Unlockable

Unlockable refers to any element of the Super Smash Bros. games that is not available from the start, but must be earned by completing some task. A task often requires the player to complete a game mode with a particular character or difficulty level.

Unlockable can refer to:

Unlockable characters
A unique criteria must be met in order to unlock a certain character. Typically, the player must accomplish a particular in-game feat. Once complete, a message will display: "Warning! Challenger Approaching!" or "Challenger Approaching! A new foe has appeared!" with a silhouette of the character the player is about to face. The unlockable character will then be fought by the last character Player 1 had used. By winning the challenge and defeating the opponent, the character becomes playable.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
* The time required to unlock Mewtwo in calculated in "player-hours" (eg. 2 human players gives 2 hours for every hour of game-time, 3 human players give 3, and four players give 4).

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Masahiro Sakurai once stated that he feels that it would be appropriate that third-party, or "guest" characters, like Solid Snake or Sonic the Hedgehog, would be unlockable. This became true when Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out on March 9, 2008.

Also, all unlockable characters can be unlocked by playing through The Subspace Emissary, some just by playing through, while others involve completing the mode, and returning to specific zones and going through previously absent doors to a playable stage where, after a short cutscene, the player will be able to fight and unlock the character. Once a character joins a group of playable characters, the character will be instantly unlocked for normal play, without requiring a "Challenger Approaching" battle. However, some characters, as per the SSE's story, must be battled to before they will join the party.

** Because Toon Link, Jigglypuff and Wolf are not part of the main plot of Subspace Emissary, players must beat the main story first, then revisit certain stages to find them.

*** Sonic is the only character who can be unlocked 4 different ways.

Unlockable Masterpieces



 * Donkey Kong (NES) (75m level)- 0:30 - have 10 hours of play time.
 * Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES) (World 1-1 with Peach) - 1:30 - Win five Brawls with Peach.
 * Super Mario World (SNES) - 2:00 - Play on the Yoshi's Island stage three times.
 * F-Zero (SNES) (Mute City course with Blue Falcon) - 0:40 - Have Captain Falcon join the party in The Subspace Emissary.
 * The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) (Save files for beginning of Young Link and Adult Link sections)- 5:00 - Use Toon Link in 10 Brawls.

Other unlockables
Some modes of gameplay must be unlocked. These include All-Star Mode and Boss Battles Mode in their totality, and Event Matches 11-51.

Trivia

 * Luigi and Jigglypuff are the only characters to be unlockable in every Super Smash Bros. installment.
 * In Brawl, whenever you fight a hidden character, your character always uses their default palette swap.
 * Ness and Captain Falcon are the only characters to have their unlockability status change between games.