Best Current 3 Players of Every Ultimate Character (Melee Cast)
Given that Ultimate has a notoriously well-balanced cast, it is naturally difficult to keep track of who is even the best of any given character. Just listing the best of each wouldn’t be reaching the depths of the iceberg; for many not even two is enough! This is why we are opting to highlight the best three of each respective character. This includes even the niche ones who see little competitive play. Each segment has a short description of skill, history, or achievements, and we are using a gap system to signify whether there is a major discrepancy or not between the players. Sometimes a question mark will be used if a gap cannot be fairly or properly assessed (often due to regional differences). I have also decided that at the very end of this series, I will go back to every single article to rerank some characters because the 64 one is already partly outdated. The writing style has also been slightly shortened for my sanity.
Without further ado, here are the best 3 players of each character in Smash Ultimate, starting with the base Melee cast:
NOTE: This article is TIME SENSITIVE, this was written post-WAVE#4. It is also rating the current top players, so legacy means a lot less. Any type of banned player is also excluded.
Peach/Daisy: Muteace >> Umeki >> Ling
Florida’s (or Texa’s) Muteace has seen one of the best runs in recent times. This was most notably seen in his journey to 2nd at Genesis 9, where he beat the best player in Japan, Europe, arguably the best in the USA and Mexico, and finally beating one of the best of Peach’s worst MU (G&W). His play reminds people that Peach never truly left the meta and that the character can beat anybody. This doesn’t mean Muteace hasn’t always been a threat, as he’s been top 50 for almost the entire game’s lifespan, but he is currently at his peak and is only looking for more. With a solid SUS6 under his belt as well as future attendance, Muteace is making a case for top 10.
Kanto’s Umeki has seen one of the oddest histories of any top player, with periods of absurd consistency followed by periods of blowouts. His peaks and consistency still lend him to being the second best Peach/Daisy player by quite a large margin. His win quality over the past year is quite strong and includes Shuton, KEN, and Atelier while his best performances such as JP24 and WAVE#4 more than noteworthy. He is however in the midst of his strangest period yet, where he can lose to anybody but beat anybody. He still pilots the character like nobody else, implementing tech at an absurdly rapid rate, and solidly takes the slot as the best Daisy.
Connecticut’s Ling has always had a comfortable spot in Ultimate, being incredibly good but always being right outside of that zone. That still applies now, where he usually goes on good runs but still lacks the overall wins to be ranked any higher. His only big win this year is Quidd if we don’t count locals, but he is sure to get more as time moves forward!
Bowser: Hero >> LeoN >> Mukuro~
Kanto’s Hero is often considered one of the prime players for a surprise performance when they eventually go overseas, and I couldn’t agree more. Having a notorious record over NA slayer Protobanham as well as wins over players like Yoshidora, KEN, and Kameme, he has cemented himself as a top 10 player in Japan with a character that “fell off”. His current year is lagging behind, but even then still has respectable wins like Gackt, Atelier, and Kaninabe while avoiding bad losses the majority of the time. His main limiting factor is that he only attends majors or really big regionals, which limits his data, yet we still know he is strong enough to make a massive run.
New Jersey’s LeoN has been the Bowser main during the early meta game and still continues to put up strong results. This year he already has wins on Ned, Chase, and Puppeh with such a small sample size and continues to slowly rack up wins over the year. The talk about him “falling off” has been greatly exaggerated. He is still able to make the big runs and has post-quarantine. All we need to do is wait for his future performances.
Germany’s Mukuro~ is Europe’s best Bowser and has been for the entirety of Ultimate’s lifespan (you may know them as DarkThunder formerly). Continuing a streak of really strong wins that include quiK, Tarik, and Longo with such a low sample size is quite impressive. That’s the main limiting factor as the number of ranked tournaments is lacking, but there is no denying that he continues to be good.
Ice Climbers: Big D >> Futari no Kiwami Ah~! > Harasen
Canada’s Big D is often considered the best player in the world by a couple players because there is no other way to explain how he is so good. His defense and offense look nearly unmatchable when he pilots both climbers and even the Sopo is enough to take out entire stocks. Despite all expectations, he continues to make the top cut at several majors which include GOML, Mainstage, and SUS6, while showing no signs of slowing down. He even breaks expectations with the players he beats which include acola and Apollokage. Any matchup he is favored in may be doomed, which includes Light, Kurama, and Glutonny. Your character pick can not save you from Big D, you need to be prepared, he has defied expectations of what is possible with the character.
Kanto’s Futari no Kiwami Ah~! is one of the Japan players of all time (and what is up with these Ice Climber tags). Do not let the tag trick you though, he is undeniably a top level threat who is also able to defy expectations. Some of his best wins are over Miya and Yoshidora, proving he can easily keep up with the top of the class. The main thing that holds Futakiwa back is his inconsistencies, which may be some of the most extreme of anyone on this list. One day he will beat the second best player in the country, and the next, lose to the fourth best Snake in Kyushu (hyperbole, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened). You never know what mode he is on that day, he speaks the language of “Ah~!” which means everybody must consider him a threat.
Kanto’s Harasen, is yet another case of extremes. His wins defy what is expected of the characters: zackray, Kome, and DIO just to name a few. He is also part of the group to successfully defends Japan from the internationals coming to Japan, notably Aaron. Basically everything inconsistency-wise I said about Futakiwa applies here, though with lower peaks. Harasen rightfully earned a HM spot on Orionrank last year, and he is potentially looking for more.
Sheik: Eim > Mr. R >> VoiD
Kanto’s Eim is having a commendable season where he is able to stay pretty consistent. He is also the only Sheik main to top 8 recently and to ever top 2 a major, his loyalty to the character ever since he swapped over Joker has been commendable. The issue is that his win quality doesn’t support his consistency yet, where his best wins are a mix of Hero, HIKARU, or Umeki. It is impossible to ignore the trajectory though, there will come a point where he does get that big win.
Netherland’s Mr. R is finally back to committing to Sheik, and his results have returned to stability. His switch back was met by a bit of skepticism, but he would immediately get a win on Glutonny in his first true Sheik tournament, shutting it down. Since then he has wins on Bloom4Eva and MKBigBoss. He is attending Golden Week, potentially proving that he is the best Sheik in the world.
Socal’s VoiD is a weird inclusion here. Obviously I have to mention his win over Sparg0, an incredible victory over his legacy bracket demon, giving him his first top 5 win since his first return of offline at Summit 3. He has stated he will compete more soon with mostly mixed results, but his potential and peak wins secure him a massive hidden boss.
Zelda: Yn >> Naskino > ven
Kansai’s Yn has been breaking many records for the character, including best placement, best peak win, and obviously now the best Zelda. His win quality just this year is quite the list: Asimo, Eim, Kome, Paseriman, and AC. Almost all of this came from his 9th place finish at MaesumaTOP#11 which was the best Zelda run ever. Yn does have the issue of losing early on in pools and then failing to do anything in losers, but there is no ignoring that they can get runs done.
France’s Naskino is a player who often dominates regionals and locals. They have already gotten a Leon win early this year despite the lack of nonlocals, but their resume is sure to improve with time. Just last year they started to go off, beating those like Mr. E, NaetorU, and Mezcaul. They have cleanly put Zelda on the map in Europe, and are likely to only continue doing so.
Nevada’s ven is again a primarily local based player, but in the few ranked events they attend, it counts. They held the record for best Zelda placement with a 9th at LVL UP EXPO 2022 for around two weeks, taking down Chronos and frawg. It is yet again unrealistic to only expect this run to be an outlier, especially since historically ven has been the best Zelda. At their locals they have shown wins on Sonix, Wrath, and Captaincito and although some of these are negative overall records, the wins are still there. ven is mostly known for their pre-quarantine runs, but that doesn’t mean they are out yet.
Dr Mario: Shissho > Tsumusuto >> Meowscarada
Kyushu’s Shissho is an odd case, where their sudden dominance over a tournament series led them to be ranked near fringe top 100 on many ranks, this being the KOWLOON tournaments. KOWLOON #1 was a victory for him with wins over Munekin x2 and Paseriman, not the most impressive, but it kept going. KOWLOON #2 he would get a win on Yaura and Manzoku, only losing to HIKARU for 2nd place. These runs defined him for awhile, and although he still gets stray wins like Tsubotsubo and Tsu, they have left him permanently on the poster of what is now a major series. Shissho as expected for the character is inconsistent, but when his runs count, they hit hard.
Kansai’s Tsumusuto is the notorious Doctor Mario to have gotten 3rd at a major, MaesumaTOP#9. Many argue it was a lucky run, and although it was a great bracket for success, that undermines the amount of work they put in. The wins he got here were Shirayuki, Shogun, Masha, and Toriguri which are wins you could realistically expect to top 8 a major with. Now this absurd accomplishment may seem weird to not be listed as the best Doctor, but his consistency since has been lacking, paired with him swapping onto Mii Gunner more. Tsumusuto still takes out Doctor though, and the chances he replicates that run is never zero.
Illinois’s Meowscarada was a tough one between them and BacoN, ultimately settling here because of recent runs. Their Ignition #300 (which was advertised differently from the rest of the local series) run counted and left with wins over skittles, Ikan, loaf, and comet to finish 2nd which makes it the best Doctor Mario run this current year. In general, their performances in the region are surprisingly consistent, and we could potentially see a breakout performance at a big event at some point.
Pichu: NaetorU > Nietono >>> Blacktwins
France’s NaetorU got flack for his summit spot for no reason. Even if we just look at his international wins, they include SALTONE, Lea, and Chag. This is ignoring his great success in Europe too which includes wins on Bloom4Eva, Sisqui, and Mr. R. The only reason he got this much hate was because he was European, plain and simple. He has had plenty of successful runs in NA and Europe, and he isn’t looking to stop as he now takes the spot as best Pichu.
Kanto’s Nietono may be a surprise, he just top 8ed a major and still has great wins, how is he this low? The issue is that he did that with Diddy Kong. His last massive victory with Pichu was in all the way back in June 2022 against Protobanham and Kameme at MaesumaTOP#8 (which he did make top 3). Do not think he is fully done with the character though, as he still has recent wins with Pichu against yuzu and Akakikusu, paired with a pretty dominant win at Phantom 2022. His future with Pichu is unknown, which is why I can not place him higher. That said he is still a player you have to look out for at any Japanese bracket, no matter the character.
Canada’s Blacktwins is another case where it is hard to find Pichu players, seems like most of them are leaving him. Blacktwins still finds much success with the character whenever it isn’t with Aegis. Some somewhat wins include Puppeh and much of the Canada PR. It is difficult to track what characters got what wins, and Blacktwins usage of Pichu seems to be decreasing slowly. Blacktwins remains one of Canada’s finest, no matter who they use.
Falco: MASA > Tilde>> Larry Lurr
Kanto’s MASA is an oddity. He has some great wins this season: Hero, Rizeasu, and Ryuoh, but also falls into the category of not having a lot of data. Just as I was making the list though, his runs at Gen 1.1 and WAVE#4 became some of his best. He would win beating KEN, zackray, Paseriman, and Yamanaction twice in just those two runs. He is even looking to travel internationally currently, which is where MASA might finally go from being one of Japan’s best underrated players to becoming a universally known threat. This article was written pre-Gen 1.1 where I had Tilde and MASA roughly equal, I can’t do that in good faith currently though as MASA has had a pretty incredible couple weeks and is likely to continue doing so.
New York’s Tilde is well-known to be the champion of the universally agreed upon major Riptide 2022, taking wins on Zomba, Apollokage, Lima, and Peabnut. There is more to his recent resume though, which includes an impressive win over Maister at LMBM 2023 and being a surprisingly active international traveler. Some wins he has gotten overseas is Sisqui, Icymist, AndresFN, Leon, and Tarik. He lacks attendance currently, which means his results lag a bit behind competition, but it is unlikely he will go anywhere.
Socal’s Larry Lurr uses Falco alongside Wolf, and is surprisingly slept on until he gets a big win. Just this Dreamhack San Diego he beat Lui$ and Andrik, which only called in a wave of people saying how he is still a threat. It seems like a majority of his wins are from regionals, which include Fatality, Space, Supahsemmie, and a win at Dreamhack Rotterdam. His majors leave a bit to be desired, but when it comes to it, you can never count the Lurr out.
EDIT: Realistically Motsunabe was solidly the third best Falco by the time the article released but wasn’t when in early production.
Marth: Rizeasu ? MkLeo > Kreeg
Kansai’s Rizeasu is the only player to not only stick to Marth for a large number of wins, but also some of his largest. His win at Sumabato 32 was almost all solo Marth, taking it over HIKARU x2, Kaninabe, and Komorikiri. It’s not like it has lacked usage since either, taking wins over Hero and Masha at JP24. The only thing that holds it back is its current standings as Rizeasu has yet again picked up another character, Cloud. Whether the Marth returns to his lineup of 3 billion characters is to be seen, but Rizeasu has clearly put up the most consistent Marth results of anybody recently.
Mexico’s MkLeo has used Marth once in recent times to beat somebody, that being Riddles. It was a reverse 3–0 when his Byleth got destroyed in the first two games, so it was clear that it made the set. Besides that set, we haven’t really seen the Marth since. It makes it difficult to rank this Marth, it’s maybe the best as it’s piloted by the GOAT, on the other hand he doesn’t use it ever. Perhaps MkLeo will give a shot at Marth another time, who knows.
Utah’s Kreeg has switched from Roy to the notable swordsman, and for the first time in a long time, dethroned Scend from the title of best in Utah. He has beaten everybody in Utah, but don’t think he only beats them here. At majors they have taken wins on Jakal and Lui$, the prelocal wins also show great promise such as Mr. E and Justice. Kreeg has risen up fast, and will likely be seen more in the future due to his great success.
Lucina: Protobanham >>> Mr E > Leon
Kanto’s Protobanham has a Lucina which is considered one of the most creative and artful piloting of any character in the game, and I have to agree. A large part of his success comes from how efficient the Noodles/Lucina comain is, but the Lucina always seems to make the final stretch with it beating Tweek and Riddles at the last summit. Keep in mind that he beat these players after a 6 month hiatus. Just before his hiatus, he still had great success with Lucina, using it to defeat zackray, Eim, and Sigma. We will have to wait and see what his next tournament is, but he will come back in full force.
New York’s (or France’s) Mr. E had quite the journey in Europe, top 8ing majors and getting wins on near everybody. Do not believe it was Europe being free though, has he replicated similar results coming back to the USA too. This year he already has a win on Zomba and top 8ed LVL UP EXPO 2023. They lack full consistency, getting 49th at all other three majors attended, but there will be a point where he gets another good win or run.
France’s Leon has had a weird stretch. Got his best ever international win over Riddles, but it was using his secondary Chrom. He did beat Apollokage with Lucina at Genesis, which he still has going for him. His EU tournaments have been on and off, being consistently upset early but still ends up finding wins over good EU players, though not necessarily the top. All in all it’s simply too early to judge right now, but his trend line is both promising.
Young Link: Suinoko ? skittles ? Jdizzle
Kanto’s Suinoko is potentially in his best time period yet. He is the only Young Link to top 8 a major this year so far, taking a 7th place at Seibugeki #13, while having the largest quantity of wins such as Jagaimo, Kaninabe, Kome, Shogun, and Masha. Not every event of his is a breakout, most of them are brackets where he takes no bad losses and no wins. However, at the events that matter he is avoiding bad losses a majority of the time. If you had to make a safe pick for best Young Link, Suinoko is likely the best option as he has a good mix of consistency and solid runs. He is a grinder, and continues to enter at a staggering rate.
Iowa’s skittles has lacked a lot of ranked attendance, but the couple events he has attended this year he has taken wins on Apollokage, Dark Wizzy, and Esam. Being the only one of his character to be ranked consistently throughout post-quarantine, he makes quite the case to take the title of best Young Link. As the other regions catch up, it becomes harder to tell, but is is undeniable that skittle will continue being a top level threat.
Australia’s Jdizzle is Australia’s best player, which unfortunately makes it hard to judge him against the field. Jdizzle has stated a new goal though, to make the top cut at Japanese events, and so far the progress is solid. Some of his best wins include Gackt, Lv.1, and Tsubotsubo. Even in the states he continues to get better wins as at Genesis he beat Gackt (again), omega, and JDV. And as expected, he continues to dominate his home country. His international journey continues during Golden Week, and he is going in with what is likely his best string of results yet.
Ganondorf: Major? Higachan ? Gungnir
Oregon’s Major has a claim to the throne with a singular win, being over Scend. He does have a lot more attendance in comparison to his contemporaries, having a positive win rate and being quite good in-region locally. There is much higher chance that Major proves things in comparison to everyone else here, potentially leaving space for him to become the undisputed best Ganondorf.
Kanto’s Higachan has a singular win offline, being against Atelier at JP24. This is likely the best Ganondorf win since the infamous Light set at Collision 2019. At his other tournament (supermajor) he would go 2–2. This character lacks results, so this one result paired with his reputation is enough to put him in the top 3. Whether he continues to get great top player wins offline is to be seen.
Chubu’s Gungnir hasn’t attended an offline event in months, which may be questionable about why he is even eligible for the list. The answer is that there is no other good options. And the events which Gungnir does attend he actually leaves with a solid quantity of wins including Ly, momon, and a variety of other depth. He doesn’t make an appearance often, but when he does people turn their eyes.
Mewtwo: WaDi >>> Grade > Kento
Virginia’s WaDi may be the last Mewtwo top player in existence, and he is constantly on the search for other mains and secondaries too. Some of his best wins which are confirmed to be with Mewtwo semi-recently are Fatality and Zinoto. He is really the only Mewtwo to get good wins ever, famously beating Sparg0 at Riptide 2021 (before he universally considered a top level threat). It makes WaDi the only Mewtwo in contention for the spot, which means the future for this character is odd.
Canada’s Grade is potentially seeing switches to a variety of characters, but their wins with Mewtwo remain strong still. Their wins over Blacktwins and Mistake are their most recent wins. With a low attendance rate of nonlocals paired with sparse character data, it is hard to tell what character is used. Grade is definitely a strong player, and continues to push Mewtwo as far as they can.
Kansai’s Kento has low attendance and wildly varying performances. He does takes wins like YamaD and more depth. It becomes apparent that the Mewtwo meta has few strong players, Kento being the only one listed to fully dedicate himself to the character. Kento is poised to eventually go to more offline events, where they may find more success.
Roy: SaltOne/Kola > Goblin ? HIKARU
Georgia’s Saltone/Kola is king of Georgia, alongside having what may be the most explosive play styles in the world. With a quick ascent between pre and post quarantine, he almost immediately made himself known as a top 20 threat. With wins over almost everybody last year (acola, Sparg0, and Light to name a few), the start of his 2023 hasn’t yet shown this form. Don’t let that fool you as he has still top 8ed majors and taken down incredibly strong players. He has already won a major, CEO 2021, who says that this time won’t come again? Kola is never finished, he will be back to shock the world.
Florida’s Goblin is known to be explosive in all senses. One day he will take down several consecutive top 20 players at a major, the next he busters out losing to two barely PRed players at a regional. So far this year they haven’t quite had a massive run, but still takes home a ton of high quality wins: Anathema, Chase, Peabnut, Icymist, and Chag. Being such a common stay at his local scene, it is impossible to acknowledge Goblin as anything but a grinder. There will come a point this year where Goblin gets his Tweek level win, you just need to wait.
Kanto’s HIKARU is an odd case as it is unknown if he is still using Roy. He has the best Roy win of the season so far, being Kameme, but hasn’t used it much since. He has so far switched to Sora but until the season ends, HIKARU is the de facto pick for a top 3 Roy. We can not ignore what it did for him during 2022: wins over acola, KEN, and Asimo while leading to some of his best performances. The future of his Roy is unknown, he was spotted beating Manzoku at WAVE#4, we will just have to wait and see when he gets streamed against a top player again.
Chrom: Lancelot ? Gidy ? Mr. R
Finland’s Lancelot is the undisputed best player of his country and the best active Chrom in Europe. Much of his recent wins are against the depth of Europe: CurryGovener, PeW, and big chungus to name a few. In previous years he was able to take sets off of the best of Europe, but has yet to replicate that level of success post quarantine. There is no telling though, much of his mainland Europe majors have had solid performances but not many wins. Lancelot is one of the few primary Chroms who continue to get it done, and his dominance over Finland with such a volatile character is incredibly impressive.
Texa’s Gidy is mostly a player who attends locally, but even those wins can be impressive. It includes the likes of Muteace and Atomic, but that doesn’t mean he lacks wins at majors. This includes a win over Syrup at LMMM, someone who rarely loses to people seeded below him. The rest of Gidy’s performances are often inconsistent and lack wins, but the potential is clearly there.
Netherland’s Mr.R is the player who has dropped Chrom around five times; however, it however seems that this may be the last time he is dropped. Whether Mr.R returns to Chrom or not is to be seen for the future, but his history of being the best Chrom stays. Wins over Leon, Space, and quiK over the past year remains the best overall wins with the character in recent times. His time may or may not be up but Mr.R definitely pushed the character to a limit, even when no one else tried or believed.
Mr Game & Watch: Miya > Maister >>> Monte (oops all Cyan!)
Kansai’s Miya has finally become what he was always destined to be from the day people realized Smashmate was a threat, acola 2. Most surprising, he did it at an absurdly fast rate. Miya is looking to be almost as dominant as acola was in 2022. Recently he went a three month stretch at tournaments where he didn’t drop a single set, including two majors. He has wins over basically every Japanese top player, including a recent win over his main bracket demon acola. He has won several majors and a supermajor which include Kagaribi#8, KOWLOON#3, MaesumaTOP#11, and Seibugeki #13 (paired with the debatable APEX 2022 and Seibugeki #12). He even has a few international wins under his belt like Onin and Jakal. It is clear that he has taken the throne as best G&W at this point in time, perhaps looking for more at BOBC.
Mexico’s Maister has been at the top cut for years, people implying that he doesn’t have it in him anymore have no clue what they are talking about. He still top 8s majors and takes top player wins like Kurama and Skyjay. Outside of this year he was making grand finals at the biggest tournaments hosted on two separate continents, SSC 2022 and COLOSSEL 2022. Maister has always had his roadblocks, but has been slowly working through them. Maister may be in his lowest stretch since his sudden rise to top 10 in 2019, but that doesn’t mean he won’t suddenly make a comeback. Maister is debatably the best player ever who has yet to win a major, with many saying it is inevitable. I have to agree, Maister is due for a big win, and this may be the year.
Socal’s Monte takes this very competitive third slot mostly due to him being a solo G&W unlike the 3 billion secondary ones in Japan. Much of his best runs come at regionals and a plethora of recent wins such as Gackt, Chase, Lui$, Dark Wizzy, and Justice. Monte will occasionally buster out at a low placement with poor losses, but that is a quality that all surrounding competitors hold. His peaks are in line for what is expected for the top cut, with time he may reach it. His early year has yet to showcase much as it has mostly been locals, but this was exactly how his last year went. Monte is due for another strong performance, solidly holding the title of best G&W in the USA.
Next article will be on the Brawl cast. If you disagree feel free to comment it in the twitter or reddit thread as finding playing, especially a third one, was challenging. All the players here deserve recognition for staying strong in a game with so much competition, it is absurdly difficult to stay consistent in this meta. Apologies for the incredibly wrong statement on this article releasing in mid-March. Being a college student paired with wanting to do a passion project is not an easy task. No given time-frame for the Brawl article, just, thank you for reading.
Ultimate Iceberg
Writing/Production/Graphics: Swidd
