An Acting Prelate of the Holy Church. A pretty boy with blonde hair and fair skin, Mario tends to dress casually. Although he may not appear so, he holds a position of great responsibility while still in his early teens. He detests the inept and indolent, and often lashes out verbally, but he is also a compassionate, dutiful person at his core. His talents in assessing character and abilities, his skillful balancing of hard and soft power, his leadership and ability to use resources to control the game, and his fighting style using a Piano Machine to control nuns like marionettes, have all earned him the nickname "Mario the Puppeteer."
Gameplay
Mario Gallo Bestino is a new character to Melty Blood, released as free DLC alongside Powered Ciel on April 14, 2022. He is a rushdown/puppet character who works in tandem with his subordinate nuns to create difficult mix-ups.
Mario excels at keeping the opponent pinned down with his own fast close-range moveset and utilizing the large disjointed special attacks from the nuns with good coverage of various parts of the screen; Feroce (236X) allows him to use a nun-centered rekka series that controls space horizontally, while Dance - Corrente (214X) uses nuns to restrict the opponent's movement options with delayed strikes on the ground or axes that cover vertical space and Dance - Polonaise (22X) lets nuns work as either a stagger or counter tool, making defensive mashing/abare attempts against Mario himself dangerous once he gets in. Mario himself is no slouch in the space control game, as he has Phantasm (623X) to help wall off air approaches and yanks Mario upward to start air combos on hit.
However, Mario lacks fast projectiles and does not get meaningful rewards out of stray nun attacks at long range. In order to capitalize on nun strikes, Mario has to stay close to the opponent and constantly pressure them using his stubby normal attacks and clever use of his nuns for coverage. Knowing your reach and how to approach neutral in your match-up(s) are required steps to achieve mastery of this technical character.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Relentless Nuns: Being the most notable part of his kit, Nuns are free to aid Mario's offence and defense without worrying about hampering Mario's health and being tied to a resource, meaning Mario can throw them at the opponent as much as he pleases.
Fullscreen Ground Prescence: Mario can effectively control the ground with 236A, allowing him to constantly badger the opponent with the Primary Nun with the threat of a full combo. Failing that, Mario can fall back on moves like 214A and (j.)214C to make that the opponent never has an easy time approaching.
Potent Aerial Control: Phantasm, Mario's 623X and 3BC, are massive anti-airs that convert into combos no matter the range. 3BC especially represents a way to punish opponents jumping to try and avoid the swarm of Nuns on the ground, allowing Mario to puppeteer the entire screen.
236A: An extremely useful move that can be used for zoning, anti-zoning, combos and trading with almost no commitment on Mario's part.
Tricky Okizeme: With a variety of okizeme options, ranging from chakrams (214B/214[B]), left/rights, crossup breaks and variations of those setups, Mario is an okizeme machine and excels at opening up the opponent.
Hard to Catch: Being small and decently fast, Mario can be tricky to pin down. Adding on to this is the fact that his 214X series and 4BC can be done in the air, meaning that he can stall his fall or even threaten the opponent from above.
Stubby Normals: Mario has some of the stubbiest and unimpressive normals in the game, making mashing and challenging moves unreliable.
Subpar Defense: With mediocre buttons and no easily accessible frame 1 reversal outside of system mechanics, Mario starts to struggle when put on the backfoot and can have a difficult time getting out of disadvantage.
Fragile Nuns: The Nuns can be swatted away with the right timing, cancelling out their attack and, in the case of the Primary Nun, putting her out of commission for a few seconds, forcing Mario to take more risks in neutral.
Overwhelming Options: There are an excessive amount moving parts to Mario, from his ability to score a hit from anywhere to the abundance of different setups for different situations at his disposal. Because of this, Mario's routing lacks anything definitive, instead requiring a strong understanding of all of his tools, his matchups and how to get into the ideal setups over and over again.
HP Value: 11,700
Backdash: -
Movement Speed: -
Unique Traits
Puppeteer
Mario is able to call upon all sorts of puppet nuns to do his bidding. These nuns can be separated into two categories, Primary Nun and Secondary Nun. Though he isn't quite a puppet character, he can create unique situations from fullscreen utilizing the two in tandem.
Primary Nun
Refers to the nun that is always following Mario around. Though she will always try to stick close to Mario, he can separate her from himself using 236A, 236B, 236C, and 6BC. During the active and recovery frames of these moves, she possesses a hurtbox and will be knocked down on hit (and thus rendered unusable for a short while.)
Secondary Nun
Refers to nuns summoned with (j)214A, (j)214B, (j)214C, 4BC, 22A, 22B, 22C, and 2BC. This nun can be thought of as a "slot" - that is to say he can only have 1 of these nuns active at a time, and can't summon another until the first has left the screen, whether through their recovery or being knocked away by the opponent. These nuns possess hurtboxes during the startup, active frames, and recovery of their respective moves.
Character Summary
Move list
Moon Skills
6B+C - Feroce
3B+C - Phantasm
4B+C - Dance - Corrente (Air OK)
2B+C - Dance - Polonaise
Special Attacks
236A - Feroce
> A/B/C - Feroce Pesante
> A/B/C - Feroce Morendo
623A/B/C - Phantasm
214A/B/C (EX OK) - Dance - Corrente
22A/B/C (EX OK) - Dance - Polonaise
j.214A/B/C (EX OK) - Dance - Corrente (Air OK)
Arc Drives
236B+C - Puppeteer (Doll)
Last Arc
A+B+C+D / Successful Shield in Blood Heat - Puppeteer (Human)
Gives an easy safejump if Mario still has his double jump.
Despite using the Nun from 214[X], you can grab even if that Nun is out.
Special Moves
Feroce
The 236[X] series of moves, as well as 6BC, controls the Primary Nun, which is the Nun that's always on screen. The Primary Nun will try to follow Mario— she can somewhat keep up with his walking speed but will lag behind with faster movement options like dash or superjump. No matter her position when a command involving the Primary Nun is used, she'll face the opponent to attack from where she's currently standing, whether in front of or behind the opponent. The Primary Nun is intangible, but can be hit while she is attacking and be knocked down temporarily.
After any given move using the Primary Nun, an animation of blue flash of strings will play around her. It's only after it finishes that the Nun start following Mario again and accept new commands.
when you are hit during the first 8 frames the nun will stop (verification needed)
The Nun will run until she is close enough to strike the opponent.
Air unblockable.
Arguably Mario's most important move, 236A allows Mario to be a constant nuisance almost anywhere on the screen. The Nun is fully intangible as she moves towards the opponent until she’s in striking distance, meaning she always has to be addressed. At fullscreen, 236A works as both a zoning and anti-zoning tool. Closer up, it works as a reversal and a get-off-me tool, among other things. Since the Nun will continue its command even if Mario is being attacked (after around 8 frames), 236A turns a lot of bad situations into trades with the opponent.
236A becomes much more of a threat when Mario gets 1 bar of meter, allowing him to combo 236A into 236C and convert into a full combo. This conversion can be done meterlessly if the opponent is in the corner, or if the opponent is hit towards Mario. With the new update, this move is now jump-cancelable which makes it to meterlessly convert from any range. Despite all of 236A’s upsides, it has a ton of whiff recovery and an opponent simply jumping over the Primary Nun can put Mario in danger. Plus, an opponent can hit the Nun once she becomes tangible and disable her for a while.
The Nun rekka is also the most consistent way to put the Primary Nun behind the opponent, which makes it much harder for them to deal with her and means the Nun doesn't have to travel any distance to attack them. Even if the opponent tries rush Mario while the Nun is behind them, 236A will chase them back to Mario and attack the opponent from behind. With 1 bar Mario can also convert the rekka into a full combo with 236C from fullscreen, which will bring the opponent towards Mario and can lead to a sideswitch.
The nun following Mario travels 1/4 of the screen while performing 2 slashes.
Hitting one of the two slashes leads to a follow up with 2 more slashes.
Groundbounces, leading into a nice combo afterwards.
Primarily used after 236A or 236B, whether to confirm a hit from full screen, to extend a combo, or to continue pressure. Extremely important and useful in that role.
Phantasm
Phantasm is Mario's only set of specials that don't rely on Nuns in some way, and by far the set of moves that are the most unorthodox. That said, they're some of Mario's most important tools. It's worth noting that these moves are all air blockable and can all be canceled into 236C and Arc Drive after being blocked, letting Mario access unblockables.
Phantasm
+
623A, Does not hit opponents on the ground
623B, but hitting causes Mario to fly at the opponent
623C, Mario will fly even if the move does not hit
Pulls Mario upwards towards the opponent on hit, block, and whiff. Recovers in the air.
Hitting cause a followup animation that grants a HKD and leaves you close to the opponent.
Hitbox is much bigger than it looks.
Sideswitches.
An ideal ender for many of Mario's combos as it gives him advantage and positioning very similar to post-ground throw, allowing him to set up an okizeme situation. The fact that this moves sideswitches might seem like a problem since it could take them out of the corner, but Mario has ways to sideswitch before 623C so that the opponent ultimately ends up back in the corner.
Dance - Corrente
Both the 214[X] and 22[X] series of moves, as well as 2BC and 4BC, control the Secondary Nun, who is the Nun who is not always on screen and is instead summoned whenever the command comes out. Despite each command filling a different role and different weapons, only one Secondary Nun can be on screen at a given time. For example, if the Secondary Nun from 214A is on screen, you wouldn't be able to use 22B or any other move that uses the Secondary Nun. However, the Secondary Nun is reliable in that their positioning is fixed to Mario. While the Secondary Nun is never intangible and can be hit out of an attack at any time, all this does is force the Nun off screen with no incapacitation time, allowing Mario to use the Secondary Nun again immediately.
A Nun appears at a set distance in front of the opponent on the ground and throws a curved sword in an arc aimed towards them.
Amazing tool for okizeme with the right knockdown, because you'll still be left plus after your recovery. Mixing up your oki with this covering you (throw, throw bait, shield bait, etc.) is a staple in locking down the opponent forever.
A Nun appears and throws two curved swords. Pretty much the same as the uncharged version, but in an oki scenario, the second sword won't hit the opponent if their back is to the corner. Instead, this sees use after certain midscreen knockdowns since you can push the opponent into the second one.
A Nun appears and does a low sword slash after a delay.
Retaliates with a counterattack if hit.
Counter's box is low to the ground, making it less suited to Anti-Airs.
Vacuums opponents on block, which can pull out of the corner.
Counter is active on F9.
Can appear further away from Mario than 22A if the opponent is distant. Mostly seen as combo filler in certain metered routes. Due to the Vacuum effect it sometimes sees use as a pressure reset. Doesn't hit low however, so no unblockables from this alone.
Seems pretty bad at first glance. On second glance, it's still pretty bad. No invuln for the 3 frames pre-flash. At the very least, this is your fastest counter outside of MD.
Each version is the same as its grounded variant. j.214A and j.214[A] stall Mario's air movement. j.214B and j.214[B] move Mario backwards. j.214C is the most different from its grounded counterpart; if you perform this move close to the ground, the recovery will be canceled by landing, allowing Mario to act at a time where 214C wouldn't allow him to.
Moon Skills
Keep in mind, all moon skills' startup (and thus overall frames) decrease by 1 when in Moon Drive. You can find a full list of MD buffs here.
Both Mario and the Primary Nun dash forwards, with the Primary Nun attacking with a series of slashes. This move starts from both Mario and the Primary Nun's current locations.
Phantasm
Phantasm
++
Mario fly's forward even if the strings don't hit the opponent
Links into air normals with Special Bonus and Airthrow without.
Pulls Mario upwards towards the opponent on whiff, hit and block. Recovers in the air.
Working alongside the Nuns' control of the ground, 3BC is one of the most important aspects concerning Mario's ability to have a prescence at any range. While unable to hit grounded opponents, its aerial hitbox is massive and can easily catch the opponent if they go into the air which can dissuade them from jumping at all. No matter the position of the opponent, being yanked by 3BC will consistently lead into a combo with delay j.b going from there. 3BC will pull you even on whiff which can be helpful by letting you start pressure or escape a dangerous situation.
The spear nun is summoned where Mario currently is, before rushing forward and performing the combo.
The Secondary Nun dashes forwards, spins a spear over her head and then slashes downwards. If the opponent is blocking this while crouching, the spinning part of the attack will whiff. This allows you to throw the opponent before the slash comes out, though the Secondary Nun stays on screen for so long after the attack that you aren't able to use 214A for okizeme after the throw.
Mario summons Noel out of nowhere to perform the startup attack of her Arc Drive.
Upon hitting, Mario starts puppeteering her and throws her into the opponent at the end.
Really fast Arc Drive that covers 3/4 of the screen, but has a long whiff recovery.
Noel is summoned from Mario's current position.
A fast, fullscreen Arc Drive is very nice to have. It can confirm off of any Nun move from any distance. That said, its actual practicality as a way to punish from far away is filled by less committal options like 236A and 214C. In Heat though, it means that even one poke from a Nun can lead into Arc Drive no matter how little time there is left before the Heat finishes.