Unlockable character

"Challenger" redirects here. For info on fighters, to whom the title "challenger" is often applied, see List of Super Smash Bros. series characters.

File:The Original 8.jpg

Character selection screen in Super Smash Bros. indicating unlockable characters.

An unlockable character (also referred to as a secret character or hidden character, and in-game as challengers) is one that is not available at the start of the game (unlike a starter character), but instead must be received in-game (unlike downloadable characters) through other means.

A unique criterion must be met in order to unlock a certain character, as outlined below. Once the player has met this criteria in-game, a message will display; in all cases, the player is given this screen after completely finishing gameplay.

In Super Smash Bros., the character select screen displayed placeholders for not yet unlocked characters. This was changed in Melee, where some characters didn't have placeholders prior to unlocking, with their portraits simply appearing afterward. The placeholder slots were completely removed in Brawl and Smash 4.

"Challenger Approaching!" screen

The Challenger Approaching! screen which Jigglypuff challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. 64

The Challenger Approaching! screen which Falco challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. Melee

File:Challenger Approaching R.O.B. Brawl.png

The Challenger Approaching! screen which R.O.B. challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The Challenger Approaching! screen which Bowser Jr. challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

The Challenger Approaching! screen which Duck Hunt challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

The "Challenger Approaching!" (挑戦者が現れました！, A Challenger has Appeared!) screen is a message that will be displayed after the player has met a criteria required to unlock any of the available characters. Every game has its unique screen.

Western versions of the game had a silhouette of the character merely displayed in a blue box in front of a black background, with an exclamation point in a red circle on the top of the screen, and the phrase "Challenger Approaching" next to it. Japanese versions had the approaching challenger fully revealed. The original game also uses similar music to the 1P-Game's intro, with the only difference being the absence of drums for the "challenger approaching" tune. Melee added the phrase "A new foe has appeared!," and also had a silhouette of the approaching challenger. The poses for the challengers were silhouettes of their renders when selected on the Character Select screen (some, however, like Ganondorf's and Luigi's, were their renders from inside the boxes). The game also added animations to the screens, with an undulating matrix effect in the background, while the exclamation point, text and silhouette would be eased in. Original music was also provided solely for the screen, which took the sound of a slow, ominous siren. Brawl returned to the plain black background (there would be a silhouette of an unlockable character the player would face), but still had animations that would ease in, and when the player pressed any button, the images would fade to black, while the "Challenger Approaching!" text would scatter all over the screen; the siren is also considerably faster and more panicky in its sound than how it sounds in Melee. Smash 4 reused Brawl's warning siren, but added in considerably more colours, including hues of green, black, and violet; the screen also says "A challenger approaches!" instead of its previous quotations. However, the Wii U version kept the previous quotations.

After the "Challenger Approaching!" screen, the unlockable character will then be fought in an ordinary one stock match with no time limit, on a pre-determined stage and pre-determined music. The player uses the last character played as, as well as the same palette swap; in the case of multiplayer battles, the player who won the match will fight the challenger for the first three games, though if a CPU won the match, then the players are not given the opportunity to unlock the character. Super Smash Bros. 4 changed this formula, and it is no longer necessary to win a multiplayer battle in order to fight the challenger; if a CPU wins the match, then the human-controlled player with the highest rank will fight.

By defeating the opponent, the character becomes playable. If the player fails, however, they will not unlock the character, but in the next battle they win, they are guaranteed to meet with the challenger again.

The "Challenger Approaching!" screen has become somewhat of a meme in the Smash community. Many digitally manipulated versions of these screens have appeared, often featuring characters who do not appear in the games, mostly using artwork of the character from another game instead of original artwork (which gives away its falseness). The screens became so popular that they were featured as part of the DOJO!!; in earlier updates, whenever a new character was introduced, a banner that said "Warning! Challenger Approaching!" would appear above the entry.

• Smash 64's challenger alarm.

• Melee's challenger alarm.

• Brawl's, Smash 3DS's and Smash U's challenger alarm.

Super Smash Bros.

Characters

Character	How to unlock	Unlock location
Captain Falcon	Beat the single player mode with any character on any difficulty level in less than 20 minutes.	Planet Zebes
Jigglypuff	Beat the single player mode with any character on any difficulty level.	Saffron City
Luigi	Complete Bonus 1 (Break the Targets!) with all 8 starting characters.	Peach's Castle
Ness	Complete the single player game on normal difficulty or higher with three stocks or less and without continuing.	Dream Land

• The unlock conditions for Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon are swapped in the Japanese release of Super Smash Bros..

Gallery

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  Captain Falcon challenging the player in Smash 64

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  Jigglypuff challenging the player in Smash 64

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  Luigi challenging the player in Smash 64

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  Ness challenging the player in Smash 64

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Characters

Character	How to unlock	VS matches required	Unlock Location	Music
Jigglypuff	Complete Classic Mode or Adventure Mode on any difficulty.	50	Pokémon Stadium	Pokémon Stadium
Dr. Mario	As Mario, complete Classic Mode or Adventure mode without using a continue.	100	Princess Peach's Castle	Dr. Mario
Pichu	Complete Event 37: Legendary Pokémon.	200	Pokémon Stadium	Battle Theme
Falco	Complete 100-Man Melee.	300	Battlefield	Corneria
Marth	Complete Classic Mode with all 14 starter characters, or use them all in VS. mode.	400	Fountain of Dreams	Fire Emblem
Young Link	Complete Classic Mode with 10 different characters, two of which have to be Link or Zelda/Sheik.	500	Great Bay	Saria's Theme
Ganondorf	Complete Event 29: Triforce Gathering.	600	Final Destination	Great Bay
Mewtwo	Play VS. mode for a combined total of 20 hours.	700	Final Destination	Poké Floats
Luigi	Complete Stage #1 of Adventure Mode with a time ending in a "2" in the seconds meter. (Example- 3:42:35) If done correctly, Luigi will replace Mario in the next battle. Defeat Luigi and Peach in less than a minute, and then complete Adventure Mode.	800	Mushroom Kingdom II	Mushroom Kingdom II
Roy	Unlock Marth, and complete Classic Mode or Adventure mode with him on any difficulty without using a continue.	900	Temple	Fire Emblem
Mr. Game & Watch	Complete Classic Mode, Adventure, or Target Test with all other 24 characters.	1000	Flat Zone	Flat Zone

Gallery

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  Marth challenging the player in Melee

• RoyApproaching.png

  Roy challenging the player in Melee

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  Jigglypuff challenging the player in Melee

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  Dr. Mario challenging the player in Melee

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  Luigi challenging the player in Melee

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  Falco challenging the player in Melee

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  Young Link challenging the player in Melee

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  Ganondorf challenging the player in Melee

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  Pichu challenging the player in Melee

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  Mewtwo challenging the player in Melee

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  Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Melee

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Masahiro Sakurai stated that it would be appropriate that third-party, or "guest" characters, like Solid Snake or Sonic the Hedgehog, would be unlockable. This became true when Brawl was first released in Japan.

In addition to the challenges and versus match method of unlocking, all unlockable characters can be unlocked by playing through The Subspace Emissary. The majority of these characters are unlocked as part of the linear story of SSE. However, Jigglypuff, Wolf, and Toon Link are only unlockable after the main SSE gameplay is completed by finding a secret area while replaying levels. Once a character joins a group of playable characters, the character will be instantly unlocked for normal play (without requiring a "Challenger Approaching" battle). However, some characters, as per the SSE's story, must be battled before they will join the player's party, such as Bowser.

Characters

Character	How to unlock	Subspace Emissary method	VS matches required	Unlock location (if Subspace Emissary method is not used)	Music
Ness	Reflect 10 Projectiles.	Complete Subspace (Part I)	5	Onett	Mother (Melee)
Marth	Complete Classic Mode.	Complete Battlefield Fortress	10	Castle Siege	Fire Emblem (Melee)
Luigi	Complete Classic Mode without using any continues.	Complete Subspace (Part I)	22	Luigi's Mansion	Luigi's Mansion Theme
Falco	Complete 100-Man Brawl	Complete The Swamp	50	Lylat Cruise	Area 6
Captain Falcon	Play through Classic Mode on Normal or higher and beat it in 12 minutes or less.	Complete Outside the Ancient Ruins	70	Port Town Aero Dive	Mute City
Lucario	Clear all levels of Target Smash!! with any single character.	Complete Glacial Peak	100	Spear Pillar	Victory Road
Snake	Play 15 Vs. Matches on Shadow Moses Island.	Complete Battleship Halberd Interior	130	Shadow Moses Island	Encounter
R.O.B.	Collect 250 different trophies	Complete Subspace Bomb Factory (Part II)	160	Mario Bros	Mario Bros.
Ganondorf	Clear Classic Mode on Hard with Link or Zelda.	Collect both Link and Zelda's trophies in Subspace (Part II)	200	Final Destination	Hidden Mountain & Forest
Mr. Game & Watch	Clear Target Smash!! with 30 different characters on any single difficulty level	Complete Battleship Halberd Bridge	250	Flat Zone 2	Flat Zone 2
Sonic	Complete Classic Mode with 10 characters, or brawl for 10 combined total hours.	Complete The Great Maze	300	Green Hill Zone	Sonic Heroes
Jigglypuff	Beat 20 or more events after beating the Subspace Emissary.	After completing The Great Maze, defeat it in a secret room in The Swamp.	350	Pokémon Stadium 2	Pokémon Center
Toon Link	Complete Classic Mode after beating the Subspace Emissary.	After completing The Great Maze, defeat him in a secret room in The Forest	400	Pirate Ship	Dragon Roost Island
Wolf	Complete Boss Battles mode with Fox or Falco.	After completing The Great Maze, defeat him in a secret room in The Ruins	450	Lylat Cruise	Star Wolf

Sonic is the only character who can be unlocked 4 different ways.

Gallery

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  Ness challenging the player in Brawl

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  Marth challenging the player in Brawl

• Challenger Approaching Snake (SSBB).png.png

  Snake challenging the player in Brawl

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  Luigi challenging the player in Brawl

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  Falco challenging the player in Brawl

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  Captain Falcon challenging the player in Brawl

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  Lucario challenging the player in Brawl

• Challenger Approaching R.O.B. Brawl.png

  R.O.B. challenging the player in Brawl

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  Ganondorf challenging the player in Brawl

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  Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Brawl

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  Sonic challenging the player in Brawl

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  Jigglypuff challenging the player in Brawl

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  Toon Link challenging the player in Brawl

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  Wolf challenging the player in Brawl

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Characters

The inclusion of Wendy O. Koopa (as one of Bowser Jr.'s alternate costumes) and Lucina as unlockable characters makes them the first female characters to be unlockable.

In addition to the characters below, Mii Fighters are not shown on the character select screen until the player has created at least one. However, since the ability to create Mii Fighters is granted from the beginning, the character cannot truly be called unlockable.

Character	How to unlock	Vs. Matches Required	Unlock location
Ness	Clear Classic Mode on any difficulty	10	Magicant
Falco	Clear Classic Mode without any continues	20	Corneria
Wario	Complete 100-Man Smash	30	WarioWare, Inc.
Lucina	As Marth, clear Classic Mode without any continues	40	Arena Ferox
Dark Pit	Clear Classic Mode with three or more characters	50	Reset Bomb Forest
Dr. Mario	As Mario, clear Classic Mode on intensity 4.0 or higher	60	Mushroomy Kingdom
R.O.B.	Collect at least 200 different trophies	70	PictoChat 2
Ganondorf	As Zelda or Link, clear Classic Mode on intensity 5.0 or higher	80	Gerudo Valley
Mr. Game & Watch	Clear Classic Mode with 10 or more characters	90	Flat Zone 2
Bowser Jr.	As Bowser, clear Classic Mode on intensity 6.0 or higher	100	3D Land
Duck Hunt	Clear Classic Mode with 8 or more characters	110	Battlefield
Jigglypuff	Collect at least 30 different equipment items	120	Unova Pokémon League

Gallery

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  Ness challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Falco challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Wario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Lucina challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Dark Pit challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Dr. Mario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  R.O.B. challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Ganondorf challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Bowser Jr. challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Duck Hunt challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

• ChallengerApproachingJigglypuff.jpg

  Jigglypuff challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Characters

Unlike Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Ness, Jigglypuff, Ganondorf & Bowser Jr. are starter characters. Like the 3DS version, a character is unlocked for every 10 versus matches played. Two exceptions to this are Mr. Game & Watch and Duck Hunt, which they need 20 more versus matches than R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch, respectively.

In addition to the characters below, Mii Fighters are not shown on the character select screen until the player has created at least one. However, since the ability to create Mii Fighters is granted from the beginning and there is no Challenger Approaching fight, the character cannot truly be called unlockable.

Character	How to unlock	Vs. Matches Required	Unlock location
Falco	Clear Classic Mode on any intensity	10	Orbital Gate Assault
Wario	Clear 100-Man Smash	20	Gamer
Lucina	Clear Classic Mode on 5.5 Intensity or higher	30	Coliseum
Dark Pit	Clear All-Star Mode on Normal	40	Palutena's Temple
Dr. Mario	Clear Master Orders on Hard	50	Delfino Plaza
R.O.B.	Clear Crazy Orders after 10 rounds and defeat Crazy Hand	60	Wrecking Crew
Mr. Game & Watch	Clear Classic Mode at intensity 2.0 or higher with 5 characters	80	Flat Zone X
Duck Hunt	Earn 1 KO in Cruel Smash	100	Duck Hunt

Gallery

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  Falco challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

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  Wario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

• SSBU Lucina Approaches.PNG

  Lucina challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

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  Dark Pit challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

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  Dr. Mario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

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  R.O.B. challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

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  Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

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  Duck Hunt challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Trivia

• In Melee, the AI level of the unlockable character that is fought to become available will decrease with each consecutive character unlocked; in every other game, the opposite happens.
  • In Smash Wii U, the AI level for all eight characters is high, no matter what order they're fought in.^{[citation needed]}
• Sakurai had originally intended for all the characters in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U to be available from the start, before deciding against it.
• Falco Lombardi, Mr. Game & Watch, Dr. Mario and R.O.B. are the only four unlockable characters to remain unlockable in every game they appear in.
• Roy is the only unlockable character that has to be unlocked with another unlockable character

See also

• Unlockable stage
• Starter character
• Starter stage
• Downloadable content