Super Smash Bros. Fighters – Pokémon series – 04 Mewtwo

Debut

In the Pokémon series: Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green (1996)
In the Super Smash Bros. series: Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)

Boxing Ring Title: A Legend Reawakens

Theme Song: Pokémon Red / Pokémon Blue Medley

Mewtwo: the Genetic Pokémon. Psychic Type. #150 in the National Pokédex. Mewtwo is one of, if not, THE strongest Pokémon in series, and many are fearful of its power.

In Pokémon Red & Blue - as well as Pokémon Yellow, and their remakes Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen - the player is given hints about Mewtwo’s existence upon reading the various books that are scattered throughout the abandoned Pokémon Mansion on Cinnabar Island. Upon reading them, it reveals that a group of scientists were tracking down the Legendary Pokémon, Mew, at a jungle. They witnessed Mew give birth to an individual who the scientists would name "Mewtwo," who's embryo had been tampered with to alter its DNA.

The scientists would then move and contain Mewtwo within the Pokémon Mansion, where one scientist - which Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen heavily implies to be the kind old man living in Lavender Town, Mr. Fuji - would perform horrifying gene-splicing experiments on it to turn it into the world's strongest Pokémon. The experiment proved to be a success, so much so that in only a few minutes, Mewtwo broke out of its containment and used it's powerful psychic abilities to completely trash the Pokémon Mansion, as well as severely injure everyone inside. Afterwards, Mewtwo fled, taking up residence deep within Cerulean Cave, where it now battles anyone and anything that dares to approach it.

Once the player becomes Champion, they are given the opportunity to explore Cerulean Cave. If they can make it to the deepest part of the cave, the player can challenge - as well as attempt to capture - the vicious Mewtwo.

In Pokémon Gold & Silver, as well as Pokémon Crystal, the Cerulean Cave has collapsed, with Mewtwo nowhere in sight. If the player heads to where the entrance would've been, they'd find the Berserk Gene, which is heavily implied to belong to Mewtwo. In the game's remakes, Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver, Cerulean Cave has not collapsed, meaning Mewtwo can still be found hiding inside it.

Pokémon Black & White would give Mewtwo a signature move, Psystrike, a powerful special move that targets the opponents Defense instead of their Special Defense. Pokémon X & Y would give Mewtwo Mega Forms: Mega Mewtwo X, which changes Mewtwo into dual Psychic and Fighting type that focuses on Mewtwo's physical prowess; and Mega Mewtwo Y, which focuses on Mewtwo's special prowess.

In Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, an alternate universe version of Mewtwo is shown being owned by that universe's Giovanni, who has successfully conquered the Kanto region and has recruited a massive team from various universes in order to conquer the main timeline! This Mewtwo seems to have given in to his lust for battles, becoming nothing more than a viscous fighting machine. In addition, Giovanni has in his possession a Mega Ring, which he uses to transform Mewtwo into either his X or Y Mega form depending on the version of the game.

Mewtwo also shows up in the various spin-off games as well such as the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs, and Pokémon Stadium. In most of these, Mewtwo serves as an optional boss fight.

Mewtwo also shows up in the animated adaption, Pokémon the Series: The Beginning. Though he makes his debut in episode 63: “Battle of the Badge”, he wouldn't be given plot significance until Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back. Prior to the series starting, Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni, hears a rumor about Mew living somewhere deep in the jungles of Guyana, and sends his elite team of scientists to search for it. Managing to find a strand of Mew’s eyelash, Giovanni hired a brilliant scientist by the name of Dr. Fuji to create a powerful and fierce clone from it. Dr. Fuji and his team were successful, dubbing their Pokémon clone “Mewtwo.”

While Mewtwo was initially unsure of and curious about his existence, he became enraged upon finding out that he was viewed as nothing more than an “experiment,” leading him to kill everyone in the New Island Laboratory. Giovanni would arrive on the island a few minutes later, and the two would form an “alliance” of sorts. While the partnership was alright at first, Mewtwo slowly began to dislike working with Giovanni, which began fueling his hatred of humans and the Pokémon who worked with them. He would later destroy one of Team Rocket’s hideouts and flee back to the ruins of New Island, where he would begin constructing a castle there.

Some time later, he would issue a challenge to any and all trainers to fight “the world’s greatest Pokémon Trainer.” Many trainers – including Ash Ketchum, Pikachu, and their friends – would answer the call. Only a few could make it to New Island through the dangerous storm, and upon revealing himself, Mewtwo sent clones of Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise to challenge the trainers and prove his superiority over human trainers, as well of cloned Pokémon.

A massive and violent battle would ensue, and it only grew worse when Mew – who Mewtwo was cloned from – arrived and joined the fray. Ash, tired of this pointless battle, tries to get everyone to stop, only to take the full brunt of Mewtwo’s and Mew’s attack and gets turned to stone, resulting in everyone pausing in their fight. Mewtwo watched as everyone – humans, Pokémon, and even his clones – reacted to what happened, all of them deeply upset at Ash’s “death,” as well as Pikachu’s growing despair as he desperately attempts to save him. But through their tears, Ash was restored back to normal. Upon witnessing this genuine act of sympathy and compassion, Mewtwo has a change of heart and decides to spare everyone. Thinking it would be better if everyone had “forgotten” this incident, Mewtwo uses his Psychic powers to wipe everyone’s minds and return them back to the mainland. Mewtwo would then head off with his clones to live in peace elsewhere.

He would later show up in the special Mewtwo Returns, where he and his clones have are living at Mount Quena. Unfortunately for him, Giovanni finds out where he's hiding and attempts to capture him, but thanks to the help of Ash Ketchum and his friends, Mewtwo is able to fight Giovanni and his goons off. Unlike last time, Mewtwo only wipes the memories of Giovanni and Team Rocket - with the exception of Jessie, James, and Meowth - and decides to travel about to find his place in life.

Another separate Mewtwo would later appear in the 16th movie Pokémon: Genesect and the Legend Awakened, as well as its prequel Mewtwo: Prologue to Awakening. At some point in time, a bunch of scientists would manage to create a second Mewtwo, with the same results that happened during the creation of the first Mewtwo - destroyed lab, some of the scientists dying - happening here as well, with the major difference being that this Mewtwo has a more feminine voice, and is capable of Mega Evolving into Mega Mewtwo Y.

Following a couple of shenanigans involving a Pokémon Hunter, Mewtwo would end up wandering aimlessly about, trying to find her purpose in life. One day, she ended up flying through a severe thunderstorm, and ends up heading towards a nearby cave to wait it out. Standing near the entrance, she notices a bunch of Pokémon are also hiding in the cave, and all of them are cautious of her, but after seeing her getting struck by lightning, the Pokémon all work together to heal her. Feeling grateful for their generosity, she decides she’ll become a defender of wild Pokémon.

Some time later, Mewtwo moves to Mewtwo encounters a group of five Genesect. She finds out that they were ancient Pokémon that were revived by humans and turned into weapons. Feeling a connection, she offers them to follow her since things have long since changed since they were last alive, but the Red Genesect, who was the leader of the group, attacked her out of mistrust.

Mewtwo then pursued them to New Tork City, which bared a resemblance to the Genesect's ancient home. She managed to protect Ash and his friends from the Genesect's attack, though she assures Ash that she was only trying to save his Pikachu and Iris's Axew, since she still doesn't trust humans. Still, she indulges to them about the Genesect before leaving.

She eventually learns from a Starly that the Genesect are residing in Pokémon Hills, and have kicked all of the Pokémon living their out. Upon arriving, she tries to reason with the Red Genesect to no avail, thus she Mega Evolves and engages in battle with the Genesect Army. However, their fight causes the generator in the area to burst into flames. Taken by surprise, the Red Genesect takes advantage of the opportunity and Blaze Kicks her, but she's gets rescued by Ash. While she tries to tell him to stay out of the fight, he reveals he promised to help the younger Douse Drive Genesect find a new home for him and his family. This caused the young Genesect, along with the other three, to side with him and Mewtwo. Enraged, the Red Genesect tried to attack all of them with a Techno Blast, only for Mewtwo to grab him and fly him up into space, where she told him that everyone has a place on the planet, and everyone their can be friend with each other.

Having finally gotten through to him, she was about to float them back down to the planet. However, the stress of flying there - as well as their earlier fight - had left both indivuduals exhausted, resulting in them hurtling back down at a breakneck pace! Luckily, Ash comes up with a plan to have all the Water and Psychic-type Pokémon use their powers to create a soft landing for the two. Afterwards, the Genesect moved to the Absentia Natural Park. Mewtwo thanks Ash and his friends for their assistance, stating that they are now friends, before flying off to parts unknown.

A Mewtwo also plays a big role in the ongoing manga series, Pokémon Adventure. Mewtwo is first seen in the chapter "Tauros the Tyrant," where protagonist Red spots its still-unfinished body floating in a tank-tube at the Team Rocket Hideout. Red overhears a mysterious Rocket Scientist state that there wasn't enough genetic material to finish it. At some point, Blaine and the scientists manage to fix that, during only for Mewtwo to turn on his creators and escapes to Cerulean Cave.

Later on, Mewtwo begins to attack the citizens of Cerulean City. Red learns of this, and decides to seek Mewtwo out, only for Mewtwo to immediately attack the kid. Luckily, Blaine was nearby and saved him, revealing that he was the Rocket Scientist who created Mewtwo. Since Blaine didn't have enough genetic material to finish Mewtwo, he decided to use his own cells. This process caused a few cells of Mewtwo to seep into Blaine's arm, giving the two a psychic connection of sorts, at the cost of giving Blaine some occasional, unbearable pain in said arm.

Wanting to redeem himself for what he did, Blaine intended to take Mewtwo out in a way that would result in the death of both of them. Luckily, Red prevents that plan by giving his Pikachu, Pika, his Master Ball before tossing him at Mewtwo. As Mewtwo wasn't expecting that, Pika tosses the ball at Mewtwo and successfully captures him. Red then gives Mewtwo to Blaine, during which the scientist realizes his arm is no longer in pain, sensing that Mewtwo wants to start things over with him.

In Super Smash Bros., Mewtwo uses his powerful psychic powers to overwhelm the competition! Of course, since he’s also using it to hover and float around, that makes him an easy target to fling around, so be careful!

Special Moves

Neutral Special: Shadow Ball

Mewtwo begins charging up a Shadow Ball. While charging, you can cancel the charge by pressing left or right, shielding, or spot-dodging. The amount you charged is kept, so you can resume later. Once fully charged, pressing the Special Button again will have Mewtwo fling it forwards!

How big, fast, and powerful it is depends on how much you charge it.

Inspired by the move Shadow Ball, which debuted in “Pokémon Gold & Silver,” though technically the move was first seen in “Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back.” Shadow Ball is a Special Ghost Type move with a power of 80. It has a chance to slightly decrease the opponents Special Defense, which will help make Shadow Ball hit harder.

Mewtwo is capable of learning this move through the use of a TM.

Side Special: Confusion

Mewtwo uses his psychic power to create a purple ripple of sorts. Anyone standing where the purple ripple is get twirled around before falling on the ground. The opponent can quickly act out of it after getting twirled, but as they take more damage, they have a slightly harder time acting out of it. At 140% damage, Mewtwo can quickly follow this up with a forward-aerial attack - provided you use Confusion in the air first - to possibly KO the foe before they can even react.

Mewtwo can also use Confusion to reflect projectiles back at the offender.

Inspired by the move Confusion, which debuted in “Pokémon Red & Blue.” Confusion is a Special Psychic Type attack with a power of 50, and has a 10% chance of confusing the enemy.

Its ability to reflect projectiles seems to be inspired by “Pokémon the Series,” where some Pokémon use it to reflect Pokémon or even thrown objects.

Mewtwo tends to knows this move at level 1, but since its encountered at higher levels, it needs to visit a Move Relearner to actually use it.

Up Special: Teleport

Mewtwo disappears for a sec, before reappearing elsewhere. Where he shows up depends on which direction you’re holding, with upwards being the default if nothing is held.

Inspired by the move Teleport, which debuted in “Pokémon Red & Blue.”.Teleport is a Psychic Type status move that has two uses: If used while exploring, it causes the player to return to the last Pokémon Center they visited. In battle, it allows one to successfully flee from a Wild Pokémon Battle. Using it during a Trainer Battle will cause the move to fail, though starting in “Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu & Let’s Go Eevee,” using it would allow you to switch Pokémon.

Mewtwo can learn this move through the use of a TM.

Down Special: Disable

Mewtwo eyes turn green as a small flash of light gets fired in front of Mewtwo. Anyone nearby who is on the ground and facing Mewtwo will get stunned. How long they stay stunned depends on how badly damaged they are. Using Disable on a stunned foe will slightly damage the foe and send them upwards, but it might be better using something else like a Smash Attack instead.

Using the move when the opponent is in the air facing Mewtwo will cause the opponent to take minor damage, but it barely stuns them, so it’s not really recommended.

Inspired by the move Disable, which debuted in “Pokémon Red & Blue.”.Disable is a Normal Type status move that causes one of the opponent’s moves to be temporarily disabled. Starting in “Pokémon Gold & Silver,” the move will disable the last move the opponent used, though it will fail if the foe hasn’t done anything.

In the “Pokémon Anime,” as well as the “Pokémon Mystery Dungeon” games, Disable is instead shown being able to stun the opponent for a few seconds/turns, which might be what the Super Smash Bros. portrayal of the move is referencing.

This move tends to be one of Mewtwo’s four starting moves in all of its appearances.

Final Smash: Psystrike

Mewtwo starts off by Mega Evolving into Mega Mewtwo Y!

Mewtwo then fires Psystrike, a giant energy sphere filled to the brim with psychic energy!

Anyone who got hit by Psystrike will be stunned for a few seconds before the psychic energy blasts inside their minds, dealing heavy damage. (imagine it like a massive headache suddenly happening) After which, they will go flying away.

Inspired by the move Psystrike, which debuted in “Pokémon Black & White.” It is a Special Psychic Type move with a power of 100 that calculates damage by comparing the “Special Attack” stat to the “Defense” stat rather than comparing it to the “Special Defense” stat. It is Mewtwo’s Signature Move, and is always the last move it learns.

Mega Mewtwo Y is one of Mewtwo’s two Mega forms that debuted in “Pokémon X & Y,” though technically the Y form debuted in “Pokémon: Genesect and the Legend Awakened.” In order to transform Mewtwo into Mega Mewtwo Y, the player would need to find and give Mewtwo the Mewtwonite Y Stone.

Additional Notes

Some notable alternate costumes for Mewtwo include his original Shiny form from Pokémon Gold & Silver, his current shiny form that debuted in Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire (though starting in “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U,” this costume has gotten more cyan), and one that references Shadow Lugia from Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. That last one is a bit unexpected, huh?

In the Japanese version of Super Smash Bros., Mewtwo has victory quotes. Due to retaining his Japanese voice actor in every region, his quotes were replaced. The quotes, translated, as well as there replacements are as follows: