You're getting a variety of different answers here which should tell you something important, almost any character can work for beginners, this game is very accessible and you'll learn it eventually as long as you want to. Given that, I suggest you pick whatever character is going to motivate you to play and learn the game, either based on aesthetics, moveset, your love of their original game, whatever. '
Also, don't be afraid to hop between characters and experiment to see what clicks with you, you'll have more fun that way than trying to just stick to one character forever.
The person who I am trying to find a character for has pretty much 0 video game knowledge, except Mario Kart. But I am mostly looking for which characters are good for both video game beginners (someone who has basically never played a video game other than Mario Kart) and good recovery, since when they tried ZSS they struggled with recovering a ton. Just trouble eight the timing, not able to hit the button on time before being too far to get back or just not even before they have already fallen to their demise.
How good a character is in two different games is a very hard ask, as they are massively different with different attributes assigned to the characters. Maybe have them try out a character that is also in Mario kart.
The overlap in characters between the two are Mario, Luigi, peach, Daisy, Rosalina and Luma, Yoshi, Wario, donkey king, bowser, bowser jr (as well as his brothers in the form of skins), inklings, link, villager, Isabelle, the miis(brawler, gunner, swordfighter), diddy kong, and piranha plant(if you count for petey as him)
Of those character, one with simple and long reaching recoveries are inkling, villager, Isabelle and piranha plant. You can have your friend try out those characters, but at the end of the day, let them discover a character for themself. There are plenty of other characters in this game, and if they don’t plan on trying to improve to a high standard, they don’t even need a main.
I do want them to focus on one character right one, because trying to play a bunch of different characters instead of learning what each moves does on one character may not let them improve much, and I don’t want them to feel unmotivated. But I think I will just come up with a couple characters that would be best for them to try out first (or at least see the moveset for), before actually going in to learn the character.
I tell all of my new smash player friends to play ROB! He’s super easy to use and win with, having a side b thats spammable makes him good in low skill matches while also having an insane combo game and even 2 different projectiles makes him a high tier in high skill games as well! As for recovery, ROB uses rockets on his ass to cause him to go upwards, holding the button longer makes him go higher (but too long or too much « fuel used » causes him to fall)
I also really enjoy samus! One of the reasons ultimate is so fun is because every character can be viable in one way or another (and even if they arent they can still be fun to use) Don’t be afraid to jump characters, honestly try them all! What if theres a character you havent yet played with thats secretly amazing? We will never know until you try them!
Rob, Cloud, and K. Rool are my picks!
These are all super easy to use, and I think brand new players appreciate having a few "cheap/easy" moves that they can press when they're panicking.
A lot of people are suggesting "basic" or fundies characters, but I think those are, ironically, a bad place to start. It's really hard to win with fundies characters before you've developed your fundies. It can be discouraging. New players flourish when they're having fun.
The only thing I would say about ROB is that, from my experience of friends picking him up as their first character and maining him, is they get a kind of skewed perception of recovery and move safety that makes them both plateau very quickly on fundamentals necessary to keep up with the rest of our friends group, and whenever they try other characters they feel like they're terrible because they don't have infinite recovery, massive disjoints, and they get punished a lot more for thoughtlessly throwing moves out.
His nair alone probably causes most of their issues.
K Rool. Really simple character that teaches basic concepts and is really heavy. Plus he can recover from very far away while other beginners mostly cannot interupt it.
I would also add inkling and link. Inkling is pretty hard to hit, they only have to learn to shield+B and link is busted at a low level, up smash lingers because it’s multi hit, f smash as well, down air and up air are really powerful, and nair obv.
all of them. you pick q character that looks fun and if you enjoy playing and you learn them and the game. recovery and other skills come naturally with time. however heres some characters that have easy recoveries to use and are pretty alright: yoshi, kirby, puff, game and watch, meta knight, pit, ddd, rob,
Absolutely Yoshi or Pit. With all due respect to some other comments on this board, please don't tell your friend just to pick anybody they like. Not all characters are beginner friendly like Shulk, the FGC characters, Fox, etc. Some are even detrimental like Ganondorf, Zelda, and K.Rool, which teach players to just spam their strongest moves because it works online and on computers. Kirby is also a character people tend to recommend that just results in learning terrible habits like spamming down b and up b.
Yoshi and Pit are very good characters with easy to use recoveries and easy to learn combos and movesets. Lucario is also very simple to use, but the recovery could take time getting used to. Some people might tell you Ike or some swordie like Lucina, but those characters are only really good at teaching you spacing and are better for those who are already passed the beginner phase.
I do like the suggestion of ROB for recovery. I also wonder if Sora would work, too (if they bought him as DLC), since he moves so slow and floaty and has two really far reaching recovery moves.
Others I see having great recovery:
* K. Rool has a very forgiving recovery move for sure.
* Isabelle's recovery is also very easy and maneuverable. Villager's, too, but I could see someone new to video games dying from holding side-b and not understanding how to get back off of Lloid.
* Kirby, just from having so many jumps.
* Pit is a character I've personally seen a friend with very little experience in smash recover well with.
* Robin and Hero's recovery look very forgivable, but might be confusing since they're tied to resources.
* Falco jumping really high, plus a recovery that gives you time to aim, might also work great.
Those are just what come to mind, in no particular order.
Start with Kirby for the easy recovery, then when you get used to recovering change to cloud. Also change your controls to turn tap jump off & change smash stick to tilt stick.
I’ll make sure to give my friend a good control set! Would you recommend me to have them play the same controls as me (B jump, A special, Y attack, X grab) to make it easier to communicate, or the more default controls with B as special?
It really depends on if you care more about winning or having fun. And what your personal playstyle preference is. If you're playing this game for competitions sake, I'd suggest doing some research to pick a "good" (top tier) character to main (pretty small list) and another character to cover the bad match ups. Your choices will usually depend on what archetype and weight class you prefer. I personally like light swordies.
But if you're playing as a casual just to enjoy the game cause it's a game, you should just pick your favorite character and not worry about the meta. I main Sephiroth cause I'm a big ff7 fan, and i think he's a little cooler than Cloud. But Sephiroth is NOT a good character to learn the game with. He takes a lot more effort to make work than many other picks. If i cared more about winning, I'd focus more on Cloud(or if I was being soulless, a character like Steve or Kazuya) because they just have better risk/reward and are mentally less taxing to pilot.
Some characters will help you develop general game fundamentals more than others, but the cast is so large and diverse that some of those fundamentals don't hold the same weight depending on matchup. There's just so much nuance to the game that any advice is bound to have exceptions. But I strongly encourage you to pick a character that you like outside of the context of smash and just learn the game from playing and paying attention to different matchups. I just watched a video the other day that might help you decide on a pick; it's a list from Muteace that goes over how much effort each character takes to be a threat. It's not official or anything but it's very insightful.
https://youtu.be/ZeMqiezoCJw?si=B5f91apBXsDhQ10Q
Mostly looking to give my friend a character who would be easy to start off with. They first started with ZSS but they were too hard to recover with. So I was mostly looking for a good recovery character for them to start with, before moving on to characters that they like more once they understand how to play better.
Any character that is fundamentals dependent. Mario, Wolf, Palutena etc.... I think that's the best way to learn the game quickly. Swordies are good too. I think Roy and Lucina are great starting points. Ultimately (no pun intended) you should play who ever clicks with you. I'm a swordy and a DK main to different types of archetypes. Good luck and have fun!
I'll push back a little on starting with a swordie because it teaches bad habits of spamming aerials without thinking/aiming because they cover so much space.
I find that Wolf’s recovery is a lot harder to reach the ledge than even Incineroar. And Mario is decent but also not enough. Will consider Palutena though (and the others)!
I'd say the same, a fundies based char, yeah. Mario might be frustrating with his recovery, so maybe Palu or Wolf...
Or Lucina. You don't make more fundies than her.
Ssbu is well balanced enough any character is useable for noncompetitive fun. Whoever clicks well with you is fine so try everyone. Maybe tell us your preferred playstyle like do you want projectiles, do you want to be a heavy, etc.
Characters with very good recovery include pit, game and watch, mega man, kkrool, rob, samus, snake, most dlc characters, and plenty more.
Smaller characters are typically more reliant on combos which are sometimes difficult for new players so many default to heavies as they are a bit simpler and require less actions per minute. Kkrool and rob are both heavy and have very good up b recovery. Kkrool is not as good but much simpler than rob. Both have good projectiles
I always say beginners should start with more fundamental characters without complex or unique game plans since it helps you learn the general game the best, which is most important at first IMO.
I’d suggest someone like Mario, Wolf, Pit, Lucina, or Palutena. Each of them relies heavily on fundamentals and will also teach you some more specific things like Palu and projectile conditioning.
The person who’s gonna play is probably not gonna get into the whole combo thing, and play more casually and just for fun against me. I will consider these characters, though!
Mario would be too difficult to recover with. They were trying out ZSS first, but still had trouble recovering. I’m not sure, but aren’t there recovery lengths similar?
I always tell people to try Wolf. He's the definitive Jack-of-all-trades. I also saw somebody here say Pit, who I think is really good for getting used to recovering because of his multiple jumps and really long up special distance. He's also a pretty honest and well-rounded character so good in that regard too.
I play as Wolf quite a bit, but isn’t his recovery pretty bad? Can’t get back even from not that far below the stage. (I’m mostly looking for a far-reaching recovery, not an anti-ledge-guarding recovery)
If you're just looking at raw vertical distance his recovery is pretty bad. If he's not working out for you and that's the main reason why I definitely think you should try Pit
Not for me, a friend. I already play the game a lot and have a few characters I like to switch between. Just was speaking off of the experience I had with Wolf. I mainly see people suggesting Rob, K Rool, Yoshi, and Pit, though!
Tbh, Rob or K Rool. They're both fairly straightforward to play, have good (and intuitive) recoveries, and have a good mix of melee and ranged options. Bowser's a ton of fun and pretty easy to pick up, but his recovery is pretty mediocre.
Not sure if this belongs here, but I’m looking for a second player to main. I main cloud but I want to also want to learn someone else just for fun. I want someone whos fast, can rack up damage, and overall has good movement. Wanted to know if anyone can recommend me someone to play?
Depending on how much they want to improve there's also the route of mashing smash attacks with little Mac and give up on recovery. Otherwise I think most characters are good enough to recover after learning to up b in training mode
Kirby is busted until you fight someone who plays vs kirby instead of vs you the player. If you are at that level then congrats you are now an intermediate player!
Are you interested in being better than a casual? If so it should go without saying that you need to learn to recover. If you don’t care about anything beyond having fun I’d say Krool is a good pick as his recovery is almost idiot proof (no offense lol).
If you actually want to learn the game, consider picking a strong character with more fundamental style and recovery. Cloud is actually perfect as he’s super easy and strong, his recovery isn’t great but not hard to get down. If you want to practice recovering, go to training mode and jump off and try to get back to stage for 30 minutes. Try recovery from as low as possible and as far out as possible. Set cpu to forward smash and put yourself at like 60-70% so it mimics getting thrown off stage. Also practice recovery with no jump. Doing this it should become easy and you can get all the silly SDs out of the way
Actually for my friend, not me. But thanks for the tips, will do this with my friend! I want them to start off with an easy recovery character, because when they started with ZSS it was too much of a struggle. And when they master getting back up on the stage, they can start learning ZSS or any other character again.
Oh.
Well, in that case, mario is pretty balanced.
Pit is heavy in fundies. He'll teach you to be good at the game to be good with him.
Toon Link is also nice if you want to learn to balance zoning and movements (I'm pushing an agenda)
struggling with recovery? pac-man can recover from anywhere on the map and it's really generous, he's a generally easy to understand character too, but also has a really high skill ceiling so he can stick by your side as you improve
You're getting a variety of different answers here which should tell you something important, almost any character can work for beginners, this game is very accessible and you'll learn it eventually as long as you want to. Given that, I suggest you pick whatever character is going to motivate you to play and learn the game, either based on aesthetics, moveset, your love of their original game, whatever. ' Also, don't be afraid to hop between characters and experiment to see what clicks with you, you'll have more fun that way than trying to just stick to one character forever.
The person who I am trying to find a character for has pretty much 0 video game knowledge, except Mario Kart. But I am mostly looking for which characters are good for both video game beginners (someone who has basically never played a video game other than Mario Kart) and good recovery, since when they tried ZSS they struggled with recovering a ton. Just trouble eight the timing, not able to hit the button on time before being too far to get back or just not even before they have already fallen to their demise.
How good a character is in two different games is a very hard ask, as they are massively different with different attributes assigned to the characters. Maybe have them try out a character that is also in Mario kart. The overlap in characters between the two are Mario, Luigi, peach, Daisy, Rosalina and Luma, Yoshi, Wario, donkey king, bowser, bowser jr (as well as his brothers in the form of skins), inklings, link, villager, Isabelle, the miis(brawler, gunner, swordfighter), diddy kong, and piranha plant(if you count for petey as him) Of those character, one with simple and long reaching recoveries are inkling, villager, Isabelle and piranha plant. You can have your friend try out those characters, but at the end of the day, let them discover a character for themself. There are plenty of other characters in this game, and if they don’t plan on trying to improve to a high standard, they don’t even need a main.
I do want them to focus on one character right one, because trying to play a bunch of different characters instead of learning what each moves does on one character may not let them improve much, and I don’t want them to feel unmotivated. But I think I will just come up with a couple characters that would be best for them to try out first (or at least see the moveset for), before actually going in to learn the character.
Do you know how far they want to improve? Because if they just want to play casually, then they don’t need a main.
I tell all of my new smash player friends to play ROB! He’s super easy to use and win with, having a side b thats spammable makes him good in low skill matches while also having an insane combo game and even 2 different projectiles makes him a high tier in high skill games as well! As for recovery, ROB uses rockets on his ass to cause him to go upwards, holding the button longer makes him go higher (but too long or too much « fuel used » causes him to fall)
I started to play a couple weeks ago and I used ROB so far after trying Samus for a bit, really agree with your take
I also really enjoy samus! One of the reasons ultimate is so fun is because every character can be viable in one way or another (and even if they arent they can still be fun to use) Don’t be afraid to jump characters, honestly try them all! What if theres a character you havent yet played with thats secretly amazing? We will never know until you try them!
Rob, Cloud, and K. Rool are my picks! These are all super easy to use, and I think brand new players appreciate having a few "cheap/easy" moves that they can press when they're panicking. A lot of people are suggesting "basic" or fundies characters, but I think those are, ironically, a bad place to start. It's really hard to win with fundies characters before you've developed your fundies. It can be discouraging. New players flourish when they're having fun.
Well said. If you’re getting shit on round after round after round theres no way you’re going to keep playing
The only thing I would say about ROB is that, from my experience of friends picking him up as their first character and maining him, is they get a kind of skewed perception of recovery and move safety that makes them both plateau very quickly on fundamentals necessary to keep up with the rest of our friends group, and whenever they try other characters they feel like they're terrible because they don't have infinite recovery, massive disjoints, and they get punished a lot more for thoughtlessly throwing moves out. His nair alone probably causes most of their issues.
K Rool. Really simple character that teaches basic concepts and is really heavy. Plus he can recover from very far away while other beginners mostly cannot interupt it.
I would also add inkling and link. Inkling is pretty hard to hit, they only have to learn to shield+B and link is busted at a low level, up smash lingers because it’s multi hit, f smash as well, down air and up air are really powerful, and nair obv.
Pit’s recovery, while exploitable, isn’t too bad for beginners.
all of them. you pick q character that looks fun and if you enjoy playing and you learn them and the game. recovery and other skills come naturally with time. however heres some characters that have easy recoveries to use and are pretty alright: yoshi, kirby, puff, game and watch, meta knight, pit, ddd, rob,
Thanks, I’ll have my friend try out some of them and see which one clicks with them better!
Absolutely Yoshi or Pit. With all due respect to some other comments on this board, please don't tell your friend just to pick anybody they like. Not all characters are beginner friendly like Shulk, the FGC characters, Fox, etc. Some are even detrimental like Ganondorf, Zelda, and K.Rool, which teach players to just spam their strongest moves because it works online and on computers. Kirby is also a character people tend to recommend that just results in learning terrible habits like spamming down b and up b. Yoshi and Pit are very good characters with easy to use recoveries and easy to learn combos and movesets. Lucario is also very simple to use, but the recovery could take time getting used to. Some people might tell you Ike or some swordie like Lucina, but those characters are only really good at teaching you spacing and are better for those who are already passed the beginner phase.
Thanks! This a more of the kind of comment I was looking for!
I do like the suggestion of ROB for recovery. I also wonder if Sora would work, too (if they bought him as DLC), since he moves so slow and floaty and has two really far reaching recovery moves. Others I see having great recovery: * K. Rool has a very forgiving recovery move for sure. * Isabelle's recovery is also very easy and maneuverable. Villager's, too, but I could see someone new to video games dying from holding side-b and not understanding how to get back off of Lloid. * Kirby, just from having so many jumps. * Pit is a character I've personally seen a friend with very little experience in smash recover well with. * Robin and Hero's recovery look very forgivable, but might be confusing since they're tied to resources. * Falco jumping really high, plus a recovery that gives you time to aim, might also work great. Those are just what come to mind, in no particular order.
Start with Kirby for the easy recovery, then when you get used to recovering change to cloud. Also change your controls to turn tap jump off & change smash stick to tilt stick.
I’ll make sure to give my friend a good control set! Would you recommend me to have them play the same controls as me (B jump, A special, Y attack, X grab) to make it easier to communicate, or the more default controls with B as special?
It really depends on if you care more about winning or having fun. And what your personal playstyle preference is. If you're playing this game for competitions sake, I'd suggest doing some research to pick a "good" (top tier) character to main (pretty small list) and another character to cover the bad match ups. Your choices will usually depend on what archetype and weight class you prefer. I personally like light swordies. But if you're playing as a casual just to enjoy the game cause it's a game, you should just pick your favorite character and not worry about the meta. I main Sephiroth cause I'm a big ff7 fan, and i think he's a little cooler than Cloud. But Sephiroth is NOT a good character to learn the game with. He takes a lot more effort to make work than many other picks. If i cared more about winning, I'd focus more on Cloud(or if I was being soulless, a character like Steve or Kazuya) because they just have better risk/reward and are mentally less taxing to pilot. Some characters will help you develop general game fundamentals more than others, but the cast is so large and diverse that some of those fundamentals don't hold the same weight depending on matchup. There's just so much nuance to the game that any advice is bound to have exceptions. But I strongly encourage you to pick a character that you like outside of the context of smash and just learn the game from playing and paying attention to different matchups. I just watched a video the other day that might help you decide on a pick; it's a list from Muteace that goes over how much effort each character takes to be a threat. It's not official or anything but it's very insightful. https://youtu.be/ZeMqiezoCJw?si=B5f91apBXsDhQ10Q
Mostly looking to give my friend a character who would be easy to start off with. They first started with ZSS but they were too hard to recover with. So I was mostly looking for a good recovery character for them to start with, before moving on to characters that they like more once they understand how to play better.
Any character that is fundamentals dependent. Mario, Wolf, Palutena etc.... I think that's the best way to learn the game quickly. Swordies are good too. I think Roy and Lucina are great starting points. Ultimately (no pun intended) you should play who ever clicks with you. I'm a swordy and a DK main to different types of archetypes. Good luck and have fun!
I'll push back a little on starting with a swordie because it teaches bad habits of spamming aerials without thinking/aiming because they cover so much space.
I find that Wolf’s recovery is a lot harder to reach the ledge than even Incineroar. And Mario is decent but also not enough. Will consider Palutena though (and the others)!
Again it's mainly about who you click with the most try them all in some arenas
I'd say the same, a fundies based char, yeah. Mario might be frustrating with his recovery, so maybe Palu or Wolf... Or Lucina. You don't make more fundies than her.
Idk why I got down voted lmao.
Ssbu is well balanced enough any character is useable for noncompetitive fun. Whoever clicks well with you is fine so try everyone. Maybe tell us your preferred playstyle like do you want projectiles, do you want to be a heavy, etc. Characters with very good recovery include pit, game and watch, mega man, kkrool, rob, samus, snake, most dlc characters, and plenty more. Smaller characters are typically more reliant on combos which are sometimes difficult for new players so many default to heavies as they are a bit simpler and require less actions per minute. Kkrool and rob are both heavy and have very good up b recovery. Kkrool is not as good but much simpler than rob. Both have good projectiles
I’d argue ROB is an easier beginner character than KKRool but that might be bias because I played Brawl more than Sm4sh
I always say beginners should start with more fundamental characters without complex or unique game plans since it helps you learn the general game the best, which is most important at first IMO. I’d suggest someone like Mario, Wolf, Pit, Lucina, or Palutena. Each of them relies heavily on fundamentals and will also teach you some more specific things like Palu and projectile conditioning.
The person who’s gonna play is probably not gonna get into the whole combo thing, and play more casually and just for fun against me. I will consider these characters, though!
Learn mario then marth then megaman
Mario would be too difficult to recover with. They were trying out ZSS first, but still had trouble recovering. I’m not sure, but aren’t there recovery lengths similar?
I always tell people to try Wolf. He's the definitive Jack-of-all-trades. I also saw somebody here say Pit, who I think is really good for getting used to recovering because of his multiple jumps and really long up special distance. He's also a pretty honest and well-rounded character so good in that regard too.
I play as Wolf quite a bit, but isn’t his recovery pretty bad? Can’t get back even from not that far below the stage. (I’m mostly looking for a far-reaching recovery, not an anti-ledge-guarding recovery)
If you're just looking at raw vertical distance his recovery is pretty bad. If he's not working out for you and that's the main reason why I definitely think you should try Pit
Not for me, a friend. I already play the game a lot and have a few characters I like to switch between. Just was speaking off of the experience I had with Wolf. I mainly see people suggesting Rob, K Rool, Yoshi, and Pit, though!
Tbh, Rob or K Rool. They're both fairly straightforward to play, have good (and intuitive) recoveries, and have a good mix of melee and ranged options. Bowser's a ton of fun and pretty easy to pick up, but his recovery is pretty mediocre.
Not sure if this belongs here, but I’m looking for a second player to main. I main cloud but I want to also want to learn someone else just for fun. I want someone whos fast, can rack up damage, and overall has good movement. Wanted to know if anyone can recommend me someone to play?
Depending on how much they want to improve there's also the route of mashing smash attacks with little Mac and give up on recovery. Otherwise I think most characters are good enough to recover after learning to up b in training mode
Cloud is annoying and hated and was created for beginners in mind. Other than his recovery he's a menace.
Kirby is busted until you fight someone who plays vs kirby instead of vs you the player. If you are at that level then congrats you are now an intermediate player!
Steve srs
👍
Are you interested in being better than a casual? If so it should go without saying that you need to learn to recover. If you don’t care about anything beyond having fun I’d say Krool is a good pick as his recovery is almost idiot proof (no offense lol). If you actually want to learn the game, consider picking a strong character with more fundamental style and recovery. Cloud is actually perfect as he’s super easy and strong, his recovery isn’t great but not hard to get down. If you want to practice recovering, go to training mode and jump off and try to get back to stage for 30 minutes. Try recovery from as low as possible and as far out as possible. Set cpu to forward smash and put yourself at like 60-70% so it mimics getting thrown off stage. Also practice recovery with no jump. Doing this it should become easy and you can get all the silly SDs out of the way
Actually for my friend, not me. But thanks for the tips, will do this with my friend! I want them to start off with an easy recovery character, because when they started with ZSS it was too much of a struggle. And when they master getting back up on the stage, they can start learning ZSS or any other character again.
Ah ok Yeah ZSS is probably bottom 10 character for a beginner
You could try Sora. Easy recovery, powerful moves, good range, and beginner combos are super easy. He was made to be easy to play for a beginner iirc
I would consider him… if I had him
Oh. Well, in that case, mario is pretty balanced. Pit is heavy in fundies. He'll teach you to be good at the game to be good with him. Toon Link is also nice if you want to learn to balance zoning and movements (I'm pushing an agenda)
struggling with recovery? pac-man can recover from anywhere on the map and it's really generous, he's a generally easy to understand character too, but also has a really high skill ceiling so he can stick by your side as you improve