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This article is about Mario's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For the character in other contexts, see Mario.
Mario
in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Mario SSBU.png
MarioSymbol.svg
Universe Mario
Other playable appearances in SSB
in Melee
in Brawl
in SSB4
Availability Starter
(Unlockable in World of Light)
Final Smash Mario Finale
MarioHeadSSBU.png
Mario is an all-around fighter who uses his wide variety of techniques to respond to any situation. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he shows up in his Wedding tux and his Builder outfit, and Cappy even makes an appearance!
Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Mario (マリオ, Mario) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was suggested to appear in the then unnamed Ultimate in its first teaser trailer at the end of the March 8th, 2018 Nintendo Direct, and officially announced in Ultimate's E3 2018 trailer on June 12th. Mario is classified as fighter #01.

As in Smash 4, Charles Martinet's portrayal of Mario from Brawl was repurposed for Ultimate.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Aesthetics

  •   As with all veterans returning from Smash 4, Mario's model features a more subdued color scheme. His clothing and hair now feature simple detailing, similar to his design in Brawl.
  •   Mario's standard cap has been replaced by Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey. Cappy's eyes can appear during Super Jump Punch, but he otherwise appears to have no effect on gameplay.
  •   Mario's idle animation is altered slightly; his head is turned more towards the screen, but he still looks toward his front.
  •   Mario, like many other characters, has been made much more expressive in this game, to an even greater degree than its predecessor. In particular, he will sometimes smile and appear whimsical or happy in battle, in line with his canon depiction, although he still looks serious and with angry brows most of the time.
  •   Mario's attacks, especially ones involving fire, have been given brighter, flashier particle effects.
  •   Mario has two new taunts: one where he turns his back to the camera and gives a thumbs-up, and another where he throws Cappy around in a circle. They replace his previous up and side taunts, respectively.
  •   Mario performs his down taunt much faster.
  •   Mario's Builder outfit from Super Mario Maker and his Wedding tuxedo from Super Mario Odyssey are present as alternate costumes. They replace his Wario-inspired costume and his Fire Mario costume, respectively.
  •   Mario's ledge-hanging animation is different; he now hangs on with one hand instead of two, and has an angrier expression on his face.
  •   Mario's spin jump victory animation has been altered slightly; he jumps much higher, spins around only once, and has a happy expression after landing.
  •   Mario's hands are open at the end when using Mario Tornado. His head is also less tilted backwards.
  •   Mario's on-screen appearance is mirrored.
  •   Mario's helpless animation is altered slightly, with his body faced more towards the screen.
  •   Mario has a slightly different stance upon skidding to a stop from dashing.
  •   Mario has a new walking animation.

Attributes

  •   Like all characters, Mario's jumpsquat animation now takes 3 frames to complete (down from 5).
  •   Mario jumps slightly higher.
  •   Mario walks slightly faster (1.1 → 1.155).
  •   Mario's initial dash speed and run speed are much faster (1.6 → 1.936 (initial dash), 1.76 (run)).
  •   Mario's air speed is faster (1.15 → 1.208).
  •   Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-16 → 4-15).
  •   Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-16 → 5-16), and more ending lag (frame 30 → 35).
  •   Spot dodge has less ending lag (frame 27 → 26).
  •   Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 3-27 → 3-29).
  •   Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (frame 33 → 53).

Ground attacks

  • Neutral attack:
    •   Consecutive uses of the first hit of neutral attack are faster (9 → 6 frames).
    •   The third hit comes out faster (frame 7 → 3) and goes higher, allowing it to connect better from the first two hits.
    •   The first two hits deal altered damage (2.5% → 2.2% (hit 1), 1.5% → 1.7% (hit 2)), resulting in the move dealing slightly less damage in total (8% → 7.9%).
  • Forward tilt:
    •   Forward tilt deals more base knockback, increasing its safety on hit at low percents.
    •   It has less ending lag (frame 31 → 26).
  • Up tilt:
    •   Up tilt has less horizontal range, and its hitboxes start from a higher position, rendering it unable to hit some characters on the ground.
  • Dash attack:
    •   Dash attack travels further.
    •   It has an altered animation that no longer lowers Mario's hurtbox, which prevents him from sliding under certain attacks.
    •   The late hit launches opponents away from Mario like the clean hit, rather than towards him, hindering its combo potential and preventing it from stage spiking opponents below edges.
  • Forward smash:
    •   Forward smash deals consistent damage across all angles, increasing it overall (14%/17% (forward), 14.7%/17.85% (up), 14.42%/17.51% (down) → 14.7%/17.8% (all)).
  • Down smash:

Aerial attacks

  •   All aerials have reduced landing lag (10 frames → 6 (neutral), 26 frames → 17 (forward), 12 frames → 6 (back), 12 frames → 7 (up), 19 frames → 15 (down)).
  • Forward aerial:
    •   The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes improves forward aerial's combo potential onstage, compounded further by its reduced landing lag.
    •   It has a different animation, with Mario now punching downwards with his opposite hand and twisting around afterwards instead of flipping.
  • Up aerial:
    •   Up aerial has one frame less ending lag (frame 32 → 31), marginally improving its combo potential.
    •   It has a shorter duration (frames 4-8 → 4-7).
  • Down aerial:
    •   Down aerial's final hit comes out faster (frame 25 → 23), allowing it to connect better and preventing opponents from air dodging out of it.
    •   The move deals more damage (1% → 1.4% (hits 2-5), 5% → 5.5% (hit 6)).
    •   It can no longer be frame canceled.
    •   The final hit has an altered animation involving Mario spreading his limbs out. The vortex emitted around him is also larger.

Throws/other attacks

  •   All grabs have increased ending lag (frame 29 → 35 (standing), 36 → 43 (dash), 34 → 37 (pivot)).
  • Pummel:
    •   Pummel is faster, but deals significantly less damage (3.25% → 1.3%).
    •   It has a slightly different animation: Mario now uses one hand during it instead of both like in previous installments, to keep consistent with his grab animation.
  •   All of Mario's throws have been altered with more exaggerated animations.
  •   Mario's throws are no longer weight-dependent.
  • Up throw:
    •   Up throw has increased combo ability due to Mario's faster jumpsquat and jump speed.
  • Down throw:
    •   Down throw can no longer combo into up tilt except against large characters due to the latter's altered hitbox placements, hindering its damage racking potential at low to mid percents.
  • Edge attack:
    •   Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 9%).

Special moves

  • Fireball:
    •   Mario no longer opens his mouth when using Fireball on the ground.
  • Cape:
    •   Cape forces opponents to show their back side while they're using their moves, whether their stance is mirrored or not.
    •   Cape is now worn around Mario's neck when used, akin to its appearance in Super Mario World.
  • Super Jump Punch:
    •   The second through sixth hits of Super Jump Punch deal less damage (1% → 0.6%).
    •   The move requires a longer travel distance before being able to sweetspot a ledge.
    •   The coins spawned by it occasionally appear as regional coins found in the Metro Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey. Cappy's eyes appear when this occurs.
  • F.L.U.D.D.:
    •   F.L.U.D.D. has greater range, and reduced ending lag (frame 75 → 68).
    •   F.L.U.D.D. has an altered charging animation.
  • Mario Finale:
    •   Mario sports an angrier expression than in previous games when unleashing Mario Finale.
    •   The attack has been altered so that damage from each hit is dealt solely based on how long the attack has been out, with the fireballs becoming more powerful as the attack continues.

Classic Mode: Let's-a Go!

In a similar fashion to the Classic Modes of past games, Mario's opponents are groups of fighters from various universes fought on a home stage from that universe.

Round Opponent Stage Music Notes
1 Link and Zelda Great Plateau Tower Overworld Theme - The Legend of Zelda (Brawl)
2 Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede Green Greens Green Greens (Melee)
3 Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong Kongo Falls Jungle Level (Melee)
4 Pikachu, Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard Pokémon Stadium Main Theme - Pokémon Red & Pokémon Blue (Brawl) Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard's respective Pokémon Trainers are absent.
5 Marth, Chrom, and Ike Coliseum Story 5 Meeting
6 Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings Princess Peach's Castle Fortress Boss - Super Mario Bros. 3
Bonus Stage
Final Bowser, then Giga Bowser Final Destination King Bowser - Super Mario Bros. 3 / Giga Bowser (Melee)

Character unlock tree

Mario's Classic Mode character unlock tree includes the following characters in order:

Each character can be unlocked by clearing Mario's Classic Mode, or the Classic Mode of any preceding character, if all preceding characters have been unlocked. Once all the above characters are unlocked, clearing Classic Mode with any of them will default to Donkey Kong's character unlock tree, starting with Bowser. Furthermore, Mario's tree can also be accessed by completing another starter character's unlock tree, then clearing Classic Mode with any character within.

Role in World of Light

Mario was among the fighters that were summoned to the cliffside to fight against the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Mario was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. Mario was then destroyed by Galeem's light attack offscreen and imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters, with the exception of Kirby.

Mario is later seen under Galeem's imprisonment during the opening cutscene, where a puppet fighter of him is cloned from him to contain the spirit of a Smoky Progg. He is always the first character to be unlocked in this mode.

When the fighters make their last stand against Galeem and Dharkon, Mario is seen leading the charge. He is also prominently featured in both of the bad endings. If Galeem defeats Dharkon, Mario watches in trepidation as Galeem unleashes a wave of light. If Dharkon defeats Galeem, Mario is seen lifelessly slumping over as the world is engulfed in darkness. Template:-

Alternate costumes

 

Gallery

Character Showcase Video

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Trivia

  • The pose Mario strikes in his new up taunt resembles a piece of promotional artwork first released for Club Nintendo, but without the wink.
  • Mario's pose in his official artwork resembles his neutral air.
  • The segment during the E3 2018 Nintendo Direct focusing on his new Builder suit features Mario knocking Squirtle off of a Pipe on Mushroomy Kingdom. This is likely a reference to the series' common Koopa Troopa enemies, which are also turtles.
  • In the E3 demo of the game, Mario's portrait, strangely, used his in-game model as opposed to the render made for him in the game. This was also the case with Link, Pikachu and Villager. This has since been fixed.
  • Mario's trailer is the only one that uses a background song with English lyrics; in this case, "Jump Up, Super Star!", the main theme of Super Mario Odyssey.
    • Additionally, Mario is the only character to vocalize at all in their character trailers, whereas every other character's trailer has their voices muted.
  • This is the first game where Mario no longer has his Wario-based alternate costume since the first game, and the first since Melee where Mario no longer has a Fire-based alternate costume, possibly to make room for his Builder and Wedding Tuxedo-based outfits.
  • Mario is the only character in World of Light that appears in every cutscene featuring the presence of a fighter, and is also the only character to appear in the bad ending where Dharkon emerges victorious.