Mario (SSBM)

Mario in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Mario
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl
Availability	Starter
Tier	D (13)

“

A well-rounded hero who boasts a balance between offense and defence.

”

Mario (マリオ, Mario) is a starter character who has appeared in all three games in the Super Smash Bros. franchise. His appearance in Melee was announced at E3 2001. Mario debuted in the arcade game Donkey Kong in 1981, and has been the mascot for Nintendo since he rose to fame in Super Mario Bros..

Mario is ranked 13th on the current tier list in the D tier, placing him in the center, along with his brother Luigi and four places below his clone, Dr. Mario. Mario acts as a well-rounded character, with average weight, falling speed and other such attributes. Mario has above-average comboing ability, and a very versatile grab game; his powerful back throw can gimp and his down throw can chain-grab. Mario also has decent edge-guarding, with Fireball (a solid projectile), and his Cape which can easily and efficiently gimp almost every other character's recovery. Mario, however, lacks a reliable finisher, and his recovery is predictable and short, though he can extend it.

Attributes

As a character, Mario falls under the archetype of being of an average character, with no particularly strong or weak traits; Indeed, in terms of weight, falling speed, air speed, size, and dash speed, Mario tends to fall in the middle of these attributes.

One of Mario's strengths is his rather good combo ability. While not having an extremely high air or falling speed, Mario can easily and efficiently combo most other characters in the air; Mario has plenty of low-lag, low-knockback aerials, and the addition of a long wavedash and fast ground attacks give Mario plenty of combo potential. Mario also has a good SHFFL.

Mario also has an above average approach. Despite an only average air speed and dashing speed, Mario still has good options for getting closer to opponents. His Fireballs have good range and can disrupt opponents at a distance; differing terrains such as slopes and platforms can also give the Fireball many options. Mario, due to his average attributes in traction and falling speed, has a rather long and floaty wavedash; coupled with decently ranged smash attacks, Mario has good wavesmashing abilities.

Mario is also a surprisingly good edgeguarder. While Mario's forward air has long ending lag and is slow, it acts as a very powerful meteor smash, as well as having no sourspot, allowing it to work very effectively. Mario's Fireballs can also disrupt recoveries; its low knockback makes it effective in the regard. Most notably, however, Mario has what is likely the absolute best edgeguarding weapon in all the game: his Cape. When used, it can effectively and quickly gimp almost every recovery in the game; it's especially useful against linear recoveries, such as Fox's Fire Fox or Luigi's Green Missile.

Mario also has a surprisingly good grab game. Despite a rather poor grab range, Mario's throws are notable for their versatility; his forward and backward throws can easily set up gimp KOs, especially the latter, while his up and down throws can act as combo starters.

Mario, however, suffers from some KOing problems. As he is designed to be a beginner character, Mario lacks particularly powerful or reliable finishers; while his forward smash has good range, coupled with a very visible and easy to land sweetspot, his other smashes are rather short ranged. Additionally, while Mario's back throw is strong, it requires grabbing the opponent first; this can be a challenge, due to Mario's poor grab range. Mario's single meteor smash is also rather unwieldy and risky to use.

Mario also suffers from a below average recovery. Super Jump Punch only grants average to slightly below average horizontal and vertical distance, while Mario Tornado can only grant vertical distance if the B button is tapped quickly. Mario, however, does have some options to improve his recovery; Mario's Cape can allow him to recovery from the sides, and he has the ability to wall-jump, which can act as a help on stages such as Final Destination.

Moveset

Ground attacks

Normal

• Neutral attack- Mario does a weak punch forward, followed by a second weak punch before a stronger kick forward. This entire combo was in Super Mario 64. 2-3%, 1-2%, 4-5% damage respectively
• Dash attack- Mario slides on the ground feet first. Knocks foes diagonally behind him. 9% when it first comes out, 6% after.
• Forward tilt- A fast kick forward. Often throw into Mario's combos. 9%
• Up tilt- Mario punches upwards. Good juggling move, as well as a rather good combo starter. Looks similar to the second hit of Mario's Mega Glove combo in Super Mario RPG. 8% damage.
• Down tilt- Mario kneels down and sweeps his leg low to the ground. Low knockback. At damages below 100%, this move is very weak and barely stuns the foe. Above 100%, however, this move can be easily followed with a forward for a quick KO. 8% damage

Smash attacks

• Forward smash- Mario launches a blast of fire from his palm. The move is relatively quick and has good knockback (13th most powerful forward smash in the game, KO percentage wise). Note that if the opponent is very close to Mario, the attack will land on a sourspot on his arm. Sweetspot does 18% damage uncharged, 23% fully. Sourspot does 11% damage uncharged, 15% fully.
• Up smash- Mario headbutts upward. A fast move with more range at the back of his head than in the front. 15% uncharged, 20% full.
• Down smash- Mario does a breakdancing kick. Extremely fast, one of Mario's stronger moves. From Super Mario 64. 16% front, 10% back uncharged, 21% front 12% back full.

Other attacks

• Ledge attack - Does a somersault and then kicks upward. 8% damage
• 100% Ledge Attack - Gets up then does an attack similar to his down-angled forward tilt. 10% damage
• Floor attack -Gets up then punches behind him, then in front of him. 6% damage

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial- A sex kick. Mario sticks his foot out in front of him. Like a few of his other moves, this was in Super Mario 64. Peak damage is 12%, gets weaker thereafter. 9th most powerful neutral aerial in Melee and is overall the 7th most powerful sex kick.
• Forward aerial- Mario punches in front of him with an enlarged fist. Slow, predictable and has high ending lag, but acts as powerful meteor smash, with no sourspot. 15% damage
• Back aerial- Mario kicks backward. Fast, good for edgeguarding. 10% damage
• Up aerial-Mario flip kicks upward. Good move for juggling and comboing. 11% damage
• Down aerial- Drill Kick: Mario spins. Resembles the Spin Jump from Super Mario World. Does multiple hits instead of one powerful one. Total 10%

Throws

• Pummel- A Clutch Headbutt: Mario headbutts his grabbed opponent. 2-3%
• Forward throw- Mario spins around once, and throws his opponent forward, with decent knockback. 9% damage
• Back throw- Mario spins around three times and throws his opponent backward. Surprisingly high knockback, can hit enemies mid swing. One of the strongest throws in the game, also being the fourth most powerful back throw. It can KO under 150% near the ledges. 12% damage.
• Up throw- Mario Launch- Mario throws his opponent upward. Good for an up-tilt following, or starting combos at higher percentages. 8% damage.
• Down throw- Mario throws his opponent on the ground. Can be a good chainthrow on certain characters. 6% damage.

Special moves

Mario's special moves

Neutral special	Fire Ball	Fireball
Side special	—	Cape
Up special	Super Jump Punch
Down special	Mario Tornado		F.L.U.D.D.

Changes from SSB to Melee

When making the transition from Super Smash Bros. to Melee, Mario was neither strongly buffed nor strongly nerfed. In terms of buffs, Mario now has a slightly faster up smash, a new side smash with a visible and powerful sweetspot and better damage racking abilities with Super Jump Punch. Mario's new Side Special, Cape, also gives him a good edgeguard option.

For nerfs, Mario's Mario Tornado now lasts as shorter time, and has lost its meteor smash properties; it also no longer slows his decent in midair. His Super Jump Punch also grants less horizontal and vertical distance.

Technical changes

• Neutral combo does more damage; first punch and kick deal 1% more each. First two punches now deal set knockback. Kick can now clang.
• Forward tilt does 4% less damage for all angles.
• Up tilt deals 2% less damage; angle changed from 86 to 96.
• Down tilt now does 9% or 8% instead of 12%. Angle is now vertical instead of horizontal.
• Dash attack deals 3% less damage; now hits opponents behind Mario.
• Up smash deals 4% less damage (uncharged). Knockback scaling reduced from 120% to 97%.
• Down smash now consists of a 16% hit in front and a 10%/12% hit in back, instead of 17% all around. Base knockback increased but knockback scaling reduced.
• Forward smash now contains a sourspot on the arm; sweetspot's damage increased by 1%.
• Neutral air deals less damage (-2% when clean, -3% when late) but has much more knockback scaling (from 10% to 100%).
• Forward air is now an overhand punch instead of a two-footed kick; now deals 15% damage clean or late and acts as a meteor smash.
• Back air deals less damage (-5% when clean, -1% when late).
• Up air now deals 11% damage clean or late; angle changed from 80/70 to 55.
• Down air now does 1% less damage per hit and is angled upwards instead of downwards. Has gained a hitbox on landing when not autocancelled. Now deals +1% damage per hit on shields.
• Fireball deals 1% less damage, has no shield damage, and has slightly less knockback (base knockback reduced from 10 to 5).
• Mario Tornado has fewer hits but deals 2% damage on the first hit and 5% or 3% on the last (instead of 1% for all hits).

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

In single-player modes

In Classic Mode

In Classic Mode, Mario can appear as an ordinary opponent, as an ally or opponent in the team battles, alongside either Bowser or Peach, as a giant opponent, as a member of a multi-character battle, or as a metal character. In Mario's appearances, he either appears on Princess Peach's Castle or Rainbow Cruise. On a team with Bowser, he appears on Battlefield and with Peach, he appears on Mushroom Kingdom II.

Adventure Mode

Mario is one of only two characters who can appear twice in Adventure Mode, alongside his brother Luigi.

In the game's Adventure Mode, Mario teams up with Peach against the player in the second part of the first stage, taking place on Princess Peach's Castle. If the player finished the previous segment, Mushroom Kingdom Adventure, with the remaining time registering 2 in the seconds digit, Luigi will take his place in a cutscene that will trigger right before this battle.

Later on, in the second half of Stage 11, Metal Mario will fight the player's character on the Battlefield stage, where he functions as simply a Mario permanently under the influence of the Metal Box item. If the player unlocked Luigi, Metal Mario will be joined by Metal Luigi, and they both team up on the player, making for a harder fight.

In All-Star Mode

In All Star Mode, Mario and his allies are fought on Rainbow Cruise.

Event Matches

Mario is featured in the following event matches:

• Event 1: Trouble King: The player plays as Mario against Bowser on the Battlefield stage, with a 2-minute time limit and both players having 2 stock each.
• Event 10: All-Star Match 1: Mario is the first opponent the player must fight in this series of staged battles. Their character battles him on the Yoshi's Island stage, and the player's character has 2 stock while Mario has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him and the other four characters with the overall time and life the player has: Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Peach, and Bowser.
• Event 19: Peach's Peril: As Mario teamed up with Peach with 1 stock each, the player must ensure both of the characters survive the vicious assaults of the enemy Bowser on the Final Destination stage for one minute. Score is determined by how many times the player can KO Bowser in this time frame, as he has infinite stock.
• Event 22: Super Mario 128: This match pits the player's 1-stock character in a wild endurance match on the Mushroom Kingdom II stage, where they must battle 128 tiny Marios that rain down from the sky and come at the player five at a time. Each Mario is light in the extreme, so just about any attack from any character will KO a Mario.
• Event 31: Mario Bros. Madness: The player's character battles a team of Mario and Luigi in a 2-minute unlimited-stock match in the Mushroom Kingdom stage. Whoever gets the most KOs wins, much like in a standard time-match.
• Event 38: Super Mario Bros. 2: In this match, the player's character must battle against Mario, Luigi, and Peach in an unlimited-time 2-stock match on Mushroom: Kingdom II. The odds may seem especially stacked against the player, but the opponent team is subject to friendly fire. The character selection and stage are a direct throwback to the original Super Mario Bros. 2, an NES sequel to Super Mario Bros.

Ending Images

• 

  Classic Mode.

• 

  Adventure Mode.

• 

  All-Star Mode.

Trophy descriptions

In addition to the normal trophy about Mario as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing the Adventure and All-Star Modes respectively with Mario on any difficulty:

Mario (Classic)

"Known worldwide as Mr. Nintendo, Mario uses his incredible jumping ability to thwart the evil Bowser time after time. While he's best known as a hero, Mario has played many roles, including racer, doctor, golfer, and villain. His tastes have changed over 20 years of gaming; he long ago swapped the colors of his shirt and overalls.

Mario (Adventure)

Mario is a character without any glaring weaknesses and plenty of strong attacks: he's even equipped with a Meteor Smash. He's a straightforward character who'll reflect the actual skills of the player. Mario's Cape will turn other characters in the opposite direction and can also reflect missile weapons.

• B: Fireball
• Smash B: Cape

Mario (All-Star)

Mass determines how easily a character can be sent flying, as well as a character's physical strength: Mario's mass is the standard upon which other Smash fighters are measured. His Super Jump Punch sends foes skyward in a shower of coins, while the Mario Tornado pulls in nearby foes, spins them silly, and scatters them every which way.

• Up & B: Super Jump Punch
• Down & B: Mario Tornado

• 

  Classic

• 

  Adventure

• 

  All-Star

Costumes

Mario's palette swaps in SSBM

Trivia

• A taunting Mario with a Super Mushroom in Giant Melee Mode is the largest possible character size that can be achieved without hacking.
• Mario's taunt is the second longest taunt out of all the characters, the longest one being Young Link's.
• Currently, Mario is the only character in Melee whose clone is ranked higher than he is.
• If the Master Hand glitch is used in an event and sets a record, the score is shown on Mario.
• Mario's vocal for his down special move and back throw were used in Mario vs. Donkey Kong. This is the only time a vocal from any character in a Super Smash Bros. game was reused in a game outside the series.

External links

• Nintendorks' page on Mario