Mario (SSBM)

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

Charles Martinet reprises his role as Mario, albeit via recycled voice clips from .

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 at 12th place and two places lower than his clone. Like in Smash 64, Mario acts as a well-rounded character, with average attributes across the board. He has above average comboing ability due to the somewhat low knockback and the angles at which his moves tend to send on, and a very versatile grab game: his powerful back throw can KO most opponents with ease and gimp some recoveries, while his up and down throws can chain-grab. Mario also has a solid edge-guarding game, with a solid projectile in his Fireball, and his Cape which can easily and efficiently gimp almost every other character's recovery. Mario, however, lacks a reliable finisher, with many moves with aforementioned low knockback with the exception of his forward and down smash. His recovery is also predictable and short, though he can extend it, which leaves him vulnerable to being gimped by characters such as. His mediocre range also leaves him with trouble against characters with disjointed hitboxes such as. Overall, Mario has average matchups in tournament play, with favorable matchups against most lower tiered characters though having disadvantageous matchups against higher tiered characters, especially against those who can either gimp or outrange him.

Attributes
As a character, 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 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. 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, , and , while his down throw can chain grab heavy characters, as well as being able to chain grab and  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 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 recover from the sides, and he has the ability to wall-jump, which can act as a help on stages such as Final Destination.

Overall, Mario could be considered to be a poor-man's Marth. While both characters have great combo ability and a similar recovery, Marth has a much easier time finishing off opponents as well as having longer range in his attacks and his grab range making it much easier for Marth to chain-grab fast-fallers compared to Mario.

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

 * He also has a slightly darker skin tone, and his hair and shoes are a much darker brown color.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Back throw:

Special moves

 * Fireball:
 * Cape:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Cape:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Cape:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Mario Tornado:
 * Mario Tornado:

Version history
Mario was nerfed in the PAL version of Melee although due to many characters ranked above him being nerfed, his viability remains similar overall.

NTSC 1.01 PAL

Moveset
For a gallery of Mario's hitboxes, see here.

Stats
NTSC

PAL

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Mario players (SSBM)


 * - Widely considered to be the best Mario player in the world. Placed 9th at and, 33rd at  and , as well as 65th at . Has defeated players such as , , , and.
 * - A notable Mario player in the United States, residing in Georgia. Placed 9th at and 13th at.
 * - One of the best Mario players in the United States before switching to Marth. Placed 25th at . Has wins over and.
 * - Once mained Mario under the tag "Scorpion Master" and occasionally used him in side events or online tournaments. Has beaten, , and with Mario while under the alias.
 * - Former Mario main, best in the world when active. Placed top 6 at a few Tournament Go events.
 * - Formerly the best Mario player in Europe prior to switching to Captain Falcon. Placed 17th at and 25th at  and.

Tier placement and history
Very early in the Melee metagame, when few players knew the potential of now-top tier characters, Mario was considered one of the best characters in the game, ranking as high as 5th on the first tier list. This could be attributed to Mario's simple but effective combo setups, strong attacks, low learning curve, and lack of any outstanding drawbacks due to being well-rounded, as well as his extendable recovery. As the metagame advanced, however, Mario's average statistics were magnified as the potentials for many other superior characters, such as, , and the , were discovered. This caused Mario to slowly slip down the tier list as time progressed, as well as lose significant placing in large tournaments; eventually, (under the alias "Scorpion Master") was the only person who placed anywhere significant with him, but even he rarely placed high enough to earn money from playing Mario, cashing in at 25th place at Apex 2010 instead of his usual top 8 placements when using better characters. On the current tier list, he ranks 15th place in the C+ tier; on the other hand, his clone and semi-clone, who were once widely considered worse than Mario, have surpassed him in placements. Despite the tier differences, some players, such as Shroomed, believe Mario could potentially be better than Dr. Mario, due to his faster aerials, arguably better recovery, and longer reach and disjoint in some of his attacks, such as forward Smash and down Smash, supplemented with ’s respectable representation with the character. However, other Luigi and Dr. Mario mains have since achieved stronger competitive breakthroughs (exhibited with Luigi’s bigger player base and Franz’s rising success), which influenced most top players to view Mario’s standing otherwise.

In Classic Mode, Mario can appear as an ally in team and giant fights, a solo, team, giant, multi, and metal opponent. In Mario's appearances, he either appears on Princess Peach's Castle or Rainbow Cruise. On a team with Bowser, he appears on and with Peach, he appears on Mushroom Kingdom II; during the battle against Mario + Bowser on Battlefield, the stage will play the Princess Peach's Castle track.

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 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, with the remaining time registering 2 in the seconds digit, his younger brother will take his place in a cutscene that will trigger right before this battle, which has Luigi stomping on Mario's head to get to the top of the castle.

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.

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 and fights against on.
 * Event 10: All-Star Match 1: Mario is the first opponent to be fought in this series of staged battles. The player battles him on, which will transition to the next stage if Mario gets defeated. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him along with , , , and Bowser.
 * Event 19: Peach's Peril: Mario must protect Peach from a slightly larger Bowser on . Both Mario and Peach have 1 stock each while Bowser has infinite lives.
 * Event 22: Super Mario 128: The player chooses any character and must defeat a total of 128 tiny Marios on Mushroom Kingdom II.
 * Event 25: Gargantuans: A scenario designed as a homage to movies and their various tropes. On the Fourside stage, with unlimited time, the player plays as a giant-sized Bowser (as "Godzilla") with 1 stock against a giant-sized Donkey Kong (as "King Kong") with 2 stock. A tiny Mario and a tiny Peach are also present in this match, who usually gets KO'd in one hit.
 * Event 31: Mario Bros. Madness: The player chooses any character and must fight Mario and in a two-timed match on . The player must have the most points within the two minutes to clear this event.
 * Event 38: Super Mario Bros. 2: The player chooses any character and must defeat Mario, Luigi, and Peach in a two-stock match on Mushroom Kingdom II. Both the characters and the stage are a direct throwback to the original Super Mario Bros. 2, an NES sequel to Super Mario Bros.

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

Trivia

 * Mario's Up Special attack is the only Up Special move in Melee that allows the player to break out of their freefall.
 * 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 's.
 * If the Master Hand glitch is used in an event and sets a record, the score is shown on Mario.
 * In the PAL Version, Mario's weight was decreased from 100 to 98. This has been carried over into future installments.
 * Mario's taunt also expands his hitbox size. Getting hit during the taunt animation causes Mario to automatically transform to back to his normal size.
 * Mario,, , , , , and are the only characters whose portraits on the character select screen match their official artwork.
 * Mario, Peach,, and  are the only fighters with English voice actors in Melee.
 * When Star KO'ing Giant Mario or Giant, their voice will immediately fade out. This will not happen with any other character.