Mario in Smash Bros.: The entire Mushroom Kingdom clan

AnalysisSuper Smash BrosCrossover

The Mushroom Kingdom alone supplies an entire contingent of fighters. Created by Masahiro Sakurai in 1999, the Super Smash Bros. series has made Mario its headliner since the very first game. This analysis takes stock of the clan standing in the ring, breaks down the moves lifted straight from the Mario games, and reads the Final Smashes — the Mario Finale first among them — as concentrated bursts of lore.

Super Smash Bros. (Mario characters in Super Smash Bros.) isn't just the greatest crossover ever staged by Nintendo: it's also a huge love letter to the Mario universe. The plumber is its headliner, surrounded by a contingent from the Mushroom Kingdom that has never stopped growing since 1999.

Rather than yet another “who would win the fight?”, here is what the brawl really borrows from the Mario games: a packed roster, moves that quote every iconic power-up, and Final Smashes that look like postcards from the lore.

Contents

• Mario, Smash's headliner since 1999
• The Mushroom Kingdom in full force
• Moves lifted straight from the Mario games
• Final Smashes, lore in concentrated form
• When Smash and Mario echo each other
• Quick recap
• FAQ

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Mario, Smash's headliner since 1999

Mario isn't a guest in Super Smash Bros.: he is its face. From the very first game on Nintendo 64 (1999 in Europe), dreamed up by Masahiro Sakurai, the plumber sits dead center on the poster, and he hasn't missed a single one of the five games released since.

That flawless attendance makes him one of the rare fighters with a “perfect record”, alongside Luigi, Yoshi and Donkey Kong, all playable since the very first installment as well. Around that core, a whole slice of the Mushroom Kingdom has joined the melee over the years, to the point of forming, in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018), one of the biggest contingents in the entire roster.

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The Mushroom Kingdom in full force

The Mario clan has filled out game after game, each newcomer bringing along their signature gear:

• Nintendo 64 (1999): Mario and Luigi kick things off.
• Melee (2001): enter Peach, Bowser and Dr. Mario.
• Brawl (2008): Wario and Diddy Kong show up, while Dr. Mario sits this one out.
• Wii U / 3DS (2014): Rosalina & Luma and Bowser Jr. join the list, with the seven Koopalings doubling as alternate costumes for Bowser Jr.
• Ultimate (2018-2019): Daisy arrives as Peach's echo fighter, then the Piranha Plant rounds out the picture as DLC.

A small point of accuracy: Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong and Wario were indeed born in the Mario galaxy, but Smash files them under their own sub-universes (Yoshi, Donkey Kong and WarioWare respectively). So the core stamped “Super Mario” in Ultimate lines up Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Bowser, Bowser Jr., Rosalina & Luma, Dr. Mario and Piranha Plant.

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Moves lifted straight from the Mario games

The real signature of the Mario roster is that nearly every move quotes a game. The plumber's basic kit reads like an anthology:

• Fireball (neutral special): the bouncing projectile comes from the Fire Flower, the flagship power-up since Super Mario Bros. (1985).
• Cape (side special, around since Melee): it flips opponents around and reflects projectiles, echoing the cape from Super Mario World.
• F.L.U.D.D. (down special, since Brawl): the water rig that shoves enemies back is none other than the F.L.U.D.D. from Super Mario Sunshine (2002).
• Super Jump Punch (up special): the uppercut sends coins flying, a nod to the most Mario-like gesture there is.

The same trick runs through the whole clan. Peach floats, brandishes her parasol and yanks up vegetables inherited from Super Mario Bros. 2; Bowser breathes fire and curls into a spinning shell; Rosalina commands her Luma just like in Super Mario Galaxy; and Dr. Mario hurls Megavitamins straight out of his puzzle game. In Ultimate, Luigi even grabs his opponents with the Poltergust from the series Luigi's Mansion.

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Final Smashes, lore in concentrated form

Introduced in Brawl, the Final Smashes (Final Smash in the original) are the ultimate attacks unleashed by the Smash Ball. Among the Mario crew, each one works like a postcard from one specific game:

• Mario Finale: Mario unleashes two spiraling torrents of fire that sweep across the entire stage.
• Peach Blossom: the princess puts the whole screen to sleep and rains down peaches that heal her (Daisy has her own variant, Daisy Blossom).
• Poltergust G-00: Luigi vacuums everyone up with the star vacuum of Luigi's Mansion.
• Giga Bowser Punch: in Ultimate, Bowser briefly turns into Giga Bowser to land one devastating straight punch.
• The Piranha Plant summons Petey Piranha , while Wario suits up as Wario-Man.

What all these moves have in common: they invent almost nothing. They recycle, with real panache, images already burned into the memory of Mario players.

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When Smash and Mario echo each other

The case of the Piranha Plant deserves a pause: it's a rank-and-file enemy of the Mushroom Kingdom, met by the million inside Warp Pipes, promoted to the rank of playable fighter. An extremely rare pick, delivered as DLC in Ultimate: the plant was handed out early, from January 29, 2019 onward to eligible players, before going on sale on February 1, 2019.

Far from inventing, Smash draws on a vocabulary shared by the whole saga. The Mario Finale itself doesn't come out of nowhere: it strongly recalls the Ultra Fireball (Ultra Flame / Ultra Fireball), the top-tier fire spell Mario learns in Super Mario RPG (1996). Between power-ups reused note for note, the Koopalings slipped in as costumes and the bosses recycled into Final Smashes, Sakurai's brawler works like a playable museum of Mario lore, where every controller replays thirty years of adventures.

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Mario in Super Smash Bros. at a glance

Series	Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo)
Creator	Masahiro Sakurai
First game	Nintendo 64 (1999)
Mario	Playable in every game
Mario's Final Smash	Mario Finale (two spirals of fire)
Signature moves	Fireball, Cape, F.L.U.D.D., Super Jump Punch
Mushroom Kingdom contingent (Ultimate)	Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Bowser, Bowser Jr., Rosalina & Luma, Dr. Mario, Piranha Plant
Latest addition	Piranha Plant (DLC, 2019)

🍄 Want to keep the adventure going? Check out our Mario figures in the shop.

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FAQ

• Can you play as Mario in every Super Smash Bros.?
  Yes. Mario is playable in every game since the very first one on Nintendo 64 (1999). He is the flagship figure of the series created by Masahiro Sakurai, alongside other regulars like Luigi, Yoshi and Donkey Kong.
• What is Mario's Final Smash called?
  The Mario Finale: Mario unleashes two spiraling torrents of fire that sweep across the stage. The move recalls the Ultra Fireball, an ultimate fire spell Mario learns in Super Mario RPG (1996).
• When did Piranha Plant become playable?
  In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as DLC: handed out early to eligible players from January 29, 2019, then put on sale on February 1, 2019. It is a rare case of a rank-and-file enemy promoted to fighter.
• Where do Mario's fireballs and cape come from?
  The Fireball comes from the Fire Flower, introduced in Super Mario Bros. (1985), and the Cape from Super Mario World. His down special, added in Brawl, reuses the F.L.U.D.D. from Super Mario Sunshine (2002).
• Are Daisy and Dr. Mario just Mario clones?
  Daisy is Peach's echo fighter in Ultimate. Dr. Mario, long a Mario clone, gains his own identity there and throws Megavitamins taken from his puzzle game.

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