Super Smash Bros Ultimate is one of the biggest fighting games ever made. There are more Smash Bros Ultimate characters in this version of the game than most fighting games build up across all of their instalments! The game’s tagline, after all, is Everyone is here!
The Smash Bros Ultimate roster is a feat we’ll likely never see replicated again. It’s doubtful they can top it, especially when we consider all of the Smash Bros Ultimate characters that had to be specifically licenced for inclusion here. It dwarfs the totals of newer games like the Street Fighter 6 characters. If you’re wondering just how big the roster got in the end, this is the full Smash Bros characters list. Along with which franchises have the most representation among the Smash Bros Ultimate characters.
Super Smash Bros Characters – Base Roster
The base roster of Smash Bros Ultimate characters is huge. Normally DLC would make up a good portion of additions for games like the FighterZ roster. Here though, it’s basically two games worth in the base roster by itself.
Mario
Donkey Kong
Link
Samus
Yoshi
Kirby
Fox
Pikachu
Luigi
Ness
Captain Falcon
Jigglypuff
Peach
Bowser
Ice Climbers
Sheik
Zelda
Dr. Mario
Marth
Young Link
Ganondorf
Mewtwo
Roy
Mr. Game & Watch
Meta Knight
Pit
Dark Pit
Zero Suit Samus
Wario
Snake
Ike
Pokémon Trainer
Diddy Kong
Lucas
Sonic
King Dedede
Olimar
Lucario
R.O.B
Toon Link
Wolf
Villager
Mega Man
Wii Fit Train
Pac-Man
Rosaline & Luma
Little Mac
Greninja
Mii Fighters
Robin
Shulk
Bowser Jr.
Duck Hunt
Ryu
Cloud
Corrin
Bayonetta
Inkling
Ridley
Simon
King K. Rool
Isabelle
Incineroar
Echo Fighters
The Smash Bros Ultimate characters aren’t all entirely unique. In this version, we’ve got a separate category for what we’d normally call palette swaps. The clone fighter is a common occurrence across fighting games, you’ll see them in the Mortal Kombat characters list and more. Smash doesn’t have too many considering the huge roster size. These echo fighters are clones of existing characters with just minor changes to their movesets.
Dark Samus
Daisy
Lucina
Chrom
Ken
Richter
DLC Smash Bros Characters
The DLC for Super Smash Bros Ultimate roster expanded things out even further. Here we’ve got some characters from more top fighting games like Kazuya. It isn’t just crossover Smash Bros characters though. Nintendo had quite a few of their own characters make the leap into Smash Bros here, including one that’s been in their games for decades already!
The DLC for Smash Bros Ultimate characters included loads of really fan-pleasing picks. We got an old favourite Banjo, a character no one thought would fly for licencing in Sora, and even more fun niche picks. These are all of the DLC Smash Bros Ultimate characters that we received.
Piranha Plant
Joker
Hero
Banjo & Kazooie
Terry
Byleth
Min Min
Steve/Alex
Sephiroth
Pyra and Mythra
Kazuya
Sora
How Many Super Smash Bros Characters are There?
Smash Bros Ultimate has 82 characters in total!
This number accounts for all the DLC, the echo fighters, and the entire base roster. Although, it doesn’t count some of the alternative skins like all the characters Steve can be or the skins.
As cool as it would be to actually have Sans in Smash Bros, he is just a skin for the Mii fighter!
Which Franchise Has the Most Super Smash Bros Characters?
Super Smash Bros isn’t the only fighting game to crossover multiple franchises, but it seems like it has the edge on the number of franchises represented. Smash Bros Ultimate characters are pulled from across gaming. This is how the roster breaks down in terms of which characters are from which franchise, counting all of the echos and alternative characters with the same movesets.
Mario – 11
Fire Emblem – 8
Pokémon – 8
Zelda – 6
Metroid – 4
Kirby – 3
Star Fox – 3
Donkey Kong – 3
Kid Icarus – 3
Xenoblade – 2
Street Fighter – 2
Final Fantasy – 2
Castlevania – 2
Earthbound – 2
Animal Crossing – 2
Others (single rep) – 21
The top franchise here is Mario, followed by Fire Emblem, and Pokémon before we get to Zelda! At this point, the Smash Ultimate roster is really varied between different franchises though. If we were to group single-rep franchises together, they’d be the largest part of the roster. This is great as it gives us the widest range of Smash Bros Ultimate characters. Some of these single-rep franchises have even gone on to define the meta, like Steve who has dominated tournaments. The full roster is one of the most varied out there.