Mario (SSBM)

Mario in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Mario
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Tier	C+ (15) (North America) E (15) (Europe)

Mario (マリオ, Mario) returns as a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He was announced at E3 2001. He also has a clone, Dr. Mario, with whom he shares a lot of attributes and special moves.

As in Super Smash Bros., Charles Martinet's portrayal of Mario from Super Mario 64 was re-purposed for Melee, with the ones used in the previous Smash title returning alongside new ones.

Mario is ranked 15th out of 26 on the current tier list, placing him in the C+ tier. This is very similar to his previous ranking in Smash 64, where he is ranked 7th out of 12. It also puts him three places lower than his younger brother, Luigi, and two places lower than his clone, Dr. Mario. Like in Smash 64, Mario acts as a well-rounded character, with average attributes for the most part. He has impressive combo abilities due to a variety of weak but fast attacks. He also packs a very versatile grab game: his powerful back throw can KO most opponents, while his up and down throws can start or extend combos and chain-grabs. Mario also has a solid edgeguarding game, with fast, active aerials, and a side special that can easily and efficiently gimp almost any recovery.

Unfortunately, Mario's negatives largely offset his positives. He has few reliable finishers, with most moves being low-power combo tools that rely on edgeguarding to take stocks. His recovery is also predictable and short, (although he can extend it with techniques, this is too difficult to be practical) which leaves him vulnerable to being gimped. His mediocre range leaves him with little counterplay to characters with disjointed hitboxes, and Mario's Fireballs aren't a sufficient compromise when landing aerials and grabs offers such high payoff.

Overall, while Mario possesses an equal amount of weaknesses as positives, he has disadvantageous matchups against higher tiered characters, especially against those who can outrange and/or edgeguard him, greatly limiting his potential in competitive play. Very early on, Mario was considered to be among the best characters in the game, but as the metagame developed, Mario's reception would drop to only being merely average at best - especially in contrast to his clones. Despite being overshadowed by them, and even said clones often being deemed nonviable at top-level play, Mario has been able to place well in notable tournaments thanks to the efforts of players such as пooп, Mango, and prior to his ban, A Rookie.

Attributes

Mario using his various recovery options to recover onto the stage. This is a TAS clip from Perfect Control.

Mario falls under the archetype of being of an all-rounder 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 and low knockback aerials, and the addition of a good 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. He has a meteor smash in his forward aerial, albeit it having high startup and ending lag and not being too powerful, and his back aerial sends opponents on a decent angle for edgeguarding. Mario's Fireballs can also gimp 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 back throws can easily set up gimp KOs, especially the latter, while his up and down throws can act as combo starters, as well as very effective chain grabs: Mario's up throw can chain grab fast fallers such as Fox, Falco, and Captain Falcon, while his down throw can chain grab heavy characters, as well as being able to chain grab Pikachu and Pichu up to high percents, if not to a KO.

However, Mario suffers from some KOing problems. He 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 calls for advantageous positioning, as well as 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, often better serving as an on-stage combo extending tool, rather than a method of an off-stage KO.

Mario also suffers from a below average recovery, in the general sense. Super Jump Punch only grants average, to slightly below average horizontal and vertical distance; it can be used for the advanced technique known as a "Super Jump Punch wall jump", which enables his wall jump after spending his up special, followed by another up special. However, not only does this require pressing against the wall, it is among the most difficult advanced techniques to reliably execute in the game. Mario Tornado can only grant vertical distance if the B button is mashed very quickly. Mario's Cape can also grant a very slight recovery boost, more than Dr. Mario's Super Sheet, while also stalling better, though it can generally only add a slight boost once per recovery (as is the case with Mario Tornado) requiring a normal landing on stage to regain them as recovery distance tools. Furthermore, his Fireballs can stuff the opponents edgeguarding attempts while recovering from high corners, but they add no recovery distance.

Overall, Mario is largely considered an average-at-best character choice competitively. While he does have some great combo ability and a somewhat extendable recovery, he struggles with finishing off opponents and having short range in his attacks, and despite having chain-grabs on fast-fallers, struggles with a short grab range as well, leaving him with a mostly unspectacular presence in the modern metagame. For this reason, it is particularly notable when Mario is wielded successfully against a formidable opponent.

Changes from Super Smash Bros.

When making the transition from Smash 64 to Melee, Mario got a mix of buffs and nerfs, but was neither strongly buffed or nerfed. Mario is faster on the ground and he greatly benefits from the introduction of air dodging giving him a solid wavedash which makes his grounded movement much more solid overall. The speed of Mario's attacks has been considerably improved as most of his attacks have decreased ending lag and a decent amount of them have decreased startup lag as well, and his new forward smash, a palm thrust that emits a fiery blast, has more range and is more reliable due to the addition of a sweetspot located on the explosion. His edgeguarding has also considerably improved as his back aerial is considerably faster and his up aerial has been retooled to give it more edgeguarding potential. His new side special Cape also gives him a new powerful edgeguarding tool as well as an extra tool for recovering.

As for his nerfs, Mario's damage output has been decreased and his KO power has been considerably decreased as many of his previous KO moves have been greatly weakened making it far more difficult for Mario to KO his opponents. In particular, his new forward aerial, while now capable of meteor smashing and losing its sourspot, is much slower and weaker and has less range. His strongest KO moves (his forward and down smashes) while faster now have sourspots making them more difficult to use effectively. While Mario has a few new options to recover such as his cape and wall jump, his recovery is overall worse (especially when relative to the cast) as his air speed is slower, he falls faster, his fireballs are smaller making them a worse option to wall out opponents while recovering and his Super Jump Punch travels less distance making him easier to edgeguard.

Overall, Mario is largely a much weaker character as his damage output is lower, his combo game is weaker in some aspects and many of his previous KO moves can no longer KO under 90-120%. In exchange, his attacks are much faster and his grounded movement has been improved especially due to the introduction of wavedashing. Mario remains in a similar spot on Melee's tier list and he overall struggles against higher tiered characters, limiting his success in competitive play.

Aesthetics

• The graphical upgrades of the Nintendo GameCube allow for a more detailed appearance of Mario. His appearance more closely resembles official N64-era renders of him from games such as Super Mario 64 and Mario Party. His physique looks much more similar to its official art, while his red cap and shirt are slightly darker and the seams on his overalls are more accentuated. He also has a slightly darker skin tone, and his hair and shoes are a much darker brown color.
• Mario's green alternate costume from Smash 64 is now accessible through normal battles instead of just Team Battles.
• Mario gains a new victory pose: he makes a fire and when the fire disappears, Mario strikes a pose. It replaces his hopping victory pose in Smash 64.

Attributes

• Mario walks much faster (0.8 (24) → 1.1).
• Mario dashes slightly faster (1.467 (44) → 1.5).
  • However, Mario's initial dash is much slower (1.8 (54) → 1.5) and covers less distance.
• Mario's traction is slightly higher (0.0533 (1.6) → 0.06), making it easier for him to punish out of shield.
• Mario's jumpsquat is longer (3 frames → 4).
• Mario's air speed is slower (1 (30) → 0.86 (NTSC) / 0.83 (PAL)).
• Mario's air acceleration is lower (0.0667 (2) → 0.045), though it's no longer the slowest in the game.
• Mario's jump height is significantly lower (45.33 (1360) → 29), going from the 6th highest out of 12 characters to the 4th lowest out of 26.
  • Mario's short hop is also drastically lower (26.6067 (798.2) → 11.025). This improves his ability to hit opponents low on the ground with short hop aerials, as well as his ability to quickly land and continue aerial pressure, but also hinders his ability to auto-cancel his aerials and performing two aerials in a short hop.
• Mario's gravity is higher (0.08 (2.4) → 0.095).
• Mario falls faster (1.467 (44) → 1.7), improving his vertical endurance but making him more susceptible to combos.
  • However, Mario's fast falling speed is slightly slower (2.333 (70) → 2.3). The difference between his falling speed and fast falling speed is much lower (increase: 59.1% → 39.3%), which makes it more predictable when landing and gives him fewer options in the air.
• Exclusively to the PAL version, Mario's weight is lower (100 (1) → 98).
• Mario now has the ability to wall jump, improving his recovery.
• The introduction of air dodging benefits Mario overall as he can now wavedash. His wavedash is overall solid due to his short jumpsquat/average traction; improving his movement options.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Both the first and third hits deal more damage (2% (hit 1)/4% (hit 3) → 3%/5%).
  • The first two hits now have set knockback (8 (base), 50 (scaling) → 20 (set)/100), and their angles have been altered (361° (hit 1)/70° (hit 2) → 83°/85° (both)), allowing them to connect more reliably.
  • The first two hits transition into the later hits sooner (frame 10 (hit 1)/8 (hit 2) → 6 (both)).
  • All hits have less ending lag (FAF 18 (hit 1)/20 (hit 2)/26 (hit 3) → 16/19/23).
  • Mario can no longer cancel the first hit into grab.
  • The second hit has a shorter duration (frames 3-5 → 3-4)
  • The third hit has more startup lag (frame 3 → 5).
  • The third hit no longer has anti-rebounding priority.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less startup (frame 8 → 5) and ending lag (FAF 43 → 33).
  • It has a much shorter duration (frames 8-17 → 5-7).
  • It deals less damage (14% (up)/13% (side)/12% (down) → 10%/9%/8%) and has decreased base knockback (10 → 6), significantly hindering its KO potential.
    • Additionally, the down angled variant now has very weak set knockback (1), making it extremely punishable on hit at any percentage.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less startup (frame 5 → 4) and ending lag (FAF 42 → 30).
  • It now launches opponents towards Mario (86° → 96°).
  • It has a shorter duration (frames 5-16 → 4-12).
  • It deals less damage (10% → 8%).
  • It has more base knockback but lower knockback scaling (0 (base), 150 (scaling) → 26/125).
    • This along with its lower ending lag makes it much safer on hit at lower percents.
    • However, this along with its lower damage also hinders its KO potential.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 35).
  • It deals less damage (12% → 8%/9%) and knockback (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 10/80).
  • It has a shorter duration (frames 5-11 → 5-8).
  • Mario no longer moves forward while using it, giving it much less range.
  • It now launches opponents vertically (361° → 80°). This hinders its spacing potential while not granting it combo potential due to its low power and high ending lag.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has less startup (frame 8 → 6) and ending lag (FAF 41 → 38).
  • The late hit has a shorter duration (frames 12-28 → 10-25).
  • It deals less damage (12% (clean), 10% (late) → 9%/7%).
  • It has more base knockback but lower knockback scaling (16 (base), 100 (scaling) → 70/50 (clean), 10/100 → 45/30 (late)), hindering its KO potential.
  • It now launches opponents behind Mario (361° → 110° (clean)/120° (late)).
• Forward smash:
  • Mario has a new forward smash: he leans forward and thrusts his hand in front of him, emitting a small fiery explosion from his palm.
  • It has less startup (frame 16 → 12) and ending lag (FAF 54 → 42); now matching Luigi's version.
  • The fire hitbox deals more damage (18% (up)/17 (side)%/16% (down) → 19%/18%/17%).
    • However, it deals less knockback (30 (base), 100 (scaling) → 25/95), hindering its KO potential despite its higher damage.
  • The non fire hitboxes deal less damage (18% (up)/17 (side)%/16% (down) → 15%/(11%/10%)/13%) and knockback (30 (base), 100 (scaling) → 25/96).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's animation has been altered with Mario now taking a massive step forward as he leans for the headbutt.
    • The animation change gives the move more horizontal range than before.
    • It also gives the move significantly less ending lag (FAF 60 → 40) than before.
    • However, Mario no longer performs a small jump, reducing its vertical range.
  • It has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 7-15 → 9-11).
  • It grants less intangibility to Mario's head (frames 7-10 → 9-11).
  • It deals much less damage (19% → 15%), knockback (26 (base), 120 (scaling) → 32/97), and launches at a slightly lower angle (85° → 83°). This greatly hinders its KO potential; no longer being one of the strongest up smashes.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less startup lag (frame 8 → 5) and a shorter total duration (FAF 45 → 38).
  • It has a much shorter duration due to now possessing a front hit and a back hit rather than a constantly active hitbox (frames 8-29 → 5-6 (front), 14 (back)).
    • This also gives the move more ending lag as its total duration was not fully compensated (now having 23 frames of cooldown as opposed to 15).
    • However, this also allows the move to hit twice.
  • The front hit deals less damage (17% → 16%) and knockback (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/75), significantly hindering its KO potential.
  • The back hit deals much less damage (17% → 10%/12%) and knockback (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 35/75), drastically hindering its KO potential.

Aerial attacks

• Due to his lower short hop, Mario can no longer auto-cancel neutral, forward or down aerials in a short hop, nor can he perform two aerials in a short hop.
  • When combined with the weakening of L-canceling and the reduction to shieldstun, this hinders the combo potential, shield pressuring potential and safety of Mario's aerials.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 46).
  • It auto-cancels slightly earlier (frame 37 → 36).
    • However, it no longer auto-cancels as soon as its hitboxes are no longer active.
  • It deals less damage (14% (clean)/11% (late) → 12%/8%) without full compensation on its base knockback (15 (clean)/0 (late) → 20/15).
  • It has a shorter duration (frames 3-10 (clean)/11-36 (late) → 3-6/7-32).
  • It has more landing lag (14 frames → 16).
• Forward aerial:
  • Mario has a new forward aerial: an overhanded downward swing with an enlarged fist; officially referred to as "Meteor Knuckle".
  • It is now a meteor smash (361° → 280°).
    • This significantly improves its combo potential against grounded opponents.
    • However when combined with the introduction of meteor cancelling, this significantly hinders its reliability.
  • It has less landing lag (30 frames → 21).
  • It has noticeably increased startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 11-26 → 18-22).
  • It has much more ending lag (FAF 40 → 60).
  • It has a much longer animation (39 frames → 74).
  • It auto-cancels later (frame 27 → 43).
  • It deals less damage (16% → 15%) and knockback (10 (base), 100 (scaling) → 30/70), significantly hindering its KO potential.
  • It has less range.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has a new animation where Mario kicks more sideways with his right side facing up, instead of kicking backward face-down. Mario also recovers differently without curling up into a flip.
    • This new animation is much shorter (39 frames → 28), decreasing its ending lag (FAF 40 → 29), as well as the amount of time Mario cannot grab the ledge after using the move.
  • It has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 10-19 → 6-17).
    • When combined with its decreased ending lag, this makes it a more effective tool for edgeguarding and wall of pains.
    • However, the clean hit has a shorter duration (frames 10-13 → 6-8).
  • It auto-cancels slightly earlier (frame 20 → 19).
  • It deals less damage (16% (clean)/10% (late) → 11%/9%), greatly hindering the clean hit's KO potential.
    • The late hit has increased base knockback (0 → 7) although this does not fully compensate for its reduced damage.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 30).
  • It has much less landing lag (40 frames → 15).
  • Its angle has been altered (80° (clean)/70° (late) → 55°).
    • This grants the move edgeguarding potential.
    • However, this significantly hinders its combo and juggling potential removing one of Mario's most powerful combo tools.
  • It deals less damage (12% → 11%) and has decreased knockback scaling (120 → 100).
  • It has more startup lag with a shorter duration due to no longer having a late hit (frames 2-4 (clean)/5-11 (late) → 4-9). It is no longer the fastest aerial in the game in terms of startup lag.
  • It auto-cancels later (frame 12 → 16).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has a shorter total duration (FAF 39 → 38).
  • It has less landing lag (36 frames → 23).
  • It now has a landing hitbox.
  • Each hit deals less damage (3% → 2%), greatly reducing the move's maximum damage potential (24% → 12%).
  • Due to hitting seven times instead of eight:
    • It has a shorter duration (frames 10-11, 13-14, 16-17, 19-20, 22-23, 25-26, 28-29, 31-32 → 10-11, 13-14, 16-17, 19-20, 22-23, 25-26, 28-29), increasing its ending lag.
    • It no longer auto-cancels as soon as its hitboxes are no longer active.
  • It is no longer a meteor smash (-70° → 94°), removing its edgeguarding potential and making it connect less reliably.
  • The weakening of L-cancelling combined with the move losing its ability to auto-cancel in a short hop and with it gaining a landing hitbox has significantly hindered down aerial's followup potential.
    • These changes combined with the changes to shieldstun and its lower damage have drastically hindered down aerial's shield pressuring potential; no longer being able to lead into shield break combos.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Mario now has a pummel, up throw and a down throw, increasing his options out of a grab. He can also chaingrab characters with said throws.
  • Grabs have more startup lag (frame 6 → 7 (standing), 11 (dash)) and ending lag (FAF 16 → 31 (standing), 41 (dash)).
  • Mario's throws are now weight-dependent.
• Forward throw:
  • Mario releases opponents from forward throw earlier (frame 14 → 12) and it has less ending lag (FAF 31 → 28).
  • It deals less damage (12% → 9%) and knockback (80 (base), 70 (scaling) → 60/65).
• Back throw:
  • Back throw's collateral hit has much less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 18-44 → 1-43).
  • Mario releases opponents from back throw slightly earlier (frame 45 → 44).
  • It deals less damage (16% → 12%) and knockback (70 (base), 70 (scaling) → 80/65), making it much weaker.
  • The collateral hit deals less damage (12% → 10%).
  • It has slightly more ending lag (FAF 66 → 67).
  • It has been hindered greatly by the introduction of DI, as opponents now have ample time to correctly DI the throw and survive it for even longer.

Special moves

• Fireball:
  • Fireball has less startup (frame 16 → 14) and ending lag (FAF 46 → 44).
  • Fireballs travel faster.
  • Fireballs can only bounce two times instead of three although it still covers the same amount of distance when used on the ground.
  • Fireballs are smaller, reducing their hitbox.
  • Fireballs have a much shorter maximum duration (frames 16-154 → 14-88).
    • These changes combined with Mario's faster falling speed greatly hinders the moves use as an offensive recovery tool.
  • Fireballs deal less damage (7% → 6%) and have decreased base knockback (10 → 5).
• Cape:
  • As with all returning veterans, Mario now has a side special; Cape. It is based on the cape feather power-up in Super Mario World. It can reflect projectiles as well as reverse an opponent's direction if it hits them. It also gives Mario a slight boost when used in the air. This gives Mario an option to deal with projectiles; as well as an additional edgeguarding and recovery option.
• Super Jump Punch:
  • Super Jump Punch can now be cancelled with a wall jump near the apex of the move, aiding Mario's recovery if he is close to a wall.
  • It deals slightly less damage (16% → 15%).
  • It has more startup lag (frame 2 → 3).
    • Its intangibility also has more startup lag (frame 2 → 3).
  • It has more landing lag (25 frames → 30).
  • It grants Mario noticeably less distance, worsening its recovery potential.
  • The first hit has increased set knockback (110 → 130).
  • Hits 2-5 have increased set knockback (100 → 110/150).
  • Hits 6-9 no longer have consistent set knockback (100 → 90/120).
  • The final hit has altered knockback (0 (base), 170 (scaling) → 40/140).
• Mario Tornado:
  • Mario Tornado has less ending lag (FAF 87 → 80).
  • Mario travels slightly faster when using it on the ground.
  • The first and final hit deal more damage (1% (both) → 2% (hit 1)/5% (hit 8 ground)/3% (hit 3 air)).