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. However, all the playable characters of the Pokémon universe: Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Pokémon Trainer, Lucario; and Sonic lack six. The other exception is that Wario has two outfits each with multiple color choices, that effectively doubles his alternate costume choices. These are changed by clicking on the character (any controller), pressing 1/2 (Nunchuck), or pressing X/Y (Classic, Gamecube).

Bowser

 * Green (Default)
 * Black
 * Red: Resembles a Red Koopa Troopa or a Spiny.
 * Blue: Resembles Bowser's appearance on the international covers of Super Mario Bros. This can be seen on the sticker of Super Mario Bros. It also resembles Iggy Koopa.
 * White: This costume turns Bowser's hair red and his shell and spiked collars to white, somewhat resembling Dry Bowser from New Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart Wii. It also resembles Morton Koopa Jr.'s white and gold shell and darker skin.
 * Brown: Resembles Boom Boom from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Captain Falcon

 * Blue (Default)
 * Black: Falcon's costume from the F-Zero X Expansion set, as well as the F-Zero X commercial in Japan.
 * Red: Nearly identical to his rival Blood Falcon's outfit, even the writing on his back changes to say "Blood Hawk" with a skull design around the lettering.
 * Green: Resembles the color scheme of the Wild Goose, Pico's F-Zero vehicle.
 * Light Blue: May be a reference to his original F-Zero appearances (his costume in the F-Zero games is more vibrant than his Super Smash Bros. outfits).
 * White: Resembles Jody Summers' outfit.

Diddy Kong

 * Red (Default)
 * Yellow: Resembles the alternate outfit when the second player also played as Diddy Kong in the original Donkey Kong Country series.
 * Pink: Resembles the outfit worn by fellow DK character Dixie Kong in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie's Double Trouble. Diddy also gains Dixie's light yellow fur color.
 * Purple: Resembles the alternate costume worn by Diddy when the second player used him in Donkey Kong Country 2.
 * Green
 * Blue: Resembles the outfit worn by fellow DK character Lanky Kong in Donkey Kong 64.

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.
 * Brown (Default)
 * Black: A possible reference to Chunky Kong.
 * Red: May represent the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game with the same name who had reddish orange fur.
 * Blue: One of the alternate colours in Donkey Kong 64.
 * Green: One of the alternate colours in Donkey Kong 64.
 * White: Makes DK 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

 * White (Default): Based off his character model from Star Fox: Command.
 * Yellow: Looks like clothes from Star Fox: Assault ' s multiplayer. In addition, it slightly resembles his yellowish-white default outfit from Melee.
 * Blue: Looks like clothes from Star Fox: Assault ' s multiplayer.
 * Red: Looks like clothes from Star Fox: Assault ' s multiplayer.
 * Green: Looks like clothes from Star Fox: Assault ' s multiplayer.
 * Black: Looks like the clothes he wore from Star Fox: Adventures, excluding the black feathers. The black color is also to match Fox's (and by extension, Wolf's) dark costume. Also, it might be a reference to Falco's feathers on the box cover for Star Fox.

Fox

 * Grey (Default): Based off his character model from Star Fox: Command.
 * Black: Named the "Dark Fox" on the DOJO!!. Similar dark color schemes are also available for Falco and Wolf.
 * Red: Looks like clothes from Star Fox: Assault ' s multiplayer.
 * Green: Looks like clothes from Star Fox: Assault ' s multiplayer. Also resembles his the outfit of his father, James McCloud.
 * Blue: Looks like clothes from Star Fox: Assault ' s multiplayer.
 * White: Appears to be derived from his outfit from Star Fox Adventures.

Ganondorf

 * Black (Default): Based off his most recent character design in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
 * Grey: This may be a reference to the original Phantom Ganon. However, that could be a stretch, seeing as Phantom Ganon had a white face, and not white hair.
 * Blue
 * Green
 * Red: May or may not be referencing the fact that he wore red in the original The Legend of Zelda (in his Beast Ganon form).
 * Brown: This costume has the same colors as his Spaceworld 2000 and Super Smash Bros. Melee designs, slightly darkening his red hair, using the same design of cape, and giving his armor the same kind of design seen in the demo.

Ice Climbers
Popo and Nana switch positions for their red, black, and white costumes, but they do not switch positions on the selection screen like they did in Melee.
 * Purple (Default)
 * Red
 * Blue
 * Black: May be a reference to the Game & Watch game Climber, the game that Ice Climber is based off of.
 * Green
 * White

Ike

 * Brown (Default): Based on his Ranger class outfit from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
 * Yellow: Resembles the outfit of his father, Greil, from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
 * Red: Resembles the outfit of Mia from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
 * Blue: Based on his third-tier vanguard class in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. It also greatly resembles Sigurd from Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu.
 * Green: Based on allied units from the GBA Fire Emblem games.
 * Tan: Based on the mages in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.

Jigglypuff
Jigglypuff's alternate costumes are mostly feminine accessories, which is one of the reasons why this Jigglypuff is considered to be female.
 * Pink (Default)
 * Red: The same red flower Jigglypuff had in Melee. It also resembles Phoebe's flower from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.
 * White: Gives Jigglypuff a hat like the hat the female hero of Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen wears, just as Pikachu wears the hat of the male hero of Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen.
 * Blue: Jigglypuff's shiny color. The hat resembles those worn by Bug Catchers and Ladies from the Pokémon games, and Yellow from the Pokemon Manga.
 * Green: Very similar to the hat worn by Kirby when he has his Sleep ability.

King Dedede

 * Red (Default)
 * Pink: Similar to an alternate costume in Kirby Air Ride.
 * Green: Similar to an alternate costume in Kirby Air Ride.
 * Purple: 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.
 * Blue: Features a belt that contains the same icons as one of the menu schemes from Kirby 64.
 * Brown: Mirrors Kirby's white costume, making him appear like he did in Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy.

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.
 * Pink (Default)
 * Yellow: Shigeru Miyamoto originally wanted Kirby to be yellow, but Sakurai was determined to make him pink. Sakurai won, but the yellow Kirby design later appeared as Keeby, the character controlled by Player 2 in the Kirby games. Yellow Kirby also resembles Beam Kirby from Kirby Super Star, sans the hat.
 * Blue: The same as when Kirby is Ice Kirby in Kirby Super Star, sans the hat.
 * Red: The same as when Kirby is Fire Kirby in Kirby Super Star, sans the hat. Also used for Player 3 in recent multiplayer games.
 * Green The same as when Kirby is Plasma Kirby in Kirby Super Star, sans the hat. Also used for Player 4 in recent multiplayer games.
 * White: Based on Kirby's 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. It also resembles Shadow Kirby from Kirby & the Amazing Mirror. It is most similar in appearance to the alternate "Chalk" palette in more recent Kirby games.

Link

 * Green (Default): Based off his latest character design from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
 * Red: Can be traced back to the Red Ring in the original The Legend of Zelda and possibly the Shield Spell in its sequel The Adventure of Link. However, it is more likely based on the Goron Tunic that featured in Ocarina of Time.
 * Blue: Can be traced to the Zora Tunic used during The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
 * White: Based off of the Blue Ring from The Legend of Zelda for the NES.
 * Yellow: A reference to an instance in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; when he drinks either Rare Chu Jelly or Great Fairy Tears, it would give him a golden appearance.
 * Black: 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 that Lanayru used to symbolize the Dark Interlopers in his vision in Twilight Princess. He also gains the negative version of his shield, symbolizing his negativity/darkness.

Lucario

 * Tan (Default)
 * Red
 * Blue: It is sometimes considered that Lucario's blue costume may resemble Riolu, its pre-evolution.
 * White/Silver
 * Green

Lucas

 * Yellow (Default)
 * Orange: Makes Lucas' hair red, and also changes his shirt to blue and yellow stripes, making him resemble his twin brother Claus. However, in the original game Mother 3, Claus also had a slightly different hairstyle.
 * Red
 * Blue
 * Green
 * Purple

Luigi

 * Green (Default)
 * Orange
 * Red: Based around what Luigi wore from Wrecking Crew, in which he wore pink.
 * Blue: Probably resembles Mario on the American cartridge art for Mario Bros. It is also one of the 'flashing colors' when using star power in an underground stage of the original Super Mario Bros.
 * White: Based on Fire Luigi. This costume replaced the white version that appeared in SSB and SSBM, which was based off Luigi's colors in Super Mario Bros.
 * Purple: Makes Luigi resemble Waluigi, his rival.

Mario

 * Red (Default)
 * White: Based on Fire Mario's appearance dating back to Super Mario Bros. onward.
 * Blue: Based on Mario's overalls colors from when he was Jumpman from Donkey Kong, though he wore a red hat with that outfit. It's also based upon one of the promotional images for Mario Bros., although it's not what he wore in the actual game. It is also similar to Balloon Fighter's color scheme.
 * Yellow: Based on Wario, just as in the previous Smash titles.
 * Brown: Based on Foreman Spike from Wrecking Crew '98, which was confirmed on the original SSB Japanese site.
 * Green: 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. It also appeared as part of the "flashing" animation from a Starman in the original Super Mario Bros.

Marth

 * Blue (Default)
 * Red: Resembles the red units in a Wi-Fi match in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.
 * Green
 * Black
 * White: Based on Leaf, the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Thracia 776.
 * Light Blue: 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.
 * Purple (Default)
 * White
 * Red
 * Green
 * Blue
 * Pink

Mr Game & Watch
All of his colors are in the first color Game & Watch, Spitball Sparky. It is alo possible that the colors refer to the Tabletop and Panorama lines of Game & Watches, which had multi-colored LCD screens.
 * Black (Default): Based on the G&W characters from the games Fire and Parachute.
 * Red
 * Yellow
 * Blue
 * Green
 * Light Blue

Ness

 * Red (Default)
 * White: 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.
 * Yellow
 * Green
 * Blue: Is based off of Ness's younger self that he encounters briefly in EarthBound, who was wearing a blue hat. Some also consider this outfit to be a reference to EarthBound ' s final battle against Giygas, where a reflection of Ness's face wearing a blue-purple hat appeared in the Devil's Machine.
 * Black: Has a Mr. Saturn sprite drawn on the front of his shirt.

Olimar

 * Tan (Default)
 * White
 * Red
 * Black: Makes Olimar look like the President of Hocotate.
 * Green: Makes Olimar resemble his son.
 * Blue: Makes Olimar look like Louie.

Peach

 * Pink (Default)
 * Yellow: Resembles Daisy. However, unlike Melee, this is only a re-coloring. Her earrings, crown, brooch, and skin remain unchanged.
 * Red: Makes Peach appear similar to Pauline from Donkey Kong.
 * Blue: Resembles Peach's outfit from NES Open Tournament Golf. Also gives Peach's crown the same color scheme as the crown of Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart Wii.
 * Green: Resembles Daisy's outfit from NES Open Tournament Golf.
 * White: May be a reference to her appearance at the end of Super Mario Bros and her wedding dress from Super Paper Mario. The white color of her dress isn't as bright as her Melee white costume, and this one doesn't include tights anymore.

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

Pit

 * White (Default)
 * Yellow
 * Red: Similar to an outfit in Kid Icarus.
 * Green: Similar to an outfit in Kid Icarus.
 * Blue: Similar to an outfit in Kid Icarus.
 * Black: Makes Pit look like a fallen angel, according to the DOJO!!

Pokémon Trainer

 * Standard (Default)
 * Charizard - Orange
 * Ivysaur - Pink
 * Squirtle - Brown
 * Red: His hat resembles the one of Leaf, the female trainer in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.
 * Charizard - Red: Resembles its pre-evolution, Charmeleon.
 * Ivysaur - Red
 * Squirtle - Red
 * Green: Takes the color scheme of Brendan from the Emerald version of Pokémon Advance.
 * Charizard - Green
 * Ivysaur - Yellow: Ivysaur's shiny color.
 * Squirtle - Green: Squirtle's shiny color.
 * Blue
 * Charizard - Purple: Similar to Charizard's shiny color from Generation II.
 * Ivysaur - Blue
 * Squirtle - Blue: Possibly inspired by the original sprite in Generation I, especially in Pokémon Yellow.
 * White:
 * Charizard - Yellow: Resembles the shiny color of its pre-evolutions, Charmander and Charmeleon.
 * Ivysaur - White
 * Squirtle - White

R.O.B.

 * Red (Default): Based on R.O.B.'s Japanese color scheme for the Famicom. This design also was the source for the R.O.B. Sentry.
 * Grey: Makes R.O.B. look like North American versions of R.O.B.s. 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 the Subspace Emissary.
 * Yellow
 * Purple: Resembles the North American SNES color scheme.
 * Blue: Gives R.O.B. colors similar to a R.O.B. seen in Startropics.
 * Green: Similar to the R.O.B. Launcher from the Subspace Emissary, though lacking the same bright blue cord.

Samus

 * Orange (Default): Based on the Varia Suit.
 * Blue: Based on the Fusion Suit from Metroid Fusion.
 * Pink: Based on the appearance of the Varia Suit of the original Metroid when missiles are selected.
 * Used when Samus is on the Red team.
 * Brown: Based on the Dark Suit from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
 * Purple: Based on the Gravity Suit as it first appeared in Super Metroid and most games in the series since.
 * Green

Snake
Most of these camouflages are based on the ones Naked Snake (a.k.a. Big Boss) wore in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
 * Grey (Default): Based on Snake's standard camoflage from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
 * Red: Based off The Fury's Fire camouflage.
 * Blue
 * White: Based off the Snow camouflage.
 * Green: Based off the Leaf camouflage.
 * Yellow: Based off Revolver Ocelot's Animal camouflage.

Sonic
Sonic is the only non-Pokémon character to have fewer than six palette swaps. The stripe on his sneakers is white in all palette swaps, and, in all but the default palette swap, the rest of his sneakers match his wristbands.
 * Blue (Default)
 * Black: Looks like Dark Sonic from the anime Sonic X.
 * Yellow: Gives Sonic the bracelets of Silver the Hedgehog. It could also be a reference to how in every Sonic game, Sonic collects gold rings. It's also possible that this is a reference to Shadow the Hedgehog's bracelets.
 * Green
 * Red

Toon Link

 * Green (Default): Based on the character design from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
 * Red: Based off of the Link copies from The Four Swords games.
 * Blue: Based off of the Link copies from The Four Swords games.
 * Purple: Based off of the Link copies from The Four Swords games.
 * Brown: Based on the color scheme of Link in the original The Legend of Zelda. The brown hair and sleeves with the more traditional green tunic resembles some of the older iterations of Link in games such as The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. It also looks like his appearance in The Legend of Zelda CD-i games and the cutscenes, but the palette swap is unlikely to be a reference to it.
 * Black: Based off a toon version of Dark Link, who appeared closer to this color scheme in "Four Swords Adventures". Also, like Link's dark version, Toon Link also has a negative shield.

Wario
Unlike all other characters, 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. This doubles his alternate costume choices.
 * Yellow (Default)
 * Red: Resembles Fire Mario with the white helmet and red jacket.
 * Orange
 * Green
 * Black
 * Blue
 * Yellow (Default)
 * Red: 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.
 * Blue: Resembles Mario's appearance on the cover of the e-Reader game Mario Bros.-e.
 * Green: Similar to Mario's green costume.
 * Black
 * White: Makes Wario look like his appearance in the Wario Land games until Wario Land 4, since those games were in black and white.

Wolf

 * Grey (Default)
 * Red
 * Black
 * Green: Makes Wolf's fur brownish looking, similar to Fox's fur.
 * Blue: Resembles the outfit worn by Panther Caroso in Star Fox: Assault.
 * White: Makes Wolf wear colors similar to a Wolfen. It's also the opposite of the black outfits of Pit, Fox, and Falco which gives them a villainous tone, as it makes Wolf look otherwise.

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, Super Mario Advance 3, and Yoshi's Island DS. The soles of his shoes, the saddle on his back, and his scales stay the same color, no matter what color he is.


 * Green (Default)
 * Red
 * Blue
 * Yellow
 * Pink
 * Light Blue

Zelda/Sheik

 * Purple/Light Blue (Default): Based on her character model from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
 * Red: Based off Zelda's early appearances in The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: Adventure of Link. This is also the only one of her color schemes in which she doesn't wear gloves.
 * Blue: Official art for A Link to the Past shows Zelda with a blue dress, while Sheik seems based off of Tetra with the blue costume and red scarf.
 * Pink: Based off Zelda's appearance in Melee as well as Ocarina of Time.
 * Green: If the original Zelda is beaten without a ring, Zelda's dress will be green.
 * Black

Zero Suit Samus
ZSS' color swaps differ greatly from those with her suit on.
 * Light Blue (Default)
 * Blue: The same as what Zero Suit Samus wears after completing Metroid Prime 2: Echoes & Metroid Fusion 100%.
 * Pink: A reference to Zero Suit Samus' first appearance in the original Metroid after clearing it 100% or by entering JUSTIN BAILEY into the password screen.
 * Black
 * White
 * Green: May be a reference to her suitless appearance in the Captain N comic.