Universe

A universe is a term first used by the Smash Bros. community, as well the Smash Flash community, to collectively refer to all the particular characters, stages, items 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 Flash games classify as major enough that they assign each franchise its own unique "universe icon or symbol" (they only appear in Super Smash Flash 2) 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 Flash. games as part of their primary content. However, the minimum requirement for an icon is to contribute one stage or one character to the games.


 * The Super Smash Bros. 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 bosses Master Hand and Crazy Hand are from this universe.


 * 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 Flash. games, and has been accompanied by his brother Luigi, the Mushroom Kingdom princess Peach, 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. Several properties seen in Mario 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 spin-off. The direction of British company Rareware, focusing on Donkey Kong and his many simian relatives and reptilian nemeses. Donkey Kong himself is a playable character.


 * 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 that portray several incarnations and continuities of its protagonists, especially in the young Hylian hero Link and Princess of Hyrule, Zelda, along with his alter-ego Sheik.


 * 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 known as Zero Suit Samus) is the primary playable character.


 * 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 and his menacing rival Meta Knight, have 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 of the games' characters are anthropomorphic animals. The de facto leader of the "Star Fox" team, Fox McCloud, is a playable character.


 * 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 in Super Smash Flash consist of electric mouse mascot Pikachu, the hypnotic pink puffball Jigglypuff and psychic humanoid Mewtwo. Pikachu and Jigglypuff also returns in Super Smash Flash 2. Because of the Poké Balls', Pokémon is the most heavily represented universe.


 * 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.


 * 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. Ness, the protagonist of EarthBound (MOTHER 2) is a playable character.


 * The Fire Emblem universe: A fantasy tactical role-playing video game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems, the maker of Advance Wars (which shares some of Fire Emblem's strategic elements), and published by Nintendo. The Fire Emblem series is well-known for its innovation and for being one of the first Eastern style tactical role-playing games, with a strong emphasis on Western forms of medieval folklore. It has been confirmed that this universe will be represented in Super Smash Flash 2 in one or more forms.


 * The Game &amp; 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 & Watch, and he's a playable character in SSF.


 * 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 in Super Smash Bros. Brawl..


 * The 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, Shadow the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower and Knuckles the Echidna are playable characters and are highly anticipated. Sonic and Tails have also returned in Super Smash Flash 2.


 * The Mega Man universe: A third-party franchise, one of Capcom's primary franchises, this series tell the story of Rock, a robot created as a lab assistant by the scientist Dr. Thomas Light; following treachery by Dr. Wily, Rock was converted into a fighting robot to defend the world from Wily's violent robotic threats. Thus he becomes Mega Man (Rockman in the Japanese original). However, this series featured another storylines completely different to the classic one. In Super Smash Flash, Mega Man X and Zero from the Mega Man X series are playable characters, while in Super Smash Flash 2, the Mega Man of the classic series is a playable character.


 * The Tales universe: A third party franchise, is series of console role-playing games published by Namco. This series is not visualized on a certain world, being that most tales game do not have the same characters, and setting. The game that is primarily featured is Tales of Symphonia which takes place in the fictional world of Sylvarant, a land that is dying due to a steady loss of mana, the energy source that is needed both for magic and to support life itself. The main protagonist Lloyd is a playable character.


 * The Final Fantasy universe: A third-party franchise, the most best-selling franchise published and developed by Square Enix, most of the installments are independent stories; however, they feature common elements that define the franchise. Such elements include recurring creatures, character names, airships and character classes. The protagonist of Final Fantasy VII and other spin-offs Cloud is the only playable character in Super Smash Flash while the Black Mage has made a surprise introduction to Super Smash Flash 2. This universe also has it's own sub-universe: the Kingdom Hearts universe.


 * The Kingdom Hearts universe: A third-party franchise, the only sub-universe of Final Fantasy, is an Action-RPG crossover of various Disney settings, based in a universe made specifically for the series, and characters from Final Fantasy. The series' main character Sora, is a playable character.


 * The Chrono universe: A third-party franchise, one more series of role-playing games published and developed by Square Enix. This visualized the time traveling game Chrono Tigger, that takes place on a fictional alternate timeline of earth as the characters frequently travel through time to obtain allies, gather equipment, or learn information for their quest. The main protagonist Crono is a playable character in SSF.


 * The Bleach universe: A fourth-party franchise, based on the manga and anime series of the same name created and written by Tite Kubo, it follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he accidentally obtains the power of a shinigami from Kuchiki Rukia. Gaining these abilities forces him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife. Ichigo is a playable character.


 * The Dragon Ball universe: A fourth-party franchise, based on the manga and anime series of the same name created and written by Akira Toriyama, about mystical objects called the Dragon Balls. This series are visualized in the Dragon Ball Z series. The main protagonist is Son Goku, a Saiyan who utilizes skills and abilities of the martial arts, he uses his powers for the benefit of humans. He is playable in Super Smash Flash 2.


 * The Naruto universe: A fourth-party franchise, based on the manga and anime series of the same name created and written by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become a Hokage, the ninja in his village that is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all. Naruto is so far the only playable character. He appears in Super Smash Flash in his original outfit, and in his Shippūden costume in Super Smash Flash 2.


 * The McLeodGaming universe: The universe of the custom characters, McLeodGaming is website dedicated to flash games, cartoons, and music for entertainment and pleasure. Famous for showcasing the Super Smash Flash series. Former sonic recolors Blade and Blue, the swordsman hedgehogs, were playable characters in Super Smash Flash.


 * The InuYasha universe: A manga and anime franchise, the series follows InuYasha, a hanyō (半妖, Half-Demon); Higurashi Kagome, a time-traveling high school student; Miroku, a lecherous monk; Shippō, a Fox Yōkai; Sango, a demon slayer; and her nekomata Kilala during the Sengoku period as they seek to find all the fragments of the Shikon no Tama and to keep them out of the hands of evildoers, especially Naraku. Even though the series consists of various characters, only InuYasha makes his stance in Super Smash Flash.


 * The Incredibles universe: A fourth-party franchise, based on the 2004 computer-animated feature film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures with the same name, centering on a family of superheroes. Only Mr. Incredible is playable in Super Smash Flash.

Minor universes
These are the various franchises that have not been recognized as primary universes by any Smash Flash game, and this is indicated by the fact these franchises do not carry their own universe symbols. As a general rule, such universes lack any playable characters or stages in the games, but if any of the following franchises contributes an item, Assist Trophy, music, or some other minor element. Like in the original Smash Bros. games, the universe is assigned the property and its respective franchise the Smash Bros. universe symbol.


 * The Death Note universe: A manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and manga artist Takeshi Obata centering on Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", with the ability to kill anyone by writing the victim's name on the notebook. Light contributes as an Assist Trophy in SSF2 using the "Death Note", as it was explained, to attack a specific opponent.


 * The Samba de Amigo universe: A third-party franchise that is composed of games of the rhythm genre. All ports focus more on Latin rhythm rather than samba, despite the name. It could be consider a partner series to the Sonic universe as some elements from Samba de Amigo are included in Sonic spin-offs. Amigo, the main character, appears in SSF2 as an Assist Trophy setting a Latin rhythm when he is summoned, forcing all the opponents to taunt uncontrollably as long he is on the screen playing his maracas.


 * The Legendary Starfy universe: A video game series developed by TOSE (who also developed the Game & Watch Gallery series) and published by Nintendo. The series is the only franchise that TOSE owns the copyright for, although Nintendo owns the copyright as well. The series began in 2002 with Densetsu no Stafy for the Game Boy Advance, and four sequels were released. For its first seven years, no Starfy games were officially released outside of Japan. The fifth game in the series was released as The Legendary Starfy in North America on June 8, 2009.


 * The Pac-Man universe: A a series of video games produced by Namco. Beginning with the first game, Pac-Man, most games feature the player guiding a character through a maze collecting dots and avoiding ghosts. Some later games broke out of this genre, incorporating platforming and other elements into gameplay.


 * The Viewtiful Joe universe: A video game series developed by Capcom's Production Studio 4 for the Nintendo GameCube. It was originally released in 2003 as a part of the Capcom Five under director Hideki Kamiya and producer Atsushi Inaba. he game's story concerns Joe, an avid movie-goer whose girlfriend Silvia is kidnapped during a film starring Joe's favorite superhero, Captain Blue. Joe is shortly thereafter thrust into Movieland, where Silvia is taken by the villainous group known as Jadow. After accepting a special V-Watch from Captain Blue, Joe transforms into the tokusatsu-style persona "Viewtiful Joe" and sets out to rescue her