Mario (SSBU)

Mario in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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Universe	Mario
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Mario Finale

“	Mario is an all-around fighter who uses his wide variety of techniques to respond to any situation. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he shows up in his Wedding tux and his Builder outfit, and Cappy even makes an appearance!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Mario (マリオ, Mario) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was suggested to appear in the then unnamed Ultimate in its first teaser trailer at the end of the March 8th, 2018 Nintendo Direct, and officially announced in Ultimate's E3 2018 trailer on June 12th, 2018 alongside the rest of the returning roster. Mario is classified as fighter #01.

As in Smash 4, Charles Martinet's portrayal of Mario from Brawl was repurposed for Ultimate.

Attributes

Like in the majority of his games and spin-offs, Mario is intended to be a balanced character in terms of attributes, possessing average walking, dashing and falling speeds, air acceleration, gravity and weight. However, he also has high air speed and jump power. These balanced stats do not give Mario the edge when it comes to overall movement, but they nevertheless make him adept at most situations where a key attribute is needed to gain the advantage, which when combined with his very quick frame data, grants Mario a very effective neutral game. As a result, despite his attributes implying a jack-of-all-trades type of character, Mario is more of a rushdown character in practice.

Thanks to his incredibly quick attack speed, Mario shines in close-quarters combat. His fast attack speed allows him to consistently apply pressure to the opponent, and he is 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 King Dedede. 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 effective combo starters that can help rack up plenty of damage, and the former chains into itself at low percentages. 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.

Mario's aerial attacks are also very useful in many cases. Neutral aerial is a sex kick that can be useful in edgeguarding or for breaking combos. Back aerial has the longest reach and the highest knockback of Mario's aerial moves, allowing it to space effectively and reliably KO offstage. Up aerial's extremely quick startup, vertical launch angle and lack of sourspots let it combo into itself or other moves, on top of letting it easily break combos and setup the aforementioned. Down aerial is a great anti-juggling move that can also KO if used near the upper blast line. Finally, his forward aerial is a meteor smash with high base knockback for one, making it great for gimping all but the farthest reaching of recoveries.

His special moveset is highly varied and has plenty of uses. Fireball is a projectile with decently long range. It can be useful in the neutral game or in edgeguarding, thanks to its disruptive knockback, along with very useful chances to disrupt direct approaches. Super Jump Punch travels in a controllable diagonal direction and grants moderate distance, making it good at recovery. It also has intangibility upon startup, allowing it to be used out of shield very effectively. Due to its extremely quick startup, it is also a useful combo finisher, especially near the blast line. On the other hand, Cape reverses opponents, with the induced disorientation often being enough to allow a free hit or efficiently gimp a recovery, which aids in edgeguarding opponents. It is also a powerful reflector, making it highly useful in matchups against projectile-heavy characters, such as Simon or Young Link. F.L.U.D.D. is a mechanism that shoots water, pushing opponents away, which compliments his Cape. Though situational, it can occasionally be used to give Mario some breathing space. As a result of his Cape, F.L.U.D.D. and his fast aerials, Mario also boasts a versatile edgeguarding game.

Another valuable strength of Mario is his grab game. Even though his grab reach is only average, his grabs are fairly quick, and his pummel can rack up some damage before throwing the opponent. His forward throw sends the opponent at a disadvantageous position, where Mario can capitalize on their mistakes. His up throw has been repurposed into a fairly useful combo starter at lower percentages, comboing far more reliably into his up aerial or down aerial compared to the previous installment. 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 useful combo starter, though not as useful as before due to up tilt's decreased range. 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 decent, and it is also worth noting that several of Mario's moves can lock, including his neutral attack. 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.

Despite Mario's numerous strengths, he is not flawless. Mario's attacks, while well-rounded, are not particularly exceptional, and most characters are able to outperform him in various areas: notable examples include Luigi having better comboing ability, Simon having a more effective projectile game, Captain Falcon having greater mobility, Ganondorf having higher attack power right off the bat and Ike having larger reach. In particular, the latter two are his main weaknesses: his KOing ability is largely inconsistent, with very few guaranteed KO set-ups, and all of them being hard to confirm. While much of his moveset can get the job done, there is a noticeable gap in power between his strongest moves and his other ones, with this meaning he'll usually have to rely on his sweetspotted forward smash, up smash, down smash's back hit, or back throw to score kills, which are all further compounded by the poor reach of his attacks. As such, he cannot afford to get predictable, especially with the existence of stale-move negation. His lack of reach also prevents him from fighting at a safe distance and consistently forces Mario to approach characters. This leads into having some difficulty against characters with large or disjointed reach.

Lastly, his recovery is rather limited. He has a fast air speed, a high jump, and a very fast and safe up special in Super Jump Punch. However, Super Jump Punch does not travel a very long distance and is fairly linear, making it easy to predict. His other options also are unreliable, as Cape and F.L.U.D.D. each travel very little momentum and are extremely easy to edgeguard, F.L.U.D.D. being useful only to substitute for his air speed, and Cape only to guard break edgeguarders or wait them out. This necessitates that Mario returns to the stage quickly, as a single opening offstage may be fatal for him. Nevertheless, Mario's recovery provides serviceable distance, but caution must be exercised when offstage.

Overall, Mario has many clear strengths, and very few glaring weaknesses. Despite being intended as a jack-of-all-trades character, his very quick speed overall and largely reliable combo ability allows him to get the edge easily against most characters, as it is hard to escape from him once he gets to combo the opponent, while being easy for him to escape and regain the advantage. However, because of his low range, Mario must almost always fight in close quarters. Mario has to be very careful off-stage as well in spite of his viable edgeguarding game, as a single vent in his defenses can cause him to be unable to recover.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Comparatively to other fighters, Mario has received very few major direct changes in his transition from SSB4 to Ultimate, possibly less than any other fighter. However, changes and overhauls to pre-established mechanics from SSB4 to Ultimate have impacted Mario to a higher degree, resulting in a mix of buffs and nerfs overall.

One of the biggest detriments to Mario's toolkit was the universal nerfing of grabs; infamously known for his potentially devastating throw combos in SSB4, the increased endlag of all grabs have affected Mario more negatively compared to other fighters. Furthermore, up tilt, one of his most pivotal moves previously, has had altered hitbox placements resulting in not only a range reduction, but it also significantly hinders its use as a reliable follow-up from his down throw at any percents. His dash attack can also no longer serve as a reliable 2 frame punish that leads into a stage spike, due to its late hit's angle being altered to send opponents away from Mario. On top of this, because of the changes to rage, Super Jump Punch is much less effective for taking out stocks off the upper blast line below high percents.

However, changes to Ultimate’s mechanics have also benefited Mario; his already strong set of aerials has been improved even further as a result of the universal changes to the landing lag of aerials. This not only makes them safer on shield, but it also allows for more reliable combos and even devastating KO setups, such as up air into forward aerial. Mario also benefits from faster walking, dashing, and air speeds, since his higher mobility allows him to string attacks together more effectively and close in on opponents' more effectively. Lastly, the added ability to run cancel with any ground attack has improved Mario's ground game further given his strong set of tilts, with up tilt and down tilt serving as reliable combo starters. The reduced jumpsquat durations and decreased landing lag across the cast also give him greater combo opportunities, with his up throw in particular becoming a more effective combo starter.

Lastly, Mario has received a few direct noteworthy buffs as well. His forward tilt is much more effective as a spacing option due to its higher base knockback, lower ending lag, and the increased shieldstun for ground attacks besides smash attacks. Furthermore, Fireball and F.L.U.D.D. have slightly less ending lag, making them safer options at longer distances.

Overall, it is currently undetermined whether Mario has been truly buffed or nerfed from Smash 4, as both his buffs and nerfs impact him to a similar degree. Nevertheless, he has amassed strong results in the early metagame of Ultimate, and is currently represented by notable players such as Zenyou, Dark Wizzy, Prodigy, MastaMario, and Super Dan. This indicates that Mario is still a viable character due to his representation.

Aesthetics

• As with all veterans returning from Smash 4, Mario's model features a more subdued color scheme. His clothing and hair now feature simple detailing, similar to his design in Brawl.
• Mario's standard cap has been replaced by Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey. Cappy's eyes can appear during Super Jump Punch, but he otherwise has no effect on gameplay.
• Mario's idle animation is altered slightly; his head is turned more towards the screen, but he still looks toward his front.
• Mario, like many other characters, has been made much more expressive in this game, to an even greater degree than its predecessor. In particular, he will sometimes smile and appear whimsical or happy in battle, in line with his canon depiction, although he still looks serious and with angry brows most of the time.
• Many of Mario's animations have been slightly altered. His walking, helpless, skidding, and ledge-hanging animations are just a few examples.
• Mario has a slightly different pose during air dodge, and has an angry expression on his face.
• Mario's mustache now has physics-based movement.
• Mario's attacks, especially ones involving fire, have been given brighter, flashier particle effects.
• Mario has two new taunts: one where he turns his back to the camera and gives a thumbs-up, and another where he throws Cappy around in a circle. They replace his previous up and side taunts, respectively.
  • Up taunt no longer massively increases Mario's hurtbox, which combined with its much faster speed and taunt canceling makes it much harder to punish.
• Mario performs his down taunt much faster.
• Mario's Builder outfit from Super Mario Maker and his Wedding tuxedo from Super Mario Odyssey are present as alternate costumes. They replace his Wario-inspired costume and his Fire Mario costume, respectively.
• Mario's spin jump victory animation has been altered slightly; he jumps much higher, spins around only once, and has a happy expression after landing.
• Mario now smiles when applauding the winner after a match.
• Mario's on-screen appearance is mirrored.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Mario's jumpsquat animation now takes 3 frames to complete (down from 5).
• Mario jumps slightly higher.
• Mario walks slightly faster (1.1 → 1.155).
• Mario runs much faster (1.6 → 1.76).
  • Mario's initial dash is significantly faster (1.6 → 1.936).
• Mario's air speed is faster (1.15 → 1.208).
• Mario's traction is much higher (0.045 → 0.102), allowing him to punish out of shield more easily.
• Mario's gravity is slightly lower (0.08715 → 0.087).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-16 → 4-15).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-16 → 5-16), and more ending lag (FAF 30 → 35).
• Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 27 → 26).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 3-27 → 3-29).
• Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (FAF 33 → 53).

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Consecutive uses of the first hit of neutral attack are faster (9 → 6 frames).
  • The first two hits transition into the subsequent hits faster (hit 1: frame 8 → 5, hit 2: frame 7 → 6).
  • The third hit comes out faster (frame 7 → 3) and goes higher, allowing it to connect better from the first two hits.
    • However, its total duration remains unchanged, giving it more ending lag.
  • The first two hits deal altered damage (2.5% → 2.2% (hit 1), 1.5% → 1.7% (hit 2)), resulting in the move dealing slightly less damage in total (8% → 7.9%).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt deals more base knockback, increasing its safety on hit at low percents.
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 31 → 26).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's animation has been reversed, with Mario spinning towards the screen rather than away from it.
  • Up tilt has less horizontal range, and its hitboxes start from a higher position, rendering it unable to hit some characters on the ground.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt's animation has been reversed, with Mario spinning towards the screen rather than away from it.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack travels further.
  • It has an altered animation that no longer lowers Mario's hurtbox, which prevents him from sliding under certain attacks.
  • The late hit launches opponents away from Mario like the clean hit, rather than towards him, hindering its combo potential and preventing it from stage spiking opponents below edges.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash deals consistent damage across all angles, increasing it overall (14%/17% (forward), 14.7%/17.85% (up), 14.42%/17.51% (down) → 14.7%/17.8% (all)).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's animation has been reversed, with Mario facing towards the screen rather than away from it.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash's animation has been altered, resembling both the Sweep Kick move from Super Mario 64, and the break dance Mario performs on the cover of Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have reduced landing lag (10 frames → 6 (neutral), 26 frames → 17 (forward), 12 frames → 6 (back, up), 19 frames → 15 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial auto-cancels later (frame 34 → 39).
• Forward aerial:
  • The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes improves forward aerial's combo potential onstage, compounded further by its reduced landing lag.
  • It has a different animation, with Mario now punching downwards with his opposite hand and twisting around afterwards instead of flipping.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has one frame less ending lag (FAF 32 → 31), marginally improving its combo potential.
  • It auto-cancels earlier (frame 18 → 17).
  • Its hitboxes have a shorter duration (frames 4-8 → 4-7).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's final hit comes out faster (frame 25 → 23), allowing it to connect better and preventing opponents from air dodging out of it.
    • However, its total duration remains unchanged, giving it more ending lag.
  • The move deals more damage (1% → 1.4% (hits 1-5), 5% → 5.5% (hit 6); 10% → 12.5% (total)).
  • It auto-cancels earlier (frame 33 → 32).
  • It can no longer be frame canceled.
  • The final hit has an altered animation involving Mario spreading his limbs out. The vortex emitted around him is also larger.

Throws/other attacks

• All grabs have increased ending lag (FAF 29 → 35 (standing), 36 → 43 (dash), 34 → 37 (pivot)).
• Dash and pivot grab have slightly more startup lag (frame 8 → 9 (dash), 9 → 10 (pivot)).
• Pummel:
  • Pummel comes out much faster (frame 16 → 1) and ends sooner (FAF 23 → 6), but deals significantly less damage (3.25% → 1.3%).
  • It has a slightly different animation: Mario now uses one hand during it instead of both like in previous installments, to keep consistent with his grab animation.
• All of Mario's throws have been altered with more exaggerated animations.
• Mario's throws are no longer weight-dependent. This improves their combo potential on heavyweights, but reduces it on lightweights.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw has slightly less knockback.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw has increased combo ability due to Mario's faster jumpsquat and jump speed.
  • Mario now faces horizontally rather than facing the screen.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw can no longer combo into up tilt except against large characters due to the latter's altered hitbox placements, hindering its damage racking potential at low to mid percents.
  • Mario no longer spins after throwing the opponent.
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 9%).

Special moves

• Fireball:
  • Fireball has less ending lag (FAF 53 → 50), improving its safety.
  • Fireballs last much longer before disappearing (52 frames → 70).
  • Mario no longer opens his mouth when using Fireball on the ground.
• Cape:
  • Cape forces opponents to show their back side while they're using their moves; this even works to characters with mirrored stance, causing them to turn away from the screen.
  • Cape is now worn around Mario's neck when used, akin to its appearance in Super Mario World.
• Super Jump Punch:
  • Super Jump Punch requires a longer travel distance before being able to sweetspot a ledge.
  • It can no longer be reversed during the first hit.
  • Due to rage being changed to not affect set knockback, the linking hits of the move can no longer KO off the top blast line as easily, removing Mario's low percent KO setups.
  • The second through sixth hits deal less damage (1% → 0.6%).
  • The coins spawned by the move have reverted to their Super Mario 64 design, instead of the Star Coin design used in Smash 4. Occasionally, they'll appear as regional coins found in the Metro Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey. Cappy's eyes appear when this occurs.
  • The second through fourth hits have 2 frames in between them as opposed to one, resulting in the move having a slightly longer duration (frame 3/7/8/9/10/12/14 → 3/7/9/11/13/15/17).
• F.L.U.D.D.:
  • F.L.U.D.D. has greater range, and reduced ending lag (FAF 75 → 68).
  • Mario can now cancel the charging animation by jumping.
  • F.L.U.D.D. has an altered charging animation.
• Mario Finale:
  • Mario sports an angrier expression than in previous games when unleashing Mario Finale.
  • Damage from each hit is dealt solely based on how long the attack has been out, with the fireballs becoming more powerful as the attack continues.
  • Mario Finale has less knockback than it did before, where it used to drag opponents far to the side at low percents or kill opponents at around 30%. Because of this change, Final Smash kills later than before, requiring the opponent to be at 55% or higher.

Update History

2.0.0

• Dash attack's launch angle has been lowered (60° (clean)/58° (late) → 50°/48°). This makes the move more effective for edgeguarding.
• The Final Smash Meter version of Mario Finale has a higher knockback multiplier (x0.9 → x0.91).

Moveset

• Mario can wall jump.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2.2%	The Punch + Punch + Kick combo from Super Mario 64. The first and second hits can lock.
			1.7%
			4%
Forward tilt			7%	A wheel kick. It can be angled. Can lock at low percents, but not as effectively as his jabs due to its higher knockback and ending lag by comparison.
Up tilt			5.5%	A spinning uppercut. Effective for comboing into itself at low percents, and aerial attacks from mid to high percents; however, the former combo can be escaped with the proper combination of DI and SDI, and can be punished on hit at very low percents. It appears to be based on the second hit of the Mega Glove's combo from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
Down tilt			5% (foot), 7% (body)	A legsweep. A reliable combo starter that works at a wider range of percents than up tilt, at the cost of being less consistent due to its different hitboxes, and unable to combo into itself as effectively.
Dash attack			8% (clean), 6% (late)	A baseball slide. Its lingering hitbox is useful for 2-framing certain opponents and punishing spotdodges. Very similar to the Slide Kick from Super Mario 64.
Forward smash			17.8% (fire), 14.7% (arm)	Steps back and does a palm thrust that produces a small explosion. It can be angled.
Up smash		Lead Headbutt	14%	An upward arcing headbutt. Despite its decent power, this is Mario's most reliable KO option due to several factors: its quick startup makes it a useful out of shield option, as well as being difficult to react to if the opponent is within its range. His head is intangible while its hitboxes are active, giving it pseudo-disjointed range, and its hitboxes reach behind Mario pretty well, though they have shorter frontal range. Lastly, it has very fast interruptibility for its strength at frame 40, and its damage output is also just enough to make it difficult for most characters to punish out of shield.
Down smash			10% (front), 12% (back)	The Sweep Kick from Super Mario 64, Mario does a breakdance kick that hits both sides. Mario's fastest smash attack, coming out as fast as all his tilts, and both hits semi-spike opponents, though the frontal hit is rather weak. The animation in Ultimate more closely resembles Mario's breakdance from Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix.
Neutral aerial			8% (clean), 5% (late)	A flying kick. A standard sex kick, it loses its already below-average power after the first frames. It is useful for breaking out of combos due to its very fast startup (frame 3), and as a versatile horizontal combo extender, as well as for locking opponents. Autocancels in a short hop.
Forward aerial		Meteor Knuckle	12% (early), 14% (clean), 10% (late)	Rears back his fist and then throws an overhand. When hit clean, it is a meteor smash with enough knockback to KO under 45% offstage. It has the slowest startup of his standard moveset (frame 16), high ending lag, and is Mario's only aerial that doesn't autocancel in a short hop.
Back aerial			10.5% (clean), 7% (late)	A dropkick behind Mario. Has fast startup with low ending and landing lag, making it an effective spacing tool and horizontal combo extender at low percents.
Up aerial			7%	A bicycle kick. Has extremely fast startup (frame 4), consistent strength throughout the move and very low ending and landing lag, making it one of Mario's most versatile combo starters and extenders in his moveset.
Down aerial		Mario Tornado	1.4% (hits 1-5), 5.5% (hit 6), 2% (landing)	Rapidly spins around, trapping opponents and damaging them with a series of discus clotheslines and spinning backfists before assuming a spread-eagle position to launch them. It resembles the Spin Jump, a technique that first appeared in Super Mario World.
Grab			—	Reaches out. Mario's overall grab range is average.
Pummel			1.3%	Headbutts the opponent.
Forward throw			8%	Spins the opponent around once and throws them forward. Can set up tech situations and mixups at low percents.
Back throw		Airplane Swing	11% (throw), 8% (collateral)	Spins the opponent by their legs three times before throwing them backward. Can KO even the heaviest of characters reliably at around 160% near the edge without the need of rage, but can KO midweights as early as 120% if they fail to DI. It is based on his throw that he uses against Bowser in Super Mario 64.
Up throw			7%	Heaves the opponent directly overhead with both hands. An effective combo throw at low to medium percentages. Very similar animation to the Upward Cap Throw from Super Mario Odyssey.
Down throw			5%	A body slam. Mario's primary combo starter, it can be followed up with several options, including Super Jump Punch, neutral attack, and up aerial at higher percents.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Performs a modified version of the Sweep Kick from Super Mario 64 before getting up.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Punches behind himself and then in front of himself while getting up.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Performs a side kick behind himself and then in front of himself while getting up.
Edge attack Edge getups			9%	Performs a dropkick while climbing up.
Neutral special		Fireball	5% (early), 4% (late)	Throws a Fireball. The fireball bounces along the ground several times before disappearing. Has a lot of endlag for a weak projectile, but Mario retains full control over his aerial mobility after using it, allowing him to continue drifting unpredictably while controlling space.
Side special		Cape	7%, 1.5x times the reflected projectile	Dons a Cape and waves it in front of himself. It reflects projectiles and reverses enemies, as well as their controls for a moment if they get hit. In the air, it stalls Mario for a short period of time, allowing for timing mixups in juggle and recovery situations.
Up special		Super Jump Punch	5% (hit 1), 0.6% (hits 2-6), 3% (hit 7)	A jumping uppercut that produces Star Coins or Metro Kingdom regional coins on contact. Mario's only recovery move. Its extremely fast startup (frame 3) and intangibility frames on startup make it useful as an out of shield option.
Down special		F.L.U.D.D.	0%	Wields F.L.U.D.D. and charges up water to launch a stream at the opponent. It charges up quickly, and can be charge canceled and stored for later. The water pushes opponents, but does not damage them. Mario can change the angle of the stream. Useful for disrupting an approach and creating space, which can help alleviate pressure and potentially put his opponent in a vulnerable position. Can be used as an edgeguarding tool.
Final Smash		Mario Finale	2% (early), 2.5% (clean), 3% (late)	Rears his arms back before thrusting them forward to generate and launch two gigantic Fireballs, which trap and repeatedly damage any opponents in their path.

On-screen appearance

• Jumps out of a Warp Pipe punching his right fist in the air while shouting "Let's-a go!".

Taunts

• Up taunt: Turns his back to the camera and gives a thumbs-up, while smiling. The pose Mario strikes resembles a piece of promotional artwork first released for Club Nintendo, but without the wink.
• Side taunt: Cheerfully tosses Cappy in a circle, saying "Woohoo!", then grabs him out of midair and puts him back on his head. Based on the Cap Throw from Super Mario Odyssey.
• Down taunt: Spins in the air and falls to the ground with his legs in the air. This is a reference to his dying animation from Donkey Kong.

Idle poses

• Moves his head from left to right and holds his fist in front of his face.
• Adjusts his hat.

Victory poses

• Winds up for a punch and steps forward while punching in front of the screen.
• Makes fire explode from his palm and strikes a pose. This pose is somewhat similar to his Super Smash Bros. 4 artwork.
• Does a spin as he jumps high in the air and lands in a strongman pose. It originates from his "character chosen" animation in Super Smash Bros.

A flourished remix of the Course Clear Fanfare used in Super Mario Bros., slightly sped up.

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In competitive play

Notable players

•  Dark Wizzy - One of the best Mario players in the world. Placed 9th at Smash Conference United, 33rd at Let's Make Moves, and 17th at GENESIS 6
•  MastaMario - One of the best Mario players in the United States. Has wins over NAKAT, Armando, Zenyou, Charlie, Rich Brown, and Slither2Hunter.
•  Prodigy - Currently the best Mario player in the world. Placed 13th at GENESIS 6 with wins over FOW, Abadango, Dark Wizzy, and ImHip
•  Rice - Placed 9th at Super Splat Bros and 25th at SoCal Chronicles.
•  Tatsutsuyo - Placed 13th at Sumabato SP.
•  Teb - Placed 7th at Super Splat Bros.
•  Zenyou - Placed 33rd at GENESIS 6. Has wins over Larry Lurr, Razo, Rich Brown, Slither2Hunter, and Nicko.

Classic Mode: Let's-a Go!

In a similar fashion to the Classic Modes of past games, Mario's opponents are groups of fighters from various universes fought on a home stage from that universe.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Link and Zelda	Great Plateau Tower	Overworld Theme - The Legend of Zelda (Brawl)
2	Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede	Green Greens	Green Greens (Melee)	Free for All
3	Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong	Kongo Falls	Jungle Level (Melee)
4	Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard, and Pikachu	Pokémon Stadium	Main Theme - Pokémon Red & Pokémon Blue (Brawl)	Pokémon Trainer is absent.
5	Marth, Chrom, and Ike	Coliseum	Story 5 Meeting
6	The Koopalings and Bowser Jr.	Princess Peach's Castle	Fortress Boss - Super Mario Bros. 3	The Koopalings are fought in the order Mario faces them in Super Mario Bros. 3.
Bonus Stage
Final	Bowser, then Giga Bowser	Final Destination	King Bowser - Super Mario Bros. 3, then Giga Bowser	A Maxim Tomato spawns on the stage after Bowser is KO'd.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Mario has "Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels Medley" accompany the credits.

Character unlock tree

Mario's Classic Mode character unlock tree includes the following characters in order:

1. Sonic
2. Bayonetta
3. Little Mac
4. Ike
5. Luigi
6. Roy
7. Dr. Mario
8. Olimar

Each character can be unlocked by clearing Mario's Classic Mode, or the Classic Mode of any preceding character, if all preceding characters have been unlocked. Once all the above characters are unlocked, clearing Classic Mode with any of them will default to Donkey Kong's character unlock tree, starting with Bowser. Furthermore, Mario's tree can also be accessed by completing another starter character's unlock tree, then clearing Classic Mode with any character within.

Role in World of Light

Mario was among the fighters that were summoned to the cliffside to fight against the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Mario was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. Mario was then destroyed by Galeem's light attack offscreen and imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters, with the exception of Kirby.

Mario is later seen under Galeem's imprisonment during the opening cutscene, where a puppet fighter of him is cloned from him to contain the spirit of a Smoky Progg. He is always the first character to be unlocked in this mode.

When the fighters make their last stand against Galeem and Dharkon, Mario is seen leading the charge. He is also prominently featured in both of the bad endings. If Galeem defeats Dharkon, Mario watches in trepidation as Galeem unleashes a wave of light and is ostensibly vaporized with the rest of reality. If Dharkon defeats Galeem, Mario is seen lifelessly slumping over as the world is engulfed in darkness. Template:-

In Spirit battles

As the main opponent

• Metal Mario (Metal)
• Boo Mario
• Toadsworth
• Starship Mario (Giant)
• Cappy
• Goo-Goo Buggy
• B-Dasher (x3)
• MC Ballyhoo & Big Top
• Rabbid Mario (Bunny)
• Mario (Mario Tennis Aces
• Baby Mario (Tiny)
• Smoky Progg
• Von Kaiser
• Maruhige Shop Owner
• Dice Block

As a minion

• Baby Peach
• Peach (Wedding)
• Pauline
• Geno
• Starlow
• Wanda
• Fighting Alloy Team (x4)

Spirits

Mario's Fighter Spirits can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. They are also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking Mario in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As Fighter Spirits, they cannot be used in Spirit Battles and are purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, Mario makes an appearance in various Primary and Support Spirits.

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  1. Mario

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  2. Builder Mario

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  3. Mario (Wedding)

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  21. Metal Mario

• Boo Mario.png

  22. Boo Mario

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  23. Rock Mario

• Gold Mario Spirit.png

  24. Gold Mario

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  75. Starship Mario

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  77. Plessie

• Goo Goo Buggy Spirit.png

  80. Goo-Goo Buggy

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  93. Paper Mario

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  110. Papercraft Mario

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  126. Mini Mario

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  127. Mini Mario & Hammers

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  130. Rabbid Mario

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  132. Mario (Mario Tennis Aces)

• Babymario.png

  299. Baby Mario

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  300. Baby Mario (Superstar Mario)

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  302. Stork

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  319. Mega Eggdozer

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  1133. MONSTER

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Mario and Rathalos artwork, as posted on the official Japanese Monster Hunter Twitter account.

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  Link, Kirby, Mario, and Cloud artwork, as posted by Tetsuya Nomura's official Twitter account.

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  Mario's fighter card.

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  Mario's grab animation on Onett.

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  Taunting on 3D Land.

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  Taunting in his Builder outfit on Wrecking Crew.

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  Using F.L.U.D.D. on Arena Ferox.

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  Mario's new Wedding and Builder costumes on Princess Peach's Castle.

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  Jumping in his Wedding costume with Peach on Skyworld.

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  Buried by Inkling's Splat Roller on Figure-8 Circuit.

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  Mario crouching near Isabelle on Tomodachi Life.

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  Mario using his Fireball on Isabelle on Skyworld.

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  With Olimar, Pac-Man, and Sonic on Gaur Plain.

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  With a giant Pikachu on Tortimer Island.

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  Taunting in his Waluigi-inspired costume with Wario on Big Blue.

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  Trapped in the Black Hole item by Palutena on Gaur Plain.

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  Getting buried by Donkey Kong's Headbutt on Gaur Plain.

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  With Young Link on Tomodachi Life.

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  With Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Ice Climbers, Pit, Villager and Inkling on Battlefield.

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  With Kirby, Link, Inkling, Marth, Pit, Ridley and Villager on Battlefield.

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  With Peach and Bowser on Princess Peach's Castle.

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  Mario in Piranha Plant's victory pose.

Trivia

Mario "dies" in the bad ending.

• The segment during the E3 2018 Nintendo Direct focusing on his new Builder suit features Mario knocking Squirtle off of a Pipe on Mushroomy Kingdom. This is likely a reference to the series' common Koopa Troopa enemies, which are also turtles.
• In the E3 demo of the game, Mario's portrait, strangely, used his in-game model as opposed to the render made for him in the game. This was also the case with Link, Pikachu and Villager. This has since been fixed.
• Mario's trailer is the only one that uses a background song with English lyrics; in this case, "Jump Up, Super Star!", the main theme of Super Mario Odyssey.
  • Additionally, Mario is the only character to vocalize at all in their character trailers, whereas every other character's trailer has their voices muted.
• This is the first game where Mario no longer has his Wario-based alternate costume since the first game, and the first since Melee where Mario no longer has a Fire-based alternate costume, possibly to make room for his Builder and Wedding Tuxedo-based outfits.
• Coincidentally enough, five of his alternate costumes (besides his Builder and Wedding outfits, also his default, Golf, and Waluigi-based outfits) also appeared in Super Mario Odyssey. Dr. Mario (portrayed here as his own character) also appeared in Odyssey as well. Only his cyan/pink, white/black, and green/brown costumes do not appear in Odyssey.
• Mario is the only character in World of Light that appears in every cutscene featuring the presence of a fighter, and is also the only character to appear in the bad ending where Dharkon emerges victorious.
• Mario, Ken, and Bowser are the only characters that possess the Neutral typing when unlocking them in World of Light.
• Mario and Chrom are the only characters to appear in another character's victory pose (in this case, Piranha Plant).
• When KO'd by reaching 0 HP in Stamina Mode, Mario uses his heavy knockback scream rather than the standard KO scream. This also applies to Dr. Mario.