My take on theordering mess. Comments welcome.

Introduction[edit]

Smash itself is relatively inconsistent when it comes to ordering of characters and series. In creating this list, I have attempted to create the best possible synthesis of its various ordering schemes, with the goal being to create something consistent and reasonably algorithmic, with the bare minimum of exceptions.

Series[edit]

Starters
Unlockable
Starters
Unlockable
Starters
Unlockable
Stage Starter
Starters
Unlockable
Unlockable
DLC
3rd-party unlockable
3rd-party starters
3rd-party DLC
3rd-party unlockable
3rd-party DLC
Stage-only
Stage-only
Stage-only

The basis of my ordering scheme is the idea ofchronological order by introduction inSmash. Therefore, I've sorted series by the Smash game in which they were introduced, and by the starter/unlockable status of their character representation.

• 64 series:
  • Starters: There is generally a consistent order for the original 8 series, as seen in places likethe 64 CSS,theBrawl andSSB4 trophy lists,Adventure Mode,the Brawl SSS, andthe 3DS SSS. This order is by the chronological debut of the 8 series:Mario/Donkey Kong (1981),The Legend of Zelda (1986),Metroid (1986),Yoshi (1990),Kirby (1992),Star Fox (1993),Pokémon (1996).
    • Yoshi: The only major alteration to this order I make is the re-positioning ofYoshi to be immediately followingMario. As my basis for this, I would point out thatYoshi elements are tied very directly toMario elements not just in their home series, but also inSmash. InAdventure Mode andthe SSB4 CSS in particular,Yoshi himself appears directly betweenMario elements, showing that he is treated as aMario element himself in some situations. The usage ofMario music (including from games that don't include Yoshi prominently) onYoshi's Island andWoolly World, as well as the former's usage as aMario home stage inAll-Star Mode and inan event match solidify this. MovingYoshi also still leaves the 8 starter character series from 64 in a continuous block, which is desirable.
  • Unlockables:F-Zero andEarthBound come next. These two could be ordered either way chronologically; whileEarthBound as a series predatesF-Zero (1989 and1990),Captain Falcon himself debuted in 1990 whileNess debuted in1994. However,Smash more frequently putsF-Zero first, in instances likeall trophy lists,Adventure Mode, andthe 3DS SSS. Captain Falcon is also a starter character in one more instance than Ness:Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
• Melee series:
  • Starters:Ice Climber is the only such series.
  • Unlockables:Fire Emblem andGame & Watch.Fire Emblem is newer chronologically (1990 compared to1980), butSmash consistently putsGame & Watch last of the Melee character series. First,Marth andRoy must be unlocked in Melee beforeMr. Game & Watch can be unlocked; Mr. Game & Watch is also fought last inAll-Star Mode in Melee, even when all other characters are fought in random order.Game & Watch is also immediately afterFire Emblem inSSB4's trophy list,the 3DS SSS, andthe Wii U SSS.
• Brawl series:
  • Starters:Kid Icarus,Wario, andPikmin. This order is used reasonably consistently, and matches their chronological debuts (1986,1994,2001). This ordering is used forall trophy lists,the 3DS SSS, andthe Wii U SSS. WhileWario is sometimes moved nearMario elements, his series is more frequently grouped with the other Brawl newcomer series.
  • Unlockables:R.O.B. is the only unlockable Nintendo series.
  • Third parties:Metal Gear andSonic. 3rd party series are always listed absolutely last out of all series, so they are placed later. BetweenMetal Gear andSonic,Smash putsMetal Gear first consistently, matching both their chronological debuts (1987,1991) and the order of their announcement forSmash (E3 2006, October 2007). This is seen inBrawl's trophy list,the Brawl CSS, andthe Brawl SSS.
• SSB4 series:
  • Starters:Animal Crossing,Punch-Out!!,Wii Fit,Xenoblade Chronicles.Animal Crossing content consistently comes first, either due to its existence as a recognized series witha stage and aseries symbol in Brawl, or due toVillager being the first announced newcomer. This is reflected introphy lists,the 3DS SSS, andthe Wii U SSS. Beyond that, things get murky.Punch-Out!! andWii Fit content are used in either order without apparent preference, apparently as a result ofPunch-Out!! being the older series (1984 vs.2007), butWii Fit Trainer being announced prior toLittle Mac. I've elected to placePunch-Out!! first on account of it being both the older series and havingAssist Trophy representation in Brawl.Xenoblade is consistently the last of the set, as it is newer (2010) andShulk was announced later.
  • Unlockables:Duck Hunt is the only unlockable Nintendo series.
  • Third party starters:Mega Man,Pac-Man. Reasonably consistently sorted in this order (and after veteran 3rd party seriesSonic), this is the order of their announcement forSmash (E3 2013 and 2014 respectively). This is reflected inSSB4's trophy list,the 3DS SSS, andthe Wii U SSS.
  • Third party DLC:Street Fighter,Final Fantasy,Bayonetta. Continuing the process of sorting by time of announcement (June, November, and December 2015).
• SSBU series:
  • Nintendo unlockable series:Splatoon
  • Nintendo DLC series:ARMS
  • Third party unlockable series:Castlevania
  • Third party DLC series:Persona,Dragon Quest,Banjo-Kazooie,Fatal Fury,Minecraft,Tekken,Kingdom Hearts

Characters[edit]

Series

With the series themselves sorted as seen above, next comes sorting the characters themselves by theirSmash introductions. I've laid the table out to show which characters debuted in which game, and whether that debut was as a starter, unlockable, or downloadable character; this most resembles the system used forcharacter selection screens and trophy lists, which are not always consistent across games or with each other. Cases I want to mention in particular:

• Clones are generallynot moved to be near their base character.Smash rarely did so in its listings prior to SSBU outside of the Melee CSS, which itself has a very inconsistent layout. Re-arranging SSBU-classified Echo Fighters this way would also lead to messy situations like Dark Samus appearing among the original 8, which is undesirable.
• Peach comes beforeBowser consistently across all games' usages (Save forBrawl'sSound Test and internal character IDs).
• Zelda comes beforeSheik consistently across all games except Ultimate, where her spirit is listed first and was revealed first anyways.
• Ganondorf comes beforeYoung Link on theMelee trophy list and Ultimate spirit list.
• Ridley comes beforeDark Samus as a result of being announced earlier and not being an Echo Fighter.
• Meta Knight comes beforeKing Dedede in Brawl and Ultimate consistently, and on theSSB4 trophy list.
• Mewtwo comes beforePichu on theMelee trophy list.
• ForPokémon Trainer,Squirtle/Ivysaur/Charizard is the order for his Pokémon, matching the order they are obtained in theSubspace Emissary, their evolutionary stages, and most listings of the three onhis DOJO!! page.
• Marth comes beforeRoy as Marth must be unlocked first of the two in Melee; corroborated by theMelee trophy list.
• Pyra is consistently listed beforeMythra.
• Simon Belmont is clearly the "main"Castlevania representative, withRichter Belmont as his Echo Fighter; therefore, Simon comes first of the two.
• Mii Fighters are sortedMii Brawler,Mii Swordfighter,Mii Gunner. This order is used in their reveal trailer and the Mii Fighter setup screens.

Results[edit]