You’ve probably seen the lists. Some professional player in a hoodie ranks every super smash characters entry from S-tier down to the "unplayable" pits of F-tier. It looks scientific. It feels definitive. But if you’ve ever been absolutely demolished by a casual King K. Rool at a house party while you were trying to play a "top-tier" Sheik, you know the truth is a lot messier.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a behemoth. With a roster of 89 fighters (if you count the Echoes and the individual Pokemon under the Trainer), it’s basically a playable museum of gaming history. But "Ultimate" isn't just a subtitle; it's a design philosophy that nearly broke the series creator, Masahiro Sakurai. He famously mentioned that the stress of balancing this many icons was "almost to the brink of death."
The Numbers Game: How Many Super Smash Characters Are There?
Let's get the record straight because people argue about this in Reddit threads constantly. If you look at the official fighter numbers, Sora ends the line at #82. But that doesn't tell the whole story.
You've got Echo Fighters. These are characters like Daisy (#13ᵋ), Lucina (#21ᵋ), and Dark Samus (#04ᵋ). They share move sets with their "parent" characters but have different animations or slight stat tweaks. Then you have the weird ones. The Pokemon Trainer is one slot on the screen but contains Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard.
If you're counting every unique personality you can actually control, the number sits at 89. If you start counting the Koopalings or the different "Heroes" from Dragon Quest as separate people, the list explodes past 100. It's ridiculous. It shouldn't work, yet somehow, Steve from Minecraft can trade blows with Sephiroth without the game instantly crashing.
The Original 12: Where It Started
It's easy to forget that in 1999, the roster was tiny. Just 12 characters.
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- The Starters: Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu.
- The Unlocks: Luigi, Ness, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff.
Back then, the balance was... well, it was the 90s. Pikachu was a god. Luigi was basically a floaty Mario clone. Today, those original twelve are still the foundation, but they’ve evolved so much that playing 64-era Fox feels like playing a completely different genre compared to his Ultimate version.
Why Your Favorite "Trash" Character Might Actually Be Good
There is a massive gap between "Tournament Viability" and "Friday Night with Friends Viability."
Pro players like MkLeo or Sparg0 rank super smash characters based on frame data. They care if a move comes out in 3 frames versus 5. They care about "out-of-shield" options and "kill confirms." For 99% of the population, that stuff doesn't matter.
Take Ganon. In almost every competitive tier list, Ganondorf is bottom five. He’s slow. His recovery is exploitable. If a pro player gets him off-stage, he’s dead. But in a casual 4-player free-for-all? Ganon is a terrifying nightmare. One stray Forward Smash at 40% and you’re gone.
The "Heavy" Bias
Casual play favors "heavies." Characters like King K. Rool, Bowser, and Incineroar thrive when the stage is chaotic. They live longer because they're heavy, and they hit like trucks.
On the flip side, "high-tier" characters like Peach or Joker require immense technical skill. If you aren't hitting your combos perfectly, Peach is just a slow character with a turnip. You’re better off picking someone who wins by accident.
The DLC Power Creep (Is It Real?)
When the Fighters Passes started dropping, the community went through a cycle of grief every few months. "Joker is broken!" "Hero is gambling!" "Steve is ruining the game!"
Honestly, the DLC characters do feel more complex. They have "gimmicks" or unique mechanics that the base roster lacks:
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- Steve (Minecraft): He literally rewrites how the game is played by placing blocks.
- Kazuya (Tekken): He has a traditional fighting game input list longer than some characters' entire move sets.
- Hero (Dragon Quest): The "Command Selection" menu adds a layer of RNG that can turn a losing game into a win with a single "Magic Burst."
Is it power creep? Kinda. But it's also just modern game design. Sakurai wanted every new addition to feel like an event. You can't just release "another sword fighter" in 2021 and expect people to pay $5.99 for it. You have to give them something like Min Min’s long-range arms or Sephiroth’s "One-Winged Angel" comeback mechanic.
The Misconceptions About "Clones"
People love to complain about "too many Fire Emblem characters" or "too many clones."
Here’s the thing: Echo Fighters don’t "take" a spot from someone else. Sakurai has explained that Echoes are added because they are easy to develop. They use existing skeletons and animations. If Lucina wasn't in the game, we wouldn't have gotten Master Chief or Crash Bandicoot in her place; we just would have had one less character.
They are the "bonus" characters. Thinking of them as stolen roster spots is a fundamental misunderstanding of how game budgets and dev cycles work.
How to Actually Pick Your Main
If you’re looking through the super smash characters list trying to figure out who to play, stop looking at the S-tier.
- Test the "Feel": Some characters are "fast-fallers" (Fox, Roy). They feel heavy and twitchy. Others are "floaty" (Zelda, Mewtwo). You need to find which physics engine your brain prefers.
- Check the Recovery: If you hate falling off the stage, stay away from Little Mac or Dr. Mario. Pick someone like Pit or Inkling who can basically fly back to the ledge.
- The "Vibe" Check: Honestly? Play who you like. If you grew up playing Kingdom Hearts, play Sora. The "fun factor" of playing a character you actually care about usually outweighs the marginal benefit of playing a "better" character you find boring.
Moving Forward With the Roster
The list of super smash characters is likely frozen for a long time. With Sakurai moving on to other projects and the sheer licensing nightmare of bringing all these third-party companies (Disney, Square Enix, Microsoft, Sega) back to the table, Ultimate might be the last time we see a roster this size.
If you want to get better, your next move shouldn't be switching to Steve just because he's "broken." Instead, head into Training Mode and turn on the "Show Character Trajectory" setting. See where your main's moves actually send people at different percentages. Understanding the "knockback growth" of your specific character is worth more than any tier list you'll find on a wiki.
Focus on learning one "bread and butter" combo—something simple like a Down-Throw into an Aerial—and get it into your muscle memory. That’s how you actually start winning, regardless of where your character sits on some pro's ranking.