Best Super Smash Bros. Games Of All Time

Brawl's been snubbed.
Brawl Boys, grab your torches and pitchforks, tonight we riot.

Have to say Melee as it’s the only one I liked in any way

It's not Mel- Oh wait, it is!

I don’t agree with this list AT ALL... It shoulda been...

1. Brawl
2. Melee
3. Wii U
4. 3DS
6. N64

Imo...

I love every Smash title, but after playing Wii U and Brawl, I'd put Melee behind those. Hard to go back to the outdated roster and stages imo. Brawl had the excellent subspace while Wii U had a crazy fun regular Smash mode(considering all the characters and 8 player smash,.thats endless fun imo). Smash Wii U also had the Master and Crazy challenge modes which I found underrated.

So yeah, in a nutshell, Wii U is my favorite due to the quality and quantity of the roster, stages and cool side modes like Crazy and Master hand challenges.

My list:
1.smash 4 3ds (I like more the 3ds stages than on wii u)
2.Smash 4 Wii u
3: smash brawl (had the best story and music and more characters than melee and assist trophees + it had a really good Menu)
4: smash melee (Had a awesome adventure mode btw. I hope an adventure mode like this will come back in ultimate)
5:smash 64 (though, I play it more than melee...kinda weird.)

Im in the minority but I enjoyed brawl and 4 the most. All of them has something good

I feel that we should just put Smash Ultimate at the top of the list now, saves time later on.

I know I’m in the minority, but I hate Melee. It’s so fundamentally broken.

I can't tell if Nintendo Life actually enjoys Melee, or fear this entire website getting burned to the ground if they say otherwise.

I can't understand all the controls in Smash so for Ultimate, I'll hopefully be buying the Prima strategy guide. Therefore, Ultimate might be the first Smash I can actually play without watching 20 minute tutorials that I don't understand.

Smash 3DS > Smash Wii U, imo. The Wii U game has some of the worst modes in the entire series.

Swap Brawl and Smash Bros for Wii U and you have yourself a list.

Brawl added an acclaimed single player campaign in Subspace Emissary, which polls regularly alongside Melee's Adventure mode in terms of praise, while also adding dozens of huge characters such as Sonic The Hedgehog, Pit of Kid Icarus fame, Wolf, and Diddy Kong. Not to mention the first third-party character to ever appear in Smash Bros: Snake from Metal Gear Solid. While inferior to Melee for competitive play, Brawl is a great casual Smash Bros title that perfectly appeals to the casual nature of the Wii.

Smash Bros 4 is widely criticized for its slow pace and UI design as well as its arguably lackluster newcomer list, which ranges from Fire Emblem characters to even more Fire Emblem characters (Fire Emblem features a greater number of Smash Bros. reps than the Legend Of Zelda, which celebrated its 25th anniversary just prior to the beginning of Smash 4's development, and is just two characters shy of being on equal footing with Mario — all while other equally deserving series with popular characters such as Golden Sun received zero representation, mind you). In addition to Fire Emblem characters, a handful of other newcomers feature in Smash 4, including some retro characters as well as DLC characters whose costs are often criticized such as Mewtwo, who is oddly missing from the base game given his veteran status.

While enjoyable on the versatile 3DS, Smash 4's Wii U release disappointingly failed in capturing the spirit of the infamously troubled hardware it was developed for, and for these reasons has not aged as well as its Wii, GameCube or Nintendo 64 counterparts, in my opinion.

1. Super Smash Bros. 4 (Wii U if you make me choose but they are fundamentally the same game)
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
3. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube)
4. Super Smash Bros. (N64)

@TheFanatic Yes although it's the only time when he will probably get it right (it looks like a greatest hits entry).

I'm hoping Ultimate beats the top spot, but so far Brawl has always been my favorite. Here's one reason why:

https://youtu.be/PbetJKOQB7k?t=1m41s

I would place Brawl 5th and Smash 64 4th

My list would be:
1. Smash Wii U
2. Brawl
3. Smash 3DS
4. Melee
5. Smash 64

With Smash Ultimate likely beating Smash Wii U when it comes out.

I'm always surprised how much Brawl gets snubbed. Sure, it's not very good for competitive, but it's by far the best casual game with the best single-player/co-op options. Melee gets bloated in its reputation because its an Esports darling. Game is friggin' broken and instead of realizing this and hoping for a cleaner game elitists lose their minds when Marth can't grab you from halfway across the stage...

1. Smash U 2. Brawl 3. Melee 4. Smash 64 5. Smash 3DS
Although I think Smash U is the best game (most balanced and most content except for the DLC fighters), I had more fun with Brawl. I'm a singleplayer / co-op guy myself, and Brawl was filled with that kind of stuff. Both had great music.

@Majora101 To be fair, Brawl is objectively slower than 4 (I think NL did some comparison videos when 4 came out). And Mewtwo wasn't in Brawl at all - it's weird to call out one game for the omission but not the other. All that said, I agree that the lack of a single-player mode to rival Subspace in 4 is a pretty big point in favor of Brawl.

As expected, Melee is at top of list because a bunch of fan boys keep it there. For me it’s 3rd behind both Wii U and 3ds because of 1 main reason. I never liked how much you have to fight againist some of the stages, and in the newer ones, it has omega versions. A larger rooster, more stages, customization, 8 person, ability to play with not only GameCube, but pretty much every type of controller, and I could continue. But hey, melee is still better just like how mario 64 is still the best mario. I am a Nintendo fan for life, but I’m not blind either.

5. 64
4. Melee
3. Brawl
2. 3DS
1. Wii U

They’ve been getting better with each new release, and I would be surpriced if Ultimate isn’t the best one yet.

Unpopular opinion: Smash 3DS is the best one.

My list:

1.) 3DS
2.) Brawl
3.) Wii U
4.) Melee
5.) N64

Don’t get me wrong, all of them are very fun in their own right. Smash 3DS is just my favorite and the one I’ve connected with the most.

I think once Ultimate releases it will take the top spot, however. 😃

Kudos. I thought you would conveniently wait for Ultimate to release and then do this list... But yeah, I agree, Melee is king. I've still enjoyed Smash Bros. since then, but I've never cared for them as much as Melee (perhaps they just felt a little stale and bloated). Also, as a purist, I never liked the inclusion of non-Nintendo characters (even if I liked those characters), so for me, Melee was the last pure Smash Bros.

I liked Melee the least. But I’ve never played the N64 version. So for me:

4. GC Melee
3. Wii Brawl
2. 3DS
1. Wii U

And from what I’ve seen, Ultimate will become the new number one.

However it is nitpicking, all of them are great games.

This list is completely wrong. If it was supposed to be a subjective list about which entries a person enjoyed the most, then fine. But objectively you cannot argue that Melee, which has less content than Brawl is better than 4. Perhaps if there was a single player twist then... wait, you also ranked Brawl 4th. I literally cannot fathom how you supposedly put this list together.

Honestly, Subspace Emissary and Smash Run alone should’ve gotten Brawl and 3DS (respectively) higher on the list. I hope both of them make some kind of return in Ultimate, they’re both fantastic modes.

Melee had a brilliant 1 player campaign that none of the others even came close to matching.

Personally I've enjoyed Wii U much more. Graphics are much more vibrant and it's fast-paced just enough. Faster than Brawl but not near-overkill like Melee. Not that Melee's bad at all, it's just a bit too fast paced for me.

IMO, this list is god aweful. I'm sorry but anyone who thinks the broken gameplay of Melee being the "best" of all Smash games must not handle change in a healthy way. Anyway...

My list would be predictably;

5. Smash 64
4. Melee
3. Brawl
2. Smash 3DS
1. Smash Wii U

Each game added and changed certain factors in the game to make it more fun and inclusive to all. Thus making it so that anyone can play and a joy to pick up despite skill levels. I particularly like that one person on edge was taken out earlier on as beating someone like that is just kind of trash, imo. Besides ledge-trumping is a brilliant little beast in and of itself.

I get that tripping was a crappy mechanic introduced, but it made for plenty of hilarious moments. And that's why it will never be the best iteration. But point is that the games get better per version. I'll never understand the Melee tryhards.

I tought you were not doing a DK list because it would be so short. Seeing this i think it has a chance, please make it happen

Only 75 days to go till Ultimate.

This is a bad article.

Definitely agreed with this list, except for a couple of things:

-I'd swap Brawl and 64's positions. 64 may not have aged as well as the rest, but it still has some fun factor for me and memories. Brawl, for me, was all over the place for a plethora of reasons beyond tripping and Single Player Content. I'd even consider Brawl one of the most disappointing Nintendo games I ever played (alongside the likes of Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, amiibo Festival, Partners in Time, and even Federation Force).

-Smash 3DS and Wii U are about equal to me. 3DS has Smash Run, but Wii U has Stage Builder.

Nope, Brawl > 3DS.

My top is the same but every other is different.

1. Melee - imo one of the best fighting games ever.
2. 3DS
3. N64
4. WiiU
5. Brawl - subjectively one of the worst Nintendo games I've ever played. Unfortunately an accolade shared by many Wii games.

@ThatNyteDaez your first statement about people who thinks Melee is the best of all time, must not be able to handle change in any way is really stupid because its subjective.

What you may find fun i might find stupid and vice versa...

999. Brawl
1. Melee

@R_Champ I think that you are right, Brawl might not be the competitive players' (I am not) favourite but it is more balanced and has much more content than Melee. I know for sure that the best one is 4, for all the content, balance and right (in my opinion) speed, although the single player mode on Wii is great. SMB for Wii U looks gorgeous at 1080p while all others are SD.

Seriously? Why the heck does Melee always get the top spot? Yeah it's a good game, but I found Brawl to be infinitely more enjoyable. The Subspace Emissary alone made Brawl better than Melee in my book.

But then throw in the ability to listen to every track that is available in the game and the ability to play demo versions of several Virtual Console games, and Brawl truly came out on top for me.

To this day, Brawl is my favorite entry in the series. Ultimate has some big shoes to fill. SSBU better have a story mode on par with or superior to The Subspace Emissary.

I love every version for its own strengths and it’s really difficult to rank them in my opinion. I guess I’d pick either Wii U or Melee as the best.

It’s always interesting to see how polarized the fan base is on Brawl. Some adore it and some absolutely hate it. It’s definitely the black sheep of the series. I didn’t care for it, personally.

Smash 64 had the best television commercials.

Please stop ranking games.

This is SOOO funny, I knew y’all would hold on to your old game. It’s honestly time to move on in 2018 and not let those fox clone gamers have the spotlight anymore. Please. Melee was great for it’s time, but the only people that still enjoy it are those that have mastered the hitboxes and broken strategies and constantly get their [email protected]#s wet whenever they are worshipped still after all these years. You know I’m right.

Am I the only one that feels dated when an article uses the title of "Best Of" and calling it a guide? It's an opinion piece, nothing more and just acts as a catalyst for people to click and rage in the comments. Idk, free to your own opinion, just feel like the set up for this feels like it's from the 90s.

This is a dumb idea. I am a die hard Smash Bros fan and I don't understand this pointless obsession to always rank them. They are all distinct from each other and aim for something different.

Melee elitism ruined all future rankings. This is why we can’t have nice things.

@cartooncreator59 It's not a guide, it's another cheap and shallow article that wants us to fight but not in the game but in here.

Since Melee is in top place and Switch Smash is the Wii u Smash with lots of bits added, I see no reason why Melee has to drop a place to second.

There has been comparisons between the Switch and the Wii u version on the same stages and while graphics look better gameplay is the same.

To summarize Melee in one sentence
"fox only final destination no items"

"...giving us those 'Melee feels' when we play any other Smash Bros. entry."

I only suffer from 'Brawl feels' after my younger sister broke my copy of the game, and now I'm stuck with Melee (which is not bad by any means, but is not nearly as good as its succesors)

I hate that this is the flagship holiday game.....really wish it was a title with a bit more depth, rather than a glorified party game.

I like melee but it really isn’t balanced at all. A majority of the characters aren’t viable at all if you’re talking tournaments.

@zool Even if Super Smash Bros. 5 was the same as 4 it would be the best for Glen because it's the Switch entry! And 4 would still be worse than Melee!

I agree unbiasedly. Melee is the king favored by most. For what SSB4 gave, I love it the best cause it's the biggest thus far and the best of the post-wavedashing era, which also introduced steady patching and balancing of characters to fix brokenness. Something no doubt Melee would have got had it been in this age of patches too, but I digress.

@MeloMan Fighting games benefit the most from patches, you can see that in Killer Instinct 3 and Street Fighter V. Back in the day we had Super, Turbo, Super Turbo... for Street Fighter II at least.

I don't understand why an opinionated article is categorized as "Guide," although I feel like the general consensus would probably agree with this list (some perhaps placing the Wii U version over Melee, however).

I've been replaying Brawl's Subspace Emissary with my dad, and as the only game to have a full story mode with bosses and pre-rendered cutscenes, I think Brawl definitely deserves more credit. Traveling stages became so much more dynamic (Delfino Plaza and Halberd are still two of the best), and as the article mentions, we were given our first taste of third-party goodness. Outside the story mode, there's not much of a reason to replay Brawl, but I feel like it may have had the most hype behind it of any Smash game (even if I was too young to remember much of it).

I also really appreciate how, despite releasing in Nintendo's most "casual" era--the Wii--Brawl still served to show that Nintendo could make a gritty, more mature game like Twilight Princess before it. Frankly, I would love to see a few more Nintendo games adopt that more dark and realistic art style that helped make games like Brawl, Twilight Princess, Luigi's Mansion, and Metroid Prime look great. There's definitely still a place for the more cartoon art styles, but I definitely crave more artistic variety from Nintendo. Hopefully Metroid Prime 4 and an eventual Pikmin 4 will deliver on that front.

@Not_Soos Yes, Nintendo these days looks like Mario and cartoon art styles all over the place, they are forgetting their braver and darker side.

The Best Smash is PS All Stars Batt-

(sniper runs from the scene)

@BlueOcean Even the new Luigi's Mansion has a more cartoon art style like Dark Moon and not really taking advantage of the Switch's HD capabilities, as far as I can tell.

Melee in first place? It's unbalanced, and still kinda clunky. The Adventure mode's novelty is off after a very short while, and it doesn't have the richness that Brawl has in modes and diversity.
Don't be a Melee elitist. Later installations may not have been perfect but they all have huge advantages over Melee (except Smash Odyssey in Wii U, it is absolutely crap!)

@NewAdvent I would rank brawl higher because of subspace emissary.

Melee at #1 lol

Seriously, Melee is the best Smash game only in the same sense that Super Mario Bros. is the best Mario game. Both defined their series and their consoles, but both have been surpassed by a wiiide margin.

And at Number 0 is Subspace Emissary.

@Majora101 Not sure if Zelda deserved more characters than Fire Emblem because it started four years earlier. It’s not as if the first three Zelda games had any interesting characters beside Link, Zelda and Ganon. Impa, Error? Whereas Fire Emblem is a character driven game, with (for the most part) brand new characters for each game.

Zelda is more popular, though (in the wesr, at least).

If Melee is broken that Smash 4 is shattered into a million pieces.

1. Rage is a terrible mechanic
It doesn't make the game better for casual gamers it (like tripping) just makes the game frustrating for everyone.

2. DLC
When the DLC cost more than the game itself and there is no option to buy physical, you're doing something wrong.

3. Dumbed down for 3DS
Content that was planned for Wii U (like Ice Climbers) had to be cut do to the 3DS being a potato. I am not being elitist, I just think the 3DS engine should have been kept separate from the Wii U engine, as to not sacrifice the Wii U version's quality.

4. Balance
It's no secret that Smash 4 is less balanced than Melee. Melee has 26 characters, 8 of which were viable. Smash 4 has 50+ characters, only 5 of which are viable. People praise Smash 4 for reducing the skill gap but put a halfway competent Bayonetta against a beginner and they'll never want to touch the game again.

@Samuel-Flutter There's no such thing as objective ranking of which is the best.

Can we as a community stop with the Melee worship. It’s a great game, it has nostalgia and familiarity on its side, but it’s not a better game than the modern versions. It’s just not.

It will be hard for any entry to be better than Melee in the eyes of the average competitive player. It’s been the standard for them for so long, many fans have some level of loyalty to it that almost anything Nintendo does won’t be good enough. Rose tinted glasses and all, Nintendo could make a game identical to Melee in every way except it has more content (characters and stages, even modes), every mechanic identical to Melee, and at best they’ll just split the community as a good portion of fans essentially see Melee as the perfect entry, whether they admit it or not.

Personally, my favorite was Brawl. I hated tripping but that literally was all I disliked about it.

Smash Run is the best mode the series has ever offered, so Super Smash Bros for 3DS is king.

@Luke937 LOL Smash 4 being less balanced than melee? Elitism at it's finest.
Your preference of the games are all subjective but it is a fact that Smash 4 has more balanced characters aside from some obvious DLC characters.

@NewAdvent while that is true that still proves just how good subspace emissary is.

This is less a guide than it is just common knowledge

@Sinton The age of the two IPs is not the point. The Legend Of Zelda series is an all-time gold standard of the industry which has been a major global influencer in video game development, whereas Fire Emblem was a hidden gem exclusive to Japan for more than a decade until 2003's Fire Emblem release in the west following the warm reception to Marth and Roy's inclusion in Melee (and even then, the series continued to encounter difficulties and was nearly cancelled in the 2000s). All newcomers are welcome, but the point of this opinion is that Smash 4's list is comparatively awkward or lopsided in terms of the popularity of its newcomers when compared to Brawl, given Zelda is an example of a beloved and recognizable Nintendo IP comparable to Mario, Donkey Kong, and Pokemon, yet it was eclipsed in its representation by the arguably less known (and notably less popular) IP in Fire Emblem (and not for a lack of characters).

Imagine if a series like Golden Sun (which also features a diverse rotating cast of characters similar to Fire Emblem — Golden Sun: The Lost Age on its own features eight playable characters including Isaac, Garet, Ivan, Mia, Felix, Jenna, Sheba, and Piers, not to mention villains Saturos, Menardi, Karst, Agatio, and Alex, never mind the cast of its 2010 sequel Dark Dawn which features a set of eight new main characters and two new villains) were to receive eight newcomers to Smash Ultimate today while a series like Zelda only has the five characters that were present in Smash 4. The series is popular to a point but is nowhere near comparable to the popularity of characters from more recognized IPs. While having that many characters from Golden Sun in Smash Ultimate would make fans like me very happy, the high number of newcomers from this one relatively obscure series may make for a representationally-uneven new characters list for Ultimate, making the common player come away thinking of it as the "Golden Sun Edition" of Smash Bros. and possibly feeling disappointed if they are unfamiliar with Golden Sun or would have liked to see other series included as well.

Melee's overrated

They're all perfect to me.

@May_Nyan But there is objective rankings based on characters, stages, music, game modes, and other general content. To objectively claim that Melee is the best is to claim that it satisfies these conditions, which is objectively wrong.

I don't understand how an old standard def. offline fighter with a small roster of characters, and minimal single player modes, can compare to any of the newer entries. Smash 4 has online, HD graphics, tons of characters both 1st and 3rd party, online betting, tons of new items, tons of assists, tons of pokeballs, tons of single player modes, achievements, the Smash ball, and online tournaments. That other stuff seems like fine additions and all, but, it's that Melee is an offline game that really kills it for me. Even if you have some great players playing with you in couch co-op, you'll never get the same challenge you'd get playing against regular people from around the world via the internet.

I'm going to be honest. Brawl gets a bad rap for no worthwhile reason. It introduced many mechanics that everyone loves (except tripping that sucked) and people seemed to forget that it introduced SO MANY CHARACTERS FANS WANTED AND WERE A PERFECT FIT (except wolf i guess). Its probably my subspace emissary and target test glasses speaking, but it should be lower on the list than 3DS. But you know, opinions and such.

@I_Am_A_Geek I had more fun playing The Subspace Emissary than any Kirby game.

Nailed the formula accidentally through glitches.

Smash 64 is still my favorite. The attacks just FEEL right. The thwack pow smack sound effects are delicious. There aren't a ton of levels, but every one is gold. The board the platforms and break the targets gave me several dozen hours of joy in competing for world records.

I agree with that list fully from a "competitive" player standpoint. That said, I would also offer a list for the "casual" multiplayer side:

5 - Smash 64 - amazing start as always

4 - Melee - This one is hard to say, because the side modes were great, but for multiplayer, less so imo

3 - Smash 3DS - Portability is huge for casual play, and was a major thing that got me hyped for the Wii U version. There's only one reason this isn't 2nd...

2 - Brawl - Subspace won me over as a casual gamer into Smash Bros hands down when I was younger. As a 2 player mode it was also a lot of fun (although I wish game overs weren't determined by P1). Also, had a great roster of fun characters...though to this day Snake being in Smash still weirds me out more than Cloud or Bayo

1 - Smash Bros for Wii U - Having organized my own student events at college for the past three years for both casual and competitive college students, some who never even laid hands on a Smash Bros game prior, this one takes #1 easily from my personal experience. I feel like it nailed Sakurai's goal of integrating players from all backgrounds into a single game well. Even though I am a competitive player these days, I enjoyed setting my Wii U up for a fun game night with fellow students and us all going at it on 8-Player Smash. I could have fun with a bunch of my friends, and while I won a few, it was never a guaranteed thing, yet still fun ( I just had to shut my competitive ego up for a few hours). Sure we had Melee at the events and people enjoyed it, but more people came over to the more inclusive Smash 4 section, and much fun was had by all changing up the rules, from an all Ganondorf mess of chaos, to 4 v 4, to 6 v 2 (the 2 being the two more skilled players), etc. I am not ashamed to say that I stayed up till 3 am on many nights with friends playing.

Melee still holds #1 for competitive play, but I give Smash 4 the five-star rating for all-around integration of casual and competitive. While I expect Ultimate to lean a little more to the competitive side, I still feel like it will cater to both amazingly (except for directional airdodges, which act like every player has a Smash 4 Little Mac side-B offstage trick...that's gonna be interesting)

Only ever played and own 64 and Melee. Got melee with my Cube. Its fun, but I'm not really super into fighting games.

Went back and played 64. Yeah Melee is much better if for nothing other than stages.

Idk if ill get the new one.

@Nintendo_Thumb Online games with no voice chat might as well be tough bots.

@BlueOcean Sadly, its true. UNLESS its superstar ultra

Melee is too bugued. Don't get me wrong, the game is great and it's ok to have fun with it, like with all games. But the game hidden techniques relies a lot on these bugs and glitches and at the moment it's impossible for a new player to get in the game and get better, if you play with random and want to have fun you will always meet some random tryharder who brought his own gamecube controller, pick Fox or Falco and just tryhard to kick your ass while you were just having fun with a friend on the game with your low skill level.
So yeah, meh, the game is not balanced, little roster compared to the newer games, relies on the glitches. If it's on top of this list it's because of the hardcore fans.
I still think that Ultimate will top all of them.

Brawl was by far my favorite one. The main theme is amazing and nostalgic. The story mode was the best part of the game and it introduced a whole bunch of new features. I actually don't remember tripping at all in Brawl for some reason, I just remember playing story mode and choosing the Mushroomy Kingdom stage every match. Good times. The artstyle is also nostalgic, but compared to all the other games it's kind of ugly looking. I feel like Brawl should have at least made it 2nd place.

Melee is best. Brawl was second though. And saying the 3DS and Wii U games had everything Brawl had and more is just wrong. They didn't have a story mode for a start, which ended up being a big minus for me.

Brawl worse than Melee and 3DS? Hm...

Oh, come on! Melee may still be the go to game for high level play, but the sheer number of characters and features as well as much better competitive balance over Brawl's casual happy atmosphere easily make Smash4WiiU the better game and the best game in the series to date!

The only things it's really missing are an online stock battle mode (aside from the prescheduled online tourneys), an offline tournament mode, a single player adventure mode, and a better custom stage editor that doesn't require you to be an artist to place any decent terrain.

As for Brawl, while I agree with its placement, it still has by far the best single player mode in the entire series to date! While the Subspace Emissary could get repetitive at times, the whole thing is still pure awesome!

''Unfortunately though, its successors included all of these and more''.

So Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS had a BETTER Story Mode?

Smash for Wii U is the one I'd most rather play, no contest. But Brawl had a lot of content and care put into it that I felt Smash for Wii U lacked. I missed having a story mode in Smash for Wii U, and I thought the stickers were another nice collectable like trophies, and even had uses for the story mode. Stage builder was a huge addition to the series too.

Melee and 64 though, I wouldn't go near those.

Maybe it's a nostalgia bias (because it was my first Smash game) but Brawl is my Main. Subspace Emissary, R.O.B., Pit, Final Smashes, and third party characters, that would have been a decent finale in my opinion.

Most arguments for Brawl seem to use Story Mode as their basis.

@Luke937 1. Rage may be annoying, but it's MUCH better than tripping. Any mechanic that is introduced purely to give less skilled players an advantage is automatically c***. At least rage affects all skill levels evenly.

2. That is flat out untrue. The base game for Wii U is $60, while the DLC is $50 minus whatever Mii costumes you don't want. It may be a lot altogether, but the individual pieces are reasonably priced, and this isn't a case where the extra content was purposely held back from the original release.

3. The lack of the Ice Climbers (and a stage for them) were the ONLY thing that caused the Wii U version to be "dumbed down."

4. Are you just trolling now?! The balance patches ensured that the Wii U and 3DS versions of Smash are easily the most balanced entries in the entire series to date. Bayonetta may still be a little broken, but she's still more balanced than Meta Knight was in Brawl.

@BulbasaurusRex Melee fans

@I_Am_A_Geek Brawl is indeed underrated, but there are other reasons it's considered the black sheep of the franchise. Aside from tripping, it's just too floaty and casual friendly compared to Melee, Smash 4, or even the original game. Meanwhile, online play (not that it's even available anymore) was an absolute laggy mess with hardly any options, thereby making it pretty much worthless.

....Melee wasn't that great, geez...only thing it has is awesome music in a different style from the others. (I feel like Ultimate brought i back)...Also the Black Hole Glitch.

Let's admit it: if the Switch wasn't... the Switch, as in, a perfect hybrid, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS would be higher in the list.

It's the long-overdue handheld debut for the series; that, coupled with Smash Run, should deserve the second place instead of... well, any game with Smash Tour in it. Seriously, that mode has a special place in Paper Mario's Underwhere. But you do you, I guess.

Ultimate is shaping up to be the de facto pinnacle of the series.

5. Smash Bros Brawl
4. Smash Bros 3DS
3. Smash Bros Melee
2. Smash Bros 64
1. Smash Bros Wii U

1. Smash 3DS/Wii U (I'm lumping them together though 3DS has the edge because of Magicant)
2. Smash Melee
3. Smash 64
4. Smash Brawl (how are you guys rating it higher than the original? It suckeddd)

@AlexSora89 I think that's kind of a stretch. Everything on this list is subjective after all. Though I would put the 3ds version higher myself.

Oh no MeleeFags

The best one is Project M Boot Dis-- I mean, Brawl

5. SSB
4. 3DS
3. Melee
2. Brawl
1. Wii U

I 100% agree with this list

1. Wii U
2. Brawl
3. 3DS
4. Melee
5. 64
I loved Melee, but you'd have to be part of the ultra competitive crowd to think it was the best. Only stuff I miss from it that hasn't already been confirmed for Ultimate is Break the Targets, Race to the Finish and Pokefloats

6. Smash n64
5. Smash bros brawl
4. Smash bros 3ds
3. Smash bros melee
2. PROJECT M BOIIIIIIIIIS
1. Smash wii u

@BulbasaurusRex I had a pretty solid and smooth online experience. I must be lucky

Agree 100%

The best one to me is the one with more characters, that is all.

IMO...

5. 64
4. Melee
3. Brawl
2. 3DS
1. Wii U

I genuinely think each new game is better than the previous one. I know 3DS doesn't have as many options as Brawl, but I found its mechanics and character roster to be such a huge improvement that it didn't really matter to me. And then Wii U was essentially the same game, but with different (IMO better overall) stages and more interesting modes (with Smash Tour being the exception).

And I have no doubt that Ultimate will blow them all out of the water.

@iLikeUrAttitude
As long as I don't have to stretch the wires needed to get my home consoles out of my house, the 3DS version gets extra points in my book

For me it goes
#1- Wii U
#2-64*
#3-Melee
#4 Brawl
I can't really the 3DS version as it's the only version I haven't played enough to know how I feel about it.
Also the *on 64 is because I haven't played it for so long that I have no idea how well it's held up

Whew, this list is... well, I'll just bite my tongue.

True ranking:

1) Smash for Wii U (Brought the "Smash" back to the gameplay)
2) Smash 64 (Such good "Smash")
3) Smash Melee (Game is too heavy, weak "Smash")
4) Smash Brawl (Game is too floaty, so "Smash", but overcorrection from Melee crippled movement)
5) Smash 3DS (It's the controls that damn it. Let me play with a re-mappable, full size gamepad and it can go up to number three.)

Melee is my favorite too. But mainly because it was much bigger then the original, and it had trophy's for the first time. Now we just take it for granted that every title is bigger, it doesn't really impress me THAT much anymore. Besides, they don't do enough to shake the formula up. The surprise factor has gone.

WHAT A CONVENIENT LIST, I MUST SAY

@Stocksy
Oh come on man. Just stop hating because some lanky purple guy isn't in the game. We all want him, but no need to boycott because he isn't in. If all else, support the games so they know you want more!

Setting aside Ultimate...

1) Smash 3DS
2) Smash Melee
3) Smash Brawl
4) Smash Wii U (inferior game modes and stages to the 3DS version, and kind of irrelevant to me for that reason)
4) Smash N64

@MysticGengar lmao. I was joking. I’ve owned every version. How would I have boycotted a game years ago coz a guy isn’t in this one? I’ve had to stop playing to reply to this!!!!! But Waluigi should be in. Everyone knows it. Makes no sense he isn’t! But no one is boycotting over it.

Oh yay, another one of these lists.

@Stocksy @MysticGengar I don't think they should add Waluigi. Could probably think of at least 1,000 characters that would be more interesting.

Typical competive player conclusion. Imo melee was not the best. Smash wii U is. Melee had the worst mechanics of all ofem honestly. From a non competive stand point. Though the levels were neat.

Brawl would be my 2nd pick for best.

Always thought it was odd that they did this list before they could put the Switch game at number one... Must have had this planned all along... Cheeky! I guess they'll probably do the same to the Metroid list as well when Metroid Prime 4 is released as that's now the only one that doesn't have the latest Switch game at number one.

Though, considering the ranking of these lists have supposedly a big focus on which games were more groundbreaking/pushed the series forward more (which, for example, was used to justify why Twilight Princess was so low in the Zelda one, below Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks), I would still think that Melee did more than Ultimate in that regard, which seems more like a greatest hits package. Smash 64 to Melee was surely a much bigger leap in terms of innovation etc. than Smash 4 to Ultimate.

Melee is overrated

puts up shield

@Stocksy
Oops. I didn't think you were joking. My bad!

Sorry but Brawl should be hell of a lot higher just because of Sub-Space Emissary.
Wow slow news day, or is it everyone playing Smash day
Re-hash of an old page

Ultimate is the best of the series imho.

Is it a bad thing that I've never played Brawl? I've played every game extremly thourghly (except Wii U, but I have the 3DS version so it doesn't count). I still have my wii, and I'm thinking about picking it up just so the smash fun never stops. Is it still worth it?

So Melee seems to finally be unseated.

Never thought I'd see the day.

I think cadbury's Smash is the best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4MTgjNkfyI

@NintendoHistory Just be careful of the trip mechanic while carrying pitchforks.

My "Smash Bros" list:

1. Rivals of Aether
2. Super Smash Bros Ultimate
3. Brawl Minus
4. Project-M
5. Super Smash Bros Melee
6. Smash 4 Wii U
7. Smash 4 3DS
8. Icons Combat Arena
9. Super Smash Bros Brawl
10. Super Smash Bros 64

the 3ds and wiiu version of smash are basically the same thing why would put them in different spots

Huh, I thought I commented on the original article. Ah well.

To me, my list would be:
1. Smash Ultimate
2. Smash Melee
3. Smash 4 (Wii U)
4. Smash 64
5. Smash Brawl
6. Smash 4 (3DS)

🤷‍♂️

Easy for me to pick.

Brawl->Melee->Smash3DS---->64-------->the rest.

Brawl is the last "true" smash game, it improved on the previous game in every way and nothing was removed. It made excellent use of the extra Wii hardware (SD, wifi, save file bigger than the largest GC MCard, using internal storage for instant load times in-game, virtual console demos). **There is a trophy of Kyle Hyde in this game.

Melee is Melee.

Smash3DS is portable smash and is great but still lost a lot of content.

64 is interesting but nothing there kept me as attached as the others.

Can't really speak for the rest.

It's been a few months, and I still feel I should echo my original sentiment. Melee shouldn't be that high. Each game is objectively better than the last. The only exception might be the 3DS version of 4, since it's not as accessible in regards to multiplayer.

@MysticGengar Nah you're not missing out on anything special honestly (except for sub-space emissary). It's pretty much the worst in the series.

@BenAV I agree he shouldn’t be the paid dlc 100% it’ll be very cheap if he is. He should have been in from start and no one would have batted an eyelid over his inclusion

I can't comment on whether Ultimate really is the best in the series since I haven't played it yet (please hurry up with the delivery, Amazon) but I can't deny the incredible nostalgia I have for Brawl. I spent so many snowy afternoons with that game growing up. I remember being enthralled with the Subspace Emissary, amazed with the grandiose story, cutscenes, and bosses. I never managed to beat it on my own--that's why every kid needs an older brother and/or neighborhood friend who's far better at Smash than you are!

The soundtrack was utterly phenomenal too, I don't think that even Ultimate can top it. I would sit through the entire opening cutscene sometimes just to take Nobuo Uematsu's glorious music, or fight on Final Destination only to let the music pump my adrenaline.

Not to mention that the newcomers were simply amazing. Ike is still my main to this day! Super hyped to play Snake again as well in Ultimate.

Nothing will ever top the feeling of growing up with Brawl!

@NintendoHistory

I would rank Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS above the Wii U version.

In my opinion, I think the 3DS version has better stages, online seems to have less lag with more players, Classic Mode is vastly better then the clusterf*** the Wii U version had, The All-Star Mode is better, Smash Run is a fairly fun mode that reminds me of Melee's adventure mode and makes unlocking stuff much easier, and I love the fact that the game is truly portable, meaning I can take it anywhere and play it while watching, say a football game or movie on TV.

All the Wii U version has was 1080 HD, but even the 3DS version was a damn good looking game, 8-Player Smash(which I never used), Special Smash(which could not be played online) Master and Crazy orders which were annoying, Smash Tour which was not even worth playing, and an online tournament mode which is the one advantage the Wii U version had over the 3DS version, and that mode was lost when Miiverse was shut down.

So for all intents and purposes, the 3DS version of Smash 4 is the better of the two versions. HD visuals don't make up for the 3DS being a more solid game.

i hope to god one of the dlc i payed for is zangief!! i payed good money for a zangief and incinaroar tag team match in the wrestle arena!!! please make that happin nintendo.

I’m truly shocked that Melee would be put as 2nd. My apologies, Nintendolife, for doubting you. And thank you for coming to your senses. Ultimate is... ultimate. Melee fans go cry about it, I’ll bring tissues.

3DS, WiiU and N64 aren't that good,,, brawl is my fave and melee was my introduction... Ultimate? We shall see soon

To me Melee is the one that I had least fun, but I can understand the the pro comunity kept alive, so it's fair to say that deserves something at least.
But to me is
6-64
5-meleeee
4- 3ds
3- Brawl
2- Wii U
1- Ultimate (the sheer roster deserve the top spot, also Joker)

How DARE you put Smash Tour as a positive point. I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

Of course... Ultimate is 1st on this list not because it's the best (which it might be) but because it just came out today.

Smash 64 over all j00s!!1`11!

Swap Smash for Wii U and Melee and you're golden.

I won’t be fully satisfied until NES purple-pajama Jason Voorhees is in Smash

I completely agree with this listing and I’m more than happy with my copy of Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Only a few hours in and I’m already madly in love with the game.

cough Melee is overrated and broken cough Sorry I gotta get this cough checked out.

In my opinion it should be
1. Ultimate
2.brawl
3.Melee
4 wii u
5. 64
6. 3ds

Ultimate is really a wanderful game... I am playing it and I am really enchanted. I was not sure about the dlc, but now I am. I will definitely buy it. Great game.

I really enjoyed the 3DS version over the WiiU

Bring back the stage creator and bring in Waluigi! Waaaaaah!

Only played Brawl out of all of them, can’t wait to get Ultimate eventually.

@Majora101 what an amazing profile pic

@NintendoHistory
Honestly, I had most fun with brawl at the time of release date. It felt so balanced. Level creator was so fun

@Cartune

Brawl all the way!

I don’t understand what’s so great about Melee. Maybe I’m just too young and missed the Melee craze, but battling is now just more of a, “Who can use glitches properly?” That’s what kinda makes me hesitant about saying it’s the second best. It’s fine, but it’s not exactly what Sakurai really wanted (though he did acknowledge the meta, so I dunno).

Smash Wii U > Melee.

I don't think I can argue with this list. Everything seems right.

I'm surprised to see Melee get so much hate in the comments. It's my favorite, but was also my introduction to Smash. Nostalgia is poweful. Brawl was also incredible. I spent at lot of time with both. I didn't really like Smash 4, Wii U or 3DS. Something felt like it was missing. Single player was very disappointing. I'm loving Ultimate, so far, but I miss trophies. I spent a lot of time in Melee and Brawl just looking at trophies and reading trivia. I would have liked spirits more if they included facts and trivia about the characters and the games they were in. It's a small complaint though and I'm still really enjoying the game. It has a ton of content to keep me busy.

@Donutman So why don’t a bunch of other fanboys keep another one at the top?

@R_Champ Melee deserves its “bloated” reputation. We had fun playing it back when it was new and no one cared about esports. (They barely existed outside of StarCraft.) Melee was our own esport just for us “smashers.” It wasn’t streamed or reported on, it was just us wanting to improve our skill and test it against anyone and everyone. The “scene” was truly grass-roots, word of mouth, underground, dirty, incredibly dorky… serious and at the same time pretty tongue in cheek, and nothing like the polished professional air we gamers try to put on nowadays. (Not everyone.)

After a few years, we focused a lot on being legitimized in the FGC, where we saw ourselves. They were rightfully skeptical, but we did win out in the end… well, the game is what it is after all.

Idk… maybe you had to be there. Or just really like deep fighting mechanics. Or both. I’m tired, wish I could’ve put more time into trying to convey why Melee is so special and how everything we do now (in Smash) sprang from a passion the newer tittles never would have elicited… but I have to be to up in 7 hours for work. 😅 So no edits 😅😅

@Colin0fTheWild I can totally understand why you might feel that way, especially if it seems kinda old to you. Hard to put yourself back in that time, but imagine only having N64, than going to the detailed graphics crazy huge amount of content in Melee relative to 64. No one knew it was coming. We never had a Smash sequel before, and didn’t know it would be THAT much of a leap. Of course way more important was that we had more moves and options, which dramatically changed the fighting. (Not talking glitches… and you may have been misinformed about glitches in Melee. It runs pretty solid, no obvious bugs I can think of. Some weird stuff that requires careful setup and wouldn’t happen in a match.)

Oh right, I was talking moves and options. Spot dodge and air dodge blew my mind. Up and down throws added. Extra B moves. (Link now has a freakin arrow!?) Yeah I remember it being a bit overwhelming, the GameCube controller was so different, the speed of the new physics engine, the detailed animations… wow!! Had my doubts as to whether or not I could get used to it, but I was certainly impressed! (At a friends house, didn’t have much gaming at home.)

Umm… well, what can I say. I guess after being blown away by Melee, Brawl felt a bit… samey… but floaty. And certain freedoms were restricted. It felt like a different person made the game. I tried to like Brawl for a month or two, but I eventually didn’t care to play it.

Idk, I’d suggest playing Melee casually with some friends if possible. Don’t worry about the current competing scenes or whatever. It’s just good goofy fun. Play with the characters like they were toys. I don’t know if that will make any sense lol.

Yeah there’s a certain fun to be had when reaching high levels of proficiency, but that doesn’t imo take away from the charm of Melee as a wild party game. Don’t let Melee snobs (like me I guess, ha) keep you from enjoying one of Nintendo’s classics.

(Oh and trust me, it’s skill that decides a match. Solid fundamentals will destroy someone who is only good at wavedashing every time. THAT SAID… play Invisible Melee with a bunch of items turned on and have fun on Hyrule Temple!!) 😂

@Travisemo007 “ Melee had the worst mechanics of all ofem honestly. From a non competive stand point.”

Why? Aren’t they about the same as all the later ones? N64 didn’t even have air dodging, up/down throws, an extra B special, etc… (Though I’d still put it high on the list.)

There’s certainly a lot to enjoy from a casual party game player’s pov. If you have some friend who would play with you, I would give Melee a shot. K cheers! 😄

@BlubberWhale lol I've played alot of melee during the time it was the latest smash, with a neighborhood friend. It was fun. Just pointing out compared to the rest, it is not as casual friendly mechanics wise. Only smash game I've ever played were I couldn't find a single character that felt right for me. That imo is something to be said. As I've played them all even the fan flash ones. Leaving melee a version of smash I could never go all out on. Hence why I feel the mechanics are crap from a competitve stand point. IDK. It's a fun time sure but just felt not as good compared to the rest. Or ig not as "accessable" maybe would be a better way of putting it.