Highlights
- Mario’s reliance on power-ups leads to weakness in combat. He struggles without them and would likely be beaten every time if his enemies used power-ups too.
- Mario’s impulsive nature leads to unnecessary fighting. He often jumps into action without thinking, leading to longer and more dangerous adventures.
- Mario’s lack of ranged attacks and preparation hinders him in combat and allows for easier counterattacks from his opponents. He could benefit from using ranged weapons and being more prepared.
Mario is one of the most famous video game characters of all time, if not the absolute pinnacle of recognizable faces from the world of gaming. Having appeared in more video games than almost any other character, and having had multiple film adaptions, this beloved little plumber has made a massive name for himself.
Every Mario Game On The GameCube
Being a Nintendo console, of course the GameCube featured a bevy of Mario titles, and here are all of them.
However, despite the many surprising strengths Mario shows off throughout his adventures, he is also hampered at times by weaknesses. As Mario’s character shifts and changes over various adaptions, some of his strengths change, but there are some flaws that he has retained over many different strange games and years.
6 Reliance On Power-Ups
Leads To Weakness In Combat
- Seen In The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
As notably seen in his most recent cinematic outing, Mario has a lot of heart and wants to be able to engage in heroics, but he’s not got any particularly impressive skills in the realms of combat or acrobatics. When he can get power-ups, such as in his fight with Donkey Kong, he can match even that dangerous creature.
However, without them, Mario is fairly useless in a fight. He and Luigi needed the power of the star to defeat Bowser in the movie, and oftentimes in the games, Mario is in a lot of trouble when he runs out of power-ups. Fortunately, they’ve always been plentiful for him, but if his enemies used the power-ups as well, Mario would probably find himself beaten every time.
5 Impulsive
Leads To More Fighting Than Necessary
- Seen In Super Mario Bros.
Mario isn’t too bright, a lot of times he jumps into action to save Princess Peach in the usual “white knight” fashion without ever stopping or thinking. Usually, he’s forced to traverse many worlds, even galaxies, before he’s able to get to her. Surely, at least some of the time, there’s got to be a better or faster way to do so.
Every Mario Game On The Nintendo DS, Ranked
Ranking every Mario game on the Nintendo DS is a tall task for a franchise that fully-utilized the best-selling handheld console’s unique features.
Mario is shown in character bios, throughout many great platforming games, and even in movies as being impulsive, jumping right in without ever stopping to think about strategy for battles. For example, in the original Super Mario Bros. game, Mario goes to the wrong castle many times, constantly saving Toads but never finding Peach until the very end. If he’d stopped to consider where she might have been taken, he could have saved himself a lot of time.
4 Low Range
Leads To Trouble In Combat
- Seen In Super Smash Bros.
As a character, Mario doesn’t come with a lot of traditional flaws, but in terms of being a fighter in the infamous Super Smash Bros. franchise, he does have some issues. The most major one is his lack of ranged attacks. This is often a problem in his games as well. Mario’s most common attack against enemies throughout his franchise is jumping on them.
Having to get so up close and personal with his rivals makes it far easier for them to attack back. If Mario learned how to use a bow, gun, or any other sort of ranged weapon, he’d have a far easier time with it. As a plumber, even throwing wrenches or having a water gun would be an improvement for him as he takes on an array of dangerous rivals.
3 Lack Of Preparation
Leads To Peach Getting Kidnapped
- Seen On Multiple Occasions
It is a little nitpicky, but the standard formula in Mario games starts to make Mario, Peach, and everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom look a bit silly after a while. For some reason, despite Mario being able to defeat Bowser at the end of every game, he’s never able to do anything to stop his giant adversary from stealing Peach at the beginning, leading to some exceptionally long adventures.
On countless occasions, Bowser has managed to wander along with his men and grab the Princess, taking her far away immediately and leaving Mario with a long journey through all sorts of danger to find her. Why he or the Toads haven’t developed safety precautions, or at least similar vehicles to those Bowser uses, so he can get to Bowser’s Castle faster, is bewildering.
2 Reliance On His Hat
Leads To Taking More Damage
- Seen In Super Mario Odyssey
Introduced as a more recent weakness, it turns out that some of what makes Mario so special is found within his ever-present hat. When he loses this, such as in Super Mario 64, it is found that the heroic plumber takes more damage from enemies when he isn’t wearing it.
Mario: 6 Worst Kingdoms To Live In
From dangers to lack of defense, these kingdoms from the Super Mario franchise would be some of the worst places to live in.
This is an issue that leaves Mario vulnerable, as there’s nothing, in particular, sticking his hat permanently to his head. This makes it easy for anyone who wants to defeat him to simply steal it, weakening him badly. Bowser almost ended Mario once and for all in Super Mario Odyssey due to Mario’s hat being practically destroyed. Fortunately, he got an upgraded one and the rest of the game was a piece of cake.
1 Jack Of All Trades
Leads To Never Finishing First
- Seen In Mario Kart & Other Spin-Off Games
It’s an arguable weakness that Mario isn’t a master at anything. In sporting games, karting games and fighting games, which make up many of the hero’s appearances across the world of gaming, Mario is usually, in statistical terms, considered an everyman, or average across the board, though he has managed to survive the many bizarre situations in which he finds himself.
While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it usually means not coming in first. The saying “Jack of all trades, Master of None” comes to mind, and it fits Mario, who has been to many places and achieved many things, but usually with help and with plenty of power-ups. Mario being the bog-standard character shows that there is somebody better to call, someone faster or stronger or smarter, to deal with every different type of situation.
