Smash Ultimate Review – Mewtwo

Welcome to the Smash Ultimate Character Review. In this series, brought to you by no one because who would sponsor this, Bloggin Hood will review each character in Smash Ultimate, a daunting task for anyone without a crippling addiction for Nintendo products. This series will review important topics like best costume, taunt, and the most stylish moves in the character’s arsenal to embarrass opponents. It’ll also discuss less important topics, like best moves, character strength and weaknesses,a and overall playstyle. If you survive the boring stuff, you’ll know just how to play to be the biggest baller online with a Kill Death Ratio at -3.

This all comes from a casual player’s mindset. Whle I’m not a button mashing new player with no concept of the shield button and I understand what profession players are talking about, I myself am not a professional. In fact, I’m all thumbs. I can’t input a combo, a combo breaker, or even a C stick Smash. It’s not pretty. Therefore, don’t expect these to be a technical discussion, or a high level point of view. I’m writing these for the people who follow up their Kirby Rock Form with a second Rock Form. I’m writing to the players that go out of their way to pick Star Fox and say “Pew Pew Pew” as he slams the B button like it owes him rent money. And yes, I write to you, the heavyweight characters who spam smash attacks hoping for the best. There may be some real content in here, but only because I back doored my way into it.

I considered the next entry being Donkey Kong or King K Rool, but we’ve been a little heavyset of yet. I don’t have a chunk fetish people. Instead, let’s go the exact opposite way, and pick the “villain” of the Pokémon series. No, it’s not lack of innovation, you cheeky asshole. It’s Mewtwo.

Opening Rant:

Let’s just establish one thing first. No Pokémon, in the history of Pokémon will ever be as phenomenal as Mewtwo. It’s impossible. Sure, there’s some cool Pokémon. I mean, there’s a crocodile running around in sun glasses for crying out loud. But as a pure force, Mewtwo wins hands down, with apologies to Ryan Reynolds.

Maybe you had to be there, but I remember catching Mewtwo as a child. First, you had to beat the game. That’s right, you couldn’t claim this monster wouldn’t being deemed champion. Hold that thought for a moment.

After beating the game, you then have to traverse this horrid dungeon, filled with high level monsters. At first, this is sweet, but as the dungeon continues on and on, it’s a train wreck. As your attack PP dwindles (giggity?), you beg for it to end. Plus, while your team is strong, the wild encounters are no joke. We’re talking level 55. That’s no joke. Lead with the wrong monster, and you’re down one for the rest of the trip. Unless you have healing items, but you’re not some sort of bitch, are you?

Also, there’s a lot of water travel and I think moving rocks. Pokémon puzzles suck. They’ve always sucked. But you can’t back away now.

Then, it happens. You get to face this behemoth you’ve read information on, but never see. Mewtwo just stands there, waiting for a challenge and strikes. You’re presented with two choices.

1). Try to catch and fight the monster in a fair and noble battle?

2). Use a legit hacked Pokémon to auto catch and avoid any difficulty.

I hope you picked 2. This is insanely hard to do legit.

Also you did bring healing items, right? That bitch comment was a joke. Protect your Pokémon. They’re your friends.

After succeeding, you’d think the game is over, but oh man, it’s just beginning. Now you can nuke the elite four with the strongest Pokémon in existence. You can force your friends to submit with your ace in the hole. Unless they use one too. Then it’s just a one on one coin flip that renders all other monsters useless.

That was ever battle in Red and Blue by the way.

No other Pokémon game ever made Mewtwo feel as powerful as this. He had no equal. He decimated everyone who came against him. He was just the best.

Today, Pokémon just gives out legendaries like candy. Seriously. If you’ve played any of the newer games, you’ll probably run into a Celebi on route 2. It’s absurd. There’s nothing special about them. Pokémon was always a giant advertisement to buy merchandise. Now, they have too many characters, so no one really stands out except for the classics. Pikachu, Mewtwo, crocodile with glasses. Household names we’ll always remember.

Over time, Mewtwo kind of fell in line with other pokemon. Sure, he was still insanely popular, but he never stood out power wise again. He became one of possibly 30 super powered monsters. He lost his uniqueness. It was sad in a way.

They also made a Pokémon that was just a pair of keys and it pissed me the hell off. That’s irrelevant though.

Mewtwo sufferer similarly in Smash. In the 64 version, he somehow missed the cut for Ness and frigging Jigglypuff. I mean, how did that happen?

In Melee, Mewtwo was the last unlockable character, typically needing 20 hours of playtime. Then, he just sucked. Where was the power? He was actually worse than Pichu, the joke character designed to suck. It was biggest lost for Pokémon since Hilary Clinton told voters to “Pokémon Go to the polls”.

Fortunately, Mewtwo is making a comeback. In Pokémon, they let Mewtwo evolve into stronger, temporary forms, for some reason. In the most recent game, a remake of the originals, Mewtwo power is shown again. He might not be as cool as he was in 1997, but he’s still pretty cool. Certainly no Croc with sunglasses though.

In Smash, Mewtwo also made a comeback. After an inexcusable cut from Brawl for Lucario, Mewtwo returns in Smash 4 as DLC. And he became powerful. It wasn’t the definitive Mewtwo portrayal, but it was better than the Melee abomination. I blame his unstable clone genes.

As Pokémon enters the mainstream for nearly 25 years (seriously, we’re old), Mewtwo has returned to golden age form. But just how good is he? Let’s find out.

Fighter Review:

Fighter Gimmick – I don’t think this qualifies as a gimmick, but Mewtwo uses his psychic powers to carry items with his mind. Does this add anything to his gameplay? Well, no. You might not ever see this in a competitive Mewtwo match. But as a cool character touch? It’s awesome. It feels just like Mewtwo, who’s think carrying an item was beneath him.

Other than this small visual addition, Mewtwo is a standard playable character.

Playstyle – Mewtwo is a unique version of the glass cannon. Typically, these characters are short, combo oriented fighters that die quickly. Mewtwo excels at a quick death. Despite his rather bulky size, he’s one of the lighter characters. You must be careful playing Mewtwo, as you’ll likely die surprisingly early at least once.

To combat this, Mewtwo is a walking nuke. While his move set has a bit too many rail strikes for my tastes, his power in on display with each smash. Many of his physical attacks are infused with dark energy. He has powerful throws and and great projectile. Mewtwo, ironically, isn’t really a combo character, and has to bait and punish to excel. But boy can Mewtwo punish.

Costumes – For the most part, Mewtwo’s costumes only alter his tail coloration, which isn’t the best. If I’m not sticking with the royal purple, I actually like pink here. In the original games, in all their 8 bits of glory, Mewtwo was more pink than purple. Perhaps the shade changed later, but more likely, the original Game Boy could only display 6 colors. The Pink costume reminds us all of a time where Mewtwo wrecked faces and lives with no shame. Good times indeed.

Taunts – Mewtwo’s taunts play up that he is a sinister, evil Pokémon. I’d like to address this first. I know I called him a villain in the intro, but that was also within quotation marks. Mewtwo is not a villain. He was a poor, cloned Pokémon who was cruelly experimented on and used as a tool of war. It’s wrong. It’s wrong!!

That said, his taunt make him seem like a real asshole, so you can run with it if you want.

I personally like his taunt where he spins around laughing manically. There’s no interpretation they meant for Mewtwo to at least be an edge lord here. He has a “power up” taunt, but those never did much for me. Finally, his down taunt seems to threaten the players with psychic energy. Well that’s fun. I might be way off base about Mewtwo’s allegiance.

The taunts are ok, but not the best. I’d have like to see more displays of psychic moves.

Speed & Mobility – Being a creature who uses his mind, Mewtwo’s not physically fit. However, maybe he’s boosting his physical abilities with psychic energy. I mean, I would without shame. Mewtwo is a fairly quick character on both the ground and in the air. This fits his glass cannon playstyle – a slow glass cannon is a dead one. It seems awkward for Mewtwo’s size, but it works… somehow. Mewtwo’s aerial speed is augmented by a great set of moves, making him an air monster Even his dodges and roles involve Mewtwo teleporting. I have no proof, but that animation seems more effective that the standard. I’m definitely lying to myself because it looks cool, but I’ve chosen to believe it. This is a plus EV character. Whoever caught this Mewtwo definitely cared about his IVs.

Got that’s a nerdy joke.

Mewtwo doesn’t have much in mobility, minus his teleport. Mewtwo’s UP B can cover a ton of distance, but has no hit box. You can cover extreme distances, but without being careful, you’ll get punished. When using UP B for something other than recovery, use it to escape. Do not try to jump in on the opponent with this.

Projectiles – On the positive, Mewtwo possess one of the strongest projectiles in the game. His shadow ball does a great job of killing early, especially chasing enemies off stage. I like how it’s not a straight line projectile. It staggers and shakes a bit, making it more difficult to spot dodge than the standard. The downside is you cannot spam this. It takes a few seconds to charge. However, you can hold the charge, just like Samus.It becomes Mewtwo’s ace in the hole. whenever possible, have this move fully charged. It’s worth it.

Mewtwo can also counter projectiles with his Side B, confusion. I didn’t know this move reflected until Smash 4, which is super embarrassing. That’s on me.

As a reflector, Confusion will increased the speed and damage of returned projectiles. You can easily KO when successfully pulling this off. However, the timing of confusion is a little tricky at first. You need to learn the animation to succeed here.

In a “heavy” projectile battle, Mewtwo is wonderful. Any large projectiles are easy to reflect, and I believe Mewtwo has the best charged one in the game. Against spamming projectiles, Mewtwo will struggle. He can shoot Shadow Ball without charging, but never at the speed of a blaster. He also can’t reflect spam moves as confusion’s animation is too slow. Know what projectiles you’re facing. You need to adapt to a rushdown style against any spamming to survive.

Recovery and Edge Guarding – Despite his low weight (need a carb Mewtwo), few characters can match the Pokémon’s recovery. He possesses one of the highest double jumps in the game. Teleport covers a ton of distance at the snap of a finger. Even confusion slows Mewtwo’s descent, giving him additional options. Finally, his teleporting air dodge works wonders here. Really, the only issue is how often you’ll recover. Mewtwo goes flying at such early percents, expect to get plenty of practice. I do wish his UP B had a hit box somewhere too. At least it’s difficult to read.

As a floaty character with elite recovery, Mewtwo is a great edge guarding. His fair, Nair and Bair all play well off the edge. He also has a brutal Dair, which can spike, or provide decent horizontal knockback. If you don’t want to risk any of this fancy shit, a well timed Shadow Ball does the trick either. Mewtwo is a fairly safe character to play off the edge.

Ground Game – We don’t talk about throws nearly enough, but Mewtwo has a great set. Use D Throw for a combo starter and F throw to build good damage. Both Up and Back throw can kill, but they are more situational than Smash 4.

Mewtwo’s tilts have decent range, but aren’t great for damage. Use them for pokes. I recommend focusing on more on jabs, mixing in confusion, and peppering with shadow balls. When the enemy is in kill range, potentially as early as 80%, try to space a good smash move. U Smash will be the go to. Heck, even dash attack ends up being strong. It’s a lethal kit, but theirs lag associated with most power moves.

Air Game – I’m honestly surprised that Fair hasn’t been patched yet. Extremely quick, Fair provides more power than it should. While it’s mainly an approach, you’ll kill with it far often than you should. Nair is a good damage builder whole Bair is your main kill move. Uair is quick, I guess, but not that good honestly. And while Dair is fun, you’re using 2 moves in the air 90% of the time anyway. Spam both without shame.

Power – After 3 iterations, Smash displays Mewtwo’s real power. He has kill options beyond smashes, with aerials, throws and a dash attack chipping in. There’s risk for each power move, but most of the pros outweigh the cons. You just need to be smart about it. While I wish Mewtwo’s versatility was on display more (he learns so many elemental attacks), I think Mewtwo was done justice.

This doesn’t excuse whatever happened in melee though. For shame.

Most Stylish Move – Usually, this section has a lag centric move or a spike. Moves that you rarely connect with. For Mewtwo, his most hype move is D Smash, a move you will use a lot. It’s weird we’re being practical.

What makes D Smash unique is Mewtwo only attacks in front of him. Neatly every other D Smash attacks both sides, or provides a small hit box behind the character. Mewtwo, being an alpha, gives no shits about defense. Instead he charges a psychic blast and points it right at the ground. Sure it’s a bit slow, but the power is awesome. I love taking the last stock with this move. It becomes so dramatic. Use D smash with care, but it becomes so addicting you’ll spam it.

There’s a reason I’m not a pro at this game people.

Moves to Focus On:

Quick Claw (Forward Air) – I really don’t know what they were thinking. I haven’t tested every character, but this must be a top 10 move in the game, right? There can’t be that many broken moves in Smash. I mean, if we don’t count Brawl Metaknight (RIP).

On just speed, this move would be fantastic. It serves as an approach and an edge guard. The moves comes out quick and doesn’t lag much. But then, you see the power. Double digit percents and significant knockback. It’s not really a kill move, but it racks up KOs almost on accident. It’s useable in some combos and it’s just frigging good. Learn to space this, and you’ll start loving Mewtwo.

Thunderstruck (Neutral Air) – The only reference to Mewtwo learning elemental attacks, Mewtwo’s, neutral air is a quick, trapping move. All electric attacks seem to stun the enemy a moment longer than others, so this is a great combo move. Even attacks that can’t truly chain off of Nair sometimes do as opponents believe they are stunned for longer. This is another healthy spam move. It’s a decent approach, but I prefer it after throws to build damage.

Shadow Ball (Neutral B) – We pretty much covered this already, but I’d like to remind you to always charge this boy up. I get aerial happy with Mewtwo and sometimes forget. Every so often, it’s worth allowing an opponent to recover or land to have a shadow ball in the chamber. The threat of the attack is crucial. Also, I can’t tell you how much the zig zag pattern on this affects matches.

Just know sometimes you miss because of it. I never said Mewtwo was perfect.

Confusion (Side B) – In addition to being a projectile, guess what? It’s technically a command grab too. How many command grabs are in this game, anyway? I swear, there’s not many more. What can I say? I guess I like throws.

Like all command grabs, this is a good tool for the ground and air. I wouldn’t spam this as much as say Bowser’s, but it’s a very solid attack. You can sort of combo off of it, but it’s mostly based on reads. True combos from confusion don’t really exist.

This doesn’t stop me from trying Confusion into D Smash every frigging time I use Confusion. I swear it’s a sickness. Seriously, if you play my Mewtwo, I will try this 7 times each match. Be smarter than me.

But if you hit it, think of the hype….

Supernova (Up Smash) – By far, Mewtwo’s best smash, this move sucks enemies into it, and kills early. It’s got a quick start up and the hit box feels massive. The problem is missing. There’s a significant cool down here. Missing will lead to significant punishment. You want to make sure you kill your opponent with this, or it’s combo city.

Also, can we talk about this animation? Mewtwo attacks with a frigging mini solar system. How bad ass is this move? I mean, it’s not Down Smash, but what is.

Verdict:

Smash Ultimate Mewtwo is one of my three favorite fighters in the entire series, Up there with Brawl Olimar, Braw Dedede and Duck Hunt Dog. He’s extremely versatile and strong but will die relatively quickly. He forces the player to consider each attack as there’s risk with his entire set. But man, does his moves offer some good rewards. It’s no air miles or cash back, but free kills isn’t a bad offer.

I’d expect a professional player to make some noise with Mewtwo. Sure, his weight and float ones may be a detriment, but the positives are there. He’s a 9.5/10 from me and my second favorite character to use. You don’t have to read between the Duck Hunt Dog lines to know who Duck Hunt Dog ranks number 1.