Dr. Mario (SSB4)

Dr. Mario in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Mario
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Doctor Finale
Tier	F (48)

Dr. Mario (Dr. マリオ, Dr. Mario) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. His return to the series was announced on SSB4's official website on October 9th, 2014, during which Dark Pit was also revealed. Charles Martinet reprises his role as Dr. Mario's voice actor; however, he now uses Mario's voice clips recycled from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, some of which have been muted.

Dr. Mario is ranked 48th out of 54 on the tier list, placing him in the F tier. This is a significant drop from his mid-tier placement in Super Smash Bros. Melee, where he was ranked 13th out of 26. Most of Dr. Mario's moveset boasts Mario's great frame data, with above-average damage output and KO potential to boot. In addition to granting him a potent combo game, these traits make Dr. Mario's attacks both difficult to punish and very effective at punishing. Dr. Mario also shares his counterpart's strong grab game and out of shield options.

However, the multipliers applied to some of Dr. Mario's attributes also result in him being considerably less maneuverable than Mario, making Dr. Mario's combo game worse than Mario's in regard to both versatility and consistency. Furthermore, Dr. Mario's recovery is noticeably worse than Mario's, and his retained weakness to long-ranged and/or disjointed attacks is compounded by his inferior mobility, which additionally hurts his approach options and makes his excellent close-quarters attacks much less practical.

Overall, Dr. Mario's weaknesses outweigh his strengths, which has been reflected in having extremely sparse tournament results for all of Smash 4, ranking dead last in terms of character representation across Smash 4's metagame (excluding the Mii Fighters due to their questionable legality). Although he is considered non-viable in competitive play, Dr. Mario has nevertheless achieved instances of success, thanks to smashers such as 2ManyCooks and B7Games.

How to unlock

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

• Play 60 VS Matches.
• Clear Classic Mode as Mario on Intensity 4.0 or higher.

After completing one of the two methods, Dr. Mario must then be defeated on Mushroomy Kingdom.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

• Play 50 VS Matches.
• Clear Master Orders on Hard difficulty.

After completing one of the two methods, Dr. Mario must then be defeated on Delfino Plaza.

Attributes

As a clone of Mario, Dr. Mario is a middleweight who can wall jump. Like his normal self, Dr. Mario also has excellent frame data: when not counting special moves, the overall start-up lag of his normal moveset is the fifth fastest in the game. As a result, Dr. Mario is both difficult to punish and very effective at punishing. Although they share an overwhelming number of identical animations and even the same values for certain attributes (falling speed; fast falling speed; traction; and gravity), Dr. Mario nevertheless has several traits that differ from his normal self. Like Mario, Dr. Mario's height is below-average; oddly, however, he is marginally shorter in comparison, and does not crouch as low as his normal self.

Unlike in Melee, Dr. Mario now functions like a stronger, yet slower Mario, owing to the implementation of multipliers to the majority of his moveset and some of his attributes. Aside from six moves, the remainder of Dr. Mario's moveset deals 1.12× more damage compared to Mario's moveset. Conversely, his walking and dashing speeds are 0.832× slower; his air speed, air acceleration, and jump heights are 0.808× slower. These multipliers result in Dr. Mario being distinctly affected by passive equipment physics, in which he specifically possesses a +15 Attack value and a -50 Speed value. Although Dr. Mario's lower jump height makes his short hop more effective than Mario's, these modified attributes collectively render his overall mobility as sub-par. Conversely, Dr. Mario's higher overall damage output results in him being noticeably more efficient at KOing in comparison to Mario.

Other noticeable differences between Dr. Mario and Mario are seen in their movesets and, by extension, their playstyles. Although Dr. Mario's frame data is only slightly slower than Mario's, his higher overall damage output and slower overall mobility make him unable to use a healthy balance of offense and defense like his normal self. Instead, Dr. Mario is much better suited to a bait-and-punish playstyle. On a related note, Dr. Mario's combo game is less varied and consistent compared to his normal self's. Despite this, his combos deal respectable damage despite their fairly short lengths, similarly to Ike's.

He also shares two useful combo starters with Mario, thanks to said moves being modified since Melee. Down tilt is the most effective of the two: although it is short-ranged, it is very reliable at low to high percentages, with useful follow-ups including itself, neutral attack, up tilt, his smash attacks, back aerial, up aerial, and Super Jump Punch. Like Super Jump Punch, forward aerial can function as a KO mix-up at high percentages, but requires a hard read. Up tilt can combo into itself reliably, albeit not as consistently as Mario's version, because of its higher damage output. However, its higher damage output makes it better at juggling, and even enables it to function as a situational KOing option at very high percentages.

Outside of these moves, up smash functions almost identically to Luigi's version instead of Mario's version: it launches the opponent diagonally instead of vertically, and will launch them in the opposite direction of where Dr. Mario is facing, so long as they are in front of him. Compared to Luigi's, however, it launches at a lower angle. As a result, Dr. Mario's version has much greater combo potential when uncharged: it can combo into itself, up tilt, and Super Jump Punch at 0%-10%, and into forward and down tilt at 10%-15%. On an unrelated note, its launching angle also makes it much better at edge-guarding or setting up edge-guards compared to Mario and Luigi's versions.

Dr. Mario possesses a decent grab game. His overall grab range is average, but each of his grabs has minimal start-up and ending lag. Dr. Mario's pummel also has the distinction of being the most damaging in the game by default, as it is surpassed by Olimar and Shulk's pummels only if they use White Pikmin and the Buster Art, respectively. Forward throw is useful for initiating edge-guards and can even combo into dash attack at 0%-20%, whereas back throw is a viable KOing option at high percentages.

Up throw can initiate aerial pressure, especially on fast-fallers, but is effectively his least useful throw. Lastly, down throw can combo into Dr. Tornado at low percentages, and into up aerial at low to medium percentages. It can also combo into up smash; reverse aerial rushed back aerial; down aerial; and even forward aerial and Super Jump Punch as KO mix-ups at high percentages. However, up smash is only effective against the majority of the cast at 0%-10%, whereas the latter four follow-ups require hard reads.

Like his normal self, Dr. Mario's air game is above-average. Neutral aerial is a "reverse sex kick": its clean hitbox deals minimal damage, whereas its late hitbox deals more damage. Thanks to it hitting on frame 3 and having low landing lag, its clean hitbox is ideal for set-ups. Conversely, its late hitbox is decent at edgeguarding. Back aerial is also fast; auto-cancels in a short hop; and possesses a powerful clean hitbox, which collectively make it viable for KOing, edge-guarding, and approaching. Forward aerial has considerable start-up lag, but its clean hitbox makes it the third strongest aerial of its kind; as such, it is lethal when SHFF'd against unwary opponents that are near the edge.

Up aerial's horizontal launching angle grants its beginning and ending frames decent combo potential into Super Jump Punch and back aerial, respectively, at low to medium percentages. This angle also makes its beginning frames capable of edge-guarding, unlike his normal self's up aerial. However, up aerial's launching angle also makes it much less effective at starting combos when SHFF'd or juggling compared to Mario's. Down aerial hits multiple times like Mario Tornado, and its final hitbox has a horizontal launching angle like up aerial. As a result, it is much more effective for edge-guarding compared to Mario Tornado, yet completely unusable for juggling. Compared to Mario's up aerial and Mario Tornado, however, Dr. Mario's up and down aerials are unable to KO outright because of their much lower knockback scaling and less damaging final hitbox, respectively.

Regarding special moves, Megavitamins travel farther in the air without landing compared to Mario's Fireball, and they bounce twice instead of three times. Super Sheet's reflection hitbox has a longer duration compared to Cape's. Due to its hitbox being positioned higher, it also has more vertical range, yet less horizontal range in comparison. Most notably, Super Sheet no longer stalls Dr. Mario in midair as it did in Melee. To alleviate the removal of Super Sheet's recovery potential, Dr. Tornado is now a much more integral part of Dr. Mario's recovery, thanks to it granting him a decent amount of horizontal distance when it is button-mashed sufficiently.

Unlike F.L.U.D.D., Dr. Tornado deals damage. When coupled with its very high knockback scaling, auto-link angle and transcendent priority, it is useful for edge-guarding, warding off edge-guarders, and even out-prioritizing attacks. However, Dr. Tornado's much shorter range makes it much riskier to use for edge-guarding compared to F.L.U.D.D. Due to Super Jump Punch consisting of a powerful clean hitbox and a weak late hitbox instead of multiple hitboxes like Mario's, it actually functions like a less polarized version of Luigi's Super Jump Punch. As a result, its clean hitbox makes it a viable KOing option, unlike Mario's. Although it can no longer be canceled, Super Jump Punch can now be B-reversed upon landing its clean hitbox like Mario's can upon start-up. This makes it useful for edgeguarding and can enable Dr. Mario to avoid punishment and/or hit an opponent behind himself upon hitting his primary target.

However, Dr. Mario's flaws are significantly more noticeable in comparison to Mario's. Although he boasts excellent KO potential, it is inconsistent. This is most obvious with up smash: its launching angle makes it reliable at KOing only while near the edge, whereas Mario and, to a lesser degree, Luigi's up smashes KO reliably from anywhere on-stage because of their higher launching angles. By extension, he has minimal KO set-ups like Mario. Additionally, Dr. Mario shares Mario's notable weakness of having short range in his attacks, which hinders his ability to fight characters with long or disjointed range. Dr. Mario's sluggish mobility compounds another notable weakness: his recovery. Despite now being able to wall jump, the combination of his slow air speed, slow air acceleration, and Super Jump Punch's mediocre travel distance results in his recovery being predictable like Mario's.

Due to his overall recovery granting noticeably less vertical distance compared to Mario's, Dr. Mario is very vulnerable to most meteor smashes. As a result, it is optimal for him to read the opponent when trying to return to the stage, as well as knowing when and how to make use of Dr. Tornado. Even though Dr. Mario may not need to use his double jump to recover, any sufficiently strong attacks, particularly semi-spikes, may launch him too far away to recover properly. Lastly, Dr. Mario is an all-rounder like his normal self, and is thus outclassed in certain aspects by other characters: Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon have more power and much better overall mobility; Mario, Luigi and Bayonetta have much more versatile combo games; Marth and Cloud have much more range; and R.O.B. and Duck Hunt are much better at zoning.

Dr. Mario benefits significantly from his custom moves. Like Mario, his custom moves define the fundamentals of customization, but in Dr. Mario's case, some of them alleviate his most significant flaws. Fast Capsule deals less damage and barely causes flinching, but covers more range at a much faster pace. Conversely, Mega Capsule has less range and is much slower, but deals repeated damage and lingers after being thrown. This allows it to shut down many approaches from characters that lack projectiles, as well as provide follow-ups. Breezy Sheet provides more safety when fighting near the edge but deals slightly less damage, whereas Shocking Sheet gives Dr. Mario another KOing option that has decent speed, but merely destroys projectiles instead of reflecting them.

Ol' One-Two gives Dr. Mario a fast and extremely powerful KOing option that can KO at very low percentages, but at the cost of further hindering his already sub-par recovery. Conversely, Super Jump functions in the exact opposite way: it grants noticeably better recovery, but deals no damage. However, Soaring Tornado is arguably Dr. Mario's best custom move because of its utility. It grants noticeably better vertical recovery; has incredible edge-guarding potential thanks to its windbox and hitbox; and its hitbox is powerful enough to KO early, either on-stage or off-stage. However, these benefits come at the cost of granting no horizontal recovery. Conversely, Clothesline Tornado is effectively his worst custom move: it boasts impressive power, yet further hinders his recovery; has a shorter duration; and has slower start-up lag.

Overall, Dr. Mario's fast frame data enables him to pressure and/or punish the opponent effectively at close range, while his above-average damage output makes him capable of KOing easily. Unlike Mario, however, his slow mobility hinders his neutral game to the point that he is largely reliant on baiting and punishing. By extension, his sub-par recovery makes him a less capable edgeguarder compared to his normal self, and he retains his normal self's lack of range as well.

Differences from Mario

Like in Melee, Dr. Mario functions as a stronger clone of Mario. However, he is now significantly slower compared to Mario. With Mario's Down Special and Down Aerial changes in Brawl, this slightly declones Dr. Mario, although Luigi still shares similar moves. In addition, Dr. Mario's Up Special is now a single hit as opposed to being a multi-hit attack, with the coins being removed.

While also factoring in the differences Dr. Mario had from Mario in Melee, this gives Dr. Mario a drastically different playstyle from his original counterpart, despite sharing many common moves.

Aesthetics

• Dr. Mario's stance is identical to Mario's, albeit slower.
• Dr. Mario is less vocal than Mario. Some of his attacks also emit different sound effects.
• Dr. Mario's on-screen appearance; taunts; idle poses; and victory poses are different from Mario's.
• Dr. Mario looks straight ahead during his defeated/No Contest animation, whereas Mario looks slightly to the left. Additionally, his arms are placed slightly higher than Mario's.
• Dr. Mario keeps his fingers close to each other during his screen KO, whereas Mario spreads his apart.

Attributes

• Some of Dr. Mario's raw properties are modified as if he were wearing equipment of +15 attack and -50 speed.
  • The damage outputs of Dr. Mario's attacks use a 1.12x multiplier. As a result, he is stronger than Mario. However, this multiplier does not apply to reflected projectiles or items, and the base damage of his moves can also differ from Mario's.
  • Dr. Mario's walking speed, dashing speed and initial dash speed use a 0.832x multiplier; his jump heights, air speed, air acceleration and air friction use a 0.808x multiplier. As a result, Dr. Mario is significantly less mobile than Mario.
• Dr. Mario's wall jump covers less height, hindering his recovery.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack's first two hits have more weight-based knockback (15/10/15 (hit 1)/18/15/18 (hit 2) → 30 (both)). Additionally, Dr. Mario's neutral attack's first two hits can launch the opponent diagonally or vertically (60°/70°/80° (hit 1), 70°/78°/88° (hit 2)), whereas Mario's can launch the opponent horizontally or vertically (361°/361°/80° (both)). Lastly, neutral attack has more ending lag (frame 20 (hit 1)/frame 22 (hit 2)/frame 34 (hit 3) → 23/25/36). Altogether, these differences make it less effective at jab canceling and jab locking, and can result in lightweight and/or floaty characters escaping its entirety at high percentages.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has a longer duration (frames 5-6 → 5-7).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has higher base damage (5.5 → 6.3). This makes it significantly more effective for KOing, but less effective for combos.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has different knockback (100 (base)/40 (scaling) → 90/42). Dr. Mario's dash attack also launches the opponent vertically (90° (clean/late)), whereas Mario's can launch them diagonally or horizontally (60° (clean)/110° (late)). These differences make it more effective for combos at low percentages.
• Forward smash:
  • Dr. Mario's forward smash's sweetspot and sourspot are on his arm and electricity respectively, whereas Mario's are on the flame and his arm respectively.
    • It has lower knockback scaling (99 (sweetspot)/103 (sourspot) → 96/100), partially compensating for the increased damage.
  • It has slightly less range.
  • It has an electric effect, whereas Mario's has a flame effect. This makes it safer on shield, but easier to DI.
  • Dr. Mario keeps his fingers outstretched while using forward smash, whereas Mario curls his fingers.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has different knockback (32 (base)/94 (scaling) → 0/117). Dr. Mario's up smash also launches the opponent horizontally (130°), whereas Mario's launches them vertically (83°). These differences make it significantly more effective for combos at low percentages and KOing while near the edge, but make it significantly less effective for KOing and punishing.
  • It has a longer duration (frames 9-12 → 9-13).
• The 19% damage increase to shields, and the increase to shieldstun make Dr. Mario's smash attacks significantly more effective at pressuring shields.

Aerial attacks

• All aerial attacks have more landing lag (10 frames → 12 (neutral), 26 frames → 28 (forward), 12 frames → 16 (back), 12 frames → 14 (up), 19 frames → 21 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Dr. Mario's neutral aerial deals more damage and has higher knockback the longer it is active, whereas Mario's functions oppositely.
  • It can lock until ≈40%.
  • It has a shorter duration (frames 3-5 (clean) → 3-10, 6-29 (late) → 11-27).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial's clean hit has higher base damage (14 → 15). Forward aerial also has more knockback scaling (80 (early/late)/78 (clean) → 95/102).
  • The clean hit has less base knockback (32 → 30).
  • The clean hit launches the opponent diagonally (50°), whereas Mario's meteor smashes them (280°).
  • The early and late hits have lower base damage (12 (early)/10 (late) → 10/9).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial's clean hit deals more base damage (10.5 → 12), making it more effective for KOing despite its lower knockback (12 (base)/106 (scaling) → 10/95).
  • It has a longer duration (frames 6-10 → 6-13).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has less knockback (10 (base)/135 (scaling) → 9/100). Dr. Mario's up aerial also launches the opponent diagonally (45°), whereas Mario's launches them vertically (75°). These differences make its beginning frames capable of edge-guarding, and its ending frames better for aerial combos. However, they also make their beginning frames unusable for KOing, and significantly less effective for juggling and SHFF'd combos.
• Down aerial:
  • Dr. Mario retains his diagonal corkscrew dropkick as his down aerial, whereas Mario's has been Mario Tornado as of Brawl.
  • The loop hits have higher base damage (1 → 1.7).
  • The last hit has lower base damage (5 → 3) and has different knockback (80 (base)/100 (scaling) → 50/120). These differences make it significantly less effective for KOing.
  • The loop hits use the auto-link angle (366°), whereas Mario Tornado launches the opponent vertically (94°). This makes its hits connect significantly better.
  • The last hit launches the opponent diagonally (45°), whereas Mario Tornado's launches them vertically (75°). This makes it capable of edge-guarding, but significantly less effective for juggling.
  • It has more start-up (frame 5 → 11); ending lag (frame 13 → 27); and smaller hitboxes. It also autocancels later than Mario Tornado (frame 33 → 45), preventing it from autocanceling in a short hop.

Grabs and throws

• Back throw:
  • It has less knockback scaling (66 → 60). This makes it less effective for KOing despite its higher damage output.
• Up throw:
  • Due to its higher damage output, up throw is as effective for combos at low percentages despite its lower knockback (70 (base)/72 (scaling) → 65/70).
• Down throw:
  • Down throw has altered knockback, with more base knockback, but less knockback scaling (40 (base)/90 (scaling) → 75/45).
    • It has less knockback overall, allowing it to combo for longer and improving its ability to combo into an aerial attack.
    • However, its higher base knockback causes it put opponents into tumble at very low percents and worsens its ability to combo into a series of up tilts at low percents.
  • It launches the opponent vertically (80°), whereas Mario's launches them diagonally (68°). This makes its combos less susceptible to directional influence.

Special moves

• Megavitamins
  • Unlike Fireball, Megavitamins cannot be absorbed.
  • It do not have a flame effect, unlike Fireball.
  • It bounces twice and at a higher angle, whereas Fireball bounces three times and at a lower angle.
  • Dr. Mario keeps his fingers outstretched while using Megavitamins, whereas Mario curls his fingers while using Fireball.
• Super Sheet
  • Compared to Cape, Super Sheet's reflection hitbox has a longer duration (frames 6-20 → 6-22).
  • Compared to Cape, Super Sheet's hitbox is positioned slightly upward. This results in it having slightly more vertical range, but slightly less horizontal range.
  • Unlike aerial Cape, aerial Super Sheet does not stall Dr. Mario. This makes it more effective at B-reversing, but unusable for recovery.
• Super Jump Punch
  • Dr. Mario's Super Jump Punch consists of a clean hitbox and a late hitbox, whereas Mario's consists of seven hitboxes.
  • Due to its higher damage output, the clean hit is significantly more effective for KOing despite its lower knockback (52 (base)/145 (scaling) → 30/100). Dr. Mario's Super Jump Punch also has a longer duration than Mario's (frames 3-11 → 3-19).
  • It retains its vertical distance from Melee, whereas Mario's has increased, making it less effective for recovery.
  • Unlike Mario's, It lacks intangibility on start-up.
  • It does not produce Coins upon contact, whereas Mario's does.
• Dr. Tornado
  • Dr. Mario retains Dr. Tornado as his down special, whereas Mario's has been F.L.U.D.D. as of Brawl.
  • Unlike F.L.U.D.D., Dr. Tornado deals damage.
  • Compared to F.L.U.D.D., Dr. Tornado is significantly more effective for recovery.
  • Compared to F.L.U.D.D., Dr. Tornado has significantly less range, making it ineffective for gaining stage control.
  • Due to dealing damage, It is less effective at gimping.
• Doctor Finale
  • Doctor Finale produces 2D and 3D Megavitamin-based effects and emits Megavitamins' contact sound effect, whereas Mario Finale produces 3D fiery effects and emits a burning sound effect.
  • Its hitboxes are further out (Z offset: 0 → 10), improving its range.

Other

• Dr. Mario uses Ties as defensive Equipment, whereas Mario uses Overalls.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee

Dr. Mario became one of the most noticeably reworked veterans upon his transition from Melee to SSB4. Unlike in Melee, he now functions as a stronger, yet slower Mario because of multipliers being applied to the majority of his moveset and some of his attributes. However, Dr. Mario's stronger moveset does not compensate for his much slower mobility. As a result, he is among the few characters to have been heavily nerfed in the transition to SSB4.

Aside from the multipliers, changes to game mechanics have indirectly buffed and nerfed Dr. Mario. Rage makes his KOing options KO even heavyweights with relative ease. Additionally, the higher damage multiplier for fully charged smash attacks makes his fully charged forward/up smashes even more potent. Lastly, the changes to shields and shieldstun supplement Dr. Mario's smash attacks by making them much better at pressuring shields. However, the removal of chain grabbing significantly worsens his up and down throws' damage racking potentials, while the removal of wavedashing further compounds his already worsened approach.

Several of Dr. Mario's moves have received buffs and nerfs. Down tilt now functions like Mario's, and is thus a reliable combo starter at low to high percentages. Up aerial's lower launching angle makes it better for edge-guarding and partaking in combos. Down aerial and Dr. Tornado's hitbox alterations result in their hits connecting better. Megavitamins have longer ranges, are no longer absorbable, and, when used in the air, descend faster. Super Jump Punch now possesses KO potential, thanks to it functioning like a less polarized version of Luigi's Super Jump Punch. Conversely, neutral attack deals much less damage; forward aerial is only effective when sweetspotted; up aerial has significantly worsened juggling potential; down aerial and Megavitamins have lower damage outputs, more lag, shorter durations, and, in the case of the latter, a smaller hitbox; and back throw's KO potential has worsened.

However, several of Dr. Mario's moves have been ambivalently buffed and nerfed. Up tilt's consistent angle makes it more reliable for combo, but at the cost of its versatility. Up smash is no longer a spike, which makes its KO potential more consistent at the cost of significantly worsening its ability to start combos. Down smash's front hit is now a semi-spike, but has a much lower damage output. Neutral aerial's lower damage output makes its clean hitbox better for set-ups, yet removes its late hitbox's KO potential. Back aerial's clean hitbox now possesses KO potential, yet is no longer a semi-spike. Lastly, Super Jump Punch can now be B-reversed upon landing its clean hitbox, but at the cost of its ability to be canceled.

Despite being poor in Melee, Dr. Mario's recovery also received a mix of buffs and nerfs. His jump is higher, his air speed is faster, he can now wall jump like his normal self, and Dr. Tornado can now be moved horizontally. However, Dr. Tornado now covers much less vertical distance, while Super Sheet no longer stalls him in the air. As a result, Dr. Mario is forced to mix up the usage of Dr. Tornado by using it before his jump, before his double jump, or after his double jump.

All in all, Dr. Mario’s overhaul changed him for the worse, as he has become a significantly less effective character than he was in Melee, especially when comparing him to Mario. As such, he is widely regarded as an unviable low tier character, and is overall one of the most nerfed characters in Smash 4, alongside Wario, Marth before updates, Kirby, Falco, Olimar, Meta Knight before updates, and King Dedede.

Aesthetics

• Dr. Mario's design is now a combination of his appearance as of Dr. Mario Online Rx, and his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. His fair skin, dark brown hair, fully buttoned white coat; red tie; and tawny shoes are from Online Rx and subsequent Dr. Mario games, whereas his white coat's loose sleeves and dark gray pants are from Melee.
• Dr. Mario's neck is longer, his pants are now slightly rolled up at his ankles, the collar of his shirt is open, his tie is loose, and his stethoscope's tubing and head mirror's headband are dark gray and dark taupe, respectively, instead of steel blue and cordovan, respectively. These changes are unique to SSB4.
• Dr. Mario's coat and stethoscope have individual physics.
• Dr. Mario has received three new alternate costumes.
• Dr. Mario has been updated with universal features introduced in Brawl.
  • Dr. Mario uses various voice clips for any move between the third hit of his neutral attack, any tilt attack, his dash attack, and any aerial attack, and always uses specific clips for both his up and down smash attacks.
  • Dr. Mario now has an on-screen appearance and two new taunts. His taunt from Melee has been moved to his side taunt.
• Dr. Mario no longer uses his stun voice clip when waking out of sleep status.
• Walk's animation has changed. It is now identical to Mario's as of Brawl.
• Dr. Mario has a new idle pose, where he punches his open palm with his fist, along with his one in Melee. However, his stance while holding a light item is now identical to Mario's.
• Dr. Mario has a new victory pose. He now contemplatively rubs his chin with his hand. It replaces the "Here we go!" victory pose that he shared with Mario in Melee.
• Dr. Mario's chest now faces the foreground, regardless of whether he is facing left or right.

Attributes

• Dr. Mario is slightly shorter. This makes his hurtbox slightly smaller, but slightly hinders his range.
• Due to the majority of Mario's damage output having slightly decreased since Brawl, the majority of Dr. Mario's damage output has also slightly decreased. This slightly improves his combo game, but slightly hinders his damage-racking potential.
• Dr. Mario is lighter (100 → 98), as he now weighs as much as Mario as of Brawl. This makes him slightly less susceptible to combos, but slightly hinders his endurance.
• Dr. Mario walks slower (1.1 → 0.913).
• Dr. Mario dashes slower (1.5 → 1.3312).
• Dr. Mario's traction is lower (0.06 → 0.045), as it is now identical to Mario's.
• Dr. Mario's air speed is faster (0.9 → 0.9315).
• Dr. Mario's falling speed is slower (1.7 → 1.5). This makes him less susceptible to combos, but hinders his vertical endurance.
• Dr. Mario's gravity is lower (0.095 → 0.08715). This slightly improves his horizontal endurance, but slightly hinders his aerial mobility.
• Rolls and air dodge have decreased ending lag (FAF 31 → 30 (rolls), FAF 48 → 33 (air dodge)).
• Sidestep has increased ending lag (FAF 22 → 27).
• Rolls and air dodge have decreased intangibility frames (frames 4-19 → 4-16 (rolls), frames 4-29 → 3-27 (air dodge)).
• Sidestep has increased intangibility frames (frames 2-15 → 3-17).
• Dr. Mario jumps higher and can now wall jump.
• Jumpsquat is slower (4 frames → 5).
• Backward jump's animation has changed. Dr. Mario now performs a Backward Somersault repeatedly like Mario does, instead of once.
• The removal of wavedashing significantly hinders Dr. Mario's approach.
• The removal of meteor canceling harms Dr. Mario more than any returning veteran, due to his lack of a meteor smash.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack deals less damage (4% (hit 1)/3% (hit 2)/6% (hit 3) → 2.8%/1.68%/4.48%), although its last hit's knockback was somewhat compensated (18 (base)/100 (scaling) → 45/80).
  • Neutral attack has increased ending lag (FAF 16 (hit 1)/19 (hit 2)/23 (hit 3) → 23/25/36), hindering its jab canceling potential. Its last hit also has increased start-up lag (frame 5 → 7) and a shorter duration (frames 5-9 → 7-8).