FaceFaceMcFace
Smash Ace
The short answer is they shouldn’t.
A competitive smasher should pick the character that fits their style best while giving them the best possible chance of winning; simple as that. Mario generally does not give the player their most profitable and exceptional attempt at victory. He has short range, one semi-reliable kill move that is fairly easy to predict/read, his combos are easily broken by decent DI, he is overall easy to edgeguard, and his matchups against the most commonly played characters at tournaments are quite unfavorable.
So knowing all of this, why would a competitive smasher still play Mario? Certainly not just because they like him from his games, sure that may be a plus to them but not a prime reason. Picking a character in a fighting game simply because you like their persona will almost always result in limiting what you could achieve in the game; intelligent players know this.
They also would not pick him just because he is fun. This does not contribute a large amount to winning. Several of the better characters could most likely be found as fun to the player. What is it about our mustachioed friend that is fun to you? Do you enjoy freeform combos and techchasing? Captain Falcon does that quite well. Does his spacing make you feel comfortable? Fox has similar spacing and can more quickly adjust it to his liking. Do you have low inherent tech skill abilities even after training and experimenting for months or more? Sheik can help you there.
The point is that for every feature of Mario another character has a better and more effective version of it, excluding Mario’s mustache and Hooing and Wooing of course.
Do not limit yourself to the famous plumber just because you like his character, you find him fun, and you are used to his play style. Chances are that another character that you have not fully explored yet fits you better. Try to figure out every character that you can and experiment with them.
Okay, now that we have gone through all of this… why still play Mario?
1. No other character fits your play style as well as He does. No matter how much you play and practice the other characters available, none of them fit you nearly as well and do not work as effectively in matchups as Mario. (I mean really practice the other characters, not just give them a short try and give up.)
2. Having fun playing is more important to you than winning as much as possible. You don’t mind facing the endless amount of Foxes, Marths, Falcos and Sheiks. As long as you are Mario, the match stays enjoyable to you.
3. You like mustaches and funny noises.
That is why one should play as Mario over any other character; and is basically why I do. [Note: While this was true at the writing of this essay, I no longer play Mario.]
It is of course, even if all that applies to you, foolish to not have any strong secondaries. Do not take the concept of a main too seriously. For a better and more in-depth analysis on mains and secondaries, KevinM's thread "Tournament Level Bowser" is a good read and can be found here: http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=117755
Yes, this post is negative. I am not trying to keep people from playing as Mario though; I would love to see more Marios in the community. It is just that I would even more so rather see a higher number of smashers reaching their full potential in the game instead of limiting themselves by character choice. To those that still choose to play as Mr. Nintendo, I wish you the best of luck in your smash endeavors. May the ‘stache be with you.
A competitive smasher should pick the character that fits their style best while giving them the best possible chance of winning; simple as that. Mario generally does not give the player their most profitable and exceptional attempt at victory. He has short range, one semi-reliable kill move that is fairly easy to predict/read, his combos are easily broken by decent DI, he is overall easy to edgeguard, and his matchups against the most commonly played characters at tournaments are quite unfavorable.
So knowing all of this, why would a competitive smasher still play Mario? Certainly not just because they like him from his games, sure that may be a plus to them but not a prime reason. Picking a character in a fighting game simply because you like their persona will almost always result in limiting what you could achieve in the game; intelligent players know this.
They also would not pick him just because he is fun. This does not contribute a large amount to winning. Several of the better characters could most likely be found as fun to the player. What is it about our mustachioed friend that is fun to you? Do you enjoy freeform combos and techchasing? Captain Falcon does that quite well. Does his spacing make you feel comfortable? Fox has similar spacing and can more quickly adjust it to his liking. Do you have low inherent tech skill abilities even after training and experimenting for months or more? Sheik can help you there.
The point is that for every feature of Mario another character has a better and more effective version of it, excluding Mario’s mustache and Hooing and Wooing of course.
Do not limit yourself to the famous plumber just because you like his character, you find him fun, and you are used to his play style. Chances are that another character that you have not fully explored yet fits you better. Try to figure out every character that you can and experiment with them.
Okay, now that we have gone through all of this… why still play Mario?
1. No other character fits your play style as well as He does. No matter how much you play and practice the other characters available, none of them fit you nearly as well and do not work as effectively in matchups as Mario. (I mean really practice the other characters, not just give them a short try and give up.)
2. Having fun playing is more important to you than winning as much as possible. You don’t mind facing the endless amount of Foxes, Marths, Falcos and Sheiks. As long as you are Mario, the match stays enjoyable to you.
3. You like mustaches and funny noises.
That is why one should play as Mario over any other character; and is basically why I do. [Note: While this was true at the writing of this essay, I no longer play Mario.]
It is of course, even if all that applies to you, foolish to not have any strong secondaries. Do not take the concept of a main too seriously. For a better and more in-depth analysis on mains and secondaries, KevinM's thread "Tournament Level Bowser" is a good read and can be found here: http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=117755
Yes, this post is negative. I am not trying to keep people from playing as Mario though; I would love to see more Marios in the community. It is just that I would even more so rather see a higher number of smashers reaching their full potential in the game instead of limiting themselves by character choice. To those that still choose to play as Mr. Nintendo, I wish you the best of luck in your smash endeavors. May the ‘stache be with you.
I'm never gonna let him go! 
