Mewtwo (SSBM)

Mewtwo (, Mewtwo) is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. It is one of the eleven playable characters that can be unlocked in the game. 
Mewtwo is voiced in all regions by , who first voiced the Mewtwo from the Japanese version of Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back.
Mewtwo currently ranks 20th on the Melee tier list, in the D tier, which is its worst placement in the whole series. Its positives include one of the best recoveries in the game, decent chain throws and combos on fastfallers, as well as grabs and a projectile that can KO at high percents. However, Mewtwo suffers from an unusual combination of being a very large target and having a surprisingly light weight; this, combined with its floatiness, makes it significantly vulnerable to combos and KOs itself. Additionally, Mewtwo lacks very effective and strong neutral options, with most of them having little reach, and also has many weak attacks, giving it relatively fewer approach options. Mewtwo also struggles with bad matchups on top of these weaknesses, namely high-tier floaties. Mewtwo was considered one of the worst characters during the golden age of Melee, although its reputation eventually improved slightly in the 2010s. However, amidst speculation, Mewtwo maintains its unviability at the top-level.
==How to unlock==
Mewtwo must be defeated in battle before it can be unlocked. There are two ways the player can encounter Mewtwo:
*One way is by playing 20 hours of VS. matches. The time is reduced by the number of human players in said matches; 1 player requires 20 total hours, 2 players require 10 total hours, 3 players require 6 hours and 40 minutes, and 4 players require 5 total hours. The time can be further reduced to 4 hours by playing Lightning Melee, which speeds up the in-game timer to 125% of normal speed. If this method is used and certain other fighters' VS. match quotas are met, then they must be defeated before Mewtwo can be fought.
*Another way is by playing 700 VS. matches to completion. If this method is used, fighters with lower VS. match quotas must be unlocked before Mewtwo can be fought.
When fought, Mewtwo appears on , with the music from Poké Floats playing. If either encounter method was used and the player fails to defeat Mewtwo, the player can re-fight it by playing another VS. match to completion.
==Attributes==
Mewtwo defies any typical character archetype; despite being a big target with some powerful moves and a very high air speed, Mewtwo has a rather slow dash, a low weight and a low falling speed. As a result of these traits, Mewtwo has the third longest wavedash in the game, but a very poor SHFFL, despite its low lag and high speed aerials. Mewtwo also can effectively moonwalk, potentially aiding its edgeguard game.
Among Mewtwo's primary strengths is its versatile grab game. Despite possessing a merely average grab range, Mewtwo's throws can serve a variety of purposes; its forward throw is decent for racking up damage and stage control, while its down throw can potentially start chainthrows or be used as potential combo starters in tandem with one of its tilts. Mewtwo's back and up throws are also among the most powerful in the game, and both can KO reliably on some characters at 100%; the differences in their trajectories also gives Mewtwo varied options against both fast fallers and floaty characters (the up throw works better against the latter, while the back works better against the former).
Mewtwo also has interesting approach and combo options. Despite having among the worse SHFFLs, Mewtwo's high air speed, low falling speed, and fast, low lag, high hitstun aerials also gives it plenty of options in the air, effective at comboing against many characters. Mewtwo can also perform double jump cancels, which, when combined with L canceling, is an exceptional substitute for SHFFLing, as Mewtwo can quickly perform a forward aerial and follow up with another option. The long hitbox duration in Mewtwo's neutral aerial and it's knockback can make it a useful tool in the air, and Mewtwo's disjointed back aerial can be a good off-stage edgeguarding tool. Mewtwo also has a very long wavedash (the third longest in the game), making techniques such as wave-smashing and wave-grabbing considerably more useful for Mewtwo.
Mewtwo also has moves with rather good range. Its forward smash can extend relatively far, and all of its tilts have long, disjointed hitboxes, allowing Mewtwo to effectively attack from a distance, especially when compounded with its long wavedash. Mewtwo also has one of Melee's deadliest projectiles in Shadow Ball; when fully charged, it can KO reliably at roughly 100%; its jagged path also can make it difficult to dodge.
Mewtwo also has an outstanding recovery. While its up special cannot harm edgehoggers, a combination of a low falling speed, a high air speed, among the best jumping prowess, and long distance with its Teleport give Mewtwo a very long and safe recovery. Properly timed aerials as Mewtwo ascends upward will elongate it's double jump, significantly improving distance, and charged Shadow Balls can give recoil sufficient enough to send Mewtwo backwards a good distance. Lastly, its Confusion attack can also act as a midair jump (when used in the opposite direction of its momentum) and Disable can be used to stall its descent.
Mewtwo's biggest flaw is its frailty. A combination of a large frame and floatiness makes Mewtwo easy to juggle and KO. Mewtwo's defense game is also mixed; its air dodge makes it invisible and opponents must guess where it will appear, and its rolling dodges cover a very large distance, but Mewtwo's large frame makes it prone to shield stabbing, and its spot dodge is also rather poor. Mewtwo also has possibly the worst tech ability in the game; although its rolling tech covers a long range, it is very slow compared to that of other characters, and as a consequence, Mewtwo is particularly easy to tech-chase.
Mewtwo also suffers from a lack of reliable KO options; all of its strongest moves have either poor range or low speed. Its back and up throws are powerful, but they require Mewtwo to grab the opponent first, and the latter throw's KOing capabilities are extremely dependent on the opponent's falling speed (for example, and would survive the longest despite having the third highest vertical endurance). While having a wide variety of other KO potential attacks, most of its attacks suffer from range and/or speed problems, such as its forward air, down smash, down air, and Shadow Ball. Mewtwo also has highly situational specials. While Confusion can temporarily distract opponents, it has high ending lag and relatively little use; additionally, while it can reflect projectiles, they still remain property of the original character's (meaning they won't hurt whoever it came from). Disable only works in close ranges, and cannot combo effectively into other attacks.
==Version history==
NTSC 1.01
*
==Moveset==
For a gallery of Mewtwo's hitboxes, see here.
===Battering item special moves===
For its dash attack while holding a battering item, Mewtwo spins the item in front of itself for a total of 20 possible hits, overall dealing more damage but much less knockback than other characters' dash attacks. Unlike most characters' dash attacks, Mewtwo's dash attack while holding a Lip's Stick does not produce any of the "magic dust" that Flowers the opponent.
===Stats===
NTSC
PAL
===Announcer call===
File: Mewtwo Announcer SSBM.wav
===Taunt===
===Idle poses===
===Crowd cheer===
 	Cheer (International)	Cheer (Japanese)
Cheer 	 	
Description	Mewwww - two! 	Mewwww - two!
===Victory poses===
==In competitive play==
===Most historically significant players===
:See also: :Category:Mewtwo players (SSBM)
* - A player with many secondaries, with Mewtwo being one of his most notable. He won using exclusively Mewtwo, being the one of the few times the character has won a somewhat notable tournament in Melee's history. He also placed 33rd at with solo Mewtwo.
* - Considered to be the best Mewtwo player of all time, created the influental Shadowclaw combo video. He holds some of the best Mewtwo results with 13th at and 17th at , as well as 33rd at which is the best Mewtwo result seen in the Post-Slippi era.
* - Best Mewtwo player in Japan and among the best in the world, though is currently inactive. Regionally has shown good results with the character, with 7th at and wins over players such as . Has also travelled internationally, placing 33rd at , beating and in his path.
===Tier placement and history===
Mewtwo has traditionally placed very low in tier lists, with a minuscule playerbase dedicated to using it. It was initially seen as the worst character in the game, according to the first tier list (dated October 2002), and hovered around the bottom 4 spots for many years, once even falling back into last place (eighth tier list; July 2006). Many competitive players immediately noticed Mewtwo's unfavorable combinations of being a floaty lightweight without many KO moves, awkward neutral game and hitbox placements, and poor disadvantage state, and simply wrote Mewtwo off.
Mewtwo eventually moved out of the bottom tier due to increasing tournament placings by , who would not only eventually be considered the best Mewtwo player of all time, but become one of the best players in the world in his prime. However, Taj's success as a player was not anchored on Mewtwo alone - he relied almost exclusively on his co-main late into brackets unless he knew his opponent to be very unfamiliar with the Mewtwo matchup. This indicated that even back then, Mewtwo was not (and still is not) viable as a solo main at the highest level.
Eventually, Taj would become far less active, leaving the character without good representation for several years. However, players such as and have recently represented Mewtwo in larger competitive tournaments, despite not reaching the same success as Taj. Mewtwo still sits at 20th place on the most recent tier list; with these two players innovating with the character, the competitive Melee community recognizes that Mewtwo has some potential despite its tier placement. However, it is unlikely that this will carry Mewtwo much higher than it currently is.
==In 1-P Mode==
===In ===
Mewtwo can appear in Classic Mode as an ordinary opponent, as an ally or in a team with Ness or Bowser in team battles or as a metal character in the penultimate stage. In Mewtwo's appearances, it either appears on Pokémon Stadium or , with the Poké Floats theme playing; when fighting alongside , however, it appears in Fourside, and when fighting alongside , it appears on .
===In Adventure Mode===
Adventure Mode makes no concessions to Mewtwo when it is unlocked, making it the only character that does not appear alongside the many Pikachus in Stage 7.
===In All-Star Mode===
In All Star Mode, Mewtwo and its allies are fought on Battlefield, as all other Pokémon stages are already used by and . On the stage, the music from Poké Floats plays.
===In Event Matches===
Mewtwo appears in the following Event Matches:
*Event 40: All-Star Match 4: Mewtwo is the fourth opponent fought in this series of staged battles. The selected character battles it on the stage with a stock of 2 while Mewtwo has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat it and the other four characters one-by-one with the overall time and damage: , , , and .
*Event 44: Mewtwo Strikes!: In this event, the player is initially placed on Battlefield, against . After fifteen seconds, however, Mewtwo appears on stage and will fight the player. The player's goal is to KO Mewtwo; while Zelda can be attacked, KOing her will result in failure.
*Event 51: The Showdown: In the game's final event match, the player must fight against a team consisting of Mewtwo, and Giga Bowser. All characters have three lives, with no time limit.
===Congratulations Screens===
MewtwoClassicMode.jpg|Classic Mode
MewtwoAdventureMode.jpg|Adventure Mode
MewtwoAllStarMode.jpg|All-Star Mode
==Trophies==
In addition to the normal trophy about Mewtwo as a character unlocked by completing as Mewtwo on any difficulty, there are two trophies about it as a fighter, unlocked by completing and All-Star Mode respectively as Mewtwo on any difficulty. Each of the trophies can also be unlocked by playing 100, 200, and 300 versus matches respectively as Mewtwo:
==Alternate costumes==
			
			
==Gallery==
SSBMWebsiteMewtwo1.jpg|Posing on Pokémon Stadium.
SSBMWebsiteMewtwo2.jpg|Reflecting 's arrow on Yoshi's Story.
Mewtwo's Shadow Ball.jpg|Using Shadow Ball on Brinstar Depths.
SSBMWebsiteMewtwo4.jpg|Using its neutral aerial on on Onett.
Disable.jpg|Using Disable on on Jungle Japes.
SSBMWebsiteMewtwo6.jpg|Carrying a crate with on Corneria.
==Trivia==
*Mewtwo picks up and uses items via its telekinetic power, never actually touching them outside grasping the Parasol while falling. One of its idle poses involves it spinning its held item around.
**This results in Mewtwo having poor usage of the ; unlike all other characters, it spins the Hammer sideways around itself, and so is vulnerable from above while using it.
**Oddly, when air dodging with an item, the item is visible while Mewtwo is not, spinning in a tight, flickering circle once every 4 frames.
*When hit, shooting a charged Super Scope blast, or using Disable, Mewtwo's irises turn yellow, similar to how 's body turns yellow when shooting charged Super Scope shots.
*Mewtwo being of light weight (85 units) contradicts its Pokédex information, where it is supposed to outweigh any non-overweight human. In fact, it is outweighed by every human character in Melee (excluding , , and in PAL regions). This is explained in one of its trophies as a result of it constantly using its psychic powers to stay afloat.
*Mewtwo's fully charged Shadow Ball is seen hitting in the introduction to Melee, making it one of the five hidden characters, along with , , Young Link, and , to have some kind of involvement in the intro.
*Mewtwo, like Marth and Roy, when faced in Classic or All-Star mode, is fought on a stage that does not match its universe (either or ). However, the music that plays when fighting it is from Poké Floats.
*Mewtwo is also the only character in Melee whose down smash only hits on one side; this concept has been used by several characters in later games.
*Mewtwo is the only Legendary Pokémon that existed at the time of the release of Melee that wasn't a Poké Ball Pokémon in that game.
*Mewtwo's design in this game looks quite different than in later games from SSB4 onwards; it's design lines up more with Ken Sugimori's original art for Mewtwo from Pokémon Red and Green, with a larger head and bulging eyes, smaller and thinner body, shorter tail and a slightly hunchbacked appearance, while later appearances portrayed it as being more humanoid in appearance, with a slightly smaller head and eyes, a taller, muscular, and more upright body, with a longer tail as it appears in Pokémon: The First Movie.
*Mewtwo is the first playable Pokémon character whose alternate costumes merely change its color altogether, rather than giving it an accessory for it to wear.
*Mewtwo's All-Star congratulations image is likely a reference to Giygas in EarthBound Beginnings (known as "Giegue" in the North American localization), due to it bearing a strong resemblance to Giygas's appearance in that game.
*One of Mewtwo's Japanese quotes, "Why am I here?", is a well-known one among Japanese Pokémon fans, as throughout the Japanese version of the first Pokémon movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back, it asks this question and others regarding its own existence.
*Despite its light weight in Melee, Mewtwo is still the heaviest Pokémon fighter in the game. This would change with the additions of Lucario, Ivysaur and Charizard in Brawl.
**Furthermore, Mewtwo actually weighs more in Melee than it does in its later Smash appearances.
*Melees Mewtwo is the first Pokémon character in Smash to speak a human language; it speaks Japanese in the game's Japanese version.
*Mewtwo can use confusion on the stage Battlefield at the ledge which, if it connects, will put the opponent below it, and potentially lead to a gimp.
==External links==
*Mewtwo's page at Smabura-Ken
*Translation 
*SuperDoodleMan's frame data
*DARKFORCE's Mewtwo video Compendium
*DJLO's Mewtwo technique and terminology animated .gif gallery
Category:Pokémon (SSBM)
 
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