Mario (Super Smash Flash 2)

Mario is a playable veteran character in Super Smash Flash 2 and, along with, and , was one of the first four characters confirmed in the trailer and that first appeared in the demo. His sprites are custom made and his appearance looks similar to how he appears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, but is a combination of his appearances in the main Smash Bros. games (though his past sprites were brawlified Super Mario World sprites), while his moveset is based on his attacks in the Super Smash Bros. games.

Mario is currently ranked 10th on the current tier list (the highest ranked Mario character if sub-series characters are included or not); a "1UP" from his 11th place position last demo. Mario's attacks have become stronger from last demo. Mario has fast, low-lag attacks, good combo ability, a good recovery, and strong finishers in all of his smash attacks, a sour spotted forward aerial, back aerial, neutral aerial and his back throw (when used near a ledge). He has a projectile in Fireball and can reflect projectiles with Cape. He can use his fireballs to hinder his opponents approach, zoning and gimping his opponents recovery. He has good juggling options with his up tilt and up aerial. He is one of the best edge guarders in the game and his guard will be tough to break. He has a great recovery with Star Spin and Super Jump Punch covering good vertical distance while cape gives him a near-infinite horizontal recovery option.

However, Mario has problems in his range (possessing the 4th shortest grab in the current demo) which leaves him vulnerable to characters with disjointed hitboxes, such as and. He has a predictable recovery that can be easy to gimp and edge guard against. His projectile is weak, slow, and can be easily reflected. However, his pros overcome his cons and makes him an excellent character to go up against anyone.

Attributes
Mario is considered the most all-around and balanced character. Due to this, beginners should consider using Mario as the start-up character when playing the game for the first time. His traits like weight, falling speed, dashing speed, air speed and size fall in the middle of all these attributes. He has a good air game with his aerials being fast, specifically his up aerial, notable for being able to juggle opponents chaining into other aerials. Mario has a good grab game, despite having the 4th shortest grab in the current demo, with his down and up throw being chain grabs on fast fallers and big characters while being combo starters on other characters or can lead into his finishers like his forward or neutral aerials. His back throw is a strong finisher when used near the ledge and his forward throw can set up edge guards. He has finishers in all his smash attacks, a sour spotted forward aerial (at high percentages), his back throw when used near a ledge, back aerial and neutral aerial. Mario is one of the best edge guarders, so trying to break his guard will be tough. His standard special move, Fireball, is a very spammable projectile, and can help him control his opponent's approach and can also be used to hinder some characters' recovery offstage. Mario has good recovery options in his Cape which gives him a near-infinite horizontal recovery while keeping momentum for him to get back to the stage easily, can be used to reflect his opponents projectile and can be used to gimp opponents trying to recover. He has a great vertical recovery, when all of his options have not been used up, in Star Spin, his midair jump and Super Jump Punch. He has good approach options with using his Fireballs to put pressure on the opponent and having a good SHFFL.

However, Mario suffers problems in his range which makes him vulnerable to characters with disjointed hitboxes (ex. and ). His recovery, although good, is very predictable and he might encounter problems recovering when he is up against a good edge guarder. His fireballs are low-priority, which allows them to be cancelled out and reflected easily.

Mario's attributes in SSF2 is better than in the main Smash Bros. games; due in part because he has more finishers and can combo into them easily while his recovery has been improved.

Ground attacks

 * Standard attack: Punches straight downwards. 3%
 * Standard attack 2: Performs an uppercut. 2%
 * Standard attack 3: Toe kick; Mario's foot expands greatly during the attack. 5%
 * Down tilt: "Trips" an opponent with his leg. It sends them upward. 10%
 * Down smash: Does a "breakdance kick", hitting both sides. 18% both sides uncharged, 26% both sides fully charged. Strong knockback.
 * Side tilt: Does a strong kick. 7%
 * Forward smash: Charges and releases an explosive short-range fireball. When sweetspotted, it is one of the strongest smash attacks in the whole game. The attack does more damage when an opponent touches the fireball while it's weaker if they connect with Mario's body. 11% uncharged, 16% fully charged when sour spotted. 19% uncharged, 27% fully charged sweet spotted. The move has a large sweet spot.
 * Up tilt: Uppercut, aka Shoryuken. 8%
 * Up smash: Headbutt. Decent knockback, but has short range. 18% uncharged, 26% fully charged.
 * Dash attack: Running slide kick. 9%

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial: Sex Kick. Mario extends his foot 12% sweetspot, 8% sour spot.
 * Forward aerial: Arcs his arm while punching forward/downward. Meteor Smash if sweet-spotted. 14% Does good horizontal or vertical knockback if sour-spotted and can be used as a finisher.
 * Back aerial: Kicks backwards with both feet. Good knockback 11%
 * Up aerial: Back flip kick. Very good juggler, as its very fast and has very little to no start-up or ending lag and great for extending combos. 12%
 * Down aerial: Spinning kick from SSB/SSBM. 12% if all hits connect.

Grabs and throws

 * Grab: Mario holds the opponent with both hands (the fourth shortest grab in the current demo).
 * Pummel: Headbutts opponent. 1% all attacks.
 * Forward throw: Spins around once and throw his opponent forward. 9%
 * Back throw: Spins around four times and throws his opponent backward. Good knockback and is a reliable finisher when used next to a ledge. 12%
 * Up throw: Mario throws his opponent high into the air. Can chain grab fast fallers and big characters, but it's easier to escape then his down throw. 8%
 * Down throw: Mario slams his opponent into the ground. Great combo starter and chain grab on fast fallers and big characters. Can lead into a sour spotted forward aerial at high percentages. 6%

Other

 * Ledge attack: Mario jumps up kicks at the opponent, looks similar to his neutral aerial. 5%
 * 100% ledge attack: After a slight hesitation, he swing his legs around. 7%
 * Floor attack: Does an attack similar to his down smash in appearance. 5%

Misc.

 * Entrance: Jumps out from a warp pipe while saying "Lets-a-go!".
 * Taunts:
 * Standard: Takes off his hat, twirls around, and puts his hat back on, similar to the level clear animation from New Super Mario Bros.
 * Side: Same as Standard.
 * Down: Mario grows big with a Super Mushroom, then he returns to normal size.
 * Idle poses:
 * Moves his head from left to right.
 * Fanfare: Remix of Victory from Super Smash Bros Melee.
 * Wins: Has fire explode from his palms and makes a pose.
 * Loses: Claps to the winner.

Tier placement history
In tier lists for v0.6; Mario ranked 8th of D tier on the first list and 7th of C tier on the second list where he was seen as low tier character. In demo v0.7; Mario still stayed in C tier where he ranked 8th on the first list and ranked 10th of C tier on the second list with players now viewing him as a mid tier character. He once again was stuck in C tier in v0.8b where he ranked 11th and was still seen as a mid tier character. However, in demo v0.9a; Mario got his best tier position yet where he ranked 10th on the list where he can be considered a high tier character.

Trivia

 * In previous versions of the SSF2 Demo, Mario used a slightly different moveset. Prior v0.2b, Mario used F.L.U.D.D. as his side special move rather than the Cape. The Star Spin's predecessor, the Mario Tornado, was used and had a special homing attack effect when it was done in midair.
 * During the development of Mario's new sprite sheet, former developer ItsameSMB had created a new variation of his down special move called the F.L.U.D.D. Tornado, but was dropped from the game for unknown reasons. It is speculated that Cleod9 thought the attack to be too complex to program into the game.
 * Mario has gone through the most sprite changes throughout the game's development, the second being Link.
 * Mario along with ,, and are the only characters so far to wear their default costumes in team battle when they are on the red team.
 * Mario's previous sprites, alongside with and, were used in one of ScrewAttack's Death Battles.
 * Prior 0.9b, Mario originally transformed into Fire Mario as his Final Smash. This was eventually scrapped in favor of the Mario Finale.
 * In v0.9b, Mario's sprite was a collab of the many devs. The original base was created by PixelBoy, and  Dr. Geno made the stance. Zero Insanity, ElvisDitto, Eggviper, and Playat made the rest of the animations.

External link

 * Mario's page at Smash Flash DOJO!!!