Super Smash Bros. Brawl/Simple character comparison

This page gives statistics for all the characters as well as breakdowns by type of fighting. While you can do better or worse depending on who you enjoy playing as, you can get an idea of how the game is balanced from a numbers perspective here.

Character Ratings
These Character Ratings are intended to serve as a rough estimate of base character ability for players with intermediate Super Smash Bros. Brawl skill who are attempting to select a character to better their technique with. These ratings are an assessment of the untapped potential of the characters to be mastered, not necessarily their beginning ability in the hands of a player who is untrained with them. They are a conglomeration of tier list data, community opinion and the game's Prima guide; they are doomed to constant editing and are as such, far from infallible. If you see any blatant errors feel free to change them.

Characters without projectiles
Characters without projectiles will have to stay close to the opponent (With the exception of Zero Suit Samus). The final smash for Zero Suit Samus has been effective but has not been recorded on the guide so let's just stay with the Samus Final Smash instead. It will be important to be effective in close range if your character doesn't have a long range projectile.
 * Characters without a projectile: Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, Ganondorf, Ike, Jigglypuff, Kirby, Marth, Meta Knight, Sonic, Wario.

Offense
Overall Offense is based on a series of factors including but not limited to: knock-back power, throwing game, attack speed, projectiles, attack damage, and aerial game.

The Top 5 most aggressively Offensive Brawlers in no particular order Are:

Wolf: His mix of speed, power, good smashes, a solid spammable projectile, and a devastating final smash that almost always clears the stage of opponents make him a premier offensive force in Brawl.

Mr. Game and Watch: His Versatile Powerful Smashes, and spammable air pump jab give him all needs to rack up damage quickly and finish opponents off with his high knock-back finishers.

Pikachu: Pikachu's speed, above-average smashes and ridiculous edge-guarding abilities allow him to rack up the damage and KO's. He is especially oppressive against slow and heavy opponents.

Marth: Marth's insane speed, combo abilities and solid aerial and grab game allow him to rack up extensive damage on his victims with surprising ease and quickness. He lacks power, but he can easily make up for it with his stellar final smash.

Snake: Snake's array of equipment allows him to cleverly rack up the damage on opponents from all angles with his mines and projectiles. He is a bit slow overall, but his tilt moves are fast and powerful, great for finishing opponents off.

Defense
Defensive at its basis is the ability of a character to survive; it includes factors such as: recovery ability, character weight, speed, shield roll and sidestepping speed, counters, deflector shields, etc.

The Top 5 most Defense oriented Brawlers in no specific order Are:

Diddy Kong: His speed, great recovery ability and obnoxious banana peels, which make opponents slip up while attempting to attack you make Diddy superb at avoiding damage.

Lucario: With an insanely quick shield roll, the best counter in the game and attack power that increases with his damage, Lucario is a serious defensive force to reckon with especially when he is behind in the fight.

Olimar: Olimar's Pikmin buddies(terrorists), allow him to maintain great spacing from his opponents especially on flat stages, he can harass opponents with his Pikmin throw making it very hard for them to get close enough to KO or damage him.

Falco: Good Speed, Solid Recovery and an annoying spammable deflector sheild, make Falco a great chore for opponents assailing him.

King Dedede: His insane weight coupled with his surprisingly great recovery and aerial defense game make him an extremely hard character to KO.

Projectile
Best Projectile Characters:

Snake: Rockets, mortars, grenades, c4, landmines

Link/Toon Link: Bombs, Arrows, Boomerang

Fox:Fast Firing Laser, Deflector Sheild

Samus: Chargeable gun, 2 types of rockets

Ness/Lucas: Earth, Wind and Fire

Final Smash
Though the Final Smash is a relatively small part of a character's overall potential, it does have the ability to turn the tide of a battle. Learning to obtain Smash Balls with efficiency is of great importance, especially in team battles.

Sonic: Simply put, Sonic becomes an angel of death when he uses his Final Smash. A single touch of his invincible power will send opponents flying to their demise.

Fox/Falco/Wolf: These are all relatively similar, however, Wolf's seems to be the most powerful. The Starfox team calls in a little help from the Landmaster and is generally able to clear the stage with ease.

Pokemon Trainer: Launches a Tri Attack which is Super Effective against any opponent it hits.

Snake: Unleashes a flurry of RPGs which leaves unfortunate opponents scurrying for cover, which they aren't normally lucky enough to find.

Throwing Ability
While offense and defense are well balanced to each other, you can also throw the opponent depending how effective the throw is. This is not wrestling by any means but it does help add strategy to the game. As an option, you can throw almost anywhere whether its in the ground or in the air or if someone use defence frequently, you can throw the opponent anyway you want.
 * 10: Captain Falcon.
 * 9: Marth.
 * 8: Bowser, Donkey Kong, Ice Climbers, Ness, Sheik.
 * 7: Falco, Fox, Ganondorf, King Dedede, Kirby, Lucas, Luigi, Mario, Mr Game and Watch, Pikachu, Pit, Snake, Wario.
 * 6: Diddy Kong, Ike, Lucario, Olimar, Meta Knight, Peach, ROB, Pokémon Trainer, Sonic, Zelda.
 * 5: Samus, Zero-Suit Samus, Wolf, Yoshi.
 * 4: Jigglypuff.
 * 3: Link, Toon Link.

Speed
With the characters in different weights, its obvious that the slower the opponent is, the more powerful and durable the opponent is. The lightweights will have to keep moving so you can be effective by using light attacks and moving around the arena in a speed of light. It's important that you don't just stand there and besides moving around the arena, it's also how fast your attack is. So if you don't move around, you'll end up missing on items you want to get like a Smash Ball and time your attack.
 * 10: Captain Falcon, Diddy Kong, Falco, Fox, Pikachu, Sonic.
 * 9: Sheik, Zero-Suit Samus.
 * 8: Meta Knight.
 * 7: Lucas, Mario, Marth, Mr Game and Watch, Pokémon Trainer, Toon Link, Yoshi, Zelda.
 * 6: Donkey Kong, Ice Climbers, Kirby, Link, Lucario, Luigi, Ness, Olimar, Peach, ROB, Samus, Wario, Wolf.
 * 5: Ike, Jigglypuff, Pit.
 * 4: King Dedede, Snake.
 * 3: Ganondorf.
 * 1: Bowser.

Overall
This would the most important aspect when you weigh up all the factors which might help you succeed through the game. Whether you prefer close combat, long range combat, thrower, a powerful finisher, speed or an all rounded fighter, its worth trying out all the fighters from the most powerful overall character to the least powerful overall character. Since all the characters are made faithfully in their own right, you should be able to be effective in all the categories mentioned above.
 * 10: Meta Knight.
 * 9: Falco, Fox, Marth.
 * 8: Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, Snake, Wolf.
 * 7: Bowser, Jigglypuff, King Dedede, Lucario, Lucas, Mario, Ness, Pit, Pokémon Trainer, Zero-Suit Samus, Sonic, Sheik.
 * 6: Donkey Kong, Ice Climbers, Ike, Luigi, Mr Game and Watch, ROB, Samus, Toon Link, Zelda.
 * 5: Peach, Ganondorf, Kirby, Link, Olimar, Pikachu, Wario, Yoshi.