Unlockable character

"Challenger" redirects here. For info on fighters, to whom the title "challenger" is often applied, see Fighter.

Character selection screen in Super Smash Bros. indicating the unlockable characters.

An unlockable character (also referred to as a secret character or hidden character, and in-game as challengers, or newcomers in the N64 game's Backup Clear menu) is one that is not available at the start of the game (unlike a starter character), but instead must be received in-game (unlike downloadable characters) through other means.

Unique criteria must be met in order to unlock each character, as outlined below. Once such criteria are met, the challenger will appear the next time the player returns to the menu. If the player wins the subsequent battle, a message will appear congratulating them for unlocking the new fighter.

In Super Smash Bros., the character select screen displayed placeholders for not yet unlocked characters. This was changed in Super Smash Bros. Melee, where the clones didn't have placeholders prior to unlocking, with their portraits simply appearing afterward. The placeholder slots were completely removed from Super Smash Bros. Brawl onward.

Whenever a character is unlocked, a screen telling the player that the character is now playable will be displayed:

In Super Smash Bros., the screen says that "you can now use" the character, featuring a unique title for each of them.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the screen displays a sentence that is unique to each character and features the unlocking timestamp.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the screen says that the character, with their unique title too, "has joined the brawl", and also features a portrait of the character.
In Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the screen says that the character "joins the battle!" while playing Rare Trophy from Melee, before archiving their corresponding milestones. This also applies to downloadable content characters once they are downloaded, or when the game is booted after a character's release date in case of being purchased via Fighters Pass in the latter game.

"Challenger Approaching!" screen[edit]

Captain Falcon in the Challenger Approaching! screen in Super Smash Bros.

Inkling in the Challenger Approaching! screen in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

The "Challenger Approaching!" (挑戦者が現れました！, A Challenger has Appeared!) screen is a message that will be displayed after the player has met a criteria required to unlock any of the available characters. Every game has its unique screen.

Super Smash Bros. had a silhouette of the character merely displayed in a blue box in front of a black background, with an exclamation point in a red circle on the top of the screen, and the phrase "Challenger Approaching" next to it. The screen uses similar music to the 1P-Game's intro, with the only difference being the absence of drums for the "challenger approaching" tune. As a result, this is the only game where the challengers' silhouettes are animated, showing them in their fighting stances while rotating (like in the character select screen), rather than just shadowed versions of their official illustrations.

Super Smash Bros. Melee added the phrase "A new foe has appeared!," and also had a silhouette of the approaching challenger in a box. The poses for the challengers were silhouettes of their renders when selected on the character select screen (some, however, like Luigi and Ganondorf's, were their renders from inside the boxes). The game also added animations to the screens, with an undulating matrix effect in the background, while the exclamation point, text and silhouette would be eased in. Original music was also provided solely for the screen, which took the sound of a slow, ominous siren.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl returned to the plain black background (there would be a silhouette of an unlockable character the player would face in a red circle); but this would only occur if the Subspace Emissary method was not used. Also, Brawl removed the word "Warning" and the circle explanation point logo from the challenger approaching screen. It still had animations that would ease in, and when the player pressed any button, the images would fade to black, while the "Challenger Approaching!" text would scatter all over the screen; the siren is also considerably louder, faster and more panicky in its sound than how it sounds in Melee.

Super Smash Bros. 4 reused Brawl's warning siren, but there are some differences in both versions. The 3DS version added in considerably more colors, including hues of green, black, and violet; the screen also says "A challenger approaches!" instead of its previous quotations. The Wii U version uses a font style similar to the ones in the newcomer trailers, and the background contains a picture of a supernova; the text is nonetheless reused from past games. The unlockable character in both versions of Smash 4 on the screen is still a silhouette that the player would face (just like in the previous three installments).

As in Smash 4, the warning siren from Brawl is used in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This time there is a dark pink background with a white/pink light shining behind the silhouette of the unlockable character. The text about unlocking characters remains the same from prior games.

After the "Challenger Approaching!" screen, the unlockable character will then be fought in an ordinary one stock match with no time limit, on a predetermined stage with predetermined music. The AI difficulty of the duel depends on the game, usually at low difficulty for the first fighter, then it gradually increases with every fighter unlocked, however, it is reversed in Melee, and always high in the Wii U version of Smash 4. The player uses the last character played as, including the last used costume. In the case of multiplayer battles, in the first three Smash games, the player who won the match will fight the challenger; if a CPU wins the match, the challenger will not appear. Super Smash Bros. 4 changed this formula such that if a CPU wins the match, then the human-controlled player with the highest rank will battle the challenger.

By defeating the opponent, the character becomes playable. If the player fails, they will not unlock the character. In Melee, Brawl, and Smash 4, if the Vs. match requirement is met, or if the other unlock requirement is cumulative, such as Mewtwo's in Melee, the unlockable character's encounter will reappear upon the next game played. If the other unlock requirement requires completing a run of a single-player mode, such as Falco's in Melee, the mode must be completed again to challenge the character again after failure. In Ultimate, failed battles against unlockable characters are moved to a separate Challenger's Approach mode.

The "Challenger Approaching!" screen has become somewhat of a meme in the Smash community. Many digitally manipulated versions of these screens have appeared, often featuring characters who do not appear in the games, mostly using artwork of the character from another game instead of original artwork (which gives away its falseness). The screens became so popular that they were featured as part of the DOJO!!; in earlier updates, whenever a new character was introduced, a banner that said "Warning! Challenger Approaching!" would appear above the entry.

Challenger Approaching Screens[edit]

The Challenger Approaching! screen with Ness in Super Smash Bros.
The Challenger Approaching! screen with Marth in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
The Challenger Approaching! screen with Sonic in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
The Challenger Approaching! screen with Dark Pit in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
The Challenger Approaching! screen with Duck Hunt in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
The Challenger Approaching! screen with Simon in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Challenger Approaching Alarms[edit]

Smash 64's challenger alarm.
Melee's challenger alarm.
Brawl, Smash 4, and Ultimate's challenger alarm.

Super Smash Bros.[edit]

Fighters[edit]

Character	How to unlock	Unlock location
Luigi	Complete Bonus 1: Break the Targets with all starter characters.	Peach's Castle
Captain Falcon	Complete 1P Game in 20 minutes or less.	Planet Zebes
Ness	Complete 1P Game on Normal or higher with three lives or less and without using any continues.	Dream Land
Jigglypuff	Complete 1P Game with any character.	Saffron City

Gallery[edit]

Luigi challenging the player in Smash 64
Captain Falcon challenging the player in Smash 64
Ness challenging the player in Smash 64
Jigglypuff challenging the player in Smash 64

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

Fighters[edit]

Melee introduces a alternate method for unlocking each fighter, by completing a certain number of VS matches, in intervals of 100 (aside from Jigglypuff and Dr. Mario requiring 50 and 100 respectively). Using only VS Mode matches, each preceding fighter must be unlocked before the next one will appear.

Character	How to unlock	VS matches required	Unlock Location	Music
Jigglypuff	Complete Classic Mode, Adventure Mode, or All-Star Mode^{[note 1]} with any character.	50	Pokémon Stadium	Pokémon Stadium
Dr. Mario	Complete Classic Mode, Adventure Mode, or All-Star Mode^{[note 1]} as Mario without using any continues.	100	Princess Peach's Castle	Dr. Mario
Pichu	Complete Event 37: Legendary Pokémon.	200	Pokémon Stadium	Battle Theme
Falco	Complete the 100-Man Melee.	300	Battlefield	Corneria
Marth	Use all 14 starter characters in Versus Mode, Classic Mode, Adventure Mode, or All-Star Mode.^{[note 1]} A complete playthrough is not required for the single-player modes.	400	Fountain of Dreams	Fire Emblem
Young Link	Complete Classic Mode, Adventure Mode, or All-Star Mode^{[note 1]} with 10 different characters.	500	Great Bay	Saria's Theme
Ganondorf	Complete Event 29: Triforce Gathering.	600	Final Destination	Great Bay
Mewtwo	Play Versus Mode for a combined total of 20 hours.^{[note 2]}	700	Final Destination	Poké Floats
Luigi	Clear the first stage of Adventure Mode when the second on the time limit gets a "2". For example: XX:X2:XX. Afterwards, defeat Luigi and Peach within 1 minute and clear the rest of the mode.	800	Mushroom Kingdom II	Mushroom Kingdom II
Roy	Complete Classic Mode, Adventure Mode, or All-Star Mode^{[note 1]} as Marth without using any continues.	900	Temple	Fire Emblem
Mr. Game & Watch	Complete Classic Mode, Adventure Mode, All-Star Mode^{[note 1]}, or Target Test with all 24 other characters.	1000	Flat Zone	Flat Zone

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Because All-Star Mode is itself unlocked by unlocking all characters, it is only possible to unlock a character via All-Star Mode if the player had previously used the Erase Data > Hidden Characters option after unlocking All-Star Mode.
^ The time required is calculated in "player-hours" (e.g. two human players gives two hours for every hour of game-time, three human players give three and four players give four).

Gallery[edit]

Jigglypuff challenging the player in Melee
Dr. Mario challenging the player in Melee
Pichu challenging the player in Melee
Falco challenging the player in Melee
Marth challenging the player in Melee
Young Link challenging the player in Melee
Ganondorf challenging the player in Melee
Mewtwo challenging the player in Melee
Luigi challenging the player in Melee
Roy challenging the player in Melee
Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Melee

Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the first game to feature third-party characters, both third-party characters (Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog) are unlockable characters. Using only VS Mode matches, each succeeding fighter must be unlocked before any preceding fighter will appear.

Fighters[edit]

Character	How to unlock	VS matches required	Unlock location	Music
Ness	Reflect 10 projectiles in a single Vs. match.	5	Onett	Mother (Melee)
Marth	Complete Classic Mode.	10	Castle Siege	Fire Emblem (Melee)
Luigi	Complete Classic Mode without using any continues.	22	Luigi's Mansion	Luigi's Mansion Theme
Falco	Complete 100-Man Brawl.	50	Lylat Cruise	Area 6
Captain Falcon	Play through Classic Mode on Normal or higher and clear it in 12 minutes or less.	70	Port Town Aero Dive	Mute City
Lucario	Clear all levels of Target Smash!! at least once.	100	Spear Pillar	Victory Road
Snake	Play 15 Vs. Matches on Shadow Moses Island to completion.	130	Shadow Moses Island	Encounter
R.O.B.	Play a Vs. Match to completion while having 250 different trophies.	160	Mario Bros.	Mario Bros.
Ganondorf	Clear Classic Mode on Hard as Link or Zelda.	200	Final Destination	Hidden Mountain & Forest
Mr. Game & Watch	Clear Target Smash!! with 30 different characters on any single difficulty level.	250	Flat Zone 2	Flat Zone 2
Sonic	Complete Classic Mode with 10 characters, or play Vs. Mode for a combined total of 10 hours.^{[note 1]}	300	Green Hill Zone	Sonic Heroes
Jigglypuff	Have 20 or more events cleared after completing The Subspace Emissary.	350	Pokémon Stadium 2	Pokémon Center
Toon Link	Complete Classic Mode after completing The Subspace Emissary.	400	Pirate Ship	Dragon Roost Island
Wolf	Complete Boss Battles mode as Fox or Falco.	450	Lylat Cruise	Star Wolf

^ The time required is calculated in "player-hours" (e.g. two human players gives two hours for every hour of game-time, three human players give three and four players give four).

The Subspace Emissary[edit]

The Subspace Emissary features its own storyline and character selection screen, with characters met and joining the mode's roster as part of the story. (For example, Wario is a starter character, but he cannot be played as in the SSE until he is 'unlocked' in the SSE.) Characters can also leave The Subspace Emissary's roster as part of the story, and cannot be played as until they are met again.

Unlocking any non-starter character in The Subspace Emissary will also unlock them for play in other modes. This occurs instantly, without requiring a "Challenger Approaching" battle. Thus the Subspace Emissary serves as a third method for unlocking characters, in addition to the challenges and versus match methods. All characters can be met in The Subspace Emissary; however, Toon Link, Wolf, and Jigglypuff are only unlockable after the main story is completed by finding a secret door while replaying certain levels.

Below is a chart of when each fighter is unlocked, removed, or changes or combines teams; stages with none of these are omitted.

Every level numerically ordered:
1: Midair Stadium
2: Skyworld
3: Sea of Clouds
4: The Jungle
5: The Plain
6: The Lake
7: The Ruined Zoo
8: The Battlefield Fortress
9: The Forest
10: The Research Facility I
11: The Lake Shore
12: The Path to the Ruins
13: The Cave
14: The Ruins
15: The Wilds I
16: The Ruined Hall
17: The Wilds II
18: The Swamp
19: The Research Facility II
20: Outside the Ancient Ruins
21: The Glacial Peak
22: The Canyon
23: Battleship Halberd Interior
24: Battleship Halberd Exterior
25: Battleship Halberd Bridge
26: The Subspace Bomb Factory I
27: The Subspace Bomb Factory II
28: Entrance to Subspace
29: Subspace I
30: Subspace II
31: The Great Maze

The Subspace Emissary consists of 31 different stages. As some stages share the same name, the earlier stage is denoted with an I while the later-appearing stage is followed by a II.

Stage	Fighters available	Unlocked fighters	Lost fighters	Recovered fighters	Total fighters	Teams
Midair Stadium	Mario (the battle with Kirby if he was chosen, and the battle with Subspace army), Kirby (all phases, except the battle with Mario if he was not chosen), Peach, Zelda (both only in the battle with Subspace army)	Kirby, Peach/Zelda (Mario is sent flying and Wario kidnaps either Zelda/Peach when the other princess is freed from Petey)	—	—	2	1, new team: Kirby, Peach/Zelda
Skyworld	Pit (all phases), Mario (the last sidescrolling section after Pit rescues him)	Mario, Pit	—	—	4	2, new team: Mario, Pit
The Jungle	Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong	Diddy Kong (Bowser captures Donkey Kong)	—	—	5	3, new team: Diddy Kong
The Lake	Diddy Kong, Fox	Fox	—	—	6	3, Fox joins Diddy Kong
The Ruined Zoo	Lucas (all phases), Ness (only the battle with Porky), Pokémon Trainer (Squirtle only) (only after defeating Porky)	Lucas, Pokémon Trainer (Squirtle) (Wario kidnaps Ness; Ness will not be unlocked in any mode)	—	—	8	4, new team: Lucas, Pokémon Trainer (Squirtle)
The Battlefield Fortress	Marth (all phases), Meta Knight (second and third phases), Ike (third phase only)	Marth, Meta Knight, Ike	—	—	11	5, new team: Marth, Meta Knight, Ike
The Forest	Link, Yoshi	Link, Yoshi, Toon Link ^[1]	—	—	13	6, new team: Link, Yoshi
The Research Facility I	Zero Suit Samus (all phases), Pikachu (all phases starting with the second)	Zero Suit Samus, Pikachu	—	—	15	7, new team: Zero Suit Samus, Pikachu
The Lake Shore	Mario, Pit (entire level if Zelda was rescued, only the last section if Peach was rescued), Link, Yoshi (entire level if Peach was rescued, only the last section if Zelda was rescued), Kirby (only the last section)	—	Peach/Zelda (Bowser captures her)	—	14	5, the groups of Mario and Pit, Link and Yoshi, and Kirby combine.
The Ruins	Lucas, Pokémon Trainer (with Squirtle for all phases and Ivysaur after Pokémon Trainer finds it)	Ivysaur, Charizard, Wolf^[1]	—	—	14	5, Ivysaur and Charizard now are in Pokémon Trainer's team
The Ruined Hall	Lucas, Pokémon Trainer	—	—	—	14	4, the groups of Marth, Ike and Meta Knight, and Lucas, Pokémon Trainer combine.
The Swamp	Diddy Kong, Fox (all phases), Falco (all phases except the first)	Falco, Jigglypuff^[1]	—	—	15	4, Falco joins Diddy Kong and Fox
The Research Facility II	Zero Suit Samus (all phases, transforming from Samus by taunting whenever possible), Pikachu (all phases), Samus (after defeating the False Samuses)	Samus	Zero Suit Samus (Samus replaces her; playing as Zero Suit Samus is still possible by taunting or pressing C on the nunchuck)	—	15	4, Samus replaces Zero Suit Samus
Outside the Ancient Ruins	Olimar, Captain Falcon (both all phases), Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong (both only in the battle with Subspace army)	Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, Olimar	Fox, Falco (they did not become trophies, but Diddy Kong leaves their group, and they all go their separate ways)	—	16	4, Diddy Kong leaves Fox and Falco and joins

[erase-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Because All-Star Mode is itself unlocked by unlocking all characters, it is only possible to unlock a character via All-Star Mode if the player had previously used the Erase Data > Hidden Characters option after unlocking All-Star Mode.

[player-hours-2] The time required is calculated in "player-hours" (e.g. two human players gives two hours for every hour of game-time, three human players give three and four players give four).

[player-hours-2-3] The time required is calculated in "player-hours" (e.g. two human players gives two hours for every hour of game-time, three human players give three and four players give four).

[note 1]

[note 2]

[note 1]

[1]