The Super Smash Bros franchise has a long history of interesting characters not only to look at thanks to its unique meld of visual styles but also to play with since series director         Masahiro Sakurai and his team have an unparalleled passion and eye for detail that leads to some of the most exciting fighter additions one could hope for.

With the recent release of Sora marking the end of new fighters to Super Smash Bros Ultimate, it might be the right time to look back at the newcomers to the series through the lenses of the competitive scene and see who gravitates towards these SSBU characters to win majors or just provide a worthy challenge to their contemporaries.

Piranha Plant

Let’s start with an easy one. Although these days, there are virtually no well-known Piranha Plant players at the high end of the competitive scene. In keeping with the character’s highlight, two players showcased a surprisingly good level of play with this obtuse addition. DiZ from central Florida achieved surprising top 32 performances in NA competitions, and Lucky, a Minnesota player, terrorized the mid-west with his oppressing plant-based aggression.

Byleth

On the same theme of very few picks but for a completely different reason are Byleth and MKLeo. The Mexican player has, without a doubt, taken the character to heart and run with it after fielding Joker for some time.

In his time with the blue-haired fire emblem rep, he has accredited 1st palace finishes at Riptide, Lowe Tide City, and even Mainstage. He is generally considered the absolute best player in Ultimate, and there is an argument to be made that he can hold on to that title with or without byleth. But the two have now become nearly inseparable.

King K. Rool

Coming back down from a highly competitive character with a super-star player at its helm, let’s talk about King K Rool. A character, which feels like it was always part of the game’s base roster by all accounts.

As a super heavy King, K. Rool was never destined to the high-end competitive landscape. Often these characters have their best seasons in the early days of competition. Nevertheless, KirbyKid is the best King K. Rool player, with plenty of top 16 and top 8 finishes at regional and international competitions.

Pyra and Mythra

Since we want to highlight everyone, we will have to skip MKLeo for this one. Even though without a doubt, they are one of the best players for this powerful Duo, the honor of the highlight will go to a close competitor of his.

Sparg0. A brilliant who has taken the new pair of characters from the Xenoblade franchise and indeed powered through brackets at major tournaments. Although a win at any of them has yet to materialize for him, it is only a matter of time.

Simon

Since it was released with an echo, Ritcher is a rather interesting character. Its long-range and extensive projectile reliance made it a weird fit in the competitive scene, requiring extensive knowledge of matchups and, in some cases, outright being useless against certain characters.

The one player that can generally be regarded as the flag bearer for Simon, at least for the most relevant character, is Riddles, who would pick up fighting game characters later on in his career. Nevertheless, he secured top 8 and top 16 finishes with the Belmonts.

Joker

Let’s talk about MKLeo again. Ok, maybe not. We want to highlight for this character is naitosharp, and although they are not a full-time Joker main, they still make great use of character. They have certainly incorporated the Persona 5 protagonist into their regular rotation of characters depending on the matchup.

Steve

Of course, just about one of the most exciting addition to Smash had to appear on this list. Steve, and Alex, are just about the most obtuse characters you can play in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Their block-stacking ability has led to rather unfortunate situations in competitive games, though by now those have been resolved.

The most prolific user of the blocky character then is Jake, the American player who achieved 9th place at InfinityCON and 25th at Riptide, which considering the general position of the character in tier lists, says a lot.