Universe

A character's universe refers to the series of video games and related media (the franchise) he, she, or it is tied to. For instance, Link is the main hero in games from the Legend of Zelda™ series; thus, he belongs to the Hyrule universe. Falco is a supporting character in the Star Fox^TM series; thus, he belongs to the Star Fox universe.

The Smash Bros. universe is the original series universe that hosts the matches, bouts, and tournaments where the various game franchises contribute their characters and properties to the action. The following lists are of the various video game universes that have thus far been represented in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Main universes

These are the universes whose characters have had starring roles as fighters in Smash Bros. games.

• The Mario universe: Encompasses characters, items, and worlds from the many Mario video games. Playable characters include the titular Nintendo icon Mario (and his medicine man guise as Dr. Mario), his brother Luigi, his giant reptilian rival Bowser, the princess Peach (with Princess Daisy as an alternate costume), Mario's dinosaur steed Yoshi, his (usually) friendly gorilla rival Donkey Kong, and his greedy, obese counterpart Wario. This is Nintendo's biggest universe, so big that there are sub-universes found within here:
  • The Yoshi universe: Encompasses characters, items, and worlds from the subset of Mario video games concerning Yoshi. Yoshi himself is the only playable character thus far.
  • The Donkey Kong universe: Encompasses characters, items, and worlds from the subset of Mario video games that revolve around Donkey Kong. DK himself is the only playable character thus far.
  • The Wario universe: Encompasses characters, items, and worlds from the Wario sub-franchise of video games. Wario himself is the only playable character thus far.

• The Legend of Zelda universe: Encompasses characters, items, and worlds from The Legend of Zelda series of adventure video games. Playable characters include the elven warrior Link, the princess of Hyrule Zelda, her transformable guise as the ninja-like Sheik, Link's younger self as Young Link, and the king of evil Ganondorf in his human form.

• The Metroid universe: Encompasses creatures, main character, items, and worlds from the Metroid series of space-exploration video games. The playable characters from Metroid thus far have been female bounty hunter Samus Aran in her power suit and her unarmored form Zero-Suit Samus.

• The Kirby universe: Encompasses characters, items, and worlds from the Kirby series of video games. Playable characters include the titular pink spherical creature Kirby and his menacing, masked, but honorable rival Meta Knight.

• The Star Fox universe: Encompasses characters, items, and worlds from the Star Fox series of space shooter video games. Playable characters include main Star Fox team pilot Fox McCloud and team copilot Falco Lombardi.

• The Pokémon universe: Encompasses creatures, items, and worlds from the expansive Pokémon media franchise. Playable characters include electric Pokémon mascot Pikachu, its pre-evolved younger form Pichu, the pink spherical Jigglypuff, and the genetically engineered humanoid psychic feline Mewtwo.

• The F-Zero universe: Encompasses characters and worlds from the F-Zero series of futuristic racing video games. Thus far, F-Zero flagship racer Captain Douglas Jay Falcon (who has Blood Falcon as an alternate costume]] has been the only officially playable character from this series.

• The EarthBound universe: Encompasses character, items, and world from the Earthbound/Mother 2 video game. Psychically gifted tyke Ness is the main character and has been playable throughout the Smash Bros. series.

• The Ice Climber universe: Encompasses characters and world from the Ice Climber video game. The two-member fighting team Ice Climbers (Popo and Nana) are one playable fighter.

• The Fire Emblem universe: Encompasses characters and worlds from the fantasy strategy-RPGs developed under the Fire Emblem name. Marth, main character of Fire Emblem 1 and 2, and Roy, main character of the sixth game in the series, are playable characters.

• The Game & Watch universe: Encompasses character and world from the Game & Watch series of handheld game systems. The modern representation of the formerly unnamed protagonist of several of these games, Mr.Game & Watch, is a playable character.

• The Kid Icarus universe: Encompasses character, items, and worlds from the Kid Icarus series of adventure video games. Pit, the so-called Kid Icarus and main character of the series, is playable in Brawl.

• The Metal Gear universe: Encompasses character, items, and worlds from the third-party Metal Gear video games. Main series character Solid Snake is playable in Brawl.

• The Smash Bros. universe: Encompasses characters, items, and worlds which come from the Super Smash Bros. series itself. Master Hand, Crazy Hand, Giga Bowser, the Fighting Wire Frames, the Polygon Team, and Sandbag are all original characters which make their appearances in the series, fitting various roles, such as being a boss.

Minor universes

These are the various franchises who have not had characters starring as fighters in Smash Bros. games.

• 1080 Snowboarding/Avalanche: Snowboarding games released for the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube. A character from the first game (but not the second), Kensuke Kimachi, cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
• Animal Crossing series: A Gamecume game in the style of the PC game The Sims, later seen on Nintendo DS. Three trophies - Tom Nook, Totakeke, and Mr. Resetti - are of characters in the game, and these serve as a "preview" to the game because Melee was released before Animal Crossing on Gamecube.
• Balloon Fighter: An NES game whose titular character cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee, and the Flipper obstacle is featured as an item from Melee. In addition, Balloon Fighter was one of the candidates, along with Excitebiker, to be a playable character in SSBB; however, the position eventually went to the Ice Climbers. Interestingly enough, the Balloon Trip music from the NES game was put into SSBM as an alternate song for Icicle Mountain, the Ice Climbers' home stage.
• Card Hero: A trading card game based on a Game Boy Color game; both were not released outside Japan. One of its characters, Maruo Maruhidge, cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
• Clu Clu Land: An NES game whose main character, Bubbles, cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
• Cubivore: A simulation Gamecube game released in 2002. The Alpha trophy represents a denizen of this game world.
• Custom Robo series: Three robot combatants, Ray MK II, Bayonette, and Annie, cameo as collectible trophies in Melee.
• Doshin the Giant: The two forms that the Giant can take, Love Giant and Hate Giant, cameo as collectible trophies in Melee.
• Duck Hunt: A classic shooting game for NES that made use of the NES gun perpheral. A pair of the unfortunate ducks involved cameo as a collectible trophy in Melee.
• Excitebike: A side-scrolling racing game whose depiction of a motorcyclist racer is a collectible trophy in Melee.
• Famicom Detective Club: Ayumi Tachibana cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
• Famicom Disk System: A disc-based add-on for the Famicom, the japanese NES. Its simplistic mascot, Diskun (aka Mr. Disk), cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
• Kuru Kuru Kururin: Heririn cameos as a collectible trophe in Melee.
• Mach Rider: A driving game that was one of the launch titles for the original NES. The titular character, Mach Rider, is a collectible trophy. Also, music from Mach Rider can sometimes be heard on the Big Blue stage.
• Nintendogs: A pet simulation game released in multiple versions for the Nintendo DS. The puppies from Nintendogs appear as items in Brawl.
• Panel de Pon: The Lip's Stick item is a tool from this product.
• Perfect Dark series: Sci-fi stealth-based FPS games by former Nintendo developer Rareware. The Motion Sensor Bomb and Cloaking Device are featured as items.
• Pikmin series: A real-time strategy game series for Gamecube and an original creation of Nintendo president Shigeru Miyamoto. The main character, Captain Olimar, and the titular creatures, the Pikmin, cameo as separate, collectible trophies. In fact, the former is acquired by starting Melee with a memory card containing a Pikmin save on it inserted into the Gamecube.
• Sheriff: A 1979 arcade game whose main character and enemy sprites cameo together in a collectible trophy for Melee.
• Shin Oni Ga Shima: A game retelling of a Japanese folktale. The main characters, Donbe & Hikari, cameo together as a collectible trophy in Melee.
• SimCity series: Dr. Wright cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
• Wave Race series: A series of jet-ski racing games released for Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, and Gamecube. The flagship character of the latter two, Ryota Hayami, cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.