Mario’s amiibo figure was first released on November 21, 2014, and is compatible with both Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Mario is considered high-tier in Super Smash Bros. 4 and mid-tier in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Exion has several resources regarding Mario’s amiibo. Its Super Smash Bros. 4 training guide can be accessed here, its Super Smash Bros. Ultimate competitive guide here, and its Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Raid Boss guide here.
Super Smash Bros. 4
In Exion’s final revision of the Super Smash Bros. 4 tier list, Mario was ranked in the A tier. In a sense, Mario is kind of like the jack of all trades and master of none. His arsenal isn’t as immediately threatening as his fellow high-tiers; in fact, the reason Mario is high-tier in this game is because he performs better when purposefully trained poorly. That’s right — the strongest Mario FPs in Smash 4 are trained to utilize a corruptive playstyle. Essentially, this entails teaching Mario to spam aerials and special moves. There is no Learn button in this game, so Figure Players are always learning from their opponent no matter what. In the first match of a tournament set, the Mario amiibo will rely on its aerials and special moves and most likely lose. In the second and third games, however, Mario’s opponent will pick up on his poor training and most likely lose. This means the poorly-trained Mario amiibo would then win the set via “corruption”. As you can imagine, top trainers found this rather cheap. After all, this meant a trainer of any skill could enter a Mario and potentially win a match!
However, Mario does suffer from a few flaws that could cut his corruption run short. After he has successfully corrupted his opponent, said FP will generally start spamming its aerials, which Mario will then be able to counter with perfect shields and attacks of its own. That being said, Mario needs to be able to actually hit the enemy to be able to win a match. Some of his attacks just don’t reach that far, and this means they’ll occasionally whiff and leave him vulnerable instead. Mario also suffers from an ironically poor recovery. For a character all about jumping, his up special grants below-average horizontal and vertical distance, so if he’s launched too far off-stage, he might not be able to make it back.
Mario achieved above-average tournament results and representation. Corruptive Mario FPs rarely won tournaments; most often, they’d cause upsets by eliminating well-trained opponents but then fail to make it to grand finals anyway. There were also some trainers who attempted to raise Mario legitimately; however, these somehow performed worse in tournaments. Additionally, Mario’s AI is hard-coded to ruthlessly spam its down smash and side special, and conditioning it to stay away from these moves is extremely difficult. Since the AI is going to spam anyway, most trainers just went the corruption route. If you would like to learn how to train a (legitimate, non-corruption) Mario amiibo in Super Smash Bros. 4, please refer to our training guide.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Mario’s tier list position is much lower in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate than it was in the previous title. This is for several reasons; for one, corruptive playstyles are no longer possible. FPs can now have their learning switched off, which makes their AI completely immune to being “corrupted” by an opponent’s poor training. This means Mario must now be trained seriously, and unfortunately, his AI retains most of its spamming issues from 4 (albeit with different moves). It can still overuse its down smash and side special if left unchecked, but the attack most trainers have trouble with is down air. Past Level 43, Mario’s AI is hard-coded to occasionally use an up throw to down air combo at low percentages. Each time this combo connects, Mario becomes more likely to use individual down airs in the future. Furthermore, Mario has a high base usage rate of down air, which makes it difficult to fully remove from his most-used attacks. His recovery hasn’t gotten any better; in fact, Ultimate’s AI is now capable of gimping it, which makes it even more vulnerable. Mario sometimes finds himself KO’d at medium percentages from botched recoveries, which hinders his competitive viability.
Fortunately, Mario does retain a few unique strengths. His AI is now equipped with several combo routes; it can learn to use down tilt, down throw, or up throw to start an up air chain that leads into an up special. Down throw can combo into a forward tilt, and Mario’s AI can use hard-coded follow-ups after hitting an opponent with a Fireball. His combo game is above-average, and this allows him to rack up damage rather quickly. Forward smash is his strongest kill move, and it does a decent job especially when sweetspotted at the tip of the flame. Up smash works too, but its power is slightly weaker and it is mainly used to cover opponents’ botched landings.
Overall, Mario’s tournament results and representation have been about average in this game. Blank, CSharp, and fammydamammy have all won tours with the character, and are among the only trainers to have done so. Most trainers prefer raising Dr. Mario instead, who is considered much better. This is because his attacks are stronger and his down air is different, which means the AI does not spam it (unless taught to). If you would like to learn how to train your own Mario amiibo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, please refer to our competitive training guide. If you’d prefer to raise a Mario amiibo specifically to take on human opponents, you can access our Raid Boss guide right here.
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