Challenger's Approach is a mode in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate where the player can attempt to fight again against an unlockable character. This mode is available in the Games & More menu and after a few minutes of failing a Challenger Approaching fight. When selected, the Challenger Approaching screen will appear for the unlockable fighter that has been lost to, then the player is able to choose any character they have unlocked to rematch the unlockable fighter.
Unlock Order
Timed encounters
When the player finishes a VS. match, a Mob Smash, a Spirit Board fight or exits the World of Light, a new character can challenge the player to a Challenger Approaching duel. However, the player must then wait 10 minutes before a new Challenger Approaching challenge will be issued. This 10 minute cooldown can be bypassed by closing the game and reopening it.
Time-based Challenger Approaching challenges are issued in a specific order, skipping any characters unlocked in the World of Light or whose Challenger Approaching fight has already been triggered due to Classic Mode.
Below is a table listing the order characters unlocked, the amount of time needed to unlock them, and the stage and music accompanying their unlock battle. The values listed under "Cumulative Wait Time" are idealized values that assume that no characters are unlocked in the World of Light or have their Challenger Approaching fights triggered by Classic Mode, that the player never closes the game after first opening it until they trigger Palutena's Challenger Approaching fight, and the player never spends longer than the minimum amount of time (10 minutes) between triggering Challenger Approaching fights.
Classic Mode
When the player completes Classic Mode, a new character will challenge the player to a Challenger Approaching duel. This character will be the next character in the table below who has not already been unlocked; for characters that appear in the table multiple times, only the first time counts for determining what group they belong to. After all of the characters in a column are unlocked, the unlock sequence loops around to Mario's column, then Donkey Kong's column, and so on.
The unlock sequence for downloadable fighters begin at Mario's column.
The Challenger Approaching duels are the same as those issued on a timed basis, this is simply another way to trigger them.
Notably, all clones, semi-clones, and pseudo-clones except for Ganondorf, Roy, and Chrom are in the same column as the character they are based on.
| Row Number |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
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| 2 |  |
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| 3 |  |
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| 4 |  |
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| 5 |  |
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| 6 |  |
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| 7 |  |
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| 8 |  |
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Trivia
- This is only mode in Ultimate that can become permanently inaccessible, as unlocking all characters prevents it from being needed.
- DLC fighters are the only ones not included in the table, since they are automatically unlocked upon downloading them.