

Jab Cancelling:



To perform a jab cancel you simply hold down on the joystick after the first hit of your jab (after the second hit for some characters). This makes you be able to act a few frames faster than simply waiting for the move to be over.



Applications:



There are a lot of moves Yoshi can do from a jab cancel. You can jab 1 -> jab 1 repeatedly by holding down on the joystick and repeatedly putting your c-stick to one of the corners when you have your c-stick set to Attack (not Smash). You can also do a Dtilt, Utilt, Usmash, Dsmash, and even an Up Air from jab 1 using this method.



Turnaround Special:



To do a turnaround special, just tap the opposite direction you are facing then press your special button once the joystick is reset to neutral. You will Egg Lay while facing the opposite direction.



Applications:



This is useful if you’re being chased, though you could also just pivot grab as well. You can also jump over your opponent and then use this to get a surprise Egg Lay off on your opponent. This is good to mixup your Egg Laying with B-Reverses and Wavebounces.



B-Reverse:



To do a B-Reverse, all you do is press your special button then the opposite direction. You will then face that new direction and keep all your horizontal momentum performing your special move. You can also do this with your Up Special and Down Special, but those aren’t as useful for Yoshi.



Applications:



If you’re being juggled and you need to land you can use this to mixup your landing. You can also use this to go in on someone’s shield for a surprise command grab. You can also use this if you’re on a platform above an opponent and dash off the edge then B-Reverse into your opponent.



Wavebounce:



A Wavebounce is when you reverse your momentum while facing the direction you were facing originally. To perform it you can do one of two things. Tap the direction you are not facing, but the joystick back to neutral, press the special button, then tap the direction you are facing. This performs a Turnaround Special followed by a B-Reverse, which is what a Wavebounce is. I’m not fast enough to do it this way so I perform it by mapping a shoulder button to Special and my C-stick to attack. To perform it this way, you hold your joystick in the direction you want to be FACING, then press the shoulder button while flicking your C-stick in the direction you want to be MOVING. This works for B-Reverses and Turnaround Specials as well.



Applications:



If you run off the stage while your opponent is recovering low you can Wavebounce to grab them and lay them out under the stage to make it much harder to recover. You can also do this to mix up your spacing with Egg Lay. It pretty much makes your Egg Lay safer. I wouldn’t perform it until you master it because if you mess it up you could just do an Egg Roll, which isn’t useful and you will probably just get punished for it.



Jump Cancelled Up Smash:



This is pretty simple to perform. Simply Jump, then during the few frames of the jumpsquat animation press up and A. This will cancel the jump and you will perform an Up Smash. You can also Dash first and this will slide a bit farther than a Dashing Up Smash.



Applications:



You can do this as an Out of Shield option to punish a laggy move, possibly for a kill. This also might be needed to catch floatier characters after a jab cancel for a kill confirm. Basically, this is a really important tech to learn not just for Yoshi, but for most characters.



Turnaround Jump Cancelled Up Smash:



This is most notable on Mario players, but it is really good for Yoshi as well in different situations. To perform this, dash in a direction, then tap the opposite direction and do a Jump Cancelled Up Smash. This will perform an Up Smash facing in the direction you were running from.



Applications:



This is mainly to punish someone who is trying to hit you with a move from the air, like Cloud or Bowser Jr.’s Dair. This can lead to a kill if you can punish these moves and your Usmash is intangible on the feet, so it is definitely worth learning.



Jump Cancelled Up Special:



To perform this, jump and then do Up Special during the jumpsquat frames. Usually this is done after a dash so that you slide when you do your Egg Toss.



Applications:



This is mainly for microspacing. This isn’t too important to learn, but just know that it’s there. Feel free to practice and find some use for it though! You can also do this Out of Shield, but again, that isn’t too important.



Turnaround Cancelling:



Turnaround Cancelling is one of the easiest techs to perform. To do this run in one direction, then run in the opposite direction to perform a turnaround animation. During the turnaround animation you can do any move and you will have some of your running momentum while you perform it, so you’ll slide. Each character has a different amount of time before the turnaround animation ends. Yoshi has one of the longest, along with Wario, and I’m not sure who else.



Applications:



You can cancel the turnaround by dashing in the opposite direction so it’s pretty easy to keep the turnaround animation occurring on the side needed and be a bit unpredictable of when you’re going to go in this way. You usually want to do a Dtilt, Utilt, or jab from it. Dtilt/Jab are the safer options. This is good for characters that don’t have good projectiles or decent ground game. It isn’t too overly useful, but it is definitely worth pursuing. I don’t use it too often, but it can play tricks on your opponent.



Double Sticking:



Double Sticking allows you to use an Up Air at the first frame possible. If you try to buffer it, an Up Smash will come out instead (you’d actually be doing a jump cancelled up smash). You need your C-Stick to be set to attack for this. It is usually recommended for your shoulder button to be set to jump. To perform it, simply tap your joystick up and press jump at the same time, then immediately push your C-Stick up. I personally swap to the claw grip and press Y to jump with my pointer finger because I have L as shield, R as Special (for Wavebouncing), and Z for Grab.



Applications:



The main use for this is a kill setup. If you double stick you can immediately Uair an opponent and then follow up with another Uair for the kill at certain percentages on certain characters. Aside from that, you can also use it and then Nair for a surprise attack right as you’re about to land which most people don’t see coming.



Perfect Pivoting:



To perform a Perfect Pivot, tap your joystick in one direction and then flick it in the other really fast. This way you cancel the dash with a turnaround pivot and you will slide a little bit.



Applications:



There honestly isn’t much Yoshi gets from Perfect Pivoting from what I can tell aside from doing a Jab 1 -> Perfect Pivot Utilt or just microspacing. Not much more to say about it, but it is definitely worth learning because more than likely there will be uses found for it.



Step Dash:



This is kinda like a wavedash from Melee. I don’t really know how to perform it right now, but I know that Yoshi has one of the longest Step Dash distances out of the cast, so it is worth pursuing at some point. This will be updated in the future.

