Summary

  • Super Smash Bros Ultimate tournaments are a true test of character potential, stressful yet diverse.
  • Some characters have seen far fewer tournament wins than others.
  • Each character in the roster has unique strengths and weaknesses, impacting their competitive viability.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate major tournaments are the truest test for a character to showcase their full competitive potential. It shows the game at its finest with its character diversity, though it also becomes stressful. The huge range of matchups makes tournament brackets challenging for a player. This issue greatly intensifies for players that main with a single character rather than with a secondary or pocket character.

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Years have passed with several characters taking each Super Smash Bros Ultimate major. Some characters have taken majors more consistently like Steve, Mr. Game & Watch, Aegis, and Wario. Other characters took fewer majors, which is still an impressive feat. Achievements for each character are recorded on dedicated Super Smash Bros websites like the Smashwiki and Liquipedia, inspiring other character mains to push for their efforts. Each character has its strengths and weaknesses, making it an accomplishment for a player to cover the character’s flaws until the grand finals.

14 Pikachu

Triple Sparks

  • Lumirank 13.0.1 Fighter Tier: A
  • Esam: (from Miami, Florida) Top 5 player in Florida/Central Florida Power Rankings Q1 2023
  • ShinyMark: (from Guatemala, Central America) ranked 19th on LumiRank 2024.1

Pikachu is the undisputed top tier that has reigned over the game’s meta since launch. He has one of the best combo routes, letting him convert from any attack while being almost unpunishable with his safe moves. His disadvantage isn’t bad either since he can recover from nearly anywhere offstage with his movement specials. These amazing options allowed him a few major wins by Esam at Glitch 7 Minus World 2019 and Glitch 8.5 Konami Code 2021. The most recent major win would be from ShinyMark at S Factor 11 in March 2024.

What shockingly holds the top tier back is his high technicality. His combos are easy for players to convert, though require tightly framed inputs and specific multi-hits. Multi-hit attacks are inconsistent in Super Smash Bros due to various hitboxes and hurtbox shifting.

Pikachu’s lightweight limits how much damage he can take. As players perfect their combo conversions, it can prove fatal for Pikachu to take even one hit. It can be stressful when dealing with zoning or sword characters like Samus and Roy.

13 Princess Peach

Royal Trinity

  • Lumirank 13.0.1 Fighter Tier: S-
  • Samsora: (from Slidell, Louisiana) ranked 2nd in Fall 2019 PGRU
  • MuteAce: (from South Florida, US) ranked 17th on LumiRank 2024.1; Top 2 player in Texas Power Rankings

Princess Peach is the most technical top tier with her advanced options. Her float mechanic allows her to linger in the air, making her disadvantage and offstage attacks especially strong. Her normals are quick and impactful as both combo and KO utilities. She can even use her turnips for ranged zoning or item drop combos. She was showcased early in the competitive meta by Samsora who took majors like Defend The North 2019 and Shine 2019. Even as the meta changed, MuteAce represented her prowess in Patchwork 2024.

What makes the royal fighter challenging is her high skill ceiling. She isn’t controlled like any other fighter as she depends on her float and turnip mechanics. She depends on her advanced techniques like float cancels and item drops to deal decent damage. The reward is grand as it gives Peach mains consistent damage and unpredictable movement, though practice is required to keep those benefits.

12 Palutena

Divine Trinity

  • Lumirank 13.0.1 Fighter Tier: A
  • Nairo: (from Passaic, New Jersey) ranked 4th on Fall 2019 PGRU
  • Raflow: (from La Courneuve, France) ranked 35th on the LumiRank 2024.1

The reception of Palutena hasn’t changed drastically after Super Smash Bros Ultimate’s launch. She was much better compared to her previous inclusion in Super Smash Bros Wii U, gaining better neutral tools like nair and fair. She even has invincible frames like bair and dash attack to challenge through any attack. She took a few early majors like Mainstage 2019, Suplex City Smash 2019, and Let’s Make a Big Move 2020 by the Palutena main, Nairo.

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In the current meta, Palutena hasn’t been able to dominate tournaments like she used to. While her neutral tools are still present, she has trouble finding a KO blow. Her reliable KO options are limited, which players can recognize to avoid. This doesn’t stop her from becoming the most preferred choice when needing a neutral-based character.

11 Kazuya

Three Eyed demon

Kazuya is debated to be the strongest fighting game representative. He's designed with the largest moveset, made with his moves either having super armor or invincible frames. Using the right move lets him maneuver through attacks when timed right. He even has a unique dash from Tekken that allows him to low-profile attacks with its invincible upper body frames.

His broken utility is rewarding, but challenging to do in matches. It's hard enough to train his difficult inputs and combos in training mode. His stubbier attacks and bad disadvantage state make his tournament matches more troubling, especially against characters like Min-Min, Fox, and Aegis. It took some time, though he won some majors like Collision 2023 and Big House 10 by Riddles. Even Tea was able to take Ultimate Fighting Arena 2022 with him.

10 Megaman

Dual Geared Robot

Megaman is one of the most perfectly designed characters on the roster. His moveset translates very well in the game as if playing an original Megaman game. He excels at mid-range with his ranged normals and specials, including a leaf shield to protect himself. His utility allowed Kameme to take Umebura Japan Major 2019 and 2GG Switchfest 2019.

His tricks would work in the early meta, though his gameplan became more noticeable as time progressed. More players learned when to time their shields or reflect before punishing the robot. Advanced combos and inputs were necessary to keep up his damage output and mixing options. What's worse is dealing with zoners or quicker characters, giving Megaman little room to strategize and prepare his setups.

9 Luigi

One Of Two Brothers

Luigi is one of the trickier characters to rank with his abnormal design. He’s a glass canon with an amazing advantage when getting the right condition, his grab. Since his grab is a tether attack, he can distantly catch the opponent off-guard to set up his zero-to-death combos. His normal aerials link very well together with their quick, safe frames, which allowed Raru to take both Sumabato SP 47 and Sumabato SP 50 within 2024.

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Since he is a glass canon, his disadvantage greatly holds him back. His slow air speed makes it challenging for him to reach back to the stage. It should be easy for players to catch him consistently, though his side special has a chance to burst forward with great speed and power. This can greatly help Luigi reach the stage, though it can randomly hinder him when flying too far at an awkward, exposing angle. Despite his glaring issues, he’ll only get stronger as players perfect his combo potential.

8 Corrin

Dual Horned Swordsman

Corrin was an exceptional character in Super Smash Bros Wii U before falling as a mid-tier in the next game. Their toned-down stats, especially their speed, made them appear weak in the early meta. Everyone in the roster moved much faster in the new engine, though Corrin still moved as if still in the predecessor’s slower engine.

It would take a while before their potential started to shine in competitive play. MkLeo was the first Corrin to take the Delfino Maze RETA 2022 major, which shifted the audience's opinion of the character. Though slow, their normals were largely disjointed and lingering for easy combo conversions. With little end lag with their moves, opponents have limited time to punish. Slowly, more Corrin mains would make top placements in competitive scenes, like Shadic taking Cirque Du CFL 3 in March 2024.

7 Pokemon Trainer

Best Paired Team

The perception of Pokemon Trainer was always high throughout the game’s lifespan. Their down special allows the character to change into one of three fighters: Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard. Each character is designed with a different role, raising their adaptability for different interactions. This great strength made him popular in early competitive scenes, allowing Tweek to earn Low Tier City 7 in July 2019 before Quidd would win Let’s Make a Big Move 2022.

Despite Pokemon Trainer’s overpowering options, characters develop over time. This development complicated their matchups, which exposed a huge flaw with Pokemon Trainer. Since the character includes three fighters, players have to remember various matchups for each one. This includes learning how to play at a disadvantage, which none of the Pokemon excel at.

It doesn't help that their change special goes into a set rotation, forcing the player to keep changing for the desired Pokemon. While their designs benefit their strengths, they can’t quickly cover weaknesses, unlike Shulk’s Monado or Aegis’ switch. These issues would lower their competitive presence, but not harm their overall opinion.

6 Lucina

Solo Swordsman

  • Lumirank 13.0.1 Fighter Tier: A-
  • MkLeo: (from Mexico City, Mexico) ranked 1st on Spring 2019 - Fall 2019 PGR; ranked 1st OrionRank Ultimate and 2019
  • Mr.E: (from Copiague, New York) ranked 100th on LumiRank 2023; Top 2 player on New York City Power Rankings Q2 2024
  • Protobanham: (Kanto, Japan) honorably mentioned top 100 on LumiRank 2023; ranked 23rd on LumiRank 2023 Japan

Lucina was very strong and popular in the early years of Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Her simple swordsman skills and decent speed made her accessible for anyone to play as she had decently safe disjoints. Her strong advantage was proven at Genesis 6 in February 2019 by one of the best pro players, MkLeo.

As the meta developed with more DLC characters, her presence slowly diminished. Her neutral tools are still strong, though her KO power and sword range are limited unlike her echo counterpart, Marth. It takes multiple interactions to reach her average KO threshold whereas other characters can do more damaging combos, including zero-to-death. This issue would also heighten her need to mix her approach with her simplistic options. It seems too much for the character to keep up within the current meta, making her require another main or secondary.

5 Yoshi

A Gulp Of Victory

Yoshi has always been seen as a decent character who excels with his superior air drift and jump height. His greatest mechanic is his armored double jump as a combo breaker. His cartoonish attacks are big and lingering to cover himself while landing, almost as big as a sword. His defense is exceptional since he's the only character that can't be shield-poked, letting him utilize his out-of-shield options and approach. These amazing benefits would allow him to take a Maesuma TOP 8 win by Yoshidora in June 2022.

Yoshi's design is simple, though a bit unconventional compared to other fighters, especially his recovery. Similar to Jigglypuff, wasting his double jump is a great cost as he can't rely on his up special to recover. Floaty characters are trickier to control since they have limited defense options, making them more vulnerable to attacks. Despite his lower popularity, the dinosaur is still strong in competitive play.