Cape

The term "Cape" refers to Mario's Cape and Doctor Mario's Super Sheet Side Special Move. Either Cape action has the ability to reflect projectiles and spin characters in the opposite direction (even if they're shielding).
The Cape deals up to 10% damage (12% for the Super Sheet) and has no knockback. This means that it will not interrupt attacks; rather, it only turns the enemy character around. This can leave recovering characters unable to grab the ledge. However, the cape can be broken in the same manner as a reflecting attack can. That is to say, if the damage that the oncoming attack would do would break a shield in one hit, the cape will not work and Mario or Dr. Mario will enter broken shield animation.

Using the Cape also causes Mario to float slightly, meaning it has uses in recovery and in helping him avoid edgeguarders.

Origin

Originating from Super Mario World, the Cape was a powerup obtained from the Cape Feather, which enabled Mario to spin and attack with it, as well as flying great distances and floating softly back to earth, much like Raccoon Mario was capable of. In addition, he could "glide" more or less infinitely by moving up and down, and slam into the ground to create an earthquake capable of damaging all enemies on the screen. This is, of course, not present in the Smash games. An easier way to get back on the stage is to do the single jump-double jump-Midair move Combo.

Usage variations

The Cape attacks, bad as they may be, can also be pronounced as a verb (capes, caped, caped), i.e. "I just caped that Fox's recovery and won the tournament!"

Trivia

• Cape can even be used to a taunting character to make him face the other way, like making Wario face the screen while doing the side taunt.