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. 64 starters.

• Donkey Kong
• Fox
• Kirby
• Link
• Mario
• Pikachu
• Samus
• Yoshi

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee starters.

• Bowser
• Captain Falcon
• Donkey Kong
• Fox
• Ice Climbers
• Kirby
• Link
• Mario
• Ness
• Peach
• Pikachu
• Samus
• Yoshi
• Zelda/Sheik

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Super Smash Bros. Brawl starters.

• Bowser
• Diddy Kong
• Donkey Kong
• Fox
• Ice Climbers
• Ike
• King Dedede
• Kirby
• Link
• Lucas
• Mario
• Meta Knight
• Olimar
• Peach
• Pikachu
• Pit
• Pokémon Trainer
  • Squirtle
  • Ivysaur
  • Charizard
• Samus/Zero Suit Samus
• Wario
• Yoshi
• Zelda/Sheik

Super Smash Bros. 4

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS starters.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U starters.

Bowser Jr., Ganondorf, Jigglypuff, and Ness are unlockable in 3DS version but are starter in Wii U version

• Bowser
• Bowser Jr. (Wii U)
• Captain Falcon
• Charizard
• Diddy Kong
• Donkey Kong
• Fox
• Ganondorf (Wii U)
• Greninja
• Ike
• Jigglypuff (Wii U)
• King Dedede
• Kirby
• Link
• Little Mac
• Lucario
• Luigi
• Mario
• Marth
• Mega Man
• Meta Knight
• Ness (Wii U)
• 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

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate starters.

The starting roster is comprised of the Original 8 from the original Super Smash Bros.

• Donkey Kong
• Fox
• Kirby
• Link
• Mario
• Pikachu
• Samus
• Yoshi

Trivia

• 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 multiple times.
  • Sonic is the only third-party fighter to have this trait.
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the only installment in the series where all of the original 12 characters appear as starters.
• Smash 4 is the only game to feature third-party characters as starter characters. In this case, they are Sonic, Mega Man and Pac-Man.
• 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.
• Ultimate is the only Smash game to have the same starter roster as a prior installment.

See also

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

• Characters