Ever look back at your Wii U and wonder why it’s gathering dust? Honestly, most people just moved on to the Switch without a second thought. But if you actually fire up that old black brick and look at the smash bros for wii u roster, there’s a specific kind of magic there that even Ultimate didn’t quite replicate.
It was a weird time for Nintendo. They were struggling. The Wii U was basically a commercial ghost town, yet Masahiro Sakurai and his team were out here trying to build the most ambitious fighting game roster the world had ever seen.
The Numbers Game
By the time the final update rolled out, we were looking at 58 playable fighters. That sounds small compared to Ultimate’s massive 80-plus list, but back in 2014, it was staggering. You had 51 characters in the base game. Then, the DLC era began—a first for the series—which added seven more heavy hitters.
The distribution was all over the place. Mario and Fire Emblem felt like they were taking over the screen. Meanwhile, some fans were still scratching their heads over why we got Dark Pit instead of a more unique newcomer. But that’s the charm, right? It was messy.
Why the Newcomers Hit Different
In this specific version of Smash, the newcomers weren't just "more characters." They were experiments.
Take Rosalina & Luma. Managing two characters at once was a technical nightmare for the developers, but it created a playstyle that felt genuinely alien. Or Little Mac. They gave him the most oppressive ground game in history but made him essentially useless the moment his feet left the floor.
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- Villager: A fighter who literally pockets your projectiles and throws them back later.
- Wii Fit Trainer: A character based on yoga poses. Who does that?
- Duck Hunt: A dog and a duck working together with a 2D Zapper reticle.
It felt like Sakurai was daring us to find these characters "cool." And somehow, it worked.
The DLC Revolution
We can't talk about the smash bros for wii u roster without mentioning the "Smash Ballot." Nintendo actually asked us who we wanted. The result? Bayonetta.
She broke the game. Literally.
If you played competitively back then, you remember the "Witch Time" nightmares. She was so dominant that people were legitimately debating if she should be banned from tournaments.
But before she arrived, we got the icons. Ryu from Street Fighter brought actual fighting game inputs into Smash. Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII was a moment that felt impossible. Before that, Square Enix was notoriously stingy with their IPs. Seeing Cloud stand next to Mario was the "peak gaming" moment of 2015.
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What Got Left Behind
Not everyone made the cut from the previous game, Brawl. The biggest heartbreak was the Ice Climbers.
Basically, the Wii U could handle them fine, but the 3DS version (which had to have the same roster) just couldn't deal with four characters on screen at once during a 2v2 match. So, Popo and Nana stayed home.
Snake was gone too. At the time, the relationship between Konami and Hideo Kojima was imploding, which left the legendary mercenary in legal limbo until his triumphant return years later.
Custom Moves: The Lost Meta
Something most people forget is that the roster wasn't just static. Every character had three variations for every special move.
You could give Palutena a "Heavenly Light" instead of her standard "Autoreticle." You could make Mario’s Fireball fast and weak or slow and heavy.
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It was a balancing nightmare. That’s probably why it never came back in full. Competitive players hated it because it was impossible to prepare for every weird combination. Casual players mostly ignored it because unlocking the moves was a tedious grind through "Smash Tour"—arguably the worst mode in the series. But for those who spent the time, it made the roster feel twice as deep.
The Tier List Reality
If you’re looking to dominate your friends on an old console, you need to know who actually wins.
- Bayonetta: The undisputed queen of "carry you to the top blast zone and kill you at 0%."
- Cloud: Huge sword, "Limit Break" mechanics, and zero effort required to be good.
- Diddy Kong: Despite the nerfs to his "Hoo-Hah" combo (down throw to up-air), he stayed top-tier for the game's entire life.
- Sheik: Pure speed. If you have the hands for it, Sheik was untouchable.
On the flip side, poor Jigglypuff was arguably at her lowest point in the entire series. Her "Rest" move didn't kill early enough, and she died if a stiff breeze blew her way.
How to Build Your Roster Today
If you’re picking up the game now, the eShop is a ghost town, but if you have the DLC already, you’re sitting on a goldmine of 2010s nostalgia.
To get the most out of the smash bros for wii u roster, you should actually lean into the Mii Fighters. People clowned on them at launch, but they represent a weird era where you could put your actual face on a brawler and fight Sonic the Hedgehog.
Next Steps for Your Wii U Setup:
Check your storage space before trying to install the updates. The Wii U's internal memory is notoriously small (8GB or 32GB), and the Smash updates plus DLC can easily eat up over 3GB. If you're missing characters, ensure your NNID (Nintendo Network ID) is still linked properly. Even though the shop is closed for new purchases, you can usually redownload content you already own. Focus on mastering the "perfect pivot" movement—it's a technical skill unique to this era of Smash that feels incredibly rewarding once you nail the rhythm.