir/UAir to stuff it out.

• Try to get into a favorable position first, before anti-airing Mewtwo. Mewtwo’s jump is high, so anti-airing him with UAir is committal.

Offstage:

• When sent offstage, Mewtwo can use Confusion in place of his double jump to halt his momentum. Furthermore, he can turn around while doing this by inputting Confusion in the opposite direction.

• Mewtwo’s Teleport does not have a hitbox. If he is forced to snap the ledge, intercept with NAir.

• Edgeguarding Mewtwo is still a rather difficult task, due to the amount of recovery mix-ups he has. It’s often easier to stay near the ledge and poke him offstage with projectiles.

• Mewtwo’s UAir and BAir can hit through the stage.

• Mewtwo’s high double jump and floatiness lets him bypass grabbing the ledge entirely. When below the ledge, Mewtwo can choose to go over it, or use Teleport/charged Shadow Ball to grab the ledge.

• When going past ledge, Mewtwo can use aerials (FAir/NAir/UAir) to punish mistimed anti-airs, or Teleport to cross-up the opponent when rising.

• When Mewtwo opts to bypass ledge, use stage control to transition into corner pressure. Moves like NAir, Teleport, FAir, and Shadow Ball are tools he can use to get neutral and punish the opponent for being too close to the ledge.

• When Mewtwo grabs the ledge, he has several ways to stall in the air and delay his fall speed. Stay calm and hold stage control. Watch for jumps used to cross-up.

• Mewtwo can use BAir to swat and destroy Bombs planted near the ledge.

Ledge Info:

XLR8’s Spreadsheet Young Link Ledge Info:

DTilt: Hits

DSmash: Hits

FTilt: Hits

Most Reliable Move: DTilt

Animation Info: None

Note: Normal, DTilt has the most range/is easiest to hit.

• FD DTilt > ASA %s: 96, 87

• FD FThrow Ledge %s: 163, 139

• FD Milkshake %s: 90-120, 81-98

• Mewtwo Kill Throws: BThrow, UThrow

• Mewtwo UThrow Kill %s on Young Link on FD: 135, 110 with max rage and correct DI. 144, 119 on SV, T&C, BF and Kalos.

• Teleport gives Mewtwo intangibility from Frames 9-19.

• Confusion’s grabbox is active from Frames 10-13, but the reflector is active from 10-39. This means with certain Boomerang approaches (such as full hop landing Boomerang), Mewtwo can be punished for using Confusion.

• Battlefield:
  Bad. Landing on this stage is a bit of a chore with Mewtwo’s platform pressure, and getting back to the ledge takes more time and space, giving Mewtwo more chances to edgeguard. Triplats can limit Mewtwo at times in disadvantage, but also gives him more freedom to charge Shadow Ball.

• Final Destination:
  Indifferent. This stage offers less space for Mewtwo to charge Shadow Ball, but strengthens his juggling and ledge game. The MUis more footsies based here.

• Smashville:
  Good. Similar reasons as PS2, although be wary of Mewtwo setting up platform tech chases with DTilt/DThrow, and catching landings on the platform.

• Town & City:
  Terrible. Similar reasons as Kalos.

• Lylat Cruise:
  Great. The condensed space here can be volatile, but plays to Young Link’s win conditions by limiting Mewtwo’s safety when charging Shadow Ball. Slants can mess with grounded Shadow Ball in the corner, meaning Shadow Ball also struggles to hit ledge here, as well.

• Pokémon Stadium 2:
  Good. The layout and length gives Young Link more options in positional pressure as to whether he can make calculated decisions, or make reads with all-out aggression. The space can also work to Mewtwo’s favor though, giving him space to charge Shadow Ball in advantage state.

• Kalos Pokémon League:
  Terrible. This stage's open airspace and large side blastzones benefit Mewtwo much more comparatively. It strengthens Mewtwo’s edgeguarding potential, while it’s still difficult to edgeguard him. Most importantly, the extra airspace gives Mewtwo more space and freedom when landing and charging Shadow Ball, which benefits Mewtwo’s gameplan much more than Young Link’s.

• Yoshi’s Story:
  Indifferent. Similar reasons as BF. Shadow Ball struggles to hit ledge. Overall neutral stage for both characters.

• Skittles vs Chewie: Flat Realm 8 SSBU - SKITTLES (Young Link) Vs. Evil | Chewie (Mewtwo) Smash Ultimate Pools

• Kento vs Nukoeru: 【Smash Ultimate】Tamisuma#70 Round3 Kento(Mewtwo) VS Nukoeru(Young Link)

• Cigotoast vs Altair: [Murcia] Ultimate Myrtia #15 Cigotoast (Mewtwo) VS Altair (Young Link, Mr. Game & Watch) Losers Semi

• Cleytito vs Ronnie: Game Nest Smash It Up: Cleytito (Young Link) vs Ronnie (Mewtwo) - Winners Round 3

• (Mewtwocord Resources) Mewtwo’s UThrow Kill %s: MewtwoLab Graphics Up Throw Kill Percents

• (Mewtwocord Resources) Mewtwo’s Stage Preference Guide: Mewtwo stages

• (Mewtwocord Resources) Mewtwo Disadvantage Guide: Mewtwo Disadvantage Guide

• (@AnbilM2 on Twitter) Confusion Frame Advantage and Escape Options: Anbii's Tweet