Color Changing

In the Super Smash Bros. series, each character can alter his or her outfit's color scheme to avoid confusion if he or she is facing the same character that they are using. Every character has at least four alternate colors, including a red, blue and green costume representing the three colors available in Team Battles. Super Smash Bros. Melee introduced characters with more than four outfits, and in Brawl, most characters have six unique outfits. Pikachu, Pichu, Jigglypuff and Sonic are unique in that their color changes also incorporate additional accessories along with changes to their hue. In team battles, when two or more people choose the same character on the same team, they are different shades as well. Only costumes referencing characters and colors from official games are listed.

SSB
Super Smash Bros. introduced the basic color changes, the first four that could be changed with the C-Buttons.
 * Mario:
 * Mario's yellow costume is based on the yellow-and-purple outfit of his rival, Wario.
 * Mario's blue costume is a red/blue reversal of his traditional colors. This is seen as a partial reference to Mario's varying appearances in games prior to Nintendo's officially establishment of Mario's outfit of consisting of a red shirt, blue overalls and red hat. In various earlier games, Mario occasionally also appeared with sometimes a blue hat, red shirt with blue overalls or a red hat, blue shirt with red overalls. Interestingly however, Mario never appeared in any game with the particular combination of a blue hat, blue shirt, with red overalls as it appears here.
 * Mario's brown and white costume is a reference to Foreman Spike from Wrecking Crew.


 * Yoshi:
 * All of Yoshi's costumes are different variations of the Yoshi species in many of his games.


 * Captain Falcon:
 * Captain Falcon's red costume is based on the appearance of his rival, Blood Falcon.
 * Captain Falcon's white costume is the same color as Jody Summers's outfit.


 * Kirby:
 * Kirby's yellow costume is Keeby. It is also similar to his colors scheme when he is Beam Kirby, sans the hat.
 * Kirby's red costume is the same as when he is Fire Kirby, sans the hat.
 * Kirby's blue costume is the same as when he is Ice Kirby, sans the hat.


 * Samus:
 * Samus's default costume is her Varia Suit.
 * Samus's pink costume is based off the appearance of the Varia Suit when missiles are selected in the original NES Metroid game. It is also the color of the Gravity Suit in iterations prior to Metroid Prime.


 * Link:
 * Link's red costume is based off the Goron Tunic from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
 * Link's blue costume is based off the Zora Tunic from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

SSBM
Super Smash Bros. Melee used the X and Y buttons to change costumes.
 * Mario:
 * Mario's yellow costume is based on Wario, the same as his previous yellow costume.
 * Mario's blue costume is a red/blue reversal of his traditional colors. This is seen as a partial reference to Mario's varying appearances in games prior to Nintendo's officially establishment of Mario's outfit of consisting of a red shirt, blue overalls and red hat. In various earlier games, Mario occasionally also appeared with sometimes a blue hat, red shirt with blue overalls or a red hat, blue shirt with red overalls. Interestingly however, Mario never appeared in any game with the particular combination of a blue hat, blue shirt, with red overalls as it appears here.
 * Mario's brown and white costume is a homage to Foreman Spike or may be constructed as a homage to various Game Boy appearances (i.e. Super Mario Land).
 * Mario's green costume is a 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.


 * Luigi:
 * Luigi's white costume came from his appearance in Mario Bros.' and Super Mario Bros.''
 * His red costume possibly came from Wrecking Crew.


 * Peach:
 * Peach's yellow costume changes nearly her entire appearance to that of Daisy, including her hair color, hair style, earrings, dress style, gloves, crown and even skin color.
 * Peach's white costume imitates her Nurse Toadstool costume from Dr. Mario.


 * Bowser:
 * Bowser's blue costume came from the international artwork for Super Mario Bros.


 * Yoshi:
 * All of Yoshi's costumes appear as different variations of the Yoshi species in many of his games.


 * Donkey Kong:
 * Two of his costumes came from Donkey Kong 64 ' s "Monkey Smash".


 * Captain Falcon:
 * Captain Falcon's red costume is based off his rival Blood Falcon's outfit, even altering the logo on his back.
 * Captain Falcon's white costume is based off the colors of Jody Summers's outfit.
 * His black costume possibly came from the Japanese commercial for F-Zero X.
 * Captain Falcon's green costume is based off the colors of Pico's outfit.


 * Fox:
 * His red costume possibly came from his appearance on the Japanese boxart.


 * Ness:
 * Its possible his blue costume came from the Devil Machine's eye for the color of Ness's hat.


 * Ice Climbers:
 * The Ice Climbers' orange and red costumes will place Nana in the lead, making Popo follow. The voice samples are swapped to match up with the change.


 * Kirby:
 * Kirby's yellow costume is Keeby. It is also the same as when he is Beam Kirby, sans the hat.
 * Kirby's red costume is the same as when he is Fire Kirby, sans the hat.
 * Kirby's blue costume is the same as when he is Ice Kirby, sans the hat.
 * Kirby's white costume mirrors his appearance in the original North American version of Kirby's Dream Land. It's also possible that it came from the Ice ability from Kirby's Adventure.
 * Green costume is possibly from what he looks like from the Game Boy sprites.


 * Samus:
 * Samus's default costume is her Varia Suit.
 * Samus's pink costume is based off the appearance of the Varia Suit when missiles are selected in the original NES Metroid game. It is also the color of the Gravity Suit in iterations prior to Metroid Prime.


 * Link:
 * Link's red costume is based on the the Goron Tunic from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
 * Link's blue costume is based on the the Zora Tunic from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
 * Link's violet costume resembles the use of the Blue Ring in The Legend of Zelda.
 * Link's black costume is a homage to Dark Link. However, unlike the Brawl version, it is only his tunic.


 * Mewtwo:
 * Mewtwo's green costume is its "shiny" variation in from the Pokémon series.


 * Mr. Game & watch:
 * Some of his alternate costumes came from the colored LCD screens


 * Marth:
 * Marth's white costume is based on Leaf, the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Thracia 776.


 * Pikachu:
 * Pikachu's red costume has it wearing the hat of Red, the protagonist of the original Pokémon installment. It's also based on a "shiny" Pikachu.
 * Pikachu's blue costume has it wearing a blue party hat (like the one in the original).
 * Pikachu's green costume has it wearing a green cowboy hat.


 * Pichu
 * Pichu's green costume gives it a backback similar to the one worn by Ash in the Pokémon anime.
 * Pichu's blue costume gives it goggles similar to the "Swimmer" class of the Pokémon series.

Roy's red, blue and green costume came from the colored units from Fire Emblem games.
 * Roy:

SSBB
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.

Mario:

 * Mario's blue costume is a red/blue reversal of his traditional colors. This is seen as a partial reference to Mario's varying appearances in games prior to Nintendo's officially establishment of Mario's outfit of consisting of a red shirt, blue overalls and red hat. In various earlier games, Mario occasionally also appeared with sometimes a blue hat, red shirt with blue overalls or a red hat, blue shirt with red overalls. Interestingly however, Mario never appeared in any game with the particular combination of a blue hat, blue shirt, with red overalls as it appears here. The only time this specific combination was shown was on the box cover art for the NES version of Mario Bros, even though that is not what he wore in the actual game.
 * Mario's yellow costume is based on Wario just as before.
 * Mario's white costume has his shirt white and his overalls red. This is based on Fiery Mario.
 * 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 box cover art of Mario Bros.

Donkey Kong:

 * Donkey Kong's red costume may represent the original Donkey Kong from the arcade with the same name who had reddish orange fur.
 * His yellow tie costume gives him dark fur, a possible referance to Chunky Kong.
 * 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.

Link:
In Brawl, Link's color changes also change the color of his shield.
 * Link's standard costume is based off his appearance in Twilight Princess.
 * Link's red costume is based on the Goron Tunic in Ocarina of Time. However, some say it comes from the Red Ring in The Legend of Zelda, others say it comes from the Shield spell in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and still others say it comes from the Red Mail in A Link to the Past.
 * Link's blue costume is based on the Zora Tunic in Ocarina of Time. Some think it could be based off the Blue Mail from A Link to the Past.
 * Link's white costume is based on the Blue Ring in The Legend of Zelda.
 * 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.

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 either the Phazon Suit from Metroid Prime or the Dark Suit from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. This Zero Suit is black and gray.
 * Samus's blue costume is based off of the Gravity Suit from Metroid Prime and all games after. This Zero Suit is a lighter purple.

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 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.
 * Kirby's blue costume is the same as when he is Ice Kirby in Kirby Super Star, sans the hat.
 * Kirby's white costume mirrors his monochrome appearance from the original Kirby's Dream Land. It also resembles Ice Kirby from Kirby's Adventure.

Pikachu:
Pikachu is the only character to have four costume choices in Brawl.
 * Pikachu's red costume is Red's hat, the protagonist of Pokémon Red and Blue. Pikachu's skin color also changes to look akin to a shiny Pikachu.
 * 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.
 * Pikachu's green costume is Brendan's headband from the Emerald version of Pokémon Advance.

Marth:

 * 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
 * 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.

Luigi:

 * Luigi's white costume is based on Fiery Luigi. It may also be based on his appearance in both Mario Bros. Arcade and Super Mario Bros on the NES.
 * Luigi's purple costume is based on Waluigi's outfit.
 * Luigi's red costume is from Wrecking Crew, in which Luigi wore pink.

Diddy Kong:

 * 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.

Zelda:

 * Zelda's standard costume is based off her appearance in Twilight Princess.
 * 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.
 * Zelda's red costume is based off her appearance in the two NES Zelda games.

Pit:

 * Pit's blue costume is similar to one of his outfits in Kid Icarus.
 * Pit's green costume is similar to one of his outfits in Kid Icarus.
 * Pit's red costume is similar to one of his outfits in Kid Icarus.

Meta Knight:

 * Meta Knight's pink, blue, green, red, and white costumes are similar to alternate costume from Kirby Air Ride. His pink costume (feet, skin, etc.) also looks like Kirby.
 * Meta Knight's blue costume is based off "Dark Meta Knight".

Pokémon Trainer:

 * Pokémon Trainer's green costume takes the color scheme of Brendan from the Emerald version ofPokémon 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 white costume makes him look like Leaf, the female hero (and thus Trainer's female counterpart) of the FireRed and LeafGreen versions.
 * Pokémon Trainer's red costume makes Squirtle have the colors of its evolved form, Wartortle.
 * Pokémon Trainer's blue costume makes Ivysaur have a grape hyacinth on its back.

Ike:
Two of Ike's costumes make him look like regular soldiers.
 * 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.
 * Ike's yellow and brown costume resembles the outfit of his father, Greil.

Snake:

 * Snake's green costume makes him wear a forest camoflage.
 * Snake's white costume makes him wear a cloud camoflage.
 * Snake's blue costume makes him wear a water camoflage.
 * Snake's red costume makes him wear a fire camoflage.
 * One of Snake's costumes resembles the Animals camouflage from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
 * All of these camouflages are based on the ones Naked Snake (a.k.a. Big Boss) wore in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Peach:

 * Peach's yellow costume resembles Daisy. However, unlike Melee, this is entirely a re-coloring. Her earrings, crown, and brooch remain unchanged.
 * 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.
 * Peach's red costume makes her appear similar to Pauline from her later games.

Yoshi:
All of Yoshi's color changes appear as colors of different Yoshi species that appeared in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Story and Yoshi's Island DS.
 * Yoshi's default costume is the green Yoshi, with the design taken from Yoshi's Story.
 * Yoshi's red costume is based off Fire Yoshi from Super Mario World.
 * Yoshi's blue costume is based off Flying Yoshi from Super Mario World.
 * Yoshi's yellow costume is based off Stomp Yoshi from Super Mario World.

Ice Climbers:
The Ice Climbers switch positions for their red, black, and white costumes, but they do not switch positions on the selection screen.

King Dedede:

 * King Dedede's brown costume mirror's Kirby's white costume, making him appear like in Kirby's Dream Land.
 * 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 green and pink costumes are similar to alternate costumes in Kirby Air Ride.

Wolf:

 * 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 villianous tone, as it makes Wolf look like a good guy.
 * Wolf's yellow costume with brown fur appears similar to Leon(from F-Zero) or Bill Grey (from Star Fox 64).
 * Wolf's blue costume resembles the outfit worn by Panther Caroso in Star Fox: Assault.

Lucario:

 * Lucario only has five colorations, and lacks its Shiny colors. It is one of two Pokemon to lack Shiny colors; the other is Pokemon Trainer's Charizard.

Ness:

 * Ness's black costume has a Mr. Saturn sprite drawn on the front of the shirt.
 * 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.

Sonic:

 * In the black, red, and green 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.

Bowser:

 * 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 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 brown costume resembles how he appeared in his first few games. It also resembles Boom Boom from Super Mario Bros. 3.

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 avalible 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 Wario's Woods for the NES and the Wario Land games untill Wario Land 4.

Toon Link:

 * Toon Link's standard costume is based on his appearance in The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass.
 * His black costume is based off a toon-version of Dark Link who appeared closer to this color scheme in The Minish Cap than Dark Link did in any game.
 * His red, blue, and purple costumes are based off of the Link copies from Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures.
 * One of his outfits resembles Link as he was depicted back in the NES days (brown hair included).

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 blue costume resembles NAV-COM, a submarine co-pilot from the game StarTropics.
 * R.O.B.'s green color change is similar to the R.O.B. Launcher from SSE.

Olimar:

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

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.

Captain Falcon:

 * 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 white costume makes him wear Jody Summers's outfit.
 * 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.

Jigglypuff:

 * 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.
 * One of Jigglypuff's costumes has the red flower it had in Melee.It also resembles Phoebe's flower from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.
 * Jigglypuff's green costume is very similar to the hat worn by Kirby when he has his Sleep ability.

Lucas:

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