Super Smash Bros. Melee added additional alternate costume options to characters by using the X and Y buttons to cycle through the available list instead of using four C buttons to pick a specific color; this removes the limit as to how many are selectable, so there are no longer any costumes exclusive to Team Battles or computer opponents. As a result, many characters now have five different color schemes, with some having as many as six, though some still only have four.
In Team Melee, if members of the same team use the same character, the second player would have a lighter tint applied to their character. A third player uses a darker tint. If a fourth player is forcibly added to a team with the Name Entry glitch, then the fourth character will be completely black; the game's data suggests that a fifth player, if possible, would be completely grey. A sixth player and afterword, would crash the game.
Resembles a Spiny or red Koopa Troopa. It also resembles Roy Koopa's early in-game sprites without the sunglasses, as well as Bowser's second player costume in Mario Golf. Unusually, while the artwork depicts Bowser with red eyes, they are green in-game.
Blue
B
Came from Bowser's international artwork for Super Mario Bros. Also resembles Iggy Koopa's early in-game sprites. Sometimes referred to as the "fake Bowser".
Resembles Captain Falcon’s appearance in a Japanese commercial for F-Zero X.
Red
R
Based on Falcon's rival, Blood Falcon's outfit, even altering the logo on his back to say "Blood Hawk". Betas for the game show that it was originally intended to read "Hell Hawk", the Japanese name of Blood Falcon's F-Zero machine.
White
W
Based on the colors of Jody Summer's outfit. Commonly known as "Captain Fabulous" in the community.
Green
G
Based on the colors of Pico's outfit.
Blue
B
Based on the original, lighter colors of Captain Falcon in F-Zero.
Resembles his appearance from the Nintendo 64 era and Donkey Kong 64.
Black
B
Resembles Donkey Kong's coloration when Donkey Kong '94 and Donkey Kong Land were played under the black-and-white palette on the Game Boy Color and Super Game Boy. "Monkey Smash" mode in Donkey Kong 64 also featured Donkey Kong with blue-black fur and a blue tie.
Red
R
Resembles Donkey Kong's sprite in the original Donkey Kong.
Blue
B
Similar to the second player coloration in Mario Golf.
Green
G
Resembles the green palette of Donkey Kong '94 and Donkey Kong Land, due to the Game Boy's native colour palette.
Resembles the traditional color of scrubs worn in real-life hospitals, while his violet gloves resemble standard nitrile gloves used by most physicians.
Green
G
Resembles the traditional color of scrubs worn in by real-life surgeons.
Black
B
Referred to as "Unlicensed Dr. Mario" by the official Melee website.
As can be seen in the image, the Ice Climbers' orange and red costumes will place Nana in the lead, making Popo follow.
Blue
B
Based on their appearance from the original Ice Climber.
Green
G
N/A
Orange
O
Could resemble a brief color change that happens when Popo dies in Ice Climber.
Red
R
While Nana's parka is purely red on their portrait in the character selection screen, it is actually maroon in-game. Popo's white parka could also resemble a brief color change that happens when Popo and Nana die in Ice Climber.
Based on his appearance from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.
Yellow
Y
This color swap is Keeby, who was Kirby's companion in games that featured co-op mode. It is also the same as when he is Beam Kirby or Needle Kirby, without the hat. It was also an alternative palette for Kirby in the multiplayer for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Developer Shigeru Miyamoto also reportedly believed Kirby should be yellow in his debut game, while Masahiro Sakurai believed the character should be pink.
Blue
B
The same as when he is Ice Kirby, without the hat. It is also an alternative palette for Kirby in the multiplayer for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.
Red
R
The same as when he is Fire Kirby, without the hat.
Green
G
An alternative palette for Kirby in the multiplayer for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.
White
W
A reference to his monochrome appearance from the original Kirby's Dream Land for Game Boy. It is also similar to the colors of Kirby's depiction on the North American box cover of Kirby's Dream Land.
Based on his appearance from the Nintendo 64 era and in Luigi's Mansion.
White
W
A reference to Luigi's appearance in Super Mario Bros. and the NES port of Mario Bros. It also resembles Fire Luigi. It is the only one to change the color of his gloves and skin tone.
Blue
B
Resembles the artwork for Mario on the cover for the NES version of Mario Bros., though his sprite does not actually feature such coloring.
Red
R
Comes from the game Wrecking Crew, where Luigi wears pink.
Based on his appearance from the Nintendo 64 era and Super Mario 64.
Yellow
Y
Based on Wario, the same as his yellow costume in the previous game. Unlike the original (and every other iteration in the series), the colored "M" is blue instead of yellow and the buttons are white instead of yellow, as to make him more closely resemble Wario. Additionally, Mario's hat gains a white accent on its edge.
Black
B
A reference to Foreman Spike from Wrecking Crew '98. Updated from the original version of this swap to be closer to black and white than brown and yellow. It is the only costume where the hat and overalls are changed to be the same color.
Blue
B
A reversal of his traditional colors. This is seen as a partial reference to Mario's varying appearances in games prior to Nintendo's official establishment of Mario's outfit consisting of a red shirt, blue overalls, and red hat. In various earlier games, Mario occasionally also appeared with a blue hat, red shirt with blue overalls, or a red hat with a blue shirt with red overalls. Interestingly, though, Mario never appeared in any game with the particular combination of a blue hat, blue shirt, with red overalls as it appears here, but this color scheme does resemble the Balloon Fighter and it also resembles Mario's outfit from the three DIC cartoons.
Green
G
Complimentary colors of his normal outfit. Resembles Mario's appearance on Japanese and European box arts for Wrecking Crew. A similar arrangement of colors also appears as part of the flashing animation from a Starman in Super Mario Bros. Updated from the original version of this swap to be more brown than orange.
Based on the Game & Watch characters from the games Fire and Parachute.
Red
R
Based on depictions of objects and characters on the Virtual Boy.
Blue
B
Resemble the blue crab from Crab Grab.
Green
G
It might also be based on the green tint of the Game Boy's screen, but this is more of a stretch, since the Game Boy screen is kind of oliveish greenish. It could also resemble the green crab from Crab Grab.
The yellow/black color scheme resembles that of the Hanshin Tigers, a Japanese baseball team. The shirt also bears a very similar color scheme to the Gigantic Ant enemy from EarthBound.
Blue
B
Is based off of Ness's younger self that he encounters briefly in EarthBound, who was wearing a blue hat.
Green
G
This costume very closely resembles the character, Everdred, from Earthbound, who was dress in green and orange. However, Ness wheres a green hat instead of black, which is the color of Everdred's hat. The shorts, also with a color change, are orange instead of green.
Resembles her appearance from the Nintendo 64 era.
Yellow
Y
This costume changes Peach's entire appearance to that of Daisy, including her hair color, earrings, dress style, gloves, tiara, and even skin color. However, later games in the Mario series changed Daisy's design, resulting in the costume only matching games before Melee. When the inside of her dress is looking at the camera, her underwear is light blue which matches her jewelry instead of her dress.
White
W
Represents how she appeared in her first appearance in Super Mario Bros, without the red hair and red trim. Peach uniquely wears pantyhose with this costume, she also wears this costume in the event "Time for a checkup!", even though Nurse Toadstool wears pink.
Blue
B
Based on a swap from Mario Golf, and Daisy's appearance in NES Open. Its color appears more indigo.
Has Pikachu wearing the hat of Red, the protagonist of the Generation I Pokémon games. The fur color also resembles that of Pikachu's shiny coloration in the Pokémon games.
Blue
B
Has Pikachu wearing a party hat similar to the party hats from the previous game.
Based off the appearance of the Varia Suit when missiles are selected in the original NES Metroid game.
Black
B
N/A
Green
G
In Japan, the original Smash 64 website referred to this alternate costume as "Production Model Samus", often referred to as "Mass Produced Samus" in the community.
Based on her appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Red
R
Resembles Zelda's first appearance in The Legend of Zelda if Link possesses the red ring, but not the blue ring. Also resembles Zelda's appearance in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Blue
B
Resembles Zelda's first appearance in The Legend of Zelda if Link possesses the blue ring but not the red ring. Also resembles Zelda's maiden outfit in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
Green
G
Resembles Zelda's first appearance in The Legend of Zelda if Link possesses neither the blue ring nor the red ring.
White
W
Resembles Zelda's field sprite in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
N/A: Color that is original to Super Smash Bros. and doesn't have any particular reference.
Stats
There is a total of 123 alternate costumes.
The average number of costumes per character is 5.
Captain Falcon, Kirby, and Yoshi share the highest amount of color swaps: 6.
There are 10 fighters with only 4 color swaps, and 13 fighters with only 5.