Figured I'd give my take on this.
General rulesEdit
- For Smash 64, I'm ordering it by series release date, as the CSS and fighter numbers do.
- From Melee onwards, I order the starters by character reveals (for Melee, this is the order they appear in the opening cutscene) and unlockables by the number of Vs. matches needed to unlock them (or in Ultimate, the order they were revealed).
- Exceptions: The Mario sub-universes come directly after it, or in the Wario universe's case, first on its list. Third-parties come after first-parties, also following this order. Miis are in their own section (more on that later).
Universe orderingEdit
Smash 64 starter universesEdit
The release order of their series' first game. Also happens to be the order their main representatives appear on the Smash 64 CSS and their fighter numbers in Ultimate.
Yoshi is put directly after Mario, because not only was his first appearance a mainline Mario platformer, he's appeared in mainline Mario platformers (7 to be exact (Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros. U, and Super Mario Odyssey), not counting remakes, minor appearances, or references) a lot more than Donkey Kong (who in fact hasn't appeared in ANY).
Smash 64 unlockable universesEdit
Again, the release order of their series' first game. Smash 64 actually puts Captain Falcon before Ness (likely because Ness wasn't introduced until the second game in the Mother series, released after F-Zero), while the fighter numbers have Ness first.
Melee starter universeEdit
The only starter universe. Not much else to say here.
Melee unlockable universesEdit
Mr. Game & Watch is always guaranteed to be unlocked last, either by 1000 Vs. matches (the most of any character), or by completing certain modes with every other character. Thus, it is placed last, with Fire Emblem above it.
Brawl starter universesEdit
Wario comes first due to being one of the three Mario spin-off universes (i.e. their first appearance was in a game with Mario as the main playable character) and Kid Icarus comes first as not only was Pit revealed long before Olimar (over a year and half, no less), the Kid Icarus series came 15 years earlier.
Brawl unlockable universeEdit
Once again, only one. Not much conflict here.
Smash 4 starter universesEdit
These are ordered in the order their main representatives were revealed. Despite Punch-Out!! being introduced 24 years before Wii Fit, I'm still putting Wii Fit first as series release order doesn't matter much in Smash games after Smash 64 (only ever being used in All-Star Mode) as much as fighter reveal order. Xenoblade obviously comes last due to Shulk being revealed last and Xenoblade being introduced in 2010.
Animal Crossing has the added benefit of having a series symbol in Brawl, putting it first regardless.
Smash 4 unlockable universesEdit
Only one. Yeah, not much to do here.
Smash 4 downloadable universesEdit
- N/A (Well, I mean, there are, but all of them are third-party, thus they get their own section)
Ultimate starter universesEdit
- N/A (Literally the only starter characters are the original 8 from Smash 64)
Ultimate unlockable universesEdit
Same deal as always. No conflict.
Ultimate downloadable universesEdit
The only first-party downloadable universe in both Smash 4 and Ultimate. Maybe next game, Chibi-Robo...
Brawl third-party universesEdit
Metal Gear comes first due to both Snake being revealed first and Metal Gear releasing first.
Smash 4 third-party (non-DLC) universesEdit
Despite Pac-Man releasing first, I'm putting Mega Man first due to him not only being revealed first, but also his first appearance being on a Nintendo console.
Smash 4 third-party DLC universesEdit
Their reveal and release order. Not much else to say here.
Ultimate third-party (non-DLC) universesEdit
Yet again, only one. I think you know how this goes by now...
Ultimate third-party DLC universesEdit
Same deal as the Smash 4 DLC.
Special caseEdit
Miis come last due them being a special situation. They really don't have a universe to represent, being digital avatars and all, with even Smash being inconsistent on it; the CSS groups them in with the Smash universe, of all things, and their Spirits group them in with a Mii universe not used elsewhere. Because of this, I've decided to put them after all characters. However, as they're first-party, I'll still be putting them at the end of the first-party list.
Final orderingEdit
With that, here is my universe order list:
Character orderingEdit
The general rule here is that characters are ordered by universe as above, by game, in the order of starters, unlockables, and DLC, with any potential conflicts I'll cover below:
- Peach and Bowser: Peach comes first, as she appears in the opening cutscene first.
- Zelda and Sheik: This is the one and only exception to my rule listed above. Using that, Sheik would be before Zelda, as not only does Zelda appear after Sheik in the opening cutscene, she was one of the last characters revealed for Melee. Sheik is Zelda's alter-ego, thus it makes sense that Zelda would be first.
- Young Link and Ganondorf: Young Link comes first in the Vs. unlock order.
- Ridley and Dark Samus: Ridley was revealed first.
- Meta Knight and King Dedede: Meta Knight was revealed first.
- Pichu and Mewtwo: Pichu comes first in the Vs. unlock order.
- Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon: Squirtle, then Ivysaur, then Charizard. Ultimate uses this order for the fighter numbers, and it's also the order you recruit them in the Subspace Emissary.
- Order of Mii types: Brawler, then Swordfighter, then Gunner. Both Smash 4 and Ultimate use this order, as well as the fighter numbers.
- Pyra and Mythra: Pyra is the base fighter, who can swap with Mythra, thus Pyra is first.
Final orderingEdit
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