The Super Smash Bros. series is a celebration of gaming as a whole; a cavalcade of iconic characters (from either Nintendo or other companies) clashing against each other in fast-paced, over-the-top battles. Despite its unorthodox gameplay and casual appeal, this franchise has spawned a sizable competitive scene that has spent the past 27 years ranking each fighter by strength and placing them in carefully crafted tier lists.
Super Smash Bros: 7 Most Controversial Characters In The Series, Ranked
The Super Smash Bros series has introduced a ton of fun characters to the roster, but these fighters ended up being quite divisive.
As a result, determining who the strongest and, by extension, the weakest characters in this series are is fairly easy, since it’s just a matter of checking their placements in each entry’s dedicated tier list. Whether it’s because their play style doesn’t really fit the game’s ruthless competitive formats or because they do something that someone else just does better, these are eight Super Smash Bros. fighters you won’t want to pick if you are actually trying to win battles.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
8
Doctor Mario (Ultimate)
Just An Inferior Version Of Mario
As the most iconic and important character in Super Smash Bros. (and gaming as a whole), Mario has always been seen as a simple but effective character that’s perfect for newcomers to the series, so he has never been weak in any of these games. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about his many clones/echoes, and Doctor Mario from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a perfect example of this phenomenon.
To no one’s surprise, Doctor Mario is very similar to Mario, but with one significant difference: he’s just worse in almost every single way. He’s slower (especially in the air), his hits don’t deal that much damage, and his recovery is downright horrendous. While beating opponents while controlling a doctor may be a bit fun at first, once that novelty wears off, you’re just left with a subpar version of another, much more balanced fighter.
7
Little Mac (SSB4/Ultimate)
A Character That Can Stay In The Air At All
For those who may not know, air combat is a crucial part of the competitive Super Smash Bros. scene, so it should be no surprise to learn that Little Mac is considered one of the weakest characters in the two titles he’s been part of. He was originally introduced in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U as a character that jumps very low and can barely stay in the air for a few seconds, which makes sense considering he’s supposed to be a fairly grounded boxer.
Little Mac’s fighting style didn’t do him any favors in SSB4, and unfortunately, not much changed in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, mainly because the game used its direct predecessor as a basis. As a result, this boxer is still quite strong in regular situations, but basically becomes unusable the moment his feet leave the ground. To make things even worse, he will perish if he’s ever launched outside the main arena, because his recovery is so awful he’s not going to make it back before falling into the blast zone.
6
Zelda (Brawl)
Can Become A Better Character By Pressing One Button
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the slowest and clunkiest entry in the series, so naturally, players often prefer to choose characters with instant combos and rapid movement, like Meta Knight or Diddy Kong. As a result, Zelda has always been considered one of the worst fighters in the game, seeing as she’s extremely slow.
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Zelda was basically designed as a mage-type character that stays on one side of the battlefield and casts her long-range spells, and that type of strategy doesn’t really do well in competitive formats. On top of that, she’s still attached to Sheik in Brawl, meaning that she can swap forms by using her down special. Why would anyone want to use Zelda if they could instantly transform her into a much stronger and quicker character with the press of a button?
5
Luigi (Super Smash Bros.)
The Original “Worse Version” Of Mario
Yes, even the original Super Smash Bros. from 1999 has a sizable competitive scene, and they have agreed for decades that Luigi is the single worst character in the game. This may sound odd now, but Luigi used to be a full-on Mario clone with a few minuscule differences, all of which made him significantly worse than his brother. He shares a moveset with Mario, but he’s way slower (both on the ground and in the air), his attacks are a lot weaker, and his recovery, while fairly decent, is extremely easy to predict and counter.
Similar to Doctor Mario in Ultimate, almost nobody wants to pick Luigi in Smash Bros. 64 because they could very easily pick his more iconic brother (who’s stronger and more effective) instead. The silver lining in this story is that the green plumber was eventually overhauled in subsequent games and became his own character, to the point that he even placed higher than Mario in other tier lists, like Brawl’s or Ultimate’s.
4
Jigglypuff (SSB4)
A Joke Character That Eventually Became An Actual Joke
Jigglypuff has always been considered a gag/joke character by Super Smash Bros. fans, seeing as her inclusion in the first game can be chalked up to her role in the Pokemon anime and the fact that she shares a body shape with Kirby (meaning it was easier to model and program her). Nevertheless, she was still fairly useful in most competitive formats, with even a few professional players claiming it as their main.
Unfortunately for the Balloon Pokemon, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U remains the lowest point in its entire Smash Bros. career. Jigglypuff has always been a character who’s supposed to slowly chip away at her opponent’s HP, but the fourth entry is a surprisingly aggressive game wherein she was never really able to make an impact due to her lack of reliable combos and punishes. Furthermore, Jigglypuff’s air attacks, range, and low weight are lackluster and make her really ineffective in battle. Fortunately for her fans, Jigglypuff was buffed in Ultimate, as she ended up placed a bit higher on the sequel’s tier lists.
3
Ganondorf (Ultimate)
Buffing The King Of The Gerudo Seems Almost Impossible
Ganondorf is a highly divisive character within the Super Smash Bros. community. While some fans enjoy his slow but powerful attacks, others are outraged by the fact that he was originally made as a Captain Falcon clone, and his moveset hasn’t changed a lot since his introduction. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tried to give the Gerudo King his own sense of identity by letting him wield a large sword in his smash attacks, but alas, it wasn’t enough for him to make a dent in the competitive scene.
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Of course, Ganondorf’s moveset in Ultimate—whether it’s his base combos, his smash attacks, or his specials—hits incredibly hard and can launch any opponent very far, even at low percentages. However, every other aspect of this character is terrible, since he’s incredibly slow, he lacks any projectiles that allow him to fight from a distance, his recovery is nearly non-existent, and he can’t really do much aside from landing strong attacks.
2
Bowser (Melee)
The Slowest Character In A Game That’s All About Speed
Super Smash Bros. Melee is famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) for being the most competitive entry in the entire series, as it’s still being played regularly in tournaments to this day. Despite most of its best qualities being glitches instead of intentional features, Smash Bros. fans adore this game, mainly due to its frenetic, fast-paced combat.
As a result, Bowser is widely considered the worst character in Melee. After all, he’s the slowest one on the roster, as even Ganondorf had surprisingly quick movement because he was still nearly identical to Captain Falcon. To make things even worse, Bowser’s moves are not powerful enough to make up for his debilitating speed, and he lacks any ranged attacks that can allow him to stay away from his opponents. Needless to say, you’ll never see someone picking the Koopa King in Melee tournaments, as he’s even weaker than gag characters like Pichu or Jigglypuff.
1
Ganondorf (Brawl)
A Slow-Moving Punching Bag In A Game With Sluggish Combat
Super Smash Bros. has evolved and changed a lot in the past 27 years, and yet, most seasoned fans will agree on one thing: Brawl Ganondorf is the single worst character in the entire franchise. For starters, he shares the same problems with every single other incarnation of this character, as he’s incredibly slow, has laughable air combos, and lacks any real recovery methods, despite his attacks dealing a lot of damage.
However, the final nail in Ganondorf’s competitive coffin is the fact that his mobility is exceedingly slow in a game that’s already infamous for its clunky and sluggish combat system. Since players usually prefer to pick Brawl’s fastest fighters, trying to use the Gerudo King in battle will never yield any real results (unless you get absurdly lucky). All in all, it’s both weird—and a tad disappointing—to see the deadly main antagonist of the Legend of Zelda series relegated to a joke of a fighting game character and, while Ganondorf did eventually get a bit stronger in both SSB4 and Ultimate, no game in the Super Smash Bros. series has ever done him justice.
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