A fighter, also known as a playable character or simply character, is a character in the Super Smash Bros. series roster that can be controlled by players in Versus Mode and other modes. These characters are located on the character selection screen and can be used without a cheat device (e.g. Action Replay). Playable characters can further be divided into starter, unlockable, and downloadable, which distinguishes whether characters can be played right away, whether they need to be unlocked, or whether they need to be downloaded.
List of fighters
This is a list of the fighters in the Super Smash Bros. series.
The following does not include some bosses who can be playable on occasion, such as in the World of Light.
| Key | Starter | Unlockable |  Unlockable /  Starter
|
Downloadable | Customizable[1] | Transformation[2] |
|---|
Notes
- ^ Mii Fighters are automatically unlocked upon creation in the Mii Fighter menu.
- ^ Some characters are accessible through others' movesets. Transformation characters share a slot on the character selection screen and are available from the start (with the exception of Pokémon Trainer in Ultimate). Some transformation characters don’t appear on the character selection screen, but in most situations players can start the match as them through alternate means.
- ^ a b c Sakurai mentions these characters as having been planned for Super Smash Bros. on this page.
- ^ Bowser Jr.'s alternate costumes also allow players to control any of the Koopalings instead.
- ^ a b c d e f g This fighter’s alternate costumes have male and female variants. Only the default gender’s stock icon is shown on the table.
- ^ a b c d e Pokémon Trainer's moveset allows the player to switch between Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard using their shared down special, Pokémon Change.
- ^ Masahiro Sakurai stated he had considered adding Chrom in Smash 4 after finishing Fire Emblem Awakening, but chose Robin instead since Chrom would end up being "another plain-old sword-wielder like Marth and Ike."
- ^ a b c While there hasn't been any official confirmation that Dr. Mario, Mewtwo, and Roy were intended to be in Brawl, unused data on Brawl's disc labelled for each of them strongly implies that the characters were developed to some degree for Brawl.
- ^ Known as Duck Hunt Duo in PAL regions.
- ^ Half of Hero’s costumes represent 4 different protagonists from across the franchise: Luminary, Erdrick, Solo, and Eight. Luminary is the default, and only his stock icon is shown on the table.
- ^ Sakurai stated that, while the Ice Climbers could run smoothly on the Wii U version, the 3DS could not handle the "two-in-one" coding of the duo, and, in order to keep the roster the same between the two versions, they had to be cut from the roster.
- ^ Sakurai 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.
- ^ Sakurai mentions Marth as having been planned for Super Smash Bros. on this page.
- ^ a b c According to the 2014 Nintendo E3 Digital Event, Miis were considered for Brawl, but Sakurai felt that "it didn't seem right for Miis to be punching and kicking at the time".
- ^ Known as Mii Sword Fighter in PAL regions.
- ^ a b In Smash 4 and Ultimate, half of Olimar's costumes allow players to control Alph instead.
- ^ According to Masahiro Sakurai's Famitsu column, Shigeru Miyamoto personally requested for Pac-Man to be in Brawl, but Sakurai (picturing Pac-Man's iconic "wedge" shape) felt it was far-fetched.
- ^ a b R.O.B.’s default appearance in Smash 4 and Ultimate changes depending on the language the game is set to. His Famicom design is his default appearance in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean languages, while all other languages use his NES design.
- ^ a b Samus' Final Smash in Brawl, Zero Laser, transforms her into Zero Suit Samus. Zero Suit Samus can transform in Samus by using her Final Smash, Power Suit Samus.
- ^ a b c d In Melee and Brawl, both Zelda and Sheik have Transform as their down special, which allows each of them to transform into the other.
- ^ Hideo Kojima personally requested that Masahiro Sakurai add Snake to Melee, but while Sakurai was willing, the game was too far in development at the time, according to this interview.
- ^ Former head of Sonic Team, Yuji Naka, stated in an interview that Sonic was very close to being included in the game, but because of time constraints, was not.
- ^ According to Masahiro Sakurai's Famitsu column, he briefly considered adding Villager as a fighter in Brawl, but dropped the idea, as he felt it clashed with the series' carefree gameplay. Animal Crossing features as a prominent secondary universe instead.
- ^ Wario was strongly considered as a playable character in Melee; Sakurai explained on the official Melee website that, while they could have used the time spent developing Mewtwo or Marth and Roy to include Wario, he did not want to over-represent the Mario franchise.
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, Diddy Kong is a newcomer in Brawl, as he did not appear as playable in any previous games, but is a veteran in all subsequent 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; Melee, Brawl, and Smash 4 all had starter veterans, starter newcomers, unlockable veterans, and unlockable newcomers. Ultimate is the first game in which all newcomers are unlockable; however, most veterans are also unlockable.
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", which are 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" (Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, and Pikachu), which may also be called "The Original 12" if including the four unlockable characters (Luigi, Ness, Captain Falcon, and Jigglypuff). The 29th Brawl event match All-Star Semifinal Regulars states: "Four hidden characters from the past game! They're secret perfect attendees." Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the only installment where all the "Original 12" are starter characters. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate refers to the concept of the perfect-attendance crew by making the only starter characters the aforementioned “Original 8.”
Trivia
- Dr. Mario, Ice Climbers, Lucas, Mewtwo, Pichu, Pokémon Trainer (excluding Charizard), Roy, Snake, Wolf, and Young Link are the only characters to have ever been cut.
- Dr. Mario, Mewtwo, Pichu, Young Link, and Roy were cut in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but Dr. Mario returned in Super Smash Bros. 4 as an unlockable character. Lucas, Mewtwo, and Roy were not present in the base roster in Smash 4, but later returned as downloadable content.
- Lucas is the only character to have been a starter character, unlockable character and downloadable character in three seperate games.
- Roy is the only playable character to debut in Super Smash Bros. before appearing in any other game. His inclusion in Melee was intended to promote Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, his debut in his home series, which was released shortly after Melee in Japan.
- According to Super Smash Bros. series director Masahiro Sakurai, The Binding Blade was originally scheduled for release before Melee.[1]
- While Corrin debuted as DLC for SSB4 before Fire Emblem Fates was released in most territories, the game had already been released in Japan several months prior.
- Captain Falcon (in SSB), the Mii Fighters, and Pac-Man (in Ultimate) are the only characters to use head icons that don't portray their faces.
- Wario is the first character to debut as a starter before becoming unlockable in another game.
- Prior to Ultimate, the only unlockable characters whose playable status was not kept a secret prior to release were Snake and Sonic in Brawl, and Lucina in Smash 4.
- Yoshi and Captain Falcon are the only characters who appear in all five Super Smash Bros. games being the sole representatives of their series.
- They are also the only characters who debuted the same day but in different games.
- Metal Gear and Ice Climber are the only universes to have the entirety of their characters cut from one game to the next, and then both being reintroduced in the next game after that.
- Samus is the only female character to appear in all five Super Smash Bros. games, as Pokémon were not considered gendered at the time of the first game's release.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the first game in the series since Melee to not have any veterans cut from the roster. All the previously cut veterans that haven't appeared since Melee and/or Brawl return with various changes to their appearances and/or movesets including new Final Smashes (except for Ice Climbers and Pokémon Trainer)
- Currently, Charizard, Little Mac, Ridley, Dark Samus, and Isabelle are the only characters to have been made fully playable after major non-playable appearances, excluding characters that are playable via items (Metal Mario, Giant Donkey Kong, and Giga Bowser).
- Meta Knight, Pit, Wario, Squirtle, King Dedede, Olimar, Villager, Palutena, Bowser Jr., Ludwig von Koopa of the Koopalings, the duck of Duck Hunt, Inkling, Daisy, Chrom, King K. Rool, Ken, Piranha Plant, and Min Min have also made non-playable appearances prior to their playable debuts in the form of minor representation. These include Trophies, Stickers, Spirits, Mii Fighter costumes, and cameos in stages and Final Smashes.
- Charizard is the only character who was part of a transformation character, became a standalone fighter, and then returned to being part of a transformation character.
- Alph and the female Pokémon Trainer are the only alternate characters who debuted after their base fighter.
- In Smash 4, Alph was intended to be a clone fighter of Olimar. Rock Pikmin were even considered for use. However, this was scrapped presumably due to time constraints and he was incorporated as Olimar’s last four alternate costumes.
- The Koopalings and Heroes from Dragon Quest III, IV and VIII are the only alternate characters who debuted before their base fighter in their home series.
See also
References
| Fighters in Super Smash Bros. | |
|---|---|
| Fighters | Captain Falcon · Donkey Kong · Fox · Jigglypuff · Kirby · Link · Luigi · Mario · Ness · Pikachu · Samus · Yoshi |
| Fighters in Super Smash Bros. Melee | |
|---|---|
| Veterans | Captain Falcon · Donkey Kong · Fox · Jigglypuff · Kirby · Link · Luigi · Mario · Ness · Pikachu · Samus · Yoshi |
| Newcomers | Bowser · Dr. Mario · Falco · Ganondorf · Ice Climbers · Marth · Mewtwo · Mr. Game & Watch · Peach · Pichu · Roy · Young Link · Zelda (Sheik) |
| Fighters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl | |
|---|---|
| Veterans | Bowser · Captain Falcon · Donkey Kong · Falco · Fox · Ganondorf · Ice Climbers · Jigglypuff · Kirby · Link · Luigi · Mario · Marth · Mr. Game & Watch · Ness · Peach · Pikachu · Samus · Yoshi · Zelda / Sheik |
| Newcomers | Diddy Kong · Ike · King Dedede · Lucario · Lucas · Meta Knight · Olimar · Pit · Pokémon Trainer (Charizard · Ivysaur · Squirtle) · R.O.B. · Snake · Sonic · Toon Link · Wario · Wolf · (Zero Suit Samus) |
| Fighters in Super Smash Bros. 4 | |
|---|---|
| Veterans | Bowser · Captain Falcon · Charizard · Diddy Kong · Donkey Kong · Dr. Mario · Falco · Fox · Ganondorf · Ike · Jigglypuff · King Dedede · Kirby · Link · Lucario · Lucas · Luigi · Mario · Marth · Meta Knight · Mewtwo · Mr. Game & Watch · Ness · Olimar · Peach · Pikachu · Pit · R.O.B. · Roy · Samus · Sheik · Sonic · Toon Link · Wario · Yoshi · Zelda · Zero Suit Samus |
| Newcomers | Bayonetta · Bowser Jr. · Cloud · Corrin · Dark Pit · Duck Hunt · Greninja · Little Mac · Lucina · Mega Man · Mii Fighter (Mii Brawler · Mii Gunner · Mii Swordfighter) · Pac-Man · Palutena · Robin · Rosalina & Luma · Ryu · Shulk · Villager · Wii Fit Trainer |