Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has one of the largest character rosters in any fighting game in history, currently with over 80 playable characters and more to come as the game continues with its lifespan. While most of these characters come from different franchises that are associated with Nintendo, arguably one of the most popular franchises associated with Smash Ultimate would be that of the Fire Emblem series. For many people, the Smash Bros. series is the first time people became aware of Fire Emblem, a tactical role-playing game that first appeared in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Throughout the Smash Bros. series lifetime, Fire Emblem characters have become a staple for the fighting game, for sword characters not only offer a playstyle that has clear advantages and disadvantages, but wound up being its own archetype in the game.

With this being said, the Fire Emblem series has a total of eight representatives in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with each character having its own set of strengths and weaknesses that make them feel unique. Now, let’s look at each of these characters and see what exactly makes them different from one another.

Marth

The first character introduced from the Fire Emblem series was Marth. What makes him unique compared to other characters in the game is that he has a mechanic referred to as a “tipper”, which essentially rewards the player for properly spacing out moves, in which the hit lands on the tip of his sword. The reward for hitting an opponent with the tip is increased damage and knockback, which can lead to some pretty early stocks being taken.

Unfortunately, what is Marth’s greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. The lack of consistency that comes from attempting to properly space out attacks in order to maximize the character can be a burden. Marth also does not have many combos, with his bread-and-butter combos being that of Up-Tilt into Back-Air, in which it becomes less effective when the tipper does not land.

Pro players have shown the potential of what this character can do with enough practice, and the recent buffs in the Ver. 8.0 patch gives a bit more hope that the character can break out of Mid-tier. If you are up for a bit of a challenge, picking up Marth can be a rewarding feeling, but if you are looking for a character with better results, then perhaps you want to pick up Marth’s echo fighter, who is the next character on this list.

Lucina

Lucina is the epitome of a good sword character. She can be aggressive in terms of her playstyle, constantly swinging her sword and potentially overwhelming opponents, or she can play defensive, using her sword disjoint to make sure opponents keep their distance and not overcommit. What makes Lucina better than her counterpart, Marth, is that her damage is evenly distributed throughout her sword. This creates more consistency with the character, an attribute that is highly important in a game like Smash Ultimate.

With that being said, Lucina pretty much has it all. She has a good recovery, a good out-of-shield option with her Frame 1 Up-Special, phenomenal edge guarding with tools such as Forward-Air and Back-Air (not to mention a counter that beats anyone with a hitbox in their recovery), decent kill power with Back-Air and Forward Smash, easy bread-and-butter combos that can be started with moves like Up-Tilt, and is just an overall is a solid character. She did receive some nerfs throughout the lifespan of Smash Ultimate, but this did not really hinder her overall performance.

Players with a good understanding of playing the neutral game and good fundamental mechanics are going to want to pick up this character, for her strengths outweigh her weaknesses, ultimately leading her to not only be one of the better Fire Emblem characters, but one of the best characters in Smash Ultimate’s roster in general.

Roy

Depending on who you ask, Roy is viewed as perhaps the strongest representative from the Fire Emblem series. He has good aerials, good air and ground speed, a good recovery, and LOTS of kill power. So what’s his weakness? Well, Roy does more damage at the hilt of his sword, and less the further away you are from the hilt.

Now the reason why this can be a bit of a hindrance is that this effectively makes him most efficient as a brawler, for if one wants to maximize his overall damage and kill power, you will need to fight up close. This gimmick that pertains to just Roy is not enough to put him into obscurity, far from it. But by making him have what can be seen as a “reverse tipper,” you take away what fundamentally makes sword characters have an advantage over non-sword characters, which is having that extra range for attacks.

However, with the help of small buffs along the lifespan of the game, Roy actually has good combos with the sour spot of his sword, such as sour spot Neutral-air into Jab into Side Special, which is a true combo that can kill very early on. When it comes down to it, Roy’s gimmick is not enough to put him outside of Top-tier, but it is easy to see how his placing on tier lists can be capped due to his gimmick.

Chrom

Chrom is viewed as an echo fighter to Roy, but with a few key differences. For one, his damage is evenly distributed throughout his sword rather than his counterpart, but the more noticeable difference is that of his recovery, which is completely vertical and does not travel very far.

Like Roy, Chrom has good overall ground and air speed, and packs the same overall power. Moves such as Back-Air and Forward-Air are clear KO options, so opponents need to respect those options, especially at higher percent. Unfortunately for Chrom, his recovery is his biggest weakness, so much so that players often debate as to whether or he is a Top-tier or Mid-tier character.

A lack of horizontal recovery means Chrom’s way of getting back on-stage is one dimensional, so it can be pretty easy to play against. With so many characters in Smash Ultimate having good ledge trapping and edge guarding tools, all opponents need to do is get Chrom off-stage, which isn’t that difficult when so many Top-tier characters have good grabs and other tools that can throw Chrom off.

With this being said, Chrom still has good representation in the community and has seen decent results, but his weakness can be easily exploited, which can sometimes be too frustrating for players that are willing to pick him up.

Ike

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Early on in Smash Ultimate’s lifespan, Ike was viewed as one of the best characters in the game. Being viewed as “N-air the character,” pro players showed how good Ike can be if properly utilized. However as time went on, players started to drop the character, for his playstyle ended up being kind of one dimensional.

Ike pretty much wants to Neutral-Air you, which can really only combo into itself or into Up-Air, which was his only kill option until the most recent patch. Now he can Down-Tilt into Forward-Air or Up-Air which leads to kills at higher percent, but this still is not enough to really take him out of Mid-tier for most people. He is slow moving on the ground, his smash attacks have slow start-ups and are punishable, and his playstyle can be easily worked around if you know what you are doing. He does have a decent recovery option with his Side Special, although this is situational and can be punished by some characters. Ike is not necessarily a bad character, but a middle of the pack character that if you put time into, you can get decent results with.

Robin

Robin is definitely the most unique character from the Fire Emblem series in terms of character design. By default, he is still considered a sword character, but has noticeably less range than the other Fire Emblem characters. To make things simple, basically he switches from his Bronze Sword, which is his default sword, to his Levin Sword, which charges up over time and slightly alters his moves. Not only does he have a different sword, he also has these items referred to as Tomes, which essentially give him abilities in the form of his special moves and use up energy over time. Once he runs out of energy in his Levin Sword or Tomes, he temporarily cannot use those moves until the respected item recharges.

Robin falls short for a similar reason as to why Marth falls short: consistency. Relying on resources that have to recharge over time can be detrimental in certain situations, perhaps even costing you entire games. While part of the skill is understanding how to manage these resources, depending on the match up, some resources are going to be used more than others, which makes it harder to adapt to fighting against certain characters.

Aside from resources, Robin is not spectacular in any aspect. He has good aerials, his special moves can cover a lot of ground and be used for some flashy combos, but he is slow moving and his overall reliance on resources ultimately hurt this character from breaking out of Mid-tier.

Corrin

Corrin is one of the characters that suffered the most from the transition from Smash 4 to Smash Ultimate. What was once easily a Top-tier in the previous game, now is viewed as a Bottom-tier in this iteration.

However, Corrin received quite a few buffs in the most recent patch that has given him some relevance again. Now, moves like Forward-Air have increased damage, meaning the hit-stun on the move is increased. This then allows Corrin to more easily combo into moves such as his Neutral Special or Side Special, thus making kill confirms much more prevalent. Along with that, moves such as Up-Air and Side Smash got an increase in damage, further improving his kill potential at higher percent.

The issue still remains that Corrin’s weaknesses are easily exploited, referring to his slow movement and mediocre recovery, two things that in this game so many characters can take advantage of. Although things are looking up for the half-human/half-dragon hybrid, there are other sword characters that quite frankly are just better.

Byleth

Last but not least is Byleth, the newest addition from the Fire Emblem Series. Byleth is unique in the sense that she has a higher range than other Fire Emblem characters, which is a staple in her playstyle, but poor frame data and just overall slow movement speed that really hinder this character. Now one thing that can for sure be said about Byleth is that she has a really strong damage output. Moves like Back-Air and Down Special can for sure take stocks, and with moves like Neutral Air that can be used to rack up damage safely, she has potential to be an above average character with a few buffs in the future.

The big issue with Byleth is she is just slow in general. As powerful as a move as Down Special is, the slow start up paired with high end lag makes the move too committal, and moves like Neutral Special are so telegraphed that really no one should get hit by it. She does have a pretty cool Up Special in the sense that it spikes if it catches opponents, and her overall design does feel like a true representation of the game in which she came from, but in terms of where she fits in the current meta, she is Mid-tier at best.

Conclusion

The Fire Emblem representation in Smash Ultimate is quite large, with a nice variety of characters that not only feel true to what games they appear in but feel like they all have their own place in Smash Ultimate itself. Giving every fighter a try is something that players should consider, even if some of the characters are fundamentally similar. Give them a try! Who knows, maybe you might end up having an extra character in your back pocket or even main one of them.