SSBM/Dr. Mario/Introduction

Introduction

Dr. Mario (or Doc) is a clone character of Mario. Outside of SSBM, Dr. Mario originates from the Dr. Mario series of puzzle video games made by Nintendo, beginning with "Dr. Mario" that first appeared on the NES. He ranks 9th on Melee’s tier list, higher than the original character of Mario. His tier placement is for his great combos and overall uniqueness as a fighter, such as an unusual sex kick. His approach options are also very good, with a long wavedash and a good air game, as well as a very good SHFFL. Dr. Mario also has a good projectile, which itself can be used to aid his approach. However, Dr. Mario's primary weakness is his abysmal recovery, which is one of the worst in the game, due to its predictability and few methods of increasing its distance.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Edgeguarding - Doc's edgeguarding is very strong with tools such as his cape which can reverse the direction of characters, and his bAir which sends opponents at a very shallow angle. Fast moves - While Doc may not be the fastest in terms of movement, his frame data is very good. With pokes such as fTilt coming out very quickly allowing him to interrupt his opponent or stuff approaches. Punish game & kill power - Doc is a character who can get huge milage off a grab or sometimes even a stray hit in neutral, leading to huge punishes. Furthermore, Doc has kill confirms on almost every member of the cast. High midweight & semi floaty - Doc's combination of weight and fall speed means that he can get out of a lot of combos that other characters wouldn't be able to avoid. His weight also means he can survive hits much longer than other characters. Defense - Doc has a lot of tools to hold his ground and keep opponents out. He can use pill to control space, or full hop dAir/upTilt to cover approaches, and his crouch cancel is very strong.

Range - Doc is a very stubby character, which means he has trouble contesting large, lingering hitboxes and can get his approaches stuffed out if the player isn't careful. Recovery - Doc's recovery is very slow and doesn't take him very far. While he does have some mixups with tornado and cape, the landing lag on his up special means he can be a punished very easily for landing on stage. Juggling - While Doc's floatiness helps him when he's being combo'd, it also means that he's going to have a very hard time coming back down to the stage if he is above the opponent. Marthritis - While Doc's kill confirms and kill power are very strong, his lack of fast kill options in the air mean that if you don't take your opponents stock from an edgeguard or confirm, it's not uncommon for them to stay alive until above 150%. Approaching - Doc doesn't have any 'real' approaching options. While an overshoot fAir/nAir might work every once in a while, you'll be punished for it a lot more than you'll be rewarded.

Grounded Attacks

Jabs and tilts

Left Jab (Jab 1)
A

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
2	2-3	12	-	-	-
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
4%	30	N/A	83	Normal	-10
One of Docs most useful neutral mixup tools, it can set up for things like downsmash and grab for example, but theres many more things its capable of, and can even be used in combos.

Right Cross (Jab 2)
A (After Jab 1)

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
3	3-4	14	-	-	-
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
3%	30	N/A	83	Normal	-12
Not often utilized and for good reason, its basically just jab 1 but you have to do jab 1 to set it up, which means that it can be used as an additional mixup out of Jab 1, but not much else.

Toe Kick (Jab 3)
A (after Jab 2)

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
5	5-9	14	-	-	-
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
6%	18	100	361	Normal	-13/12
The same as jab 2 except has some knockback to it so it can be a get off me tool at times and it can work on shield some what well, also has one of the lowest reaches of any of his moves at ledge.

Slide
A (while running)

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
6	6-25 (Strong 6-9)	18	38	-	-
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
Clean: 9% / Late: 8%	Clean: 70 / Late: 60	Clean: 30 / Late: 50	Clean: 80 / Late: 85	Normal	-6 to -25
Situational combo tool Decent burst option. Sends opponents straight up and, if done late enough in the animation, can set up for jab, grab, ftilt, uptilt, dsmash, or dtilt though these are heavily character and di dependant. Can cause doc to “low profile” certain moves. Can also cause a tech trap in certain scenarios.

Dr. Kick (fTilt)
Forward+A

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
4	4-8	21	-	-	-
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
8% / UAFT: 9% / DAFT: 7%	10	100	361	Normal	-18 to -20
Docs best poke tool, if its spaced well it cant be punished on whiff by some characters and cant be punished on shield. Its also useful for edgeguarding on stage as well, as it can sometimes set up for a techchase situation at higher %.

Uppercut (uTilt)
Up+A

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
4	4-13 (Strong 4)	17	30	-	-
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
Clean: 10% / Late: 8%	Clean: 20/ Late: 30	Clean: 95/ Late: 122	Clean: 361 / Late: 100	Normal	-11 to -19
A pretty good combo tool, and docs best anti air. Hitbox on frame 4 sends opponent away and doesn’t do much else. However Hitbox on frame 5 and onwards pops opponents up for an easy follow up. Its hitbox lingers and it doesnt have much lag either, best used with dthrow, uthrow, landing uair, and dash attack.

Reflex Test (dTilt)
Down+A

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
5	5-8	27	-	-	-
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
9%	20	82	150	Normal	-23
Very situational, sends your opponent behind you at a semi spike angle. Can be used to set up edgeguards at around mid-high%, however can be amsah teched. Can combo'd into, but not out of.

Smash attacks

Defibrilator (fSmash)
Smash Forward+A/Cstick Forward

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
12	12-16	25	-	-	-
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
19% / uafs: 20% / dafs: 18%	30	97	361	Electric	-19
Docs Best kill move but poor range. Extremely good reward off of techchases and reads and can also be used as a finisher, its most useful against characters with predictable or linear recoveries.

Ear, Nose, and Throat (uSmash)
Smash Up+A/Cstick Up

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
9	9-11 (head invincible 9-11)	28	-	-	-
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
Clean: 16% / Late: 13%	35	95	Grounded: 259 / In the air: 83	Normal	-21
Doc's smash attack with the most combo potential due to its spike on grounded opponents, allowing for kill confirms and even as a combo extender in certain scenarios. Great for techcases or out of a chaingrab, as well as with floatier characters.

Surgical Sweep (dSmash)
Smash Down+A/Cstick Down

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
5/14	5-6/14-15	22	-	-	-
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
Front Hit Clean: 18% / Front Hit Late: 17% / Back Hit Clean: 15% / Back Hit Late: 13%	Front Hit: 45 / Back Hit: 40	75	361	Normal	-22/15
Easily Doc's best smash attack, amazing kill move and counter move. Can set up for techchases and can be used in techchases. Has a back hit that can cover rolls can be hard to punish on shield if spaced well it really does just about everything a move can do.

Other attacks

• Ledge attack - Does a somersault and then kicks upwards. 8% damage.
• 100% ledge attack - Gets up then does an attack similar to his forward tilt. 10% damage
• Floor attack -Gets up then punches behind him, then in front of him. 6%.

Aerial attacks

Disclaimer: The shield advantage listed is the best possible advantage for each move, hitting earlier before hitting the ground will give worse advantage.

Dr. Kick (nAir)
A (in the air)

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
3	3-32 (Strong 20-32)	14	-	9	<2-36>
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
Early: 10% / Late: 14%	20	100	Early: 50 / Late: 361	Normal	Early: -3 / Late: -1 / Autocancel: 0
Did you know Doc's nAir gets stronger the longer it's out? The only reverse sex kick of the cast. Great burst option or use as a "get off me" tool in disadvantage. Can lead into combos on early hit and can kill or set up for edgeguards with the late hit.

Dr. Punch (fAir)
Forward+A / Csitck Forward (in the air)

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
18	18-22	52	60	12	<2-44>
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
Strong: 17% / Weak: 16%	Strong: 50 / Weak: 40	100	60	Normal	-10
One of Doc's most important kill moves. A great finisher for combos, or to punish a laggy option. Slow start-up but great reward. Used in Doc's most important kill confirm Up/DownThrow > Fair.

Drop Kick M.D. (bAir)
Back+A / Cstick Back (in the air)

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
6	6-18 (Strong 6-16)	12	-	9	<5-19>
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
Early: 8% / Late: 7%	Early: 43 / Late: 20	Early: 65 / Late: 100	Early: 28 / Late: 361	Normal	-4 / Autocancel: -1
An incredible edeguarding and gimping tool. Not very much combo potential, however it does have its links. Great for walling out other opponents or as a retreating approach option. Its low endlag means that Doc can act out of short hope if he bAirs early enough.

Bicycle Kick (uAir)
Up+A / Cstick Up (in the air)

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
4	4-9 (Strong 20-32)	24	30	9	<1-16>
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
10%	0	100	55	Normal	-3
An amazing combo tool. Can extend strings or confirm into kill moves like fAir or fSmash. Allows for sharking under plats or catching landings and some approaches.

Bone Drill (dAir)
Down+A /Cstick Down (in the air)

First Active	Active	Recovery	IASA	Landing Lag	Autocancel
10/13/16/19/22/25/28	10-11/13-14/16-17/19-20/22-23/25-26/28-29	9	38	12	<5-34>
Damage	Base Knockback	Knockback Growth	Angle	Effect	On Shield
Hits 1,3,4,6,7: 3% /Hits 2,5: 2%	30	N/A	80	Normal	-9 / Autocancel: -4/-5
Good for reading sh and fh can combo into a landing aerial or a dj aerial, can be good to come down with too. Auto cancels out of a full hop. Can combo on autocancel much more easily.