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 19th on the current tier list (the highest ranked Mario character if sub-series characters are not included); a large drop from his 10th place position 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 and his back throw (when used near a ledge). He has a projectile in Fireball, which he can use to hinder his opponents approach, zoning and gimping his opponents recovery. 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 6th 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. Also Mario has a hard time comboing due to the low hitstun of the current demo which hurts him the most.

However, his pros are overcome by his cons and is why he is ranked in the middle.

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. 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 6th 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 are better than in the main Super Smash Bros. games; due in part because he has more finishers and can combo into them easily while his recovery has been improved.

Changes from v0.9a
Mario has received a mix of buffs and nerfs. However, Mario appears to be less effective than he was last demo.

Aesthetics

 * [[File:Notice, neutral or indifferent icon.png]]Mario has gotten custom made sprites that look like his appearance in the main Super Smash Bros. games.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Due to this, Mario has better hitbox placement.
 * [[File:Notice, neutral or indifferent icon.png]]Updated special effects to Fireball, Cape, Star Spin and Super Jump Punch.

Attributes

 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Mario appears to have decreased air speed.

Ground attacks

 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Forward smash is stronger.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]It lacks the super sweet spot that it had last demo.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Down smash is stronger, especially in the front.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Up smash is stronger and has more range in front of Mario.

Aerial attacks

 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Neutral air is much weaker, thus Mario loses his easiest kill move to combo into.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Back air is a little weaker.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Up air is stronger and has more cool down. This makes it harder for Mario to perform his up air strings or combo from it into other aerials.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]The meteor smash hitbox of his forward air is stronger.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]The sourspot is much weaker and doesn't kill until the opponent is over 100.

Throws/other attacks

 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Mario's grab range appears to have been increased.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Forward is much weaker and won't even kill at over 150%.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Down throw has less hitstun which makes it harder to combo out of it and chain grab with it.

Special moves

 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Super Jump Punch has a larger ledge sweet spot.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Cape gains less momentum.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]Star Spin appears to gain more height.
 * [[File:Buff icon.png]]The sweet spot of Star Spin is stronger and can kill off the top.
 * [[File:Nerf icon.png]]Mario's final smash was changed from Fire Mario to Mario Finale.

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. In demo v0.9b, Mario dropped to 19th of B tier where he is seen as a mid tier character again.

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 to v0.9b, 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!!!