Dr. Mario (SSBM)

Dr. Mario in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Mario
Other playable appearance	in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	A (9)

“	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.	”
—Description from Dr. Mario's trophy.

Dr. Mario (Dr. マリオ, Dr. Mario) is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. This is his first 3D appearance as well as his first appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series, as he stems from a series of Mario puzzle games. As a clone of Mario, Dr. Mario and Mario have nearly identical movesets with obvious differences in attack physics.

Dr. Mario currently ranks 9th in Melee’s tier list at the top of the A tier, five places higher than Mario's rank. His relatively high tier placement is a consequence of his combo ability with 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. Dr. Mario also suffers from lack of range in his attacks, leaving him vulnerable against characters with disjointed hitboxes such as Marth and Donkey Kong (the former is also his worst matchup).

How to unlock

To unlock Dr. Mario, players need to complete either Classic or Adventure Mode as Mario without using any continues; alternatively, players can play 100 VS. matches.

Dr. Mario is fought on Princess Peach's Castle, with the track "Dr. Mario" playing.

Attributes

Dr. Mario is essentially a stronger version of Mario (that despite claims from his Smash trophies within the game, is not slower in any form except for his neutral ground attack). Both have the same dashing speed and falling speed, yet most of Dr. Mario's attacks deal greater damage and knockback than Mario's. Dr. Mario has a slightly faster air speed, rendering his combo potential and aerial approach superior. True to having relatively low traction and a slightly above average falling speed, Dr. Mario has a rather long wavedash. A low short hop, above average falling speed, and low lag aerials give Dr. Mario a good SHFFL, improving his air game. In addition, Dr. Mario has a good number of reliable finishers: a fast forward smash with no sourspots that can KO opponents under 100%, an up smash that is faster than Mario's and has low knockback to set up more combos, and forward aerial, sometimes referred to as "The Fist", which is a very powerful aerial with a large, lasting hitbox, that can KO opponents under 120%, and is relatively easy to combo into. Dr. Mario also has a great projectile, Megavitamins. Their bounciness and slow horizontal speed creates a temporary defensive wall that deters his enemy's approach. Although designed to be like Mario's fireballs, which are fast moving and weak, Megavitamins deal surprisingly high damage (8% each) and high hitstun, opening up far more opportunities for combos if Dr. Mario is quick to capitalize on them. Dr. Mario can strategically manipulate his jumping prowess while shooting Megavitamins to perform the Pill Rush technique, maintaining at least two Megavitamins on the stage for stage control and defensive purposes.

Dr. Mario also has some properties unique to him that make him a more capable fighter. His neutral aerial attack is a sex kick, but is the only one that increases in damage and knockback the longer it is held out, making it a good SHFFL and edge-guarding option, as well as a reliable horizontal finisher at high percentages. Dr. Mario's up tilt is a good juggling option, dealing decent damage and low knockback. His back aerial is one of Dr. Mario's best edge-guarding and approach options, semi-spiking with high base knockback and low ending lag. His down tilt sends opponents behind him and has more hitstun than Mario's, making it a moderately useful combo starter. Super Sheet, like Mario's cape, turns enemies around without dealing knockback, limiting the effectiveness of their recoveries and allowing for possible gimps and quick KO's.

Like Mario, Dr. Mario has a good grab game; his up and forward throws can set up combos and chain throws, while the latter can also act as a potential KO move at very high percentages. Dr. Mario's back throw, like Mario and Luigi's, is a very powerful throw (more powerful than Mario's and Luigi's), being effective for setting up edge guards at high percentages, and acting as a reliable KO move at very high percentages.

Dr. Mario also has his flaws. While powerful, the majority of the sweetspots in Dr. Mario's attacks are short-ranged. His forward smash is a notable example, where its reach is among the worst for a forward smash attack, requiring Dr. Mario to be right next to the opponent to land it. Similarly, his up smash is also rather close ranged.

Yet his greatest weakness is his abysmal recovery. A combination of predictability, poor distance covered, and few options to extend it makes it one of the worst in Melee. Although he has above average air speed, he also has above average falling speed, lowering his horizontal air movement. Super Jump Punch grants below average vertical distance and poor horizontal distance. Button mashing Dr. Tornado is a decent stalling tactic and can mindgame edge-guarding opponents, but grants negligible net vertical and horizontal distance. His Super Sheet, being not as effective as Mario's cape, only grants minor vertical distance once in the air.

Overall, Dr. Mario is a solid character with fast, relatively powerful attacks with great edgeguarding ability and good approaching options. As long as players can stay on the stage during the battle and keep their opponents within arm's reach, there is little an opponent can do against him.

Differences with Mario

Aesthetics

• Dr. Mario has a different taunt.
• Dr. Mario's idle pose is different from Mario's.

Attributes

• Dr. Mario is overall stronger than Mario in terms of damage and knockback.
• Dr. Mario's air speed is slightly faster, meaning that he combo more efficiently than Mario.
• Dr. Mario cannot wall jump, making his recovery worse than Mario.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack is slower and has more ending lag.
• Forward smash deal more damage and has a stronger knockback. Additionally, it doesn't have a sourspot.
• Forward smash has shorter range than Mario's.
• Forward smash has the electric effect as opposed to Mario's flame.
• Up smash is surprisingly faster than Mario's; its knockback is low, but is useful to set up combos; and it deals more damage. It also has semi spike trajectories on grounded opponents.
• Down smash is much stronger than Mario's and deals more damage.
• Dr. Mario's down tilt sends opponents behind him, making it more useful to setup opponents for edge guarding.
• All tilts and dash attack are stronger.

Aerial attacks

• Dr. Mario's forward aerial sends opponents at a different angle that can reliably KO at 120%. Although it doesn't posses meteor smash capabilities, it's less risky to use than Mario's since Dr. Mario does not need to knock opponents off stage.
• Dr. Mario's neutral aerial does more damage and knockback the longer it's out.
• Back aerial can semi spike in which Mario cannot.
• Down aerial's maximum damage output is slightly higher.

Grab and throws

• Forward throw deals more damage.
• Back throw is much stronger than Mario's and deals a little more damage.

Special moves

• Megavitamins do a little more damage and has a slightly longer range than Mario's Fireball.
• Megavitamins travel slower.
• Megavitamins uses the sound effect when viruses are defeated in Dr. Mario.
• Super Sheet deals more damage and has a longer range than Mario's Cape.
• Super Sheet only keeps Dr. Mario once in the air and it does not lift him up unlike Mario, making it less useful for recovering.
• Super Jump Punch is more powerful and can be cancelled, which can be use to setup combo moves.
• Super Jump Punch does not make a coin sound effect.
• Dr. Mario can't Super Jump Punch wall jump since he can't wall jump.
• Dr. Tornado does more damage than the Mario Tornado.

Moveset

Dr. Mario's aerial attacks. Click on one of them to see their respective subpage.

For a gallery of Dr. Mario's hitboxes, see here.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3-4%	A weak punch forward, then a second weak punch, then a strong kick forward.
			2-4%
			5-6%
Forward tilt	↗		9%	A kick forward. Is stronger than Mario's.
	→		8%
	↘		7%
Up tilt			10%	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. When sent on the former trajectory, it can set up edgeguards, while on the latter trajectory, it's easy to combo into an aerial.
Down tilt			9%	While crouching, does a quick sweeper kick in front of him. Sends foes behind him, unlike Mario's.
Dash attack			9%	Slides on the ground feet first, has slightly more range than Mario's. Launches foes in a random trajectory.
Forward smash	↗		20%	Launches a somewhat short ranged electrical shock from his palm, in a very similar fashion to his clone. In comparison with Mario's, it has no sourspot, and is quite stronger, being able to reliably KO under 100%.
	→		19%
	↘		18%
Up smash			16%	Headbutts upwards. Slightly faster, but a little weaker than Mario's (if hit on an aerial foe, it will be stronger than Mario`s). Unusually, the attack has spike properties, though these only work on grounded opponents.
Down smash			18% (Front), 12% (Back)	A very sudden break-dance like sweep, which is very fast and powerful. Considered to be his best KO move.
Neutral aerial			10% (Initial), 14% (Ending Frames)	Does an inverted "sex kick". Oddly, the move's power increases the more it's out, unlike other sex kicks.
Forward aerial			17% (sweetspot), 16% (sourspot)	Winds up and punches in a downwards angle, though unlike Mario's, it does not have a meteor smash hitbox; instead, it has high vertical knockback being capable of KOing at 120%. Has a slightly weaker sourspot on Dr. Mario's hand. While it a very powerful KO option, it is rather sluggish, being hard to land on its own. While Dr. Mario has setups for the move in his throws, they are not fully reliable and require successful reading of the opponent's DI for landing the fair.
Back aerial			8%	Kicks backwards. Good for edgeguarding, with very fast start-up and ending lag, having high base knockback (43), and hitting opponents in a semi-spike trajectory (28 degrees).
Up aerial			10%	Flip kicks upwards, is good for juggling fast-fallers.
Down aerial			12% (Total)	Does a drilling kick. Has seven hits. The attack has set knockback
Grab			—
Pummel			2-3%	Headbutts opponent.
Forward throw			9%	Spins opponent once, and tosses them forward with decent knockback. Good for an edgeguarding follow up.
Back throw			12%	Spins around three times and tosses the foe behind him, with impressive knockback, being stronger than Mewtwo's back throw and the second strongest back throw in the game, only behind Ness's back throw.
Up throw			8%	Heaves his opponent upwards, can lead into a combo against fast fallers, notably into a fair for a KO.
Down throw			6%	Slams opponent to ground, good for a short-hopped nair follow up.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Gets up and punches behind him, then in front of him.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Gets up and punches behind him, then in front of him.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			8%	Does a somersault and then kicks upwards.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Gets up then does an attack similar to his f-tilt.
Neutral special		Megavitamins	8%	Throws pills forward, similar to Mario's fireballs. However, they have a unique bounce arc, fall faster, do more damage, are randomly colored, and have distinctive sounds used from the original Dr. Mario game. They are more powerful than Mario's Fireballs.
Side special		Super Sheet	Up to 12%	Flicks a white cape forward very similar to Mario's Cape, which reverse opponents (causes them to face in the opposite direction) and can reflect projectiles. The differences are that the Super Sheet is longer and is does 2% more damage, but has less lag and moves Dr. Mario up only once, making it less useful for recovery. The attack can also be used to shift the direction of an opponent who is trying to recover, such as Fox using his Fire Fox. In this case, they will be turned around, and will instead jump backwards, missing the ledge. Has transcendental priority.
Up special		Super Jump Punch	12% (Total)	Performs a jumping uppercut. It is very similar to Mario's, but does more damage and has fewer hits. Also, the sound effect is different than the usual sound made when Mario grabs a coin. Recovery move. Hits 12 times.
Down special		Dr. Tornado	10% (Total)	A spinning tornado attack, similar to Mario's, but a little stronger. It traps the opponent in a tornado, hits them constantly, then knocks them back. While Mario's knocks opponents into the air, Dr. Mario's throws them in a random direction. Dr. Mario can hover in the air using this move by repeatedly pressing the B button while using it. Hits 5 times and has transcendent priority on all but the last hit.

Taunt

Dr. Mario pulls out a randomly coloured Megavitamin, rolls it down his arm, uses his shoulder to toss it into the air, then catches it.

Victory Theme

An orchestrated cover of the iconic "Level Completed" music from Super Mario Bros..

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Dr. Mario professionals (SSBM)

Active

•  Boss
•  OTG

Inactive

•  Bob$
•  Captain Jack
•  HomeMadeWaffles
•  Shroomed

Tier placement and history

Initially, Dr. Mario was considered an inferior version of Mario due to his slower attacks and worse recovery, with Mario ranked higher than Dr. Mario in the tier list (usually one spot above Dr. Mario). Many smashers such as Captain Jack began to show Dr. Mario's better attributes, such as better punish options than Mario. In 2005, Dr. Mario was recognized as a better character than Mario, placing at least one spot higher than him in the tier lists to come. However, even with evolutions in Dr. Mario's game, representation of him at tournaments was not very notable, with rarely anyone placing high enough to win money just using Dr. Mario.

It was not until 2011 when Shroomed showed Dr. Mario's powerful grab game and projectile game, placing consistently in top 8 at national tournaments such as Apex 2013 and EVO 2013. Although Shroomed no longer mains Dr. Mario exclusively and reserves him for specific matchups, Dr. Mario is still considered a solid mid-high tiered character, sitting at 9th place at the top of the High tier.

In Single Player modes

In Classic Mode

Upon being unlocked, Dr. Mario can appear in one on one battles, in a team with Luigi or as an ally, as a giant character or as a metal character. In all appearances, his stage is Mushroom Kingdom.

In Adventure Mode

Adventure Mode makes no concessions to Dr. Mario when he is unlocked. Unlike some other characters, the track Dr. Mario does not play on any stages.

In All-Star Mode

In All-Star Mode, Dr. Mario and his allies are fought on Mushroom Kingdom II. In these cases, the track Dr. Mario plays.

In Event Matches

Dr. Mario appears in the following event matches:

• Event 35: Time for a Checkup: As Luigi, the player must fight against a CPU team consisting of Dr. Mario and Peach, the latter in her white costume, on Yoshi's Story. All characters have one life each, and the event must be completed in three minutes.
• Event 49: All-Star Match Deluxe: Dr. Mario is the first opponent fought in this series of staged battles. The selected character battles him on the Mushroom Kingdom stage with a stock of 2 while Dr. Mario has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him and the other five characters one-by-one with the overall time and damage: Falco, Pichu, Young Link, Roy and Ganondorf.

Ending Images

• 

  Classic Mode.

• 

  Adventure Mode.

• 

  All-Star Mode.

Trophies

The Dr. Mario trophy from Melee.

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

The Dr. Mario (Smash Red) trophy from Melee.

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

The Dr. Mario (Smash Blue) trophy from Melee.

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

Alternate costumes

Dr. Mario's alternate clothing in Melee

Trivia

• Dr. Mario is the only character in the series to have a sex kick that gets stronger the longer it's out.
• Dr. Mario and Young Link are currently the only clones in Melee who are ranked higher than their original counterparts.
• The trophy in Melee explains that Dr. Mario is slower due to his "lack of exercise". However, in Smash 4 the explanation given is "his doctor's coat is heavier".