Hey everyone. This post marks the first in a series aimed to give you a glimpse of what your favorite characters will look like in demo 0.8. Each character will have their own video accompanied by a description penned by a dev or balancer who's done a lot of work on that specific character. These posts will come out every Saturday and Sunday from now until the demo's release, which means every character present in demo 0.7 will get their own post. Without further ado, here's the first character update. Hope you enjoy it!



























It's-a-him, Mario. Nintendo's moustachoed mascot has improved severely in 0.8. His days having problems KO-ing, no combo ability, and terrible range are now over. This time, the Scarlet Plumber comes for revenge and honor.

Mario is meant to be a Mario. A character with no glaring weakness and no glaring strenghts, adaptable to any kind of playstyle. This gets reflected in his moveset: he has lots of options, but you need to be able to combine all of them in order to be successful. Let's take a look at how his moves will look in the upcoming demo.

Mario's jab and tilts now play an important part in his combo game, with the exception of Ftilt, who has become a good spacing/counter-approaching move. Utilt is able to lock into itself at low percentages, and Dtilt can set up another moves with ease, while being also once of the most ranged moves in Mario moveset.



His smashes can accomplish good ko functions, depending of the character: while you may prefer Usmash to knock out light characters, Dsmash and Fsmash can be better options while dealing with heavier opponents. Some of them can even be used to combo at very low percentages.
Also, overall range has been increased. Look at this picture comparing Fsmash ranges.



His aerials were his strongest asset in 0.7; in 0.8, they were revised and fine-tuned to give them more utility. Nair is now a conventional sex kick that comes out extremely quickly, meaning it's a great general purpose and good combo-breaker move. Uair and dair are dangerous combo moves, and, while bair is faster than before and allows edgeguarding, Fair becomes the main aerial KO tool for mario. However, considering it's rather low speed, you'll probably need to combo into it or take your opponent by surprise.



His throws now can perform quite different tasks. Fthrow can send your opponent offstage for a good gimp kill, while Bthrow and Uthrow are now powerful KO options. Dthrow, in the other hand, is now a combo tool, and can even chaingrab the majority of the cast at low percentages.

His Special moves were also revised. Fireballs now are more useful, as they will help Mario to compensate his range issues. Cape is your best friend in edgeguarding and gimping, and it seems that Mario knows how to Cape Glide now.



The Star Spin gives you a good horizontal recovery tool, and Super Jump Punch, while not impressive as a recovery move, is now a really good pressure option, feeling and being very powerful.



Overall, Mario is a character who has an option for every situation. While none of this options is the best by itself, if you know how to use them and combine them, the man in the blue overalls becomes a formidable rival.

Are you a beginner who wants to learn about the game? Are you an expert player and want to prove you can handle any playstyle? Are you just a Mario lover, dissapointed at his usually bad placing in the game? 0.8 Mario is your bet. Put on your red cap and prepare to show your true power!