Unlockable character

An unlockable character or secret character is a character that is not available at the start of the game (unlike a starter character), but instead must be unlocked.

A unique criteria 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.

"Warning! Challenger Approaching!" screen

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

The Challenger Approaching! screen which Jigglypuff challenges the player in Melee.

The Challenger Approaching! screen which Jigglypuff challenges the player in Brawl.

In all games, the text "Warning! Challenger Approaching!" is shown prior to fighting the character. All the games have different screens.

The original game had 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. The original game also uses the same music as the 1P-Game's intro. Melee added the phrase "A new foe has appeared!", and as a first, a silhouette of the character the player is about to face is also provided, instead of a full image. 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.

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. If a CPU won the match, then the player is not given the option to 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.

Super Smash Bros. challenger alarm.
Melee's challenger alarm.
Brawl'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

Luigi challenging the player in Smash 64.
Jigglypuff challenging the player in Smash 64.
Ness challenging the player in Smash 64.
Captain Falcon challenging the player in Smash 64.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Characters

Character	How to unlock	VS matches required	Unlock Location	Music
Jigglypuff*	Complete Classic or Adventure Mode	50	Pokémon Stadium	Pokémon Stadium
Dr. Mario*	As Mario, complete Classic or Adventure mode without continuing	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	Play 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 Link or Zelda after completing Classic Mode with 10 different characters. Or complete Classic Mode with Ganondorf after completing Classic Mode with 8 different characters.	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 with time ending in a "2" in the seconds meter. After that, beat Luigi and Peach in less than a minute, and then complete the Adventure mode	800	Mushroom Kingdom II	Mushroom Kingdom II
Roy*	As Marth, complete Classic or Adventure mode without continuing	900	Temple	Fire Emblem
Mr. Game & Watch*	Complete Classic, Adventure, or Target Test with all other 24 characters.	1000	Flat Zone	Flat Zone

*If the player had previously used the Erase Data > Hidden Characters option in the Options menu, these characters can be unlocked again if All-Star mode is cleared under the established conditions. **The time required to unlock Mewtwo in calculated in "player-hours" (eg. 2 human players gives 2 hours for every hour of game-time, 3 human players give 3, and four players give 4).

Gallery

Luigi challenging the player in Melee.
Dr. Mario challenging the player in Melee.
Young Link challenging the player in Melee.
Ganondorf challenging the player in Melee.
Falco challenging the player in Melee.
Jigglypuff challenging the player in Melee.
Pichu challenging the player in Melee.
Mewtwo challenging the player in Melee.
Marth challenging the player in Melee.
RoyApproaching.png

Roy challenging the player in Melee.
Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Melee.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Masahiro Sakurai once stated that he feels 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 using no 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 Target Smash!! on levels 1-5 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 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. (video)	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

** Toon Link, Jigglypuff and Wolf are not part of the main plot of Subspace Emissary; players must beat the main story first then revisit certain stages to find them that way.
*** Sonic is the only character who can be unlocked 4 different ways.

Ness challenging the player in Brawl.
MarthApproaching.png

Marth challenging the player in Brawl.
Luigi challenging the player in Brawl.
Falco challenging the player in Brawl.
Captain Falcon challenging the player in Brawl.
Lucario challenging the player in Brawl.
Challenger Approaching Snake (SSBB).png.png

Snake challenging the player in Brawl.
Challenger Approaching R.O.B. Brawl.png

R.O.B. challenging the player in Brawl.
Ganondorf challenging the player in Brawl.
Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Brawl.
Sonic challenging the player in Brawl.
Jigglypuff challenging the player in Brawl.
Toon Link challenging the player in Brawl.
Wolf challenging the player in Brawl.