| Weight: 98 | Tier Ranking: 80th | Popularity: 72nd |
Dr. Mario was revealed for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate along with most of the roster on June 12, 2018 during the "Everyone Is Here" trailer. "The Prescriber" has been labeled as Fighter #18.
First appearing as an unlockable character, Dr. Mario made his Super Smash Bros. debut appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee, released on November 21, 2001 in Japan and December 3, 2001 in North America. In terms of video game debut, Dr. Mario made his first appearance in the aptly named game "Dr. Mario," which was released on July 27, 1990 in Japan and October 1, 1990 in North America.
As expected, Dr. Mario wears a traditional doctor's outfit. Dr. Mario has notably traded in his iconic red cap for a brown head mirror headband. A stethoscope has been wrapped around Dr. Mario's neck. Alternate costumes for Dr. Mario come in red, light blue, teal, black, yellow, purple, and pink variations.
Though very similar to Mario, Dr. Mario is actually not classified as an Echo Fighter. Passively, Dr. Mario is designed to deal 1.176× more damage compared to Mario, but has a full hop that is 0.85× lower, and walking and dashing speeds that are 0.7942× slower. Additionally, Dr. Mario's air speed, air acceleration, short hop height, and double jump height are 0.7648× lower.
Dr. Mario's standout attacks compared to Mario's include his down aerial, down special, neutral special, and back throw. Similar to Mario, Dr. Mario's down throw is used for combos, but with different knockback.
Overall, Dr. Mario has increased attack power and kill power over Mario with his attacks, while retaining similar frame data. This comes at the price of worse attributes, which greatly affect his approach and recovery options. Notably, Dr. Mario's recovery options are among the worst and most exploitable in the game.
Though he's perceived as a "worse version of Mario," this still gives him a good moveset overall. Additionally, the moves that were changed for Dr. Mario also have great utility. However, due to his overall slower and heavier attributes, Dr. Mario is generally regarded by most as a low tier character.
Dr. Mario, unlike what the public thinks of him, plays very differently from Mario. A combination of his different launch trajectory, hitbox placement, speed, recovery, and power make him play a very different game than his normal self, being more of a bait-and-punish playstyle as opposed to Mario's being more based on combos and fundamentals.
Rating