Chrom

Chrom (, Chrom) is a character from the series. As one of the three main characters of , Chrom is a distant descendant of Marth, the father of Lucina, and the best friend of Robin. Chrom seeks to maintain peace and stability within his kingdom of by warding off the forces of.

After making cameos in Super Smash Bros. 4 as a trophy, a Mii Costume, during Palutena's Guidance regarding Robin, and in Robin's Final Smash (Pair Up) and right-inputted victory pose, Chrom transitioned into a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Origin
Chrom is a distant descendant of the legendary "Hero-King" Marth. He is a prince of, the successor state to the now-ancient kingdom of Archanea, and is the younger brother of its leader, the Exalt. Chrom bears the holy bloodline of Ylisse's rulers, the Exalts, who carry the power of the legendary dragon and her holy gifts to humanity: the Fire Emblem and the blade. This power is signified by the presence of a distinctive Brand on their bodies; in Chrom's case, his Brand is located on his right deltoid. In addition to his royal duties, Chrom is the leader of a group of Ylissean soldiers known as the, who help maintain Ylisse's peace and stability.

The story of Fire Emblem Awakening begins with Chrom, his sister, and his bodyguard , finding an amnesiac tactician by the roadside who joins the Shepherds. After Ylisse's struggle against the neighboring nation of, Chrom becomes the new Exalt of Ylisse, gets married, and becomes the father of a baby girl, who he names Lucina.

During a war against the warmongering empire of two years later, a time-traveling Lucina from the future of another timeline reveals herself, warning Chrom of the looming threat of the Fell Dragon  who, using the body of Robin's future counterpart, had destroyed the world in her timeline. Chrom, Lucina, and the rest of the Shepherds work together to defeat of Valm,  of the Grima-worshipping, and Grima himself.

Chrom, like most Fire Emblem protagonists, begins in the class. His signature weapon is, inherited by the royal family of Ylisse as descendants of Marth; Chrom also uses Falchion's counterpart, the or Binding Shield. In addition to Lucina, Chrom can also be the father of another child depending on who he marries.

Since Awakening, Chrom has appeared in a number of other games. He makes an appearance in an Awakening-based mission in , where he meets Corrin. In the crossover game , he is one of three playable Nintendo characters (alongside Lucina and Fiora). Chrom is also prominently featured as a major character in both ' and ', and is one of the many units the player can recruit in . An emblem clone of Chrom, paired with male Robin, appear in , as part of the game's third DLC.

In Super Smash Bros. 4
Chrom appears in and 's trailer. In the beginning, he is shown lying on the ground after being incapacitated by in battle. Lucina defends him but is almost defeated herself. For the majority of the trailer, he is only seen laying on the ground. However, in the end, still badly hurt, he remarks that he "will get [his] chance another day;" a gameplay video immediately after this scene displays Robin's Final Smash and humorously states that Chrom will get his chance today instead, confirming his involvement as part of the Final Smash. He also appears at the top of Lucina and Robin's "New Challenger" artwork on the official website.

According to Masahiro Sakurai, Chrom was briefly considered as a playable character following the release of Fire Emblem Awakening, but he ultimately cut him off the roster when he saw that Chrom would end up playing too similarly to and, and chose  instead seeing him as a more unique character. This is referenced in 's Smash Taunt for Robin, where and Viridi deride Chrom for being a "carbon copy" of Ike, irking Chrom by saying so.

Assist role
In the game, he appears as part of Robin's Final Smash, Pair Up. After being summoned by Robin with warp magic, Chrom lunges in Robin's direction. If he successfully connects with an opponent along the way, he'll launch the opponent into the air and repeatedly strike them with his Falchion, while Robin will attack with various tomes. Chrom also appears in one of Robin's victory poses, where the two stand back-to-back and he may comment "My strength is yours!" In female Robin's version of the same victory pose, if she wins against Lucina, she may ask "How can you protect Chrom if you can't protect yourself?"

As a background character
Chrom also appears as a special guest character during Pit's conversations with Palutena in Palutena's Temple if Robin is present. Chrom's portraits and Critical Hit cut-in artwork from Awakening are reused in the aforementioned Smash Taunt and Pair Up, respectively.

As a costume
Chrom's costume serves as a alternate color scheme for. His design is also the basis of a downloadable costume for s. Nintendo also released a QR code for those who wish to have the exact Mii used in the costume's advertising.

Trophy
Chrom appears as a trophy in both versions of SSB4.

As a playable character
Chrom makes his debut as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate after being a background character in the previous game, now branded as an Echo Fighter of. He was revealed alongside, , , and in the August 2018 Smash Direct. Matthew Mercer and Tomokazu Sugita, Chrom's recurring English and Japanese voice actors respectively since Awakening, both reprise their roles and confirmed such on Twitter.

Chrom's inclusion was primarily facilitated by popular demand. In a Famitsu interview shortly following the August 2018 Smash Bros. Direct, Masahiro Sakurai revealed that Chrom and fellow Echo Fighter Dark Samus were highly requested characters, but in different regions of the world; most of the support for Chrom came from Japan while Dark Samus's came from overseas, being North America and Europe.

The primary difference distinguishing Chrom from Roy is that his sword attacks lack a hilt sweetspot, instead dealing consistent damage across the entire blade akin to Lucina's Parallel Falchion; this makes Chrom far more consistent and gives him vastly superior spacing abilities at the cost of partially losing some of Roy's potentially devastating damage output and KOing ability. Chrom's neutral attack, forward tilt and up tilt all have altered animations where Chrom holds his sword in a standard grip; forward tilt in particular has vastly improved range since Chrom moves slightly forward during the move, and the altered animation means that it hits much lower as well, being able to hit ledge-hanging opponents. Additionally, Chrom does not have flame properties on his up smash, down aerial, or any of his special moves, unlike Roy.

His Flare Blade is nearly identical in function to Roy's version, although it uses the normal effect, and it is aesthetically different as well. His Double-Edge Dance is nearly identical in function to Lucina's Dancing Blade, due to its lack of a hilt sweetspot, and the finishing hits not using the flame effect. His up special, Soaring Slash, is a unique move that is functionally similar to Ike's Aether; it features Chrom ascending while twirling with his sword in his hand before quickly descending downward, albeit without throwing the sword up first; while the move offers decent vertical distance, the move's near-complete lack of horizontal distance, coupled with it being Chrom's only recovery option, results in Chrom's recovery often being widely regarded as one of the worst in the entire game. His Counter is nearly identical to Roy's version, but does not use the flame effect, and deals slightly more knockback. Finally, his Final Smash, Awakening Aether, is a unique move, with Chrom dashing forward to catch his opponents rather than standing still. Additionally, Chrom has a unique victory quote if he wins against Lucina; in any of his three victory screens, he may say, "Our bond is stronger than steel."

Prior to version 3.0.0, Chrom shared the standard Fire Emblem victory theme with Marth, Roy and Ike, despite fellow Awakening characters Robin and Lucina now having a new victory theme based on Fire Emblem Awakening's "Id (Purpose)."

Assist role
Despite him being a separate playable fighter, continues to summon Chrom in the Pair Up Final Smash even if Chrom is already present during the match. This makes the move one of two Final Smashes in the game that involve a non-playable appearance by another playable character, the other being 's version of Zero Laser.

Chrom also continues to appear in one of Robin's victory poses as well.

As a costume
The Chrom costume also returns as an unlockable outfit after being DLC in the previous installment.

Trivia

 * Chrom's English voice actor, Matthew Mercer, directed, produced, and portrayed Ganondorf, Kirby, and Meta Knight in the Super Smash Bros.-based webseries, There Will Be Brawl.
 * Mercer would later provide the voice of Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
 * In, Chrom's cape does not have animations when he is summoned by Robin in their Final Smash.
 * Chrom is the first character to be a full clone of another character who was also formerly a full clone.
 * Interestingly, Chrom had been considered to be a clone to a different character, as mentioned by Viridi in Palutena's Guidance for Smash for Wii U.
 * Chrom's role in Lucina and Robin's reveal trailer for Smash 4 has become memetic among the community, combined in the western fanbase with the presence of Captain Falcon, who is already memetic around the fandom; in the Japanese fanbase, it is instead more commonly combined with the "No, you'll get it today" ("", roughly "Not really") subtitle at the end of trailer. The phrase itself also appears as one of randomly created names in both Smash 4 and Ultimate (much like how "NOJOHNS" is in the English version).
 * Chrom is one of two playable characters to appear in a Final Smash before becoming playable, with the other being Palutena. Unlike Palutena, however, Chrom still retains his Final Smash role in the game he is playable in.
 * Chrom is also the first (and so far, only) playable character who is also part of another playable character's moveset in the same game.
 * Chrom so far is the only fighter in the Super Smash Bros. series to have their victory theme be changed via game updates, as in Ultimate he previously had the standard Fire Emblem victory theme before it was changed to the Awakening victory theme in version 3.0.0.
 * Chrom is the only Fire Emblem fighter to have made a non-playable appearance in the series prior to his debut as a fighter, as he appeared in Robin's Final Smash, Pair Up, in Super Smash Bros. 4.
 * Chrom has the same voice actor as Yusuke Kitagawa in both Japanese and English, being Tomokazu Sugita and Matthew Mercer, respectively. Coincidentally, both also have blue hair and wield swords as their primary weapon. Likely as a result, Yusuke is represented by Chrom in the former's Spirit battle in Ultimate.
 * Chrom is currently the only Fire Emblem character to get an amiibo in the Fire Emblem line in addition to Smash.