Alternate costume (SSBM)

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Super Smash Bros. Melee added additional palette swap opportunities to characters by using the X and Y buttons to cycle through the available list instead of using four C buttons to pick a specific color; this removes the limit as to how many are selectable, so there are no longer any costumes exclusive to Team Battles or computer opponents. As a result, many characters now have five different palette swaps, with some having as many as six, though some still only have four.

When selecting characters in tournament mode, instead of displaying the character's colored image of the chosen costume, the character's name is given a tint and a colored bar is displayed in the player list. This color is usually an intuitive indicator of which costume has been chosen (with no color denoting default), but there are some that are slightly unusual (such as Luigi and Peach's white costumes that are denoted by a grey).

In Team Melee, if members of the same team use the same character, the second player would have a lighter tint applied to their character. A third player uses a darker tint. If a fourth player is forcibly added to a team with the Name Entry glitch, then the fourth character will be completely black; the game's data suggests that a fifth player, if possible, would be completely grey.

Bowser

• Green (default)
• Red: Resembles a Spiny or red Koopa Troopa. It also resembles Roy Koopa's early in-game sprites without the sunglasses, as well as Bowser's second player costume in Mario Golf. Unusually, while the artwork depicts Bowser with red eyes, they are green in-game.
• Blue: Came from Bowser's international artwork for Super Mario Bros. Also resembles Iggy Koopa's early in-game sprites.
• Black

Captain Falcon

• Indigo (default)
• Black:
• Red: Based on Falcon's rival, Blood Falcon's outfit, even altering the logo on his back to say "Blood Falcon". Betas for the game show that it was originally intended to read "Hell Hawk", the name of Blood Falcon's F-Zero machine.
• White (Pink): Based on the colors of Jody Summer's outfit. Commonly known as "Captain Fabulous" in the community.
• Green: Based on the colors of Pico's outfit.
• Blue: Based on the original, lighter colors of Captain Falcon in F-Zero.

Donkey Kong

• Brown (default)
• Black: Resembles Donkey Kong's coloration when Donkey Kong '94 and Donkey Kong Land were played under the black-and-white palette on the Game Boy Color and Super Game Boy. "Monkey Smash" mode in Donkey Kong 64 also featured Donkey Kong with blue-black fur and a blue tie.
• Red: DK's sprite in Donkey Kong had red fur.
• Blue: Was similar to the second player coloration in Mario Golf.
• Green

Dr. Mario

• White: (default) Despite wearing white pants in his own game, Dr. Mario wears indigo jeans in Melee.
• Pink: Resembles Nurse Toadstool's color scheme. Used when Dr. Mario is on the red team.
• Blue: Resembles the traditional color of scrubs worn in real-life hospitals, while his violet gloves resemble standard nitrile gloves used by most physicians.
• Green: Resembles the traditional color of scrubs worn in by real-life surgeons.
• Black: Referred to as Unlicensed Dr. Mario by the official Melee website.

Falco

• Tan (default) Based on his appearance in Star Fox 64.
• Red
• Blue
• Green

Fox

• White (default)
• Orange: Based on his costume on the Japanese Star Fox box art. Used when Fox is on the Red team.
• Purple: Used when Fox is on the Blue team.
• Green Based on the Concept art of the game

Ganondorf

• Brown (default)
• Red:
• Blue
• Green
• Purple

Ice Climbers

As can be seen in the image, the Ice Climbers' orange and red costumes will place Nana in the lead, making Popo follow.

• Blue (default)
• Green
• Orange
• Red

Jigglypuff

• Pink (default)
• Red
• Blue: Similar to the bows from the original Super Smash Bros.
• Green
• Yellow: The crown that Jigglypuff wears in this costume is identical to that worn by Peach.

Kirby

• Pink (default)
• Yellow: This color swap is Keeby, who was Kirby's companion in games that featured co-op mode. It is also the same as when he is Beam Kirby or Needle Kirby, without the hat. It was also an alternative palette for Kirby in the multiplayer for Kirby 64 and Kirby's Return to Dream Land. Developer Shigeru Miyamoto also reportedly believed Kirby should be yellow in his debut game, while Masahiro Sakurai believed the character should be pink.
• Blue: The same as when he is Ice Kirby, without the hat. It was also an alternative palette for Kirby in the multiplayer for Kirby 64 and Return to Dream Land.
• Red: The same as when he is Fire Kirby, without the hat.
• Green: An alternative palette for Kirby in the multiplayer for Kirby 64 and Return to Dream Land, as well as the skin tone for Plasma Kirby.
• White: A reference to his monochrome appearance from the original Kirby's Dream Land for Game Boy. It is also similar to the colors of Kirby's depiction on the North American box cover of Kirby's Dream Land.

Link

• Green (default) Based on his appearance from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• Red: Based on the Goron Tunic from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• Blue: Based on the Zora Tunic from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• Black Slightly resembles Dark Link
• White: Resembles the use of the Blue Ring in The Legend of Zelda.

Luigi

• Green: (default)
• White: A reference to Luigi's appearance in Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. It is the only one to change the color of his gloves and skin tone.
• Cyan: Resembles the artwork for Mario on the cover for the NES version of Mario Bros., though his sprite does not actually feature such coloring. Used when Luigi is on the Blue team.
• Pink: Comes from the game Wrecking Crew, where Luigi wears pink. Used when Luigi is on the Red team.

Mario

• Red (default)
• Yellow: Based on Wario, the same as his yellow costume in the previous game. Unlike the original, the colored "M" is blue instead of yellow and the buttons are white instead of yellow, as to make him more closely resemble Wario
• Brown (Black): A reference to Foreman Spike from Wrecking Crew '98.
• Blue: A reversal of his traditional colors, and he wore these colors in his first appearance in Donkey Kong. This is seen as a partial reference to Mario's varying appearances in games prior to Nintendo's official establishment of Mario's outfit consisting of a red shirt, blue overalls, and red hat. In various earlier games, Mario occasionally also appeared with a blue hat, red shirt with blue overalls, or a red hat with a blue shirt with red overalls. Interestingly, though, Mario never appeared in any game with the particular combination of a blue hat, blue shirt, with red overalls as it appears here, but this color scheme does resemble the Balloon Fighter.
• Green: A color inverse of his traditional colors. Contrary to popular belief it is not a reference to Luigi, although it does coincidentally resemble Luigi's colors from the arcade version of Mario Bros.

Marth

• Blue (default)
• Red: Based on the standard color for enemy units in Fire Emblem games. This is the only costume in Melee to change the color of his tiara.
• Green: Based on the standard color for NPC units in Fire Emblem.
• Black
• White: Based on Leif, the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 and a character from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.

Mewtwo

• Purple (default)
• Orange: Resembles one of Mewtwo's possible alternate color shades in the Pokémon Stadium games. Used when Mewtwo is on the Red team.
• Blue: Resembles Mewtwo's in-game sprite colors for Pokémon Red & Blue. Also used as an Easter egg in Pokémon Stadium.
• Green: Based on Mewtwo's shiny color in the Pokémon games.

Mr. Game & Watch

• Black (default)
• Red
• Blue
• Green

Ness

• Red (default)
• Yellow: The yellow/black color scheme resembles that of the Hanshin Tigers, a Japanese baseball team.
• Blue: Is based off of Ness's younger self that he encounters briefly in EarthBound, who was wearing a blue hat.
• Green

Peach

• Pink (default): Used when Peach is on the Red team.
• Yellow: This costume changes Peach's entire appearance to that of Daisy, including her hair color, earrings, dress style, gloves, tiara, and even skin color. Later games in the Mario series, however, changed Daisy's design, and the costume only represents her older appearances.
• White: Represents how she appeared in her first appearance in Super Mario Bros, without the red hair. Peach uniquely wears pantyhose with this costume.
• Blue: Based on a swap from Mario Golf, and NES Open.
• Green: Based on a swap from Mario Golf, and NES Open.

Pichu

• Yellow (default)
• Red
• Blue: Gives Pichu goggles similar to the "Swimmer" class of the Pokémon series. Despite Pichu not returning for Brawl, Pikachu's blue costume in that game is based off of these same goggles.
• Green: Gives Pichu Ness' backpack. Pokémon Trainers throughout the Pokémon series also wear backpacks.

Pikachu

• Yellow (default)
• Red: Has Pikachu wearing the hat of Red, the protagonist of the Generation I Pokémon games. The fur color also resembles that of Pikachu's shiny coloration in the Pokémon games.
• Blue: Similar to the party hats from the previous game.
• Green

Roy

• Purple (default)
• Red: Based on the "enemy" unit color in the Fire Emblem series.
• Blue: Based on the "player" unit color in the Fire Emblem series. Is the only palette to change Roy's golden highlight color.
• Green: Based on the "other" unit color in the Fire Emblem series.
• Yellow:

Samus

• Orange (default): Used when Samus is on the Red team.
• Pink: Based off the appearance of the Varia Suit when missiles are selected in the original NES Metroid game.
• Black
• Green: In Japan, the original Smash 64 website referred to this palette swap as "mass produced Samus".
• Purple: Based on the Gravity Suit. Used when Samus is on the Blue team.

Sheik

• Medium blue: Switching back to Zelda using this palette swap will have her dressed in pink.
• Red
• Blue
• Green
• White: This costume is the only one which changes Sheik's skin tone.

Yoshi

All of Yoshi's costumes appear as different variations of the Yoshi species in many of his games, such as Yoshi's Story and Super Mario World.

• Green (default)
• Red: Based on the fire breathing Yoshi in Super Mario World.
• Blue: Based on the flying Yoshi in Super Mario World.
• Yellow: Based on the stomping Yoshi in Super Mario World.
• Pink: Based on the Pink Yoshi from Yoshi's Story
• Cyan: Based on the Cyan Yoshi from Yoshi's Story

Young Link

All of Young Link's colors are exactly the same as Link's, except ordered differently.

• Green (default)
• Red Resembles the Goron Tunic
• Blue Resembles the Zora Tunic
• White Resembles Link when he collects the Blue Ring in the original Legend of Zelda for the NES
• Black

Zelda

• Pink (default): Based on her appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Transforming into Sheik using this palette swap will have her dressed in medium blue.
• Red: Resembles Zelda's first appearance in The Legend of Zelda if Link possesses the red ring, but not the blue ring.
• Blue: Resembles Zelda's first appearance in The Legend of Zelda if Link possesses the blue ring but not the red ring.
• Green: Resembles Zelda's first appearance in The Legend of Zelda if Link possesses neither the blue ring nor the red ring.
• White: Resembles Zelda's appearance in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Stats

• There is a total of 123 palette swaps.
• The average number of costumes per character is 4.731
• Captain Falcon, Kirby and Yoshi share the highest amount of color swaps: 6.
• There are 10 fighters with 4 color swaps, and 13 with 5.