Fighter number
- Not to be confused with the Sakurai angle.
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The Sakurai numbers are a method of identifying and sorting characters that appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (which happens to be every character that had appeared in the series up to that point).
Definition
As explained by Masahiro Sakurai, the numbers order characters based on "the order in which they joined" the series. This results in the order being somewhat unintuitive, especially given that its logic differs wildly in the earlier games. Here is the list of how newcomers from each game are ordered.
- SSB: The starter characters are ordered by their placement on the character selection screen. The unlockable characters are similar, though they are sorted column-first rather than row-first as the starters are.
- Melee: The starter characters are ordered by their first appearance on Melee's E3 2001 reveal (based on which ones had gameplay shown of them first, with the exception of Sheik being numbered after Ice Climbers, possibly to put her next to Zelda)[1]. The unlockable characters are ordered by how many Vs. Mode matches are required to unlock them, and thus Pichu, Ganodorf, 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 Sakurai number, likely due to bot being directly controlled by the player. Instead, the three pokémon (Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard) are given numbers instead.
- SSB4 and Ultimate: The order is equal to that in which the newcomers were revealed. DLC characters are ordered by when they released. Unlike the past two games, the only true secret characters in these games were Dark Pit (an Echo Fighter) and Duck Hunt, making the unlockable rule uneccesary.
- Echo Fighters share number with their "parent" in addition to a superscript epsilon (ε), regardless of which game they joined in. For example, Lucina would be marked as #56 if Echo Fighters were numbered like any other character, pushing every character including and after Robin one number larger.
- As for where the other Echo Fighters would be placed if they had been given numbers, Dark Pit would have been right before Duck Hunt; Daisy would have been right before Ridley; Ken would be right before Incineroar; and Richter, Chrom, and Dark Samus would be between Simon and King K. Rool in that order.
Order
Usage
The Sakurai numbers are used to order characters on Ultimate's selection screen and promotional material. The only major usage of the Sakurai number is that Echo Fighters, due to not having their own Sakurai number, can be optionally stacked onto their "parent" character exclusively in Vs. Mode, Special Smash (except for Smashdown), Tourney, and Online modes. Otherwise, they have few practical applications; they are not used for any other in-game purpose, and their relatively arbitrary nature (particularly with which characters qualify as an Echo Fighter) makes them unsuitable for ordering characters for informational purposes (such as on the SmashWiki). Indeed, many players agree that using this order makes it more difficult to find any particular character for selection, compared to the previous games' series-based sorting. Additionally, the only in-game application for the Sakurai numbers (optional Echo fighter stacking) is relatively unpopular and used by very few people, making the addition of Sakurai numbers even more obsolete.
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 excpetions 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)
It is possible to use similar rules to construct Sakurai numbers for other games in the series. However, because Echo Fighters (a.k.a. clones) must share number with their parent by these rules, and the clone status of some characters has changed between games (for example, Falco in Melee would be 07ε), many characters would not keep the same number across the series as a whole. As a result, the system is generally not portable across games.
