Starter character

A starter character is a character who is already available for play immediately after turning the game on for the first time; the player does not have to unlock, challenge, or download that character in order for them to be selectable (as one must do to select unlockable characters and downloadable characters).

List of starter characters

The following characters appear as starter characters:

Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. 64 starters.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee starters.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Super Smash Bros. Brawl starters.

Bowser
Diddy Kong
Donkey Kong
Fox
Ice Climbers
Ike
King Dedede
Kirby
Link
Lucas
Mario
Meta Knight
Olimar
Peach
Pikachu
Pit
Pokémon Trainer
- Squirtle
- Ivysaur
- Charizard
Samus/Zero Suit Samus
Wario
Yoshi
Zelda/Sheik

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS starters.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U starters.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate starters.

The starting roster is comprised of the original 8 starter characters from the first game.

Trivia

The eight starter characters of Super Smash Bros. are the only playable characters to remain starter in every installment they appear in.
- Samus is the only female character to remain a starter in every installment she appears in.
- Yoshi is the only sole representative to remain a starter in every installment he appears in.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the only installment in the series where all of the original 12 characters appear as starters.
Smash 4 is the only game to feature third-party characters as starter characters.