Mario (SSBB)

“	Everyone's favorite plumber is well rounded.	”
—Brawl instruction manual

Mario in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Mario
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Mario Finale
Tier	F (31)

Mario (マリオ, Mario) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, who also appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee and the original Super Smash Bros. He is the icon of Nintendo and the Mario series, from which Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Wario, and Yoshi also originate. As in every other video game in which he has a voice, Mario is voiced by Charles Martinet.

Mario's moveset is largely unchanged in relation to that of Melee, except that his down special move has been changed to F.L.U.D.D., and his down aerial has been changed to Mario Tornado - Mario is the only character to have had a special move in one game changed to a standard attack in another.

Mario is ranked 31st on the current tier list, the top position of F tier. Mario possesses fast, low lag attacks throughout his moveset, as well as strong comboing capabilities, with his up tilt and up aerial being especially good jugglers on their own that can set up additional attacks well. Additionally, Mario possesses a fantastic gimping and disrupting tool in his Cape, an effective projectile in his Fireball, and even an effective out of shield option in his Super Jump Punch. However, he inherited problems from his Melee incarnation. Mainly, he has poor reach with nearly every attack, and he still possesses only a few mediocre finishers, that are all smash attacks, greatly hindering Mario's ability to finish a stock flexibly and efficiently. Additionally, he has problems dealing with characters who have disjointed hitboxes (such as Marth), he is easily gimped due to his predictable and short recovery, and his rather standard abilities are outshined by the abilities of most characters. This has resulted in poor matchups beyond low tier, and poor tournament results.

Attributes

Mario is considered a beginner character that people can learn with. This is due to him having no major size or speed flaws and is considered all around and balanced. Despite being an average-sized middleweight, Mario is one of those who King Dedede can infinitely chain grab without a wall, which is a true problem at high level play. A major offensive flaw of Mario is his lack of finishers. His only attacks that can reliably KO under 150% are his forward smash and up smash. His other possible finishers are situational. For example, his forward aerial is a meteor smash which helps him edgeguard, but it is slow and can be difficult to meteor smash with, and also has quite low knockback for a meteor smash as well, but if sour-spotted, it deals decent horizontal knockback that can KO off-stage foes at high percentages. The back throw, while one of the strongest throws in the game, will have difficulty KOing without being on the edge, a problem made worse by how slow the throw is, making it very easy to DI. The fact that Mario lacks a reliable finisher that is not a smash attack makes getting KOs even more difficult, due to giving him less versatility. His forward special, the Cape, allows him to turn enemies around and reflect projectiles. The cape also propels him forward a little when used in the air. Additionally, the cape reverses momentum and can be used to Cape Glide which greatly enhances his edgeguarding capabilities. His Neutral Special, the Fireball, is spammable and helps him control the enemy's approach, it can also be used to hinder some characters offstage. His Down Special, F.L.U.D.D., has to be charged up and deals no damage but pushes enemies back similar to Kyogre's Hydro Pump or Squirtle's Water Gun (but notably less powerful) and can also be used as an effective edge-guarding move on recoveries like Link's Spin Attack. This can make it difficult to recover for some characters, while for others, it is a mere hindrance. Also, it takes a long time to charge, meaning Mario must wait a good amount of time before it is effective, although it can be saved by shielding and rolling. Excluding F.L.U.D.D. and Fireball, Mario does not have many long ranged attacks. For his recovery, he can wall jump and use his Cape, along with his Super Jump Punch. Super Jump Punch, however, is a relatively poor recovery move in general and is easily edge-guarded due to its predictable trajectory (straight upwards, slightly diagonal), though, it is considered to be a great out-of-shield option. F.L.U.D.D. can also be used to push him back horizontally. His Smash attacks are quick, so he can execute them with little start-up lag. He is also known for being a good juggler with his quick attacks and aerials.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

Mario has revived a mix of nerfs and buffs from Melee to Brawl, although none of the buffs are significant, which leads to his standard abilities faring worse off against the greater competition.

• Mario's character model is slightly smaller in Brawl than in Melee.
• Up tilt and up aerial deal more knockback.
• Forward smash's sourspot is significantly more powerful and can now reliably KO under 150%.
• Up smash has slightly more reach and slightly more knockback scaling.
• Forward aerial is much safer to meteor smash with due to Brawl's slower falling speeds. Its knockback is additionally slightly more powerful, despite dealing 2% less damage.
• Back aerial deals 2% more damage.
• New down aerial (which is now the Mario Tornado) has larger hitboxes and deals more knockback than his Melee down aerial.
• Fireballs produce slightly more hitstun and have a slightly larger hitbox.
• Mario's Cape now reverses the enemy's momentum rather than just reversing their direction, as well as temporarily reverses their controls, making it much more effective as a disrupting tool.
• Mario now has access to the Cape Glide technique, which allows him to edge-guard farther out more quickly.
• Mario now has an even more deadly edge-guarder with F.L.U.D.D, that can push opponents away.
• Super Jump Punch's last hit deals more knockback.
• Mario is slightly lighter.
• Forward smash has slower start-up and longer ending lag, and its sourspot hitbox is much larger, necessitating spacing to land its sweetspot.
• Neutral aerial is weaker and is no longer a viable KO move at very high damages.
• Forward aerial now requires landing a sweetspot to meteor smash.
• Back throw was weakened significantly and will no longer KO until the opponent approaches 185%.
• Fireballs travel a shorter distance and deal 1% less damage.
• Opponents being able to grab the ledge from behind in Brawl has slightly reduced Cape's effectiveness as an edgeguard tool (though a successful caping of an opponent's recovery is nearly always fatal regardless). More significantly, Cape's reach was reduced, and it hitboxes no longer extend beyond the cape's visual animation.
• Super Jump Punch has significantly increased landing lag.
• Mario Tornado being replaced with F.L.U.D.D. has reduced Mario's recovery potential.

In term of cosmetics, Mario has been updated graphically, with his overalls looking more realistic. His Fireballs look more realistic as well. While he has the same voice actor as in Melee, Mario now has a new set of voice clips. His back aerial now has the animation of his forward aerial from Smash 64. He no longer speaks during his first jump, and all of his jumps make variations of the "boing" noise from Super Mario Bros.; the pitch increases with each jump: the short ground and wall jumps make a shortened version, the high ground jump uses the unaltered standard version, and the second jump and Super Jump Punch each make higher pitched versions.

Moveset

For a visual representation of Mario's attack hitboxes, see this page.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Combo Kick	3%	Jabs with his right, then his left, and then kicks with his right foot. All are from Super Mario 64. Beneficial in making combos. First hit jab locks characters laying on the ground.
			2%
			5%
Forward tilt		Power Kick	8%	Does a back spinning kick with his right leg. Has average damage and knockback, but has better reach than his other tilts (it is still short).
Up tilt		Uppercut	7%	Delivers an uppercut while spinning. Similar to a move in Super Mario RPG. Average damage and above-average knockback. An excellent juggler that can be comboed into itself, an up smash, and an up aerial juggle. Very powerful at high damages; It can K.O at only very slightly above 150% (153%), so it can be used as a decent surprise K.O if Mario's other moves are stale.
Down tilt		Crouch Kick	5% (foot), 7% (leg)	Sweeps low to the ground with his leg. Though it has a very fast start-up, it deals very little damage, has high ending lag, low knockback, very low hitstun, and very short reach.
Dash attack		Slide Kick	9% (clean), 7% (late)	Slides forward and kicks with both feet. Also from Super Mario 64. Has low diagonal knockback behind Mario that is difficult to follow up on.
Forward smash	↗	Fire Smash	15% (arm), 18% (fire)	Steps back and then forward, causing a blast of fire out of his hand. The attack is derived form Mario's ability to shoot fireballs. One of Mario's best reaching moves (though its reach is only average at best). It has rather fast start-up for a forward smash but it does have punishable ending lag. Damage and knockback is highest when sweetspotted at the flame. Can also be angled up and down. It has low base knockback but its knockback scaling is very high. When angled upward and fully charged, it can KO at 71%. This is Mario's most powerful attack and can be considered his best finisher. The sweetspot is a hitbox with transcendent priority.
	→		14% (arm), 17% (fire)
	↘		13% (arm), 16% (fire)
Up smash		Head Snap	14%	Sends opponents skyward with a headbutt. Has fast start-up lag and its ending lag is rather low as well. It does have good base knockback and knockback scaling, but its KO power is rather average for an up-smash. This is Mario's only reliable finisher outside his forward smash and it is his only attack that can KO vertically under 150%.
Down smash		Breakdance Kick	15% (hit 1), 12% (hit 2)	Does a breakdance sweep. Like Mario's other attacks, it has fast start-up and ending lag but short reach. While stronger than his tilts and aerials, it isn't strong enough to reliably KO under 150%. Another attack from Super Mario 64.
Neutral aerial		Drop Kick	10% (clean), 5% (late)	Performs a sex kick in the air. Similar to an attack from Super Mario 64. Its almost instantaneous start-up can be used to break certain chainthrows and combos but it has low knockback and short reach.
Forward aerial		Meteor Punch	12% (early), 13% (clean), 10% (late)	Punches downward. This is a slow Meteor Smash with below-average power if it is sweetspotted. It is a weak meteor smash that is difficult to land, but it does have the benefit of sending opponents on a horizontal trajectory instead of straight down. When sourspotted, it sends opponents on a horizontal trajectory with decent knockback.
Back aerial		Rear Kick	12% (clean), 7% (late)	Spins and kicks backward. Similar to his forward aerial from the original Super Smash Bros. game. Very fast start-up with decent reach and knockback. Can WoP at low to mid percentages and KO at very high percentages (but not below 150% outside of edgeguard situations).
Up aerial		Flip Kick	11%	Does a somersault and kicks upward. Very low start-up and ending lag with low knockback, it works very well as a juggler at low to mid percentages.
Down aerial		Mario Tornado	1% (hits 1-5), 7% (hit 6), 2% (landing)	Spins with fists then strikes with both on opposite sides. Like the original move, it looks somewhat like the Spin Jump from various Mario games, such as Super Mario World. Similar to his other aerials, it has almost no start-up with short reach, but it does have some ending lag. The final hit does low vertical knockback. It can set-up a down smash at low percentages if the final hit is landed in the ground.
Grab		Grab	—	Mario's grab is short.
Pummel		Nosebutt	3%	One of the slowest pummels in the game.
Forward throw		Spin Chuck	9%	Mario spins around once then throws his opponent in front of him. It has low knockback scaling even for a throw. It is mostly only used to get the opponent off the edge.
Back throw		Spin Throw	12% (throw), 8% (collateral)	Mario spins around several times then throws his opponent backwards. It is similar to when Mario grabs Bowser by the tail, and then swings him around in an attempt to throw into the bombs in Super Mario 64. While a very slow throw, he can damage other characters with the character he is swinging around. This is by far Mario's strongest throw and its knockback scaling is high enough to reliably KO around 185%. While powerful for a throw, it is very slow, making it very easy to DI, limiting its KO potential. It is also Mario's most damaging throw.
Up throw		Vertical Hurl	8%	Mario throws his opponent high into the air. Good base knockback but it has low knockback scaling. It can be follow up by a up aerial juggle but is mostly inferior to the down throw for setting up.
Down throw		Ground Slam	6%	Mario slams his opponent into the ground. Its low base knockback and knockback scaling with its vertical trajectory makes it great for setting up with a up tilt and up aerial juggle, but it is Mario's weakest throw otherwise.
Floor attack (front)		Sweep Kick	6%	Gets up then kicks behind him, then in front of him.
Floor attack (back)		Double Punch	6%	Gets up then punches behind him, then in front of him.
Floor attack (trip)		Double Kick	5%	Kicks behind him, then in front of him while getting up.
Edge attack (fast)		Quick Kick	8% (legs), 6% (body)	Does a somersault and then kicks upwards, from a laying down position.
Edge attack (slow)		Slow Kick	10%	Gets up then does a kick similar to his forward tilt.
Neutral special		Fireball	5%	A small, weak projectile.
Side special		Cape	8% (ground), 6% (air)	Reverses projectiles and enemies.
Up special		Super Jump Punch	5% (hit 1), 1% (hits 2-6), 3% (hit 7)	Soars upwards, dragging along enemies. Has good initial range and great to use offensively as well as out of shield.
Down special		F.L.U.D.D.	0%	Sprays water that does nothing but push.
Final Smash		Mario Finale	3% (larger), 2% (smaller)	Unleashes a torrent of flame sideways.

Taunts

• Up - Turns into Super Mario. The way he does it is how he changes in the original Super Mario Bros. (Same as in SSB and Melee).
• Side - Takes off his hat, twirls around, and puts his hat back on, similar to the level clear animation from New Super Mario Bros..
• Down - Spins in the air and falls on his back with his legs up, based on the dying animation from the original Donkey Kong.

Idle poses

• Moves his head from left to right and holds his fists in front of his face
• Moves his hat

On-screen appearance

A green pipe appears, Mario pops up and says "Let's a go!" Could be based on how Mario gets to Peach's castle in Super Mario 64.

Cheer

Mario's NTSC and PAL cheer

Ma-ri-o!

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Mario professionals (SSBB)

•  Boss

Tier placement and history

Since the very beginning of Brawl competitive play, Mario has always been viewed by serious players as a low-tier, nonviable character; as such, he never enjoyed a period of positive competitive prospects. Although Mario's attributes were not significantly nerfed from Melee (where he is considered a relatively viable mid-tiered character), professionals quickly noticed that his comparatively standard abilities around the board could not keep up with the newer and better competition, especially his decidedly poor KOing power, which became worse between games. These traits kept Mario far from being viable, even in the earlier, underdeveloped metagame of Brawl; even though Mario had a low learning curve, his apex of potential for most players reached nowhere compared to that of many other characters ranked higher than him. As the metagame for other characters developed, Mario never had any competitive breakthroughs or significant advancements in general, steadily driving him further and further down the tier list.

From six years ago to the present day, Mario has been consistently stuck in the low tier at 31st place. It is unlikely that Mario's competitive viability will ever improve in Brawl, due to a stagnant metagame stemming from very few players ever maining Mario and even fewer playing him at a high level (a trend that is likely to continue), resulting in very low representation in standard tournaments. Despite this, Mario is a relatively common character at low tier tournaments; players can easily pick him up due to his low learning curve and play him to a reasonably competitive degree. Along with this, Mario performs reasonably well against other low tier characters, including a few positive matchups against those who are lower-tiered than him. While this cannot make Mario rise any higher, as he fares poorly against a majority of the cast ranked above him, it prevents him from possibly dropping any lower on the tier list.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Mario in the SSE

Mario is the main protagonist and the leader of the army of the heroes in The Subspace Emissary. In the beginning, a trophy of Mario and Kirby are thrown into the Midair Stadium, where they come to life and have a friendly fight (a reference to the introduction in the first game of the series, where Mario and Kirby prepare to fight each other towards the end). The player chooses the one they want to play as. If Mario is chosen, the opponent will be Kirby, and vice-versa. After the battle between the two, the winner revives the loser, they shake hands, and wave to the crowd. Suddenly, red ominous clouds appear above the stadium, and the Halberd emerges from it. It releases Shadow Bugs which form into Primids. Peach and Zelda, who were watching the match, come to help, and after defeating all of the enemies, they are all confronted by the Ancient Minister. After seeing the two R.O.B.s setting up a Subspace Bomb, Mario runs to try and stop it, only to be blasted out of the stadium and Star KO'd by a cannonball apparently fired by Petey Piranha. During his descent from Skyworld, Pit finds Mario's trophy, and revives him. Once Mario recounts what happened, the two proceeded on their journey. When they reach the ground, they fight Primids across the Plain and attempt to stop the Ancient Minister from delivering another Subspace Bomb. Mario attempts to reach the Minister, but falls short; Pit also tries to get him by using a Footstool Jump on Mario, but he also fails. They then continue on their quest.

The Lake Shore

False Peach

At the shore, Kirby chases after a menacing noise he heard, unaccompanied by Peach. The abandoned princess is turned into a trophy by Bowser's Dark Cannon. A False Character of Bowser appears and dissolves, engulfing Peach's trophy. Brought to life is a cloned Peach which tries to fire a Dark Cannon at Mario. Luckily, Link destroys the gun using his Master Sword, and fights the princess with Yoshi. Mario notices them standing by Peach's trophy, which disintegrates. Enraged, Mario attempts to attack Link, but he dodges the attack. Link, Yoshi, Mario, and Pit get into a two-on-two fight. Afterward, King Dedede's cargo, stolen from Wario and already loaded with the trophies of Zelda, Ness, and Luigi, grabs Mario and Pit's trophies with its mechanical arm. Fortunately Kirby appears from behind and severs the arm with Final Cutter while reviving Mario and Pit; Kirby had realized that the noise he heard was Dedede hijacking the cargo from Wario. King Dedede turns around and tries to get away, but Pit blows the cargo's tire with Palutena's Arrow.

The five follow Dedede across some plains and follow him into the Cave, where they see Dedede's castle in ruins from an ambush by Bowser. They pursue Bowser through a hole in the castle wall. Mario and friends then confront Bowser at a cliff. Mario jumps at the Koopa, but misses with his attack. Pit fires an arrow; Bowser, while sidestepping to dodge the arrow, drops the Dedede Brooch attached to Zelda's arm. He loses footing and falls off the cliff into the Koopa Clown Car with the trophy of Zelda, where he laughs maniacally as he flies up to the Halberd.

False Zelda

At the shore, Kirby chases after a menacing noise he heard, unaccompanied by Zelda. The abandoned princess is turned into a trophy by Bowser's Dark Cannon. A False character of Bowser appears and dissolves, engulfing Zelda's trophy. Brought to life is a cloned Zelda which tries to fire a Dark Cannon at Link. Luckily, Pit destroys the gun, and fights the princess with Mario. Link notices them standing by Zelda's trophy, which disintegrates. Enraged, Link attempts to attack Mario, but he dodges the attack. Link, Yoshi, Mario, and Pit get into a two-on-two fight. Afterward, King Dedede's cargo, stolen from Wario and already loaded with the trophies of Peach, Ness, and Luigi, grabs Link and Yoshi's trophies with its mechanical arm. Fortunately Kirby appears from behind and severs the arm with Final Cutter while reviving Link and Yoshi. King Dedede turns around and tries to get away, but Link blows the cargo's tire with his Hero's Bow.

The five follow Dedede across some plains and follow him into the Cave, where they see Dedede's castle in ruins from an ambush by Bowser. They pursue Bowser through a hole in the castle wall. Mario and friends then confront Bowser at a cliff. Mario jumps at the Koopa, but misses with his attack. Pit fires an arrow; Bowser, while sidestepping to dodge the arrow, drops the Dedede Brooch attached to Peach's chest. He loses footing and falls off the cliff into the Koopa Clown Car with the trophy of Peach, where he laughs maniacally as he flies up to the Halberd.

Story merge

They later catch up to the Ancient Minister in a desert, and after failing to stop a Subspace Bomb from detonating, barely escape the blast. Mario then leads his team at the Canyon, saving Marth, Ike, Lucas, Pokémon Trainer and Ice Climbers from a horde of Primids. The ten of them camp out for a while, until Mario spots an enormous explosion of Subspace Bombs from the Isle of the Ancients. Shortly afterward the Halberd lands, which has been retaken by Meta Knight, Lucario, Snake, Peach, Zelda, Fox, Falco, and Mr. Game & Watch. Next to it is the Falcon Flyer, containing Samus, Pikachu, Olimar, Captain Falcon, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, and R.O.B..

Mario and company destroy the Subspace Gunship and prepare to attack Tabuu. Unfortunately, their plan of assault is interrupted by Tabuu's Off Waves. Mario is later resurrected by King Dedede, Ness, Luigi, and Kirby and helps the other heroes through the Great Maze. In Tabuu's Residence, Tabuu poises to unleash more Off Waves; Sonic impedes his doing so. Mario joins the battle against Tabuu, eventually defeating him and ending the Subspace invasion.

Using stickers

Since Mario's primary attacks are kicks, Leg stickers have the widest effect, with Arm attacks as a secondary. Using a Head sticker will usually only affect Mario's up smash (since pummels cannot be used against most enemies), while a Flame one will affect both his Fireball and his forward smash's sweetspot. The Mario Tornado is considered a Spin attack, but as it's Mario's only Spin attack, using a Spin sticker will not have a very large effect. This also applies with Weapon stickers and his Cape.

Playable appearances

• Midair Stadium
• Skyworld
• The Lake Shore
• The Cave
• The Wilds (Part II)
• The Canyon
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part I)

Exclusive stickers

The following stickers can either only be used by Mario, or can only be used by a select few, including Mario:

• 1-Up Mushroom: [Leg] Attack +4
• Bowser (Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix): [Throwing] Attack +20
• Bowser (Mario Kart 64): [Weapon] Attack +13
• Bowser (Super Paper Mario): [Arm] Attack +23
• Coin: [Specials: Indirect] Attack +4
• Dice Block: [Arm] Attack +8
• Dr. Mario: [Head] Attack +18
• Koopa: [Body, Spin] Attack +10
• Lakitu (Mario Kart: Super Circuit): [Leg] Attack +13
• Mario (Mario Kart DS): [Leg] Attack +22
• Mario & Yoshi: [Specials: Indirect] Attack +13
• Mega Rush Badge: [Specials: Direct] Attack +8
• Mushroom: [Arm, Leg] Attack +5
• Peach (Super Princess Peach): [Weapon] Attack +23
• Peach (Mario Superstar Baseball): [Slash] Attack +5
• Rawk Hawk: [Arm] Attack +5
• Red Fire: [Flame] Attack +26
• Super Mario Bros.: [Arm, Leg] Attack +15
• Toad & Toadette: [Head] Attack +16
• Waluigi (Super Mario Strikers): [Slash] Attack +15
• Waluigi (Mario Superstar Baseball): [Specials: Indirect] Attack +8
• Yoshi (Yoshi Touch & Go): [Arm, Leg] Attack +8
• Yoshi (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door): [Throwing] Attack +5

Palette swaps

Mario's alternate costumes in Brawl

Trophy gallery

Main Classic Mode trophy

Mario's main trophy is obtained by clearing Classic Mode with Mario.

Description

Main trophy - A familiar overall-clad figure who is Nintendo's flagship character. His courage and jumping ability have seen him through countless adventures. He's a multitalented plumber with the knowledge of a physician, a top-notch golfer, and a veteran tennis umpire. Is his jumping prowess a boon from his girder-climbing days?

: Donkey Kong

: Super Mario Bros.

Trivia

• Mario doing his up taunt while under the effect of a backfire Lightning Bolt or a Super Mushroom that makes him larger while playing Giant Brawl, is the largest size a player can achieve without hacking.
• Mario is tied with Kirby for being the most playable character in The Subspace Emissary, being playable in 9 levels. Despite this, it is possible to never play as him at any time (as the player always has other characters available to use instead of Mario).
  • He is also one of several characters who can be unlocked before the Great Maze but cannot fight any bosses in the Smash World on the first playthrough.
• Mario, Bowser, and Ganondorf are the only returning characters in Brawl to have at least one completely different special move. Additionally, Mario is the only character to have a special move from a previous game turned into a standard attack in Brawl.
  • Also, Mario is the only character of the three with a changed move (him, Bowser, and Ganondorf) to have the special move changed be his down special.
• Although Mario has the ability to crawl in some of his games, he cannot crawl in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, while Luigi can.
• Mario along with Ness, R.O.B., Diddy Kong, and King Dedede are the only characters to wear their default costumes in team battles when they are on the red team.
• In all other games he is in, Mario is often depicting smiling, but in Brawl he is never seen smiling.

External links

• Mario's page at Smash Bros. Dojo!!
• Mario Character Guide at SWF
• Mario's Moves - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by CrappyCaptureDevice