Universe

A universe is a term used by the Smash Bros. community to collectively refer to all the particular characters, stages, items, music, and other properties appearing in the fighting games that are thematically featured in another game franchise.

Main universes
These are the video game series and franchises that the Super Smash Bros. games classify as major enough that they assign each franchise its own unique "universe symbol" that appears with characters and stages belonging to that franchse. These franchises generally have characters, stages, items, and other properties that all appear in Smash Bros. games as part of their primary content.


 * The Super Smash Bros. universe: The "default" universe, this represents the Smash Bros. games themselves and accompanies all appearances of characters and stages that are thematically original to the fighting games themselves. Many original characters have been introduced here, but none thus far have been actually playable, with most serving as enemies and bosses in single-player content. The universe symbol seen here is also used as a "placeholder" by the games to indicate a minor universe without its own symbol.


 * The Mario universe: Nintendo's world-famous flagship video game franchise upon which the Nintendo empire built as its foundation. The company mascot at the head of this multi-genre series, the jumping mustachioed plumber and celebrity character Mario, is a primary playable character in Smash Bros. games, and has been accompanied by his brother Luigi, his alter-ego Dr. Mario, the princess Peach, the villainous turtle king Bowser, the cute dinosaur Yoshi, the sometimes fearsome gorilla Donkey Kong, and the bellicose anti-hero Wario as playable characters that heavily identify with Mario. The latter three are also the main characters of their own partially independent game "sub-franchises", listed below.


 * The Yoshi universe: Based on the more colorful and saccharine subset of Mario video games starring the dinosaur Yoshi, who is the main (and thus far only) playable character of the series in the Smash Bros. games. Several properties seen in Smash Bros. games can be identified as strictly belonging to this universe instead of the Mario universe.


 * The Donkey Kong universe: A franchise that partially spinned itself off Mario under the direction of British company Rareware, focusing on world-famous gorilla character Donkey Kong and his many simian relatives and reptilian nemeses. Donkey Kong himself and his monkey-like nephew Diddy Kong are playable Smash characters.


 * The Wario universe: A more satirical and scatological subseries of Mario games whose main character is Mario's obese and nefarious anti-hero counterpart, Wario. The games in this series are either platforming titles or (more prominently) wild micro-game collections, and Wario as he appears in both of these two genres of games within his series is the one playable character.


 * The Legend of Zelda universe: Nintendo's world-renowned and acclaimed series of puzzle-based adventure titles portraying several incarnations and continuities of its main characters, primarily the young elven hero Link, the eponymous princess Zelda, and the dark lord/warlock Ganondorf. These three, as well as Zelda's ninja-like alter-ego Sheik from one especially successful title in the series, are playable characters.


 * The Metroid universe: A renowned science fiction series of solo space-exploration games, conveyed in either the side-scrolling platforming or the first-person adventure genres. The series' silent protagonist, female bounty hunter Samus Aran clad in a versatile power suit (as well as without it in an alternative guise named Zero Suit Samus) is the primary playable character.


 * The Kirby universe: The cute and colorful multi-genre game franchise headed by Masahiro Sakurai prior to and alongside his directorial involvement in his Smash Bros. series. The titular pink spherical and childlike hero Kirby, his more menacing Zorro-styled sword-swinging rival Meta Knight, and the greedy mallet-swinging King Dedede have all been featured as playable characters.


 * The Star Fox universe: A series of Star Wars-inspired space shooting games that got its start as among the first games to popularize 3D polygonal graphics in the Super Nintendo era. All the games characters are anthropomrphic animals, the main "Star Fox" team mercenary Fox McCloud and team member Falco Lombardi are playable characters. Wolf O'Donnell is also playable in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.


 * The Pokémon universe: The world famous Pokémon media franchise phenomenon and one of gaming's most lucrative franchises, this multi-genre franchise best emphasizes handheld role-playing games that focus on the training and cockfighting-style competing of nearly five hundred distinctive species of elemental creatures. Playable characters consist of some of the most noteworthy Pokémon species, including electric mouse mascot Pikachu and its younger form Pichu, the hypnotic pink puffball Jigglypuff, and psychic feline humanoid Mewtwo, and a Pokémon Trainer that commands his Pokémon from the background to do battle in the foreground is a playable character as well.


 * The F-Zero universe: A futuristic racing game series featuring anti-gravity racing machines that zoom at extremely fast and intense speeds, with gameplay emphasizing speed boosts, cornering, and physically ramming each other's machines to lower life meters. The characters are designed in the style of American comic books, and the superhero-like bounty hunter Captain Falcon that serves as the most recognizable racer and "mascot" of the series is a playable character throughout the Smash series.


 * The EarthBound universe: Also referred to by its Japanese title, the Mother series. A postmodern, satirical, and psychedelic take on role-playing conceived by Shigesato Itoi, with three games in the series and a cult fanbase hoping for more than just the second game in the series (EarthBound for SNES) to be released stateside. The kid protagonists of the second and third games, EarthBound's Ness and Mother 3's Lucas, have been playable as characters.


 * The Ice Climber universe: An old classic NES game released prior to the global hit that was the original Super Mario Bros., focusing on a pair of parka-clad mallet-wielding children named the Ice Climbers as they infinitely scale platformed mountains to retrieve fruit from the Condor. The Ice Climbers feature together as one playable character.


 * The Fire Emblem universe: A long-running series of tactical role-playing games set in sword-and-sorcery medieval fantasy settings and portrayed with numerous anime character designs. Formerly a series released only in Japan, it gained enough popularity in its cameo appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee that the franchise turned international from then on, and has proven quite popular as such. Main swordsman heroes from the various unrelated installments in the series, including Marth, Roy, and Ike, have been featured as playable characters.


 * The Game & Watch universe: The Smash games' representation of one of Nintendo's earliest digital products, which is a series of beep-boop dedicated consoles named "Game & Watch". A previously unnamed black-and-white character in several of these games is featured as a playable character under the popular identity Mr. Game and Watch.


 * The Kid Icarus universe: An old classic NES game released alongside the original Metroid by the same designer Gunpei Yokoi, with its own cult following. It is the story of a young angel knight named Pit as he battles to save the goddess Palutena from the forces of the evil Medusa. Pit, though appearing outright childlike in the original game, appears with a major graphical redesign as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.


 * The Animal Crossing universe: A recent game franchise made popular partially due to its cameoing in Melee. This is series of colorful life simulation games where the player's avatar lives in a woodland town featuring cute woodland critters as the town's residents and neighbors. No playable characters have been confirmed from this universe thus far, but there has been a stage and some other properties.


 * The Pikmin universe: A colorful real-time strategy game series that started on GameCube and is an original creation of Shigeru Miyamoto. The main character, Captain Olimar, and the titular creatures, the Pikmin, cameo as separate, collectible trophies. In fact, the former is acquired by starting Melee with a memory card containing a Pikmin save on it inserted into the GameCube. The five different Pikmin types, red, blue, yellow, purple, and white, along with Captain Olimar, are combined into a playable character known as Pikmin & Olimar in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Bulborb appears as a trophy in Brawl as well.


 * The Nintendo DS universe: Super Smash Bros. Brawl dedicates an official universe symbol to what is ostensibly merely the Nintendo DS platform itself. No characters have been confirmed to appear as of now, but the only thing that this universe is currently revealed to contribute to the game is a stage named PictoChat.


 * The Metal Gear universe: A third-party franchise. An acclaimed series of stealth and espionage shooting games masterminded by Hideo Kojima, set on a fictional take of real-world Earth in somewhat apocalyptic time periods in the future where nuclear deterrence and various moral issues are dealt with as social commentary by the games themselves. The series' main star, the mulleted action-hero covert operative Solid Snake, is a playable character.


 * The Sonic the Hedgehog universe: A third party franchise, one of SEGA's primary franchises, and a longtime rival franchise to Nintendo's Mario in the years before SEGA became a software developer for Nintendo and other companies. This colorful world with wildly anthropomorphized personality-filled animal characters is the setting of many games covering multiple genres. Its eponymous mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, is a playable character and a highly anticipated character to combat Nintendo's Mario.


 * The Robot universe: Not much is known about this universe, other than the fact that its logo looks like a top, and it's only contribution is the character R.O.B.


 * The Electroplankton universe: The only representation this universe has is one stage; Electroplankton. This universe comes from the Nintendo DS game Electroplankton, a musical "toy" game.

Minor universes
These are the various franchises that have not been recognized as primary universes by any Smash Bros. game, and this is indicated by the fact these franchises do not carry their own universe symbols. As a general rule, such universes lack any playable characters or stages in the games, but if any of the following franchises contributes an item, helper character, music, or some other minor element to a given Smash game, the game assigns the property and its respective franchise the default Smash Bros. universe symbol.


 * 1080 Snowboarding/Avalanche: Snowboarding games released for the Nintendo 64 and GameCube. A character from the first game (but not the second), Kensuke Kimachi, cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
 * Balloon Fight: An NES game whose titular character cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee, and the Flipper obstacle is featured as an item from Melee. In addition, Balloon Fighter was one of the candidates, along with Excitebiker, to be a playable character in SSBM; however, the position eventually went to the Ice Climbers. Interestingly enough, the Balloon Trip music from the NES game was put into SSBM as an alternate song for Icicle Mountain, the Ice Climbers' home stage. Balloon Fighter artwork is also a Sticker in SSBB, and the fish from the original game also appears in the Ice Climber stage, The Summit.
 * Big Brain Academy: Artwork of Dr. Lobe from the Big Brain Academy games appears as a Sticker in SSBB.
 * Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!: Music from this game appears as a My Music option in PictoChat.
 * Card Hero: A trading card game based on a Game Boy Color game; both were not released outside Japan. One of its characters, Maruo Maruhidge, cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
 * Chibi-Robo: Kind-of simulation game whoose titular character cameos as a collectible trophy in SSBB.
 * Clu Clu Land: An NES game whose main character, Bubbles, cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
 * Cubivore: A simulation Gamecube game released in 2002. The Alpha trophy represents a denizen of this game world.
 * Custom Robo series: Three robot combatants, Ray MK II, Bayonette, and Annie, cameo as collectible trophies in Melee. Ray MK II also appears as an Assist Trophy in Brawl.
 * Devil World: Tamagon, the game's protagonist, appears as a trophy in Melee, though it cannot be obtained unless the game is hacked in the North American version, and it is completely absent from the PAL version. Only in the Japanese version is it fully obtainable. In addition, the Devil from the game is an Assist Trophy in Brawl.
 * Doshin the Giant: The two forms that the Giant can take, Love Giant and Hate Giant, cameo as collectible trophies in Melee.
 * Duck Hunt: A classic shooting game for NES that made use of the NES gun perpheral. A pair of the unfortunate ducks involved cameo as a collectible trophy in Melee.
 * Elite Beat Agents: A music-based rhythm action game and parody developed by iNiS for the Nintendo DS, where agents in black sing and dance famous rock songs to assist people in need. Several of the agents that count as the main characters, including Agents "J", "Morris", and Commander Khan, are stickers in Brawl.
 * Excitebike: A side-scrolling racing game whose depiction of a motorcyclist racer is a collectible trophy in Melee and an Assist Trophy in Brawl.
 * Famicom Detective Club: Ayumi Tachibana cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
 * Famicom Disk System: A disc-based add-on for the Famicom, the japanese NES. Its simplistic mascot, Diskun (aka Mr. Disk), cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
 * Golden Sun: A two-part series of fantasy RPGs for Game Boy Advance, developed by Camelot Software Planning and thematically based on the four classical elements. The first game's silent protagonist, the young Earth-based warrior Isaac, appears as an Assist Trophy in Brawl. In addition, there is a progressive rock remix of two battle themes from the second game, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, that can be unlocked.
 * King Fu: A Kung Fu game that has been confirmed to be represented in Brawl.
 * Kuru Kuru Kururin: Heririn cameos as a collectible trophe in Melee.
 * Mach Rider: A driving game that was one of the launch titles for the original NES. The titular character, Mach Rider, s a collectible trophy. Also, music from Mach Rider can sometimes be heard on the Big Blue stage. The character is also a sticker in Brawl.
 * Meteos: A heavily remade version of the games' aliens appear as the Yellow Alloy enemy.
 * Nintendo hardware: A number of game consoles, a GameCube trophy and the item Super Scope in Melee, the item Super Scope and the stage PictoChats songs from Mii Channel and Wii Shop Channel through My Music in Brawl (the Nintendo DS universe is also based of Nintendo hardware aswell)
 * Nintendo Wars: A tactical war game, represented by the Infantry Assist Trophy in Brawl.
 * Nintendogs: A pet simulation game released in multiple versions for the Nintendo DS. The puppies from Nintendogs appear as an Assist Trophy character in Brawl. A Nintendog is also a Sticker and a Trophy in the same game.
 * Panel de Pon: The Lip's Stick item is a tool from this product.
 * Perfect Dark series: Sci-fi stealth-based FPS games by former Nintendo developer Rareware (now known simply as "Rare"). The Motion Sensor Bomb and Cloaking Device are featured as items.
 * Pinball: A pinball game that has been confirmed to be represented in Brawl.
 * Punch-Out!!: A boxing game on the NES, represented by Little Mac as an Assist Trophy.
 * Robot: A two-game series consisting of the games Gyromite and Stack-Up. Their protagonist, R.O.B., appears as a member of the Subspace Army in SSBB.
 * Shaberu! DS Oryouri NAVI: A Japan-only digital cookbook for the DS. A song from the game appears in the Japanese version of SSBB. It is unknown if it will appear in other releases.
 * Sheriff: A 1979 arcade game whose main character and enemy sprites cameo together in a collectible trophy for Melee. Also, artwork of the Sheriff appears as a Sticker in SSBB.
 * Shin Oni Ga Shima: A game retelling of a Japanese folktale. The main characters, Donbe & Hikari, cameo together as a collectible trophy in Melee.
 * SimCity series: Dr. Wright cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee. He also appears as a Helper in Brawl.
 * Sin & Punishment: Saki Amamiya appears as an Assist Trophy in Brawl.
 * Tennis: A Tennis game that has been confirmed to be represented in Brawl.
 * Wave Race series: A series of jet-ski racing games released for Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, and GameCube. The flagship character of the latter two, Ryota Hayami, cameos as a collectible trophy in Melee.
 * Wild Gunman: A fps game that has been confirmed to be represented in Brawl.
 * X: A Japan-only Game Boy game which is represented by a music track in Brawl.