Dr. Mario (SSB4): Difference between revisions

Dr. Mario is currently ranked 49th out of 55 on the [[tier list]], placing him in the F tier. This is a significant drop from his mid-tier placement in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', where he was ranked 11th out of 26 and ranked higher than [[Mario (SSBM)|his normal self]].

As a [[clone]] of a {{SSB4|Mario}}, Dr. Mario is a [[Weight|middleweight]] that can [[wall jump]]. Although they share an overwhelming number of animations and the exact same in-game values, Dr. Mario's height is below-average because of him oddly being marginally shorter than his normal self, while his [[Crouching|crouch]] is not as low as Mario's. Unlike in ''Melee'', Dr. Mario now fights like a stronger, yet slower Mario: multipliers are applied to his [[walk]]ing and [[dash]]ing speeds (0.832×), as well as his [[air speed]], [[air acceleration]], [[jump]] and [[double jump]] (0.808×). Although Dr. Mario's shorter jump height makes his [[short hop]] more effective than Mario's, these modified attributes collectively render his overall mobility as sub-par. Outside of these attributes, Dr. Mario and Mario share the same [[falling speed|falling]] and [[fast fall]]ing speeds, [[traction]] and [[gravity]].

Other noticeable differences between Dr. Mario and Mario are seen in their movesets and, by extension, their playstyles. Although Dr. Mario's frame data is only marginally slower than Mario's, his higher overall damage output and overall slower movement speed make him much better suited to a bait and punish playstyle, instead of the healthy balance of offense and defense that his normal self is very effective at using. Dr. Mario's combo game is less varied and consistent compared to his normal self's. Despite this, his combos deal respectable damage in spite of their fairly short lengths, similarly to {{SSB4|Ike}}'s.

He also shares two useful combo starters with Mario, thanks to said moves being modified since ''Melee''. Down tilt is the most effective of the two: although it is short-ranged, it is very reliable at low to high percentages, with useful follow-ups including itself, neutral attack, up tilt, his smash attacks, back aerial, up aerial, and Super Jump Punch. Like Super Jump Punch, forward aerial can function as a KO mix-up at high percentages, but requires a [[Mindgame#Predicting|hard read]]. Up tilt can combo into itself reliably, albeit not as consistently as Mario's version because of its higher damage output. However, its higher damage output makes it better at juggling, and even enables it to function as a situational KOing option at very high percentages.

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 edge-guarding, unlike his normal self's up aerial. However, up aerial's launching angle also makes it much less effective at starting combos when SHFF'd or juggling compared to Mario's. Down aerial hits multiple times like [[Mario Tornado]], and its final hitbox has a horizontal launching angle like up aerial. As a result, it is much more effective for edge-guarding compared to Mario Tornado, yet completely unusable for juggling. Compared to Mario's up aerial and [[Mario Tornado]], however, Dr. Mario's up and down aerials are unable to KO outright because of their much lower knockback scaling and less damaging final hitbox, respectively.

In 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. [[Cape#Super Sheet|Super Sheet]]'s [[reflection]] hitbox has a longer duration compared to [[Cape]]'s. Due to its hitbox being positioned higher, it also has more vertical range, yet less horizontal range in comparison. Most notably, Super Sheet no longer stalls him Dr. Mario midair like it did in ''Melee''. To alleviate the removal of Super Sheet's recovery potential, [[Dr. Tornado]] is now a much more integral part of Dr. Mario's recovery, thanks to it granting him a decent amount of horizontal distance when it is button mashed sufficiently.

Unlike [[F.L.U.D.D.]], Dr. Tornado deals damage. When coupled with its very high knockback scaling, [[Autolink angle|auto-link angle]] and [[transcendent priority]], it is useful for edge-guarding, warding off edge-guarders, and even out-prioritizing attacks. However, Dr. Tornado's much shorter range makes it much riskier to use for edge-guarding 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 like a less polarized version of {{SSB4|Luigi}}'s Super Jump Punch. As a result, its clean hitbox makes it a viable KOing option unlike Mario's. Although it can no longer be canceled, Super Jump Punch can now be [[B-reversing|B-reversed]] upon landing its clean hitbox like Mario's can upon start-up. This makes it useful for edge-guarding, and can enable Dr. Mario to avoid punishment and/or hit an opponent behind himself upon hitting his primary target.

However, Dr. Mario's flaws are significantly more noticeable in comparison to Mario's. Although he boasts excellent KO potential, it is inconsistent. This is most obvious with up smash: its launching angle makes it reliable at KOing only while near the edge, whereas Mario and, to a lesser degree, Luigi's up smashes KO reliably from anywhere on-stage because of their higher launching angles. By extension, he has minimal KO set-ups like Mario. Dr. Mario's sluggish mobility compounds another notable weakness: his recovery. Despite now being able to wall jump, the combination of his slow air speed, slow air acceleration, and Super Jump Punch's mediocre travel distance results in his recovery being predictable like Mario's.