Smash Redesign: Mario

Mario. Protector of the Mushroom Kingdom specifically and consumer of mushrooms in general. He is Nintendo’s main mascot, and one of the most recognizable characters in all of video games. He is a Super Smash Bros staple and will continue to be one so long as the series exists. But has he changed over the years? Should he be changed to better fit his video games?

Mario made his smash debut in Super Smash Bros N64. He has since appeared in every single Super Smash Bros game. From N64 to Ultimate, Mario’s move set has hardly changed at all. There have been a few modifications here and there, most notably his down special being changed, but for the most part he remains unchanged throughout the history of smash. I intend to change that.

Changes throughout the years:

Mario has had most of the same moves since N64. From N64 to Melee, the main change was that he received a side special in cape, his smash attack changed from a big fist to a fire tipped attack, and a few animation changes to his overall kit while not changing too much.

In brawl, his down special was changed from Mario Tornado, which had been present in Melee and N64, to F.L.U.D.D.

His down air was changed from a downward spin kick to what his down special used to be: Mario Tornado

After that, the only thing that has changed about Mario has been the speed of his attacks, the damage he deals, and the knockback he deals. Otherwise, he has remained the same since N64

Overall, Mario in his current form represents 5 of his 21 mainline games. If you include spin offs, then it’s 6. It doesn’t seem right to have Mr. Video Games himself have very little mainline representation from his own franchise. I aim to fix that.

Rules:

The rules are simple, build Mario in his best, most represented form for super smash bros. Ultimate. Any games that came out before Ultimate are fair game. Any game that came out after Ultimate are not allowed. With that said, lets’a’go

Neutral attack: Mario’s one two kick combo is really nice and represents his attack combo in Mario 64, so it’s going to stay as his standard neutral attack.

Tilt attacks: none of Mario’s tilt attacks represent his series at all, so I have decided to change all of them to something that better shows Mario’s wide array of skills and abilities

Forward tilt: Mario’s forward tilt should be changed from his current kick attack, a move that doesn’t seem to be from any of his games, to a Tanuki tail swipe. This move is from Super Mario bros 3 and makes a reappearance in New Super Mario Bros. 2 as well as a slightly different version of it in in Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World. This move will scoop up an opponent in preparation for a combo or will send an opponent in an arc if they are further away. This will be a good combo tool.

Up tilt: Mario’s up tilt is currently a spinning upwards punch. In my redesign, Mario will throw his hat into the air the same way he throws Cappy in Super Mario Odyssey. This will change the move from a combo starter into a very effective anti-air tool, as the hat will go up a little way before coming back down. After the initial action, Mario can still move and fight while Cappy is still in the air. Cappy will return to Mario after a short time. This move will also hit right in front of Mario and will combo into the cap.

Down tilt: Mario’s leg sweep will be replaced with a roll. In Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario Run and Super Mario Odyssey, Mario can roll while he is ducking. This will cause Mario to move in the same way that certain characters can slide. While we’re talking about it, Mario is also going to be given a Crawl. This is because in most of his 3D games he can crawl.

Dash Attack: Mario’s Dash attack will be changed from his weird slide to his forward dive from the 3D Mario games. This will probably be functional similar to how snakes dash attack works.

Smash attacks: Mario’s Smash attacks are actually pretty decent at representing his games, but there are a few things that I would like changed to make Mario feel more like he's been pulled right from his game various games.

Forward smash: Mario used to throw out a palm strike with fire on the ends. Instead, we’re going to change this to a wide overhead hammer attack. This will represent the paper Mario games, the Mario and Luigi RPG games, and any games in which Mario has a hammer (Super Mario Maker 2 comes to mind in builder Mario). This will hit above him as well, but the above hit will just be a sour spot. The smash attack will hit normally in front of him and will have an extra sweet spot right where the head of the hammer lands.

Up smash: I think Mario’s up smash is perfect. The only thing that I am going to change about it is that, in the start up frames, Mario takes out a buzzy beetle hat (from Super Mario Maker 1 and 2) and puts it on for the smash attack then takes it off in the end lag of the move.

This attack

But with this helmet

Down Smash: Mario’s down smash works just fine. It’s a break dance move from Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix. I thought about changing it to a Goomba shoe stomp, but I decided against it as that would feel more like me trying to put more of my favorite Mario game into Mario’s move set.

Aerials: Mario’s Aerials are almost all pretty much made up moves for Smash Bros, with the down air as Mario’s sole move from his games. I have decided to change things up a little bit

Neutral Air: Mario’s neutral air is a pretty good move but is not from any of his games. I’ve decided to change his kick into something like his down air, or the Mario Tornado. The difference is that instead it will be the Luma Spin from Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2. I would even want the animation where the Luma pops out and then quickly goes back into Mario. It will not provide any lift, but it will be a quick move that sends enemy’s away from Mario. At Higher percent’s, it will act as a killing move for Mario.

Forward air: Mario’s forward air is a rather Iconic move, having been in Mario’s tool kit ever since Melee. I thought about changing it to something else but I decided to keep it as is. Something I do want added onto it is that I want his fist to ignite on flames and set the enemy on fire. This will be a nice little call back to his old forward smash as well as looking crazy cool. Plus It will represent Mario from the Mario and Luigi RPG games as Mario gets fire power in those games.

Back air: I actually think that Mario's back air is just fine. The only thing I would change about it would be adding a Goomba shoe to the move to make it more interesting, but that might be asking too much.

Down air: Does anyone else think that it is rather confusing that in all of Mario’s kit he doesn’t have a single move where he stomps his foes into oblivion? That’s his whole deal! He has stomped creatures since the beginning and should continue to stomp until there is nothing left. Because of this, Mario will be given the stomp like what Dr. Mario has. It will otherwise be identical to Dr. Mario's stomp.

Specials: Mario’s specials are some of his best representation from his games. Because of this, I decided to only change a few things about them.

Neutral Special: No change here. Mario’s fireball is a great projectile and is a great move from his series.

Up special: The Super Jump Punch has always been a puzzle to me. I do know where it comes from (Mario hits the block above himself with his fist in his games) but it doesn’t make any sense to keep it when Mario has a large list of better recovery moves from all of his games. Also, if there is one thing that Link has taught us, it’s that an up special can have different effects on the ground and in the air. So, I have decided to go with the Mario cape. On the ground, Mario will do a little spin like he does in Super Mario World, which will protect both his back and front from attacks instead of just his front like before. It will otherwise have all the same features as his standard cape special while on the ground. In the air however, Mario will do his spin (which will still have the same effects as his grounded up special) before soaring off in the direction of the players choice while the cape flaps behind him. This will work similar to how Pit’s power of flight ability works. I think that this is a way better up special for Mario and it also frees up a special slot for Mario.

On the Ground

In the Air

Side special: I have decided to change Mario’s down special, F.L.U.D.D., to his Side special instead of his down special. This is only because I have something else planned for his down special. This will otherwise be identical to Mario’s current down special.

Down special: Ever since Mario 64, Mario has had the ability to ground pound, so that is what this will be. It will work like Bowser's and Yoshi's where it can break shields. He'll do a little spin before falling to the ground with great force.

Grab/Pummel: The grab for Mario will instead have him grab with two hands instead of one. This is because of how Mario holds and carries shells and other objects in his games. He actually grabbed opponents like this until Smash 4, and I don't know why they changed it. His Pummel will be the same

Throws: Mario’s throws are functionally the same (including frame data) except for some animation changes.

Forward throw/Back Throw: These are basically how he throws Bowser from Mario 64, So I don't want to change them

Up throw: Mario will kick the enemy in the crotch as though he’s throwing a shell in Super Mario World instead of the yeet that he does in his current version

Down throw: Mario throws the enemy on the ground and then sits on them like Luigi's down throw (except without the vacuum). This will also be a nice reference to his Ground Pound Ability.

Taunts: I think that all of Mario's taunts are great. They're really good in Smash Ultimate.

So there you have it. A complete redesign of Mario and how I feel he should appear in Super Smash Bros. What do you think? Do you like the redesign? What would you have changed differently, or would you have changed anything at all? Let me know down below.

Thanks for reading this post. I hope you had a good time and I hope to bring many more good times to you. Remember to stay Bewildered.