Board 8 > Ranking of Smash Bros characters based on how much their contest strength.

(+) Yeah! (+)

The closer to the top of the list, the less Smash Bros matters to GameFAQs strength. Bottom of the list means they're entirely reliant on Smash.

**Somehow has not made a contest AFTER being in Smash**
The Dog
Daisy
Chrom
Ken

**Have not had the opportunity to be in a match post-Smash**
Joker
Kazuya
Sora
Terry Bogard
Sephiroth
Steve
Banjo

**Smash has a negligible impact**
Link
Cloud
Mario
Pikachu
Snake
Sonic
Mega Man
Pac-Man
Ryu
Bowser
Zelda
Yoshi
Ganondorf
Donkey Kong
Wario
Luigi
Charizard
Mewtwo
Squirtle
Peach
Ridley

**Smash gave a small boost**
Samus
Bayonetta
Ness
Kirby
Little Mac
Fox
Jigglypuff
Diddy Kong
Olimar
King K. Rool
Isabelle
Simon Belmont

**Smash gave a large boost**
Shulk
Lucina
Ike
Meta Knight
Lucario
King Dedede
Falco
Rosalina
Wolf

**Smash made these characters popular tier**
Captain Falcon
Pit
Marth
Palutena
Lucas
Nana
Mr. Game & Watch

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Samus, Kirby, Ness, and Fox should all be in the 'large boost' tier.

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They're debatable. Samus definitely wouldn't have beaten Sonic in 2002 without Smash Bros, but these days her series is popular enough to make her strong without it. Kirby's games are popular enough that he only gets a modest boost. Ness was definitely originally boosted by Smash, but I'd say Earthbound has a large enough fanbase at this point that a chunk of his popularity comes from it and not Smash.

Fox? Eh, well his series is pretty dead at this point, so you might be right on that one.

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Kirby games have been nothing but weak in every poll we've ever seen, so he's not a near elite character without Smash. He's probably more popular than someone like Captain Falcon, but not by much.

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