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This page lists the second half of the starter roster of fighters from Super Smash Bros. 64.


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     05 – Yoshi 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoshissbu.png
3DS/Wii U 
Brawl 
Melee 
64 
Voiced by: Kazumi Totaka
Home Series: Yoshi
Debut: Super Mario World [SNES], 1990
Creator: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

Playable in: 64, Melee, Brawl, 3DS/Wii U, Ultimate
YOSHI ROLLS INTO BATTLE!

Yoshi is one of Mario's most reliable pals and the most iconic Power Up Mount in gaming. He is a happy-go-lucky dino-like creature that has helped Mario across several of his adventures, and has even been the star of some of his own. His species helped Mario and Luigi several times when they were babies, and starting with Super Mario World, this particular one (which happens to be the seventh of the Star Children) got to help Mario once again. His signature long tongue allows him to swallow enemies whole and put them in eggs that explode when thrown.

Yoshi may look cute and cartoony, but don't take this species lightly: his typical abilities translate into a fast, versatile opponent. To make up for his lack of a reliable recovery move, his double jump is one of the best in the series, also allowing for an incredible aerial game.


Special MovesClick to show 

See Super Mario Bros.: Allies for more information on the character in his origin series.

  • Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: He only wears a pair of shoes. The "saddle" on his back is actually a vestigial shell.
  • Animal Stampede: How his Final Smash in Ultimate works.
  • Anthropomorphic Shift: In Brawl, his stance is much more upright than the Super Mario World-inspired stance in 64 and Melee. In 3DS/Wii U, he's even more upright. Unlike other Smash examples of this trope like DK and Bowser, however, Yoshi has always used his traditional cartoony vocalizations instead of realistic dinosaur roars. That part is justified, however, since that just wouldn't fit with Yoshi's character.
  • Anti-Air: His Egg Throw can only be thrown in an arc. It's very easy to miss on opponents who are up close and on the ground, but those approaching from above had better watch out, as it's a particularly powerful projectile.
  • Art Evolution: In 64 and Melee, he has a much longer and draconic appearance and red shoes, similar to Super Mario World and Super Mario 64. His skin was also more slick and scaly-looking and more realistic, appearing more like an actual dinosaur's. In Brawl, he's chubbier and stouter with orange shoes, as was codified in the Nintendo GameCube era. In 3DS/Wii U, Yoshi is more in line his modern appearance, with a more upright stature and much brighter skin tone. His skin has also became much more plushy and soft, giving him a more cartoony and cuddly look to him.
  • Badass Adorable: It's not hard to view him this way, especially with his cartoony voice. The games seem to be sticking to this, as other animal characters such as Donkey Kong and Bowser were upgraded to having a more realistic look and sound, while Yoshi stayed himself. Justified, though, as trying to make Yoshi look and sound more realistic would seem very out of character.
  • Balloon Belly: When performing his Egg Lay move, Yoshi briefly bloats up.
  • Battle Intro: Yoshi bursts out of a Yoshi Egg. Until 3DS/Wii U, it was always green-spotted, but starting with that game, the spots would match the color of the Yoshi you selected.
  • Big Eater: Yoshi uses his tongue to grab enemies into his mouth and release them as eggs. And yes, he is a male.
  • Creator Cameo: Not exactly by a creator, but Yoshi is voiced by Kazumi Totaka, who composed the Yoshi's Story score.
  • Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Smash labels Yoshi as a dragon just as much as it labels him as a dinosaur. His Super Dragon attack has him grow wings and attack via fire-breathing; all powers he could get in Super Mario World.
  • Everything's Better with Rainbows: In 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate, Yoshi's Egg Throw leaves a rainbow trail.
  • Extremity Extremist: Other than using various attacks of his tail, the green dino's neutral combo, Up Smash, and several of his aerial attacks usually involve kicks in his moveset, possibly because his arms doesn't have any range behind them, even though he does throw two punches for one of his victory animations.
  • Fighting Your Friend: Crosses swords briefly with Mario during The Subspace Emissary.
  • Good Wings, Evil Wings: Similar to Meta Knight and Pit, Bayonetta's newcomer artwork gives him this dynamic with Charizard; Yoshi is depicted in his Super Dragon form, with white feathery wings, while opposite of him is Charizard, another reptile with more dragon-like wings.
  • Ground Pound: His Down Special is the move of the same name right from his own games. If used in midair, he does a little twirl in midair before heading straight down, while using it on the ground causes him to jump up and ahead slightly before doing the same thing.
  • Home Stage:
    • 64: Yoshi's Island.
    • Melee: Yoshi's Story and Yoshi's Island, though the former is more used in single-player modes.
    • Brawl: Yoshi's Island.
    • 3DS/Wii U: All stages from his seriesnote .
    • Ultimate: Yoshi's Island in Ultimate's website, his fight in World of Light though takes place in Super Happy Tree.
  • Idle Animation:
    • He does a small dance.
    • He looks from side to side.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Throws eggs that explode.
  • Leitmotif: Varies.
    • In 64, it's Yoshi's Island (which is actually a song from Yoshi's Story).
    • In Melee and Ultimate, it's Yoshi's Story.
    • In Brawl, it's Ending (Yoshi's Story), which was showcased on the Dojo before release, and is his unique credits theme.
    • In 3DS/Wii U, Yoshi's Island plays when he's introduced in the April Nintendo Direct. It's also one of only 2 new Yoshi series songs made for the game.
    • In Ultimate, Obstacle Course - Yoshi's Island is his World of Light theme.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: He and Link fight against Mario and Pit in The Subspace Emissary, but they later join forces.
  • Lightning Bruiser: His ground speed is always high, his weight is above average, his air speed in all games is always one of the fastest (if not the fastest), and he possesses attacks that are generally quick and powerful. His only major weakness is a highly unorthodox and punishable recovery, making him prone to easy edgeguards.
  • Limit Break:
    • In Brawl and 3DS/Wii U, Super Dragon (which uses a combination of the shell abilities from Super Mario World) is Yoshi's Final Smash.
    • In Ultimate, he has a Final Smash involving a stampede of different-colored Yoshis, echoing a scene from the opening cutscene of Melee.
  • Meteor Move: His forward air in all games will Meteor Smash targets, as well as his down air in all games but 3DS/Wii U.
  • Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
    • Yoshi uses an egg as his shield instead of a bubble. The egg doesn't shrink, meaning that he is invulnerable to all non-grab attacks while shielding, but in Melee and Brawl, he can't jump out of it, limiting his mobility while defending. This was removed in the fourth game, but now he can no longer drop through soft platforms while shielding.
    • Yoshi's double jump is his Flutter Jump, which grants him super armor and covers much more distance than any other double jump. As a drawback, his Up-Special is a very poor recovery move (and wasn't a recovery move at all in the first two games, making him even more unique among the Original 8.)
  • Multipurpose Tongue: It is used in his Neutral Special and his grab.
  • Mythology Gag: Yoshi's Final Smash in Ultimate is the Yoshi Stampede from the opening cutscene of Melee.
  • Nerf:
    • He was able to jump out of his shield in 64, but Melee and Brawl made it so that he couldn't anymore (probably to balance the fact that his shield cannot be pierced). 3DS/Wii U finally removes this limitation.
    • To compensate for meteor smashes being uncancelable, 3DS/Wii U establishes more sourspots to make it harder to land the ones that send downward; Yoshi's forward aerial now only meteor smashes with the tip of his nose.
  • No Biological Sex: According to the Japanese version of Melee, Yoshis are neither male or female, and reproduce asexually. Even Viridi is confused by Yoshi's biology (and she's a goddess of nature). Though this is contradicted by various other official media, as well as his in-game trophy. This Yoshi at least uses male pronouns.
  • No-Sell: Yoshi's double jump has super armor, meaning extremely high resistance to knockbacknote . Yoshi still takes full damage, though, so it is mainly just to make getting back on the stage easier.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: While Smash considers Yoshi to be a dragon, he's quite different from the more traditional Charizard and Ridley, or the humanoid/dragon hybrid Corrin, as a cutesy ridable dinosaur who throws explosive eggs.
  • Palette Swap: Has the main 6 Yoshi's Story colors from 64 onward (though in 64, blue and pink were CPU-only). 3DS/Wii U adds Black Yoshi, also from Yoshi's Story, and Purple Yoshi. Ultimate adds a fuzzy-textured one based on Yoshi's Crafted World in Black Yoshi's place.
  • Pokémon Speak: As usual, the primary thing he says is "Yoshi!".
  • Power-Up Mount: What Yoshis were in their first appearance; Peach sits on him briefly in the Melee opening, and Mario briefly rides Yoshi during The Subspace Emissary.
  • Primal Stance: Uses the ride-ready stance from Super Mario World in 64, Melee, and Brawl. After his Anthropomorphic Shift in the main Mario franchise was standardized, he uses an upright stance in 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate.
  • Proj-egg-tile: His up special, Egg Throw. It can be difficult to hit opponents who are on the same platform as him and it is virtually useless as a recovery move, but it very useful for hitting opponents who are higher than him.
  • Rolling Attack: His Side Special, which makes him charge inside of a spinning egg. It can be sped up by holding B, but be careful not to go over an edge.
  • Shockwave Stomp: His Ground Pound generates damaging stars on contact with the ground which count as projectiles (meaning they can be reflected). One of his customs for this move in 3DS/Wii U weakens the Ground Pound itself while making the stars larger and stronger.
  • Shout-Out: One of the victory poses for Yoshi has his back facing the camera with his head turned, which looks incredibly similar to the aftermath of Akuma's Finishing Move, the Shun Goku Satsu. In Ryu's Congratulations image for All-Star mode, he's lying on the ground in defeat with a black Yoshi as a stand-in for Akuma with the same pose without the kanji symbol.
  • Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Seems to always be the last of the original eight to be confirmed. He was the only one of the original characters to be confirmed on Brawl via Smash Bros. Dojo before appearing in a trailernote , and his reveal in 3DS/Wii U was not accompanied with any cinematic trailer featuring him. Likewise, he and Luigi are the last two veterans to appear in the announcement for Ultimate.
  • Super Mode: Yoshi's Final Smash in Brawl and 3DS/Wii U can transform Yoshi, a dinosaur, into a fire-breathing dragon with angel wings. It is based off of the Yoshi power ups from Super Mario World.
  • Tail Slap: A few of his attacks utilize this, such as his back aerial.
  • Use Your Head: In many of his attacks.
  • Wake Up Fighting: How he's introduced in the Subspace Emissary story mode although a little downplayed. After Link pulls out the Master Sword from a stone, he's faced with a swarm of Primids drawing near. Yoshi walks up to him with his eyes half-closed since he just got up from his slumber. The next cutscene shows him and Link seeing what has to be stopped at all costs, only this time he's wide-awake and ready for action.
  • Wolfpack Boss: The second stage of 1P Mode in 64 features a fight against eighteen Yoshis, three of each of the six colorsnote . Like Link, they just meander around and wait to be disposed of except on higher difficulties. You earn a special bonus if you KO them in the exact order they appear.
  • Your Size May Vary: The Yoshis that appear in Stampede are much larger than the playable Yoshi.
  • Zerg Rush: Replacing his Yoshi Dragon in Ultimate is the Stampede attack from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.note  Whatever poor schmuck ends up in Yoshi’s way gets to feel the full force of the entire Yoshi herd hitting them all at once.

     06 – Kirby 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kirbyssbu.png
3DS/Wii U 
Brawl 
Melee 
64 
Voiced by: Makiko Ohmoto
Home Series: Kirby
Publisher: Nintendo

Playable in: 64, Melee, Brawl, 3DS/Wii U, Ultimate

A young resident of the planet Pop Star and main character of the Kirby series, which was also created by Masahiro Sakurai. Kirby may be a cute puffball, but beneath his innocent exterior lies incredible power and he's saved his homeland several times against all kinds of enemies. He has the unique ability to suck enemies into his mouth and copy their powers to use himself.

In Smash Bros., Kirby uses several attacks lifted directly from the various Copy Abilities across his home series. His many attacks and a whopping six jumps lead to a varied moveset that's easy for beginners to utilize, similar to how Kirby's games work as a Gateway Series. Kirby can also copy the Neutral Special of whomever he inhales, giving him even more versatility depending on who he sucked up. However, he happens to be one of the lightest characters in the roster, being very easily launched if not careful.


Special MovesClick to show 
See Kirby's page for more information on the character in his origin series.

  • Achilles' Heel: His Down Special, Stone, makes him completely invincible to all damage for a short time. Grabs don't deal damage and will immediately pull him out of the move.
  • An Ice Person: With Custom Moves in 3DS/Wii U, Inhale can be replaced with the Ice Breath ability from his games. It deals damage instead of sucking in opponents and may freeze them.
  • Arm Cannon: Averted. Despite most copy abilities having Kirby pull any required weapons out from nowhere, copying the Charge Shot from Samus, Dark Samus, and the Mii Gunner does not give him their respective arm cannons, instead firing the shot from his regular stubby little arms.
  • Art Evolution: Noticeably averted. Kirby's design in Smash has stayed basically the same since 2001, in spite of the evolution in his home series — compare his Ultimate model to Kirby Star Allies. This is even lampshaded in Brawl's reveal trailer, where Kirby remains the same while other characters receive conspicuous changes.
  • The Artifact: Kirby's hats stay the same between games even if the character he's copied them from have changed. For example, he wears Young Zelda's headdress from Ocarina of Time despite Zelda being updated to her Twilight Princess design, or Falco's Melee looks despite him looking different in Brawl, 3DS/Wii U, and Ultimate. However, his Ganondorf hat reflects his current design in each game, and Zelda's is updated to her A Link Between Worlds hair in Ultimate. The Link hat remains the floppy green cap in Ultimate, however, despite Link no longer wearing it in his default costume.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: Charging up his Hammer Flip at its strongest deals extraordinary damage, but in between it all, much like Ike's Eruption, the high ending lag from the attack tends to leave him vulnerable to being punished by other characters. Not to mention that he suffers recoil damage from the flammable mallet. In Melee, using his back throw near a ledge will take the opponent with him. Unfortunately, the enemy tends to escape from his grasp sooner which will result in Kirby accidentally self-destructing himself. Because of that the drawback has been removed since Brawl.
  • Badass Adorable: He may look harmless, but Kirby is truly one hardcore cream puff. In his home series, he is repeatedly seen defeating all sorts of eldritch abominations single-handedly. In The Subspace Emissary, he single-handedly destroys the Subspace Gunship with the Dragoon (one of the legendary Air Ride machines)! He's also the Sole Survivor of Galeem's onslaught upon the entire multiverse in World of Light — it's even left up to him to rescue everyone else.
  • Battle Boomerang: The Cutter Boomerang, but he doesn't throw it. Instead, he uses it like a sword for his Final Cutter attack from the Cutter ability.
  • Battle Intro: Kirby crashes his Warp Star onto the stage, does an aerial spin, and then hits the ground.
  • BFS: His Final Smash in 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate is the Ultra Sword Super Ability from Kirby's Return to Dream Land. The handle alone is larger than his body, and the blade is larger than that.
  • Big Eater: Kirby is one of the characters who can eat his enemies (and items on the battlefield from Brawl onward), along with Yoshi and Wario.
  • Born Lucky: In Brawl's story mode, with the exception of saving Peach or Zelda and joining Mario and Link's group for a time, Kirby spends the entirety of the story charging headlong into whatever catches his interest. And by some bizarre circumstance of this constant doing whatever reckless thing pops into his head, he ends up being instrumental in the final act. His luck extends into Ultimate, in which he becomes the Sole Survivor of the opening Last Stand in World of Light. And he's also the only person in Kazuya Mishima's trailer to not be thrown into a lava pit, as he could just float back out of it.note 
  • Bottomless Magazines:
    • Averted for Robin Kirby and Inkling Kirby, who have a limited Thunder tome and a limited ink tank for the Splattershot respectively. Kirby can't recharge either of these since he only copies the basic B button push instead of the entire mechanic, and loses the Copy Ability when he runs out of ammunition.
    • Invoked however for Olimar Kirby, whose basic B button push is normally the recharge. Instead, he gets a unique move that produces a Pikmin and instantly throws it (combining with the Side Special) and then it instantly dies. This gives Kirby a more spammable Pikmin toss than even Olimar has. Olimar can be given a custom neutral special with this exact functionality in 3DS/Wii U.
    • Played straight for Hero Kirby, he gains Hero's MP Gauge and can even replenish it as long as he keeps the hat on.
  • Breath Weapon: One of Kirby's customizable abilities in 3DS/Wii U swaps out his inhale for the Ice ability's Ice Breath. He can also obtain this power by inhaling either Bowser, Charizard, and Ridley since their respective neutral specials involve spewing streams of flames from their jaws, which could also count as an attack that Fire Kirby uses.
  • Breakable Weapons: Inhaling Robin will give Kirby the Thunder Tome, which shares the same durability system Robin uses. Once the tome is exhausted, Kirby loses both the Copy Ability and Robin's hair. Same thing happens if Kirby inhales an Inkling and empties their ink tank. Averted with Steve's ability, as Kirby's mining tools cannot break.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Amusingly, Kirby also mimics the person who he's copied. This is particularly funny with the likes of Robin and Shulk, who have several attack call-outs for Kirby to copy, with adorable results.
    "Pi-ka-chu!" "Pii-chu!"
    "Thundah!" "Ewlthundah!" "Arcthundah!" "Thowon!"
    "Jump!" "Speed!" "Shiewld!" "Bustah!" "Smash!"
    "Allowettal!"note 
    "PK Fiah!" "PK Fwash!" "PK Fweeze!"
    "Falcowne Panch!"
    "Hadouken!"
    "Powah Wave!"note 
  • Catch and Return: In Ultimate, Kirby's Inhale gains the ability to inhale and spit projectiles back at the opponent, much like what he does in his games.
  • Character Catchphrase: "Hiiiiiii!"
  • Charged Attack: In 3DS/Wii U, Hammer can do this, which turns it into the powerful Hammer Flip. It deals absurd damage when fully charged, but is short ranged, slow, and charging for too long will constantly deal minor damage to Kirby until he unleashes the attack.
  • Chef of Iron: Cook Kirby in Brawl has him transform into a chef and cook his foes alive.
  • Chest Monster: His Ultimate character trailer shows him transforming into a Sheikah chest from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Naturally, Link comes to investigate, at which point the chest turns back into Kirby and he swallows Link.
  • Close-Range Combatant: As a result of being small with stubby limbs and having no ranged moves besides the end of his Final Cutter, Kirby very often requires to approach an opponent in order to be of any danger. But it all roughly depends on who he's fighting against as his mobility can be outshined by other fighters who possess superior movement speed that will get into his face with combos, as well as being able to easily KO him with stronger attacks since he's one of the lightest characters.
  • Cool Starship: His Warp Star and Dragoon could technically count as starships, with the Warp Star being a "Star Ship" in the most literal sense.
  • Dance Battler: His dash attack in Brawl and 3DS/Wii U is the Yo-Yo ability's Break Spin from Kirby Super Star.
  • Dishing Out Dirt:
    • Stone, which is invulnerable to strikes but can be grappled out of. Best used on top of somebody else. Melee adds additional objects, such as a brick and weight, while Brawl makes it less invulnerable (attacks doing fifty damage and higher tend to break it).
    • His Custom up special, Wave Cutter, creates a pattern of rocks in his enemy's path.
  • Eat the Bomb: Inhale can be used to eat explosives, but doing so will hurt Kirby. Other players can also feed Kirby explosives if they toss them at him while he's using Inhale.
  • Effective Knockoff: As noted by Sakurai in his Pyra/Mythra presentation, if one pays close attention, every one of Kirby's copy abilities are slightly more damaging than the originals, at least in Ultimate, as a trade-off for how difficult it can be to swallow and copy another fighter mid-battle.
  • Extremity Extremist: He uses only a few attacks that involve his shortened nubs for arms, although, a majority of his aerials, his down throw, get up attacks, tilts, and all 3 of his Smash Attacks are kicks. It's understandable because his feet are the longest parts of his body and give Kirby more attack range in the long run, and allowing him to be a pure front-line melee fighter.
  • Extreme Omnivore: He can eat practically any item in Brawl, 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate by inhaling it. He can even eat explosives, which will cause Kirby to stagger a bit while the explosive goes off in his stomach. This does minuscule damage but removes the explosive from play. However, he cannot consume Assist Trophies, Smash Balls, Sandbag, Poké Balls, or Master Balls.
  • Eye Color Change: If he inhales Meta Knight his eyes become green as seen through his replicated mask in Brawl. This detail is likely because Kirby's eyes are blue and Meta Knight's eyes are yellow, therefore being a colored Fusion Dance of their respective eye colors.
  • Faster-Than-Light Travel: The Warp Star being this has always been a bit of an Informed Ability, but in World of Light, we witness first hand the Warp Star's true potential when Kirby flies away from the Master Hand army so fast he practically blinks out of existence.
  • Fling a Light into the Future: In World of Light, he is the only one to evade the spirit-stealing light and crash-lands into the brand new world.
  • Glass Cannon: In both the original and Brawl, Kirby has impressive attack power, but is one of the lightest characters.
  • Gratuitous Japanese: In 64 and Melee, he says "よし!" (yosh!, essentially "all right!") when returning to normal from his Stone form.
  • Ground Pound: Turns into a rock to do it. He can also turn into other heavy objects from other Nintendo games.
  • Hammered into the Ground: His first custom Down Special move, Grounding Stone, basically entombs opponents right into the ground, but only if Kirby uses this attack in the air since using it on the ground won't use this effect.
  • Happy Dance: All of his victory poses are variations on his famous "Kirby Dance". From Brawl onwards, he can perform a truncated version of it as his Up Taunt. As of Ultimate, he also splits into three of himself for his victory poses, just like he did against bosses in his home series.
  • The Hero: With Mario in the series as a whole. However in the World of Light, he’s the Sole Survivor of the initial attack used by Galeem. And an interesting fun fact, the "World of Light"'s Japanese name, when the characters are read in reverse, spells out Hoshi no Kirby (or Kirby of the Stars), though this is a coincidence, according to Sakurai.
  • Home Stage:
    • 64: Dream Land.
    • Melee: Fountain of Dreams and Green Greens, used interchangeably in single-player modes.
    • Brawl: Halberd.
    • 3DS/Wii U: All stages from his seriesnote .
    • Ultimate: Green Greens.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: He only pulls his weapons out when the player activates them, such as the Hammer and the Cutter Boomerang. This also applies to all of his copied weapons, such as the Falchion, the Hero's Bow, or Galaxia. Averted with the Monado, although he uses it for the Monado Arts instead of fighting.
  • Idle Animation:
    • He briefly falls asleep.
    • He jumps in place to look the other way, then returns to normal.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Inhaling Banjo gives him a backpack with a plush toy of Kazooie in it.
  • Kid-Appeal Character: Kirby has a cutesy, simplistic design, a childish personality, and an easy-to-use moveset. In every game, he tends to be a popular choice with beginners, children and casual players of all ages.
  • Kid Hero: It's vague how old Kirby really is, but he's pretty childlike anyway. The anime continuity portrays him as an infant, but as it's less of a direct adaptation and more of an Alternate Universe, it's debatable if this aspect of Kirby is canon.
  • Leitmotif: Usually Green Greens as it is in his home series.
    • In 64, it's Dream Land, a remix of the Gourmet Race theme from Super Star.
    • In Melee and Ultimate, it's Green Greens.
    • In Brawl, Butter Building is his unique credits theme.
    • In 3DS/Wii U, Green Greens V2 was featured on the site and used in the April Direct when explaining Kirby's new moves.
  • Limit Break:
    • Brawl: Cook Kirby (from Kirby Super Star): Kirby sucks all of his opponents into a pot and cooks them before launching them out. Just like in his own games it turns all nearby items into food.
    • 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate: Ultra Sword (from Kirby's Return to Dream Land): Kirby cleaves his opponent with a humongous sword multiple times (but only if the first swing connects).
  • Martial Arts Headband: Outfits himself with a red headband after swallowing Ryu. If his headband didn't have those Big Ol' Eyebrows along with his hair placed over it, he would've looked like his Fighter Kirby form.
  • Meaningful Appearance: When Kirby inhales and copies another fighter, he usually gets a hat of either their hair, a part of their head, or something the fighter wears on their head. There are a few exceptions, such as Zelda giving him the headdress of her younger self from Ocarina of Time in Melee, Brawl, and 3DS/Wii U (which none of the playable Zeldas in the series actively wear in Smash, while in Ultimate Kirby instead gets a "wig" of LttP Zelda's blonde hair), Mr. Game and Watch turning Kirby entirely black and white, Wii Fit Trainer turning his upper body mannequin-white, Lucina giving him her "Marth" mask from Awakening (which she only wears in Smash briefly as a taunt), getting the Monado from Shulk, obtaining Banjo's backpack with a plush Kazooie inside, and Steve turning him all blocky.
  • Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Kirby is the only fighter in the entire series that can copy the special moves of other characters, specifically the default Neutral Special, and for most of the roster, all the extra mechanics and abilities attached to those moves. Some abilities work a bit differently for Kirby than the original fighters, however:
    • While he can inhale the lead Ice Climber of a pair and copy their Ice Shot, it's only half as powerful since Kirby doesn't acquire a partner to do the move with him.
    • Inhaling Olimar actually gives Kirby his Side Special, Pikmin Throw, instead, since Olimar's Neutral Special is only used for gathering Pikmin and would be useless to Kirby on its own.
    • Kirby will copy Lucario's Aura Sphere, but not his Aura abilities, meaning the attack's damage is fixed at around what it would be with Lucario at 75% damage.
    • Kirby's version of Rosalina's Luma Shot will spontaneously generate a Luma that is launched and does not stick around afterwards, as Kirby does not access her Puppet Fighter mechanics.
    • Copying Little Mac does not give Kirby access to the K.O. Uppercut. Similarly, he does not have access to Cloud's Limit Breaks or Joker's Arsène, so he can only use those moves in their base forms.
    • Copying Robin and Inkling's abilities will allow Kirby to use them until running out of durability and ink, respectively, at which point the ability will be automatically discarded. He also cannot recharge the ink by inputting shield + B. Additionally, Kirby's ink will never be the same as any other Inklings' on the stage.
    • Copying Shulk gives Kirby the Monado, and with it access to Shulk's Monado Arts, which can drastically change how Kirby is played. Jump and Speed turn Kirby into a Fragile Speedster, Shield turns him into a Stone Wall note , and Buster and Smash crank up his Glass Cannon status, by making him even more fragile and powerful (in either damage or knockback) than before.
    • Copying Ryu, Ken, and Terry gives Kirby access to the alternate inputs of their special moves. He can't activate Terry's Super Special Moves, however.
    • Copying the Hero gives Kirby their MP gauge, which is depleted when Kirby uses the move, but unlike with Robin and Inkling it can be refilled and will not be automatically discarded at any point.
    • Kirby's version of Min Min's Punch in Ultimate has drastically different properties than the original. For starters, Min Min's Punch is also her neutral attack, forward tilt, forward smash, forward and back aerial, and side special move, while Kirby can only use it as a neutral special (which itself emulates her forward smash, including the ability to shoot a beam). He also cannot use her aerial variation, nor can he move the ARM up or down. Finally, Kirby only copies her left ARM (which is always the Dragon). However, due to Kirby retaining the rest of his moveset, Min Min's ability gives him a very powerful long-range option.
    • Inhaling Steve allows Kirby to mine the stage and place blocks in the air, even gaining Steve's materials gauge above his damage portrait, but he is unable to use Steve's crafting tables to upgrade his tools. As an exchange, though, Kirby's tools will not break. Unlike Steve, his tools are made of iron by default instead of wood, though due to the lack of their ability to break or directly damage an opponent, that part is more cosmetic than anything else. He also cannot mine redstone, gold, or diamonds, as he doesn't copy any of Steve's moves that use those materials and they can't be placed on the stage as blocks.
    • He cannot copy custom special moves in 3DS/Wii U. The default neutral special will still be copied if he inhales a customized fighter. This extends to Mii Fighters in both 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate; he will only ever copy a Brawler's Shot Put, a Swordfighter's Gale Strike, and a Gunner's Charge Blast, even if the copied Mii Fighter has been assigned a different neutral special.
  • Meteor Move: His Meteor Stone Custom and down aerial.
    • The beginning of his up special Final Cutter, has a meteor smash effect as soon as he plummets downward, although it's rather unsafe to use off the stage to edgeguard since Kirby will continue falling along with the opponent which could cause a double KO.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Copying Ryu gives him the Hadoken, of course, which he can perform as Fighter Kirby in several mainstream Kirby games. He even gains a similar headband.
    • On a similar note, inhaling Regular, Young, or Toon Link will give Kirby his Sword Kirby hat, which of course was a reference to Link to begin with. This even happens when copying Breath of the Wild Link in Ultimate, who has no hat.
  • Palette Swap: His swaps include yellow, red, green, and blue, which are colors commonly used for multiplayer in most Kirby games. They are also sometimes linked to his powers—most consistently Beam, Fire, Plasma, and Ice, respectively. Further, the yellow could be a Development Gag to yellow consistently being the second-player Kirby color (sometimes nicknamed "Keeby"), which is in turn because Shigeru Miyamoto originally visualized Kirby as being yellow. He also has a grayscale one as a Continuity Nod to his first appearance on the monochrome Game Boy, where the boxart showed him as white. 3DS/Wii U adds an orange swap akin to Suplex Kirby, and a dark blue swap with yellow eyes that resembles a maskless Meta Knight.
  • Pintsized Powerhouse: Especially in the first game, since he was nerfed somewhat in the sequels.
  • Playing with Fire: His dash attack is a fireball dash (Burning/Fire power) from his own games in Melee, which was swapped out for the Break Spin in Brawl and 3DS/Wii U, but returned in Ultimate. In 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate, his Hammer Flip is denoted by the Hammer catching fire, although this will start to hurt him.
  • Power Copying: Kirby's ability to inhale and swallow enemies allows him to copy the neutral special move of the character he inhales. In 3DS/Wii U, he cannot copy a character's custom neutral movenote  (For example, he will always copy Palutena's Autoreticle regardless of what special move she has equipped). He will also only ever copy a Mii Fighter's first neutral special, regardless of which one they have, even in Ultimate.
  • Practical Taunt: Taunting while having a copy ability makes him lose it. Notably, his down taunt is the single shortest in the entire series, probably to make it easier to drop the copy when needed.
  • Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Has the Vulcan Jab move from the Fighter ability as his standard combo.
  • Ret-Canon: His moveset was adapted into the Kirby franchise as the "Smash" ability, which gives him the Hammer, Final Cutter, Stone, Vulcan Jab, and Twinkle Star attacks, rolled into a single Ability. Kirby's Dream Collection adds the Smash Kick to the mix, which is his Side Smash attack, and Kirby: Planet Robobot adds Jumping Body Slam, his up throw.
  • Rubber Man: Downplayed. In the original 64 game whenever he gets shocked, the X-Ray effect shows off his anatomy which revealed that he's entirely boneless, which is possibly the reason why he has some degree of being elastic, since he can squash and stretch his own body but not his arms and feet (let alone his non-existent legs). Every time he ducks in any of the games he flattens his entire body in a cartoonish fashion. Him ducking that way can be useful for dodging incoming smash attacks or certain projectiles but he's still vulnerable to down tilt attacks.
  • Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Occasionally whenever Kirby has gotten ahold R.O.B's Robo Beam, he'll tend to (adorably) yell out "beep!"
  • Series Mascot: Not quite to the extent of Mario, but Kirby is one of the most prominent characters in the franchise (particularly in Brawl), being the brainchild of Smash creator Masahiro Sakurai. His Copy Abilities are a major element of each game, many of the mechanics in Smash are based on his home series, he appears on all of the series's boxart, he fights against Mario in the 64 opening, and alongside him in the first Event Match in Brawl, he plays a major role in the plot of The Subspace Emissary, and Sakurai drew a sketch of him as part of his signature for the official soundtrack album. This gets even more clear in World of Light, the story mode for Ultimate, where he's the Sole Survivor of the initial attack that wipes out all of the other characters.
  • Shout-Out: His Stone ability can transform into, besides the classic rock-with-a-"\ /"-face and among other things, a Thwomp (Super Mario 64 design in Melee and Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy design in 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate), Lip's garbage block, and, as of Ultimate, a treasure chest from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
  • Skill Gate Characters: In Brawl, at least, Kirby is a relatively popular character among lower level players, having strong, spammable smash attacks, a simple yet very effective recovery, and generally easy to utilize moves. Among higher-level play, Kirby is much less common, though subverted in that unlike your typical skill gate character, Kirby is still relatively effective.
  • Sky Surfing: His Warp Star and Dragoon allow him to do this. In gameplay, anyone can ride on them.
  • Sleepy Head: Since Brawl, the little pink puffball begins snoozing for a split second for one of his idle animations, and quickly wakes himself up.
  • Sole Survivor: He is the only character in the World of Light opening to not be turned into a spirit or a duplicate fighter.
  • Spike Balls of Doom: He'll randomly morph into a spiked ball for his Down Special attack.
  • Spontaneous Weapon Creation: When copying Sora, Kirby generates magic in the shape of a Keyblade rather than an actual Keyblade to cast magic from. This is because, in the Kingdom Hearts universe, Only the Chosen May Wield a Keyblade.
  • Sticks to the Back: Copying Shulk gives Kirby the Monado instead of a hat, and he keeps it on his back just like Shulk. It's particularly more absurd in Kirby's case, since the sword sticks to his spherical body in its middle.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: His forward throw in 64, which was changed to his up throw starting with Melee thereafter, begins with Kirby leaping himself along with his grabbed opponent into the air to perform an Air Drop and slams him or her into the ground so hard, the impact from the attack itself ends with a random explosion that can potentially launch anyone upward for a Star KO.
  • Suicide Attack:
    • If he inhales an opponent with his neutral Special without swallowing, walking off a ledge or off-screen with them still captured will KO both him and the opponent.
    • His forward and back throws can force a mutual KO if used next to a ledge in Melee, as they involves a piledriver and suplex maneuver respectively.
  • Summon Backup Dancers: In Ultimate, he splits into three during his victory dances, much like in his home series. This only occurs if he's not on a team.
  • Sword Beam: After landing his Final Cutter attack, it fires a long-ranged shockwave.
  • Tagalong Kid: While has a Vague Age, he essentially counts as this when traveling with Mario, Link, Pit, and Yoshi in The Subspace Emissary.
  • Wolfpack Boss: In the 1P Mode of 64, the player faces a team of eight Kirbys. They each sport a copy ability from the other seven starter fighters and one unlockable, or just regular Kirby if you have not unlocked anyone yet. KOing them in order of appearance earns the player a special bonus.
  • Wreathed in Flames: Kirby's dash attack in Melee and Ultimate lets him rocket forward while aflame, just like his Burning copy ability.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: From Melee onwards, he has a backdrop and jumping pile driver (from Suplex). They were first noted for their tendency to go off the edge, but Brawl removed this.
  • Your Size May Vary: Hardly noticeable, but it's there. In Kirby's Dream Land 3, he came up to Samus' knees. Here, he roughly reaches her waist.
    • His official size in his home series is a mere eight inches. Needless to say, he's a bit scaled up here.
  • Vocal Evolution: Kirby has a somewhat deeper, softer-sounding voice as of 3DS/Wii U compared to previous installments.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Starting with Melee, his Stone move occasionally involves him morphing into various heavier objects to coincide with literally putting weight to his attacks. Other than the usual Stone form from his series, he'll either transform into a 100 ton weight (as opposed to the 8 ton weight from Kirby Super Star), a Thwomp, Lip's garbage block from Panel de Pon, a spiked ball, and strangely, a Sheikah chest from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

     07 – Fox 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/foxssbu.png
3DS/Wii U 
Brawl 
Melee 
64 
Voiced by: Shinobu Satouchi (in the original and Melee), Steve Malpass (English cutscenes in Melee), Kenji Nojima (in Japanese Brawl and 3DS/Wii U), Jim Walker (in English Brawl), Mike West (in English 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate) and Takashi Ohara (in Japanese Ultimate)
Home Series: Star Fox
Debut: Star Fox [SNES], 1993
Creator: Nintendo, Argonaut Software

Playable in: 64, Melee, Brawl, 3DS/Wii U, Ultimate

The protagonist of the Star Fox series, Fox McCloud is the leader of the titular team of mercenaries, Star Fox, handed down from his Disappeared Dad, James McCloud. They've become known far and wide for blowing through entire fleets of enemy starships, and several hostile alien races, becoming major players in the Lylat Wars. Fox himself has even ventured through the prehistoric Sauria, where he liberated the planet from the control of the SharpClaw.

Though he mostly fights behind the controls of his Arwing, Smash marks the first time Fox has been seen fighting on foot, bearing gadgets made by his partner Slippy. Fox is a very fast fighter, more than capable of holding his own against the rest of the cast with fast kicks and a proper use of his devices. He's also fairly easy to launch, but good luck actually catching him before he can rack up enough damage to send you flying.

His designs are taken throughout several games: 64 and Melee are based on his Star Fox 64 appearance, Brawl and 3DS/Wii U take inspiration from Star Fox Command with the latter giving him his voice from 64 3D, and Ultimate takes design elements from Star Fox Zero.


Special MovesClick to show 
See Star Fox Team for more information on the character in his origin series.

  • Adaptational Badass: Fox is one of the best pilots in his games, but he never demonstrated fighting skills in the Star Fox series (except in Star Fox 64's multiplayer if you unlocked bazookas, Star Fox Adventures and Star Fox: Assault, and even then they only showed weapon skills). Super Smash Bros. gives him prowess in hand-to-hand combat.
  • Attack Reflector: His "Reflector" move.
  • Art Evolution: In 64 and Melee, his design was a more streamlined version of his Star Fox 64 appearance. In Brawl and 3DS/Wii U, he has the square shaped head from Star Fox Command, boots that take their color but not their design from Star Fox Assault, layered flight pants from Star Fox Adventures, and rolled up sleeves from Star Fox 64 and along with other original Smash Bros embellishments. In Ultimate he's mostly based off of his Star Fox Zero design, but still has a little extra red on his shoes as a nod to his old Smash costume.
  • Artificial Brilliance: Fox's Brawl A.I. can use a technique called "Reflector hovering", which is spamming the Reflector in the air in order to slow descent.
  • Asian Fox Spirit: While he lacks the extra tails present in most interpretations, his Fire Fox and Fox Illusion attacks, and even his red scarf, are strong allusions to the kitsune of Japanese folklore.
  • Badass Normal: Although the first game gave the impression that he was an Empowered Badass Normal (for the move Fire Fox), in Melee and Brawl it's more evident that he's using rocket boots for Fox Illusion and Fire Fox. Fox has no super powers, but he does have advanced technology.
    • In Ultimate, he appears to be leading the other fighters against Galeem's army. This is a group that includes gods, angels, royalty, and all kinds of other powerful figures, but Fox is the one judged the most fit to lead them all.
  • Barrier Warrior: His Reflector produces an electrical attack when it's activated. In Melee in particular, certain advanced techniques revolving around the ability to jump out of it has made it a fan-favorite move among the competitive community.
  • Battle Intro: Fox flies an Arwing from the background, then leaps out of it.
  • Beam Spam: With his gun from Melee onwards, only it can't cause flinching to balance it out.
  • Big Damn Heroes: His first appearance in Subspace Emissary features Fox saving Diddy Kong from Rayquaza.
  • Big Good: Suggested to have acted as this at the beginning of World of Light, since he, of all characters, was designated as the group's field leader in fighting off Galeem's forces. Note that this is an army that includes powerful godslayers, and one or two actual Gods or godlike beings.
  • Boring, but Practical: In Smash 4, putting aside his usual fast and furious gameplay, before it was patched, one of his best combos was just stringing the first two hits of his Jab combo. Since it had low knockback, he could carry the opponent across the stage, then down-smash them into the Blast Zone.
  • Bring It: He even says "Come on!" as he does the gesture.
    • Ultimate alters the taunt to him saying "Come at me!".
  • Butt-Monkey: For the fourth installment, there is a staggering amount of official snapshots from the main website that have Fox being hurt by nearly every character and/or item to the point they try to invoke Amusing Injuries.
  • Captain Crash: In the Subspace Emissary, almost every time Fox gets in his Arwing, it winds up crashing or being destroyed. Isn't he supposed to be a great pilot?
  • Character Catchphrase: Generally seems to be "Mission complete!", which he says in all of his victory poses in International versions of Melee as well as one of his victory poses in later games (but that part is often meant to be literally translated as "Operation complete!").
  • Composite Character: Two of his custom moves in the fourth game are based off of Wolf, who didn't return from Brawl (not even in DLC). He also gained a Wolf-inspired palette swap (and he still keeps it in Ultimate, despite Wolf coming back).
  • Cool Starship: His Arwing.
  • Dance Battler: His Down-Smash is The Split.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: A lot of Fox's fame in the series comes from the fact that he tends to be a highly technical character, mostly as a result of his fast falling speed coupled with excellent general mobility stats, making him reliant on momentum, precision and reflexes in order to be successful. This is best exemplified by his Melee incarnation and how he operated in that game's already intense physics. Mastering these limitations gives you fighter that's lightning fast and can perform some of the most flashy and damaging combos in the series.
  • Do a Barrel Roll: He performs one when attacking the Halberd in The Subspace Emissary.
  • Energy Weapon: His projectile in every game has him shoot a laser from his blaster. Starting with Melee, these lasers don't cause any knockback.
  • Extremity Extremist: The vast majority of his standard attacks are kick-based, aside from the first two hits of his jab combo. Justified because of early implications from early concept art in his series that his legs were amputated, and replaced with cybernetic enhancements.
  • Flash Step: Fox Illusion, his Side Special. He dashes forward and leaves a trail of blue Speed Echoes.
  • Fragile Speedster: One of the fastest (and lightest) characters in the series, especially after the original game.
  • Foil: As of Ultimate, he serves as a foil to Mario.
    • Similarities: Both characters are part of the original eight starting roster fighters from Super Smash Bros (64). Both characters have had Moveset Clones in the form of Luigi and Falco. Both characters have since been subjected to Divergent Character Evolution since their debut games.
    • Differences: However, Mario and Fox differ in that Mario is by and large a Jack of All Stats character in Smash who can be used effectively in casual and competitive gameplay. Meanwhile, Fox is a Difficult, but Awesome Glass Cannon who is preferred in competitive gameplay. Furthermore, in Smash, Mario's movesets and costumes tend to reflect his most recent game for the dedicated console. Meanwhile, Fox's moveset has remained more-or-less the same since Melee considering that Fox comes from a Shoot 'Em Up franchise.
  • Glass Cannon: Exemplifies this very well in all games, but has this trope in higher spades in Melee. He's one of the fastest characters in all games, is gifted with some of the best KO moves since they come out quickly and do massive knockback (his up smash and up aerial), and consistently has some of the best combo abilities thanks to his high fall speed and assortment of quick weak attacks. However, his fall speed is both a blessing and a curse, as it causes Fox to be juggled easily. He's also very light, and his predictable recovery makes him highly susceptible to horizontal KOs and edgeguards.
  • Gratuitous English: In 64 and Melee, his dialogue was in English but spoken by Shinobu Satouchi, a Japanese voice actor.
    Fox: "Mission complete!"
  • Home Stage:
    • 64: Sector Z.
    • Melee: Corneria and Venom, though the former is more used in single-player modes.
    • Brawl: Lylat Cruise.
    • 3DS/Wii U: All stages from his seriesnote .
    • Ultimate: Corneria.
  • Hurricane Kick: Performs an aerial variant of this attack that he uses for his forward air since Melee. In later games, starting with Brawl, the attack itself even has a slight hovering effect, which could be seen as a possible nod to another character's mid-air spinning kick technique.
  • Idle Animation:
    • He holds his hand in front of him and takes a deep breath.
    • He performs a beckoning gesture.
  • Jet Pack: Melee onward, it's made clear that Fire Fox and Fox Illusion are used via jet boots.
  • "Just Frame" Bonus: The famous one-frame hitbox at the very beginning of Fox's Reflector, which turns the move into a combo starter before segueing into its intended purpose.
  • Launcher Move: Very notable for having two of these moves (up smash and up aerial) being his main kill moves, especially in Melee.
  • Leitmotif: Varies in each game.
    • In 64, it's Sector Z, a remix of the theme from Star Fox 64.
    • In Melee, it's Corneria a mix of the theme from Venom and the main theme in Star Fox SNES. This theme was used in his debut trailer for Brawl and character trailer and World of Light battle for Ultimate also.
    • In Brawl, Space Armada which played during his introduction in Subspace. It was also featured on the Dojo pre-release.
    • In 3DS/Wii U, Theme from Area 6 / Missile Slipstream was featured on the site pre-release. Area 6 is Fox's base mission theme in Star Fox Command.
  • Limit Break:
    • Fox summons a Landmaster to control in Brawl and 3DS/WiiU.
    • In Ultimate, he summons the rest of his team to blast his opponents with a barrage of Frickin' Laser Beams.
  • Meteor Move: His down aerial is a weak one in all games but SSB4. Also, his down throw meteor smashes opponents into the floor in Melee.
  • Nerf: Between Melee and Brawl, Fox's endurance was reduced via changes to the 'gravity' statistic, his up smash and up aerials were weakened (along with a new back aerial that doesn't have as much active frames), and his numerous reflector combos (known as "shine combos" in competitive circles) were removed. The reflector has much more endlag in 3DS/Wii U to keep people from spamming it in the air to float for long periods of time and it no longer semi-spikes, and his up smash was weakened again. However, in spite of this, Fox benefits from the gameplay changes to SSB4 enough to overcome these nerfs completely.
  • No-Sell: From Melee onwards, his blaster shots cause no knockback whatsoever, unless it is part of one of his grapple moves where he shoots it. It racks up damage quickly despite this (in fact, the lack of flinching is the trade-off for its ludicrously fast rate of fire), so his opponents would still do their best to avoid it.
  • Palette Swap: Notable ones include Dark Fox, named by the dev team in Brawl, and one that looks like Wolf in 3DS/Wii U. In Brawl, Falco and Wolf also got dark costumes to match.
  • Playing with Fire: His Up-special, Fire Fox.
  • Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Kicks, has something akin to Chun-Li's Hyakuretsu Kyaku as a standard combo, and has a finishing kick for good measure in Smash 4.
  • The Rival:
    • To Falco, indicated by them having specific dialogues prepared should one beat the other in battle.
    • Naturally, as in their home series, he's this to Wolf as well. The two also share unique dialogue when defeating the other in battle and when catching each other in their Final Smashes in Ultimate.
    • He also faces off against Sheik briefly in The Subspace Emissary in what might be a nod to how consistently the two are used in the competitive scene.
  • Tail Slap: His down tilt/strong and up aerial, despite foxes not really being known for strong tails.
  • Tank Goodness: His Landmaster tank, and you can Do a Barrel Roll while piloting it.
  • Trash Talk: In Brawl, 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate, if Falco is present.
    "Better luck next time, Falco!" (or in Japanese: "Mada mada da na, Faruko!/Not just yet, Falco!")
  • Vocal Evolution: Mike West's performance of Fox in 3DS/Wii U is rather high-pitched and nasal, similar to his voice in Star Fox 64 3D. When reprising the role in Ultimate, he's leveled down to a more natural tone comparable to Star Fox Zero.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: He provides the first real challenge of the 1P Mode in 64.
  • Wall Jump: Even though he could not do so in his own games.

     08 – Pikachu 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pikachussbu.png
Pikachu Libre 
3DS/Wii U 
Brawl 
Melee 
64 
Voiced by: Ikue Otani
Home Series: Pokémon
Pikachu Libre Debut: Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire [3DS], 2014
Creator: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo

Playable in: 64, Melee, Brawl, 3DS/Wii U, Ultimate

The Electric Mouse Pokémon, and the most famous Mon of them all, Pikachu has been a key partner to several trainers across the various regions, most notably Red and Ash Ketchum (Satoshi). It stores electricity in the red pouches on its cheeks and shocks its foes with powerful lightning strikes. Though it can evolve into the much more powerful Raichu via Thunder Stone, many prefer to keep Pikachu as is due to its cuteness and popularity, as well as some quirks unique to this stage.

Pikachu has boosted its already ludicrous fame with his appearance across the entire Smash series, bringing its electrical powers and lightning-quick reflexes to the fight. Like in its home series, Pikachu is somewhat frail and easy to KO, but its electric attacks make it great for keeping foes at bay and making the yellow rodent a force to be reckoned with, both from afar and up close.

Smash's Pikachu is male, however, Ultimate introduces the female's heart-tail design and female Pikachu Libre as alternate costumes.


Special MovesClick to show 
See Pokémon: Generation I - Bulbasaur to Parasect for more information on the character in their origin series.

  • Adaptational Badass: Pikachu might not be very impressive in its home series, due to not being fully evolved and thus having rather lacking stats compared to most fully evolved Pokémon, but the Smash Bros. games portray it as one of the more tricky fighters to deal with by turning it into a lightning-fast combo-based fighter.
  • Androcles' Lion: After Samus rescues it from the Subspace Army's generator, it teams up with her to explore their labs. It eventually returns the favor in full with a Thunder attack when Ridley blindsides her.
  • Anti-Air: Its Down Special, Thunder, covers a respectable vertical area. This allows it to KO effectively after an up smash, known as "Thunderspiking". This is toned down in 3DS/Wii U due to Thunder now potentially meteoring foes, though it now opens up for deadly KO combos via up smash or up throw into Thunder's meteor hitbox.
  • Art Evolution: In 64, Pikachu is fairly chubby. It gets slimmer with each iteration of the series, mirroring its Art Evolution in the Pokémon series.
  • The Artifact:
    • Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, which was released before Brawl, introduced gender differences for certain Pokémon; Pikachu was one of the Pokémon affected by this, with females having heart-shaped indents on their tails. Brawl kept the flat-tailed design for the playable Pikachu, technically making it male, but the game still referred to it with gender-neutral pronouns. This carried over into 3DS/Wii U, while Ultimate introduces two costumes that have the female's tail design (but the descriptions for Pikachu still use gender-neutral pronouns, since said descriptions now apply to both male and female Pikachu).
    • In Generations I and II, Pikachu was one of the many Pokémon that could learn Skull Bash from a Technical Machine, but the move hasn't been available as a TM in the main series since then. Despite this, Pikachu (and Pichu) retain the move as their side special in Smash games released after Gen II.
  • Badass Adorable: This little yellow mouse is one tough cookie, too.
  • Battle Intro: Pikachu pops out of a Poké Ball.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: One of the nicest and most loyal Pokémon in history. Arceus help you if you hurt someone it's become loyal to. Take Samus, for instance; Ridley messes her up bad, only to wind up fried by Pikachu's lightning.
  • Black Bead Eyes: Up until 3DS/Wii U, where it gains brown irises to go with the Sugimori art from Gen III onwards (as well as its model in Pokémon X and Y and the updated design of Ash's Pikachu).
  • Blush Sticker: Significantly inverted for this manner, they seemingly appear to resemble red circular "cheeks" but in reality, they're basically electricity sacs that store high amounts of electricity within Pikachu, giving it the power to zap anyone or anything within its range.
  • Charged Attack: Skull Bash. The longer it's charged, the farther it sends Pikachu and the more damage it does when used.
  • Composite Character:
    • Pikachu's voice and mannerisms are heavily based on Ash's Pikachu, but isn't the exact same character due to coming out of a Poké Ball for its entrance animation, while Ash's Pikachu is known for refusing to go in one. Pikachu's Neutral Special, Thunder Jolt, is not from the show or the video games, but from the trading card game.
    • In Brawl, Pikachu gained both a Palette Swap with blue goggles and the ability to Wall Jump. Both of these traits originally belonged to its Moveset Clone Pichu from Melee, who didn't return for Brawl.
  • Continuity Cameo: Has Red's hat as an alternate costume in Melee. Brawl adds Pichu's goggles from Melee and Brendan's Emerald bandana. 3DS/Wii U gives him Ethan's hat and Calem's (starting) hat. Ultimate adds Pikachu Libre from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and Selene's default hat.
  • Cutlass Between the Teeth: It holds and uses most weapons with its mouth like a dog.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: Pikachu's Up Special, Quick Attack, is notoriously easy to mess up if mistimed or aimed incorrectly and can result in a KO more often compared to other, more linear recovery abilities. Nonetheless its unpredictability means Pikachu can be very difficult to edgeguard and Quick Attack allows Pikachu to zip in and out of combat very quickly, giving it a lot of flexibility.
  • Flash Step: Quick Attack, its Up Special, has it quickly darting in the air up to two times.
  • Fragile Speedster: It's fast, but also one of the lightest playable characters, and thus is very easy to launch.
  • Glass Cannon: It's very light but can also do some serious damage, especially with its Thunder attack.
  • Home Stage:
    • 64: Saffron City.
    • Melee: Pokémon Stadium.
    • Brawl: Both debuting stages from its seriesnote .
    • 3DS/Wii U: All stages from its seriesnote .
    • Ultimate: Prism Tower in Ultimate's website, its fight in World of Light though takes place in Pokémon Stadium.
  • Idle Animation:
    • It scratches its ear.
    • It turns from side to side while twitching its ears.
  • Killer Rabbit: It may be a cute yellow mouse Pokémon, but don't let that fool you: Pikachu is one tough fighter.
  • Leitmotif: The main Pokémon theme.
    • In 64, it's Saffron City, a remix of the main Pokémon theme.
    • In Melee, it's Pokémon Stadium, another remix of the same, and is reused as its World of Light theme in Ultimate.
    • In Brawl, it's Pokémon Center, a mix of both the Pokémon Center theme and (briefly) the main title theme.
    • In Ultimate, it's Road to Viridian City, a remix of the Red and Blue Route 1 theme.
  • Limit Break: Volt Tackle, the signature move of its line. It functions differently from the Pokémon games or anime, though, behaving more like Pulseman's Volteccer instead, which the attack's name was a reference to in the first place.
  • Living Battery: Pikachu gets used as a living generator by the Subspace Army's lab, in what is clearly a painful manner. Samus releases it, but it doesn't appear to affect the lab much.
  • Mon: Of the Poké variety.
  • Meteor Move: Thunder is one in 3DS/Wii U after lacking any type of meteor attack in the first three games. In Ultimate, its down air is also now a meteor smash.
  • Mythology Gag: Pikachu's neutral special, Thunder Jolt, is not a real move in the main series Pokémon games. It is, however, the name of an attack in the Pokémon trading card game.
  • Nice Mice: Pikachu is a cute yellow mouse that is also very loyal and kind to everyone (both hero and villain) it meets.
  • Oh, Crap!: In Kazuya's promotional art, it has a scared look on its face when it sees Kazuya about to throw Ryu off the cliff, all while hugging with Luigi.
  • Palette Swap: Pikachu's shiny form (which is just a darker yellow bordering on tan) is always one of the palettes available (while wearing a hat based on Red's). In Brawl, it gains Brendan's headband, and Pichu from Melee's swimmer goggles. In 3DS/Wii U, it gains Ethan's hat and Calem's hat. In Ultimate, it loses the swimmer goggles to Pichu once again, but it regains the wizard hat from Melee and gets two female alts with heart tails, one of which wears Selene's cap and the other being Pikachu Libre.
  • Pintsized Powerhouse: Most notable in the first game with its 28% infinite vertical range Thunder.
  • Pokémon Speak: Interestingly (though not unexpectedly), the game went with Pikachu's anime noises instead of its game noises. This is most likely due to the anime being at its most popular at the time of 64's release, as well as the only fully animated and voiced version of Pokémon at the time. This would later be ported back into Pokémon X and Y (but only for Pikachu, and, much later, Eevee), bringing the business full circle.
  • Power Source: Pikachu was actually used as a power source for a Subspace Army base during The Subspace Emissary.
  • Purely Aesthetic Gender: Ultimate adds female Pikachu (and even Pikachu Libre who is also female) as alternate costumes, but like other examples in this series, it has zero effect on gameplay.
  • Ride the Lightning: For Volt Tackle, it'll surround itself in a giant ball of electricity and try to ram opponents.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Just take a look at that smile. Mei Ling certainly sees that, and begs Snake to catch it for hernote .
  • Rodents of Unusual Size: Pikachu's canon height of 1'04" is already quite large compared to real-life mice, but in Smash, it's made even larger in order to match its opponents.
  • Security Cling: Does this with Luigi in Kazuya's promotional art.
  • Shock and Awe: It's an Electric-type Pokémon, though a few of its attacks don't actually involve using its powers.
  • Static Stun Gun: The Thunder Wave variant of Thunder Jolt in 3DS/Wii U stuns the opponent, but has less range.
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics:
  • Tail Slap: One of its notable means of attack aside from head bashes.
  • Use Your Head: As its standard combo, its forward aerial, its down aerial, and its Side Special, Skull Bash.
  • Victory Is Boring: For one of its victory animations, it doesn't bother to celebrate its own accomplishment in winning a battle but instead, it falls asleep.
  • Wall Jump: Can do this from Brawl onwards, a transfer from Pichu. And even when Pichu comes back in Ultimate, Pikachu is still able to do it.
  • Wing Ding Eyes: In 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate, Pikachu's eyes become spirals if it gets stunned, just like when a Pokémon is knocked out in the anime.
  • Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: It simultaneously has both blue and yellow electrical attacks. Its Thunder Jolt and Volt Tackle are colored dark blue while its Down Special, Thunder, is yellow.
  • Your Size May Vary: An average Pikachu is 1'04", which is small enough for a ten-year-old kid to pick up in his hands. Pikachu obviously has to be scaled up to match its opponents.

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