Palette Swap (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

Brawl changed the idea with Color Changes just a bit. While Melee added a few extra outfits to some characters, Brawl promises six colors each. In fact, only Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Pokémon Trainer, Lucario and Sonic lack six. These are changed by clicking the character.

Bowser

 * Bowser's red costume resembles a Red Koopa Troopa or a Spiny. It is also possibly based on Wendy O. Koopa's red shell and orange skin from her early in-game sprites.
 * Bowser's blue costume resembles his appearance on the international covers of Super Mario Bros. This can be seen on the sticker of Super Mario Bros. This also resembles Iggy Koopa's appearance from Super Mario Bros. 3, since he has a blue shell and yellow hair.
 * Bowser's white costume turns his hair red and his shell, skin, and spiked collars to white, resembling Dry Bowser from New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart Wii. It is also resembles Morton Koopa Jr.'s white and gold shell and darker skin.
 * Bowser's brown costume resembles how he appeared in his first few games. It also resembles Boom Boom from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Captain Falcon

 * Captain Falcon's black costume is his costume from the F-Zero X Expansion set, as well as the F-Zero X commercial in Japan.
 * Captain Falcon's red costume is nearly identical to his rival Blood Falcon's outfit, even the writing on his back changes to say "Blood Hawk".
 * Captain Falcon's green costume makes him wear Pico's outfit.
 * Captain Falcon's white costume makes him wear Jody Summers's outfit.

Diddy Kong

 * Diddy's yellow costume resembles the alternate outfit when the second player also played as Diddy Kong in the first Donkey Kong Country series.
 * Diddy's pink costume resembles the outfit worn by fellow DK character Dixie Kong.
 * Diddy's blue costume resembles the outfit worn by fellow DK character Lanky Kong.

Donkey Kong

 * All of Donkey Kong's color changes can be traced back to the multiplayer mode of Donkey Kong 64. DK had several alternate costumes that looked similar to the ones in Brawl.
 * His yellow tie costume gives him dark fur, a possible reference to Chunky Kong.
 * Donkey Kong's red costume may represent the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game with the same name who had reddish orange fur.
 * Donkey Kong's white costume makes him look like a yeti, perhaps the character Eddie the Mean Old Yeti from the Donkey Kong Country TV series. It also looks like Snowflake, the only albino gorilla known to this day.

Falco

 * Falco's blue, red and green outfits look like the clothes Falco wears from Star Fox: Assualt Multiplayer.
 * Falco's dark costume looks like the clothes he wore from Star Fox: Adventures excluding the black feathers.

Fox

 * Fox's dark costume was named the "Dark Fox" on the DOJO.
 * Fox's red, green and blue costumes look like the clothes he wears in Star Fox: Assualt Multiplayer.
 * Fox's green and white costume (last on the right) appears to be derived from his outfit from Star Fox Command.

Ganondorf

 * Ganondorf's brown costume has the same colors as his Spaceworld 2000/Ocarina of Time design, slightly darkening his red hair, using the same design of cape, and giving his armor the same kind of design seen in Ocarina of Time.

Ice Climbers

 * Popo and Nana switch positions for their red, black, and white costumes, but they do not switch positions on the selection screen.

Ike

 * Two of Ike's costumes make him look like regular soldiers.
 * Ike's yellow and brown costume resembles the outfit of his father, Greil, from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
 * Ike's white costume is based on his third-tier vanguard class in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. It also greatly resembles Sigurd from Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu.

Jigglypuff

 * One of Jigglypuff's costumes has the red flower it had in Melee. It also resembles Phoebe's flower from Pokémon Advance.
 * Jigglypuff's white costume gives her a hat like the hat the female hero of Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen, wears.
 * The Jigglypuff with a straw hat (Blue outfit) is Shiny Jigglypuff. The difference is its green eyes. The hat also resembles Yellow's hat from the Pokemon Manga or Bug Catcher. It also resembles the hat worn by a Lady in Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald.
 * Jigglypuff's green costume is very similar to the hat worn by Kirby when he has his Sleep ability.

King Dedede

 * King Dedede's pink and green costumes are similar to alternate costumes in Kirby Air Ride.
 * King Dedede's purple costume features a very ornately decorated belt, similar to one on a formal Japanese Kimono. This costume is also similar to an alternate costume in Kirby Air Ride.
 * King Dedede's brown costume mirror's Kirby's white costume, making him appear like in Kirby's Dream Land.

Kirby

 * All these colors are also similar to different Kirby colors in games such as Kirby Air Ride and Kirby & the Amazing Mirror. They are all also usable in Squeak Squad, where color variations are distinct and each have their own names.
 * Kirby's yellow costume is Keeby. It is also the same as when he is Beam Kirby in Kirby Super Star, sans the hat. When someone is Player 2 in the Kirby games, he or she would also be Keeby.
 * Kirby's blue costume is the same as when he is Ice Kirby in Kirby Super Star, sans the hat.
 * Kirby's red and green costumes are based on more recent Kirby games, which if one uses the multiplayer option, Player 3 would play as the red Kirby and Player 4 would play as the green Kirby. Alternatively, the red and green costumes could be based on Fire Kirby and Plasma Kirby respectively from Kirby Super Star, sans the hats.
 * Kirby's white is based on his monochrome appearance from the original Kirby's Dream Land. It is also similar to Kirby's appearance on the North American box cover. In addition, it resembles Ice Kirby from Kirby's Adventure.

Link

 * In Brawl, Link's color changes also change the color of his shield.
 * Link's red and whitish/lavender colors can be traced back to the Red Ring and Blue Ring from the original Zelda, respectively.
 * Link's blue costume can be traced to Ocarina of Time, which is the first time he wore a full blue tunic with a blue hat.
 * Link's yellow costume (with the black under shirt) is a reference to the Magic armor from Twilight Princess, which had gold armor and black underneath it.
 * Link's black costume is based off Dark Link who originated from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and appeared again in Ocarina of Time. Due to the red eyes, some people believe this particular design comes from the Dark Links of Lanayru's vision in Twilight Princess.

Lucario

 * Lucario only has five colorations, and lacks its shiny color.

Lucas

 * One of Lucas's outfits makes his hair red to make him resemble his brother Claus.

Luigi

 * Luigi's red costume is from Wrecking Crew, in which Luigi wore pink.
 * Luigi's white costume is based on Fire Luigi. This costume replaced the white version that appeared in SSB and SSBM which was based off Luigi's colors in early NES games which was very similar in appearance.
 * Luigi's purple costume makes him resemble Waluigi, his rival.

Mario

 * Mario's white costume has his shirt white and his overalls red. This is based on Fire Mario.
 * Mario's blue costume is based on one of the promotional images for Mario Bros. Even though it's based on that promotional image, it's not what he wore in the actual game.
 * Mario's yellow costume is based on Wario just as before.
 * Mario's brown costume is Foreman Spike from Wrecking Crew, which was confirmed on the original SSB Japanese site.
 * Mario's green costume is the color inverse of his traditional colors. Contrary to popular belief it is not a reference to Luigi, however it does coincidentally resemble Luigi's colors from the arcade version of Mario Bros.

Marth

 * Marth's red costume is based on the Black Knight's armor from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. His hair is also the same color as Zelgius's hair.
 * Marth's white costume is based on Leaf, the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Thracia 776.
 * Marth's blue costume more closely based off the official artwork for Fire Emblem: Monsho no Nazo (even the hair color changes to match the said artwork). It closely resembles the color scheme used for the non-promoted male Lord class in many Fire Emblem games, especially when coupled with the abnormally blue hair and bright red cape lining.

Meta Knight

 * All of Meta Knight's costumes are similar to alternate costumes from Kirby Air Ride. His pink costume (feet, skin, etc.) also looks like Kirby.

Mr Game & Watch

 * All of his colors are in the first color Game & Watch, Spitball Sparky.
 * It is possible that the colors refer to the Tabletop and Panorama lines of Game & Watches, which had multi-colored LCD screens.

Ness

 * His white costume features a white T-shirt with red sleeves, the same as the shirt Fuel wears in Mother 3. However, this may not be a reference, as nothing else Ness wears matches Fuel's appearance.
 * Some say that Ness's blue costume is a reference to EarthBound ' s final battle against Giygas, where a reflection of Ness's face wearing the same colored hat appeared in the Devil's Machine.
 * Ness's black costume has a Mr. Saturn sprite drawn on the front of the shirt.

Olimar

 * Olimar's black and gray costume makes him look like the President of Hocotate.
 * Olimar's blue costume makes him look like Louie.

Peach

 * In SSBB, Peach's parasol also changes color to match her costume.
 * Peach's yellow costume resembles Daisy. However, unlike Melee, this is entirely a re-coloring. Her earrings, crown, and brooch remain unchanged.
 * Peach's red costume makes her appear similar to Pauline from her later games.
 * Peach's white costume imitates her Nurse Toadstool costume from Dr. Mario. Other possible references are her appearance at the end of Super Mario Bros and her wedding dress from Super Paper Mario.

Pikachu

 * Pikachu is the only character to have only four costume choices in Brawl.
 * Pikachu's red costume is Red's hat, the protagonist of Pokémon Red and Blue. Pikachu's fur color also changes to look akin to a shiny Pikachu.
 * Pikachu's green costume is Brendan's headband from the Emerald version of Pokémon Advance.
 * Pikachu's blue costume are the goggles worn by Pichu in Melee, which are goggles possibly used by the "Swimmer" class in the Pokémon series.

Pit

 * Pit's red, green and blue costumes are similar to some of his outfits in Kid Icarus.

Pokémon Trainer

 * Pokémon Trainer's white costume makes him look like Leaf, the female hero (and thus Trainer's female counterpart) of the Pokémon remake for GBA.
 * Squirtle has the colors of its evolved form, Wartortle.
 * Pokémon Trainer's green costume takes the color scheme of Brendan from the Emerald version of Pokémon Advance.
 * Ivysaur's bulb changes to yellow, which is Ivysaur's shiny color.
 * Squirtle's shell changes to green, which is Squirtle's shiny color.
 * Pokémon Trainer's blue costume makes Ivysaur have a grape hyacinth on its back.
 * Charizard's blue palette swap is possibly inspired by its shiny coloration in Generation II, however in Brawl its primary color is far more red than the GBC's purple. Its current shiny color is black.

R.O.B.

 * R.O.B.'s gray costume makes him look like North American versions of R.O.B. Even the words on his base change from "Family Computer Robot" to "R.O.B. - Robotic Operating Buddy", the same as the American design.
 * R.O.B.'s gray costume also appears similar to the R.O.B. Blaster from SSE.
 * R.O.B.'s purple costume resembles the American SNES color scheme.
 * R.O.B.'s green color change is similar to the R.O.B. Launcher from SSE.

Samus

 * Samus's default costume is her Varia Suit. This Zero Suit is light blue.
 * Samus's pink costume is based off the appearance of the NES Varia Suit when missiles are selected. It is also the color of the Gravity Suit in iterations prior to Metroid Prime. This Zero Suit is pink-red.
 * Samus's cyan costume is based off her "Fusion Suit". Zero Suit Samus's blue costume for this is a very dark blue, similar to the one in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
 * Samus's brown costume is based on the Dark Suit from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. This Zero Suit is black and gray.
 * Samus's purple costume is based off of the Gravity Suit from Metroid Prime and all games after. This Zero Suit is a lighter purple.

Snake

 * All of these camouflages are based on the ones Naked Snake (a.k.a. Big Boss) wore in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Sonic

 * In the black, green and red costumes, Sonic wears rings around his wrists of different colors, and the color of his shoes corresponds that color.
 * Sonic's black costume considerably darkens his fur, making him look similar to his enemy Shadow the Hedgehog in certain situations.
 * Sonic's yellow costume gives him the bracelets of Silver the Hedgehog. The bracelets may also be a reference to Sonic and the Secret Rings.

Toon Link

 * His red, blue, and purple costumes are based off of the Link copies from The Four Swords games.
 * His light-green outfit is based on the more traditional colors worn by Links from earlier games. The brown hair and sleeves with the more traditional green tunic is similar to his color scheme in the original Legend of Zelda, as well as other early renditions.
 * His black costume is based off a toon-version of Dark Link who appeared closer to this color scheme in The Minish Cap.

Wario

 * Unlike all other characters (aside from Ice Climbers), Wario has two outfits each with multiple color choices, his biker costume from the Warioware games which is his default costume and his classic overalls. That effectively doubles his alternate costume choices.
 * Biker Wario's red costume resembles Fire Mario with the white helmet and red jacket. This is not to be confused with the Biker Wario that has a red helmet, black jacket, and white shirt, because that's not available on team battles.
 * Overall Wario's red costume color scheme resembles how Mario looked like in the early Mario games where he had red overalls and a blue shirt instead of the blue overalls and red shirt he wears today. This somewhat mirrors the way that Wario's "classic" outfit appears as one of Mario's alternate costumes. Two of Wario's other alternate colors for his "classic" look appear similar to alternate costumes for Mario and Luigi (specifically, Mario's green costume and Luigi's blue costume).
 * Overall Wario's black and white costume makes him look like his appearance in the Wario Land games until Wario Land 4.

Wolf

 * Wolf's blue costume resembles the outfit worn by Panther Caroso in Star Fox: Assault.
 * Wolf's white costume makes him wear colors similar to a Wolfen. It's also the opposite of the black outfits of Pit and Fox which gives them a villainous tone, as it makes Wolf look like a good guy.

Yoshi

 * All of Yoshi's costumes are different variations of the Yoshi species in many of his games, specifically Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Story and Yoshi's Island DS.
 * Yoshi's red, blue, and yellow palette swaps are based off of his special colorations in Super Mario World, which are obtained from Star Road.

Zelda/Sheik

 * Zelda's red costume is based off her early appearances in The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: Adventure of Link
 * Zelda's pink costume is based off her appearance in Melee as well as Ocarina of Time. Sheik's is a darker version of the standard.

Zero Suit Samus

 * ZSS's color swaps differ greatly from those with her suit on. They aren't from any games as far as it is known.

Trivia

 * Pikachu's blue costume are the goggles that Pichu wore in Melee, which fans have taken to mean that the Pikachu in Brawl is evolved from that Pichu from SSBM, a belief supported by the fact that the SSBB Pikachu can wall cling like Pichu could, but SSBM Pikachu couldn't. However, this belief has been partly shut down due to the different eye colour.