Super Smash Bros. Isn’t So Brotherly Anymore

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When the original Super Smash Bros. was released in 1999 it had a roster of 12 characters, only one of which – Samus Aran – was female (For the purposes of this article, I won’t be considering Jigglypuff as a female role). Super Smash Bros. Melee more than doubled the roster but only added two new women to the list, Peach and Zelda (four if you count Zelda’s down special move, which allows the player to transform into the Princess’ alter ego, Sheik, and Nana from the Ice Climbers duo), and SSB Brawl actually saw the female to male ratio decline, rather than increase: only one new female role, Zero Suit Samus, an alternate version of an already existing character, was added.

If we count Zelda/Sheik and Samus/Zero Suit Samus as single characters and discount the presence of Nana, then we’re left with 8% representation in SSB, 12% in SSBM, and 8% in SSBB. Those wouldn’t seem to be encouraging numbers for the ratio in future SSB titles.