Ranking the CANONICALLY smartest Smash Bros characters

you know in smash we always get to see big brain please from top players but we never get a chance to appreciate the big brain plays from the character themselves today i wanted to explore which characters in smash are canonically the smartest so now i guess before we get into it what does it mean to be smart schools rank you based on how good you are at taking tests and [ __ ] but that doesn't really define how smart you are some people are gifted in things like strategy and critical thinking which goes a long way outside of studying for the sats for that reason i'm not necessarily ranking this based on how good you'd be in taking a test but more so on feats of intellect like can you lead people can you strategize have you created things i want to avoid fighting techniques being the main source of intelligence while being good with a sword or a master of hand-to-hand combat is extremely impressive i'm not going to give it as much props in this tier since i do want to focus on the other side of being smart keep in mind a lot of games don't talk about how smart a character is and so we kind of have to guess on some based on the context within their games basically the more examples a character has of accomplishing things through their own ingenuity as opposed to physical ability the better and with that being said let's hop right into it at the bottom of the tier list we have a character who's chilling in his own tier rob is a toy not even sentient canonically very very dumb he's a plastic toy very low processing power so a calculator could probably freak him up i also heard people that don't subscribe might be in this tier but hey that's just what i heard i don't know if that's true the next tier we have is the dumb animal tear which is harsh but true these are basically the straight-up animal-like creatures that can't really talk and kind of do their own thing because they don't live in a society let's start with a pokemon pikachu is an animal can learn funny electric tricks but doesn't hide the fact that he can't say anything that's not a variation of his own name so yeah bottom tier for you the same idea with the other pokemon here p2 is a baby version of pikachu which is already in the dummy tier list so he's going to be a bit lower than him and then jigglypuff singing is a nice talent but he's not going to cut it kid yoshi's thoughts and his gameplay in smash are similar very very simple there's a reason why he's disposed of so easily in mario game fellas he's not particularly bright and is easily replaceable both the duck and the hunt are animals two for the price of one dk is a big gorilla who grunts and eats bananas and is dumb as hell so he's here same with diddy kirby is absurdly powerful but he's basically an infant infants are very dumb and thus in this tier didi doesn't really have the same vibe as other royalty in smash bros where he's more like a man-child penguin as opposed to being refined and educated he kind of cares more about eating and food than he does about ruling and so he's not even a very competent leader i'm sure being a king comes with some education but i'm putting him at the top of this tear since i'm pretty sure dede is the type to have servants read him everything rather than learn how to read himself and finally we have the plant plants don't have brains and so honestly i don't think it should even be in this tier but i'll let it slide since most plants don't have teeth either and so that's it for this road the dumbest characters in smash while some of these would be able to split you in half none of them can solve two plus two next on the list is going to be the typical adventurer who is human-like and can communicate and maybe a reader right but not much more than that they might have grown up in a remote village don't have access to any schooling and so are just doing their own thing you know banjo and kazooie are technically two dumb animals but they drive cars i guess which is a neat trick and they can talk so i'll put them just barely in this tier meta knight is a knight and has a coat of chivalry going on for him while he's a good fighter his intellect is never really brought up however he does have a crew he leads in the halberd which he built himself which definitely counts for something now i'm putting him in a tier above kirby just for that it still counts see a part of me does not want to acknowledge pac-man outside of his arcade form please tell me how many of you have actually played this version of pac-man ever you know like the version where he has a [ __ ] son regardless of packed child though i guess we can count the versions where he talks and instead of putting him in a dumb animal tear we'll raise him to this tear pit can't even read so fits in this tear kind of nicely he seems to be a good enough fighter and witty enough a banter that he's not helpless but a lot of the time he's depicted to be naive and childish dark pit is a counterpart of pit and as a result is more serious and less naive he's depicted as more clever than pit but that's not really saying much i'm going to leave him in the same tiers pit but a bit higher for the common sense bonus link is similar to mario where he doesn't really have any formal education as a knight in his breath of the wild origins in other iterations of the game he honestly wasn't much more than a village boy thriving on chickens so yeah he's in the steer for sure same idea with tune and youngling but two links village is on an island so it's even more remote not much going from there falcon is a race car driver and a bounty hunter which doesn't really require a formal education but being a bounty hunter requires skills for sure but he was rumored to want to be a police officer on the internova police force so as a result is definitely in this tier little mack is a 17 year old kid so still in high school at this point but he's also a boxer so you know he's gotten a concussion by now not sure if he can write his name at this point so we'll put him in this tier ness is considered bright for his age you know he's got psychic abilities that give him god to your powers where you can insta kill monsters and heal himself from wounds but it's still probably in like 4th grade wellness eventually becomes pretty busted in this stage of the game he's in this tear for sure lucas is a kid same dealio as nest really where they just got psychic powers but doesn't make him any smarter really lucario is one of the only pokemon that can speak and isn't a psychic type making him at least pretty smart he uses aura to do it which is kind of cheating just like in smash but it really does provide him a benefit by not being able to only speak to others but sense how they're feeling as well we'll put him a tier above the other pokemon for that but still nothing crazy overall the ice climbers are two kids you know there might be school in the mountains but yeah they're like eight so low rend of this tier for sure ryu is a beast at martial arts but not much else it's not like batman where he's good at martial arts and also as a crazy money detective ryu is just really really good at kicking ass more than anything he also had a rough childhood where he was an orphan at a young age and adopted by a dude who only really dreamed on how to fight so yeah not very educated inkling can't even say their name they just roomy and boy on their way to sniffing more paint yeah low tier of this end for sure pokemon trainer is a 10 year old kid that's equivalent to a lion tamer badass but doesn't really require a good education all this pokemon would also end up in the tier below in castlevania simon is a 22 year old dude in 1691 the guy probably doesn't even wipe his ass i honestly doubt he knew how to read gonna put him at the low end of the dummy tier richter no different was born in 1773 and his game takes place in the 1790s he might wipe his ass at this point but probably doesn't wash his hands after a little above simon for that i guess hero's a village boy same ideas link where he simply is brave and epic and good-hearted but not really a scholar you know terry is quoted as being well informed of what goes on in the streets and that's probably the widest i've ever sounded anyway while he's street smart doesn't seem to have a formal education or anything hinting at it you know i'm gonna put him in the literate gang steve minecraft laura isn't very fleshed out however he's actually a decently smart guy with architecture and alchemy skills he got it's still mostly just survival stuff nothing too crazy and so is in this tier villager is a regular ass dude with the mortgage of pay probably the most normal out of everyone on this list since they straight up got no powers they're just thriving and for that i'll put them in the normal section me's are the same deal but they can't talk and i hate them so they're going even lower and that's it for this tier fellas the biggest tier in this list it makes sense though given a lot of classic heroes are known for their bravery and heart of gold as opposed to their calculus skills next we have the has solid common sense tier where they're not basic basic but not particularly smart either these guys have shown common sense in their games while also not having a particularly poor or rural upbringing or at least have some evidence of being knowledgeable if they have ike is one of the few fire emblem characters we got that is not royalty and thus does not have a lofty upbringing he grew up as the son of a mercenary and while eventually does grow and become a great leader and warrior he isn't renowned for being intelligent in fact he's considered relatively naive at first being a person of few words that values protecting his family and friends i'll put him at the top of this here because he's not really a particularly smart person mario at his core is a plumber while that requires certifications and his own share of hard work it doesn't require a degree or a formal education he just kind of jumps and stuff throughout his game and if anything probably has a fair share of brain damage from bumping his head on blocks i put him a bit higher because he's solved mysteries and stuff before but that's more of a plot thing than a mario thing luigi's on the same boat as mario plumber gang the game of watch is a handheld console but he also appears on a bunch of games he's a playable character in games like parachute vermin manhole flagman which is actually where a bunch of his moves originate from none of the jobs are particularly demanding knowledge-wise since it's working as a chef or an exterminator you know while i think the fact he can excel at so many jobs and be adept at them shows that he's deaf gotten knowledge of his hands i don't think it necessarily means he's extra intelligent so i'm gonna put him in this tier wario is a schemer and loves money his warioware games revolve around him owning a video game company which is legit however he doesn't actually make the games himself and actually relies on his friends to do a lot of the work i respect the hustle but he doesn't actually have many skills or otherwise so i think he ends up in the same tier as these guys sonic is definitely in the same idea as the classic video game characters like marion link you know capable of huge feats but not known for being particularly bright he's had his moments where he comes up with solid strategies to get the victory like in sonic adventure 2 where he cheated death through understanding the physics of the master emerald but mostly he's just known for being fast more than anything cloud like lincoln others is like a village boy you know he becomes a mercenary but has no formal education beforehand i guess by joining the military as a mercenary he does get that boost of information so i'm gonna put him at the low end of this tier for that shulk i thought of for a long time definitely the hardest to pinpoint we have two options with shulk basically where he's in this tier or in the god tier because of vision for those that haven't played xenoblade vision basically allows shulk to glimpse into the future both like literally up to 20 seconds in or up to weeks or months even he knows what you're gonna do every time and can act accordingly and so as a result is the most gifted strategist in the game free however it's not because shulk is innately smart it's because of this ability that was given to him by the monado at like 18 years old so he wasn't even born with it anyone with vision would be extremely powerful and without getting into spoilers it just so happens shulk was the one that could wield this power because it isn't his from the start from when he was born i think it's only fair to judge shulk in this base form you know which is a guy who's good with his hands he's a solid mechanic and while he's well versed with technology and leads a small squad he was still raised pretty much his whole life in a small village that's my take on shulk but remember if we include vision he'd be in the broken tier for sure and that's it for this tier the last tier we have where there's no one with a formal education but you still got some of the biggest names in gaming history so clearly who needs studying so with that being said we move on to the next tier the smart tier these guys are definitely educated in one way or another and almost all are canonically good leaders or have a solid showcase of that brain first i'll run with the star fox characters fox is a pilot and while it also doesn't necessarily require a degree fox graduated at the top of his class at the cornerian flight academy this one is tough because while it seems like fox is gifted and operating ships and even a submarine ones it doesn't always transfer the smarts however with the technology fox has to deal with as well as being the leader of the star fox crew i think i'll give it to him just because it seems advanced enough and not anyone could do it falco is similar to fox and that he was also in the naval academy but dropped out probably laura isn't really fleshed out with falco as it is with fox but overall he's in the same tiris fox but a bit lower and while wolf doesn't have as much lower flesh style either like falco him being the leader of the star wolf definitely gives him some props he's not as good as a pilot as fox you know which doesn't help in terms of intelligence and also has failed more than him so i'll put him below fox but above falco isabel has her together probably more than any character here organized diligent absolute queen but yeah that's the thing she's more organized and she is smart smart so i think i'll just have her in the lower end of smart level just to be fair peach and daisy are royalty which means their education is top tier and their knowledge is refined as hell though they don't ever really showcase any feats of intelligence they're in a smart tier with their upbringing alone marth is a renowned leader of an army and so that strategy aspect already makes him smart while he's a typical good boy with a heart of gold like the other village boys marth has a royalty boost since he's a prince so again that upbringing helps put him in a solid place lucina is a princess same deal really you know she's a skilled fighter for sure but doesn't lead an army and has nothing too out of the ordinary with her own brain skills dark samus is hard to pinpoint since there isn't really much lore show casting how smart she is she did lead a space army at one point and was noted as being cunning with her tactics you know being able to show she has long term planning though she lost i think it's fair to put her in the smart tier just cause she's clearly not dumb but not quite big brain since she's straight up more powerful than anything roy is a prince who had to lead an army at a young age i'm seeing a pattern with firearm characters he's described as a good leader with despite a noble background is very empathetic and idealistic kinda like marth who was also a good boy i'm seeing it starts to make sense they were clones in melee coren grew up very sheltered and thus is a bit naive though exposed to the royalty life they aren't really known to be good at leading large-scale armies however they do have good academic upbringings and are canonically known to be book smart and understand concepts fairly quickly however everyone who talks about the game says coryn is a [ __ ] idiot like frustratingly dumb but it's mostly because they are naive rather than lacking brain cells i think this kind of puts the idea of intelligence to the test because while they don't have the best common sense they are quick learners and capable individuals so overall i'll put them in the smart tier but lower from surprise [ __ ] fire emblem royalty nice guy good upbringing army leader yup get over here arms is a game that shockingly has very little lore minions family owns a noodle restaurant and based on that i couldn't really tell you much it's well known so she probably has good money and maybe has some business sense i'm gonna put her on the low tier of smart joker from persona 5 is nothing too special he's a high school student and he can get pretty smart you know like the top of his class but yeah that's nothing crazy he's not even close to being the smartest in the phantom thieves he has his moments of good strategy but yeah overall joker's pretty normal ken is on the same boat as rio where he's nice money at fighting games but was born into a rich family and so definitely had that access to education early on too i'm gonna put him on the low end of the smart tier for that we fit trainer is probably very knowledgeable on diet and health science just look at this posture fellas it's so nice we fit trainer lore is not established but i wouldn't be surprised if they got a degree in kinesiology so i'll put him in the smart tier for k-rool i wanted to put him in a dumb animal section initially though he is the leader of the group of pirates and has created some useful tech which gives him some points he's only really invaded a small island too which isn't nearly as impressive as places with an established military or small country we'll put him in the high tier of a smart since for the most part isn't a genius but it's pretty smart all things considered and that's it for this deer fellas basically lethargic we got royalty high school students and a [ __ ] crocodile but all peeps who are dependably smart next on the tier list we got the big brain group where these fellas have canonically displayed feats of intelligence and are notably above the rest with their smarts for samus and zero suit samus i have them this year just because they're seen to have hacking skills which requires coding knowledge which is big brained the bounty hunter life requires more street knowledge than it does formal knowledge but samus was known to be familiar with alien organisms civilization and tech from multiple planets that combined with the coding lore i'll give it to her and put her in the big brain group bail works with magic you know she's a witch and so she has that area of expertise but isn't really known for being particularly smart or cunning she's heavily old like 600 years old but 500 of those years were spent in a coma basically so i'm going to put her in the low tier of big brain since she's clearly advanced but nothing crazy bowser jr is like seven and at first i was gonna put him in the barely literate tier however i thought about it and he constantly works with robots and machinery while building it himself is a talented artist and has a royalty education from the get-go he even became a doctor nah i think it makes sense to put him in the big brain tear snake is a smart cookie he's fluent in six languages and has an iq of 180. he's not only a beast on the battlefield but he's also super perceptive and crafty which helps him stay alive a lot of the time he's been known to outsmart and outmatch some of the greatest and most legendary soldiers in history like big boss and grey fox he's a quick thinker especially in moments on the pressure and so he's definitely in the upper end of the big brain tier dr mario baby come on the name alone shows he's a pro man's got a degree went to med school did his residency and is a fully fledged doctor what a king kazi is pretty smart for a shout out why does that sound like i'm discriminating nah but he's as ruthless as he is smart some feeds kazia has done includes seizing control of hokkaido in an attempt to build his own nation though he failed he genetically engineered a dinosaur from fossils and kangaroo dna like some jurassic park [ __ ] and became a ceo of a biotech firm definitely a big brain next we got robin robin was not born into royalty but is known to have amazing tactics and strategies for the army they lead while also being gifted with magic they also read a lot of books good sign now but without getting into spoilers robin being a gifted tactician can overrun armies in a way other fire emblem characters can't which lands them in the big brain tier violet is seen as being a goat tactician like he is well known for being really good in battle with his strategies to the point he ended a war that had been going on for years in a matter of months he has a similar-ish broken ability to shulk where he can go back in time if he [ __ ] up in strategy however he can actually go the entire game without using it besides the first time he unlocks it so as a result he is genuinely gifted at what he does without the cheater mechanic he's a professor in game but he doesn't have any formal education he's just a really skilled strategist and a fighter more than anything but because of his accomplishments definitely deserves the big reign tier olimar is an astronaut that gets the local population to do what he wants as soon as he gets there more of an imperialist than anything but definitely a smart guy nah but yeah being a captain of a spaceship where he explores while also keeping logs for science shows he's definitely big brained and earned his spot in this tier ridley is surprisingly pretty smart they have good tactics and a knack for strategy seen many times being used against samus in instances like where he created his own robotic clone of himself he's a commander of the space pirates which is basically an army of you know space pirates it's pretty sick and he requires a big brain to pull it off so i'm gonna put him here pyra and mithra are tough you know they were kind of sealed away for 500 years and they're super computers yeah they're super computers fellas i don't know how to explain it to you without spoilers but take my word for it anyway they were initially designed to collect data and information about the world but their memory was wiped in that sleep time and don't really have any big bang feats or abilities afterwards which is why they're not in the next tier however because again they're canonically super computers they're clearly above human potential and are at the top of this tier that's it for this tier of extremely intelligent individuals who are just as smart as they are lethal on the next and final tier we have the gigabrains the characters who are basically gods with how smart they are and are unobtainable for regular people rosa is tough she's super powerful since she watches over and protects space but she technically started out as a regular girl when going into space she's got a fat library in her room so i'm kind of assuming she's knowledgeable but i don't know if she has a god to your knowledge you know being basically a goddess you never know and so i'll put her at the bottom of gigabrain bonus points for getting a medical degree as well because paulo is a goddess she is kind of big brained as a leader she's known for being wise regarding her personal army as well as a human race she tries to keep safe she uses big words and is a great guide to pitt by giving him advice regarding weaknesses of foes and hints to obstacles i'm gonna put her in gigabrain just because of how far that knowledge extends and how much she knows about pretty much everything including games that don't even exist in our own universe that's kinda wild zelda and spoiler chic i'm putting in the giga brain tier while she is a princess like peach and daisy and so has that smart person upbringing a lot of zeldas throughout the timeline also possess the triforce of wisdom she's constantly regarded as a very competent leader who uses that wisdom to make the best decisions for her kingdom which isn't easy so with that divine aspect she's got going on she is very very intelligent and therefore is in the giga brain tier okay earlier i said that this might be the pokemon tier but mewtwo is different from all the other pokemon psychic pokemon in general are considered to be hella smart with alakazam famously being described as having an iq of over 5 000 now while the accuracy of the pokedex can be debated mewtwo has shown he's hella smart he can speak even if it's through telepathy and has mastered cloning to the point he made pokemon super soldiers it's established in the pokemon world that psychic pokemon are incredibly smart and mutual is one of the smartest there is so definitely a gigabrain ganondorf while he's super evil and powerful in legend of zelda games he's also a genius he is crazy good at strategizing and manipulation with a bunch of games having gain and scheming behind the scenes with length thinking he's on the right path in breath of the wild he completely overturned the main defense of the kingdom against them and managed to completely slaughter almost everyone and almost took control of the world he's a powerful sorcerer was the king of the gerudo people and almost took over subspace no he's crazy smart sephiroth is as much a psychopath as he is smart which is saying something just look at the final smash it has equations and [ __ ] no but he's actually a genius and unfortunately i can't reveal much due to the spoiler nature of sephiroth but some feats he's accomplished includes being the greatest war hero ever exists coming up with plans to beat enemies and save allies in very little time and has great leadership he also essentially does the equivalent of a one man outsmarting the entire us government with barely any resources again sorry to be vague but that's how much i can give without being spoilers but take my word for it he's very smart and finally we have the smartest character in the game fellas bowser varies in his portrayals because he can be dumb as hell like in the paper mario games but he's also loki got the craziest feats to name a few he's built giant battlemechs created giant space stations is a leader of a kingdom and is basically taking over control of places in a galactic scale created sentient life form in a lab made a galaxy reactor that creates entire galaxies created a dark matter plan whatever that means but sounds cool as how now bowser is actually kind of [ __ ] insane i didn't think he'd be this far up but the things he's done shows he has to be extremely brilliant and a technological and strategical mastermind villains in general i give a bonus to because world domination isn't easy and bowser takes the cake by probably having the most attempts out of any villain out here and being so creative with the scheming the amount of nobel prizes this man could win is insane and so as a result is officially the smartest character in smash bros i try to be as accurate as possible in this list fella so let me know if you agree or disagree in the comments but other than that i hope this was fun and that i could rep the smart fellas accurately thanks for watching have a good one see ya [Music] you

Channel: TCNick3

Views: 154,656

Keywords: smash, msash bros ultimate, smash bros ultimate, ultimate, smash ultimate, tier list, tier list smash ultimate, tiers, canon, canonically, smart, intelligent

Id: vGtSLvPcY7g

Length: 24min 5sec (1445 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 17 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/stevenbutidk]

Not that accurate the person that created this hasn’t played many of the original games and just used the surface level of information

[u/The-One-Winged-Angel]

Well, Cloud is probably a bit smarter than he says, though i am unsure whether he has played FF7 or not, because he is also aware that Sephiroth is a genius.