DtJ XeroXen
The biggest fraud
Hi guys, I'm XeroXen! I mained Mario in Brawl since the launch of the game and played him competitively for many years, despite how bad he was. Of course I'm pretty sure we're all aware that the Japanese 3DS Demo has launched and Mario, of course, is one of the playable characters. However, there seems to be a lot of misinformation spreading around about different things that have "changed" from Brawl, and I also thought it would be cool if a top Mario player from Brawl did a write up on the things I've observed about Mario in Smash for 3DS.
General Things
My overview of Mario's moves might have sounded a bit disheartening to anybody familiar with his tier placement in Brawl (I.E. Low). And, to be honest, it's a bit disheartening for me too.
However, Mario's dthrow alone probably secures him a solid spot in mid tier unless other characters are on average way better. If Mario has kill potential and easy ways to kill, I can easily see Mario as being a high tier character. In Brawl, he was held back by his lack of ability to be able to finish off stocks easily.
Also, these "combos" that are circulating around about Mario vs. computers are absolutely silly. They're versus COMPUTERS. You could do that in Brawl, too. Whether or not the game has more hitstun can't be proved based on Mario's moveset vs. computers. I'm almost tempted to upload Mario "combos" from Brawl onto social media in the same circumstances. It's laughable, really. For reference, I'm talking about combos like the upair strings, which could easily be air dodged out of in Brawl. His Downthrow combos are legitimate at low percents, which is really exciting.
tl;dr: Mario looks pretty much the same other than his broken Dthrow. If hitstun is more prevalent in this game and his upair strings among other things turn out to be true combos, then Mario will probably be a great character. But we'll find out once we can all get our hands on it ourselves.
General Things
- For starters. His ground speed actually does seem faster, if only by a little bit.
- The knockback on his moves seems relatively unchanged. I've heard that Up-B and Dair are potential kill moves now, though.
- Jab
- Seems relatively unchanged. But it looks like characters receive a bunch of landing lag upon landing after jabs in this game. So maybe he could do a jab -> utilt/upsmash. (Link can do this pretty much guaranteed in this build)
- Ftilt
- This was his best tilt in Brawl for spacing and quick ground strings and it seems unchanged in this game as far as knockback, speed, and range go. Of course the ability to pivot cancel is really good for this move, and linking it after back air looks just as viable as it was in Brawl. The hitstun looks pretty unchanged on this unfortunately.
- Dtilt
- Still looks pretty bad. People are posting videos about how it "combos" into Fsmash, but that existed in Brawl too. The problem with the move is that it takes pretty much forever to come out and doesn't guarantee a hit into anything. Unless the hitstun has been substantially increased then this move is awful.
- Utilt
- This was a staple of early Brawl combos which eventually got fizzled out due to its lack of range and how easily it was punished on shield. It was still useful for juggles on occasion and actually could kill unstaled around 150 damage. The move itself looks unchanged, but Mario's new Dthrow clearly sets it up to be a great move.
- FSmash
- I haven't gotten to see a whole bunch of this move but it looks about the same. HOWEVER -- since the 3DS lacks a C-stick, I'm unable to tell if his stutter-step Fsmash still exists. This was a big part of his punish game in Brawl, and was one of his big saving graces in that game. If the stutter step still exists, then this move will still be amazing. If not, I'm not sure how viable it will be as a kill move unless we can find ways to combo into it.
- Dsmash
- I never really saw this move on any videos/streams. Looks about the same speed and looks like it has the same amount of recovery, so it's just as punishable as it's always been. Hopefully the kill power has been amped up.
- Usmash
- Also haven't seen much of this. But it looks like it might be a big part of his combos again. Unfortunately, the kill power looks relatively unchanged.
- Nair
- Looks exactly the same. Same range, same knockback, same everything. Light nair will probably still combo into things at mid percents like it did in Brawl. Otherwise it's got alright kill power, same as Brawl.
- Fair
- This move was relatively underused by Mario players in Brawl. There's been a lot of misinformation spreading that it's "faster", but it looks the exact same speed to me. The spike may be a bit stronger, which would be great for the move.
- Bair
- Also the same as before! It's quick and great for spacing and approaching, same as always. However, it now has an autocancel. It didn't have awful landing lag before but now the landing lag is entirely negligible, so things like Bair -> Ftilt are going to be even better and faster spacing tools/combos.
- Uair
- Also looks the same as before. Literally the same. Still quick and good for juggles/combos. Probably still has relatively quick landing lag too.
- Dair
- Looks the damn same, Sky's video is wrong. You could do two Dairs in Brawl. It's the same. Hopefully you can still Dair -> Footstooled Nair for shield pressure.
- Dthrow
- This is the biggest buff Mario has received. Dthrow is now amazing and appears to allow for true combos as low percents, and could even set up for kills at high percents. Like, this throw is so much better than it was before (and it was already his best throw), it's actually incredible that they gave Mario something so crazy good. If this move allows Mario to combo into a kill, then Mario's an easy high tier.
- Other throws
- They're all the same. Doesn't even look like you can combo out of them. Let's hope Bthrow has kill potential though, Mario really needs that.
- Neutral B
- For some reason or another, nobody who has been playing Smash 4 3DS has used much in regards to specials. I've heard whispers of fireball being "bad", but it's probably the same much like most of Mario's moveset.
- Side-B
- Once again, nobody was using this move. However, cape was a staple of Mario's game in Brawl, entirely turning some matchups in his favor. With the nerf to auto ledge snap we could see the cape become even more important, and more consistent when it comes to low percent gimps. (Or maybe we'll see more of the cape teleport glitch...)
Also, since nobody is using this move I'm still not sure if cape gliding is a thing, somebody should figure that out.
- Once again, nobody was using this move. However, cape was a staple of Mario's game in Brawl, entirely turning some matchups in his favor. With the nerf to auto ledge snap we could see the cape become even more important, and more consistent when it comes to low percent gimps. (Or maybe we'll see more of the cape teleport glitch...)
- Down-B
- I saw a video and people were calling it "stronger". Based on the video, it's not. At most it's a little stronger. It'll still be useful for all the same things it was before, but I don't see it doing much else than being strong vs. certain characters' recoveries (Ike, Ness, Spacies, Pikachu)
- Up-B
- If anybody remembers me from Brawl, this was a move I advocated that Mario use and abuse. It looks relatively unchanged, but I've heard that it may be a kill move now, which would be fantastic considering what a good out of shield option it is at higher percents. Hopefully the move still retains its ability to be angled and still has its invincibility frames and high priority.
My overview of Mario's moves might have sounded a bit disheartening to anybody familiar with his tier placement in Brawl (I.E. Low). And, to be honest, it's a bit disheartening for me too.
However, Mario's dthrow alone probably secures him a solid spot in mid tier unless other characters are on average way better. If Mario has kill potential and easy ways to kill, I can easily see Mario as being a high tier character. In Brawl, he was held back by his lack of ability to be able to finish off stocks easily.
Also, these "combos" that are circulating around about Mario vs. computers are absolutely silly. They're versus COMPUTERS. You could do that in Brawl, too. Whether or not the game has more hitstun can't be proved based on Mario's moveset vs. computers. I'm almost tempted to upload Mario "combos" from Brawl onto social media in the same circumstances. It's laughable, really. For reference, I'm talking about combos like the upair strings, which could easily be air dodged out of in Brawl. His Downthrow combos are legitimate at low percents, which is really exciting.
tl;dr: Mario looks pretty much the same other than his broken Dthrow. If hitstun is more prevalent in this game and his upair strings among other things turn out to be true combos, then Mario will probably be a great character. But we'll find out once we can all get our hands on it ourselves.