100 Tips for Mario in Smash Ultimate

Mario is a fantastic choice to play in competitive Super Smash Bros Ultimate. He’s fast, agile, has an explosive combo game, and tools for just about any situation. Whether you’re a grizzled Mario main for life or are just getting started here are 100 tips for how to play Mario in Super Smash Bros Ultimate.

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1. If you launch someone and they miss the tech you can jab them to keep them in place. You can then punish the jab lock with a Smash attack.
2. If you land on someone’s shield with an aerial, you can sometimes use Jab to quickly stuff out anything your opponent tries to do.
3. Jab is frame 2 which is very fast and makes it viable to run up and jab check people as a quick punish.
4. Using only the first hit of Jab and then timing a grab you can catch a lot of people off-guard who are expecting the other hits.
5. You can angle Forward-tilt to catch opponents who are trying to grab ledge, or anti-air.
6. Forward-Tilt spaced at max range is very difficult to punish for most characters.
7. Forward-Tilt is harder to catch 2-frames with compared to Dash-Attack but it’s a lot less likely to be punished if you miss the attack.
8. By dashing forward, flicking back, and then using the C-Stick to Forward-Tilt you’ll do a pivot F-Tilt that makes you slide on the ground which can give Mario surprise burst range.
9. Up-Tilt has pretty low knockback which means you can use platforms to extend your vertical combos.
10. Up-Tilt can be used to poke underneath a platform and start a combo.
11. Run away pivot Up-Tilt or Down-Tilt is great at catching overly aggressive opponents.
12. Up-Throw into Up-Air underneath a platform combos nicely into Up-Tilt.
13. On bigger characters Down-Throw can combo into Up-Tilt. Shades of Smash 4.
14. Down-Tilt can pop up people who are holding ledge leading to deadly combos.
15. Use a Down-Tilt when your opponent grabs ledge to bait your opponent into doing something else.
16. Down-Tilt can combo into a Reverse Aerial Rush Back-Air.
17. Down-Tilt has more range than Down-Smash.
18. Dash-Attack is active for a long time making it great at catching the 2-frames of vulnerability everyone has when grabbing the ledge.
19. Dash-Attack is one of Mario’s best options for punishing Spot Dodge because of how long the move stays out.
20. Forward-Smash is very strong but only when spaced correctly. Aim to hit them with the center of the Fireball.
21. Forward-Smash is Mario’s best move at breaking shields. It’s rare but if you notice their shield is the size of a skittle you can go for it.
22. Mario pulls back quite a bit for Forward-Smash. You can even use this to dodge attacks.
23. Up-Smash starts behind Mario and his head is invincible. Make sure you turn it around first with a pivot input. This is easier with C-Stick set to Smash attacks, but is still possible with other control schemes.
24. Because Mario’s head is invincible when he Up-Smashes you can use it to anti-air someone landing on you.
25. Up-Smash may not be Mario’s fastest attack out of shield becoming active at 9 frames, but it’s his best move for killing people for unsafe attacks.
26. You can use Down-Smash to cover platform tech chases.
27. Mario’s back part of Down-Smash is stronger than his front so you can mixup your tech chases by pivoting first.
28. First hit of Down-Smash comes out at frame 5, making it faster than a lot of characters normal attacks.
29. Nair is Mario’s fastest aerial. Use it out of shield and drift away from your opponent to create some space.
30. Nair comes out as fast as your air-dodge which means you can use it to combo break.
31. Nair is a good option for clipping people off-stage because it lasts a long time and even the weak hit can put you in a good position.
32. If you short hop Nair but don’t fast-fall, the move will autocancel when you land giving you no endlag.
33. Nair can combo into grab, Back-Air, or even Smash attacks.
34. Nair is your best tool for crossing your opponent up on shield.
35. The best way to combo into Forward-Air is to hit a landing Up-Air.
36. Forward-Air can combo into an early kill with F-Smash if your opponent messes up their DI.
37. Forward-Air can combo into itself around 70-80%.
38. If you fastfall Forward-Air off-stage you won’t be able to make it back to the stage.
39. Landing Back-Air is one of the safest moves in the game which makes it very good to throw out in neutral. A rising Back-Air can be punished though.
40. Shorthop fastfall Back-Air autocancels which means you have no landing lag. Use this to land with safe aerials or to combo into other moves.
41. When your opponent starts air-dodging to avoid the Back-Airs you can hard punish with a drift-in Forward-Air.
42. You can throw out two Back-Airs or Up-Airs in one short hop which is hard for a lot of characters to deal with.
43. Reverse Aerial Rush is amazing on Mario. Do this by dashing forward, pivot by flicking the stick back for a split-second, jump and you should be facing the opposite direction but still drifting forwards.
44. Weak Back-Air can actually jab lock people. Keep this in mind when you tech chase someone.
45. Up-Air is your bread and butter. Pay attention to how people DI each hit and learn when to fast-fall to extend your combos.
46. Up-Air doesn’t have a sourspot which makes the angle you launch your opponent at very consistent.
47. Learn how to hit a landing Up-Air as it can lead to your best combos.
48. Rising Up-Air can be a difficult move to hit on grounded opponents unless they’re big, but it’s fast and can lead to huge reversals out of shield when used correctly.
49. You can kill opponents off the top by comboing Up-Air into either Up-B or Down-Air.
50. Down-Air is awesome for killing people off the top, especially if you confuse your opponent by keeping it ambiguous which side of Dair they’ll be launched away from.
51. Footstool Down-Air can combo certain characters and can even lead to a kill.
52. Landing with Down-Air before the final hit comes out can lead into a grab or Smash attack.
53. Fireball is an amazing projectile to run behind. It forces your opponent to either jump or shield which you can counter with an aerial or grab.
54. A bouncing Fireball changes its angle, letting you mix up your opponent’s timing and approach options.
55. B-reverse fireball gives you awesome movement mix-ups. First press the B-button to start the Fireball animation and then flick the stick to reverse it.
56. The angle Fireball goes at is great at forcing people to jump which you can cover with a Forward-Air.
57. Fireball can combo into grabs or attacks if it hits someone. Be ready to react if you see it connect!
58. Ledge trumping is a strong option but can be kind of difficult to input. However, Cape makes it effortless.
59. You can use Cape to turn you around off-stage making it easier to wall them out with Back-Air.
60. Double jump into Cape grabs the ledge easier than simply jumping towards the stage.
61. Use Cape to stall your recovery and mix-up your landings. It can also flip-around any would be edgeguarders.
62. Cape used at the right time can completely shut-down some characters recoveries.
63. Cape doesn’t launch opponents which means if you get a shield-break you can add up even more percent!
64. Cape can combo into Down-Tilt or Down-Smash depending on the ledge-hang of the character you are fighting.
65. Mario does best when he’s brawling with you, but having a reflector and Fireball make it possible for you to slow the gameplan down when you need to.
66. Mario’s Up-B is tied for the fastest out of shield option in the game. It’s even invincible from frames 3-6! Aim for a platform to make it even safer.
67. You can Up-B past the ledge by holding down after you start the animation. This can poke people who are waiting there for you.
68. Up-B out of shield is very fast, but if your opponent is at low percent you’ll actually get punished even if you hit them.
69. It’s not a bad idea to recover high as Mario. His aerial drift can help him mix-up going on stage or back to ledge.
70. Up-B is really good at stage spiking people because it is a multi-hit which can make it difficult to know when to tech.
71. F.L.U.D.D. is a windbox which means if you use it on someone in freefall there’s nothing they can do.
72. F.L.U.D.D. can help you make it back to the stage if you turn around first.
73. F.L.U.D.D. is great at messing up opponent’s recoveries and forces them to burn more resources to get back to the stage, making it even easier to edgeguard them.
74. You can cancel charging F.L.U.D.D. by shielding, air-dodging, or jumping.
75. F.L.U.D.D. can give you center stage for free if you catch your opponent jumping in.
76. F.L.U.D.D. can push away items including bombs, Gyro, and even Pac-Man fruits.
77. Pivot grab has more range than regular grab making it great at punishing people who are being too aggressive.
78. Condition your opponent into shielding by landing with aerials, and then punish them by empty landing and grabbing them. This is called a Tomahawk-Grab.
79. Up-Throw, rising Down-Air, into Up-Air is a great combo starter at 0%.
80. You can also do Up-Throw, rising Down-Air and then wait for an air dodge which you can hard punish with Forward-Air.
81. Forward-Throw can set up for tech chases around mid-percent.
82. Forward-Throw at the ledge puts them at a rough angle that you can edgeguard. Combo with F.L.U.D.D. to really send them out there.
83. Forward-Throw can combo into Dash Attack at lower percents.
84. Down-Throw can combo into Up-Air if you catch them DI’ing in and can lead to your best combos.
85. Down-Throw at the right positioning and percent can lead to a platform tech chase.
86. Around 90% you can start looking for Down-Throw or Down-Tilt into Back-Air if they DI in.
87. You can start looking for a Back-Throw kill around 140% for most characters.
88. Even if Back-Throw doesn’t kill it’s still great at sending opponent’s off-stage to set up for the edgeguard.
89. Mario has incredible aerial movement stats. Use it to weave in and out of your opponents threat space and bait them into swinging.
90. Mario has a wall-jump. On certain stages this can make his recovery much better.
91. You can let go of ledge, wall-jump, B-Reverse Fireball as a mix-up to get back on the stage.
92. Mario has a great recovery as long as you have your double jump. Save it until you absolutely need to use it.
93. Be mindful of when your combos end. If you overextend it can be easy for your opponent to reversal you.
94. You can set one of your shoulder buttons to jump to make Mario’s aerial combos easier.
95. Mario has a pretty long jump duration, which gives you plenty of opportunities to mix-up your timings with fastfalls and Tomahawks.
96. Mario’s best defense is found through good movement. Mario is agile enough that you can make it really hard to hit him.
97. If you’re struggling with big disjointed hitboxes such as swords, try to stuff out their jumps before they do anything, or catch them while they’re landing and vulnerable.
98. Mario’s best stage is Battlefield because of all the combo extensions you can get from landing on platforms.
99. Mario’s worst stages are Final Destination and Kalos. If he can’t kill you off the top with a platform extension, or early off the side with Forward-Air, he can actually struggle to find kills.
100. Instant double jump is a way to combo when you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Jump and then immediately double jump to get more height than a Full Hop.