Dr. Mario (SSBU)

Dr. Mario (, Doctor Mario) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially revealed on June 12th, 2018 alongside, , and the rest of the returning roster. While Dr. Mario remains a close clone of, he is not classified as an Echo Fighter. As such, Dr. Mario is classified as Fighter #18.

As in Super Smash Bros. 4, 's portrayal of Mario from Super Smash Bros. Brawl was repurposed for Dr. Mario in Ultimate.

Dr. Mario is currently ranked 79th out of 82 on the Ultimate tier list, placing him in the lower half of D+ tier and making him a bottom five character. Despite being buffed overall, this is a drop from his placement in Smash 4, where he was ranked 48th out of 54, and is his worst placement in the series. Dr. Mario's playstyle is effectively a slower yet stronger version of Mario's. As a result, all of his moves possess better KO potential and/or damage output compared to Mario, while he keeps most of Mario's frame data, which allows him to perform short yet effective combos. In addition, Dr. Mario has several strong yet effective KO options in his arsenals, including Super Jump Punch, Dr. Tornado, most of his aerials, and back throw. This means players have to play more carefully when close to Dr. Mario, as a single whiff could lead into a deadly punish.

However, Dr. Mario's weaknesses outshine many of his strengths. His most notable weakness is his poor mobility, which cripples his neutral game and makes him vulnerable to camping. In addition, as his playstyle largely revolves around him getting close to his opponent, his poor mobility also makes it harder for him to avoid retaliation from opponents, as Dr. Mario's short range means he is vulnerable to moves with long range or disjoints. Finally, Dr. Mario's recovery, while improved, is still one of the worst in the game, as its short range and his slow air mobility makes him vulnerable to gimping.

Overall, Dr. Mario is a character that has good frame data and strong damage output and KO potential, but his sluggish movements cause him to rely more on a bait-and-punish playstyle. Although his represenation has remained below average for most of the game's lifespan, he has nonetheless seen success from players such as and.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: With the exception of the third method, Dr. Mario must then be defeated on New Donk City Hall. In World of Light, he is fought on the Ω form of Mario Bros.
 * Play VS. matches, with Dr. Mario being the 62nd character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in his unlock tree, being the 7th character unlocked after.
 * Have Dr. Mario join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
As a clone of, Dr. Mario is a middleweight that can wall jump. Like his normal self, Dr. Mario also has excellent frame data: when not counting special moves, the overall start-up lag of his normal moveset is very fast. As a result, Dr. Mario is both difficult to punish and very effective at punishing. Although the two share an overwhelming number of identical animations and even the exact same values for certain attributes (weight, falling speed, fast falling speed and gravity), Dr. Mario nevertheless has a number of traits that differ from his normal self. Like Mario, Dr. Mario's height is below-average.

Dr. Mario functions like a stronger, yet slower Mario, owing to the implementation of multipliers to the majority of his moveset and some of his attributes. Most of Dr. Mario's moveset deals 1.176× more damage compared to Mario's moveset. Conversely, his full hop height is 0.85× lower; his walking and dashing speeds are 0.7942× slower; his air speed, air acceleration, short hop height, and double jump height are 0.7648× lower. Most of the multipliers result in Dr. Mario being distinctly affected by passive equipment physics from Super Smash Bros. 4, in which he specifically possesses a +22 Attack value and a -65 Speed value. Although Dr. Mario's lower jump height makes his short hop more effective than Mario's, these modified attributes collectively render his overall mobility as sub-par. His wall jump and ledge jump also cover less distance as a result. Conversely, Dr. Mario's higher overall damage output results in him being noticeably more efficient at KOing in comparison to Mario.

Other noticeable differences between Dr. Mario and Mario are seen in their movesets and, by extension, their playstyles. Although Dr. Mario's overall frame data is only very slightly slower than Mario's (if even at all), his higher overall damage output and slower overall mobility make him unable to use a healthy balance of offense and defense like his normal self. Instead, Dr. Mario is much better suited to a bait-and-punish playstyle. On a related note, Dr. Mario's combo game is less varied and consistent compared to his normal self's, especially with regard to aerial combos. Despite this, his combos deal respectable damage in spite of their fairly short lengths, similarly to characters like.

Dr. Mario's grounded moveset has plenty of utility in spite of his slow speed. Neutral attack is Dr. Mario's fastest attack, and the first two hits can lock opponents. Forward tilt is a great get-off-me option, and possesses situational KO potential at very high percentages unlike Mario's version. Up tilt is a decent anti-air and juggling tool that can KO at very high percentages, and it can also combo into itself, neutral aerial, up aerial, back aerial and Super Jump Punch, but is not as effective as a combo starter as his down tilt; however, the move's horizontal range is shorter than in Smash 4, and its hitboxes start from a higher position, allowing shorter, crouching or prone characters to potentially low-profile the move. Down tilt is one of Dr. Mario's best combo starters; although it is short-ranged, it is very reliable at a wide range of percentages, with its lower knockback scaling compared to Mario's even allowing it to combo at percentages where Mario's would not work, and depending on the percentage, it can lead into neutral attack, forward tilt, up tilt (only on certain characters), itself, up smash (only on certain characters), down smash, neutral aerial, up aerial, back aerial and Super Jump Punch. His dash attack has vertical knockback, allowing it to serve as a combo starter but hindering its edgeguarding potential. His forward smash, while slower than his other smash attacks, is extremely powerful for an attack of its speed, especially if the sweetspot connects; unlike Mario's, it possesses the electric effect, has shorter range, and the sweetspot and sourspot hitboxes are swapped around. Up smash functions more similarly to Luigi's version than to Mario's version, as it launches the opponent diagonally instead of vertically, and will launch them in the opposite direction of where Dr. Mario is facing as long as they are in front of him; compared to Luigi's, however, it launches at a lower angle, and it has lower base knockback than both Mario and Luigi's up smashes. Nevertheless, up smash's launch angle does make it much better at edgeguarding or setting up edgeguards than both Mario and Luigi's versions, and its higher damage output and knockback scaling compared to both of them also makes it a highly lethal KOing option. His down smash is his fastest smash attack, hitting on both sides (with the back hit being stronger than the front hit), and like Mario's version, it is useful for punishing rolls.

Like Mario, Dr. Mario possesses a decent grab game. His overall grab range is average, but each of his grabs have minimal start-up and ending lag. Forward throw is useful for initiating edgeguards; back throw is one of the strongest back throws in the game; up throw is a decent combo starter that can combo into up tilt (certain characters only), up aerial, neutral aerial, back aerial and Super Jump Punch; and down throw is his most effective combo throw, being able to combo into up tilt (certain characters only), up smash (certain characters only), neutral aerial, up aerial, back aerial, Super Jump Punch and Dr. Tornado depending on the opponent's percentage.

Like his normal self, Dr. Mario's air game is above-average. Neutral aerial is a "reverse sex kick": its clean hitbox deals minimal damage and knockback, whereas its late hitbox deals more damage. Thanks to it hitting on frame 3 and having low landing lag, its clean hitbox is ideal for set-ups. Conversely, its late hitbox is decent at edgeguarding, due to its long hitbox duration and larger hitbox than the late hit of Mario's equivalent move. Forward aerial has considerable start-up lag, but its clean hitbox makes it one of the strongest aerials in the game; as such, it is lethal when SHFFed against unwary opponents that are near the edge. Back aerial is also fast, auto-cancels in a short hop, and possesses a powerful clean hitbox, traits which collectively make it viable for KOing, edgeguarding and approaching. Up aerial's horizontal launching angle grants its beginning and ending frames decent combo potential into Super Jump Punch and back aerial, respectively, at low to medium percentages. This angle also makes its beginning frames capable of edgeguarding, unlike his normal self's up aerial. However, up aerial's launch angle also makes it much less effective at starting combos when SHFFed or juggling compared to Mario's. His new down aerial, while having slow startup, is a powerful meteor smash, making it an excellent option for edgeguarding; it is also an extremely solid combo starter with an extremely wide range of follow-ups on grounded opponents depending on their percentage, including neutral attack, forward tilt, up tilt, down tilt, dash attack, forward smash, up smash, down smash, grab, all aerial attacks (including itself), Super Jump Punch and Dr. Tornado.

With regard to special moves, Megavitamins travel farther in the air without landing compared to Mario's Fireball, and they bounce twice instead of three times; they also have altered knockback, allowing for a wider range of follow-ups. Super Sheet has more vertical range but less horizontal range than Cape, but its aerial version completely lacks the stalling effect of Mario's version, completely removing its recovery potential; it also has a 1.6× reflection multiplier, making reflecting projectiles with it more rewarding compared to doing so with Mario's Cape.

Unlike F.L.U.D.D., Dr. Tornado is an effective recovery option, with repeated mashing of the special move button allowing Dr. Mario to rise upward with it. It also deals damage. When coupled with its high damage output, very high knockback scaling and autolink angle, it is useful for edge-guarding, warding off edgeguarders, and even out-prioritizing attacks, and it also possesses excellent KO potential. However, Dr. Tornado's much shorter range makes it much riskier to use for edgeguarding compared to F.L.U.D.D. Due to Super Jump Punch consisting of a powerful clean hitbox and a weak late hitbox instead of multiple hitboxes like Mario's, it actually functions more similarly to 's Shoryuken or 's Dolphin Slash instead. As a result, its clean hitbox makes it a viable KOing option unlike Mario's. Super Jump Punch is also an extremely effective out of shield option thanks to its frame 3 startup, much like Mario's version.

However, Dr. Mario's flaws are significantly more noticeable in comparison to Mario's. The most prominent one is his lackluster mobility, which hinders his ability to approach opponents, and renders him vulnerable to zoning and circle camping from characters with strong projectile games and high mobility, respectively, similarly to and ; unlike those two characters, however, Dr. Mario has an effective projectile in Megavitamins, a smaller hurtbox, effective out of shield options, and a decent reflector in Super Sheet, giving him a better defensive game in comparison. Additionally, Dr. Mario shares Mario's notable weakness of having short range in his attacks, which can give him trouble against characters with long or disjointed hitboxes; whereas Mario's faster mobility allows him to somewhat circumvent this weakness, especially against characters with poor mobility and/or frame data, Dr. Mario is less capable of weaving in and out of his opponent's range, making such characters much more difficult for him to deal with. Dr. Mario's sluggish mobility compounds another notorious weakness—his recovery. Despite being able to wall jump and the fact that Dr. Tornado is a much better recovery option than Cape, the combination of his slow air speed, low jump height, slow air acceleration and Super Jump Punch's mediocre travel distance results in his recovery being predictable like Mario's.

Due to his overall recovery granting noticeably less vertical distance compared to Mario's, Dr. Mario is very vulnerable to gimping and edgeguards. As a result, it is optimal for him to read the opponent when trying to return to the stage, as well as knowing when and how to make use of Dr. Tornado, which has a huge amount of ending lag (33 frames, aerial version) and cannot sweetspot edges. Due to his short recovery distance, any sufficiently strong attacks, particularly semi-spikes, may launch him too far away to recover properly. Lastly, Dr. Mario is outclassed in certain aspects by other characters: in particular, has much better overall mobility;  has much more range; and  is much better at zoning.

Overall, Dr. Mario's strengths are outweighed by his weaknesses. His fast frame data enables him to pressure, combo and/or punish the opponent effectively at close range, while his above-average damage output makes him capable of KOing easily. Unlike Mario, however, his slow mobility hinders his neutral game so much that he is largely reliant on baiting and punishing. By extension, his sub-par recovery makes him a less capable edgeguarder compared to his normal self, and he retains his normal self's lack of range as well.

Differences from
Despite not being an Echo Fighter of, Dr. Mario is still a close clone of Mario. There is currently no confirmed reason for this oddity, though it is likely due to Dr. Mario debuting in Melee rather than SSB4 or Ultimate as with the other Echo Fighters.

Dr. Mario uses external modifiers to most of his stats rather than directly modifying them, so he sports subpar mobility compared to Mario. However, Dr. Mario compensates for his slower mobility with another external multiplier that increases the damage of his attacks in comparison, as all of his attacks deal noticeably more damage without any compensation on knockback, which enables him to KO more easily as a result.

Aside from that, Dr. Mario also has other differences in his moveset. These include a few moves not cloned from Mario, such as back throw, down aerial and Dr. Tornado, as well as many moves with altered functionality, such as his dash attack launching upward, his up smash launching opponents behind him, his forward smash possessing an electric effect, his neutral aerial being a "reverse sex kick," his forward aerial not being a meteor smash, his Megavitamins not being absorbable and Super Jump Punch being a powerful singular hit at the cost of less vertical distance. Despite the aesthetic similarities, the different properties of the aforementioned moves, as well as his altered attributes, are enough to noticeably change Dr. Mario's playstyle compared to Mario's, although not quite to the same extent as.

Ground attacks

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

Throws and other attacks

 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Down throw:

Special moves

 * Megavitamins:
 * Super Sheet:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Down special:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Super Sheet:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Down special:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Down special:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Down special:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Down special:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Down special:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Down special:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Down special:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Down special:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Down special:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Doctor Finale:
 * Doctor Finale:







Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Dr. Mario was previously a poorly regarded character in SSB4 due to a large combination of factors, including his lackluster mobility and short range granting him a poor neutral game, as well as his abysmal recovery and limited combo game, the latter especially compared to his regular incarnation. Likely due to these factors, Dr. Mario has been buffed in the transition to Ultimate, though not enough to raise his standing.

One of Dr. Mario's biggest buffs was to his already above-average damage output; all of his moves deal much more damage (excluding his pummel and get-up attacks), which further supplements his damage-racking game and his previously inconsistent KO ability. His recovery, while still poor, has nevertheless improved slightly; Dr. Tornado has increased distance, and the readdition of directional air dodges gives him another option to possibly extend and mix up his recovery. Additionally, Dr. Mario has a new down aerial and back throw; the former can now meteor smash opponents much like Mario's forward aerial, giving him an option that he notoriously lacked in the previous game. Meanwhile, the latter, albeit losing its collateral hitbox, has gained more knockback, now being among the strongest of its kind and even stronger than Mario's own.

Dr. Mario's entire special moveset has also seen numerous buffs. Megavitamins now deal enough damage and knockback to cause opponents to tumble, and launch at a higher angle, making them viable as a combo starter and even giving them the ability to set up KOs. Super Sheet has a higher reflection multiplier compared to Mario's Cape, and Super Jump Punch deals more knockback, making a superior KO move and deadlier out of shield option. However, Dr. Tornado was buffed significantly; outside of its improved recovery potential, it has gained heavy armor on startup if used on the ground, which makes it useful for tanking through attacks and breaking pressure. Additionally, it deals more damage and knockback, to the point it has gained notoriety for being able to KO offstage effectively at very low percentages; combined with its increased distance, it is now a deadly edgeguarding option. As a result of the improvements to Dr. Tornado, coupled with his revamped down aerial, Dr. Mario's edgeguarding game is now much more powerful in its own right.

In spite of this, Dr. Mario has received a few nerfs. Most notably, Dr. Mario's already sub-par mobility is slightly worse, given the nerfs to his air speed and jump height; while his mobility otherwise remains largely unaltered from his previous appearance, Dr. Mario is now much slower in comparison to the rest of the cast, especially considering most other fighters have received buffs to their mobility. He also shares some other nerfs with Mario, such as up tilt's hitbox placement adjusted, giving it inferior range in front of and underneath him, and his grabs having increased ending lag, hindering their utility and combos.

Compared to, Dr. Mario is still a slower and stronger clone of him. Aside from having an updated idle animation, slightly higher traction compared to Mario, an altered animation for his side special, as well as receiving a new down aerial and back throw, he has not been further decloned. He has also received many of the same changes as Mario.

Overall, Dr. Mario's damage-racking potential has increased and his recovery is safer and slightly better overall, though none of his buffs have benefitted him enough to raise his tier list placement significantly. He also retains many of his weaknesses from SSB4, such as short range, poor mobility, and awful recovery, none of which were toned down in game updates. Thus, despite performing better in Ultimate, Dr. Mario has not improved significantly from his appearance in SSB4, which is made more egregious when coupled with the buffs other veterans have received and the introduction of plentiful, more powerful DLC characters Dr. Mario struggles against. Ultimately, despite his buffs, Dr. Mario is worse relative to the cast in Ultimate.

Update history
Dr. Mario has been buffed overall by game updates. After a few minor changes in preceding patches, Dr. Mario received a number of useful buffs in update 7.0.0. Down tilt gained noticeable adjustments to its knockback and hitstun, improving its combo potential significantly. Forward tilt and late neutral aerial's damage outputs were increased noticeably at the cost of slight knockback compensation, which improved their spacing and KO potentials, respectively. Down aerial gained more active frames, which improved its consistency and edgeguarding potential. Lastly, clean Super Jump Punch's knockback was increased, which heightened its already considerable strength.

Afterwards, update 13.0.0 granted Dr. Mario other substantial buffs. Two of his most important tools in the neutral game, neutral aerial and up aerial, gained noticeable increases to their knockback and damage output, respectively. Other pivotal moves in Dr. Mario's moveset were also improved: down aerial is 2 frames faster overall, Super Sheet's reflection hitboxes gained more active frames, and Dr. Tornado's heavy armor activates earlier.

Overall, Dr. Mario fares better than he did at the launch of Ultimate. However, the competitive scene's general opinion is that his normal self still outshines him in nearly every category.

 

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Dr. Mario's hitboxes, see here.
 * Dr. Mario can wall jump.

Stats
Note: Dr. Mario's movement stats are coded to be the exact same as Mario's, but are multiplied to be slower using external factors. His walk, dash, and run speeds are multiplied by 0.7942, while his air friction, air speed, air acceleration, and jump heights are multiplied by 0.7648.

On-screen appearance

 * Stands behind a wall of Megavitamins, which then start to disappear starting from the top to reveal him. Has his eyes closed until all of the Megavitamins are gone, in which he opens them and assumes fighting stance.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Looks to the ground and rubs the sole of one of his shoes to the floor.
 * Side taunt: Pulls out a randomly colored Megavitamin, rolls it down his arm, uses his shoulder to toss it into the air, and then catches it.
 * Down taunt: Balls one of his fists and lightly pounds his shoulder.

Idle poses

 * Rolls his neck as if stretching it.
 * Pounds his fist into his palm.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Throws two randomly colored Megavitamins in different directions, dusts his gloves, pulls out two more Megavitamins of the same color, and smiles.
 * Up: Waves his stethoscope in front of himself, off to his side, then to the other, and then back in front of himself.
 * Right: Taps his shoe on the ground, contemplatively rubs his chin and then suddenly glances at the screen while continuing to rub his chin.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Dr. Mario players (SSBU)
 * - The best Dr. Mario player in North America. He has several strong results at majors, including 13th at, 25th at , and 33rd at . He's ranked 3rd on the Mexican Power Rankings.
 * - One of the first Dr. Mario players to garner any noticeable results, placing 33rd at with solo-Dr. Mario, 17th at  with mostly Dr. Mario, and 33rd at  using Dr. Mario to defeat . However since mid-2019 he has dropped Dr. Mario in favor of other characters.
 * - The best Dr. Mario player in the United States' online metagame. They placed highly at several online events such as 2nd at and 7th at  and was ranked 37th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v6. Although their activity has largely been in-region in the post-online metagame, they nonetheless have seen strong results, such as placing 2nd at  defeating some of the Midwest's best players including  and.
 * - Although more known for his, he also played Dr. Mario from 2019 to 2021 and was considered the best Dr. Mario player in Europe. He placed 5th at playing mostly Dr. Mario, and has also placed 5th at , 9th at , and 13th at  using Dr. Mario in notable bracket games and sets.
 * - One of the two best Dr. Mario players in Japan. He notably won the 256-entrants regional over  and, and has also placed highly at several majors, including 17th at  and 25th at.
 * - One of the two best Dr. Mario players in Japan. He is the only Dr. Mario player who had ever finished top 8 at a major, placing 3rd at, and has also finished strongly at several majors, including 17th at at 33rd at  and . He was ranked 115th on the OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse.

Tier placement and history
In the early metagame, opinions on Dr. Mario remained largely the same as it was in Super Smash Bros. 4. Although his power, out of shield options, and damage racking capabilities were improved in the transition to Ultimate, his sluggish speed, atrocious recovery, and mediocre range indicated that his worst weaknesses were still largely unaddressed, leaving him with poor matchups against characters such as, , and. Although players such as, , and saw success with the characters, most would either drop the character or relegated him to a secondary, worsening his poor representation. As a result, most players, including and, viewed Dr. Mario as a low tier, with some going as far as to say that he was one of the worst characters in the game. The current tier list reflects this, as Dr. Mario is ranked just above the likes of, , and.

Despite this negative perception, however, Dr. Mario still saw glimpses of success thanks to the efforts of dedicated mains, including in Japan and  during the online metagame. Furthermore, Dr. Mario received buffs from game updates that improved his combo and punish games. This left his true viability up to debate, with players such as and  believing Dr. Mario was potentially a mid tier fighter, while other players maintained that he was still a low tier fighter due to improvements to other fighters, as well as the introductions of, , and. Nevertheless, Dr. Mario's perception has improved since the early metagame, although he is unanimously agreed to be inferior to.

: Colorful Treatment Plan
In reference to the three viruses, Fever, Chill, and Weird, Dr. Mario's opponents are trios consisting of red, blue, and yellow alternates of a particular fighter.

Note: Every stage plays a track related to Dr. Mario or from the universe, no matter what universe the stage originates from.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Dr. Mario has  accompany the credits.

The spawn positions in Round 1 were changed in version 12.0.0. Player 1 Dr. Mario starts on the second floor of the building on Flat Zone X (which was Player 2's position beforehand) instead of on the floor in front of the building. Player 2 starts on the ground level right underneath Player 1 instead of on the second floor. The Mr. Game & Watch Team was moved slightly forward. Dr. Mario is overall further away from the Mr. Game & Watch Team in single-player mode, which means the round will take slightly longer than average.

Role in World of Light
Although Dr. Mario does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. Dr. Mario has his own awakening battle separate from that of, who appears in the opening cutscene.

Dr. Mario can be awakened in a cloud that is found on a pathway connected by a ribbon that also leads to a city-like area.

Spirit
Dr. Mario's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Dr. Mario has been unlocked. Unlocking Dr. Mario in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.

In Spirit Battles
Conditions in italic aren't listed on the Spirit Battle preview screen.

Trivia

 * With and  now representing different incarnations of Link,  and  now representing different incarnations of Princess Zelda, and  now briefly transforming into her Varia Suited form for her Final Smash, Dr. Mario is the only playable character to represent an alternate identity for another character, namely, with no gameplay connection between each other in Ultimate.
 * During 's character showcase trailer, Super Sheet uses Cape's animation instead of its new animation. Additionally, the sheet is unanimated and is attached to Dr. Mario's left arm.
 * Ultimate is the first Super Smash Bros. game where he is not holding a Megavitamin in his official art.
 * Ultimate is the first Smash game to feature Dr. Mario and have his inclusion be planned from the start. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Dr. Mario was a late development addition to pad out the roster. In Smash 4, Dr. Mario was originally going to be an of, but remained a clone as a last minute decision in order to appeal to his fanbase from Melee.
 * Using Megavitamins and pausing the game the moment the projectile appears in Dr. Mario's arm reveals that it will always appear completely red before changing to a randomized color one frame later.
 * Prior to version 2.0.0, Dr. Mario's down aerial was named Bone Drill, a name arguably more fitting for his down aerial in Smash 4. The current name, CLEAR!, references the message appearing when a level is completed in the original Dr. Mario, as well as the shout paramedics give when using defibrillators.
 * Dr. Mario's section in the Sound Test is functionally identical to that of Mario's, with some voice clips not used by Dr. Mario (such as "Let's-a go!" from Mario's on-screen appearance) being removed.
 * Unlike Mario, Dr. Mario's Star KO voice clip is listed before his heavy knockback voice clips rather than after after them, matching the order of the other base roster characters excluding and.
 * The voice clips of Dr. Mario's forward aerial, back throw, double jump, Doctor Finale, and Home-Run Bat swing are omitted despite Dr. Mario using them in-game.
 * Dr. Mario is the only character with custom equipment incorporated into his attributes.