Dr. Mario (SSBM)

This article is about Dr. Mario's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. For other uses, see Dr. Mario. Also, for information about the character of whom Dr. Mario is a clone, see Mario (SSBM).

Dr. Mario
Dr. Mario
Universe	Mario
Appears in	SSBM
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	Middle (10)

Dr. Mario (Dr. マリオ Dokutā Mario) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and 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 currents ranks 10th on Melee's tier list for his great combos and overall uniqueness as a fighter, and is, of course, a "clone" of Mario. He is also the only "clone" of a character in Melee to be ranked higher than his original.

How to unlock

• Clearing Classic 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 sweetspot 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.
• Strong Side- A kick forward, stronger than Mario's. 85% damage.
• Strong Up- Dr. Mario punches upwards. Slightly more knockback with a different trajectory beased on where it hits. If you hit them while they're in front of you, they will sent forwards. If you hit them when they're above you, they'll go upwards. 10% damage.
• Strong Down- While crouching, does a quick sweeper kick in front of him. Sends foes behind him, unlike his clone counterpart. 9% damage

Smash attacks

• Side 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% the longest and most powerful
• 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. 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 N-air follow up. 6% damage.

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 than the cape and has more lag, making it not as useful as Mario's cape for recovery.
• His pills do more damage than the fireballs, and don't light the opponents on fire.
• His Down Tilt sends opponents behind him.
• His F-air isn't a Meteor Smash like Mario's.
• It is harder to break out of his Down B attack.
• He is slightly stronger.
• His Down B attack sends opponents into a random direction, Mario's sends upwards.
• Dr. Mario's Forward Smash is stronger if the opponent is closer, which is completely the opposite of Mario. It also has less range than Mario's side smash.
• His sex kick gets stronger the longer it sticks out, which is also the opposite of Mario.
• Special Moves have different sound effects.
• Doesn't yell while he charges up his Forward aerial.
• Slightly faster air speed.
• Slightly slower on ground.
• Forward Smash deals Electric Damage rather than Fire.
• Dr. Mario can do the Up-B cancel and Mario and Luigi can't (To do Up-B cancel, look at Techniques right below).
• Mario's taunt is him growing big and then shrinking and Dr. Mario's is him throwing a pill and then catching it (Dr. Mario can also Taunt cancel and Mario can't (Look at Techniques right below on how to do it)).

Recovery Improvement

• Forward-B (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-B (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.
• Up-B Cancel: Dr. Mario is the only character able to cancel his up-b attack. Within the first four frames, activate the move so you make Dr. Mario move in the backward direction of where he's facing and quickly move the control stick to 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.
• Taunt Cancel: Dr. Mario is the only character that can taunt cancel. To taunt cancel, you have to run towards a edge and right before you 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 you can use it to show skill like when you do the SSB Taunt cancel on the N64.

Throw Combos

Down throw

• Down throw + down special- a reliable and basic combo, the Mario tornado, since it's Dr. Mario's version, will send foe at 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 u-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 percents, good for leading into aerial follow ups.
• Down throw + up special- a near-useless combo, but doable nonetheless, where Dr. Mario can use his up-b after his d-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. M. 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 percents. The foe is almost always hit before they can escape due to the d-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 + up b- if the foe DIs slightly just right immediately after, his up-b can be used for good damage.
• Up throw + down b- a DI-able combo, similar to one of his d-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.

Target Test by DRIN

You will need to abuse many techniques for this, so practice is recommended.

First, as soon as movement is allowed, run to the right. You should start moving before the timer begins running. As you start to fall, cape the target, and double jump back to the start platform. Dash right, then use the cape to hit the target inside the open box. The cape's momentum should land you inside, but use your 2nd jump if needed. Double jump back to the start.

Next, jump on to the 2nd platform above you. It should be close to the targets on the left side of the metal wall. Dash Jump, cape BOTH TARGETS AT ONCE, and double jump back to the platforms to the left. A F-air also works for this.

Move to the topmost left platform. Dash Jump, and cape the top left target. On the way down, use your cape to hit the other targets. Land on the moving platform. 2 should remain. Move to the rightmost top platform. Dash Jump, use your second jump and at the tip you should Up-B. The target should barely be hit. Use DI to drop on to the moving platform below. Suicide drop and hit the last target.

Trophy Descriptions

File:Dr mario1.jpg

Dr. Mario (Smash Red)

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

File:Dr mario2.jpg

Dr. Mario (Smash Blue)

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

• Dr. Mario is the only character in Smash history to have a sex kick that gets stronger the longer it's out.
• Dr. Mario and Mario are the only characters in the smash universe to have the same exact victory dance (they do a jump and then land with a jumping position).
• Sometimes Dr. Mario is considered to be the first secret character you unlock in Super Smash Bros Melee; meaning that if he is your first secret character unlocked, Jigglypuff may be unlocked second. This not necessarily true because the first secret character you can unlock in Super Smash Bros Melee can be anybody if you do vs. matches and lose all the character unlock battles untill you reach the desired character.
• He and Pichu are the only two characters of SSBM to not have any sort of meteor smash or spike.