Mario (SSBM)

**Mario** (マリオ, *Mario*) returns as a starter character in *Super Smash Bros. Melee*. He was announced at E3 2001. He also has a clone, Dr. Mario, with whom he shares a lot of attributes and special moves.

Charles Martinet reprises his role as Mario, albeit via recycled voice clips from *Super Mario 64*.

Mario is ranked 15th out of 26 on the current tier list, placing him in the C+ tier. This is very similar to his previous ranking in *Smash 64*, where he is ranked 7th out of 12. It also puts him three places lower than his younger brother Luigi at 12th place and two places lower than his clone Dr. Mario. Like in *Smash 64*, Mario acts as a well-rounded character, with average attributes across the board. He has above average comboing ability due to the somewhat low knockback and the angles at which his moves tend to send on, and a very versatile grab game: his powerful back throw can KO most opponents with ease and gimp some recoveries, while his up and down throws can chain-grab. Mario also has a solid edge-guarding game, with a solid projectile in his Fireball, and his Cape which can easily and efficiently gimp almost every other character's recovery. Mario, however, lacks a reliable finisher, with many moves with aforementioned low knockback with the exception of his forward and down smash. His recovery is also predictable and short, though he can extend it, which leaves him vulnerable to being gimped by characters such as Jigglypuff. His mediocre range also leaves him with trouble against characters with disjointed hitboxes such as Marth. Overall, Mario has average matchups in tournament play, with favorable matchups against most lower tiered characters though having disadvantageous matchups against higher tiered characters, especially against those who can either gimp or outrange him.

## Attributes

As a character, Mario falls under the archetype of being of an all-rounder character, with no particularly strong or weak traits; indeed, in terms of weight, falling speed, air speed, size, and dash speed, Mario tends to fall in the middle of these attributes.

One of Mario's strengths is his rather good combo ability. While not having an extremely high air or falling speed, Mario can easily and efficiently combo most other characters in the air; Mario has plenty of low lag and low knockback aerials, and the addition of a long wavedash and fast ground attacks give Mario plenty of combo potential. Mario also has a good SHFFL.

Mario also has an above average approach. Despite an only average air speed and dashing speed, Mario still has good options for getting closer to opponents. His Fireballs have good range and can disrupt opponents at a distance; differing terrains such as slopes and platforms can also give the Fireball many options. Mario, due to his average attributes in traction and falling speed, has a rather long and floaty wavedash; coupled with decently ranged smash attacks, Mario has good wavesmashing abilities.

Mario is also a surprisingly good edgeguarder. He has a meteor smash in his forward aerial, albeit it having high startup and ending lag and not being too powerful, and his back aerial sends opponents on a decent angle for edgeguarding. Mario's Fireballs can also gimp recoveries; its low knockback makes it effective in the regard. Most notably, however, Mario has what is likely the absolute best edgeguarding weapon in all the game: his Cape. When used, it can effectively and quickly gimp almost every recovery in the game; it's especially useful against linear recoveries, such as Fox's Fire Fox or Luigi's Green Missile.

Mario also has a surprisingly good grab game. Despite a rather poor grab range, Mario's throws are notable for their versatility; his forward and back throws can easily set up gimp KOs, especially the latter, while his up and down throws can act as combo starters, as well as very effective chain grabs: Mario's up throw can chain grab fast fallers such as Fox, Falco, and Captain Falcon, while his down throw can chain grab heavy characters, as well as being able to chain grab Pikachu and Pichu up to high percents, if not to a KO.

Mario, however, suffers from some KOing problems. He lacks particularly powerful or reliable finishers; while his forward smash has good range, coupled with a very visible and easy to land sweetspot, his other smashes are rather short ranged. Additionally, while Mario's back throw is strong, it requires grabbing the opponent first; this can be a challenge, due to Mario's poor grab range. Mario's single meteor smash is also rather unwieldy and risky to use.

Mario also suffers from a below average recovery. Super Jump Punch only grants average to slightly below average horizontal and vertical distance, while Mario Tornado can only grant vertical distance if the B button is tapped quickly. Mario, however, does have some options to improve his recovery; Mario's Cape can allow him to recover from the sides, and he has the ability to wall-jump, which can act as a help on stages such as Final Destination.

Overall, Mario could be considered to be a poor-man's Marth. While both characters have great combo ability and a similar recovery, Marth has a much easier time finishing off opponents as well as having longer range in his attacks and his grab range making it much easier for Marth to chain-grab fast-fallers compared to Mario.

## Version history

Mario was nerfed in the PAL version of *Melee* although due to many characters ranked above him being nerfed, his viability remains similar overall.

**NTSC 1.01**

* Fireball no longer increase speed when used off slopes at certain angles.

**PAL**

* Mario is slightly lighter (100 → 98).
* Mario's air speed was reduced even further (0.86 → 0.83).

## In competitive play

### Most historically significant players

*Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the 2025 MLGPR, which recognizes the official top 75 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Melee.*
* A Rookie - Widely considered to be the best Mario player in the world. Placed 9th at MomoCon 2019 and DreamHack Atlanta 2019, 33rd at Shine 2019 and CEO 2019, as well as 65th at GENESIS 6. Has defeated players such as Vish, Joshman, Free Palestine, and Kalvar.
* Green Mario - A notable Mario player in the United States, residing in Georgia. Placed 9th at Tipped Off 4 and 13th at TGMTSBCO.
* Mango (#11) - Once mained Mario under the tag "Scorpion Master" and continues to go by that alias in side events. Utilized Mario as an occasional counterpick, particularly against Axe.
* Matt Deezie - Former Mario main, best in the world when active. Placed top 6 at a few Tournament Go events.
* SchlimmShady - Formerly the best Mario player in Europe prior to switching to Captain Falcon. Placed 17th at Syndicate 2017 and 25th at B.E.A.S.T 6 and B.E.A.S.T 7.

### Tier placement and history

Very early in the *Melee* metagame, when few players knew the potential of now-top tier characters, Mario was considered one of the best characters in the game, ranking as high as 5th on the first tier list. This could be attributed to Mario's simple but effective combo setups, strong attacks, low learning curve, and lack of any outstanding drawbacks due to being well-rounded, as well as his extendable recovery. As the metagame advanced, however, Mario's average statistics were magnified as the potentials for many other superior characters, such as Peach, Captain Falcon, and the Ice Climbers, were discovered. This caused Mario to slowly slip down the tier list as time progressed, as well as lose significant placing in large tournaments; eventually, Mango (under the alias "Scorpion Master") was the only person who placed anywhere significant with him, but even he rarely placed high enough to earn money from playing Mario, cashing in at 25th place at Apex 2010 instead of his usual top 8 placements when using better characters. On the current tier list, he ranks 15th place in the C+ tier; on the other hand, his clone Dr. Mario and semi-clone Luigi, who were once widely considered worse than Mario, have surpassed him in placements. Despite the tier differences, some players, such as Shroomed, believe Mario could potentially be better than Dr. Mario, due to his faster aerials, arguably better recovery, and longer reach and disjoint in some of his attacks, such as forward Smash and down Smash, supplemented with A Rookie’s respectable representation with the character. However, other Luigi and Dr. Mario mains have since achieved stronger competitive breakthroughs (exhibited with Luigi’s bigger player base and Franz’s rising success), which influenced most top players to view Mario’s standing otherwise.