A starter character is a character who is already available for play immediately after turning the game on for the first time; the player does not have to unlock, challenge, or download that character in order for them to be selectable (as one must do to select unlockable characters and downloadable characters).
List of starter characters
The following characters appear as starter characters:
Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
- Bowser
- Captain Falcon
- Donkey Kong
- Fox
- Ice Climbers
- Kirby
- Link
- Mario
- Ness
- Peach
- Pikachu
- Samus
- Yoshi
- Zelda/Sheik
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Bowser
- Diddy Kong
- Donkey Kong
- Fox
- Ice Climbers
- Ike
- King Dedede
- Kirby
- Link
- Lucas
- Mario
- Meta Knight
- Olimar
- Peach
- Pikachu
- Pit
- Pokémon Trainer
- Samus/Zero Suit Samus
- Wario
- Yoshi
- Zelda/Sheik
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
- Bowser
- Captain Falcon
- Charizard
- Diddy Kong
- Donkey Kong
- Fox
- Greninja
- Ike
- King Dedede
- Kirby
- Link
- Little Mac
- Lucario
- Luigi
- Mario
- Marth
- Mega Man
- Meta Knight
- Olimar
- Pac-Man
- Palutena
- Peach
- Pikachu
- Pit
- Robin
- Rosalina & Luma
- Samus
- Sheik
- Shulk
- Sonic
- Toon Link
- Villager
- Wii Fit Trainer
- Yoshi
- Zelda
- Zero Suit Samus
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
The starting roster is the same as the 3DS version, but with Bowser Jr., Ganondorf, Ness, and Jigglypuff being starter characters.
- Bowser
- Bowser Jr.
- Captain Falcon
- Charizard
- Diddy Kong
- Donkey Kong
- Fox
- Ganondorf
- Greninja
- Ike
- Jigglypuff
- King Dedede
- Kirby
- Link
- Little Mac
- Lucario
- Luigi
- Mario
- Marth
- Mega Man
- Meta Knight
- Ness
- Olimar
- Pac-Man
- Palutena
- Peach
- Pikachu
- Pit
- Robin
- Rosalina & Luma
- Samus
- Sheik
- Shulk
- Sonic
- Toon Link
- Villager
- Wii Fit Trainer
- Yoshi
- Zelda
- Zero Suit Samus
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
The starting roster is comprised of the characters in the Original 8 from the original Super Smash Bros.
Trivia
- The eight starter characters of Super Smash Bros. are the only playable characters to remain starter in every installment they appear in.
- Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Luigi, Ness, Ganondorf, Marth, Toon Link, Lucario, and Sonic are the only unlockable characters to become a starter character in a later installment.
- This also counts Bowser Jr. between the 3DS and Wii U versions of Smash 4.
- Ness and Captain Falcon are the only ones to do so twice.
- Sonic is the only third-party fighter to have this trait.
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the first and so far only installment in the series where all of the original 12 characters appear as starters.
- Ultimate is the first installment since Smash 64 where the characters in the Original 8 from Smash 64 are the only starter characters. It's also the second installment to have the same number of starter characters as another installment, having the same amount of starter characters as Smash 64.
- Smash 4 is the only game to feature third-party characters as starter characters.
- The Sound menu in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate plays sound effects and voice clips from three randomly selected characters out of its starter characters, as well as Ness and Captain Falcon to test volume equalization options.
- Yoshi and Star Fox are the only universes to only have exactly one starter character throughout the entire series.
- If counting Adventure Mode: World of Light and Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary, Kirby is the only character to be a starter in every game in the series.