Mario (SSB)/Up special

Overview

Mario's up special move in Super Smash Bros. is the Super Jump Punch, where Mario does an uppercut that is intended to resemble the jumps he made in the original Mario games. The move can hit up to 9 times for 15% damage with the first hit dealing 5%, the next 7 dealing 1%, and the last hit dealing 3%. All of the hitboxes have set knockback, unlike in Melee onwards. This move grants great vertical recovery distance, and is one of the best recovery moves in Smash 64, behind Pikachu's Quick Attack. It also has pretty fast startup, and can be used to escape combos. On stages such as Dream Land, this can also be done so that Mario lands on the top platform, which leaves him significantly less vulnerable to subsequent punishing. The move has three possible angles, each covering different distances. After starting the move, holding forward or forward+up before the jump begins will cause Mario to go at about a 45° angle. He will not go very high compared to the other two, but he will go the farthest at this angle. Holding up before the jump begins will launch Mario at roughly a 67.5° angle. With this trajectory he will go higher, but not as far. Finally tapping the opposite direction before the jump begins will launch Mario at a near 90° angle. This is the trickiest to perform because holding back for too long will cause Mario to turn the other direction and start the jump that way. If done correctly, Mario jumps almost straight upward, covering very little horizontal distance and very high vertical distance.