Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has the largest roster of any game in the Super Smash Bros. franchise with a dense 74 characters. A cast this big makes Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a contender for the largest fighting game roster in history. However, the downside to Smash's considerable character count is the reality that upon starting up the game, a player only has access to the original 8 characters from Super Smash Bros. 64. This can make the task of unlocking 66 characters to fill out the character select screen incredibly daunting if not impossible.
This guide will provide you a comprehensive list to unlocking the gargantuan cast of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This guide will provide the three main methods of character unlock including The World of Light, unlocking through Classic Mode, and unlocking through the Smash mode of the game. After providing the different methods alongside their pros and cons this guide will communicate which method is the most time-efficient to unlocking the cast.
The World of Light Story Mode in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
The World of Light mode is the "story" mode of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in which players start with only Kirby and traverse a top-down adventure mode in which players have to complete a variety of challenges. This mode unlocks characters after a player completes certain challenges that provide the "spirit" of the given character. This mode provides a sense of challenge and adventure as players engage in the vast World of Light and undergo a variety of different battles to collect the vast roster.
However, this mode has some clear issues for a player looking for a fast and efficient method of unlocking the roster. Firstly, to even have the opportunity to unlock a character, one must research or discover where that character's spirit is on the map. Given the large landscape of World of Light, this exploration could be deemed tedious. It has been estimated that this method of unlocking is the slowest as the fastest a player could unlock the entire cast would be 20 hours and the longest being close to 60 hours. This method is most certainly the least time-efficient, but if a player is looking for adventure or a rewarding story mode, this mode satisfies such desires.
Classic Mode in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Classic Mode is a returning feature from every Smash game in the franchise. It is essentially an arcade mode reminiscent of fighting games of the past, in which players engage in a ladder style mode undergoing a variety of opponents and challenges until completion. After a player completes a classic mode they may have the opportunity to fight a "challenger", an enemy CPU, and if the player defeats the challenger they have that character unlocked to use. Upon completing this mode, players may find the unlock order to be random or unsatisfying but each of the original 8 Smash characters has a set order in which they can face these challenges.
The Classic Mode unlock order may be a bit confusing at first but it becomes incredibly digestible upon examination. Let's examine Mario's unlock tree: If a player completes a Classic Mode run with Mario, that player will have the chance to battle Sonic as their challenger. If the player defeats Sonic, then he is permanently on their roster. The second Classic Mode run does not have to be done with Mario, but can be completed with Sonic in order to face Bayonetta, and, if a player defeats Bayonetta with either Mario or Sonic, she will be added to the roster. The unlocking order can be visualized through this method:
Mario-> Sonic -> Bayonetta -> Little Mac -> Ike-> etc.
The arrows are demonstrative of the order in which characters will be unlocked. However, a player does not have to use Bayonetta to unlock Little Mac nor does that player have to use Sonic to unlock Bayonetta. A player can use any of the characters unlocked in Mario's unlock tree to continue progression. This may seem very confusing at first but upon examining the following visualization of every character's unlock tree it will make more sense.
- Mario Tree: Mario-> Sonic -> Bayonetta -> Little Mac-> Ike-> Luigi ->Roy -> Doctor Mario -> Olimar -> Bowser
- Donkey Kong Tree: Donkey Kong -> Bowser -> Pokemon Trainer -> Rosalina ->King Dedede -> Shiek ->Greninja ->Diddy Kong -> Duck Hunt Dog -> Sonic
- Link Tree: Link -> King K Rool -> Ice Climbers -> Simon -> Meta Knight -> Snake -> Young Link -> Richter -> Toon Link -> Sonic
- Samus Tree: Samus -> Inkling-> Wii Fit Trainer -> Pit-> Incenaroar-> Dark Samus -> Cloud -> Wario -> Dark Pit -> Sonic
- Yoshi Tree: Yoshi -> Lucario -> Marth -> Ryu -> Ganondorf -> Lucina -> Ridley -> Chrom -> Ken -> Sonic
- Kirby Tree: Kirby -> Ness -> Jiggly Puff -> Pac-Man -> Zelda-> Robin -> Corrin -> Lucas -> Palutena -> Sonic
- Fox Tree: Fox -> Captain Falcon -> Zero Suit Samus -> Peach -> Falco -> Daisy -> Bowser Junior -> Wolf -> Mewtwo -> Sonic
- Pikachu Tree: Pikachu -> Villager -> Shulk -> R.O.B. -> Megaman -> Isabelle -> Mr. Game and Watch -> Pichu -> Sonic -> Bayonetta
Smash Mode in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Unlocking characters through the Smash Mode is a straight forward method of unlock. As you play in the Smash Mode, challengers will appear at the end of matches and, when defeated, join your cast. However, the downside to this method is that the Smash Mode method has a 10-minute timer between each challenger appearing. So after a player unlocks a challenger they must wait a full 10 minutes before the next challenger appears. When trying to unlock 70+ characters those 10 minutes add up to a large time commitment. However, there is a method in order to expedite this 10-minute restriction.
After you defeat a challenger with the Smash Mode method, hit the home button on your controller of choosing and then go to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate application and close the application. After doing so, reopen the app and the challenger cool-down will no longer be active allowing you to engage more challengers without the waiting period. The ability to bypass the time limit on character unlocks makes this method an efficient way to unlock the cast of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
The Fastest Method To Unlocking Characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
The fastest method to unlock characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate would be either Classic Mode or Smash Mode. Classic Mode has no time limit restrictions and, when set to a low CPU level, makes the mode a breeze to go through; however, given the ability to reset the timer on the Smash Mode, it is also a quick method to unlock the roster. On its own, Classic Mode is the fastest method for unlocking the roster due to the fact it does not require an application closure to use its method.
All the different methods of unlocking characters can satisfy different player desires. However, given its ease of use, the Classic Mode method is the quickest way to fill out the massive 74 character roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available on the Nintendo Switch.