How to Unlock Every Character in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate"
Jennifer Wilber holds a B.A. in English and an Associate's in Computer Game and Simulation Design. She is a life-long gamer.
How to Unlock Every Character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Nintendo Switch
Jennifer Wilber
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The Ultimate Super Smash Bros. Experience
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch really is the ultimate Super Smash Bros. experience. This latest iteration of the Super Smash Bros. series features every character who has ever appeared in the Smash series, plus plenty of new challengers, making for a total of 74 characters available in the game at launch. There will also be several more new characters released as paid DLC later on, bringing the total to 77.
When you first start up the game, only the original 8 unlocked characters who appeared in the original Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64 will be available. These characters include Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, and Pikachu. There are several different ways to unlock this massive roster of characters. The main ways to unlock the unlockable characters are by playing Vs. mode, Classic mode, and the World of Light mode. There will also be several DLC characters available to purchase in the future.
Only the original 8 unlocked characters from the original N64 "Super Smash Bros." are available when you first start "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate."
Screenshot captured by Jennifer Wilber
How to Unlock Characters in Vs. Mode
The first way to unlock all of the characters is to simply play Vs. mode until everyone is unlocked. As you play Vs. mode, new characters will appear after a match to fight. If you are playing with multiple people, whoever won the match will face off against the new challenger. If you win the match, the new fighter will join your roster.
If you lose this match, you will be able to fight the character again later on for another chance at unlocking them. After a while, an icon that looks like a door will appear in the “Games and More” menu. Click on this option when it appears to challenge the unlockable characters that defeated you the first time. If you lose again, they will keep appearing here after a while until you are able to defeat them. If you have more than one character that you lost to, you will have to rematch them in the order they first appeared to you.
Contrary to early reports, new challengers appear to be triggered by player input, not by other factors like play time, distance traveled, KOs, or damage dealt. Player input can be accumulated by playing any mode to count toward Vs. mode character unlocks. According to IGN, the game does appear to make players wait a certain amount of time between unlocks, probably about 5–10 minutes, but as long as you had enough player input accumulated, you will get a new challenger within this amount of time. It also appears that, as long as you have enough input accumulated, you can also get a new challenger by exiting the game, restarting it, and playing one Vs. match, even if it hasn’t been long enough since your last challenger.
Also contrary to early reports, there does appear to be a specific order in which you unlock characters via Vs. mode. If you don’t unlock characters via the other methods, you will unlock the characters in the following order by playing only Vs. mode:
Vs. Mode Character Unlock Order
- Ness
- Zelda
- Bowser
- Pit
- Inkling
- Villager
- Marth
- Young Link
- Wii Fit Trainer
- Ice Climbers
- Captain Falcon
- Peach
- Ryu
- Ike
- Jigglypuff
- King K. Rool
- Sonic
- Simon
- Zero Suit Samus
- Little Mac
- Isabelle
- Shulk
- Lucina
- Wario
- Ridley
- Pokemon Trainer
- Lucario
- Daisy
- Roy
- King Dedede
- R.O.B.
- Falco
- Luigi
- Pichu
- Richter
- Lucas
- Diddy Kong
- Meta Knight
- Snake
- Ganondorf
- Corrin
- Mega Man
- Bayonetta
- Toon Link
- Rosalina & Luma
- Incineroar
- Sheik
- Olimar
- PAC-MAN
- Dark Samus
- Wolf
- Mr. Game & Watch
- Robin
- Dark Pit
- Cloud
- Duck Hunt
- Ken
- Greninja
- Chrom
- Mewtwo
- Bowser Jr.
- Dr. Mario
- Palutena
You will quickly unlock new characters as you play the different game modes.
Screenshot captured by Jennifer Wilber
How to Unlock Characters in Classic Mode
Another way to unlock characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is by playing Classic mode with different characters. Each time you beat Classic mode, you will be greeted by a new challenger that can be unlocked. These matches with new challengers work the same way as the ones unlocked by Vs. mode.
It appears that the characters that you use to beat Classic mode determine which character will be unlocked after beating this mode. Each starting character begins unlocking new characters in a specific order. Characters in these unlock groups can be used to further unlock the next character in the unlock group. For example, I first beat classic mode with Samus and unlocked Inkling. Next, I played Classic mode again with my new Inkling, and unlocked Wii Fit Trainer. The next character in this group, Pit, could be unlocked using Samus, Inkling, or Wii Fit Trainer to beat classic mode.
Classic Mode Character Unlock Paths
| Original Character | 1st Unlocked | 2nd Unlocked | 3rd Unlocked | 4th Unlocked | 5th Unlocked | 6th Unlocked | 7th Unlocked | 8th Unlocked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mario | Sonic | Bayonetta | Little Mac | Ike | Luigi | Roy | Dr. Mario | Olimar |
Donkey Kong | Bowser | Pokemon Trainer | Rosalina & Luma | King Dedede | Sheik | Greninja | Diddy Kong | Duck Hunt Dog |
Link | King K. Rool | Ice Climbers | Simon | Meta Knight | Snake | Young Link | Richter | Toon Link |
Samus | Inkling | Wii Fit Trainer | Pit | Incineroar | Dark Samus | Cloud | Wario | Dark Pit |
Yoshi | Lucario | Marth | Ryu | Ganondorf | Lucina | Ridley | Chrom | Ken |
Kirby | Ness | Jigglypuff | Pac-Man | Zelda | Robin | Corrin | Lucas | Palutena |
Fox | Captain Falcon | Zero Suit Samus | Peach | Falco | Daisy | Bowser Jr. (alt: Koopalings) | Wolf | Mewtwo |
Pikachu | Villager | Shulk | R.O.B. | Mega Man | Isabelle | Mr. Game & Watch | Pichu | Sonic |
There are tons of characters to unlock, both those new to the series and classic favorites.
Screenshot captured by Jennifer Wilber
How to Unlock Characters in the World of Light
The third way to unlock characters is in the World of Light mode, an RPG-inspired story mode that is new to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In this mode, you start out with Kirby and unlock more characters as you go. The new characters you unlock in this mode will appear in your roster for other modes, but not vice-versa.
When you first start out, you will quickly unlock Mario as well. You will then have a choice to unlock either Villager, Sheik, or Marth. You can only pick one of these to start with.
As you explore the rest of the map defeating enemies, you will be able to unlock the rest of the characters in the following locations:
World of Light Character Unlock Locations
| Character | How to Aquire |
|---|---|
Kirby | Starting character |
Mario | Beginning area |
Villager | Near beginning, choose between Villager, Sheik, or Marth's path (can unlock the others later) |
Sheik | Near beginning, choose between Villager, Sheik, or Marth's path (can unlock the others later) |
Marth | Near beginning, choose between Villager, Sheik, or Marth's path (can unlock the others later) |
Captain Falcon | Villager's path, Raceway |
Link | Villager's path, Southern Great Plateau |
Olimar | Marth's path, Mushroom Platforms - need Kammy Koopa's Spirit to cross mushrooms |
PAC-MAN | Marth's path, Edge of the Mushroom Platforms |
Jigglypuff | Sheik's path, River Woods |
Mii Swordfighter | Sheik's path, Eastern Town |
Isabelle | Eastern Town, take the secret path from the Northwestern Town using Kapp'n’s Spirit |
Yoshi | Ribbon Road, North of River Woods |
Dr. Mario | Edge of Ribbon Road and Lumiose City |
Pikachu | Cliffside Rapids |
Peach | Molten Castle Dungeon, at the top of the Cliffside Rapids |
Bowser | Molten Castle Dungeon, at the top of the Cliffside Rapids |
Lucario | Great Wall, south of Rapid Falls |
Ryu | World Tour Zone at airport between Great Plateau and Mushroom Platforms, requires Kapp'n Spirit |
Donkey Kong | Kongo Jungle, west of Mushroom Platforms |
Wii Fit Trainer | Lumiose City |
Inkling | Console City, south of Lumiose City |
Fox | Heart Pool Mountain, west of Ribbon Road |
Mega Man | Metal Gear Base, requires Hal Emmerich Spirit |
Snake | Metal Gear Base Dungeon |
Duck Hunt | Poison Woods |
Pichu | Power Plant Zone in the Poison Woods |
Little Mac | Edge of Lumiose City |
Lucas | Northwestern Town |
Ice Climbers | Frozen Mountain, located North of Northwestern Town |
Simon | Temple of Light Zone, must activate all three colored switches |
Pit | Temple of Light Zone |
Falco | Outer Space - Requires Slippy Toad Spirit |
Samus | Across the Canyon after clearing the Temple of Light |
Mr. Game & Watch | Pac-Maze area, go through the teleporters to reach him |
Diddy Kong | In the Jungle Japes Zone, East of the Pac-Maze |
Pokemon Trainer | South of the Jungle Japes Zone |
Mii Gunner | On the Alola Islands, requires the Lapras Spirit |
Toon Link | In the Forest Hill Zone on the Alola Islands |
Shulk | At the top of the Waterfall Peak, Northeast of the Pac-Maze |
Zero Suit Samus | Near the peak of the Raging Volcano, Northeast of the Train Tracks |
Ness | In the Magicant Land, North of the Great Canyon |
King Dedede | In the Gourmet Race Zone, on the Floating Islands Northwest of the Raging Volcano |
© 2018 Jennifer Wilber
Comments
Poppy from Enoshima, Japan on December 10, 2018:
It's quite funny how they've kept the Ice Climbers in after all this time, I never got the impression they were particularly popular. Glad to see Wario is still around as he was my jam on the Wii U. Unlocking the characters seems fairly straightforward and I'll look forward to doing so once I get a Switch. Thanks for sharing.