Help wanted/needed with Mario.

[SarrowGX]

Hey guys. As you can probably guess from the title, I main Mario. I've mained him for about as long as sm4sh has been out and I have been working my way into the competitive scene in the last couple of months and I need your guys' help with some issues that I have been having. Mainly when it comes to projectile users and sword users. Pretty much characters that just have more range than me. I know about the powershielding and using cape when I can but it sometimes doesn't seem to be enough or maybe I am just not using it correctly. If anyone on here could offer some tips or maybe some better or different play-styles it would be greatly appreciated. And if you have any general tips for him they are more than welcomed as well. Thanks for reading.

 

[Zanarkan]

I been a Mario main for a while myself and I'm a fairly steady streamer and combo video creator. The best advice I can give you for dealing with campy/ranged characters and player is to master your power shielding and use cape as much as possible. Aside from that never forget that you too have a projectile... Your fire ball is a good choice for stuffing a lot of common projectiles. It trades with a lot of projectiles like samus missles, Luigi fireballs, cloud neutral B, etc... Practice short hopping and fire balling to alternate the bounce height and you can start to get reads of your opponents jumping and landing approach patterns and get some good punishes off...

The other thing that I would say is to optimize your punish game as much as possible. Since when you play campy opponents your hits are scarce make sure when you get one you take it as far as possible. Mario has one of the best punish games in the whole cast. If you get a grab at 0-10% you should be able to get AT LEAST 40% off of that and usually more depending on the other character. When your hits are limited make sure you make the most of the ones you do get.

Keep a good mindset as well, don't go into a match against a ranged character thinking you are going to lose or at a disadvantage. The second you think you are going to do poorly, you will do poorly. Some times a good offense is the best defense, if all they do as spam play aggressively and think rush down, often times they will panic and make mistakes because they aren't used to people doing this to them, they are used to their spam just working and their opponent never approaching.

I hope this helps you improve. Let me know if you have any other questions. My stream is twitch.tv/zanarkan28 I try to make it a very educational stream for people just starting to get into competitive smash 4 so check that out if you are board.

 

[Sha-Shulk]

I play both Mario and Shulk (a character with supreme range) and I can say that Mario needs to go aggro against campers.
Use your fireballs, use your cape, but remember to just rush in with a SHFF Nair and combo from there.

 

[SarrowGX]

I play both Mario and Shulk (a character with supreme range) and I can say that Mario needs to go aggro against campers.
Use your fireballs, use your cape, but remember to just rush in with a SHFF Nair and combo from there.

Alright I'll keep that in mind. Also, might be a stupid/noob question, but what does SHFF stand for?

 

[SarrowGX]

I been a Mario main for a while myself and I'm a fairly steady streamer and combo video creator. The best advice I can give you for dealing with campy/ranged characters and player is to master your power shielding and use cape as much as possible. Aside from that never forget that you too have a projectile... Your fire ball is a good choice for stuffing a lot of common projectiles. It trades with a lot of projectiles like samus missles, Luigi fireballs, cloud neutral B, etc... Practice short hopping and fire balling to alternate the bounce height and you can start to get reads of your opponents jumping and landing approach patterns and get some good punishes off...

The other thing that I would say is to optimize your punish game as much as possible. Since when you play campy opponents your hits are scarce make sure when you get one you take it as far as possible. Mario has one of the best punish games in the whole cast. If you get a grab at 0-10% you should be able to get AT LEAST 40% off of that and usually more depending on the other character. When your hits are limited make sure you make the most of the ones you do get.

Keep a good mindset as well, don't go into a match against a ranged character thinking you are going to lose or at a disadvantage. The second you think you are going to do poorly, you will do poorly. Some times a good offense is the best defense, if all they do as spam play aggressively and think rush down, often times they will panic and make mistakes because they aren't used to people doing this to them, they are used to their spam just working and their opponent never approaching.

I hope this helps you improve. Let me know if you have any other questions. My stream is twitch.tv/zanarkan28 I try to make it a very educational stream for people just starting to get into competitive smash 4 so check that out if you are board.

I appreciate the very informed reply! I'll definitely check out the stream, always happy to come by someone's channel who is willing to teach.

 

[Duplighost]

Alright I'll keep that in mind. Also, might be a stupid/noob question, but what does SHFF stand for?

It stands for "Short Hop Fast Fall." Here's an excerpt from a website I found explaining it:

Spoiler: SHFF

"Learning how to SHFF consistently is enough to win against most beginners. You will be able to do more attacks and you’ll be able to move around quickly with every character in the game. Defensively, you can use fast fall to mix up your evading options in the sky. Instead of being struck in the air getting hit, you can land quickly or slowly and screwing up the timing of your opponent’s attacks.

Short hop occurs when you lightly tap the jump button on the controller. You don’t want to use directional up on the left analog to jump because it is highly inconsistent and it can interfere with your character control. Fast fall is when you press down on the controller at near the peak of your jump. Master short hopping first then master fast fall. Once SHFF becomes muscle memory, you can add in aerial attacks in between SHFF."

Link to site:​

http://www.reaxxion.com/2782/5-quick-tips-for-big-success-in-smash-4-multiplayer

Although this isn't great quality, here's a small video I found of it as well: https://youtu.be/n8b8ZYULtDc
Let me know if you need any more help!

 

[SarrowGX]

It stands for "Short Hop Fast Fall." Here's an excerpt from a website I found explaining it:

Spoiler: SHFF

"Learning how to SHFF consistently is enough to win against most beginners. You will be able to do more attacks and you’ll be able to move around quickly with every character in the game. Defensively, you can use fast fall to mix up your evading options in the sky. Instead of being struck in the air getting hit, you can land quickly or slowly and screwing up the timing of your opponent’s attacks.

Short hop occurs when you lightly tap the jump button on the controller. You don’t want to use directional up on the left analog to jump because it is highly inconsistent and it can interfere with your character control. Fast fall is when you press down on the controller at near the peak of your jump. Master short hopping first then master fast fall. Once SHFF becomes muscle memory, you can add in aerial attacks in between SHFF."

Spoiler: SHFF

Link to site:​

http://www.reaxxion.com/2782/5-quick-tips-for-big-success-in-smash-4-multiplayer

Although this isn't great quality, here's a small video I found of it as well: https://youtu.be/n8b8ZYULtDc
Let me know if you need any more help!

Ah ok. Thanks for the reply! I didn't know what the SHFF stood for but I know about the short hop fast fall very well. Thanks for the video though!

 

[Sha-Shulk]

My experience playing Mario:

Against aggro characters (Cap. F., Sheik, ZSS, and the like): Fight fire with fire, i.e., just use Mario's superior combo game and his fire to pressure their approach. Just make sure not to go full camper mode.

Against campers: Go aggro. Use your aerial game to go past their projectiles. Use your ground game to combo.

Against grapplers (Luigi, Ness, etc....) Don't shield reflexively!!! Also remember to approach differently, as your opponent will learn to read it and just grab-and-go from there. Grappling characters usually have poor approaching capabilities, so use your fireball wisely. Also Mario has superior speed to most grappling characters, so use that to your advantage.

Against sword-fighters: Mario has better framed data, but you need to space well. Let them come to you, and pressure them with fire.

 

[Zanarkan]

I agree, spacing can be a ***** with Mario especially against sword characters, because his Melee range compared to just about everyone else in the cast is pretty ass. Just something you have to practice and practice in a lot of different match ups!