A character is the term used to describe beings in the Super Smash Bros. series. Characters can be sorted into playable and non-playable, which distinguishes whether characters can be used with or without the use of a cheat device (like Action Replay) and aren't characters only usable in a specific part of game (such as Master Hand in World of Light). Playable characters can further be divided into starter, unlockable, or downloadable, which distinguishes whether characters can be played right away, whether they need to be unlocked by fulfilling certain requirements, or must be downloaded before gameplay is possible.
These are characters that are technically playable by way of costume sets for Mii Fighters that are modeled after certain characters. See Mii Fighter Costumes for a complete list.
Non-playable characters[]
The following characters are considered non-playable. These include boss characters and enemy teams, among others. Hacking and action replay codes may allow some level of play.
In the first Super Smash Bros. Direct, Masahiro Sakurai said that the fighters in the Super Smash Bros. series are actually toys in the real world and that the games take place in the world of imagination.
Meowth, Dixie Kong, Plusle & Minun, and various "toon" versions of The Legend of Zelda characters were all planned characters from various Super Smash Bros. games that never made the final cut as characters in any game.
The Ice Climbers are the only characters to be cut after appearing in subsiquent titles.
Samus is the only female character to appear in all six Super Smash Bros. games, as Pokémon were not considered gendered at the time of the first game's release.
Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Luigi, Ness, Captain Falcon, and Jigglypuff are the only characters to appear in all five Super Smash Bros. games, being dubbed the "Perfect Attendance Crew".
↑Sakurai stated that, while the Ice Climbers could run smoothly on the Wii U version, the 3DS could not handle the "two-in-one" coding of the duo, and, in order to keep the roster the same between the two versions, they had to be cut from the roster.
↑ 3.03.13.2While there hasn't been any official confirmation that Mewtwo, Roy, and Dr. Mario were intended to be in Brawl, unused data on Brawl's disc labelled for each of them strongly implies that the characters were developed to some degree for Brawl.
↑Sakurai stated that he originally intended to replace Ness with the new protagonist of Mother 3 (Lucas) in Melee, though Mother 3's delay caused him to go back on the idea and keep Ness.
↑ 14.014.1While Giant DK and Metal Mario were unplayable in the original Super Smash Bros., they are effectively playable in the following installments by picking up a Super Mushroom or a Metal Box, respectively.
Unlockable and 
Starter
· Fighters