Universe

A universe is a term used by the Smash Bros. community to collectively refer to all the particular characters, stages, items, music, and other properties appearing in the fighting games that are thematically featured in another game franchise.

Main universes
These are the video game series and franchises that the Super Smash Bros. games classify as major enough that they assign each franchise its own unique "universe symbol" that appears with characters and stages belonging to that franchise. These franchises generally have characters, stages, items, and other properties that all appear in Smash Bros. games as part of their primary content. However, the minimum requirement for a symbol is to contribute one stage or one character to the games.


 * The Super Smash Bros. universe: The "default" universe, this represents the Smash Bros. games themselves and accompanies all appearances of characters and stages that are thematically original to the fighting games themselves. Many original characters have been introduced here, but none thus far have been actually playable, with most serving as enemies and bosses in single-player content. The universe symbol seen here is also used as a "placeholder" by the games to indicate a minor universe without its own symbol.


 * The Mario universe: Nintendo's flagship video game franchise. The company mascot at the head of this multi-genre series, Mario, is a primary playable character in Smash Bros. games, and has been accompanied by his brother Luigi, his alter-ego Dr. Mario, the Mushroom Kingdom princess Peach, the villainous king of the koopas Bowser, the dinosaur Yoshi, the gorilla Donkey Kong, and the bellicose anti-hero Wario as playable characters that heavily identify with Mario. The Mario universe is so expansive, that the last three characters are considered stars of their own sub-universes: the Yoshi universe, the Donkey Kong universe, and the Wario universe.


 * The Yoshi universe: Based on the more colorful and saccharine subset of Mario video games starring the dinosaur Yoshi, who is the main (and thus far only) playable character of the series in the Smash Bros. games. Several properties seen in Smash Bros. games can be identified as strictly belonging to this universe instead of the Mario universe.


 * The Donkey Kong universe: A franchise from which Mario games were partially spun-off. The direction of British company Rareware, focusing on Donkey Kong and his many simian relatives and reptilian nemeses. Donkey Kong himself and his monkey-like nephew Diddy Kong are playable Smash characters.


 * The Wario universe: A sub-series of Mario games whose main character is Mario's ill-mannered and nefarious anti-hero counterpart, Wario. The games in this series are either platforming titles or (more prominently) micro-game collections, and Wario as he appears in both of these two genres of games within his series is the one playable character.


 * The Legend of Zelda universe: A series of adventure titles portraying several incarnations and continuities of its main characters, primarily the young hylain hero Link (who is accompanied by Young Link in SSBM and Toon Link in SSBB), the eponymous princess Zelda, and the dark lord/warlock Ganondorf. These four, as well as Zelda's ninja-like alter-ego Sheik, are playable characters.


 * The Metroid universe: A science fiction series in either the side-scrolling platforming or the first-person adventure genres. The series' silent protagonist, female bounty hunter Samus Aran clad in a versatile power suit (as well as without it in an alternative guise named Zero Suit Samus) is the primary playable character. In SSBB, another character from the universe appeared as a boss in the form of Ridley, and later as Meta Ridley.


 * The Kirby universe: The game franchise headed by Masahiro Sakurai prior to and alongside his directorial involvement in his Smash Bros. series. The titular pink spherical hero Kirby, his menacing rival Meta Knight, and the greedy King Dedede have all been featured as playable characters.


 * The Star Fox universe: A series of space shooting games that got its start as among the first games to popularize 3D polygonal graphics in the Super Nintendo era. All the games characters are anthropomorphic animals. The de facto leader of the "Star Fox" team Fox McCloud and ace wing man Falco Lombardi are playable characters. Wolf O'Donnell, Fox's rival and leader of the mercenary group "Star Wolf," is also playable in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.


 * The Pokémon universe: One of video gaming's most lucrative franchises, this multi-genre franchise emphasizes handheld role-playing games that focus on the training and battling of nearly five hundred distinctive species of creatures called Pokémon, from which the series derives its name. Playable characters consist of electric mouse mascot Pikachu and its younger form Pichu, the hypnotic pink puffball Jigglypuff, psychic feline humanoid Mewtwo, the jackal-like Lucario, and a generic Pokémon Trainer who commands his three Pokémon (Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard)from the background to do battle in the foreground. It is the most heavily represented universe to date.


 * The F-Zero universe: A futuristic racing game series featuring anti-gravity racing machines that zoom at extremely fast and intense speeds, with game play emphasizing speed boosts, cornering, and physically ramming each other's machines to lower life meters. The superhero-like bounty hunter Captain Falcon serves as the most recognizable racer and "mascot" of the series and is a playable character throughout the Smash series.


 * The EarthBound universe: Also referred to by its Japanese title, the Mother series. A postmodern, satirical, and psychedelic take on role-playing conceived by Shigesato Itoi, with three games in the series. The protagonists of the second and third games, EarthBound's Ness and Mother 3's Lucas, have been playable as characters.


 * The Game & Watch universe: The Smash games' representation of one of Nintendo's earliest digital products, which is a series of LCD handheld consoles named "Game & Watch". A previously unnamed black-and-white character in several of these games is featured as a playable character under the name Mr. Game and Watch.


 * The Kid Icarus universe: An old classic NES game released alongside the original Metroid by the same designer Gunpei Yokoi. It is the story of a young angel knight named Pit as he battles to save the goddess Palutena from the forces of the evil Medusa. Pit appears with a major graphical redesign as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.


 * The Metal Gear universe: A third-party franchise. A series of stealth and espionage shooting games set on a fictional take of real-world Earth in somewhat apocalyptic time periods in the future where nuclear deterrence and various moral issues are dealt with as social commentary by the games themselves. The series' main star, Solid Snake, is a playable character.


 * The Sonic(universe)|Sonic universe]]: A third party franchise, one of SEGA's primary franchises, and a longtime rival franchise to Nintendo's Mario in the years before SEGA became a software developer for Nintendo and other companies. This world with anthropomorphic characters is the setting of many games covering multiple genres. Its eponymous mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, is a playable character and a highly anticipated character.