Shadow Mario Paint

Shadow Mario Paint (ニセマリオペイント, Fake Mario Paint) is Bowser Jr.'s Final Smash.

Overview[edit]

When activated, Bowser Jr. will transform into Shadow Mario, and then paint an orange "X" on the screen. Anyone caught in the "X"'s hitbox will take damage. Bowser Jr. will then be teleported above the top camera boundary and will be able to move around freely while the "X" is onscreen. The "X" deals knockback each time a character walks into it, and the knockback usually sends them towards the middle of the "X", making it difficult to escape. When the attack ends, the "X" explodes, dealing relatively high knockback. All hits taken from the paint have the same knockback regardless of damage until just before the "X" clears away.

Instructional quotes[edit]

Trophy[edit]

Shadow Mario Paint

👁 NTSC
In Super Mario Sunshine, someone went around causing havoc disguised as Mario. It turned out not to be the brawny Bowser, but his brainier son, Bowser Jr. Now he becomes Shadow Mario again for his Final Smash, painting a giant X on the screen. It sticks around after Bowser Jr. transforms back, letting him gleefully knock foes into it.

👁 PAL
In Super Mario Sunshine, someone went around causing havoc disguised as Mario. It turned out not to be the brawny Bowser, but his brainier son, Bowser Jr. Now he becomes Shadow Mario again for his Final Smash, painting a giant cross on the screen. It sticks around after Bowser Jr. turns back, so he can gleefully knock people into it.

Spirit[edit]

Shadow Mario also appears as an Ace-class primary spirit. He can be summoned using the cores of Vince, Eddy, and one Neutral type.

Shadow Mario's Spirit Battle uses a Bowser Jr. puppet fighter and is fought on the Delfino Plaza stage's Ω form. During the battle, the floor is sticky, referencing the paint created by Shadow Mario's Magic Paintbrush which submerges its victims and slows them down. Also, Bowser Jr. suddenly receives a Final Smash and his FS Meter charges quickly, referencing how Shadow Mario serves as Bowser Jr.'s Final Smash.

Origin[edit]

Shadow Mario (ニセマリオ, Fake Mario) was a form Bowser Jr. took in his debut game, Super Mario Sunshine. He used it to frame Mario for polluting Isle Delfino.

Bowser Jr. disguised himself as Shadow Mario using the Magic Paintbrush, which was invented by Professor E. Gadd (who also invented various other machines, including the Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device, the Poltergust 3000, the Poltergust 5000 and the Poltergust G-00). The Magic Paintbrush was either given to or stolen by Bowser Jr. prior to the events of Super Mario Sunshine. In said game, the paint used by Shadow Mario was dependent on the level in which he appeared. The glowing orange used by Shadow Mario Paint bears a close resemblance to the paint used in Pianta Village. Paint in this level behaved similarly to lava, dealing damage and causing Mario to jump after taking a hit, similarly to how it works in the Final Smash. It, along with the Junior Clown Car, has become a recurring theme for Bowser Jr., especially throughout many spin-off titles. The Koopalings use the Magic Paintbrush to transform into Shadow Mario as they are Bowser Jr.'s alternate costumes, but they have never used it or their Junior Clown Cars outside of Smash (in the case of the Junior Clown Cars, prior to their SSB4 debut, as they used it in a Mario game for the first time in Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit in 2020).

Much like Metal Mario, Shadow Mario has become a separate character from both Bowser Jr. and Mario. He appeared as a playable character in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. Despite using the paintbrush in spin-offs, Bowser Jr. does not tend to turn into his alter ego.

Shadow Mario Paint's name may refer to Mario Paint, one of the few games to utilize the SNES mouse.

Gallery[edit]

• 👁 Shadow Mario Paint in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
  

  Shadow Mario Paint in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

• 👁 Shadow Mario Paint as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.
  

  Shadow Mario Paint as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.

• 👁 Shadow Mario in Smash 4.
  

  Shadow Mario in Smash 4.

Names in other languages[edit]

Trivia[edit]

• When the camera is changed while the move is active, the X will disappear, but will reappear when the game is unpaused.
  • If one looks at Bowser Jr. during this, rather than having the Smash Ball glow, he will have a glowing outline that glows with the colors of the Smash Ball.
• The knockback of the final hit is oddly affected by the 1v1 multiplier, though the effect is small. This is not reflected in the trajectory guide, however, which calculates the knockback assuming 1v1 multiplier is ignored entirely.
• Shadow Mario is one of the few Final Smashes to be a spirit.
• In Super Mario Sunshine, the paintbrush used the traditional Gadd Science logo; in the Super Smash Bros. series, it is instead replaced with an "evil" version of the same logo, with slanted eyes.
• Shadow Mario's jumping animation is copied directly from Mario's.