Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Characters Ranked by Difficulty -

By Tim McGuire

This is an independently submitted op-ed and does not reflect the views of The Tower.

With the 5th installment of the iconic fighting-party game series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch wields a large, eclectic cast of over 80 characters. Looking at the character select screen, it can certainly be a daunting choice of where to begin. Do you pick your childhood favorite character? The character you’ve never seen before, but looks interesting? Do you just pick random and pray?

Fortunately for all you lost souls, I am a huge nerd and love this series to death. I pre-ordered the game, and woke up early to play it before going to school on December 7th, 2018. Six years have gone by now, and I know a thing or two about each of the characters in the huge roster. I am also a part of CUA’s SSBU team and frequent tournaments in the D.C. area, so I feel qualified enough to direct people who may be newer to the game.

Using Dabuz’s tier list maker, I’ve sorted the cast by a 5-star system (individually unordered), with the easiest characters having 1 star and the most difficult characters having 5 stars. Note that this is in an objectively competitive sense, and that you can find success with any character if you work hard enough. This list is focused on gameplay fundamentals, and also my own personal view of the game. The way I see/play this game is much different than anyone else, and this could vary from person to person, but I tried to be as objective as possible.

1 Star: Bowser, Chrom, Cloud, (Dark) Pit, (Dark) Samus, Ike, Incineroar, Kirby, Lucina, Mario, Mr. Game and Watch, Palutena, and Pyra/Mythra.

If you’re brand new to this game, I would recommend these characters the most. All of them have simple tools in their arsenal, made for simple game plans. If you’ve been playing Smash for a while and have good fundamentals, you’ll likely find success with one of these characters. It should be noted that some characters here have special mechanics (Cloud’s Limit Charge; Incineroar’s Revenge; Pyra/Mythra’s swapping), but I believe they’re very easy to learn and won’t impede your understanding of the game.

2 Stars: Captain Falcon, Corrin, Donkey Kong, Falco, Jigglypuff, King DeDeDe, King K. Rool, Little Mac, Marth, Meta Knight, Mii Brawler, Pikachu, Ridley, R.O.B., Roy, Sephiroth, Simon/Richter, Terry, Wario, Wolf, Yoshi, Young Link.

This is where we take a step up in gameplay, with characters that are relatively simple, but have a quirky feature that makes them a little harder to master. For example, Marth and Lucina (see tier above) share the exact same moveset, except Marth’s sword does more damage at the tip of his sword, whereas Lucina’s sword does the same amount of damage anywhere on her sword. Playing Marth requires some more knowledge of spacing. You might run into more complicated combos with these characters, but a good training mode session will work wonders.

3 Stars: Bowser Jr., Byleth, Diddy Kong, Duck Hunt, Ganondorf, Hero, Isabelle, Luigi, Mega Man, Mewtwo, Mii Gunner, Mii Swordfighter, Min Min, Ness, Pac-Man, Pichu, Piranha Plant, Pokemon Trainer, Snake, Sonic, Toon Link, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Zelda, Zero Suit Samus.

Now we’re getting into the territory of real weird characters, but nothing impossible. All of these characters also have quirky mechanics/drawbacks, but to a higher degree. To single one out, Hero’s gameplan is heavily dependent on how lucky the player gets, but also how they use their MP meter. Some of these characters could be played by beginners (Ganondorf, Isabelle, Luigi, Ness to name a few), but there’s going to be a sharp learning curve when trying to improve them.

4 Stars: Banjo & Kazooie, Bayonetta, Dr. Mario, Fox, Inkling, Joker, Ryu/Ken, Link, Lucas, Olimar, Robin, Sheik, Shulk, Sora.

This is the point where I would discourage any new players from picking these characters yet. On top of needing to understand the game and its mechanics, you also need to understand how these characters function and how different they are compared to the rest of the cast. For instance, a huge part of Ryu/Ken’s gameplan is special command inputs, stronger moves only accessible by flicking the control stick in a pattern (like traditional fighting games). These characters can be fun, but they have some nuance to them.

5 Stars: Greninja, Ice Climbers, Kazuya, Lucario, Peach/Daisy, Rosalina & Luma, Steve.

These are, what I believe to be, the hardest characters to master in the game. If you think playing one character is hard, try playing two at the same time with Ice Climbers or Rosalina & Luma. Committing to playing one of these characters means you’re probably going to spend a lot of time in training mode; I would know after picking up Peach/Daisy and their insane turnip combos over a summer. If someone ever tells you to try these characters off the bat, they want an easy win.