Paper Mario (Smash Plus)

Paper Mario is a playable character in Super Smash Brothers Plus for the Nintendo Switch Plus. Representing the Paper Mario universe, he is listed as Fighter #96 in Smash's modified numbering system and is classified as a Flyweight fighter. Paper Mario is hidden at the start of the game, but can be unlocked through random encounters in versus mode or by defeating classic mode with Mr. Game & Watch. He is also a new character, as this is his first playable appearance in a Smash game.
Paper Mario is one of the lightest characters in the game (which makes sense...since he's made out of paper). Yet despite this his durability is above average when weighed against other characters of his size. This likely has to do with his unique moveset and excellent recovery potential. Paper Mario's neutral special moves call on many of his partners from past Paper Mario titles. He is able to switch freely between the companions, but they each have their own hitbox and are lost for the match if they are ever KO'ed, decreasing his moveset's viability the longer the match goes if players aren't careful. Still, Paper Mario with his low hitbox and strange movement options is a hard fighter to account for, and once mastered can be a fine character to main. Paper Mario has two jumps and no additional movement options.
==Moveset==
===Basic Attacks===
*Neutral Jab- Paper Mario performs a simple forward attack with his trusty hammer. It does very good damage for a neutral jab, and is semi-spammable, but it does have some endlag, making it easy to punish if it misses.
*Side Tilt- Paper Mario performs a more powerful version of his hammer swing, smashing it against the ground and creating a small shockwave when it hits. It's not nearly as fast as his jab, but the hammer does more damage. Plus the shockwave knocks opponents into the air, setting them up for combos, at the expense of damage.
*Up Tilt- Paper Mario dons a Spiked Helmet and performs a simple jumping headbutt straight up into the air. It has good damage, but has some endlag when he puts the helmet away and has a lack of horizontal range.
*Down Tilt- Paper Mario will pull a sticker off the ground, creating a popping motion directly in front of himself. The move comes out quickly and has a chance of tripping foes at lower percentages.
*Dash Attack- Paper Mario spins around four times as he dashes across the screen, dealing multi-hitting damage and launching on the final hit.
*Grab & Pummel- Paper Mario uses his buddy Thoreau to act as a disjointed grab (though not a tether grab it should be noted), having good range to pull foes in. He pummels by smacking the opponent with a smaller, toy version of his iconic hammer.
*Forward Throw- Paper Mario kicks the foe away and then launches a paper fireball at them, causing them to take minor fire damage. The fireball can hurt other foes if they get hit by it.
*Back Throw- Paper Mario has Thoreau toss the opponent behind him, and then takes his hammer and smacks them off for greater distance, dealing some additional fire damage to them.
*Up Throw- Paper Mario has Thoreau toss the opponent straight up in the air, while he tosses confetti after them. The confetti hits multiple times and can hit other foes if they are in the way, but it does very minor, non-flinching damage.
*Down Throw- Paper Mario jumps in the air and performs a powerful Super Jump on the opponent, posing as he bounces up and Thoreau tosses the opponent away.
*Neutral Air- Paper Mario does a somersault in midair with his hammer extended. This move doesn't do multi-hit damage but it has a lot of coverage in the air.
*Forward Air- Paper Mario performs a simple forward swing with his hammer. A good KO move at higher percentages.
*Back Air- Paper Mario swings his hammer behind himself, only performing a downward strike with it that can spike foes if it connects just as the downward swing begins.
*Up Air- Paper Mario extends his fist up and spins around, performing a spinning uppercut attack. The move has a powerful launching sweetspot at the edge of his fist right as the move starts up, but it is a very short-timed sweetspot.
*Down Air- Paper Mario spins in place and then drops to the stage in a Ground Pound. The move does a good amount of damage, even without spiking foes hit by it, and generates a weaker paper shockwave when it hits the ground, dealing minor damage to those not directly hit by the move.
===Smash Attacks===
*Side Smash- Paper Mario performs a Power Smash Hammer Strike directly in front of himself, dealing major damage when fully charged. However, the move is easily telegraphed and has tremendous endlag if it misses, limiting its usefulness.
*Up Smash- Paper Mario pulls out a Paper POW Block and then detonates it above his head, creating a circular shockwave that grows slightly in size the more it is charged. The move sweetspots right at the center of the POW Block when it goes off, but does decent damage even without the sweet spot connecting.
*Down Smash- Paper Mario twists himself around like a coiled spring as he charges the attack, before unleashing a powerful spinning hammer attack, with the hammer aimed low and spinning in 360 degrees. The attack is more powerful when it is first launched, as the spins decrease in power quickly. Paper Mario will spin six times at full charge, but will be momentarily dazed afterwards.
===Special Moves===
*Shield Special: Partner Select- Pressing the special button while holding down the Shield button will call up a series of 6 cards above Paper Mario's head, each representing one of the 5 partners that he can call in to follow him around and act as his Neutral Special (with the sixth representing no partner, defaulting his neutral special to the Hurlhammer attack.) The 5 partners are Kooper, Parakarry, Goombella, Vivian and Admiral Bobbery. Once activated, a partner will remain following Paper Mario until they are KO'ed or replaced with a different partner. They can be attacked by players, but will suffer no knockback unless Paper Mario does as well. Each partner has an HP of 100 that can be viewed in a meter above themselves on Paper Mario's stage icon. If at any time a partner loses all HP, then they will be KO'ed and not be available for the remainder of the match. This does not affect in match KO totals. Partners can regain HP by not being on the field, regaining HP at the rate of 5 HP for every 15 seconds they are not in use.
*Neutral Special: Hurlhammer/Partner Attack- If Paper Mario doesn't have a partner active (or they have all been KO'ed), then he will pull out a hammer and toss it forward. Pressing the Special Button will only hurl the hammer a short distance. Holding it down will cause it to travel farther, as well as have the direction somewhat influenced by directional input. It does good damage, but is easy to dodge and has a slight amount of endlag. If a Partner is active, then the partner will activate their own special move for Paper Mario to use. 
**Kooper will withdraw into his shell and be fired off a short distance away before boomeranging back to Paper Mario. The attack does decent damage and knockback, but has limited range and is easily telegraphed.
**Parakarry will airlift Paper Mario straight upwards, with limited horizontal mobility for roughly four seconds. A very good secondary recovery move, it only does minor damage to any hapless foe who gets caught by Parakarry's wings as he lifts Paper Mario up.
**Goombella will quickly jump outward and perform a headbonk attack on any enemy nearby. The distance is about the same as Kooper's shell, but it does more damage and knockback and comes out quicker. However, Goombella will be briefly vulnerable as she scurries back to Paper Mario after using the move. She cannot be flung off the stage or platforms.
**Vivian will grab Paper Mario and disappear with him into the shadows, creating a small black dot where Paper Mario stood. For about one and a half seconds, Paper Mario will be invincible. If an opponent happens nearby, players can press the special button again and Paper Mario and Vivian will attack them. There is a three second cooldown on this move and it can't be used in the air (if Vivian is active, then Paper Mario will use Hurlhammer instead in the air.)
**Admiral Bobbery will run forward a short distance and then detonate himself with a powerful explosion. It does the most damage and knockback of any of Paper Mario's neutral special attacks, but it also has short range and Admiral Bobbery will do 10 points of damage to himself everytime the attack is used, KO'ing himself if he uses it with less than 10 HP remaning.
*Side Special: Thousand-Fold Arms- Paper Mario will use the Thousand-Fold Arms Attack from Origami King, firing a long distance strike that pounds the ground directly in front of himself some distance away. The distance is dictated by how long the special button is held down, a shadow appearing on the ground to indicate distance. If used in the air, it has a chance of spiking foes, and if used on the ground it has a chance of burying opponents that scales up at higher percentages. However the move has terrible endlag, and is easily punishable. ALso it does less damage the closer the hit is to Paper Mario.
*Up Special: Spring Shoes/Paper Plane- Paper Mario will don his spring shoes and jump straight up high into the air. This creates a small hitbox at the top of Paper Mario's head, which deals okay damage to opponents. At the apex of the jump, if the special button is still held, then Paper Mario will morph into a Paper Plane. This will allow the player to glide him to the stage for a safe landing. However, this does leave him open for juggles potentially, and if he is hit once while in paper plane mode, he will transform back into Paper Mario and enter freefall, making it very easy to gimp the recovery.
*Down Special: Color Hammer Smash- Paper Mario will charge his hammer for another powerful strike in front of himself as long as the Special Button is held down. Once released, he'll fire a powerful hammer strike downward that does massive damage. The damaging hitbox is only on the hammer, though. It will also release a splosh of paint up into the air, which does no damage but has negative effects on opponents if they are covered by it. The red paint will decrease their defense while it is on them. The blue paint will decrease their movement speed. The green paint will decrease their offensive power. And the purple paint will cause them to take damage over time. The type of paint is random, and all paint lasts roughly 7 seconds. The size of the paint shockwave (ie, the distance it is traveled) is based on the charge of the attack.
*Final Smash: Fire Vellumental- Paper Mario will stand in a Magic Circle and summon his partner Olivia from Origami King. She will suddenly transform into the Fire Vellumental. Taking residence on the side of the stage Paper Mario has his back towards (and blocking that blast zone for the duration of the FS), the Fire Phoenix will reign down several fireballs to the stage that deal massive damage to opponents, as well as molt fiery feathers that also deal decent damage but have less knockback, allowing them to combo into the fireball attacks. The FS lasts for 8 seconds, at which point Olivia will disappear and the match returns to normal. Paper Mario is mobile during the FS, but cannot be harmed.
===Miscellaneous===
*Entry Animation- Paper Mario will rise up a warp pipe, using his unique "swirling" animation that is common to his games.
*Idle Animation 1- Paper Mario will briefly turn in the opposite direction he is facing before turning back.
*Idle Animation 2- Paper Mario will adopt the "pondering" pose that he often adopts when choosing an action command.
*Side Taunt- Paper Mario turns toward the crowd and waves at them happily.
*Up Taunt- Paper Mario jumps up into the air and strikes a pose similar to one of his Stylish Attacks from Super Paper Mario.
*Down Taunt- Paper Mario would "fall over", in essence falling on his back like a piece of paper fluttering to the ground, only to quickly stand back up.
*Victory Animation 1- Paper Mario tips his cap to the losing opponents and then extends a hearty thumbs up to the camera.
*Victory Animation 2- Paper Mario stands next to a Crystal Star that circles around him and then ends with him extending his hands toward the star, which is located above his head.
*Victory Animation 3- Paper Mario appears on screen with all of his Partners from the match (including Thoreau and Olivia). They all celebrate in the background as Paper Mario does a quick jump, freezing in the air.
==How to Unlock==
Paper Mario can be unlocked any of the following ways:
*Playing versus matches until he randomly shows up as a "Challenger Approaching" fight. Defeat him to unlock him.
*Clear Classic Mode with Mr. Game & Watch on starting difficulty 3.0 or higher.
*Unlock him in the Finale of World of Light by defeating him.
*Pay 1,000 gold in a shop where he can randomly appear (though rarely.)
Category:Super Smash Bros. Characters
Category:Super Smash Bros. (series)
Category:Smash Plus Characters