Mario (SSB4): Difference between revisions

'''Mario''' ({{ja|マリオ|Mario}}, ''Mario'') is a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''. He was confirmed on June 11th, 2013 during the E3 2013 Nintendo Direct.<ref name="trailer1">[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvudMu-5kIU Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U 1st Trailer]</ref> He was also one of the main subjects of the Developer's Direct for ''Super Smash Bros.'' later during E3 2013.<ref name="devdirect">[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQD1yJinzeQ Wii U & Nintendo 3DS Developer Direct - Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U @E3 2013]</ref> 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''.<ref name="treehouseday2">[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edCQDRuL8Dk Nintendo Treehouse: Live @ E3 2014 -- Day 2: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U]</ref>

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; {{Sm|ESAM}}, 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==

Thanks to his incredibly quick attack speed, Mario shines in close-quarters combat, as few other characters like {{SSB4|Sheik}} and {{SSB4|Meta Knight}} 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 {{SSB4|Palutena}}. 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.

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.

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.

==Changes from ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''==

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.

Despite the plethora of buffs, 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, 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 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.

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''.

==Update history==

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.  

''See also: [[:Category:Mario players (SSB4)]]''

==[[Trophies]]==