Super Dragon



Super Dragon is Yoshi's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The move reflects Yoshi's sporadic yet powerful fighting skills on the battlefield and greatly improves his ability to recover from a fall. Rather than a single, powerful attack, Super Dragon temporarily transforms Yoshi into Winged Yoshi and gives him the ability to breath fire. However, Yoshi must first break open a Smash Ball in order to charge himself up for the attack. Once this happens, Yoshi can activate the attack at any time. Yoshi can even save himself from an otherwise deadly fall.

Transformation
When the stage turns dark and Yoshi gains an unearthly glow, his transformation has begun. He gains two attack advantages. First, Yoshi's new angel wings enable him to fly. Secondly, the dinosaur constantly spews a jet of flame from his mouth until the attack ends.

When Yoshi assumes his new form, his move set and fighting strategy change with him. While Yoshi is not invincible, his opponents constantly evade him due to his constant stream of fire from his mouth. If Yoshi chooses to, he can stop spewing fire and use the form's normal attack: spewing a large Fireball that travels in a horizontal direction. When he does this, his aura becomes red temporarily, possibly giving his foes forewarning. Because of his ability to fly Yoshi can focus solely on his attacks rather than stalking or evading his foes. The smaller the stage, the greater the advantage. Yoshi is also at a greater advantage if the central platforms of a given stage have empty space below them, such as in Battlefield.

Reverting to Normal
When the attack does end, Yoshi loses his new abilities, including his wings. Innocently looking at where his wings once were, Yoshi begins to fall downward. If he was to the sides of the stage when he lost his wings, he will fall out of the arena. Because of this, Yoshi is at an advantage if, towards the end of his attack, he avoids the edges of the stage.

Yoshi's enemies will likely swarm him as he returns unless their damage meters are high. In doing so before he regains his footing, they can attempt to balance out the damage caused to them by the dinosaur.

History
While the attack has not specifically appeared in any other game, by eating Red or Blue Koopa Shells in Super Mario World, Yoshi could breathe fire or fly respectively. However, only one of these moves could be used at a time. By using a flashing shell he could become Super Dragon but he hasn't much aerial mobility like when he uses his Final Smash, and could only breathe out one set of three Fireballs, causing the transformation to end. However, in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Yoshi could spew multiple short streams of fire after eating a Red Watermelon. This ability is closer to that seen in the Super Dragon ability.

External Links and Sources

 * Yoshi: Final Smash from Smash Bros. DOJO!!
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl Preview from IGN Wii