Dr. Mario (Super Smash Bros. Melee)

This article is about Dr. Mario's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. For the character in other contexts, see Dr. Mario; for information on the character of whom Dr. Mario is a clone, see Mario.

Dr. Mario
Universe	Mario
Also appears in	SSBWU/3DS Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	D (11)
Character Statistics
Number of Jumps	2
Can Wall Jump	No
Voice Actor
Voiced by	Charles Martinet

Dr. Mario (Dr. マリオ, Dr. Mario) is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and is a clone of Mario, meaning almost all of their moves are exactly alike, though Dr. Mario and Mario do have some differences in their attack physics.

Dr. Mario currently ranks 11th on Melee's tier list for his great combos and overall uniqueness as a fighter, and is, of course, a "clone" of Mario.

How to unlock

• Clear either Classic Mode or Adventure Mode as Mario without using any continues.
• Play 100 Vs. Mode matches.

Attributes

Dr. Mario is very similar to his original, but there are differences between them. Overall, Dr. Mario is slightly stronger than his counterpart. Dr. Mario's projectile, Megavitamins, can help control approaches, but it moves rather slowly when compared to other projectiles. Dr. Mario is a good edgeguarder due to his Back Aerial, Super Sheet, and the aforementioned Megavitamins. He also has a good aerial game, wavedash, and SHFFL.

He can chain grab some characters and Down Throw to Forward Aerial as a staple KO. Dr. Mario's biggest weakness is his very short recovery. His Super Jump Punch is a predictable recovery move that can be caped and edgeguarded fairly easily, although having a misleadingly large sweetspot range helps this problem. Dr. Mario's Back Throw is ideal for gimp kills when accompanied by edgehogging, since it has powerful knockback.

Differences with Mario

• The Super Sheet is longer than the cape and has more lag, making it not as useful as Mario's Cape for recovery.
• His pills do more damage than Mario's Fireballs.
• His Down Tilt sends opponents behind him.
• His F-air is not a Meteor Smash like Mario's. It is, however, a strong fist move, similar to Ganondorf`s, except slightly stronger.
• It is harder to break out of his Down B attack.
• He is slightly stronger in terms of damage and knockback.
• His Down B attack sends opponents in a random direction, while Mario's sends upwards.
• Dr. Mario's Forward Smash is stronger if the opponent is closer, which is the opposite of Mario. It also has less range than Mario's.
• Slightly faster air speed.
• Forward smash deals electric Damage rather than flame.
• Mario can wall jump. Dr. Mario cannot.

Recovery Improvement

• Super Sheet - Gives a slight lift. This can be used once in the air to gain altitude, unlike Mario's-- which may be used more than once (Probably because his lift isn't as large as Mario's).
• Dr. Tornado - If one mashes B rapidly while Dr. Mario is spinning, he'll get a slight lift. Hold the Control Stick towards the stage afterwards so the slight altitude gained is not wasted. This can also be used only once in the air to rise.

Moveset

		Image	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack				4%	Dr. Mario punches twice then kicks the opponent away.
				3%
				6%
Forward tilt	↗			9%	Dr. Mario performs a horizontal kick forward with his right leg. This attack can be angled up or down.
	→			8%
	↘			7%
Up tilt				10% (clean), 8% (late)	Performs a jumping spinning uppercut. Deals slightly more knockback than Mario's with a different trajectory based on where it hits. If the attack connects from the front, the opponent will be launched diagonally forward; and if hit from above, the opponent will be launched upwards.
Down tilt				9%	Kneels down and sweeps his leg low to the ground. Sends foes behind him, unlike Mario's.
Dash attack				9% (clean), 8% (late)	Dr. Mario slides on the ground, feet-first, to launch opponents vertically.
Forward smash	↗			20%	Launches a somewhat short-ranged electrical shock from his palm. In comparison with Mario's, it has no sourspot and is quite stronger in both power and knockback. This attack can be aimed up or down.
	→			19%
	↘			18%
Up smash				16% (clean), 13% (late)	Headbutts upwards. Unusually, the hitboxes has spike properties, though it only work on grounded opponents. Just like Mario, Dr. Mario's head is invincible during the attack.
Down smash				18%/17% (front), 15%/13% (back)	Does a break-dancing sweep kick. Deals more damage if the opponents hits Dr. Mario's feet. Considered to be his best KO move.
Neutral aerial				10% (clean), 14% (late)	Mario sticks one foot out in midair. It is a sex kick, but unlike most sex kicks, its power increases the longer its out.
Forward aerial				17% (sweetspot), 16% (sourspot)	Winds up and delivers a punch in a downward angle. Unlike Mario's, it does not have a meteor smash hitbox; instead, it has high vertical knockback being a decent finishing move when used off-stage.
Back aerial				8% (clean), 7% (late)	Performs a reverse dropkick in midair that is a good edge-guarding tool.
Up aerial				10%	Performs a flip kick in midair. A good move for juggling fast-fallers.
Down aerial				3% (hits 1-7)	Performs a downwards drill kick. The attack has set knockback and does not contain a landing hitbox, unlike Mario's. All hits can deal up to ≈19.38% when used fresh.
Grab				—
Pummel				3%	Headbutts opponent. Relatively slow.
Forward throw				9%	Dr. Mario spins the opponent once, and tosses them forward with decent knockback. A good move for an edge-guarding follow-up attack.
Back throw				12% (throw), 8% (collateral)	Dr. Mario swings the opponent around three times before tossing them behind him. Second strongest back throw in the game, only behind Ness's back throw.
Up throw				8%	Heaves the opponent upwards. Can lead into a combo against fast-fallers.
Down throw				6%	Slams the opponent onto the ground, causing them to bounce upwards.
Floor attack (front)				6%	Gets up and punches behind him, then in front.
Floor attack (back)				6%	Attacks with a sweepkick that hits on both sides.
Edge attack (fast)				6% (body), 8% (legs)	Quickly climbs onto the stage and performs a dropkick attack aimed upwards.
Edge attack (slow)				10%	Slowly climbs up and performs a decent-ranged kick attack at the opponent's feet.
Neutral special			Megavitamins	8%	Dr. Mario shoots a vitamin capsule which acts as a projectile. Compared to Mario's Fireballs, the capsules bounce higher and deals more damage when it hits a foe.
Side special			Super Sheet	10%/12%	Dr. Mario swings a white sheet forward that turns enemies around and reflects incoming projectiles.
Up special			Super Jump Punch	5% (hit 1), 2% (hits 2-4), 3% (hit 5)	Dr. Mario performs a leaping uppercut diagonally upward. Compared to Mario's version, Dr. Mario's uppercut deals less damage and has fewer hits. Also, the sound effect is different than the usual sound made when Mario grabs a coin. Just like Mario's, this move has invincibility frames upon startup.
Down special			Dr. Tornado	3% (hit 1), 2% (hits 2-3), 3% (hit 4 ground), 1% (hit 4 air), 4% (hit 5)	Dr. Mario spins like a tornado with both arms outstretched. Functions similarly to Mario's, but is a little stronger and deals less hits. Dr. Mario can hover in the air using this move by repeatedly pressing the B button while using it, but it only works once without landing.

Other animations

Taunt

• Pulls out a randomly-colored Megavitamin, rolls it down his arm, uses his shoulder to toss it into the air, then catches it.

Idle pose

• Exercises his neck by moving his head in circles.

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Techniques

General gameplay

• Pill Rush: Bombard the enemy with a wall of Pills exerted after a short jumped into a fast fall and at ground point. Repeat this three Pill fire sequence while approaching the opponent to render them almost stunned. This technique does not work as well for Mario, due to the Pills added weight and higher bounce.
• Wall-of-Pain: Use of backward aerials to effectively keep the opponent off the edge. Doctor Mario can use multiple back aerials off the edge, making him an excellent edge guarder.
• Up-B Cancel: Dr. Mario is the only character able to cancel his Up B attack. Within the first four frames, activate the move so the player make Dr. Mario move in the backward direction of where he's facing and quickly move the control stick to the opposite direction. The opponent will be sent up at a trajectory based solely on their weight and Doctor Mario will be able to move. Another way the player can do it is to use Super Jump Punch so Doc would jump backwards and then press the control stick downward during the first few frames of the animation. This can be used to shield cancel and punish the opponent for approaching or for trying to break the player's shield.
• Taunt Cancel: To taunt cancel, the player has to run towards an edge and right before they reach the edge and do the edge animation, taunt and Dr. Mario will just about to throw his pill but he will have it canceled and he would do the edge animation so Dr. Mario can still move after he taunted. This doesn't really help, but the player can use it to show skill.

Throw Combos

Down Throw

• Down Throw + Dr. Tornado - A reliable and basic combo. The Dr. Tornado will send the foe at a random trajectory, making it hard for the foe to counter it.
• Down Throw + Up Tilt + Up Tilt - A basic Up Tilt and Up Tilt, where the first usually doesn't launch the foe in a random trajectory due to close range, but the second one does.
• Down Throw + Up Smash - Reliable against fast fallers between low to mid-high percents, good for leading into aerial follow ups.
• Down Throw + Super Jump Punch - A near-useless combo, but doable nonetheless, where Dr. Mario can use his Up B after his Down Throw, though usually only hits once or twice, and sends him and the foe in opposite directions.
• Down Throw + Neutral Combo - A situational combo where Dr. Mario can just barely connect his Neutral Attacks with a fallen foe.
• Down Throw + Super Sheet - Another situational combo where Dr. Mario can assume the foe will try to dodge roll away from him when they try to fastfall and land, only to have them rolling the other way into a combo.
• Down Throw + Down Smash - This combo usually works at low percents. The foe is almost always hit before they can escape due to the Down Smash's speed.

Up Throw

• Up Throw + Up Tilt - A basic combo, where the foe is sent at a random trajectory due to his Up Tilt physics.
• Up Throw + Up B - If the foe DIs slightly just right immediately after, his Up B can be used for good damage.
• Up Throw + Down B - A DI-able combo, similar to one of his Down Throw combos.
• Up Throw + Up Smash - A basic combo, good for setups and low to mid-low %s
• Up Throw + any aerial - A multi-purpose setup for aerials.

Target Test by DRIN

Many techniques will need to be abused for this, so practice is recommended.

First, as soon as movement is allowed, run to the right. Start moving before the timer begins running. Cape the target below the start, and double jump back to the start platform. Dash right, then use the cape to hit the target inside the open box. The cape's momentum should land Dr. Mario inside, but use the 2nd jump if needed. Double jump back to the start.

Next, jump on to the 2nd platform above. It should be close to the targets on the left side of the metal wall. Dash Jump, cape BOTH TARGETS AT ONCE, and double jump back to the platforms to the left. A F-Air also works for this.

Move to the topmost left platform. Dash Jump, and cape the top left target. On the way down, Cape to hit the other targets. Land on the moving platform. 2 should remain. Move to the rightmost top platform. Dash Jump, use the second jump and at the tip, Up-B. The target should barely be hit. Use DI to drop on to the moving platform below. Suicide drop and hit the last target.

Trophy descriptions

In addition to the normal trophy about Dr. Mario as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing the Adventure and All-Star modes respectively with Dr. Mario on any difficulty.

Dr. Mario

Immaculate in his medical garb, Dr. Mario destroys killer viruses with his amazing vitamin capsules. With his dedicated nurse, Princess Peach, at his side, Dr. Mario spends day and night in his laboratory working on new miracle cures. Somehow he's managed to keep up with all the new viruses that have arisen over the years.

• Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario (Smash Red)

There's hardly any difference in the abilities of Mario and Dr. Mario, so choosing is largely a matter of taste. Dr. Mario is a tad slower due to his lack of exercise, but his Megavitamins pack a bit more punch than Mario's Fireballs. The capsules travel on a unique trajectory and make a distinct sound on impact.

• B: Megavitamins
• Smash B: Super Sheet

Dr. Mario (Smash Blue)

The differences between Dr. Mario and Mario are more pronounced in some areas than others, but basically they can be played in a similar fashion. While it may be hard to spot the contrasts, they do exist. For example, Dr. Mario's Super Sheet is longer and narrower than Mario's cape, and any opponents hit by Dr. Tornado will fly off in diverse directions.

• Up & B: Super Jump Punch
• Down & B: Dr. Tornado

Character Trophy

Smash Red

Smash Blue

Alternate Costumes

Dr. Mario's alternate costumes in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Trivia

• Dr. Mario is the only character in the series to have a sex kick that gets stronger the longer it's out.
• Dr. Mario and Young Link are currently the only clones in Melee who are ranked higher than their original counterparts. They are also the only two characters in the game that can taunt cancel.
• Dr. Mario is actually not slower than Mario in any terms of mobility, making the trophy's description in Melee misleading.