Super Smash Bros./Characters

There are 12 playable characters in Super Smash Brothers; eight that are available at the start, and four that can be unlocked in single player mode through completion of certain challenges. They all have certain advantages and disadvantages.

Although this game is very well balanced, certain characters tend to be better than others are. However, Super Smash Brothers 64 character tiers are VERY subjective, so characters will not be listed in order from best to worst, as any character can be good in the hands of a master. I give a basic summary of characters, and go can go to the In-Depth Guides for more specific info, but you will have to figure out character rankings for yourself.

Captain Falcon
Captain Falcon, of the F-Zero series of racing games, is one of Super Smash Brothers' hidden characters. To unlock him, you must beat the game on any difficulty level in under 20 minutes, and then defeat him. Captain Falcon is a very offensive character. He is the fastest (in terms of running speed) character in the game, and this can be used to string together combos that would be impossible with other characters. However, his recovery time is not the best, and his B-up is predictable, so once his combos are interrupted, he's relatively easy to combo and edgeguard into a KO.

For an in-depth Captain Falcon guide, click on the link.

Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong is a big gorilla from Donkey Kong Country, and was Mario's first archenemy. He is the only character that can move and jump with crates and barrels held on his back, and has the best throw in the game. As would be expected, he has very strong, punishing attacks, and is very heavy (i.e., hard to KO off of the top) but is the slowest character in the game. Don't let that discourage you, though, as he can rack up the damage quickly if properly handled.

For an in-depth Donkey Kong guide, click on the link.

Fox
Taken out of the cockpit of his trademark Arwing fighter, Fox McCloud is the protagonist of Star Fox 64 and later games in the series. He is easily one of the nimblest characters in the game, with some of the best comboing ability. Second in speed only to Captain Falcon, Fox can easily control the speed and momentum of the battle. His up-B recovery is relatively slow, but there are no real glaring drawbacks to this character. He is a good choice if you like a quick, agile character.

For an in-depth Fox guide, click on the link.

Jigglypuff
Jigglypuff, all the way from Pokemon, is a very good character, though many doubt her abilities. To unlock her, simply beat the game on any difficulty. She has ridiculous aerial priority, a devastating back-throw, and quite a few hard-to-escape combos. She also has a finisher, her B-down sleep move. If you don't know, falling asleep while touching your opponent sends them into oblivion. She is a floaty puffball, and runs out of steam near the end of her 5 jumps, and has no B-up recovery with which to return to the stage, but you still should give her plenty of practice time. Seriously, what's better than beating your friends with Jigglypuff?

For an in-depth Jigglypuff guide, click on the link.

Kirby
For an in-depth Kirby guide, click on the link.

Link
For an in-depth Link guide, click on the link.

Luigi
For an in-depth Luigi guide, click on the link.

Mario
When one thinks "Nintendo", this guy comes to mind. A plumber with a moustache and a penchant for jumping who happens to be in love with a perpetually kidnapped princess (I mean, what the heck, Nintendo?), he and his games fill many of the spots for top-selling games of all time. In Super Smash Brothers 64, this red-capped and blue-overall wearing Italian is a good all-around character. He has fantastic aerial recovery time, a great u-air juggle, and very annoying fireballs, but isn't quick enough to keep up with the likes of Fox or Captain Falcon.

For an in-depth Mario guide, click on the link.

Ness
For an in-depth Ness guide, click on the link.

Pikachu
An electric Pokémon from the game series of the same name, Pikachu is very powerful and agile. He is SO powerful and agile, in fact, that he has been considered "cheap" by the unenlightened. I myself find few disadvantages to the little guy, but then again, he's my main. He has one of the best recoveries, if not THE best, in the game and has a simply unavoidable edgeguard. So although suffers from short range on the ground, is relatively light, and takes a good level of skill to play well, but this electric rat could very well be your route to victory.

For an in-depth Pikachu guide, click on the link.

Samus
<!-- Samus is a master of distance, but an all around good character to play. Various moves need to be mastered to be an effective Samus player.

Bomb Recovery : This is not so effective when recovering from a low position off the platforms, but when knocked far to the side Samus can easily recover from distances most other characters wouldn't dream of. Using Samus' Bomb attack(Down+B) and pushing the direction you want to go, Samus will roll into a ball and drop a bomb - but she will remain lateral, not falling further while rolling. After the bomb attack she will return to normal form and begin falling again, which is when you can initiate another bomb attack. In this method, Samus can slowly but surely move back towards the platforms, using her final (Up+B) recovery to get back on the platform if she needs. A strength of this particular tactic is that, if high enough, it gives some flexibility in returning to the side platforms. Samus could recover up(Up+B), drop further bombs and land on the platforms, drop fast to grab the edge, or come back with another attack.

Spike : (Down+A) While jumping, do an A attack down, Samus should do a quick spin kick towards the ground. Timing is crucial when doing a Spike(Which can be done with other Characters, but not all of them), but when you have knocked an enemy off the side, jumping out to meet them while they are still not over the platform, then executing a Down+A attack, will send them quickly towards the ground with very little chance of recovery. This attack can easily KO low precentages, as long as they are knocked off.

Charge Shot : Pressing and holding B will charge up a shot, but you can also interrupt this charge and do other things. What does this mean? Every spare chance you have, you should be charging. Enemies must always be wary that you have a fully charged shot, that can do upward of 25% damage and send them flying. This will not only obviously make them more cautious towards you, letting you take the initiative but also gives you a ranged attack to send at them when they least expect it. Do not make the obvious mistake of simply lobbing projectiles from the far side of the map hoping to hit someone randomly. First off, an uncharged shot is good for little more than annoyance in most cases. So you should only attack with a charged shot. Secondly, you must look at your enemies current tactical positions - are they recovering, which direction are they moving, etc. Shoot when you are almost guaranteed to land a hit, when they are in the air recovering, attacking someone else, or otherwise preoccupied mentally or physically. If they see it coming, but their character is simply in no position to move out of the way, fire. There is no reason that the attack MUST be ranged, a charged shot could be a perfect end to a melee combo, or it can be fired at relatively short distances at a charging enemy. Further uses of the charge shot include using excellent timing to hit an enemy that is recovering from the edge. If an enemy is already off the edge, recovering, a charged shot USUALLY is enough to send them out for good. Charged or uncharged shots are also good for getting the last damage in on an enemy, ensuring that the kill is yours(Whether you actually earned it or not.)

There are some other notes to take with Samus.

Grapple - Samus's throw is pretty dismal, and the range is more of an impedement than an asset. Do not attempt to get into throw fests with other characters unless you are sure you know what you are doing. When Samus misses her grab, she is vunerable to ANYTHING for quite some time as her grapple comes back in. This aside, the grapple does have a range advantage, and can be used to pull one enemy from another melee for free damage, or hit a charging enemy off gaurd. At maximum range, the grapple also can just barely grab a Hammer weilding enemy for a throw, but this is tricky to pull off.

Ground Juggle - Like all characters who can spike, Samus can also juggle towards the ground, using ground attacks to keep an enemy pinned while she racks up damage.

Smash-A - Samus's smash punch is pretty powerful, but also reasonably quickly executed and should definatly make up the brunt of your melee combos.

Back-A - Samus's back jump kick, pressing and attacking in the direction opposite of which she's facing, is also reasonably powerful and can easily send enemies off the edge in an ariel bout. -->

For an in-depth Samus guide, click on the link.

Yoshi
For an in-depth Yoshi guide, click on the link.