The most common character by a significant margin. Tied for the highest execution ceiling in the game, and the perennial #1 character, Fox gives you an infinite number of playstyles due to his stacked toolkit, high speed, strong kill power, and most of all, the dreaded Shine. If your hands can handle him, Fox will take you further than any other character in Melee, but be prepared to get combo'd a lot; every character has brutal combos on Fox due to his very high fall speed.

Fox Tech Guide 

Along with Sheik, Marth is often recommended to newer players as he has a very simple gameplan: hit 'em with the sword. His extremely large aerials, combined with the best grab in the entire game and a top 2 dash dance, allows you focus on spacing and movement to get hits and take stocks, which are both very beneficial things to get comfy with as a new player. He also has the rare ability to eat Fox and Falco alive, which can come in handy since 2/3 people you face will be one of these space animals.

Marth Tech Guide

The Notorious J.I.G. Puff is the bane of many players existence, with her ridiculous air speed, five extra jumps, enormous back air, and last but not least, Rest. Up throw/up air Rest is a brutal two piece which gatekeeps half of the cast in Melee, and she has a winning matchup against every character sans Fox. If you lean towards the pink balloon, you'll attract the ire of many players, but Puff is a sick character in the right hands, and she's very easy on them too, with an impossibly low execution barrier.

Jigglypuff Tech Guide

Easily the second most common character these days, Falco's toolkit generally resembles Fox's, but with a few big differences. His neutral B shoots a laser that stops your opponent in their tracks, his down B (shine) sends enemies upwards, and his dair is a single hit spike that can wreak havoc on opponents. His execution ceiling is a little bit lower, and his gameplan is more one-dimensional, but he's still an extremely solid character for button pressers and spacing experts alike.

Falco Tech Guide

Sheik is braindead simple, so much so that a player named Borp used to take top 100 wins without using almost any of the advanced tech mentioned on this page. Her grab game, combo follow-ups, and easy edgeguarding flowcharts can make her a force to be reckoned with, even with an extremely low execution barrier, and she'll teach you how to make things as simple as possible as a new player, which is a rare trait to have in a game as complex as Melee.

Sheik Tech Guide

The crowd favorite. Falcon gives you the ability to explode stocks on just about every character in Melee. With his insanely good dash dance, best in class speed, and ridiculously strong aerials, Falcon allows combo follow-ups that often don't even make sense, and has the ability to make big reads, but beware: Falcon has a very hard time fighting his way out of disadvantage, and once you're off-stage, almost every character can easily edgeguard him. If you like Dragonball, you'll probably end up here.

Captain Falcon Tech Guide

It's easy to think that Peach is a simple character with low execution, but she secretly has some of the most hand-destroying tech in Melee. Her gameplan comes down to one big thing: using her float effectively. Float is an ability that no other character has access to, and learning how to use it's powerful auto-canceling properties, as well as her turnips, is a must. She's a tough nut to crack, but if you've heard of Armada, you know that the princess is capable of reaching the summit.

Peach Tech Guide

Ice Climbers were hurt by the banning of Wobbling in the mid-2010's, but they're still a monstrous character with lightning fast attacks, a top tier wavedash, and an infinitely complex but powerful grab game (a.k.a hand-offs). They don't technically have the highest execution barrier in the game, but wrapping your head around how to control Nana and keep her from dying early, but also utilizing her when she's still around, keeps Icies out of the hands of all but the most dedicated players.

Icies Tech Guide

The second best Pokemon in Melee is often described as "bad Fox", with her gameplan revolving around pesky usage of nair and a big focus on gimping your opponent as early as possible. Pikachu has an incredible - but difficult to master - recovery which allows her to go to the depths of any stage to secure kills, and her uair is a nasty tool, capable of extending combos and prematurely ending stocks. She also has very polarizing matchups; she has a supernaturally good one against Marth, but has a really rough time against Puff.

Pikachu Tech Guide

In a world where Melee is played by robots, Yoshi would be tied for #1. Yoshi has a "parry" which allows him to completely ignore any attack and counter with his own attack, but it's gated behind a two-frame input. There simply isn't enough room here to talk about everything that makes up the dinosaur, but his incredible combo game, double jump armor, egg projectiles, and disgustingly strong down smash and dtilt keep him right at the precipice of top-tier, in spite of his inability to jump out of shield, freakishly big hitbox, and arguably, the single highest execution barrier in all of Melee.

Yoshi Tech Guide

Samus is as enigmatic of a character you can pick. Her gameplan relies almost entirely on her ground game, as her aerials - and air speed - are simply bad. Her ftilt, jabs, and dtilt are all oppressive tools used to pester her opponent into making a mistake, and clipping her opponent with a down smash sends them at an awkward angle, back turned and off-stage. Her projectiles are tough for any player to deal with, and when her neutral B is fully charged, you're forced to tip-toe around her setups that combo into it. In the right hands, she's a menacing character, despite her many weaknesses.

Samus Tech Guide

Luigi is defined by one thing in Melee; his crazy wavedash. He has incredibly low friction, which allows him to easily wavedash across the entirety of any stage. This, in conjunction with his ultra-fast and surprisingly strong aerials, allows him to slap opponents around the stage at breakneck speed. While he suffers off-stage more than any other "good" character, he's still a unique option and worth considering as a new player. Plus it's really fun to learn how to wavedash with him.

Luigi Tech Guide

There is no character more polarizing, gameplay wise, than Ganondorf. Every single attack Ganondorf has hits like a truck, but he also gets hit just as hard in disadvantage and punish. His aerials can delete stocks in the blink of an eye, all of them racking up an eye-watering amount of damage, and his tricky movement allows him to get in his opponents face faster than they can believe. He has a tough time fighting fast characters, and while his recovery is "good", anybody familiar with the matchup can circumvent it. You don't decide to play Ganondorf - you're born to.

Ganondorf Tech Guide