Project M Melee Veterans / Characters

Come back to the main Project M article here, or here for PMEX Remix.

Information on the Brawl newcomers can be found here.

Information on the PMEX Remix-exclusive Melee, 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate veterans can be found here.

Information on the PMEX Remix newcomers can be found here.

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Introduced in Demo 1.0

Mario

^{Builder Mario (P+ / REMIX)}

^{Vacation Mario (REMIX)}

^{Wedding Mario (REMIX)}

Voiced by: Charles Martinet

Home series: Super Mario Bros.
Debut: Donkey Kong (1981)

"Let's-a-go!"

Mario has the best of the Melee versions of him and Dr. Mario in a single moveset. He also comes with a Dr. Mario alternate costume, complete with changing his fireballs to pills.

Badass in a Nice Suit: PMEX Remix gives him his wedding tuxedo from Super Mario Odyssey as an alternate costume.
Composite Character: He has a combination of the best traits of the Melee incarnations of him and Dr. Mario. For example, his forward aerial is like Doc's strong hit (at the beginning) and Mario's meteor-punch (towards the end). Dr. Mario's scrubs are now an alternate costume as well.
Demoted to Extra: Dr. Mario from Melee to this game. He was a completely separate character in Melee, but is now relegated to being an alternate costume here. Justified because Mario in Project M combines the best of Mario and Dr. Mario. Averted in REMIX, where Dr. Mario is a separate fighter once again.
Fireballs: His neutral special has a range in-between Melee Mario's fireballs and Doctor Mario's Megavitamins.
Jack of All Stats: He has a versatile combo game, a multi-use cape, average weight, average wavedash length, and is overall able to handle most opponents. His only real cons are his average tech speed and his lack of niche gameplay (traded for versatility).
Meteor Move: Forward-aerial has a Doctor Mario hitbox and a Melee Mario hitbox. Melee Mario's is a Type A meteor smash.
Mythology Gag: Prior to version 3.5, Mario Tornado had star graphics that references the Star Spin from Super Mario Galaxy.
Palette Swap:
- In the transition from Brawl to PM, Mario lost his Wario-inspired recolor to make room for Dr. Mario's five costumes from Melee—the default, the three team colors, and the black "Unlicensed Doctor" alt.
- In Project+, his Wario-inspired alt returns, and his Dr. Mario alt gets a purple recolor. He also gains his Builder Mario outfit from Super Mario Maker with two additional recolors to complete the Team Battle set.
- Every fighter in Project+ gets two hidden costumes, selected by holding down either the Z button or the R button on the fighter select screen. For Mario, his Z-secret alt is his Western Land attire from Mario Party 2, and his R-secret alt is the shades and beach shirt he can wear in Super Mario Sunshine.
Practical Taunt: His down taunt is now Dr. Mario's taunt from Melee, summoning either a fireball or a Megavitamin that has a damaging hitbox.
Shotoclone: He's got a fireball Hadoken, a coin gathering Shoryuken, and a Tornado Move similar to a Hurricane Kick. It's like he's Ryu and Ken because he's a mix of Melee Mario and Doctor Mario.
Wall Jump: Now, it's essential for his recovery. Like in Melee, he can wall-jump out of a Super Jump Punch, and then use it again.

Link

^{Ocarina of Time Link}

^{Breath of the Wild Link (REMIX)}

Voiced by: Akira Sasanuma

Home series: The Legend of Zelda
Debut: The Legend of Zelda (1986)

The hero of the Legend of Zelda series returns in returns

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess incarnation, with a newly buffed moveset and more tricks up his sleeve.

Annoying Arrows: The Hero's Bow charges 33% quicker and has more knockback. It can be used for both central stage control and edge-guarding.
Backported Development: Of a sort. He gets his The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild design that was used in Ultimate as a costume in PMEX Remix, but unlike in Ultimate, he still retains his Project M/+ moveset and Twilight Princess voice.
Battle Boomerang: No longer the Gale Boomerang, making it similar to his Smash 64 counterpart's.
Battle Intro: It has been reverted to his Smash 64 entrance animation, where he teleports down from a beam of light akin to the end-of-dungeon teleporters from Ocarina of Time.
Call-Back:
- His new Battle Intro is based on the one from Smash 64.
- Side tilt was given Young Link's forward tilt's speed, making it quite dangerous.
Composite Character: His appearance is of the Twilight Princess Link, but he has a boomerang similar to Smash 64 Link's, a side tilt as fast as Melee Young Link's, and Melee Link's overall playstyle. He also has alternate costumes based on Ocarina of Time Link (the Link in Melee) and, in PMEX REMIX, Breath of the Wild Link (the Link in Ultimate).
Difficult, but Awesome: He requires the use of various advanced techniques (most notably, SHFFLing^note), and he needs both The Chessmaster tendencies of a zoner and the dexterity of a rushdown all in one.
Easter Egg:
- His side taunt from Brawl is assigned to his side Smash Taunt. The fairy he summons shouts "Hey! Listen!", referencing Navi.
- He can use his Ocarina via his down Smash Taunt, and you can even play songs on it.
Jack of All Stats: He's quite a challenge to approach due to his improved ranged game and mobility. He's more about endurance and staying solid on the battlefield than all-offense.
Meteor Move:
- Down-tilt, though if it isn't timed properly, it would hit the opponent upwards, giving the opposite effect.
- Grounded up special's weak hit is a semi-spike.
Palette Swap:
- Link received his Ocarina of Time appearance (used for his Smash 64 and Melee designs) as a new alt along with the red, blue, and black recolors from Melee.
- In Project+, his Twilight Princess design received purple, pink, and dark green recolors (the last based on his sprite from the first Legend of Zelda on NES), while his Ocarina of Time design got the white recolor from Melee, the Fierce Deity form, and a purple recolor based on Ravio. His Z-secret alt turns him into his design from the NES Zelda installments, and his R-secret alt is his Hyrule Warriors appearance.
Spin Attack: His up special. Is was improved as a recovery move by having more horizontal momentum in midair. Like in Melee, the grounded version has a strong initial hit and a semi-spike weak hit.
Stab the Sky: His up-aerial still references the up thrust from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Sword Plant: His down-aerial, which now has much less lag.
Took a Level in Badass: Certainly compared to the official Smash incarnations, pre-3DS/Wii U. While Link is still low-tier, he is nowhere near the bottom like in Brawl.
Wall of Weapons: Instead of relying on brute strength, Link uses his projectiles to create a maze of hitboxes for stage domination.

Fox

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fox_standard_1.png

^{Melee Fox}

^{Possible Command ending (REMIX)}

Voiced by: Jim Walker

Home series: Star Fox
Debut: Star Fox (1993)

"Come on!"

Fox McCloud, the definitive fighter of Melee is back with a vengeance.

Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: His R-secret costume in Project+ turns him into Marcus, Fox and Krystal's son and leader of his own Star Fox team in one of the possible endings of Star Fox Command. He resembles Fox in appearance but inherits Krystal's blue fur.
Attack Reflector: His Reflector activates a hexagonal barrier around Fox that reflects projectile moves back to he sender.
Barrier Warrior: His Reflector is often called "Shine" due to how it's commonly used as an offensive tool.
Beam Spam: While the lasers now decay in damage based on distance, Blaster can still be used camp out fighters who refuse to approach Fox.
Cool Shades: Sported on by his R-secret James McCloud costume in Project+ and his costume based on his future self in one of the possible Command endings in PMEX Remix. Like Father, Like Son.
Flash Step: Fox Illusion, his side special, is a dash that damages the opponent with Fox's afterimages.
Glass Cannon: Just like in Melee, his fast ground and falling speed allow for some impressive combos, but he is susceptible to combos himself due to said falling speed, his low weight makes him easy to KO horizontally, and his linear recovery options, Fox Illusion and Fire Fox, make him easy to edgeguard and gimp (even more due to increased landing lag).
Idle Animation: Fox's idle pose was reverted to how it was in Smash 64 and Melee.
Meteor Move:
- Reflector is a semi-spike, often used for shine spiking.
- Down-aerial is a very weak spike.
- Down-throw is a grounded variation of a meteor smash.
Palette Swap: Fox gets his appearance from Smash 64 and Melee as an alternate costume, which comes with the three team colors from Melee. Project+ gives his modern and classic appearances more alts, including one based on his artwork from the first Star Fox for the latter.

Captain Falcon

^{Retro Captain Falcon}

^{Super Falcon tracksuit (P+)}

^{F-Zero GX Captain Falcon (REMIX)}

Voiced by: Ryō Horikawa

Home series: F-Zero
Debut: F-Zero (1990)

"Show me your moves!"

Captain Falcon is back with a few new recovery options. Falcon Kick restores the midair jump like it did in Melee, and Raptor Boost can be used to grab ledges, a feature implemented in Brawl.

Awesome, but Impractical: Falcon Punch is as powerful and as difficult to hit as usual.
Easter Egg: When a taunt button is held during a sweet-spotted Knee, Captain Falcon shouts a Big "YES!".
Hitbox Dissonance: Averted; the ledge grab box for Falcon Dive was improved to be more in line with his fist.
Lightning Bruiser: He's very fast when wavedashing, dash dancing, moonwalking, and just running. He also has strong moves and a great combo game.
Meteor Move: Down-air. Depending on the hitbox used, it could be either a meteor smash or a spike. Side-special has been upgraded from a meteor smash to a spike.
Never Bareheaded: Averted with his R-secret alt in Project+, which removes his face-obscuring helmet.
Palette Swap:
- Falcon received a purple alt with a tucked-in scarf inspired by his F-Zero X and Smash 64 appearances, as well as a costume taken from his appearance in the first F-Zero on the SNES.
- Project+ gives his modern design a gold alt that resembles Dr. Stewart and his retro design recolors for Team Battles as well as a recolor that resembles Phoenix, a racer who resembles Falcon from F-Zero GX. Version 2.5 gives him the outfit he wears when piloting the Super Falcon machine from the F-Zero X Expansion Kit; a semi-alt based on his Blue Falcon machine is also included in the lineup.
Shout-Out: His Z-secret alt in Project+ turns him into the Mach Rider.
Signature Move: Falcon Punch for being visually awesome (although a true pain to successfully land), as well as The Knee (forward aerial), which is an extremely fast and powerful move often used to end combos.
Super-Speed: He is the second fastest runner (behind Sonic).

Zelda

^{Ocarina of Time Zelda}

^{Hyrule Warriors Zelda (REMIX)}

Voiced by: Jun Mizusawa

Home series: The Legend of Zelda
Debut: The Legend of Zelda (1986)

The princess of Hyrule.

Glass Cannon: She has powerful attacks, but her low weight and gravity make her very susceptible to knockback.
Lag Cancel: Pressing B again cancels Farore's Wind.
Mighty Glacier: Her running speed is the second lowest in the game, but she makes up for it by having incredibly strong attacks.
Palette Swap: Zelda gets a new costume based on her appearance from Ocarina of Time and Melee, with Project+ giving this costume its recolors from Melee as well as a new yellow recolor. Version 2.3 of Project+ alters some of both costumes' recolors, giving her Twilight Princess design a recolor based on her appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and her Ocarina of Time design a violet recolor that accurately resembles her artwork from said game and a purple recolor that resembles Hilda. Her child self's outfit from Ocarina of Time serves as her Z-secret alt, and her R-secret alt is her Hyrule Warriors appearance.
Practical Taunt: Up and down taunts now have damaging hitboxes.
Teleportation: Farore's Wind (up special) is now an important part of her mobility game. It can be canceled by pressing the special button during movement. This cancels the cooldown time at her reappearance, allowing her to attack right out of it. It can also be used when recovering to stop just short of the ledge (and grab it, instead of landing on stage).
Time Bomb: After being placed, Din's Fire is suspended in midair, timed with roughly three seconds before detonation. The fireball then returns to her.
Trap Master: Zelda's playstyle involves a lot of laying Din's Fire as traps and letting them off when the time is right. Alternatively, Din's Fire can control the surrounding space by cutting off an opponent's movement options. For example, placing it in front of an opponent to prevent them from dashing forward.

Sheik

^{Ocarina of Time Sheik}

^{Hyrule Warriors Sheik (REMIX)}

Voiced by: Jun Mizusawa

Home series: The Legend of Zelda
Debut: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)

One of Melee's top-tier threats returns for another round.

Balance Buff: Her moveset was balanced so that she doesn't automatically have unfair advantageous matchups due to her infamous Melee NTSC down-throw, yet she has a few buffs on other moves to fairly compensate. Her new down-throw is a similar yet buffed version of her Melee PAL down-throw; while it no longer guarantees chain throws, it's executed faster, and thus harder for the opponent to DI out of. Her back-throw is faster and knocks the opponent at a higher angle, so it gives new options for combos. Side-smash was improved as a combo option as well.
Flechette Storm: Her neutral special readies up to five needles, which she throws when the button is pressed again.
Lightning Bruiser: She is an offensive powerhouse that quickly combos with solid attacks. She can also use her speed and needles to play defensively. Despite her being lightweight, she has excellent endurance thanks to her fast falling speed.
Nerf: Her down-throw was given more knockback so that it wouldn't chain-grab as long. This doesn't hurt her metagame one bit because all that means is that she's slightly more reliant on using more moves than her down-throw.
Palette Swap:
- Like Zelda, Sheik gets her design from Ocarina of Time and Melee as a new alt, with Project+ giving her the recolors corresponding to Zelda's costumes. And like her, her Hyrule Warriors design serves as her R-secret alt. The Z-secret alt, on the other hand, makes her resemble Impa from Ocarina of Time.
- Version 2.3 of Project+ reworks some of her recolors, giving her Twilight Princess design a dark blue recolor based on Impa's appearance in Skyward Sword and her Ocarina of Time design a red recolor inspired by the Yiga Clan, an indigo recolor that matches her official artwork from her debut game, and a purple recolor matching Zelda's Hilda-inspired recolor.
Wall Jump: Her wall-cling from Brawl was kept, giving her new and dynamic edge-guarding options.
When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Her needle storm is one of the best projectiles in Melee because it can be used to disrupt opponents very quickly.

Marth

^{Holy War Marth}

^{Hooded Marth (P+)}

^{Awakening Marth (REMIX)}

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa

Home series: Fire Emblem
Debut: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light (1990)

"今日も生き延びることが出来た。"^translation

The sword master of Melee with the devastating Ken Combo.

Counter-Attack: Counter, a down special which he shares with every other Fire Emblem character.
Gratuitous English: As an Easter Egg in Project+ and PMEX Remix, quickly tapping the side taunt input will have him say "Let's dance!", the only line not spoken in Japanese.^note
In the Hood: Gets a hooded costume in Project+, which also covers parts of his face.
Lightning Bruiser: Just like in Melee, Marth specializes in quick slashes with disjointed range, keeping the opponent at bay while also building up damage.
Long-Range Fighter: While lacking projectiles, he's great at spacing with his long range slashes. It helps that the sweet-spots of his hitboxes are consistently near the tip of his sword. Also, his grab range is very long.
Meteor Move:
- Down-air, the finisher of the infamous Ken Combo, is a spike.
- The downward third hit of Dancing Blade (side special) produces a meteor smash hitbox, but it's on the middle of the sword instead of the tip.
Palette Swap: In the transition from Brawl to PM, Marth lost his light blue recolor and instead uses his default appearance when on the Blue Team while also getting a new purple recolor, though the light blue recolor returns in Project+. He also gets Sigurd's outfit as a new alt with a set of recolors inspired by Eldigan, Quan, and Seliph and/or Byron (red, green, and blue respectively). His Z-secret alt gives him his original design from his debut (which has no pants), and his R-secret alt is his modern design since the DS remake of his debut, which is also used for his official Smash appearances since 3DS/Wii U.

Mr. Game & Watch

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mr_game_and_watch_standard_1.png

Home series: Game & Watch
Debut: Ball (1980)

The fragile yet strong 2-D fighter.

Double Jump: His recovery was improved by allowing him to use a midair jump, then up special, (or vice-versa), then air-dodge to get the total height provided by those three moves in a single recovery.
Energy Absorption: He can absorb energy attacks with his Oil Panic special. The cooldown time after catching a projectile has been sped up.
Glass Cannon: He is very susceptible to knockback, and he has high priority and strength.
Hammerspace: Where he gets his "weapons" from.
Improbable Weapon User: He can fight using a fish bowl, a racing flag, and a turtle.
Lag Cancel: Now, all of his aerials can be L-canceled.
Lethal Chef: Chef (neutral special) cancels upon landing, meaning it can be used similarly to Falco's lasers.
Meteor Move: The first few frames of down-air have a meteor smash.

Falco

^{Melee Falco}

Voiced by: Dex Manley

Home series: Star Fox
Debut: Star Fox (1993)

"Hands off my prey!"

Falco Lombardi, the very well respected and equally feared ace pilot of Star Fox, is reverted to his Melee counterpart to take the battlefield by storm.

Attack Reflector: Known by the competitive community as the "shine", his down special Reflector's used more for attacking than reflecting.
Backported Development: PMEX Remix gives him his Ultimate moveset as an L-load alt.
Beam Spam: Blaster is one of his most useful tools. Lasers can be used to control the stage, disrupt the opponent, aid in combos, and deal a little damage. Simply put, the most effective way to use lasers is to use them a lot.
Divergent Character Evolution: Inverted compared to regular Brawl; the animations for most of his moves were taken from Melee, which means they make him more like Fox.
Flash Step: His side special, Falco Phantasm, has afterimages which can meteor-smash.
Glass Cannon: Much like Fox, he is a fast character with devastating combos, but his light weight, fast falling speed, and his Falco Phantasm and Fire Bird not providing enough distance screw him over.
Meteor Move: Down-air is a spike, and Phantasm is a meteor smash.
Moveset Clone: With Fox, though their fighting styles are very different; Falco has an extremely useful blaster, and specializes in vertical combat. Fox has a mildly useful blaster, and specializes in horizontal combat. Their shines in particular reflect on their playstyles; Falco's has vertical knockback, and Fox's has horizontal knockback.
Palette Swap:
- His appearance from Melee appears as his alternate costume, complete with the team recolors from that game.
- In Project+, his modern appearance gets three new recolors, among which is a pink recolor loosely inspired by Katt Monroe and a purple recolor based on his rival Panther Caruso. His classic appearance also gets its own purple and pink recolors, the latter of which previously appeared as a new costume in the 20XX Melee Training Hack Pack. His Z-secret alt is his Star Fox Adventures design, and his R-secret alt is his Star Fox: Assault design.
Spectacular Spinning: For the sake of variety, he still has his Brawl jab combo.

Ganondorf

^{Ocarina of Time Ganondorf}

^{Ganon (P+ / REMIX)}

Voiced by: Hironori Miyata

Home series: The Legend of Zelda
Debut: The Legend of Zelda (1986)

The legendary King of Evil, Ganondorf had the notorious reputation of being the worst fighter in Brawl. As a result, he was reverted to his Melee incarnation while retaining some of his Brawl traits and even gaining some brand new tricks up his sleeve.

Art Evolution: Version 2.3 of Project+ (and eventually 0.95DX of PMEX Remix) updated Ganondorf's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time costume to be more accurate to his appearance in said game compared to the design in previous Project M and Project+ versions, which based said design on his Melee appearance (and by extension, his SpaceWorld 2000 tech demo appearance). Version 2.4 of P+ would incorporate elements from his Melee design.
Beard of Evil: His Twilight Princess incarnation sports one as usual. His Ganon form has a sort of bushy neckbeard.
Choke Holds: Flame Choke (side-special) was one of the few attributes kept from Brawl Ganondorf because of how useful it is in a Melee environment. It can be used to quickly approach opponents and it can be followed up with several moves, including down-air, (neutral) jab, side-tilt, down-tilt, Wizard's Foot (down special), and another Flame Choke. When short-hopped, it's useful for tech chases and the last resort "Ganoncide", the act of leaping off the stage while holding the opponent to an inescapable death for the both of them. It can also be used for horizontal recovery, much like Captain Falcon's Raptor Boost.
Cloak of Defense: His new neutral special is Dead Man's Volley/Drift. He swings his cape as an Attack Reflector to send projectiles back at his opponents at twice their speed, a Mythology Gag to his boss battle from Ocarina of Time.
Cool Sword: The Sword of the Six Sages, which he actually wields as his down taunt attack. When in his Ocarina of Time costumes, it gets replaced with the massive sword seen in the SpaceWorld 2000 tech demo and in Melee.
Discard and Draw: PMEX Remix gives him a different moveset that involves him using his sword (or trident when using the Ganon costumes) for most of his attacks as an L-load variant. This version is called "Sword Ganondorf" in-game.
Divergent Character Evolution: As Project M progressed, he became more different from Captain Falcon and more similar to the Ganondorf in the actual Zelda games. The demo 1.0 version was mostly Melee Ganondorf with the Brawl Flame Choke. Later, he was given a completely new up-tilt. As of 3.5, he has even more major changes, including a reflector (just like in the Ocarina of Time boss fight), a hover, his Down-Taunt became an attack (basically the Warlock Punch, except he does a vertical slash with his sword), and new animations for side-smash (as a nod to the old Warlock Punch) and back-aerial. He really is a completely different character at this point.
Evil Laugh: In his Battle Intro, up taunt, and one of his victory poses.
Evil Sorcerer: More pronounced than in Brawl. He can now float and deflect projectiles with his new neutral special, for one.
Full-Boar Action: Besides having Beast Ganon as his Final Smash, he gets a costume based on Ganon as he appeared in the earlier Zelda titles in Project+ and PMEX Remix. As an aesthetic change, the Sword of Sages is changed to the trident he wielded in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: His black Ganon recolor (inspired by his Twilight Princess appearance) features a glowing chest wound, referencing the Sages' failed attempt to execute him.
Hitbox Dissonance: Averted; like Captain Falcon's, Ganondorf's ledgegrab box on his Dark Dive was improved to be more in line with his fist.
Lightning Bruiser: Although he could qualify as a Mighty Glacier, the secret to his success is how deceptively quick he can be with the help of advanced techniques and game mechanics (e.g. L-canceling and DACUS). His attacks also combo very well, allowing him to output massive damage in short intervals.
Meteor Move: Down-aerial is a meteor smash, and aerial Wizard's Foot is a spike.
Mighty Glacier: Keeping the above in mind, he still has some of the slowest tech speed in the game.
Palette Swap: In the transition from Brawl to PM, Ganondorf lost his brown Ocarina of Time-inspired recolor to make room for his five Ocarina of Time costumes from Melee. The Ocarina of Time costume set received a recolor that resembles his Melee color scheme in Project+ version 2.4.
Power Floats: His new neutral special in midair allows him to float for a second, which is handy for landing aerial attacks, recovery, and approach.
Practical Taunt: In Project+, pressing B when he does his side taunt will have him perform his Warlock Punch, which can be reversed up to six times.
Supernatural Martial Arts: He fights with magic-boosted punches and kicks.

Jigglypuff

Voiced by: Rachael Lillis

Home series: Pokémon
Debut: Pokémon Red and Blue (1996)

"Jigglypuff!"

AKA Purin in Japan/Japanese. One of the top-tier characters in Melee, Jigglypuff returns with a devastating aerial game.

Continuity Cameo: That hat it wears is that of Leaf, Red's (aka "Pokémon Trainer"'s) female counterpart from FireRed and LeafGreen.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Jigglypuff's most powerful move is falling asleep, but the move is powerful enough to OHKO most opponents.
Magic Music: Its Signature Move Sing can put its opponents to sleep.
Masked Luchador: Its Z-secret alt in Project+ gives it a luchador mask in the style of Pikachu Libre.
Meteor Move: Down-aerial has meteor smash properties, but strangely, it only has the effect on grounded opponents; it sends airborne opponents sideways.
Mon: One of the most popular in the first generation, hence why it was included in Super Smash Bros.
Mythology Gag: Its L-alt is the Big Jigglypuff from episode 72 of the anime.
Our Fairies Are Different: To reference its change to being a part Fairy-type since Generation VI, Jigglypuff gets a costume that gives it fairy wings.
Overshadowed by Awesome: While reverted to its high-tiered Melee incarnation, it's less effective in the Project M metagame thanks to the revamped cast.
Palette Swap: It gets its crown from Melee. Project+ provides it its green headband from Melee, its red bow from Smash 64, Officer Jenny's cap, Dawn's beanie, the Picnicker class' and Elaine's caps from the Let's Go games, and the Youngster class' cap from Generation IV.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The shortest character in the cast, but packs a punch with its Rest move.
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The only confirmation that it's a female: the bow on the back of its palette swaps in all games, the flower by its ear starting from Melee, and Leaf's hat in Brawl.

Introduced in Demo 2.0

Donkey Kong

^{Boxing DK}

^{Turbo Charged DK (P+)}

^{Robot DK (REMIX)}

Home series: Donkey Kong
Debut: Donkey Kong (1981)

The king of swing re-enters the ring. He has new grabs from his cargo hold.

Boxing Battler: His bonus costume is his boss appearance from Punch-Out!!. The green team recolor (featuring black fur and a green outfit, complete with the red-striped shorts) is inspired by Little Mac in particular.
Easter Egg: Tapping the down taunt input for one frame will have him perform his dance during the DK Rap, which can be looped as long as the input is held.
Immune to Flinching: Dash-attack has light armor.
Megaton Punch: Giant Punch no longer leaves him helpless when used in the air.
Meteor Move: Forward-aerial and down-aerial are improved meteor smashes. Headbutt is also now a spike.
Mighty Glacier: Though he's not extremely fast, he was buffed well enough to be quite fast for a heavy and strong character.
Palette Swap:
- His white recolor now has a blue necktie instead of red, referencing the Super Kong form from Donkey Kong Country Returns.
- Project+ gives his default appearance recolors from Donkey Kong 64's multiplayer mode and two additional recolors for his Punch-Out!! attire, with the pink one resembling Junior (II) from Donkey Kong Jr. Math. Version 2.5 gives him his Turbo Charged racing suit from the Nintendo-exclusive releases of Skylanders. His Z-secret costume turns him into the Mini Donkey Kong toy from the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, and his R-secret costume turns him into Funky Kong.
Rolling Attack: The new dash attack is the roll from Donkey Kong Country.
Shout-Out: PMEX REMIX gives him an additional alternate costume based on the robot body he inhabits in the "Metal Head" episode of the Donkey Kong Country cartoon.
Shows Damage: Starting with Project+ version 2.3.2, DK's Punch-Out!! costumes will show bandages on his face the more he takes damage. He sports no bandages at 0%, one bandage when he reaches 50%, and two when he reaches 100%.
Spin Attack: Spinning Kong (up-special) has him spin around like a tornado.

Pikachu

^{Kyubey Pikachu (REMIX)}

Voiced by: Ikue Otani

Home series: Pokémon
Debut: Pokémon Red and Blue (1996)

"Pika!"

Elements of every Smash Bros. Pikachu incarnation was combined to make one definitive Pikachu.

Composite Character: It contains elements of all its Smash Bros. movesets.
Flash Step: Quick Attack, its up special. Quick Attack canceling from Brawl was retained.
Glass Cannon: Fairly light, yet can pack a punch with some of its attacks.
Masked Luchador: Its Z-secret costume in Project+ turns it into Pikachu Libre.
Mon: The Series Mascot of Pokémon and the most famous one out there.
Palette Swap:
- It gets its party hat from Smash 64 and Melee, albeit colored purple instead, a pirate's hat inspired by a Japanese promotional card from the trading card game, and the Pokémon Trainer's hat worn sideways with its ears folded down.
- Project+ gives it its green hat from Melee, Detective Pikachu's cap, the Harmony Scarf, the equipment it wore from the anime episode "Pokémon Emergency", Chase's hat, May's headband, and the top hat and bowtie from the "Pikachu's Jukebox" segments from the anime.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Its May's headband and Pikachu Libre costumes are female, which can distinguished by the heart-shaped tails.
Shock and Awe: Surprisingly, most of its moves involve shocking his opponent.
Shout-Out: One of its costumes in PMEX Remix is based on Kyubey.
Use Your Head: Its jab attack, its down-air, and its side special (Skull Bash) all involve headbutting the opponent.

Luigi

^{Mr. L}

^{Casino Luigi (P+ / REMIX)}