Unlockable character


 * "Challenger" redirects here. For info on fighters, to whom the title "challenger" is often applied, see List of Super Smash Bros. series characters.



Character selection screen in Super Smash Bros. indicating the unlockable characters.

An unlockable character (also referred to as a secret character or hidden character, and in-game as challengers, or newcomers in the N64 game's Backup Clear menu) is one that is not available at the start of the game (unlike a starter character), but instead must be received in-game (unlike downloadable characters) through other means.

Unique criteria must be met in order to unlock each character, as outlined below. Once such criteria are met, the challenger will appear the next time the player returns to the menu. If the player wins the subsequent battle, a message will appear congratulating them for unlocking the new fighter.

In ''[https://www.ssbwiki.com/Super_Smash_Bros. Super Smash Bros.]'', the character select screen displayed placeholders for not yet unlocked characters. This was changed in Melee, where the clones didn't have placeholders prior to unlocking, with their portraits simply appearing afterward. The placeholder slots were completely removed from Brawl onwards.

An unlockable character is a character in the Super Smash Flashseries that is not available at the start of the game (unlike a starter character), but must be unlocked. Unique criteria must be met in order to unlock a certain character. In both Super Smash Flash and Super Smash Flash 2, typically, the player must accomplish a particular in-game feat and once complete, a message will display: "Warning! Challenger Approaching!" with a white question mark block over the black silhouette of the unlockable character. By completing the in-game feat and defeating the opponent in a 1-stock match, the character becomes playable. In the original Super Smash Flash, this match would always take place on Final Destination, but in Super Smash Flash 2, each character is fought on a different stage.

"Challenger Approaching!" screen
The Challenger Approaching! screen which Luigi challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. 64. The Challenger Approaching! screen which Inkling challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The "Warning! Challenger Approaching!" screen in Super Smash Flash. The "Warning! Challenger Approaching!" screen in Super Smash Flash 2. The "Challenger Approaching!" (挑戦者が現れました！, A Challenger has Appeared!) screen is a message that will be displayed after the player has met a criteria required to unlock any of the available characters. Every game has its unique screen.

The original game had a silhouette of the character merely displayed in a blue box in front of a black background, with an exclamation point in a red circle on the top of the screen, and the phrase "Challenger Approaching" next to it. The screen uses similar music to the 1P-Game's intro, with the only difference being the absence of drums for the "challenger approaching" tune. This is the only game where the challengers' silhouettes are animated, showing them in their fighting stances while rotating (like in the character select screen), rather than just shadowed versions of their official illustrations.

Melee added the phrase "A new foe has appeared!," and also had a silhouette of the approaching challenger. The poses for the challengers were silhouettes of their renders when selected on the Character Select screen (some, however, like Luigi and Ganondorf's, were their renders from inside the boxes). The game also added animations to the screens, with an undulating matrix effect in the background, while the exclamation point, text and silhouette would be eased in. Original music was also provided solely for the screen, which took the sound of a slow, ominous siren.

Brawl returned to the plain black background (there would be a silhouette of an unlockable character the player would face); but this would only occur if the Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary method was not used. It still had animations that would ease in, and when the player pressed any button, the images would fade to black, while the "Challenger Approaching!" text would scatter all over the screen; the siren is also considerably faster and more panicky in its sound than how it sounds in Melee.

Smash 4 reused Brawl's warning siren, but there are some differences in both versions. The 3DS version added in considerably more colors, including hues of green, black, and violet; the screen also says "A challenger approaches!" instead of its previous quotations. The Wii U version uses a font style similar to the ones in the newcomer trailers, and the background contains a picture of a supernova; the text is nonetheless reused from past games. The unlockable character in both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4 on the screen is still a silhouette that the player would face (just like in the previous three installments).

As in Smash 4, the warning siren from Brawl is used in Ultimate. This time there is a dark pink background with a white/pink light shining behind the silhouette of the unlockable character. The text about unlocking characters remains the same from prior games.

After the "Challenger Approaching!" screen, the unlockable character will then be fought in an ordinary one stock match with no time limit, on a predetermined stage with predetermined music. The AI difficulty of the duel depends on the game, usually at low difficulty for the first fighter, then it gradually increases with every fighter unlocked, however, it is reversed in Melee, and always high in the Wii U version of Smash 4. The player uses the last character played as, including the last used costume. In the case of multiplayer battles, in the first three Smash games, the player who won the match will fight the challenger; if a CPU wins the match, the challenger will not appear. Super Smash Bros. 4 changed this formula such that if a CPU wins the match, then the human-controlled player with the highest rank will battle the challenger.

By defeating the opponent, the character becomes playable. If the player fails, however, they will not unlock the character, but in the next battle they win, they are guaranteed to meet with the challenger again.

The "Challenger Approaching!" screen has become somewhat of a meme in the Smash community. Many digitally manipulated versions of these screens have appeared, often featuring characters who do not appear in the games, mostly using artwork of the character from another game instead of original artwork (which gives away its falseness). The screens became so popular that they were featured as part of the [https://www.ssbwiki.com/DOJO!! DOJO!!]; in earlier updates, whenever a new character was introduced, a banner that said "Warning! Challenger Approaching!" would appear above the entry.

Challenger Approaching Screens
The Challenger Approaching! screen which Jigglypuff challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. 64. The Challenger Approaching! screen which Mr. Game & Watch challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. Melee. The Challenger Approaching! screen which Sonic challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The Challenger Approaching! screen which Lucina challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. The Challenger Approaching! screen which Dark Pit challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. The Challenger Approaching! screen which Isabelle challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The Challenger Approaching! screen which Pichu challenges the player in Super Smash Bros. Flash 2.
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Challenger Approaching Alarms
Smash 64s challenger alarm. Melee,Flash 1 and Crusade's challenger alarm. Brawl, Smash 4, Ultimate and Flash 2's challenger alarm.
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Gallery
Captain Falcon challenging the player in Smash 64 Jigglypuff challenging the player in Smash 64 Luigi challenging the player in Smash 64 Ness challenging the player in Smash 64
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Characters

 * 1) ↑ Jump up to:1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 If the player had previously used the Erase Data > Hidden Characters option in the Options menu, these characters can be unlocked again if All-Star Mode is cleared under the established conditions.
 * 2) Jump up↑ The time required is calculated in "player-hours" (e.g. two human players gives two hours for every hour of game-time, three human players give three and four players give four).

Gallery
Jigglypuff challenging the player in Melee Dr. Mario challenging the player in Melee Pichu challenging the player in Melee Falco challenging the player in Melee Marth challenging the player in Melee Young Link challenging the player in Melee Ganondorf challenging the player in Melee Mewtwo challenging the player in Melee Luigi challenging the player in Melee Roy challenging the player in Melee Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Melee
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Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Masahiro Sakurai stated that it would be appropriate that third-party, or "guest" characters, like Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog, would be unlockable characters. This became true when Brawl was released.

In addition to the challenges and versus match method of unlocking, all unlockable characters can be unlocked by playing through Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary. The majority of these characters are unlocked as part of the linear story of SSE. However, Jigglypuff, Wolf, and Toon Link are only unlockable after the main SSE gameplay is completed by finding a secret area while replaying levels. Once a character joins a group of playable characters, the character will be instantly unlocked for normal play (without requiring a "Challenger Approaching" battle). However, some characters, as per the SSE's story, must be battled before they will join the player's party, such as Lucario (depending on the path chosen in The Glacial Peak).

Characters
Sonic is the only character who can be unlocked four different ways.
 * 1) ↑ Jump up to:1.0 1.1 1.2 Toon Link, Jigglypuff and Wolf are not part of the main plot of Subspace Emissary; players must beat the main story first then revisit certain stages to find them that way.

Gallery[edit]
Ness challenging the player in Brawl Marth challenging the player in Brawl Luigi challenging the player in Brawl Falco challenging the player in Brawl Captain Falcon challenging the player in Brawl Lucario challenging the player in Brawl Snake challenging the player in Brawl R.O.B. challenging the player in Brawl Ganondorf challenging the player in Brawl Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Brawl Sonic challenging the player in Brawl Jigglypuff challenging the player in Brawl Toon Link challenging the player in Brawl Wolf challenging the player in Brawl
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Characters
The inclusion of Wendy O. Koopa (as one of Bowser Jr.'s alternate costumes) and Lucina as unlockable characters makes them the first female characters to be unlockable. After every tenth VS. match, the player gets to challenge an unlockable character, starting with Ness and finishing with Jigglypuff when 120 matches are played.

In addition to the characters below, Mii Fighters are not shown on the character select screen until the player has created at least one. However, since the ability to create Mii Fighters is granted from the beginning, the characters cannot truly be called unlockable.

Although Duck Hunt has a home stage of the same name added into the game in the 1.1.1 update, they will always be fought on Battlefield in their unlocking battle regardless of which version of the game is being played.
 * 1) Jump up↑ Flying Men do not appear.
 * 2) Jump up↑ Microgames do not occur.

Gallery[edit]
Ness challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Falco challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Wario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Lucina challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Dark Pit challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Dr. Mario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. R.O.B. challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Ganondorf challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Bowser Jr. challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Duck Hunt challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Jigglypuff challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
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Characters
Unlike Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Ness, Jigglypuff, Ganondorf and Bowser Jr. are starter characters. Like the 3DS version, a character is unlocked for every ten versus matches played starting with Falco. Two exceptions to this are Mr. Game & Watch and Duck Hunt, which they need 20 more versus matches than R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch, respectively. Unlike the previous three installments (Melee, Brawl, and the 3DS version), no Super Smash Bros. universe stages are used for challenger approaching battles. Instead, all unlockable characters use a stage from their respective universe except for R.O.B., in which he uses the Wrecking Crew stage due to him not having a stage from his own universe.

In addition to the characters below, Mii Fighters are not shown on the character select screen until the player has created at least one. However, since the ability to create Mii Fighters is granted from the beginning and there is no Challenger Approaching fight, the character cannot truly be called unlockable.
 * 1) Jump up↑ Dog and ducks do not appear.

Gallery[edit]
Falco challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Wario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Lucina challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Dark Pit challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Dr. Mario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. R.O.B. challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Duck Hunt challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
The starting roster in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is comprised of the eight starter characters from the original ''[https://www.ssbwiki.com/Super_Smash_Bros. Super Smash Bros.]'' game, and all other fighters are unlockable. This does not, however, apply to World of Light, as everyone but Kirby need to be fought before joining the mode's roster. The Mii Fighters are an exception, as in the previous titles they had a unique status among starter and unlockable characters, becoming accessible once a custom Mii Fighter was created rather than through traditional unlocking conditions, which applies true in this game. However, Mii Fighters may also be traditionally unlocked through World of Light. Like previous games in the series, unlockable characters must be fought in one-on-one Challenger Approaching fights to unlock them; it is known that the AI during Challenger Approaching battles start out at being low, but steadily increases when a character is unlocked. If players lose the duel, then they can challenge that character again via Games and More in the Challenger's Approach.

Timed encounter
When the player finishes a VS. match, a Spirit Board fight or exits the World of Light, a new character challenges the player to a Challenger Approaching duel. However, the player must then wait 10 minutes before being able to unlock another character. This 10 minute cooldown can be bypassed by closing the game and reopening it.

Characters unlocked using the timed encounters method follow an order, only skipping over characters already unlocked by another method listed below.

Classic Mode
Completing Classic Mode with a character unlocks the next available character in their column. For characters that appear multiple times, only the first time counts for determining what group they belong to. Unlock stages and music are the same as in Vs. Mode. Of note is the fact that all Echo Fighters are in the same column as their original counterpart, except for Chrom, as are all semi-clones and characters that represent alternate incarnations and identities (Luigi, Falco, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Young Link, Lucas, Toon Link, Wolf and Isabelle), with the exception of Sheik, Ganondorf, Roy, and Zero Suit Samus. After the eight characters (seven in Pikachu's case) in each column are unlocked, the unlock sequence loops around to Mario's column, which itself proceeds to Donkey Kong's column, and so on.

Gallery
Dark Samus challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Luigi challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Ness challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Captain Falcon challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Jigglypuff challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Peach challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Daisy challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Bowser challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The Ice Climbers challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Sheik challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Zelda challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Dr. Mario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Pichu challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Falco challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Marth challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Lucina challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Young Link challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Ganondorf challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Mewtwo challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Roy challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Chrom challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Mr. Game & Watch challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Meta Knight challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Pit challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Dark Pit challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Zero Suit Samus challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Wario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Snake challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Ike challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The Pokémon Trainer challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Diddy Kong challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Lucas challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Sonic challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. King Dedede challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Olimar challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Lucario challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. R.O.B. challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Toon Link challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Wolf challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Villager challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Mega Man challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Wii Fit Trainer challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Rosalina & Luma challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Little Mac challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Greninja challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Palutena challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Pac-Man challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Robin challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Shulk challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Bowser Jr. challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Duck Hunt challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Ryu challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Ken challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Cloud challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Corrin challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Bayonetta challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Inkling challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Ridley challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Simon challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Richter challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. King K. Rool challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Isabelle challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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Incineroar challenging the player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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In Super Smash Flash 2
It was confirmed that all characters added after the initial release of Beta 1.0 will be unlockable in the full version of SSF2.

In demo versions
These three characters were unlockable in early demos for the sake of their initial inclusion in SSF2.