Mario (SSBB)

Mario in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Mario
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Mario Finale
Tier	F (31)

Mario (マリオ, Mario) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was shown at the E3 2006 trailer for the game, alongside Link, Kirby, and Pikachu, all of whom also appeared with him in Super Smash Bros. Melee and the original Super Smash Bros.

Charles Martinet reprises his role as Mario in all versions of Brawl; rather than re-purposing his portrayal from Super Mario 64 as in previous games, Martinet provides new voice clips that mimic the ones he recorded for Super Mario Galaxy.

Mario is ranked 31st out of 38 on the current tier list, the top position of F tier. This is a considerable drop from his previous placement in Melee, where he was ranked 15th out of 26, and his worst placement in the series to date. Mario possesses fast, low-lag attacks throughout his moveset, as well as strong combo capabilities, with his up tilt and up aerial being especially good jugglers on their own that can set up for followup attacks. Additionally, Mario possesses a variety of utility-centric specials to deal with various situations.

The early notion of Mario being a dominant fighter in Melee, leading to deliberate nerfs, combined with major indirect nerfs by Brawl's slow-paced metagame, caused Mario to transition very badly between games. Despite having many moves that lend themselves well to combos, he struggles to rack up damage due to many strings being invalidated by hitstun canceling. Additionally, Mario possesses poor KO potential, due to having no strong KO options outside of mediocre smash attacks, which, when combined with the existence of stale-move negation and momentum canceling, makes it highly unlikely for him to score a KO, forcing him to keep his finishers fresh to take the stock, which is very hard to do since he has so few options. These factors not only make it tough for Mario to get kills, but also make it difficult to get enemies to kill percent in the first place. Furthermore, he has poor reach with nearly every attack, and his main projectile, while solid, isn't good enough to compensate, giving him problems dealing with long-ranged characters (such as Marth). Finally, Mario is easily gimped in spite of a decent air-stalling tool due to the predictable trajectory of his recovery and its susceptibility to edgehogging.

Overall, Mario's underwhelming positives and abysmal synergy with Brawl's mechanics result in poor matchups, insignificant representation, and terrible tournament results. However, that hasn't stopped dedicated mains like Boss and Irios from placing highly on occasion, and Mario's competitive reception is noticeably softer in Japan, where he is ranked 25th out of 36 in the middle of D tier.

Attributes

This article or section may require competitive expertise. The editor who added this tag elaborates: Information should be checked for inaccuracies. You can discuss this issue on the talk page or edit this page to improve it.

Mario is a relatively straightforward, balanced character, with average attributes and a variety of tools designed to tackle any situation. His weight, dashing speed, air speed, and traction all range from average to slightly above average, though his falling speed and gravity both fall within the lower half of the cast.

Despite his bottom tier placement, Mario has a few noticeable strengths. He has relatively quick frame data, with fast options across his entire moveset, both on the ground and in the air. He has some decent grounded options, such as his forward smash being his strongest finisher and one of his longest-ranged attacks, up smash with its fast speed and intangibility, and his up tilt setting up for juggles and KOing at very high percentages. His grab game is versatile as well, with his back throw leading to KOs at high percentages, forward throw having the potential to set up for offstage situations, and his up and down throws sending at favorable angles for juggles or combos. However, his grounded moveset does have some negatives. His down smash, despite its very fast speed, is a rather weak finisher, and his down tilt is widely considered one of the worst moves in the entire game.

Mario also has rather good aerials, as they are fairly quick and have decent power. His neutral aerial is a very quick sex kick, up aerial is his main juggling tool and is very useful in combos, forward aerial is a meteor smash that is somewhat useful for edgeguarding, back aerial is a fast and useful KO tool offstage, and down aerial is fast, deals solid damage, and can lead to combos.

His specials are useful, too. Fireball is a projectile that is able to interrupt approaches and can somewhat remedy Mario's short range. Cape is a reflector that can also be used to gimp opponents, and can be used as a option for recovery as it boosts Mario upwards slightly. Super Jump Punch is Mario's main recovery move and his fastest out of shield option. With its frame 3 startup, it is not only Mario's fastest Out of Shield, it is the fastest Out of Shield option in the entire game, allowing Mario to punish a handful of moves no other character can on regular shield. As it deals a reasonable amount of damage, it can also be used as a combo finisher. Lastly, F.L.U.D.D deals no damage, but it can be charged to unleash a powerful windbox that can be used to push opponents away, leading to edgeguards or simply blowing them offstage.

Despite his strengths, he has many glaring flaws. Compared to Melee, his already poor KO potential has been further worsened. His forward and up smashes are relatively weak compared to the rest of the cast, his back aerial has short range, his back throw is easy to DI due to its slow startup, and his forward aerial is slow, laggy, and can be meteor cancelled. However, Mario's most glaring flaw is his poor reach. While Mario does have a projectile, the rest of his attacks are very short-ranged, forcing him to get up close to do meaningful damage or land KOs. Coupled with Mario's average speed, he can have difficulty landing hits on enemies who outrange him, such as Marth and Meta Knight. His recovery is also rather mediocre. While Super Jump Punch is fast, it follows a predictable path and doesn't go particularly far, leading to Mario getting gimped rather easily. His grab game, while decent, is rendered less effective by his short grab and hitstun canceling limiting his combo potential. On the other hand, he is also extremely vulnerable to chain grabs from several characters such as Marth, Falco and King Dedede.

Overall, Mario's weaknesses overshadow his strengths, resulting in poor matchups and tournament representation.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee

Mario has received a mixture of nerfs and buffs from Melee to Brawl, but his buffs are flooded over by his more pronounced flaws from his previous incarnation, and the changes to Brawl's mechanics hinder Mario more than they help him. As a result, he was greatly nerfed overall. The removal of wavedashing hinders Mario's already below average mobility and grounded approach, while the introduction of hitstun canceling no longer makes it possible for him to chaingrab with his up and down throws, drastically hindering his combo game. His already mediocre KO power was even further reduced, almost completely removing his back throw's KO potential, and his smash attacks, his main KOing tools in previous games, were weakened significantly as well, with his forward smash's sweetspot being weaker and is now outprioritized by a stronger sourspot, while his up smash and the front hit of his down smash also deal less damage and knockback. Lastly, Mario's new down special move, F.L.U.D.D., doesn't push opponents far and doesn't deal any damage to the opponent, which when combined with losing a vital move for his recovery, makes it a step backward from Mario Tornado.

However, Mario has also seen a few notable buffs. Fireball can now be B-reversed, which improves his neutral game. While his Cape has also seen some useful buffs, as it can now shift the opponent's momentum and can briefly reverse opponents, giving it extreme edgeguarding potential. Super Jump Punch's linking hitboxes connect more reliably, and the final hit deals more knockback, enough for it to be a situational KO move near the upper blast line at high percents. Finally, Mario's aerials have also seen some notable buffs; all of them (with the exception of his forward aerial) now have decreased landing lag, and his back and up aerials can now be performed twice in a short hop thanks to his higher short hop, making them even safer on shield and improving Mario’s ability to shield pressure.

Overall, in spite of the handful of decent buffs, Mario's nerfs weigh him down drastically, and he is considered much less effective than he was in 64 and Melee. He is one of the most severely nerfed characters in the transition from Melee to Brawl.

Aesthetics

• Mario has been updated graphically, with his overalls looking more realistic. Additionally, the color of his cap, shirt, and overalls are a darker shade of red and blue, and his skin has become paler, matching his appearance used since Luigi's Mansion and Super Mario Sunshine.
• Mario no longer vocalizes during his first jump. All of his jumps now make variations of the "boing" noise from Super Mario Bros.; the pitch increases with each jump: the short ground and wall jumps make a shortened version, the high ground jump uses the unaltered standard version, and the second jump and Super Jump Punch each make higher-pitched versions.
• Mario shouts at both the start and end instead of saying "Here we go!" at the end during his left- and right-inputted victory poses; he also now vocalizes during his up-inputted victory pose.
• Mario no longer uses his stun voice clip when waking out of sleep status.
• Mario has been given new updated voice clips, rather than reusing his voice clips from Super Mario 64, like in Smash 64 and Melee.
• Mario has a new alternate costume based on Fire Mario.
• Mario now has two new taunts: a side taunt where he spins, removes his hat and puts him back on his head, resembling his level clear animation from New Super Mario Bros., and a down taunt where he spins around in the air, falls to the ground and the gets up, similarly to his dying animation in Donkey Kong.
  • Mario's previous taunt has been moved to his up taunt.

Attributes

• Mario's character model is slightly smaller, more in line with his own games. This makes him harder to hit but it also decreases his already poor reach.
• Mario is slightly lighter (100 → 98), much like the PAL version of Melee.
• As with the returning veterans, Mario's falling speed and fast fall were reduced (1.7 → 1.28 (falling speed), 2.3 → 1.792 (fast fall)). Compared with the returning veterans, however, Mario falls faster. While improving his vertical endurance, it makes him more vulnerable to combos and hinders his already poor recovery.
• Mario's gravity is lower (0.095 → 0.075).
• Mario jumps higher (29 → 31.755375), going from the 4th lowest out of 26 characters to the 25th highest out of 39.
• Mario's traction has been unchanged (0.06). Compared with the returning veterans, however, Mario's traction is significantly higher, going from tied for the 16th highest amongst 26 fighters to tied for the 11th highest out of 39, making it easier for him to punish out of shield.
• Mario's air speed is higher (0.86 → 0.94), improving his recovery and aerial approach.
• Mario's additional air acceleration is higher (0.025 → 0.08), increasing the total amount (0.045 → 0.09), despite his base air acceleration being lower (0.02 → 0.01). His air acceleration has also gone from being the 5th lowest out of 26 characters in Melee to the 13th highest out of 39 characters in Brawl.
• Mario's sidestep has a longer duration (frames 2-15 → 2-20).
• Sidestep has more ending lag (FAF 23 → 26).
• Rolls have more ending lag (FAF 32 → 33).
• The removal of wavedashing hinders Mario's mobility and grounded approach.
• As with several other veterans returning from Melee, the introduction of a much wider variety of chain grabs makes Mario significantly more vulnerable to it than in Melee, hindering his endurance against several characters.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack
  • Holding down the attack button now makes Mario quickly repeat the first hit of his neutral attack until it connects, improving its punish potential.
  • The second hit has less startup lag (frame 3 → 2).
  • Both the first and second hits have different angles (83°/85° → 361°/80°). This allows the near hits to jab lock opponents.
    • However, this makes the far hits connect into the later hits less reliably.
  • The last hit deals less damage (5% → 4%) without full compensation on its knockback (10 (base)/100 (scaling) → 30/95).
    • The higher base knockback makes the move safe on hit at 0%.
  • The last hit has more startup with a shorter duration (frames 5-9 → 7-10) and more ending lag (FAF 23 → 30).
• Forward tilt
  • Forward tilt has an altered animation where Mario performs a roundhouse kick and his head faces forward.
  • Forward tilt deals more base knockback (6 → 8 (up and non-angled)/13 (down)), and no longer deals minimal set knockback (1 → 0) when angled down.
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 33 → 25).
  • The hitboxes are bigger (3.9u/3.12u/2.73u → 5u/4u/3u), and the move is noticeably more disjointed as a result.
  • It now deals consistent damage across all angles (10% (up)/9% (non-angled)/8% (down) → 8%), weakening both the up and non-angled versions.
• Up tilt
  • Up tilt deals less damage (8% → 7%) without full compensation on its knockback (26 (base)/125/122/120 (scaling) → 28/130).
    • However, this allows it to chain into itself more reliably at lower percents.
    • Also, in spite of its weaker knockback, the lower falling speeds and changes to the knockback formula allow the move to serve as a niche KOing option at 150%.
  • It has more startup with a shorter duration (frames 4-12 → 5-11).
  • It has marginally less ending lag (FAF 31 → 30), and is easier to chain into itself due to the introduction of buffering.
    • However, the introduction of hitstun canceling removes all its combo ability except into itself at low percents.
  • The move's hitboxes are bigger (2.73u/3.52u/4.69u → 4u/4.5u/5u).
• Down tilt
  • Down tilt deals less damage (8%/9% → 5%/7%), with only a slight increase to its base knockback (10 → 20).
  • It has a shorter duration (frames 5-8 → 5-7).
  • Its hitboxes are bigger (3.9u/3.12u/2.34u → 5u/4u/3u).
• Dash attack
  • Dash attack's hitboxes are bigger, especially on the late hit (3.52u/2.34u (clean), 3.12u/0.78u (late) → 4u/3u (clean), 4u/1.5u (late)), and placed further forward, now covering more of Mario's leg.
    • Dash attack's bigger hitboxes allow it to more consistently hit opponents hanging on the ledge. The late hit can pull ledge hangers back on stage, and if spaced correctly, can lead to a kill confirm into up smash.
  • Dash attack no longer has consistent angles (110° → 110°/80° (clean), 120° → 120°/70° (late)). However, notably due to hitbox priority, it is almost impossible to get the 80˚ hitbox on the clean hit, and completely impossible to get the 70˚ hitbox on the late hit, effectively nullifying this change.
• Forward smash
  • Forward smash's animation has been slightly changed. Mario rears back more while standing on one leg during the charging animation, while stepping and leaning forward upon unleashing the move and having his right arm positioned lower.
  • Forward smash's sourspot deals higher damage when not angled (11%/10% → 14%) and has more knockback scaling (96 → 100), improving its KO potential.
  • It has more startup with a shorter duration (frames 12-16 → 15-17) and more ending lag (FAF 42 → 48).
  • Its sweetspot deals less damage across all angles (19% (up)/18% (non-angled)/17% (down) → 18%/17%/16%) and has less knockback scaling (95 → 90), resulting in it KOing about 14% later.
  • The sweetspot is now outprioritized by the sourspots (0 → 2), making it significantly harder to connect with, especially on larger characters, though the sourspots have been shrunk and moved back to make landing the sweetspot a little easier.
  • The sweetspot is bigger (3.9u → 5u), but has been moved back. Overall, it has less horizontal range, but more vertical range.
• Up smash
  • Up smash's animation has been altered, being a mixture of its animations in the original Super Smash Bros. and in Super Smash Bros. Melee: during the headbutt, Mario performs a small jump and does a step forward.
  • The new animation improves its vertical range.
  • The introduction of DACUS improves its approach potential.
  • Up smash has a longer duration (frames 9-11 → 9-14), improving its horizontal range in front of Mario when combined with the new animation. Additionally, the head hitbox is bigger (3.12u → 5u), further increasing its vertical range, and a new hitbox has been added on Mario's neck, allowing it to hit low-profiling characters more consistently despite the altered animation.
  • It deals less damage (15% → 14%) and has decreased knockback scaling (97 → 90), hindering its KO potential even with the universally decreased falling speeds.
• Down smash
  • Down smash's back hit no longer has a sourspot on Mario's feet (10%/12% → 12%), allowing it to KO more consistently.
  • Its front hit deals less damage (16% → 15%) and has less knockback scaling (75 → 73), hindering its KO potential.
  • The move has bigger hitboxes (3.9u/3.12u → 4.8u/3.84u), with greater z offsets (11.72/6.64 → 12/9 (hit 1), -10.55/-5.86 → -13/-6), noticeably increasing its range. The animation has been adjusted to reflect this, with Mario sliding further forward and backward during the move.

Aerial attacks

• All of Mario's aerials except his forward aerial have decreased landing lag (16/8 frames → 10 (neutral), 15/7 frames → 10 (back), 15/7 frames → 10 (up), 23/11 frames → 19 (down)). Due to the removal of L-canceling, however, their landing lag is not fully compensated.
  • Back and up aerials can now be performed twice in a short hop due to Mario's higher short hop despite back aerial's higher endlag.
• Neutral aerial
  • Neutral aerial auto-cancels slightly earlier (frame 36 → 34) and can now auto-cancel in a short hop due to Mario's higher short hop.
  • Its hitboxes are bigger (2.73u/2.73u → 4u/4u (clean), 3u/3u (late)), and Mario's model stretches and squishes more during the first few frames of the move, which pushes its hitboxes further outwards during these frames.
  • Its deals less damage (12% (clean)/6% (late) → 10%/5%), hindering its KO potential.
  • It has a shorter duration (frames 3-32 → 3-29).
  • The late hit deals less knockback (15 (base)/100 (scaling) → 13/90). However, this enables it to lock opponents for longer.
• Forward aerial
  • Forward aerial has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 18-22 → 16 (early)/17-19 (clean)/20-21 (late)).
  • It now consists of an early hit, a clean hit and a late hit; with the early and late hits launching opponents horizontally (280° → 361°).
    • This makes the early hit more effective at KOing opponents on stage.
    • However, this makes the move less consistent at edgeguarding overall, as the clean hit has a much shorter duration (frames 18-22 → 17-19).
  • Mario's lower falling speed makes the move safer to use off-stage.
  • It deals less damage (15% → 12% (early)/13% (clean)/10% (late)), without full compensation on its knockback (30 (base)/70 (scaling) → 30/80 (early), 20/75 (clean), 20/80 (late)).
    • However the changes to meteor canceling makes it more reliable at edeguarding despite its decreased power.
  • It has increased landing lag (21 → 26 frames).
• Back aerial
  • Back aerial has an altered animation, with Mario thrusting his entire body backwards rather than his legs stretching backwards.
    • This new animation gives the move more range, especially combined with its larger hitboxes (3.52u/4.69u → 4.5u/5.9u (clean), 4.5u/5.3u (late)).
    • However, this new animation is longer (28 frames → 45), increasing the amount of time Mario cannot grab the ledge after using the move.
  • Its clean hit deals more damage (11% → 12%) without full compensation on its knockback scaling (100 → 95).
  • Its late hit deals less damage (9% → 7%) and has decreased knockback scaling (100 → 90).
    • However, its reduced knockback enables the late hit to lock opponents for longer.
  • It has a shorter hitbox duration (frames 6-17 → 6-13).
  • It has more ending lag (FAF 29 → 34).
• Up aerial
  • Up aerial has increased base knockback (0 → 9) and launches at a lower angle (55° → 45°), improving its safety, edgeguarding and KO potential.
  • It has bigger hitboxes (3.52u/4.69u → 4.4u/5.5u).
  • Its lower angle hinders its juggling potential which is further exacerbated with the introduction of hitstun cancelling; removing its combo potential beyond low percents.
• Down aerial
  • Mario has a new down aerial: Mario Tornado, which was previously his down special. As a result, its hitbox timings have been altered (frames 10-11, 13-14, 16-17, 19-20, 22-23, 25-26, 28-29 → 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 25).
    • Because of this, the move has more ending lag overall.
  • It has much less startup lag (frame 10 → 5).
    • However, each hit has a shorter duration (2 frames → 1).
  • The loop hits have reduced set knockback (30 → 10) and there is a shorter gap between each hit (2 frames → 1), making them connect more reliably.
  • The last hit deals more damage (2% → 7%) and knockback (30 (set)/100 (scaling) → 80 (base)/80 (scaling)), granting it KO and juggling potential.
  • It can now auto-cancel in a short hop due to Mario's higher short hop.
  • The last hit's angle has been altered (94° → 75°).
  • The loop hits deal less damage (2% → 1%).
  • Due to hitting only six times instead of seven coupled with the loop hits dealing less damage, the move's maximum damage potential is lower (14.74% → 12%).
  • There is now a large gap between the last two hits (2 frames → 11) which allows the opponent to either trade with down aerial if they have a frame 3 aerial or they can avoid it (and potentially punish Mario) if they have a fast, intangible special move.
  • Down aerial's new animation is longer (38 frames → 44), increasing the amount of time Mario cannot grab the ledge after using the move.
  • With the addition of SDI multipliers in Brawl, the loop hits have received above-average multipliers (1× → 1.5×), allowing opponents to escape them more easily.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Standing grab has less startup lag (frame 7 → 6), and both his standing and dash grabs have less ending lag (FAF 31 → 30 (standing), frame 41 → 40 (dash).
  • Standing and dash grabs have noticeably more range.
  • Dash grab has more startup lag (frame 11 → 12).
• Pummel:
  • Pummel has less startup (frame 17 → 16), with a shorter duration (FAF 25 → 24).
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw can now chain grab at low percents, due to DI being changed in Brawl to have no effect if a move doesn't cause tumbling. It also releases the opponent one frame later at base speed (frame 12 → 13), with FAF unchanged, letting Mario act a frame sooner relative to the opponent.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw deals less knockback (80 (base)/65 (scaling) → 70/63), hindering its KO potential.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw can no longer combo or chaingrab due to the hitstun changes.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw can no longer combo or chaingrab due to the hitstun changes, and has increased knockback scaling (30 → 50), severely reducing its utility.
  • Down throw launches at an altered angle (90˚ → 80˚).
• Floor attack:
  • Front floor attack no longer has a hitbox with set knockback.
• Edge attack:
  • Both edge attacks have increased set knockback (90 → 110).

Special moves

• Fireball:
  • Mario can now B-reverse Fireball.
  • Mario can now auto cancel Fireballs in a short hop due to his lower falling speed.
  • The hitbox size and knockback of the fireball now depends on the amount of time the fireball has been active for: (hitbox size: (2.34u → 2.4u (frame 1-5), 2.2u (frame 6-30), 2u (frame 31 onwards), knockback: (5 (base)/25 (scaling) → 30/25 (frame 1-5), 22/20 (frame 6-30), 11/15 (frame 31 onwards)).
    • The clean hit has much more base knockback, improving the move's safety at close ranges, while the mid hit is also safer overall despite reduced knockback scaling.
    • The late hit deals marginally more knockback at very low percents, but less knockback overall, reducing the fireball's gimping and edgeguarding ability at higher percents. The late hit also has a smaller hitbox, making it less likely to connect and easier to go around.
  • Fireballs deals slightly less damage (6% → 5%), which also further reduces the knockback of the late hit.
  • Fireballs lose more speed and height each time they bounce, and thus travel a shorter distance when used onstage.
  • Fireballs look more realistic and have a revamped sound effect.
• Cape:
  • Mario can now B-reverse Cape.
  • It now reverses the opponent's momentum rather than just reversing the direction they're facing, while also temporarily reversing their controls as well, making it drastically more effective as a disrupting tool. Mario also now has access to several new techniques (such as the Cape Glide), greatly improving its utility.
  • It deals less damage (10%/8% → 8% (ground), 9%/7% → 6% (air)).
  • It has less range, especially on the ground.
  • The hitboxes are no longer attached to the cape, but are stationary.
  • Its effectiveness as an edgeguarding tool has been reduced due to characters now being able to grab the ledge from both sides.
  • If Mario hits certain characters out of their recovery moves with Cape (including Sonic's Spring Jump, Mr. Game & Watch's Fire, Snake's Cypher or Diddy Kong's Monkey Flip), they will be able to use that recovery again making Cape a non-viable edgeguarding option against those characters.
  • Its first use in the air grants Mario much less height.
  • It no longer deals vertical knockback on opponents attempting a grab, due to its knockback values now being set to 0.
  • Mario no longer vocalizes when using Cape. Additionally, Cape has a different sound effect.
  • Removed the Cape Teleportation glitch that resulted opponents warping to the opposite side of the stage after being hit during the ledge get up.
  • Cape's aerial boost now always resets upon Mario landing, whereas previously it may behave as though Mario never touched the ground after his last usage of the move in the air, and thus fail to give him the boost.
    • This prevents Cape from unexpectedly failing to stall Mario's recovery, improving its consistency.