Cape

Cape (, Super Mantle) is Mario's side special move.

Overview
Mario pulls out a cape and swings it in front of him, reflecting projectiles and reversing hit characters. The cape starts to reflect projectiles at frame 6. This also applies to Dr. Mario with his Super Sheet. The cape has a multiplier of 1.5× when a projectile is reflected.

Cape, along with Super Sheet, has the unique ability among reflecting moves to flip the opponent on the x-axis, no matter what direction the opponent was facing. This does not interrupt any animations, meaning the opponent has to wait before the animation completes to act again, putting Mario at a great positional advantage. Cape can even flip shielding opponents. Also, the cape will briefly reverse an opponent's momentum (not in Super Smash Bros. Melee). Shortly after an opponent is flipped in the opposite direction, if they make a directional input such as a forward roll, they will instead roll backward. This seems to affect most (including buffered) inputs made while being caped. This also does not work in Melee.

Mario's Cape deals no knockback and never makes opponents flinch except for in Melee when used on an opponent attempting a grab, which deals slight knockback and in Ultimate when used on opponents grabbing the ledge. Characters hit with the cape while attempting a grab will be sent spiraling a short height into the air. This means that it will not interrupt attacks; rather, it only turns the enemy character around, leaving their hitbox active. It can leave recovering characters unable to grab the ledge. This is less potent in Super Smash Bros. Brawl onward due to those games' differing ledge mechanics, in which characters can grab ledges regardless of which direction they are facing. However, this is alleviated by the move completely reversing the opponent's momentum, and briefly, their controls in those games. The cape can be broken in the same manner as any other reflector can; if the damage of the oncoming attack can break a shield in one hit, the cape will not work and Mario will be stunned (in Melee) or get hit by the attack (since Brawl). In Super Smash Bros. 4, Mario's Cape can reflect projectiles behind him as it is swung from his back upon use, but it requires good timing. The damage has been nerfed over time (10/8 in Melee to 8/6 in Brawl and 7 in Smash 4 onward). The move has a sweet spot closer to Mario in Melee and the move is weaker in Melee and Brawl. This move can also be B-reversed.

If used on someone in Brawl while taking knockback from an attack, it multiplies the distance by about 1.6.

The Cape can also be used for multiple advanced techniques; Cape glide, the Cape Dash (reverse Cape glide), the Cape Boost (Meta Knight insta-kill), Cape Induced Landing Lag, and Edge Cape-cancel. These techniques only work in Brawl.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the animation is changed aesthetically, as Mario is now wearing the cape around his neck while he swings it. In addition, Cape now forces opponents to show their backside once reversed. Because of that, it is the only way to see the backside of characters with a mirrored stance (such as Mario himself) without using glitches. The Cape has recevied a change in Ultimate. The duration of the reflect hitbox now comes up at the frame 9 instead of the frame 6, decreasing its safety normally but to compensate for this, if a projectile comes close enough to Mario, the attack becomes faster and reflects the projectiles faster too.

Customization
Special Move customization is available in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:


 * 1) Cape: Default.
 * 2) Shocking Cape: The move has very slightly more startup, and moderately increased ending lag. The Cape has an electrical effect that does 11.2% damage and decent knockback, KOing Mario at 99% at the ledge. However, it destroys projectiles instead of reflecting them (though this could be considered more potent against controllable ones) and cannot turn the opponent's facing direction. The ability for  to stall in the air is still retained to a lesser extent, but any horizontal momentum Mario had when performing the move will be preserved.
 * 3) Gust Cape: The Cape is granted a small windbox which can push opponents, with the sweet spot and sour spot being indicated by two visual effects. It retains much of the functions of the regular Cape, but the move has more startup and ending lag and does slightly less damage than the regular Cape, only dealing 5% damage, although it has the same reflection multiplier. The move also stalls Mario in the air slightly more effectively (comparable to Brawl), and does not reduce his momentum as much.

Glitches

 * When Mario uses his Cape on an enemy that is increasing their height (jumping, mid-air jump, recoveries, footstool jump, etc), the enemy will increase their height much higher than normal.
 * If Cape hits an opponent about to sweetspot a ledge, the target will go into a ledge grab animation in the opposite direction. The opponent's edge recovery will also be performed in reverse, after which the glitch ends.
 * In Melee, a glitch can occur which causes the Cape to become stuck to Mario's model.

Edge Cape-cancel
The Edge Cape-cancel is an advanced technique in Super Smash Bros. Brawl that involves Cape. To perform the technique, simply grab or fall onto the edge, then flick the Control stick away from the edge and perform Cape. If done correctly, Mario will perform the action, and the stalled descent the move provides will allow him to grab onto the edge again. This is done primarily to abuse the intangibility frames gained by grabbing the edge, effectively making approaching Mario very difficult if used multiple times in succession. This can also be used for edgeguarding, as the Cape at the edge can reflect opponents trying to recover. However, doing this technique optimally requires frame-perfect timing, as pressing the button too early will have Mario perform an edge attack instead, and pressing the button too late will wear off the intangibility frames and leave Mario vulnerable. That being said, there are few scenarios where being frame-perfect is necessary beyond stalling for time.

Origin
In Super Mario World, the Cape is a power-up obtained from the, which transforms Mario into. While wearing a Cape, Mario can perform a spinning attack, using it to attack enemies and destroy most projectiles. Additionally, by holding the jump button while airborne Mario can slow down his fall. The cape can also be used to fly great distances after a running start: in this state, Mario can stay airborne indefinitely by diving and pulling up at regular intervals, which allows him to skip large portions of some levels. The Cape's floating capabilities in its source game could have inspired its ability to stall Mario in midair in Smash Bros.

Trivia

 * In Melee, Brawl, and Ultimate, Cape can be used on a taunting character to make them face the other way in manners that are otherwise impossible, like making face the screen while doing his side taunt. In Smash 4, this does not apply to characters with a mirrored stance, as they will instantly flip back to normal once the turning animation ends.
 * If timed correctly, the part of the animation where Mario is still putting away his cape can still reflect projectiles near the very end, but possesses no hitbox.
 * If timed correctly, when using the cape on an opponent that is just hitting the ground, the opponent will take longer to hit the ground.
 * If Mario uses his Cape while in the Online Practice Stage, the cape will look sparkly and be of a lower-quality graphic.
 * In Brawl, if one were to pull off a "reverse reverse Falcon Punch," or using Cape on a reverse Falcon Punch, will be pushed back as he punches.
 * In Brawl and SSB4, the Cape momentarily gives the opponent super armor after it hits them. When hitting both a Bob-omb and an opponent at the same time, said opponent will take no knockback but full damage from the resulting explosion. If this is performed on Nana (Brawl only) as she is KO'd, she will have a type of super armor when she respawns, lasting until she is KO'd again. She will be invulnerable to all attacks except grabs.
 * In SSB4 and Ultimate, when the Cape or Super Sheet hits an opponent, it makes the same sound from Super Mario World, only sped up.
 * While the Cape and Super Sheet can reflect, it does not reflect the position of her forward smash.
 * It appears as though the 3rd custom version of the move would have had Mario swing a considerably larger cape, with the same properties as the normal one, but it would only deal 1% damage.
 * In Ultimate, using the Cape on, , , or in a 1-on-1 match flips them only for a brief moment before turning back to face Mario. This is due to their shared mechanic where they will always face their opponent during 1-on-1 matches.

Technical details

 * Mario (SSBM)/Side special
 * Mario (SSBB)/Side special
 * Mario (SSB4)/Side special
 * Mario (SSBU)/Side special