What do you lead off with?

[Sodo]

As someone getting back into Melee, I feel most comfortable with Mario since that is who I played as a kid. However, I can't really get anything going until later percents because my approach options aren't stunning the opponent long enough or putting them in a position to get comboed. I'm getting grabbed even after successful hits. I have basically resorted to grabs at low percents, and against human opponents they usually catch on pretty quick. I know Mario as issues approaching, but there has to be some way to mix it up with something other than grabs. I'm not a huge fan of aerials either because for some reason I never land behind the opponent's shield like I intend to, although that's just a technical flaw on my end. Please drop all the knowledge you know!

 

[Plunder]

If you're going to play Mario you have to be VERY advanced with ground and platform movement, he's fast enough to weave in and out using Wavedashes and Dash Dancing. But his approach is the same as many other better characters like Pikachu, Fox, and Falcon....except they are just flat out more viable versions of his game plan, so you have to play smarter/unpredictable and beat human reaction time to "get in"

#1 MAKE SURE YOU ARE ACTUALLY USING FIREBALLS AND USING THEM WELL
#2 Mario's Up-air is god like; it's what makes him viable, it's the ALPHA and the OMEGA of starting combos on FFers and mids.
#3 Always Nair or Uair when you are getting combo'ed Mario can usually escape most combos with his fast aerials. Up-B is good escape when you know you won't be punished afterwards.

As for general approaches -
- Dash/DD SH Nair through them
- Uair SHFFL them really close to the ground, if it hits it will lead to so many follow ups. If not, hope they are in shield stun or not acting out of it so you can grab or follow up with something. Front part of Uair is very fast, get it close to the ground.
- FH Dair > Uair > L-cancel > Uptilt > anything
- Wall them out with AC Bairs and SHFFL'ed Bairs into pivot grabs and combos

Out of tricky movement you can DD pivot Fsmash
Wavedash Dsmash/Utilt/Ftilt or Jabs
Dash/DD JC Upsmash and CC Dsmash
Up air and Up-B OoS or Out Of Pressure

 

[ChivalRuse]

Plunder pretty much nailed it. You have to rely on good reactions coupled with good move selection. You actually have a lot of decent options in neutral, but not many of them involve bum rushing the opponent with an aerial or grab. Your best bet is to run toward the opponent until you are positioned just outside of their ranges (to be safe). Then observe them. Do they throw a move at you in response to you approach? Do they retreat? Do they jump? Roll?

Observe your opponent and find ways to cut off their movement patterns, intercept with bairs/nairs/f-tilt. Catch them out of position with dash dance grab. Punish them for every little thing you can, but be aware of the knockback on your moves - don't let them combo break you. If you suspect they can get out of a combo, look for them to break out with an aerial. Or if they double jump out, get in a position to take advantage of their being jumpless and above you.

 

[Sodo]

So I have been playing Mario pretty aggressively, but it seems that he's more of a bait-and-punish kind of character just based on what you guys are saying. Is that right?

 

[ChivalRuse]

Yeah he's a very reactive character. If you want to be good at baiting and punishing though, you need a good grasp of the metagame, which you will need experience for. Studying videos is useful for this (you can also just play a lot with people who can test your limits).