Fighter number

Fighters listed by their number on the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate website.

Fighter numbers are a method of identifying and sorting characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Definition

As explained by Masahiro Sakurai, the numbers order characters based on "the order in which they joined the series". They are ordered in the following way:

• SSB: The starter characters are ordered by their placement on the character selection screen, which in turn is based on each character's first appearance (with Mario and Donkey Kong as the oldest and Pikachu as the newest). The unlockable characters are similar, though they are sorted column-first rather than row-first as the starters are; as such, Ness precedes Captain Falcon despite being created later. This also matches their series debut order, explaining why Ness comes before Captain Falcon.
• Melee: 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 Ice Climbers and Sheik come before Zelda, whose hand appeared earlier in the reveal trailer)[1]. The unlockable characters are ordered by how many Vs. Mode matches are required to unlock them, and thus Pichu, Ganondorf, Young Link, and Mewtwo's roles in the reveal trailer are ignored.
• Brawl: The characters first revealed in Brawl's original trailer are ordered first, followed by the remaining newcomers in the order revealed on the official website. Notably, Pokémon Trainer is not given a fighter number, likely due to not being directly controlled by the player. Instead, the three Pokémon (Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard, ordered by evolution stage) are given numbers instead.
• SSB4 and Ultimate: The order is the order the newcomers were revealed.
• Echo Fighters share their number with their "parent" in addition to a superscript epsilon (^ε), regardless of which game they joined in.

Usage

The Fighter numbers are used to order characters on Ultimate's character selection screen and promotional material. Mii Fighters are instead shown as the last characters on the selection screen, 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).

A similar system is used for ordering stages on Ultimate's selection screen, where all stages are ordered by when they first joined the series (with the exception of stages shared between both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4, which are mixed in with stages from exclusively Super Smash Bros. for Wii U).

Order

Fighter Number	Character
01	Mario
02	Donkey Kong
03	Link
04	Samus
04ε	Dark Samus
05	Yoshi
06	Kirby
07	Fox
08	Pikachu
09	Luigi
10	Ness
11	Captain Falcon
12	Jigglypuff
13	Peach
13ε	Daisy
14	Bowser
15	Ice Climbers
16	Sheik
17	Zelda
18	Dr. Mario
19	Pichu
20	Falco
21	Marth
21ε	Lucina
22	Young Link
23	Ganondorf
24	Mewtwo
25	Roy
25ε	Chrom
26	Mr. Game & Watch
27	Meta Knight
28	Pit
28ε	Dark Pit
29	Zero Suit Samus
30	Wario
31	Snake
32	Ike
33	Pokémon Trainer ( Squirtle)
34	Pokémon Trainer ( Ivysaur)
35	Pokémon Trainer ( Charizard)
36	Diddy Kong
37	Lucas
38	Sonic
39	King Dedede
40	Olimar
41	Lucario
42	R.O.B.
43	Toon Link
44	Wolf
45	Villager
46	Mega Man
47	Wii Fit Trainer
48	Rosalina & Luma
49	Little Mac
50	Greninja
51	Mii Brawler
52	Mii Swordfighter
53	Mii Gunner
54	Palutena
55	Pac-Man
56	Robin
57	Shulk
58	Bowser Jr.
59	Duck Hunt
60	Ryu
60ε	Ken
61	Cloud
62	Corrin
63	Bayonetta
64	Inkling
65	Ridley
66	Simon
66ε	Richter
67	King K. Rool
68	Isabelle
69	Incineroar
70	Piranha Plant
71	Joker
72	Hero
73	Banjo & Kazooie
74	Terry
75	Byleth
76	Min Min
77	Challenger Pack 7
78	Challenger Pack 8
79	Challenger Pack 9
80	Challenger Pack 10
81	Challenger Pack 11

Trivia

The order of the base roster fighters (without Ken and Incineroar, who were not revealed at the time) without Echo Fighters being placed next to their parent fighters.

• Coincidentally, Inkling's fighter number, 64, is the same as the number of the female Inkling’s costume in Super Mario Maker. The same also applies to Greninja, being number 50 in both cases.
• Had Echo Fighters been numbered normally (i.e. not grouped with their base fighters), they would be placed accordingly:
  • Dark Pit would have been between Palutena and Pac-Man. Although he was officially revealed after the launch of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (which would place him between Shulk and Bowser Jr.), his status as a playable character was teased directly after the reveal of Palutena.
  • Lucina would have been between Pac-Man and Robin.
  • Daisy would have been between Inkling and Ridley.
  • Richter’s position would have been unchanged, as he was revealed directly after his base fighter Simon and before Chrom.
  • Chrom and Dark Samus both would have been between Richter and King K. Rool, with Chrom listed first, and Dark Samus listed second.
  • Ken would have been between Isabelle and Incineroar.
• The starter characters in Melee, Brawl and SSB4's Sound Test are ordered the similar way as the fighter numbers, except Captain Falcon and Ness, Peach and Bowser, and Sheik and Zelda are swapped. In SSB4, unlockable characters are also ordered similarly (albeit they are separated from starters), but Lucina and Dark Pit are grouped together between Duck Hunt and Ryu. Sonic was also placed between Shulk and Ness.
  • In the announcer's voice section in SSB4, Mega Man, Pac-Man and Mii Fighters are grouped together with Sonic, and Dr. Mario was in between Duck Hunt and Lucina.
• Oddly, on the back of the North American physical case of Ultimate, several characters are misplaced from their fighter number order:
  • Luigi is between Jigglypuff and Peach, rather than between Pikachu and Ness.
  • Zelda is between Young Link and Ganondorf, rather than between Sheik and Dr. Mario.
  • Roy is between Pokémon Trainer and Diddy Kong, rather than between Mewtwo and Mr. Game & Watch.
  • Ike is between Wii Fit Trainer and Rosalina & Luma, rather than between Snake and Pokémon Trainer.
  • Toon Link is between Ken and Bayonetta, rather than between R.O.B. and Wolf.
  • Palutena is between Ridley and Simon, rather than between the Mii Fighters and Pac-Man.
  • Cloud is between Corrin and Simon, rather than between Ken and Corrin.
  • Corrin is before Cloud, rather than after.