Fighter number
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Fighter numbers are a method of identifying and sorting characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Definition
As explained by Masahiro Sakurai, the numbers order characters based on "the order in which they joined" the series. Here is the list of how newcomers from each game are ordered.
- SSB: The starter characters are ordered by their placement on the character selection screen, which in turn is based on each character's first appearance (with Mario and Donkey Kong as the oldest and Pikachu as the newest). The unlockable characters are similar, though they are sorted column-first rather than row-first as the starters are.
- Melee: The starter characters are ordered by their first appearance on Melee's E3 2001 reveal trailer (based on which ones had their faces shown first, meaning that the Ice Climbers and Sheik come before Zelda, whose hand appeared earlier in the reveal trailer)[1]. The unlockable characters are ordered by how many Vs. Mode matches are required to unlock them, and thus Pichu, Ganondorf, Young Link, and Mewtwo's roles in the reveal trailer are ignored.
- Brawl: The characters first revealed in Brawl's original trailer are ordered first, followed by the remaining newcomers in the order revealed on the official website. Notably, Pokémon Trainer is not given a fighter number, likely due to not being directly controlled by the player. Instead, the three Pokémon (Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard, ordered by evolution stage) are given numbers instead.
- SSB4 and Ultimate: The order is the order the newcomers were revealed. DLC characters are ordered by when they released.
- Echo Fighters share number with their "parent" in addition to a superscript epsilon (ε), regardless of which game they joined in. For example, Lucina would be marked as #56 if Echo Fighters were numbered like any other character, pushing every character including and after Robin one number larger.
- As for where the other Echo Fighters would be placed if they had been given numbers, Dark Pit would have been right before Bowser Jr.; Daisy would have been right before Ridley; Ken would be right before Incineroar; and Richter, Chrom, and Dark Samus would be between Simon and King K. Rool in that order.
Order
Usage
The Fighter numbers are used to order characters on Ultimate's selection screen and promotional material. Mii fighters are instead shown as the last characters on the selection screen. The only major in-game usage of the fighter numbers is that Echo Fighters, due to not having their own fighter number, can be optionally stacked onto the character they are based on exclusively in Vs. Mode, Special Smash (except for Smashdown), Tourney, and Online modes except for Quickplay.
A similar system is used for ordering stages on Ultimate's selection screen, where all stages are ordered by when they first joined the series (with the exception of stages shared between both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4, which are mixed in with stages from exclusively Super Smash Bros. for Wii U)
It is possible to use similar rules to construct fighter numbers for other games in the series. However, because Echo Fighters share number with their parent by these rules, and the clone status of some characters has changed between games (for example, Falco in Melee would be 07ε), many characters would not keep the same number across the series as a whole. As a result, the system is generally not portable across games.
