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
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Mario Finale
Tier	G (31)

Mario (Japanese: 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, Princess Peach, Bowser, and Wario also originate. As in every other video game, 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, a middle position of G 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 a good out-of-shield option. 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, it 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 been nerfed from Melee to Brawl, although he's received a lot of buffs as well. He has less options and cannot combo as effectively because of the reduced hitstun. Many of Mario's attacks are slightly weaker and/or have less range. For example, his fireballs travel considerably less distance and deal 1% less damage. On the upside, they now have slightly more hitstun and a larger hitbox. Mario now has a slightly smaller model. Mario also has a new down special move (F.L.U.D.D.) and down aerial (Mario Tornado), making his recovery worse because he can no longer perform the Rising Tornado technique. Mario's cape now reverses the enemy's momentum rather than just reversing their direction. However, it is no longer effective in assisting recovery but is effective as an edge-guarding technique due the auto ledge grab feature and useful in disrupting the opponent and their recovery. Mario's neutral aerial is weaker, and his forward aerial now requires a sweetspot to meteor smash (along with dealing 1% less damage and having lower knockback). However. it is much safer to meteor smash with due to Brawl's slower falling speed. His back aerial is also stronger. Mario's back throw now launches enemies more vertical than horizontally (somewhat like Dr. Mario) but was weakened by a rather large amount, but still remains of the strongest back throws capable of koing around 150-175 % . Mario's forward smash is much more difficult to sweetspot but the sourspot was strengthened significantly, being capable of KOing below 150%.

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 SSB. 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.

Brawl Manual Description

"Everyone's favorite plumber is well rounded."

Moveset

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

	Move	Description	Segment		Damage	Angle	Hit Frames		BKB	KBG	WBKB	Type
Neutral attack	Combo Kick	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.	Hit 1	Fist	3%		2	3	0	100	15
				Arm							10
				Body							15
			Hit 2	Fist	2%		8	9			18
				Arm							15
				Body							25
			Hit 3		4%		20	24	30	95	0
Forward tilt	Power Kick	Does a roundhouse kick with his right leg. Has average damage and knockback, but has better reach than his other tilts (it is still short). Has some IASA frames.	Angled up		8%		5	8	8	100	0
			Angled side
			Angled down						13
Up tilt	Uppercut	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.			7%		5	12	28	130	0
Down tilt	Crouch Kick	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.	Foot		5%		5	8	20	80	0
			Leg		7%
Dash attack	Slide Kick	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. (Has IASA frames near the end.)	Clean	Foot	9%		6	9	70	50	0
				Leg
			Late	Foot	7%		10	25	45	30
				Leg
Up smash	Head Snap	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%.			Template:DamageWhenCharged		9	13	32	90	0
Down smash	Breakdance Kick	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.	Hit 1		Template:DamageWhenCharged		5	7	40	73	0
			Hit 2		Template:DamageWhenCharged		14	15	35	75
Forward smash	Fire Smash	Steps back and then forward, causing a blast of fire out of his hand. 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. This is Mario's most powerful attack and can be considered his best finisher. The sweetspot is a hitbox with transcendent priority. The attack is derived form Mario's ability to shoot fireballs.	Angled up	Arm	Template:DamageWhenCharged		15	18	25	100	0
				Fire	Template:DamageWhenCharged					90
			Angled side	Arm	Template:DamageWhenCharged					100
				Fire	Template:DamageWhenCharged					90
			Angled down	Arm	Template:DamageWhenCharged					100
				Fire	Template:DamageWhenCharged					90
Neutral aerial	Drop Kick	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.	Clean		10%		3	6	20	100	0
			Late		5%		7	29	13	90
Forward aerial	Meteor Punch	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.	Windup		12%		16		30	80	0
			Clean		13%		17	19	20	75
			Late		10%		20	21	20	80
Back aerial	Rear Kick	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).	Clean		12%		6	8	10	95	0
			Late		7%		9	14	7	90
Up aerial	Flip Kick	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.			11%		4	9	9	100	0
Down aerial	Mario Tornado	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.	Hits 1-5		1%		5,7,9,11,13		0	100	10
			Hit 6		7%		25		80	80	0
			Landing		2%		1	3	0	100	60
Pummel	Nosebutt	One of the slowest pummels in the game.			3%		16		0	100	30
Forward throw	Spin Chuck	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.			9%		13		60	65	0
Back throw	Spin Throw	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.	Throw		12%		44		70	63	0
			Swing Collision		8%				20	100	0
Up throw	Vertical Hurl	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.			8%		18		70	72	0
Down throw	Ground Slam	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.			6%		18		75	50	0
Floor (back)	Sweep Kick	Gets up then kicks behind him, then in front of him.	Hit 1		6%		20	21	80	50	0
			Hit 2				24	25
Floor (front)	Double Punch	Gets up then punches behind him, then in front of him.	Hit 1		6%		19	20	80	50	0
			Hit 2				25	26
Floor (trip)	Double Kick	Kicks behind him, then in front of him while getting up.	Hit 1		5%		19	20	60	50	0
			Hit 2				31	32
Edge <100%	Quick Kick	Does a somersault and then kicks upwards, from a laying down position.	Legs		8%		24	26	0	100	110
			Body		6%
Edge 100%+	Slow Kick	Gets up then does a kick similar to his forward tilt.			10%		40	44	0	100	110
Neutral special move	Fireball	A small, weak projectile.	Early		5%		14	19	30	25	0
			Semi-early				20	30	22	20
			After				30		11	15
Side special move	Cape	Reverses projectiles and enemies.	Ground		8%		12	14	0	0	0
			Air		6%
Up special move	Super Jump Punch	Soars upwards, dragging along enemies. Has good initial range and great to use offensively as well as out of shield.	Hit 1	Arm	5%		3	6	0	100	130
				Fist							140
			Hits 2-4	Arm	1%		7,9,11				150
				Fist
			Hits 5-6	Arm			13-14, 16-17				90
				Fist							120
			Hit 7		3%		19	20	52	145	0
Down special move	F.L.U.D.D.	Sprays water that does nothing but push.			0%				0	100	32
Final Smash	Mario Finale	Unleashes a torrent of flame sideways.	Larger		3%		26	260	40	100	0
			Smaller		2%

Taunts

• Up - Turns into Super Mario. The way he does it is how he changes in the original Super Mario Bros. (Same as in Template:G and Template:G).
• 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

Cheer

Ma ri o!

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

Mario in the SSE

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. 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. 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, Sheik, 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 friends 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 and punches, Arm and Leg stickers have the widest effect. 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.

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

Costumes

File:Alt-mario3.jpg

Mario's changeable clothing in SSBB

Trophy Gallery

• 

  Main [Classic Mode] trophy

• 

  Mario Finale [Final Smash, All-Star Mode] trophy

• 

  Paper Mario trophy

• 

  Striker Mario trophy

• 

  Baby Mario trophy

Trivia

• 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.
  • 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, Link, 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.
• Although Mario has the ability to crawl in some of his games, he cannot crawl in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

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