Mario (SSB4)

Mario (, Mario) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was confirmed on June 11th, 2013 during the E3 2013 Nintendo Direct. He was also one of the main subjects of the Developer's Direct for Super Smash Bros. later during E3 2013. He was among the first wave of amiibo figurines for Smash 4. Charles Martinet's portrayal of Mario from Super Smash Bros. Brawl was repurposed for Smash 4.

Mario is ranked 9th out of 54 characters on the tier list, in the A tier, which is at the lower end of the top tier. This is a huge improvement from his 31st out of 38 ranking in Brawl where he stood at the top of the bottom tier, rendering him as the veteran with the most improvement in the transition. Additionally, Smash 4 is the first release in Super Smash Bros. where he is placed higher than a mid-tier, resulting in his best tier list placement yet. Mario's greatest asset is his effective frame data; most of his moves have little startup lag and have relatively low end lag. This results in Mario being fairly difficult to punish relative to most of the cast. His combo game is quite flexible, as Mario can rack up damage quickly and reliably, most notoriously with his down throw into multiple up tilts. In addition, he also has a versatile moveset: a disruptive projectile in his Fireball, a reflection-based and reverse-based move in his Cape that can counteract camping, and a decent, if niche edgeguarding option with F.L.U.D.D..

Despite being buffed significantly from Brawl, Mario retains several weaknesses. Mario's overall range is below average, giving him trouble against characters with long disjointed range such as and. Furthermore, he cannot effectively outcamp other characters, due to Fireball being relatively slow compared to some other projectiles in the game. Mario also suffers from a lack of consistent KO setups, lack of strong and effective KO options outside of forward and up smash and along side his short frame and relative floatiness for a middleweight, a weakness to rage setups. Mario's average attributes do not allow him to quickly gain an advantage either, as the strengths of other characters can contest his, with the most notable being his overall mobility.

Due to his lack of severe weaknesses, as well as one of the lowest technical curves in the game, Mario has had among the highest representation in tournaments, and has achieved excellent results at top level play. Owing to Mario's incredible tournament placings, especially during the summer of 2016, many smashers have viewed Mario as one of the best characters in the game and possibly deserving of an even higher ranking on the tier list;, for instance, has notably argued that Mario is the best character in Smash 4, while others claim that Mario should be lower due to his not as dominant results and his glaring range issues.

Attributes
Like in the majority of his games and spin-offs, Mario is intended to be a balanced character in terms of attributes, possessing average walking, dashing and falling speeds, air acceleration, gravity and weight. However, he also has high air speed and jumping force, but low traction. These balanced stats do not give Mario the edge when it comes to overall movement, but they nevertheless make him adept at most situations where a key attribute is needed to gain the advantage, which when combined with his very quick frame data, grants Mario a very effective neutral game. As a result, despite his attributes implying a jack-of-all-trades type of character, Mario is more of a rushdown character in practice.

Thanks to his incredibly quick attack speed, Mario shines in close-quarters combat, as few other characters like and  are a match for this speed. His fast attack speed allows him to consistently apply pressure to the opponent, and he's capable of quickly racking up damage once he gets the momentum, which is easy to do so on characters that cannot match his attack speed without getting heavily punished for it, such as. Excluding his forward smash, forward aerial and special moves, all of Mario's moves have fast startup and low ending and landing lag (the latter in the case of his aerial attacks). All of his grounded moves are prime examples of his quick frame data: his neutral attack is his fastest move and an overall effective way to rack up damage, along with handy combo capabilities, while his up and down tilts are very effective combo starters that can help rack up plenty of damage, and the former easily chains into itself at low percentages, as well as being hard to escape. All of his smash attacks are excellent KO options, as they can reliably KO at high percentages without being endlag-heavy; his forward smash has the highest power of all of his smash attacks when sweetspotted, down smash is a semi-spike, making it useful for forcing opponents offstage, and up smash is very hard to punish due to its speed, power and the fact it grants intangibility on his head.

Mario's aerial attacks are also very useful in many cases. Neutral aerial is a sex kick that can be useful in edgeguarding or for breaking combos. Back aerial has the longest reach and the highest knockback of Mario's aerial moves, allowing it to space effectively and reliably KO offstage. Up aerial's extremely quick startup, vertical launch angle and lack of sourspots let it combo into itself or other moves, on top of letting it easily break combos and setup the aforementioned. Down aerial is a great anti-juggling move that can also KO if used near the top blast line. It also benefits from frame cancelling, as its moderate landing lag is reduced, allowing for potential follow-ups. Finally, his forward aerial is a meteor smash with high base knockback for one, making it great for gimping all but the farthest reaching of recoveries.

His special moveset is highly varied and has plenty of uses. Fireball is a projectile with decently long range. It can be useful in the neutral game or in edgeguarding, thanks to its disruptive knockback, along with very useful chances to disrupt direct approaches. Super Jump Punch travels in a controllable diagonal direction and grants moderate distance, making it good at recovery. It also has intangibility upon startup, allowing it to be used out of shield very effectively. Due to its extremely quick startup, it is also a useful combo finisher, especially near the blast line. On the other hand, Cape reverses opponents, with the induced disorientation often being enough to allow a free hit or efficiently gimp a recovery, which aids in edgeguarding opponents. It is also a powerful reflector, making it highly useful in matchups against projectile-heavy characters, such as. F.L.U.D.D. is a mechanism that shoots water, pushing opponents away, which compliments his Cape. Though situational, it can occasionally be used to give Mario some breathing space. As a result of his Cape, F.L.U.D.D. and his fast aerials, Mario also boasts a versatile edgeguarding game.

Another valuable strength of Mario is his grab game. Even though his grab reach is only average, his grabs are among the fastest in the game, and his pummel, while moderately slow, can rack up some damage before throwing the opponent. His forward and up throws have the same overall use: they send the opponent at a disadvantageous position, where Mario can capitalize on their mistake. His back throw is by far his strongest throw and can reliably KO below 150% near the ledge on any character, and even earlier with rage. Finally, his down throw is a notorious combo starter. It can repeatedly lead into up tilt at low percentages, or down tilts to regrab on fast fallers or heavyweights and rack up at least 20% in the process. Alternatively, it can lead into neutral attack, forward tilt, down tilt, up smash and down smash at low percentages, as well as neutral aerial, up aerial, down aerial and Super Jump Punch at medium percentages. Finally, and due to the favorable angles his moves send at, his tremendously quick frame data and his extensive amount of combo starters, Mario's combo ability is among the most reliable in the game, and it is also worth noting that seven of Mario's moves can lock (forward tilt, neutral attack's first two hits, Fireball, down aerials landing hit, and neutral, forward and back aerials (the former and latter being usually effective when sourspotted, though a majority of them are only usable at low percents). This makes it almost always imperative for Mario's opponent to tech all attacks at low percentages when needed, otherwise Mario can capitalize on the opportunity, and tack on unavoidable massive damage in the process.

Despite Mario's numerous strengths, he is not flawless. Most characters are able to outperform him in various areas: notable examples include having a more versatile combo ability,  having better mobility,  having higher power right off the bat and  having larger reach. In particular, the latter two are his main weaknesses: his KOing ability is largely inconsistent, with very few guaranteed KO set-ups, and all of them being hard to confirm. While much of his moveset can get the job done, there is a noticeable gap in power between his strongest moves and his other ones, with this meaning he'll usually have to rely on his sweetspotted forward smash, up smash, down smash's back hit, or back throw to score kills, which are all further compounded by the poor reach of his attacks. As such, he cannot afford to get predictable, especially with the existence of stale-move negation. His lack of reach also prevents him from fighting at a safe distance and consistently forces Mario to approach characters. This leads into having some difficulty against characters with large or disjointed reach, though fortunately, these types of characters tend to have significantly slower attacks than Mario, meaning that this tends to be the least of his worries.

Lastly, his recovery is rather limited. He has fast air speed, a high jump, and a very fast and safe up special in Super Jump Punch. However, Super Jump Punch does not travel a very long distance and is fairly linear, making it easy to predict. His other options also are unreliable, as Cape and F.L.U.D.D. each travel very little momentum and are extremely easy to edgeguard, F.L.U.D.D. being useful only to substitute for his air speed, and Cape only to guard break edgeguarders or wait them out. This necessitates that Mario returns to the stage quickly, as a single opening offstage may be fatal for him. Nevertheless, Mario's recovery provides serviceable distance, but caution must be exercised when offstage.

Mario's custom moves define the fundamentals of customization, with all of them following an "X over Y" pattern. Fast Fireball deals less damage and barely causes flinching, but covers more range at a much faster pace and can further improve his already above average camping abilities as well as disrupt most attacks. Fire Orb has less range and is much slower, but deals repeated damage and lingers after being shot, allowing for potential follow-ups. Shocking Cape is electric and has actual KO power, but cannot stall in the air as much as its other variants or reflect projectiles. Gust Cape pushes opponents away, especially at point-blank range, but it deals less damage and possesses more ending lag. Super Jump grants almost twice as much distance, but is unable to hit opponents. Explosive Punch deals high flame damage, but travels a short distance at a fixed direction. Scalding F.L.U.D.D. hits multiple times and can disrupt an opponent's approach better, but is not as useful in edgeguarding and has less reach. High-Pressure F.L.U.D.D. takes much longer to charge, but its push effect is greatly amplified.

Overall, Mario has many clear strengths, and very few glaring weaknesses. Despite being intended as a jack-of-all-trades character, his very quick speed overall and largely reliable combo ability allows him to get the edge easily against most characters, as it is hard to escape from him once he gets to combo the opponent, while being easy for him to escape and regain the advantage. However, because of his low range, Mario must almost always fight in close quarters. Mario has to be very careful offstage as well in spite of his viable edgeguarding game, as a single vent in his defenses can cause him to be unable to recover.

Nevertheless, Mario's favorable attributes give him numerous advantages. Because of this, he has the one of, if not the, lowest technical learning curves in the game, which has secured him high representation in all levels of play, with high-level professionals such as and  achieving a slew of strong tournament results.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros Brawl, Mario was regarded as an unviable low tier, as while he had very solid frame data, decent edgeguarding, an effective projectile and a powerful and versatile tool in the form of his Cape, he also suffered from having poor range, limited/difficult to land KO moves and a poor recovery, which was very linear, did not cover much distance, and could be easily edge hogged. As a result, Mario struggled against a majority of the cast and despite the developer's intention to design him as a beginner friendly all arounder, he still ended being an unpopular choice due to his poor relative strength to the cast.

As a result of this, Mario has received a fair share of buffs and nerfs in Super Smash Bros. 4 and he has been significantly buffed overall. Mario's mobility is overall better especially in the air; with his jumps and up special being higher and his air speed being much higher which along with his faster air dodge and the removal of edge hogging, significantly improves his recovery.

Mario is overall more capable of comboing and KOing both due to universal changes and changes to some of his moves. Mario's forward and up smash which were already his main KO moves have been made stronger. The changes to hitstun canceling and directional influence have significantly improved Mario's combo potential and two of his moves have been altered to further enforce this. Mario's down throw has significantly reduced base knockback which has made it a much better combo tool at low percents while still being a much more reliable combo tool at higher percents due to the changes to hitstun canceling/DI. Mario's grabs are also faster; making it easier for him to start his powerful grab game.

Mario's up aerial now launches opponents vertically like its Smash 64 counterpart which has made Mario's already decent juggling potential much more potent especially with the afforementioned changes to hitstun canceling/DI. The move can very easily chain into itself and lead into a Super Jump Punch making it a very powerful juggling tool. Mario's forward aerial is also noticeably more effective. The move is not only stronger and naturally benefits from the removal of meteor canceling, but it can also be comboed into due to the afforementioned changes to hitstun canceling/DI as well as his altered down throw/up aerial.

Mario also greatly benefits from the introduction of rage as it not only allows him to KO earlier as well as allowing his combos to work sooner but it also enables him to KO opponents at insanely low percents with his Super Jump Punch; giving him a cheesy KO option which can occasionally allow Mario to score insanely early KOes. Mario's solid weight also means that he is capable of building up a decent amount of rage before getting KOed.

Mario has received some nerfs however. Mario's damage output has now been decreased noticeably even relative to the cast, now being average. This makes it harder for Mario to rack up damage although his more consistent combo game somewhat alleviates this. This also means that quite a few of Mario's more situational KO moves (such as the front hit of down smash, neutral aerial and back throw) are weaker than they were before meaning that Mario still has to rely on landing a forward or an up smash to secure a KO if he does not score an early KO from an edgeguard or a Super Jump Punch or Ladder Combo. Mario's frame data while still solid is also worse with multiple moves having increased ending lag as well as some moves having shorter hitbox durations.

Mario's Fireballs and Cape have also seen some nerfs. Fireballs; while travelling further are laggier and weaker making them a worse camping tool overall. Cape's reflection period has been reduced and the removal of edge momentum shifting has hindered Cape more than almost any other special significantly hindering its edgeguarding and approach potential. Even before edge momentum shifting was removed in patch 1.0.8, Cape did not gain as much momentum when used off an edge. Cape is also hindered by the removal of edge hogging and the speeding up of air dodges although Mario still overall benefits from these changes.

Mario's traction is also lower which hinders his ability to punish out of shield despite still possessing excellent out of shield options. Mario can also no longer use a pivoted forward smash to make it cover a lot more distance which considerably hinders Mario's ability to whiff punish moves while being on the ground.

Overall Mario's strengths are much more pronounced and effective and while he still has poor range and inconsistent KO potential outside of his smash attacks, his recovery is significantly better and the universal changes to Smash 4 have greatly benefitted him overall. The universal changes have allowed Mario to have a very consistent and powerful combo game while also greatly aiding his recovery and his KO potential to the point where he can occasionally score extremely early KOs. Mario also benefits from the fact that a majority of characters who gave him a hard time in Brawl have been nerfed which along with numerous characters having reduced range, weaker projectile games and the removal of chain grabbing, has allowed Mario's improved combo game to shine even further relative to the cast while his poor range has become less of an issue. Mario overall did not change much throughout Smash 4's wave of updates, always being a highly solid character throughout the game's lifespan.

As a result of these changes combined with Mario being a rather simple and effective character to use for beginners and high level players alike, Mario has become a much more viable character than he was in Brawl.

Ground attacks

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

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral 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:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Pummel:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Pummel:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:

Special moves

 * Fireball:
 * Cape:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Cape:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Cape:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Cape:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * F.L.U.D.D.:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:
 * Mario Finale:

Update history
Compared to other top/high tier characters, Mario only received a few minor changes in updates, receiving some subtle improvements to forward smash and F.L.U.D.D.. But while Mario remains mostly the same in the final game as his initial incarnation, Mario did receive a rather significant universal buff early on.

Update 1.0.4 removed the ability to LSI moves which launched between 65°-115° and 245°-295° which in Mario's case, benefitted him significantly. Mario has a vast array of vertical launching moves, with most of them being vital to his combo game. In early 3DS versions, the presence of vertical LSI meant that Mario's combo potential was much more limited and inconsistent. The opponent could utilise LSI on Mario's vertical launching moves to escape his combos much sooner which overall gave Mario significantly less damage racking potential. This also meant that it was significantly harder for Mario to score a KO from a combo or even a simple confirm, forcing Mario to rely on his raw KO moves or his edgeguarding more to score KOes, with most of Mario's raw KO moves being rather weak knockback wise.

With LSI on vertical launching moves being removed in 1.0.4, this helped Mario rather significantly. Mario's combos became a lot more consistent, flexible and damaging since there was less counterplay to avoid them. Mario could get significantly longer/damaging combos more reliably, which could even lead into a KO in the right scenarios. This also benefitted Mario's vertical KO moves, mainly up smash and forward aerial, with the latter also becoming a significantly more practical combo ender. All of these factors combined considerably improved Mario's damage racking and KO potential and while Mario did also become easier to combo due to the LSI changes, his greater combo game more than made up for it.

The changes to shield mechanics in 1.1.1 were a mixed bag for Mario. The higher shieldstun increased the safety of Mario's moves, with neutral aerial and back aerial in particular now becoming completely safe on shield against a vast majority of the cast, naturally improving Mario's shield pressuring potential. On the negative side however, the higher shieldstun also make it harder for Mario to punish out of shield, especially with his grab due to his low traction. These changes however inadvertedly made Mario's Super Jump Punch stand out even more as an out shield option as there were numerous moves in the game which were no longer grab punishable but could still be punished by Super Jump Punch, giving Mario a more flexible out of shield game relative to the cast.

Overall, Mario significantly benefitted from the transition from 3DS to Wii U but since then, Mario has stayed relatively the same. Mario's powerful punish game has largely remained the same since the launch of the Wii U version and Mario has overall remained a potent character in the game. Mario's exact stance relative to the cast has overall fluctuated as the game received more patches. Mario's exact placement in the original 3DS version is hard to determine but Mario was around the lower end of top tier in early Wii U versions. Things initially looked positive for Mario in earlier patches as the other top tier characters were nerfed but by later patches, new top tiers started to emerge (through DLC and/or buffs) with many of these new top tiers having strong matchups against Mario. This ultimately resulted in Mario struggling more and more as the meta progressed with Mario ending up as a character teetering between top and high tier by the end of the game's main competitive life.

 1.0.4

 1.0.6

 1.0.8

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

Tier placement and history
Upon the game's release, players immediately noticed the significant buffs Mario had received to his mobility, combo game, KO power, and reach. Meanwhile, although not a direct consequence, his tougher matchups from Brawl such as Marth, Meta Knight, and King Dedede were nerfed (especially with the former two's range reduced; the lack of range was Mario's critical flaw in Brawl). These buffs and the less hostile environment caused Mario to be viewed as a viable character throughout the game’s lifespan. The result of these buffs was a character with the lowest learning curve of any character in the game, who provided high reward for low risk, with caveats including great all-around mobility, a powerful, yet easy combo game, an improved zoning tool in his Fireballs, outstanding frame data that, in some cases, can leave him near-unpunishable (letting him abuse otherwise unsafe moves like charged smash attacks), and a strong recovery aided by a Cape that also works as a reflector. While some of these strengths were not perceived until much later, these caused him to quickly gain good tournament representation in all levels of play, and was considered a mid to high-tier character. Despite this, opinions of Mario slowly began to rise due to the fact he remained stagnant in game updates, as well as the nerfs to, who was one of his most troublesome matchups. As a result of this, he started to gain much higher representation and results, especially by top players such as and, both of whom have placed among the top 8 in large tournaments such as The Big House 5, with ANTi also taking top player  through very close games in the former tournament. This resulted in Mario ranking 8th on the first 4BR tier list.

On the earlier half of 2016, Mario's already strong results would significantly improve. Game updates would nerf, and , some of his most difficult matchups, while Mario himself remained unchanged. Although it was unknown how these nerfs to the top tiers would affect him at first, it later became clear many characters (and players themselves) started to have a hard time fighting even inexperienced Marios. Furthermore, Ally would go on to win multiple national-level tournaments such as Smash 'N' Splash 2 and EVO 2016 using Mario, while won CEO 2016 using Mario for the majority of the tournament. Due to this streak of successes, players would commonly advocate that Mario was among the best characters in the game, which would be reflected in him rising to 5th place on the second tier list. On the third tier list, Mario suffered a very slight drop to 6th place and the A tier, as while he remained a very successful character, his results had dropped compared to 2016, and this drop also paved the way for Bayonetta to establish dominance. Despite this, many players argued that Mario still deserved a top 5 ranking due to his spectacular prior results.

Towards the end of the game’s lifespan, however, Mario's top level results became noticeably worse than some top tier characters such as, , , and , all of which have achieved stronger tournament representative and placings. His even or disadvantageous matchups lurking in the lower tiers became more prominent, and characters exploiting Mario's below average range, such as, , and became more successful in tournaments. As a result, Mario's decline in tournament results saw him drop to 9th place on the fourth and current tier list. Regardless, Mario's significant improvements from Brawl ensured he would achieve excellent tournament success and results throughout the competitive metagame.

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the PGR 100, which recognizes the official top 100 players in Super Smash Bros. 4 of all time.

See also: Category:Mario players (SSB4)


 * (#5) - The best Mario player in the world. Placed 1st at, , and , as well as 2nd at both and.
 * (#14) - Co-mained Mario alongside and is the best Mario player in the United States. Placed 1st at both  and, 2nd at both  and , and 5th at.
 * - One of the best Mario players in Japan. Placed 4th at, 5th at , 7th at both and , and 13th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - Co-mained Mario alongside . Placed 3rd at, 5th at , 7th at , 9th at , and 13th at . Ranked 8th on the Smash Canada Rankings.
 * - Co-mained Mario alongside and is one of the best Mario players in Canada. Placed 7th at, 9th at , 13th at , and 17th at both  and . Ranked 10th on the Smash Canada Rankings.
 * (#95) - The best Mario player in the northeast. Placed 5th at, 7th at both and , 13th at , and 25th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * (#57) -Tri-mained Mario alongside and  and is one of the best Mario players in Japan. Placed 1st at, 2nd at both  and , 3rd at , and 5th at.
 * - The best Mario player in Europe. Placed 2nd at, 4th at , 5th at , 9th at , and 17th at with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 13th on the European Smash 4 Power Rankings.
 * - The best Mario players in the Midwest. Placed 7th at, 13th at , 17th at both and , and 25th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 8th on the Chicago Power Rankings.
 * (#61) - The best solo Mario player in the United States. Placed 5th at, 7th at , 13th at both and , and 17th at  with wins over players such as , , and.

Solo Events

 * All-Star Battle: Regulars: Mario is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are starters from the original Super Smash Bros. game.
 * Below the Belt: Mario must protect a damaged from a giant Little Mac.
 * Family Ties: The player controls, who is aided by a giant , and must defeat Mario and.
 * Oh Yeah, Luigi Time!: A giant Mario serves as an ally to, who must defeat a giant.
 * Princess Punch-Up!: Mario and are opponents in a stock battle against  and.
 * The FINAL Final Battle: The player must defeat Mario, alongside, , and.
 * The Original Heavyweights: Mario must defeat and.
 * Wrecking Mario: Mario must destroy all of the building on Wrecking Crew.

Co-op Events

 * 1988: and  must defeat 3 Marios, each one larger than the last.
 * A Lurking Menace: Mario and must defeat  After some time, a giant  will appear and the players must defeat him as well.
 * Flat Fracas: A shadow Mario and a giant shadow are opponents fought by  and.
 * Solidarity: and  must defeat Mario and . When they are defeated,  and  must be defeated as well.
 * The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.
 * Wrecking Bros.: Mario and must destroy all of the building on Wrecking Crew.  and  will try to stop the players.

Trivia

 * While Mario’s artwork has him holding a fireball in his official artwork on the website, amiibo model, and trophy, his artwork on the character select screen and during a match shows him without it.
 * Because of this, there is no official artwork of any of Mario’s alternate costumes with said fireball.
 * A glitch from 1.0.7 shows when Mario performs his side taunt on Ω Gerudo Valley, his hair is missing when taking off his cap, revealing the inside of his head.
 * The original project proposal for Smash 4 stated that the fighters would have four custom special moves instead of the three that are in the final game. Mario was used as an example. The unused special move in the proposal would've had Mario release two fireballs for his neutral special instead of one.
 * was originally going to be an alternate costume for Mario, but was instead developed as a separate character in favor of retaining Dr. Mario's unique traits from Melee.
 * Mario is present on more newcomer posters than any other fighter. He appears in eleven promotional posters, namely for, , , , , , , , , , and.
 * Mario is required to be used in 3 solo events, more than all other characters.
 * He and Luigi are also the only pair to be in more than 1 co-op event together.
 * Mario's alternate trophy in resembles his Adventure Mode trophy in Melee.
 * Mario, and  are the only characters in the 3DS version whose Star KO screams can be heard when their tokens are KO'd in StreetSmash.
 * This marks the final appearance of Mario's Wario-based and Fire-based alternate costume worn since the original Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, respectively, to date.
 * Because of this, combined with Peach and Rosalina both obtaining their own Fire-based alternate costume, as well as how Luigi has a Fire-based costume in every game, SSB4 is the only game where the playable cast of Super Mario 3D World (except for Toad, due to him simply being portrayed here as one of Peach's moves) has an alternate costume based on their Fire forms from that game.
 * This also marks the final appearance of Mario's up taunt used since the original Super Smash Bros. to date.