A character is one of the fighters in the Super Smash Bros. series. Characters can be sorted into playable and non-playable, which distinguishes whether characters can be used without the use of a cheat device (like Action Replay) or not. Playable characters can further be divided into starter and unlockable, which distinguishes whether characters can be played right away, or whether they need to be unlocked.
Playable characters
This is a list of the playable characters in the Super Smash Bros. series, commonly known in official sources as fighters. Shaded cells denote unlockable characters. Yellow tildes indicate a character has yet to be confirmed or denied for Super Smash Bros. 4. Characters that are noted to have been "intended" in a Smash game were planned by Sakurai to be included in that game as a playable character at some point, before being cut for whatever reason.
Note that for every character in Super Smash Bros. 4, it is currently unknown whether they are going to be starter or unlockable.
Notes
- ^ a b c As part of the Pokémon Trainer
- ^ Sakurai has stated that he originally intended to replace Ness with the new protagonist of Mother 3 (Lucas) in Melee, though Mother 3's delay caused him to go back on the idea and keep Ness.
- ^ a b While there hasn't been any official confirmation that Mewtwo and Roy were intended to be in Brawl, unused data on Brawl's disc labelled for Mewtwo and Roy strongly inclines that the characters were developed to some degree for Brawl. Such unused data includes unused fanfares for both characters, and unused sounds for Mewtwo.
- ^ Since mid-match character transformations will no longer exist in Smash 4, it has been confirmed that Pokémon Trainer will not return without being completely revamped as a single character.
Non-playable characters
The following characters can fully interact with playable characters in-game, but are normally non-playable. These include boss characters and enemy teams, among others. Hacking however, may allow these characters to be played to varying degrees of functionality.
Notes
- ^ a b While Giant DK and Metal Mario were unplayable in the original Super Smash Bros., they are effectively playable in Melee and Brawl by picking up a Super Mushroom or a Metal Box, respectively.
- ^ Giga Bowser is playable in Brawl and SSB4 as Bowser's Final Smash.
- ^ Master Hand is playable in Melee through the Name Entry glitch.
- ^ Sandbag is mechanically considered an item in Brawl, not a character.
Newcomers and veterans
A newcomer is a character who appears as playable for the first time in the series in a given game. A veteran is the opposite: a character who has been playable in a previous game. For example, Olimar is a newcomer in Brawl, as he did not appear as playable in any previous games, but is a veteran in all subsequent and future games. Note that the definition of newcomers is distinct from that of "unlockable" or "secret" characters, which are playable characters who must be unlocked by completing certain tasks; every game starting with Melee has had starter veterans, starter newcomers, unlockable veterans, and unlockable newcomers.
The term newcomer was originally used to describe the unlockable characters in the original Super Smash Bros. by the data deletion menu. It was later used in the first trailer for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in which new characters were introduced with the title "Newcomer" atop their name. The word newcomer was later used on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! site to classify new characters whether unlockable or not. This use of the term has become the community-preferred usage for other games in the series.
"Perfect-attendance crew"
Less commonly, the term "veteran" can also denote the "eight regulars" or "perfect-attendance fighters", terms which refer to the eight starter characters in the original Super Smash Bros. which have been in all subsequent games of the series. The terms originated in the description for the 10th Brawl event match All-Star Battle Regulars, reading: "The Smash Bros. perfect-attendance crew! Fight the eight regulars in order!" A popular, unofficial term referring to this group is "The Original 8", which may also be called "The Original 12" if including the four unlockable characters.
Trivia
- Luigi and Jigglypuff are the only characters who appear as unlockable characters in all of the Super Smash Bros. games.
- Ness and Captain Falcon are the only characters who have been both a starter and an unlockable.
- Roy is the only character to appear in a Super Smash Bros. game before appearing in any other series, having been put into Melee as a promotional gimmick designed to showcase a new Fire Emblem game released shortly after Melee.
- If Pokémon Trainer is counted as a single character, each game before the fourth entry has introduced 2 more newcomers than the previous one.