Dr. Mario (SSBM)

Dr. Mario in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Dr. Mario
Universe	Mario
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	C (9)

Dr. Mario (Dr. マリオ Dokutā Mario) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He is a clone of Mario, meaning almost all of their moves are exactly alike, though Dr. Mario and Mario do have some differences in their attack physics.

Dr. Mario currently ranks 9th on Melee’s tier list, higher than the original character of Mario. His tier placement is for his great combos and overall uniqueness as a fighter, such as an unusual sex kick. His approach options are also very good, with a long wavedash and a good air game, as well as a very good SHFFL. Dr. Mario also has a good projectile, which itself can be used to aid his approach. However, Dr. Mario's primary weakness is his abysmal recovery, which is one of the worst in the game, due to its predictability and few methods of increasing its distance.

How to unlock

• Clearing Classic Mode or Adventure Mode on any difficulty or stock setting with Mario without using any continues.
• Playing 100 Versus Mode matches.

Attributes

Dr. Mario is very similar to his clone, but there are differences between them. Overall, Dr. Mario is slightly stronger than his counterpart. Dr. Mario's projectile, Megavitamins, can help control approaches, but it moves rather slowly when compared to other projectiles. Dr. Mario is a good edge-guarder due to his back aerial, cape, and the aforementioned Megavitamins. He also has a good aerial game, wavedash, and SHFFL. Dr. Mario is the only character to have a "sex kick" which gets stronger after activation as opposed to weaker. He can chain grab some characters and down throw to forward aerial as a staple KO. Dr. Mario's biggest weakness is his very short recovery. His Super Jump Punch is a predictable recovery move that can be caped and edge-guarded fairly easily (although having a misleadingly large sweet spot range helps this problem). Dr. Mario's back throw is ideal for Gimp kills when accompanied by edge-hogging since it has powerful knockback.

Moveset

Ground attacks

Normal

• Neutral attack- Dr. Mario does a weak punch forward, followed by a second weak punch before a stronger kick forward. Similar to Mario's from Super Mario 64. Damage in respective order: 3-4%, 2-4%, 5-6%
• Dash attack- He slides on the ground feet first, has slightly more range than Mario's. Launches foes in a random trajectory. 9% damage.
• Forward tilt- A kick forward, stronger than Mario's. 8% damage.
• Up tilt- Dr. Mario punches upwards. Slightly more knockback than Mario's with a different trajectory based on where it hits. If the player hits them while they're in front of the player, they will sent forwards. If the player hits them when they're above the player, they'll go upwards. 10% damage.
• Down tilt- While crouching, does a quick sweeper kick in front of him. Sends foes behind him, unlike his clone counterpart. 9% damage

Smash attacks

• Forward smash- Launches a somewhat short ranged electrical shock from his palm, in a very similar fashion to his clone. 19% sweetspotted uncharged, 25% fully.
• Up smash- Dr. Mario headbutts upwards. Slightly more speedy and a little weaker than Mario's. 16% uncharged, 21% fully.
• Down smash- A very sudden break-dance like sweep, which is very fast and powerful.18% uncharged, 24% fully.

Other attacks

• Ledge attack - Does a somersault and then kicks upwards. 8% damage.
• 100% ledge attack - Gets up then does an attack similar to his forward tilt. 10% damage
• Floor attack -Gets up then punches behind him, then in front of him. 6%.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial- Does a "sex kick". Oddly, the move's power increases the more it's out, unlike other sex kicks. 10% when first out, 14% at the very last frames.
• Forward aerial- Winds up and punches in a downwards angle, though cannot spike. However it is very powerful. 16% damage
• Back aerial- Mario kicks backwards. Good for edgeguarding. 8%
• Up aerial- Flip kicks upwards, which is good for juggling fast fallers. 10% damage
• Down aerial- Does a drilling kick. 12% if all hits connect

Throws

• Pummel- Headbutts opponent. 2-3% per pummel
• Forward throw- spins opponent once, and tosses them forward with decent knockback. Good for an edgeguarding follow up. 9% damage.
• Back throw- Spins around three times and tosses the foe behind him, with impressive knockback. One of the strongest back throw in the game. 12% damage.
• Up throw-Dr. Mario heaves his opponent upwards, can lead into a combo against fast fallers. 8% damage.
• Down throw- Slams opponent to ground, good for a short-hopped neutral aerial follow up. 6% damage.

Special moves

Dr. Mario's special moves

Neutral special	Megavitamins
Side special	Super Sheet
Up special	Super Jump Punch
Down special	Dr. Tornado

Taunt

Dr. Mario pulls out random color pills and balances them on his neck and arms, before putting them away.

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Differences with Mario

• The Super Sheet is longer and thinner than Mario's cape and has more lag, making it less useful for recovery. Additionally, it only gives vertical distance once.
• His pills do more damage than Mario' fireballs and have more hitstun.
• His down tilt sends opponents behind him.
• His forward aerial is not a meteor smash like Mario's, it rather sends opponents upward and is much more powerful.
• Keeping opponents locked in the Dr. Tornado is more difficult than locking opponents in the Mario Tornado, however, it is harder to escape the Dr. Tornado than it is to escape the Mario Tornado.
• He is slightly stronger in terms of damage and knockback.
• Dr. Tornado sends opponents in a random direction, while Mario Tornado sends them upwards.
• Dr. Mario's forward smash has less range. The sweetspot is also closer to his hand, whereas Mario's sweetspot is farther away from his hand.
• His "sex kick" gets stronger the longer it sticks out, contrary to the effects of all other sex kicks.
• Slightly faster air speed.
• Forward smash deals Electric damage rather than Fire.
• Most of his attacks have different sound effects.

Recovery improvement

• Forward special (Cape): Gives a slight lift. This can be used once in the air to gain altitude, unlike Mario's- which may be used more than once(Probably because his lift isn't as large as Mario's).
• Down special (Dr. Tornado): If one mashes B rapidly while Doc is spinning, he'll get a slight lift. Hold the control stick towards the stage afterwards so the slight altitude gained is not wasted. This can also be used only once in the air to rise.

Techniques

General gameplay

• Pill Rush: Bombard the enemy with a wall of Pills exerted after a short jumped into a fast fall and at ground point. Repeat this three Pill fire sequence while approaching the opponent to render them almost stunned. This technique does not work as well for Mario, due to the Pills added weight and higher bounce.
• Wall of Pain: Use of backward aerials to effectively keep the opponent off the edge. Doctor Mario can use multiple back aerials off the edge making him an excellent edge guarder.
• Super Jump Punch cancel: Dr. Mario is the only character able to cancel his up special move. Within the first four frames, the player must activate the move so that Dr. Mario moves in the backward direction of where he's facing by quickly moving the control stick in the opposite direction. The opponent will be sent up at a trajectory based solely on their weight and Doctor Mario will be able to move. Another way the player can do this is by using Super Jump Punch so that Dr. Mario would jump backwards and then tilting the control stick downward during the first few frames of the animation. This can be used to shield cancel and punish the opponent for approaching or for trying to break the player's shield
• Taunt cancel: Dr. Mario is the only character that can taunt cancel, along with Young Link and Pikachu (although for Pikachu, the player has to do it a different way than Dr. Mario and Young Link). To taunt cancel, the player has to run towards a edge and right before they reach the edge and do the edge animation, taunt and Dr. Mario will just about to throw his pill but he will have it canceled and he would do the edge animation so Dr. Mario can still move after he taunted. This doesn't really help, but the player can use it to show skill.

Throw combos

Down throw

• Down throw + Dr. Tornado - a reliable and basic combo. Dr. Mario's version of the Mario Tornado sends foes on a random trajectory, making it hard for the foe to counter it.
• Down throw + up tilt + up tilt - A basic up tilt and up tilt, where the first up tilt usually doesn't launch the foe in a random trajectory due to close range, but the second one does.
• Down throw + up smash- reliable against fast fallers between low to mid-high damage percentages, good for leading into aerial follow ups.
• Down throw + Super Jump Punch - a near-useless combo, but doable nonetheless, where Dr. Mario can use his up special after his down throw, though usually only hits once or twice, and sends him and the foe in opposite directions.
• Down throw + neutral combo - a situational combo where Dr. Mario can just barely connect his neutral attacks with a fallen foe.
• Down throw + Cape- another situational combo where Dr. Mario can assume the foe will try to dodge roll away from him when they try to fastfall and land, only to have them rolling the other way into a combo.
• Down throw + Down smash- this combo usually works at low damage percentages. The foe is almost always hit before they can escape due to the down smash's speed

Up throw

• Up throw + up tilt- a basic combo, where the foe is sent at a random trajectory due to his up tilt physics.
• Up throw + Super Jump Punch - if the foe DIs slightly just right immediately after, his up special can be used for good damage.
• Up throw + Dr. Tornado - a DI-able combo, similar to one of his down throw combos.
• Up throw + up smash - a basic combo, good for setups and low to mid-low %s
• Up throw + any aerial - a multi-purpose setup for aerials.

Trophies (3)

Dr Mario (Classic Mode, trophy #61)
Immaculate in his medical garb, Dr. Mario destroys killer viruses with his amazing vitamin capsules. With his dedicated nurse, Princess Peach, at his side, Dr. Mario spends day and night in his laboratory working on new miracle cures. Somehow he's managed to keep up with all the new viruses that have arisen over the years.

• Dr. Mario, 10/90

Dr. Mario (Smash Red, Adventure Mode, trophy #62)
There's hardly any difference in the abilities of Mario and Dr. Mario, so choosing is largely a matter of taste. Dr. Mario is a tad slower due to his lack of exercise, but his Megavitamins pack a bit more punch than Mario's Fireballs. The capsules travel on a unique trajectory and make a distinct sound on impact.

• B: Megavitamins
• Smash B: Super Sheet

Dr. Mario (Smash Blue, All Star Mode, trophy #63)
The differences between Dr. Mario and Mario are more pronounced in some areas than others, but basically they can be played in a similar fashion. While it may be hard to spot the contrasts, they do exist. For example, Dr. Mario's Super Sheet is longer and narrower than Mario's cape, and any opponents hit by Dr. Tornado will fly off in diverse directions.

• Up & B: Super Jump Punch
• Down & B: Dr. Tornado

Costume gallery

File:Alt-drmario.jpg

Dr. Mario's alternate clothing in SSBM

Trivia

• He is one of the few characters in any Smash Bros. game without any sort of meteor smash or spike.
• Dr. Mario is the only clone whose voice is exactly the same as his original character.
• Dr. Mario's Side Special, Super Sheet, does not change color when Dr. Mario changes Costumes, it remains white like his original costume.