Editing Fighter number

*''[[Melee]]'' (13-26): The starter characters are ordered by their first appearance on ''Melee''{{'}}s E3 2001 reveal trailer (based on which ones had their faces shown first, meaning that the {{SSBU|Ice Climbers}} and {{SSBU|Sheik}} come before {{SSBU|Zelda}}, whose hand appeared earlier in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfQ75gr2znA the trailer]). Zelda was the only character on ''Melee''{{'}}s starting roster who wasn’t revealed to be playable at E3 2001, which could also be the reason why Zelda is placed after Sheik, despite both ''Melee'' and ''Brawl'' treating her as the primary character and Sheik as an alternate form. The unlockable characters are ordered by how many Vs. Mode matches are required to unlock them, and thus {{SSBU|Young Link}}, {{SSBU|Ganondorf}}, {{SSBU|Pichu}}, and {{SSBU|Mewtwo}}'s roles in the reveal trailer are ignored.

The fighter numbers are used to order characters on ''Ultimate''{{'}}s [[character selection screen]] and promotional material. The Mii Fighters are the only fighters whose placement on the selection screen does not correspond with their numbers, as they are instead always shown as the last characters on the selection screen, even after DLC characters, likely due to their customizable nature. The only major in-game usage of the fighter numbers is that Echo Fighters, due to not having their own fighter number, can be optionally stacked onto the character they are based on in the character selection screens for [[Vs. Mode]], [[Special Smash]] (except for [[Smashdown]]), [[Tourney]], and Online modes (except for Quickplay). The only place that the fighter numbers are explicitly shown in-game is on the [[Move List]].

A similar system is used for ordering stages on ''Ultimate''{{'}}s selection screen, where all stages are ordered by when they first appeared in the series. The only exceptions are stages not based on any franchise ({{SSBU|Battlefield}}, {{SSBU|Big Battlefield}}, {{SSBU|Final Destination}}, and [[Small Battlefield]]), which are all placed first on the selection screen even if they debuted in later games. Another quirk involves stages which debuted in and are shared between both versions of ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', which are mixed in with stages that debuted exclusively in {{forwiiu}}).

**The [[Super Smash Bros. 4 Official Site]] orders the [[starter character]]s almost identically to their fighter numbers. The only exceptions are that Zelda is ordered before Sheik in ''SSB4'', the third-party characters and Miis are ordered after everyone else, and on the website Lucina (the only unlockable character who was revealed before launch) is ordered after Robin despite being revealed first.

**The character lineup that replaces the [[opening movie]] in {{for3ds}} orders starting characters in the same way as the website. The lineup in ''for 3DS'' similarly orders the unlockable characters by their debuts, though with {{SSB4|Duck Hunt}} before {{SSB4|Bowser Jr.}} and the three clones (including Lucina) ordered after the other unlockables.

*Although the amount of fighter numbers and the amount of playable characters differ due to Echo Fighters not counting for fighter numbers and transformation characters counting for multiple, competitively speaking the amount of characters counted on the [[tier list]] is identical to fighter numbers, despite the different criteria. Lucina, Chrom, and Ken are counted as separate characters due to their significant differences, adding three, while counting Pokémon Trainer and Pyra/Mythra as one slot each subtracts the three from Lucina, Chrom, and Ken.

**Additionally, by sheer coincidence, Rosalina & Luma's fighter number and tier list position in the first ''Ultimate'' tier list are the same number.