Mario

Smash Attacks

SIDE SMASH—Mario unleashes an explosive blast immediately in front or behind him. You can guide this slightly up or down.

DOWN SMASH—Mario swings both legs around in a double-leg sweep attack that sends your opponent to the side. This can be useful when your opponent is trying to grab onto the edge or when you want to catch opponents rolling behind you.

UP SMASH—This overhead smash is best used to catch opponents falling directly above you. Mario’s head is invulnerable during this attack, making it the perfect choice to use against airborne opponents. On a hit, this sends your opponent upward.

Basic Attacks

Standing Attack—Mario’s standard attack can be used repeatedly and goes into a three-hit attack string. The third hit pops your opponent up.

Forward Tilt—Mario kicks forward. You can guide this slightly upward or downward. Try to connect using this after knocking your opponent into the air!

Up Tilt—This jumping spinning uppercut does decent damage and knocks your opponent into the air, allowing for further follow-ups! Use this when your opponent is jumping at you or if your opponent is on a ledge above you.

Down Tilt—Here Mario performs a sweep attack with decent range. This also pops the opponent up into the air.

Dash Attack—During Mario’s running animation, this attack does a running slide. This move has a lot of recovery, however, so try to use it only in situations where it is guaranteed to succeed.

Edge Attack—Mario swings himself back up to the ledge with his arms and kicks at your opponent’s feet. Use the invincibility from your first edge grab to make this move more effective.

Air Attacks

Neutral Air Attack—Mario performs a jump kick attack. This is especially useful out of a short hop rather than a full jump.

Up Air Attack—Mario performs a flip kick. Be sure to use this only when you are facing your opponent!

Down Air Attack—Mario stretches out both arms and performs a multi-hitting spinning attack. This move follows Mario’s jump momentum, so it works well in both the rise and the fall of his jump arc. You can also move Mario horizontally while he is performing this attack. Note this attack can hit a maximum of seven times and passes through some projectiles.

Forward Air Attack—This overhead punch knocks opponents downward on impact. This can be very useful when used on airborne opponents trying to get back to the stage as it gives a meteor effect.

Back Air Attack—This reverse dropkick can be very useful to keep opponents away. It also recovers fairly quickly, so you can perform more attacks while airborne. Overall, this is one of Mario’s better air-to-air attacks.

Special Attacks

Fireball (Neutral Special)—This is Mario’s primary projectile attack. It deals 5 damage per hit and bounces twice before fizzling out. Note that each Fireball is affected by gravity and requires a floor to bounce.

Cape (Side Special)—Mario swings his cape to attack your opponent and spin that opponent around! With proper timing, this attack can also be used to reflect projectiles. Additionally, you can use this attack to slightly stall while airborne and throw off your opponent’s timing.

Super Jump Punch (Up Special)—This jumping uppercut is Mario’s main recovery move to get back to the ledge when he’s below the stage. It is also a multi-hitting attack that knocks coins out of your opponent, so the earlier it strikes the opponent, the more damage it inflicts.

F.L.U.D.D. (Down Special)—The Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device (better known as F.L.U.D.D.)! This move inflicts no damage, but it can be used to push your opponents away or off the stage. Press once to begin charging up the F.L.U.D.D.—the longer you charge it up, the farther it shoots! Because you are vulnerable while charging the F.L.U.D.D., you have to be decide carefully when to charge it. Additionally, you can hit Left or Right to roll out of charging; you can hit Block to cancel charging as well. To unleash the F.L.U.D.D., hit the Special button again while charging!

Final Smash

Mario Finale—Mario releases a flurry of fireballs horizontally at everyone in his path. Because the vertical range on this is limited, however, you want to line up directly beside your opponent(s) for the best results. The closer you are horizontally, the more hits you’ll be able to land as well. The best time to use this is when you can catch an opponent already off stage—the farther to the side, the better!

Strategy

Mario is a mix of a gunner and a brawler—he has some decent projectiles as well as some fair up-close fighting abilities. His toolset allows him to be most effective with a defensive play style, but that requires a lot of patience. Use his Fireball attacks to add damage from a distance to your opponent. If you use it during the descent of your jump, you can dash to follow the Fireball. If your opponent blocks the Fireball, you can mix that opponent up with a grab or any other attacks. Be sure to charge up your F.L.U.D.D. whenever you can so it will be completely ready when you need it. This is particularly useful in free-for-all battles where you can push multiple opponents with it. In general, though, you’ll want to use it for edge guarding.

Mario’s main weaknesses are that his attacks don’t have a lot of range and that he is an average-weight character, so once he racks up damage, his knockback increases quickly. So, if you have an opponent using a lot of projectiles against you, be sure to use Mario’s Cape to reflect them. The Cape is also good for doing damage, for turning your opponent around, and for helping with Mario’s ranged weakness, as it counters longer-ranged attacks. Additionally, his Cape can be especially useful for edge guarding when used alongside F.L.U.D.D.! So, yes, definitely use the Cape! Fireball is also a great tool when edge guarding and can open up more opportunities for F.L.U.D.D. and the Cape.

When opponents are above you, use your Up Tilt attack or UP SMASH attack for its invincibility. In general, you want to stay away from Mario’s Super Jump Punch here because of its bad recovery, but this attack does have invincibility on start-up as well and deals solid damage. Still, try to save your Super Jump Punch to punish out of shield instead. When approaching enemies air to air, use Mario’s Down Air or Back Air attacks. Down Air is also useful for shield pressure, especially if your opponents are shielding a lot of your Fireballs. Mario’s Forward Air is a meteor attack, so use this to spike your opponents when they are no longer over the stage. And when approaching enemies on the ground, stick to Mario’s short hop neutral attack with fast fall and mix your opponent up with a grab or another short hop neutral attack! Finally, with fresh opponents, throwing an opponent downward can often combo into multiple Up Tilt attacks!

Recovery

When it comes to recovering from being off the stage, Mario has very few options. His main attack is going to be his Super Jump Punch, which launches him upward. Aiming slightly to the left or right with the Super Jump Punch sends Mario in that direction, so be sure to aim accurately for the edge. Additionally, Mario can use his Cape attack to slow down his fall and move him forward a little. Use this so you aren’t predictable about when you are coming back to the ledge. Mario’s Down Air attack can also be used to gain some horizontal recovery.