The Mewtwo Stage is the last Bonus stage on each table and the only one shared by both. It’s also the most profitable in the game: each hit on Mewtwo earns 50,000,000 points. It lasts two minutes, with an unlimited number of balls, and determines whether Mew appears in Catch’em Mode.
How to get there
The Mewtwo Stage is the third in each sequence: it comes after Gengar on the Red Field and after Seel on the Blue Field. It’s obtained like the other stages, with three Poké Balls lit and then the bonus hole, or through the Slot Machine’s direct access. Once it’s cleared, the sequence returns to the table’s first stage. See Bonus stages.
The playfield
The playfield is open, with two flippers at the bottom. Mewtwo stands at the back, in the center. It’s surrounded by six Shadow Balls, black orbs that circle around it. They act as a shield: while they’re in orbit, they obstruct shots at Mewtwo and make the ball bounce off.
- A Shadow Ball that’s hit earns 1,000,000 points, then disappears for a short while before re-forming.
- The number of Shadow Balls in orbit drops as Mewtwo is hit: the further the stage goes, the clearer the path.
- Right after a hit, Mewtwo has a brief reaction time during which an additional hit doesn’t count.
Launch and orbits
The ball is launched into the playfield from a lane on the side, which closes behind it as soon as it has entered: it’s impossible to get it back to the starting point. The six Shadow Balls are evenly spaced on their orbit, one sixth of a turn apart, and they rotate without interruption. Mewtwo re-creates the vanished Shadow Balls, a little more slowly as hits accumulate, according to Poképédia. Watching the rotation for a few seconds before the first shot helps you spot the gap between two orbs.
Hits on Mewtwo
Each hit on Mewtwo earns 50,000,000 points, with no ball multiplier since the ball is a Poké Ball. You have to hit it 25 times to finish the stage, which amounts to 1,250,000,000 points, plus the Shadow Balls hit along the way. When the last hit lands, Mewtwo flashes and then disappears, a message announces success and the ball returns to the table. The game awards no extra points for finishing the stage: everything comes from the hits and the Shadow Balls.
Sources disagree on the number of hits: Bulbapedia and Serebii report 25 hits and six Shadow Balls, while Poképédia mentions eight Shadow Balls and thirty hits. We go with the values from Bulbapedia and Serebii, which match the game data for the number of Shadow Balls.
| Hits on Mewtwo | Cumulative points |
|---|---|
| 5 | 250,000,000 |
| 10 | 500,000,000 |
| 15 | 750,000,000 |
| 20 | 1,000,000,000 |
| 25 (stage cleared) | 1,250,000,000 |
Succeeding or failing
| Situation | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 25 hits before the two minutes are up | Stage cleared; the sequence returns to the table’s first stage; a clear counter advances by one, up to two |
| Timer runs out before the last hit | Stage lost; Mewtwo remains the next stage; points earned are kept |
| Ball lost | No penalty: a new ball is launched as long as time hasn’t run out |
The link with Mew
Clearing the Mewtwo Stage twice is one of the conditions for encountering Mew. The game counts the clears but stops at two: the counter doesn’t go beyond that number until Mew has been encountered, and it’s reset to zero as soon as Mew appears. The Mew page details all the conditions.
Why this stage is the key to your score
Four hits on Mewtwo already earn more than a complete Diglett Stage. Since a failed stage remains the next one offered, you can return to Mewtwo without going through the other two stages again, by letting the timer run out before the 25th hit. Bulbapedia notes that this method, which consists of failing on purpose and then replaying the stage, is the fastest way to rack up points. This strategy is detailed in scoring strategies.
In the American version, access is announced by “GO TO MEWTWO STAGE”, failure by “END MEWTWO STAGE” and success by “MEWTWO STAGE CLEARED”. The stage’s music is called “Mewtwo Stage” in the game’s code: see music and sounds.
