Mario (SSBM): Difference between revisions

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'''Mario''' ({{ja|マリオ|Mario}}, ''Mario'') returns as the most bog-standard [[starter character|starter]] character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' that could ever have been conceived. He was announced at [[E3]] 2001. He also has a [[clone]], {{SSBM|Dr. Mario}}, who is a superior character by almost every metric and should be played instead unless you enjoy suffering.

Mario is portrayed by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Pratt Chris Pratt], albeit via recycled voice clips from Chris Pratt's other movies.

Mario is ranked 15th out of 26 on the current tier list, placing him in the C+ tier. This is very similar to his previous ranking in the original ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' arcade game, where he is ranked 7th out of 12. Overall, he adjusted his placement on the tier list as much as Chris Pratt adjusted his natural voice to portray Mario. He remains a well-rounded character with average attributes across the board: passable comboing ability, okay throws, a serviceable projectile in [[Fireball]], and decent edgeguarding, especially with his [[Cape]], which can "easily and efficiently" gimp opponents who haven't faced Mario since the early 2000's and have no idea that it was part of his moveset. But unlike in the movie industry, being average in everything won't cut it in ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' for the Nintendo GameCube. Mario simply doesn't have the X-factor needed to stand out in a cast filled with top-tier talent. Most notably, he doesn't have a truly reliable finisher or recovery and has about the same amount of range as his voice actor, leaving him vulnerable to being gimped or zoned out by characters like {{SSBM|Marth}}. He is also outclassed by his clone {{SSBM|Dr. Mario}} and brother {{SSBM|Luigi}}, who actually have solid playerbases and don't induce spectators to fall asleep watching them. Overall, Mario has average matchups in tournament play; he can spend hours stomping low-tiered characters such as [[Bowser (SSBM)|Koopa]], but competitive players will unfortunately have to spend years of their life even coming up with a plan to beat the actually good characters as him.

[[File:Mario's Recovery Options.gif|thumb|Mario abusing [[TAS]] to recover onto the stage.]]

If it was your lifelong dream to become Mario in ''Smash'', then we're sorry to disappoint you, unless you wanted to play the most boring character of all time in a game where you can kill your opponents with giant sword swings and electrified knees. In terms of [[weight]], [[falling speed]], [[air speed]], size, and [[dash]] speed, Mario fails to stand out at all, being decidedly average in everything. That is, unless you share {{Sm|MagicScrumpy}}'s garbage balancing philosophy where he thought that everyone in ''Melee'' should be balanced around Mario... before eventually deciding to ragequit and steal [[Melee: SD Remix]]'s characters instead. An unforgivable action, of course, but an understandable one, given that even he was driven insane trying to make everyone in ''Melee'' as monotonous as Mario.

One of Mario's strengths is unfortunately his rather decent combos; he has plenty of low-lag and low-knockback tilts and aerials that he can string together. While mildly effective, they unfortunately have the dubious distinction of being some of the blandest-looking combos among the entire cast, having absolutely no cool visuals whatsoever besides a flame effect on his [[forward smash]] sweetspot that you're probably not going to hit against a real opponent. You could do a Mario combo that no one has ever seen before, and it could be the most technical combo that the character has ever used, and your region's {{SSBM|Captain Falcon}} tryhard will still hype up your local laundromat more than you ever will when he takes your last stock with yet another stomp to [[knee]], leaving you questioning why you decided to pick this game up in the first place.

Mario is also pretty good at edgeguarding, but most of his options, predictably, aren't flashy. Nice projectile in [[Fireball]]. Nice lingering [[neutral aerial]]. Nice [[back aerial|back air]]. Wonder where we've seen all that before? The one saving grace in Mario's edgeguarding kit is his [[Cape]], which is absolutely hilarious in many different ways. It is hilarious in execution because reversing the direction of your opponent's recovery without even a hitsound and watching them awkwardly and helplessly fall to their doom is peak comedy, and possibly the biggest middle finger you could ever give to a recovering opponent. It is also conceptually hilarious because you would think that Mario would use his cape feather power to actually fly for his recovery and make it not horrible, but he uses it to troll his opponents instead, truly the apex of sportsmanship from Nintendo's mascot and most honorable combatant.

The last of Mario's decidedly above-average traits is his grab game. His down throw is the bane of all {{SSBM|Pikachu}} mains everywhere who thought they were the ones in control of matchup knowledge in your match, being able to execute a chaingrab that is somehow even more of a snoozefest than {{SSBM|Sheik}}'s chaingrab into a likely KO. His up throw can also chaingrab {{SSBM|Fox}}, {{SSBM|Falco}}, and {{SSBM|Captain Falcon}}, but good luck actually getting that grab or consistently killing them off it. This is particularly notable because these instances will also be most of your clips in your overedited Mario combo video, so there will be more pressure on you not to screw it up lest you lose 15 precious seconds of ad revenue on your montage.

Mario, however, suffers from serious KOing problems, with a dearth of powerful or reliable finishers outside of his smash attacks. His '''[[forward aerial]]''' can be meteor canceled in ''Melee'' (because isn't instant [[meteor cancel]] such a fun mechanic) and has exorbitant ending lag, making it high-risk for low reward. His other moves don't quite hit the mark, either- it's very telling that his best kill setup against [[floaty]] characters is down throw to ''neutral aerial''. Most of Mario's KOs will come from routine, boring edgeguards where he clips some poor Fox or gets some random [[sidestep|spot dodge]] to down smash at 150%.

Mario's approaching game is also below-average, contrary to what early 2010's SmashWiki editors would want you to believe. The truth of the matter is that Mario's "average-at-everything" attributes, especially his lackluster range, make it a complete pain to get in on opponents, particularly the higher-tiered characters, and there are no two ways about it. In fact, the previous description on this page read exactly like a high schooler in English class who didn't do any actual research to justify their statement "Mario also has an above average approach" and just made up complete BS when asked to articulate their point of view by talking about bouncing fireballs. One might even come to believe that Chris Pratt himself contributed to this article with how similar his mannerisms were during the Mario movie teaser with Jack Black.

Mario also suffers from a below average recovery due to his refusal to actually use his [[Cape]] to fly, but rather only awkwardly stall him in the air for a split second. Super Jump Punch is probably Mario's most awkward- and pathetic-looking move, covering very little distance and being prone to interruption, while [[Mario Tornado]] can only grant vertical distance if you are a literal god of button mashing. He can wall jump to improve his recovery on certain stages such as [[Fountain of Dreams]], but the opponent will likely see this coming from a mile away and simply edgehog Mario without a second thought.

Overall, Mario is just ok, I guess. But "okay" doesn't make you a good character in ''Melee'', and "okay" is not what people come to ''Melee'' for. While spectators and pro players alike worldwide will bask in the electrifying energy of a supermajor Top 8, embracing the obscenely high level of skill, mindgames, movement, and overall quality of play on display, all leading up to that decisive moment where the last player standing is crowned, ''Melee'' Mario and his playerbase of 10 smashers will forevermore continue to bore the world while not even placing consistently in their region.

Mario's dream to become a more competitively viable character in ''Melee'' faced one critical challenge. And that is, he had to contend against his diabolical enemy, which was not actually anyone else on the cast, but rather the development team of ''Melee'' as a whole. He could not have been adjusted by a more perfect combination of [[buff]]s and [[nerf]]s from the supremely talented [[Masahiro Sakurai]], who ensured that despite all the changes made to Mario, he would still end up with around the same viability and be the most boring, middle-of-the-road character in the entire game. In a way, he and his voice actor share the same fate, because no matter how much fancy makeup and effects Hollywood puts on Chris Pratt, everyone watching knows it's literally just the same him.

Mario's adjustments overall made him a "faster but weaker" character. He gained a solid [[wavedash]] from the introduction of [[air dodging]], which helped his grounded movement, and most of his moves have less startup and ending lag. Due to this, and the introduction of [[Cape]] to his moveset, Mario's off-stage game now actually resembles some sort of functionality. On the other hand, he lost a significant amount of power, with some of his moves even gaining notable sourspots that make his KOing ability more inconsistent. It certainly didn't help that he gained a new [[meteor smash]] that replaced a previous move in the only game where meteor smashes are wildly inconsistent, but I guess they really liked the animation and just didn't bother to fix Mario's after making Dr. Mario's version actually good.

*{{change|The higher quality of the [[Nintendo GameCube]] console allows for a more detailed appearance of Mario. His physique looks much more similar to its official art, while his red cap and shirt are slightly darker and the seams on his overalls are more accentuated.}} He also has a slightly darker skin tone, and his hair and shoes are a much darker brown color.

*{{change|Mario gains a new [[victory pose]]: he makes a fire and when the fire disappears, Mario strikes a pose. It replacing his hopping victory pose in ''Smash 64''.}}

*{{nerf|Mario's [[air acceleration]] is lower (0.0667 (2) → 0.045), although no longer being the slowest.}}

*{{nerf|Mario [[jump]]s extremely lower (45.33 (1360) → 29), going from the 6th highest out of 12 characters to the 4th lowest out of 26.}}

**{{change|Mario's [[short hop]] is also extremely lower (26.6067 (798.2) → 11.025), improves his ability to hit opponents low on the ground with short hop aerials, as well as his ability to quickly land and continue aerial pressure, but also hinders his ability to [[auto-cancel]] his aerials and performing two aerials in a short hop.}}

*{{change|Mario [[falling speed|falls]] faster (1.467 (44) → 1.7), improving his vertical endurance but making him easier to combo.}}

*{{nerf|In the PAL version only, Mario is [[weight|lighter]] (100 (1) → 98).}}

*{{buff|Mario can now [[wall jump]], aiding his recovery.}}

*{{buff|The introduction of [[air dodging]] benefits Mario as he can now [[wavedash]]. His wavedash is overall solid due to his short jumpsquat/average traction; improving his movement options.}}

**{{nerf|Fireballs are smaller.}}

***{{nerf|These changes combined with Mario's faster falling speed significantly hinders their use as an offensive recovery option.}}

**{{change|As with all returning veterans, Mario now has a side special; a Cape based on the cape feather power-up in [[Super Mario World]]. It can reflect projectiles as well as reverse an opponent's direction if it hits them. It also gives Mario a slight boost when used in the air. This gives Mario an option to deal with projectiles; as well as an additional edgeguarding and recovery option.}}

**{{buff|Super Jump Punch can now be cancelled with a wall jump near the apex of the move, aiding Mario's recovery if he is near a wall.}}

**{{nerf|Its gains much less distance, worsening its recovery potential.}}

**{{nerf|It has much more startup lag (frame 1 → 8), greatly hindering its utility.}}

***{{nerf|In addition to this, the first hit has altered knockback (70 (base), 1 (set) → 0/40) which as a result, prevents it from causing hitstun.}}

**{{nerf|Due to hitting up to 8 times instead of 14:}}

**{{nerf|Mario's faster falling speed and gravity hinders the move's use as a recovery tool.}}

***{{nerf|Due to these changes, the move is now considered nearly useless outside of recovering, and as a situational vertical launcher.}}

Mario was nerfed in the [[PAL]] version of ''Melee'' for some absolutely insane reason that we at SmashWiki cannot even ''begin'' to comprehend.

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:''Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the [[2019 MPGR]], which no actual full-time Mario main would have ever actually reached.''

''See also: [[:Category:Mario players (SSBM)]]''

*{{Sm|Green Mario|USA}} - A notable Mario player in the United States, whose uncreative tag embodies the complete monotony of playing Mario at a competitive level. His tag is so uncreative, in fact, that there is literally a [[User:Green Mario|SmashWiki user]] with the same name. Placed 9th at {{Trn|Tipped Off 4}} and 13th at {{Trn|TGMTSBCO}}.

*{{Sm|KoopaTroopa895|USA}} - A braggadocious Mario player whose tag is a reference to the number of Koopas he stomped in the original ''Super Mario Bros.'' arcade game at his local laundromat. Later switched to {{SSBM|Marth}}, making his tag completely nonsensical in the process. Placed 25th at {{Trn|Kings of Cali 4}}. Has wins over {{Sm|Spark}} and {{Sm|Nintendude}}.

*{{Sm|Mango|USA}} (#3) - Once "mained" Mario under the tag "Scorpion Master" before realizing he was trolling the wrong game as Scorpion is not a playable character in ''Melee''. Utilized Mario as an occasional counterpick, particularly against {{Sm|Axe}}.

*{{Sm|Matt Deezie|USA}} - Former best Mario main in the world when literally no one played the game (much less ''Mario'' in it). Placed top 6 at a few [[Tournament Go]] events.

*{{Sm|SchlimmShady|Germany}} - Another Mario player with an uncreative tag befitting of the character, stealing the moniker wholesale from Eminem. Later made the correct decision to switch to Captain Falcon. Placed 17th at {{Trn|Syndicate 2017}} and 25th at {{Trn|B.E.A.S.T 6}} and {{Trn|B.E.A.S.T 7}}.

In Classic Mode, Mario can appear as an ally in team and giant fights (that you would never want), a solo, team, giant, multi, and metal opponent. In Mario's appearances, he either appears on [[Princess Peach's Castle]] or [[Rainbow Cruise]]. On a team with Bowser, he appears on {{SSBM|Battlefield}} and with Peach, he appears on [[Mushroom Kingdom II]]; during the battle against Mario + Bowser on Battlefield, the stage will play the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD3vkVOw3rc Mario Bros. movie teaser] by Chris Pratt and Jack Black.

Mario is one of only two characters who can appear twice in Adventure Mode, alongside his brother Luigi, because a character as bland as ''Melee'' Mario needs every little bit of help standing out.

In the game's Adventure Mode, Mario gets carried by {{SSBM|Peach}} against the player in the second part of the first stage, taking place on Princess Peach's Castle. If the player finished the previous segment, [[Mushroom Kingdom (Adventure Mode)|Mushroom Kingdom]], with the remaining time registering 2 in the seconds digit, his younger brother {{SSBM|Luigi}} will take his place in a cutscene that will trigger right before this battle, which has Luigi stomping on Mario's head to get to the top of the castle, just like how he stomped over Mario on his way to a higher placement on the tier list.

Later on, in the second half of Stage 11, [[Metal Mario]] will fight the player's character on the Battlefield stage, where he functions as simply a Mario permanently under the influence of the [[Metal Box]] item, a buff that he probably would have needed on his base character to compete meaningfully anywhere in ''Melee''. If the player unlocked Luigi, Metal Mario will be joined by [[Metal Luigi]], and they both team up on the player, making for a harder fight due to the presence of a better character.

In All-Star Mode, Mario and his allies are fought on Rainbow Cruise, because the only way you would lose to an AI Mario with a better character is to SD on an autoscroller.

*'''[[Event 1: Trouble King]]''': In the most predictable first event match of all time, the player plays as Mario and fights against {{SSBM|Bowser}} on {{SSBM|Battlefield}}.

*'''[[Event 10: All-Star Match 1]]''': Mario is the first opponent to be fought in this series of staged battles. The player battles him on {{SSBM|Yoshi's Island}}, which will transition to the next stage <s>if</s> when Mario gets defeated. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him along with {{SSBM|Donkey Kong}}, {{SSBM|Yoshi}}, {{SSBM|Peach}}, and Bowser.

*'''[[Event 19: Peach's Peril]]''': Mario must protect Peach from a slightly larger Bowser on {{SSBM|Final Destination}}, even though in ''Melee'', this would very clearly be the other way around. Both Mario and Peach have 1 stock each while Bowser has infinite lives.

*'''[[Event 22: Super Mario 128]]''': The player chooses any character and must endure the torture of listening to 128 tiny Marios' KO sound effects on [[Mushroom Kingdom II]].

*'''[[Event 25: Gargantuans]]''': A scenario designed as a homage to {{s|wikipedia|kaiju}} movies and their various tropes. On the [[Fourside]] stage, with unlimited time, the player plays as a giant-sized Bowser (as "Godzilla") with 1 stock against a giant-sized Donkey Kong (as "King Kong") with 2 stock. A tiny Mario and a tiny Peach are also present in this match, who usually gets KO'd in one hit. It is a wonder how Universal didn't try to sue Nintendo again for making this reference given how weak {{SSBM|Kirby}} was in this game.

*'''[[Event 31: Mario Bros. Madness]]''': The player chooses any character and must fight Mario and {{SSBM|Luigi}} in a two-timed match on {{SSBM|Mushroom Kingdom}}. The player must have more points than Luigi (well, Mario too, but that's usually a given) within the two minutes to clear this event.

*'''[[Event 38: Super Mario Bros. 2]]''': The player chooses any character and must defeat Mario, Luigi, and Peach in a two-stock match on [[Mushroom Kingdom II]]. Both the characters and the stage are a direct throwback to the original ''Super Mario Bros. 2'', an NES sequel to ''Super Mario Bros.'' It is a little-known fact that this event match was actually designed to be unwinnable, but they substituted Mario for Toad at the last minute and removed the blatantly overpowered Toad from the game, thus unintentionally making it feasible.

In addition to the normal trophy about Mario as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter which both try to downplay his mediocrity in gameplay, unlocked by completing both [[Adventure Mode|Adventure]] and [[All-Star]] modes respectively with Mario on any difficulty:

Mario SSBM art.png|Alternate artwork of Mario.

Mario Landing SSBM.jpg|Mario landing on [[Corneria]].

MarioTornadoMelee.jpg|Performing [[Mario Tornado]] on [[Brinstar]].

Mario SuperJumpPunchSSBM.jpg|Hitting {{SSBM|Ness}} with a [[Super Jump Punch]] on {{SSBM|Kongo Jungle}}.

Ssbmmario4.jpg|Tossing a [[Fireball]] on [[Onett]].

Mario Cape Kirby SSBM.jpg|Flipping {{SSBM|Kirby}} with his [[Cape]] on [[Mute City]].

Mario Forward Smash Image SSBM.jpg|Performing his [[forward smash]].