Super Smash Bros. has gained something of a legendary status in the video gaming industry. Though on the surface, the title is a party game where players choose their favorite Nintendo icons to duke it out, the game has a competitive play scene comparable to Street Fighter or Tekken. Smash might not play like a typical fighting game but the competitive scene is just as tense and complex as its more-traditional counterparts.
The series has been running for nearly 20 years, with the original Super Smash Bros. being released on January 21, 1999, and the most recent entry coming out in 2018. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate catapulted the series into its legendary status with its bold selection of guest characters giving fans from nearly any game hope that their hero will appear in Smash. Countless characters have made the list but throughout the entire history of the franchise some stand out as completely unbalanced and broken fighters that are leaps and bounds ahead of their competition.
10 Cloud Strife (Smash 4)
Cloud Strife joined Super Smash Bros. WiiU (Smash 4) on December 15, 2015. Many fans were ecstatic to see the protagonist from the beloved Final Fantasy VII redesigned for a new game, even if that game wasn’t a new Final Fantasy. Perhaps the developers at Nintendo were sticking too close to the source material for Cloud though, as he would quickly become one of the most powerful characters in the game.
Cloud’s Limit Charge was different than any other character at the time and essentially gave him meter, a trait not associated with Super Smash Bros. Cloud charged his Limit both by attacking and by being attacked, and once fully charged, gave him access to quick killing moves that could he could easily combo into. Combined with his incredibly disjointed hitboxes, Cloud instantly became top tier.
9 Mythra/Pyra (Smash Ultimate)
There is an interesting phenomenon that happens with nearly every release of a new character across the gaming industry. For the first few weeks, the community will oftentimes collectively agree that the new character is absolutely overpowered and broken, even without sufficient evidence to prove anything. The same has happened with the recently released (March 4th) Mythra/Pyra in Smash Ultimate except these claims seem more reliable than usual.
Mythra and Pyra are an extremely versatile duo that can dominate neutral play and hand out oppressive amounts of offense. They are the only character that can transform aside from Pokemon Trainer which gives them a unique playstyle that can be hard to play against. Mythra can hit two frames at the ledge with her Up B attack and she also has an air dodge that is comparable to Bayonetta’s from Smash 4. To top this all off, Pyra can KO opponents at lower damage thresholds than the heavy-hitting Ganondorf!
8 Kirby (Smash 64)
Super Smash Bros. originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1999. The game was much different back then than it is now, but the core mechanics were in place. The main goal was still to damage your opponent enough to hit them offstage and hopefully off-screen. This fundamental was directly challenged by Kirby.
Kirby’s incredibly fast air movement made him surprisingly difficult to KO. When he wasn’t floating around the stage, he had some of the best shield pressure in the game which allowed him to shatter shields easily. His great movement made air combos a punishing part of his kit and ensured that nowhere on the stage was safe from his offense.
7 Marth (Smash Melee)
Super Smash Bros. Melee stands as one of the more balanced games in the series. Though it isn’t perfectly balanced, most characters in the roster can be competitive if played well. Marth is the perfect example of an amazing all-around pick that can deal with nearly any character he faces.
Marth possesses great speed and movement which he can use to mount pressure-heavy attacks. He has great range values dispute not having any projectiles and his edge guarding ability is among the best in the game. Perhaps Marth’s most broken asset is his throw game. His grabs have incredible range and players can feel like they’re being grabbed from unreasonable distances. Once grabbed, Marth can combo many characters to KO percent with infinite throw combos, especially on stages like Final Destination where there are no platforms.
6 Ice Climbers (Smash Brawl)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the black sheep of the series. Many fans in the competitive scene look down on Brawl as it had glaring issues for professional levels of play that were not addressed by Nintendo. Though the story mode of the game was beloved by many, the overall balancing and character matchups left much to be desired. Perhaps the greatest evidence of this can be seen with Meta Knight and the Ice Climbers.
The Ice Climbers were grossly powerful in Brawl thanks to their handoff ability, which while difficult to pull off and master could guarantee a win for the player. Handoff throw combos could eat stocks off opponents and their matchup chart was heavily favored to them. The Ice Climbers were the uncontested second-best character in Brawl and the only character that could really stand up to Meta Knight if played correctly.
5 Fox (Smash Melee)
Fox is generally considered the best overall character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. His insane speed and great frame data make him a handful to deal with, but these attributes also make him difficult to master. Fox is difficult to track and hit in combat and this elusiveness makes him great for quick bursts of damage to his opponents.
Fox’s greatest asset is his Down B ability, often called a shine. Shines come out on frame one and can deny opponents a jump which makes the move great for edge guarding and offensive pressure. The move also reflects projectiles giving Fox an extra layer of protection in his already insanely good arsenal.
4 Pikachu (Smash Ultimate)
Pikachu is one of many Pokemon in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate but he reigns as the best Pokemon in the game and arguably the best overall character in Ultimate. In the opening seconds of his video breaking down Pikachu’s matchups, top-level competitor ESAM claims that Pikachu has the best overall matchup chart in the entire game, with fewer losing matchups than any other character.
Pikachu isn’t overly played in Ultimate but his insane offense makes him one of the best in the game. His edge guarding ability is second to none and his stage presence can be felt everywhere with his combination of projectiles and fast melee attacks. Pikachu is quick to put players at KO percent and he can be played well onstage and offstage. This versatility makes him a great all-around pick against nearly any character in the game and makes Pikachu one of the best (if not the best) fighters in Ultimate.
3 Pikachu (Smash 64)
One of the unique aspects of Smash 64 is the long hit-stun times in the game. The game is generally a little slower than Melee and other titles in the series in part due to the intense hit-stun effects. What makes Pikachu so good in Smash 64 is his ability to abuse the hit-stun in his favor. Pikachu can stun-lock opponents with barrages of attacks and can quickly confirm KOs after combos.
He’s not just an offensive powerhouse though. Pikachu’s great recovery moves and fast movement make him hard to KO and get off the stage. He’s also blessed with unreliable hitboxes which can make playing against him frustrating because the same attack that hit the first time might not hit the second time.
2 Bayonetta (Smash 4)
Fans who have only played Smash Ultimate might not know about Bayonetta’s complete and utter dominance of Smash 4. She just seems like a regular character in Ultimate and though she isn’t hard to play, there are tricks to mastering her. This wasn’t the case in Smash 4 where Bayonetta seemingly tore the competitive community apart and proved that unchecked power and uncontestable control of a roster isn’t healthy for a fighting game.
Bayonetta’s list of broken mechanics is seemingly endless. Witch Time and Bats Within gave Bayonetta safe combo starters that could realistically lead into zero to KO combos, many of which were guaranteed. She was nearly impossible to displace on the stage and her main counter was just another Bayonetta. If an opponent didn’t SDI perfectly, Bayonetta could KO at nearly any percentage. She was banned in many tournaments and remains one of the most controversial and disliked characters in the series’ history thanks to her completely broken arsenal.
1 Meta Knight (Smash Brawl)
Meta Knight is one of the few characters in the series history to be outright banned at most competitive tourneys. When Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the most recent iteration, pro players quickly found that Meta Knight was ridiculously overpowered. He created his own meta that eventually led to his ban in most tourneys.
Meta Knight could recover from anywhere on the stage and his frame data beats every character in Brawl’s roster. He had a winning matchup against every character in the game and the only other character that could contest him (aside from a mirror match) was the Ice Climbers with their handoff ability. Meta Knight was so immensely overpowered that he was the first character to be consistently and fully banned from many tournaments.
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