Editing Super Smash Bros. (series)

''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' features twenty-six playable characters; of which 15 are available initially (more than doubling the number of characters in its predecessor). Altogether, 15 characters are [[starter character]]s and 11 are [[unlockable character]]s). There are also twenty-nine playable stages (however, 18 stages are [[starter stage]]s and 11 are [[unlockable stage]]s). It introduced two new single-player modes alongside the {{SSBM|Classic Mode}}; [[Adventure]], and [[All Star]]. ''Adventure'' has platforming segments similar to the original's "Race to the Finish" minigame, and ''All-Star'' is a fight against every playable character in the game, allows the player only one life in which damage is accumulated over each battle, and the character is allowed to use only three recovery items which heal all taken damage in between battles. There are also significantly more multiplayer modes and a tournament mode allowing for 64 different competitors whom can all be controlled by a human player, although only up to four players can participate at the same time. Additionally, the game featured alternative battle modes, called "Special Melee," which involve some sort of alteration to the battle (ex: all characters are giant by default, players may only use their jump and standard attack buttons, etc.), along with alternative ways to judge a victory, such as through collecting coins throughout the match. In addition, the game introduced the [[Home-Run Contest]], where players use a [[Home-Run Bat]] to send Sandbag flying while damaging it for ten seconds.

In place of ''Super Smash Bros.''' character profiles, ''Melee'' introduced trophies (called "figures" in the Japanese version). The 293 trophies include three different profiles for each playable character, one unlocked in each single-player mode. In addition, unlike its predecessor, ''Melee'' contains profiles for many Nintendo characters who are either non-playable or do not appear in the game, as well as Nintendo items, stages, enemies, and elements.

There are currently 89 (if Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon count as three characters, and Mii fighters count as three characters) playable characters in total. ''Smash 64'' has 12, ''Melee'' has 26 (if Sheik is put separate from Zelda), ''Brawl'' has 39 (if Zero Suit Samus and Sheik are put separate from Samus and Zelda, respectively, and the Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon count as three characters), and ''Smash 4'' has 58 (51 on disc and 7 downloadable), almost five times the amount in ''Smash 64''. ''Ultimate'' uniquely brings back all of the characters from past games, as well as 24 newcomers. However, without counting [[DLC]], ''Ultimate'' has 74 playable characters (counting Pokémon Trainer as one character) and like in Smash 4, Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Zelda, and Sheik are all separate characters (so Samus can no longer transform into Zero Suit Samus; while Zelda can no longer transform into Sheik). Many of the characters are available from the start, but some are unlockable, meaning certain conditions must be met before they can be played as.