Character selection screen

The character selection screen in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with all of the characters unlocked and all DLC characters purchased. Stacking is turned off, thus all characters are separately visible.

The character selection screen, also called the character selection menu and abbreviated as CSS, is the menu where a player chooses their character to be used in a game mode and also where the player may sometimes make changes to the rules. The character selection screen is composed of boxed portraits of the heads or busts of playable fighters, normally arranged together by game series or related characters, with more characters added once they are unlocked or downloaded. It is utilized in each game and appears in both single-player and multiplayer modes where the player is not required to use a specific character(s). Character selection screens are almost always uniform across game modes for each game, with the exception of the character selection screen for Tournament Mode and the Subspace Emissary single-player mode in Brawl which uses a very featureless character selection screen for assembling a party of characters.

Character selection screen features

Mario's portrait in Melee's character selection screen.

Each player controls a small hand cursor which carries an emblem displaying their control port number and color. Selecting a character involves carrying the emblem over the character portrait and pressing a selection button. A box at the bottom of the screen will usually change to reflect the character choice; in Super Smash Bros., a full model of the character will appear and strike a pose, while all future entries only show a portrait of the character. Clicking on these boxes can also change to a CPU player and a Figure Player starting in SSB4. A box that a player is connected to can also be manually emptied by another player, which can be used in the event that a controller did not disconnect cleanly.

Player character portraits after character selection are usually interactive. In Super Smash Bros. the color of the character's model will change in real-time when cycling through palette swaps. The player can cycle through the palettes of each character in Brawl in an alternate way by pressing the selection button while hovering their hand cursor over the player character's portrait. Additionally in Brawl and Ultimate, the player can select the default form or starter character where applicable by using the cursor to highlight the form or character in the portrait. In Ultimate, players can change the character selection screen so that Echo Fighters can be stacked together in the same slot with the fighters they are based on. When such an option is enabled, the player may switch between the base fighter and their Echo Fighter by selecting the desired character icon on the top right corner of the character's portrait. Stacking echo fighters also causes Mii Fighters to also be stacked, similarly to how they were in SSB4. This option will only affect the screen in Vs. Mode, Tourney, Custom Smash, Super Sudden Death, and Quickplay. A player may also choose a name from an expandable box starting in Melee.

Single-player modes typically feature character selection screens with only one area for a player character portrait and a separate area where options for mode difficulty and/or a stock count until a continue is needed. There is typically an area that highlights highscores for that mode.

Multiplayer mode character select screens typically feature a way to change quickly between free for all or Team Battles and coin, stock, or time battles, as well as a way to quickly change simple parameters like stock amount and the time limit. Attempting to change the battle mode in Melee and Brawl accesses more advanced options by opening an options menu. Depending on the options and game mode set, additional parameters may be found in the character portrait, such as the sliding weight scale in Melee. Ways to activate computer players and adjust their difficulty are also found in the character portrait.

A Random icon appears for selection in Brawl, SSB4, and Ultimate, which randomly chooses a playable character. In Melee, a random character can be selected by placing the cursor on one of the empty bottom corners once all characters have been unlocked. In Melee's Tournament Mode, the Pokémon Ditto, while not selectable by usual means, replaces this function.

In Ultimate, it is possible to increase or decrease the number of character slots opened (from a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 8) by selecting "+" and "-" buttons on the right side of the screen, although it is still possible to leave slots empty like in previous games.

Once character selection and mode option requirements have been met, the game will give some kind of indication, such as a "Ready to fight!" banner and a confirmation sound. The player can proceed by selecting the banner or pressing the Start button.

Gallery

Super Smash Bros.

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  Starting roster

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  All characters unlocked

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  Beta character selection screen

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  The "Ready to fight!" banner

Super Smash Bros. Melee

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  Starting roster

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  All characters unlocked.

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  A beta character selection screen.

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  Another beta character selection screen. Zelda's portrait has been omitted.

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  The "Ready to fight!" banner

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

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  Starting roster

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  All characters unlocked

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  The Subspace Emissary with all characters unlocked

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  E for All demo

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  The "Ready to fight!" banner

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

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  Starting roster

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  All base game characters unlocked

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  The character selection screen's first page with all base game characters unlocked. DLC characters are placed on a second page, as noted by the arrow.

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  The character selection screen's second page, exclusively containing DLC characters purchased

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  The bottom screen

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  E3 demo

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  eShop demo

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  The "Ready to fight!" banner

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

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  Starting roster

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  All base game characters unlocked

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  All base game characters unlocked and all DLC characters purchased

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  E3 demo

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  The "Ready to fight!" banner

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

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  Starting roster

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  All base game characters unlocked.

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  All base game characters unlocked and all DLC characters purchased

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  All base game characters unlocked with Echo Fighters and Mii Fighters stacked

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  All base game characters unlocked and all DLC characters purchased with Echo Fighters and Mii Fighters stacked

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  World of Light without any characters unlocked

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  E3 demo

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  The "Ready to fight!" banner

Smashdown

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  All base game characters unlocked

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  All base game characters unlocked and all DLC characters purchased

Squad Strike

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  Starting roster

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  All base game characters unlocked

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  All base game characters unlocked and all DLC characters purchased

Trivia

• In every Smash game, a Mario character is always the first character to be listed in every character selection screen (Luigi in SSB, Dr. Mario in Melee, and Mario in all subsequent entries).
• Zelda and Sheik in Brawl and Pyra and Mythra in Ultimate are the only characters to share the same character slot.

Smash 64

• This is the only game to feature all portrait boxes for characters that have not been unlocked, as well as the only game to have character animations for picking a character. These animations were to be implemented also in Melee, but were scrapped, although the animation files remained in the disc. These animations are ripped straight from SSB for the veterans, and most newcomers are unfinished, suggesting the concept was scrapped early on.

Melee

• In multiplayer modes in Melee onwards, KO Stars appear in the player character portrait tallying the number of stocks taken off of other players.
• Sheik is the only playable character that cannot be seen in the character selection screen. In beta versions, Zelda's icon was hidden, potentially to hide the fact that she was not playable, as only Sheik was revealed initially.
• The background color for Roy’s name is completely black compared to the rest of the cast who all have more of a dark maroon color for their background text.
• Due to Pikachu being the only Pokémon series fighter to be available from the start, it creates an oddity where its portrait is initially located after Mario, but then moves to the bottom row when Luigi is unlocked.
• In Tournament Mode, Mr. Game & Watch appears white instead of black on the character select screen, likely in order to make him visible on the dark background.

Brawl

• This is the only game where characters in the same series are organized vertically instead of horizontally. Series with less than four characters are grouped with characters from similar series (such as Olimar being grouped with the Kirby characters since they are from space, Captain Falcon being grouped with the Star Fox characters due to all of them being pilots, and the Fire Emblem and EarthBound characters being together since they are both RPG franchises).
• A unique sound effect will play if the player is using a Wii Remote while selecting a character.
• Like with Sheik in Melee, Zero Suit Samus is the only character that does not appear on the character selection screen.

Smash 4

• Four characters change positions in character selection screens between for 3DS and for Wii U: Mr. Game & Watch (between Wario and Donkey Kong in for 3DS but between Diddy Kong and Little Mac in for Wii U), Little Mac (between Meta Knight and Fox in for 3DS but between Mr. Game & Watch and Link in for Wii U), Duck Hunt (between Greninja and R.O.B. in for 3DS but between Robin and Kirby in for Wii U), and Shulk (between Lucina and Pac-Man in for 3DS but between Wii Fit Trainer and Dr. Mario in for Wii U).
• Starting with this game, the announcer says "Choose your fighter" instead of "Choose your character" when selecting a fighter in the character selection screen, unlike previous installments.

for Nintendo 3DS

• This is the only game where:
  • the character selection screen will add a separate page for DLC fighters (known as "Extra Fighters"), which happens when all base-game characters have been unlocked and more than four DLC characters have been purchased.
  • the characters' names do not appear in their icons, though they were originally present in the E3 demo.
  • each character's icon is color-coded by character, rather than following a set pattern for all of them.
• Prior to version 1.0.4, lifting the character selection token for a CPU Mii Fighter in With Friends would often cause the game to crash if the player is not the original room creator.

for Wii U

• When a character is selected, a small sparkle effect will appear over their eyes (or in Mr. Game & Watch's case, where the eyes would be).

Ultimate

The Character Selection Screen in the Japanese version of Ultimate. Note how some names take up only one line instead of two.

• Mario, Pikachu, Link and Villager's portraits on the character select screen used their in-game model as opposed to their official render in the E3 demo. In Link's case, this only applies to his body, while his head is taken from his render.
• The Mii Fighters are the only characters to not be ordered by fighter number, with them being listed last, even after the DLC characters, while they'd be in between Greninja and Palutena if they did follow the fighter number order.
• All characters' names take up only one line if the game's language is currently set to Japanese, Simplified Chinese or Korean. As a result, Captain Falcon, Mr. Game & Watch, Zero Suit Samus, Pokémon Trainer, Wii Fit Trainer, the Mii Fighters, and Banjo & Kazooie have different icons between the English and those versions while the spelling of their names are identical between them. Rosalina & Luma and Piranha Plant hold this distinction as well, though having different names between the languages.
  • In PAL versions of the game, Duck Hunt's name also takes up two lines, due to its name being changed to "Duck Hunt Duo" in those regions.
  • Interestingly, the Traditional Chinese version does not follow this, instead featuring inconsistencies with the character icons: while names of Captain Falcon, Mr. Game & Watch, Zero Suit Samus, Rosalina & Luma, and Wii Fit Trainer take up two lines (as with the English version), the names for Pokémon Trainer, the Mii Fighters and Piranha Plant takes up only one line (like in Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Korean). Furthermore, Olimar (whose in-game name is "Pikmin & Olimar" like in Japanese) and King K. Rool, whose names usually take only one line, also take up two lines.
  • In the Simplified Chinese version, unlike in the Korean version, King Dedede, whose name is called in the same way as in the English version by the announcer, is still referred to as just "Dedede" like in Japanese and Traditional Chinese.
• For certain characters whose names take up two lines, their portraits have been adjusted so that their faces are not overlapped by their names.
• Wii Fit Trainer and the Mii Fighters are only characters whose names are not fully capitalized in their icons. Bowser Jr., Mr. Game & Watch, and Dr. Mario additionally follow this rule, but only on the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean versions.
  • Similarly, the "Ready to fight!" banner will not be fully capitalized if the game's language is currently set to Spanish or German.
• If a player's slot is set to "None" and they are then added back into the match without disconnecting their controller in-between, their selection emblem will be automatically placed on Random. If the Random button is absent (such as in Quickplay), Mario will be selected instead.