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, although I think this is a reasonable compromise somewhere between professional and novice rankings. Thank You!

Characters without projectiles and a Final Smash
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.
 * Character without a final smash: Zero-Suit Samus--instead, changes into normal Samus. Samus's Final Smash will do the opposite, changing Samus into Zero-Suit Samus.

Offense
This is based on how many offensive tools a character has and how effective they are. The better offense, the better that character will match-up against a defensive character.
 * 9: Marth
 * 8: Captain Falcon, Diddy Kong, Ike, Jigglypuff, Lucas, Ness, Peach, Zero-Suit Samus, Snake, Sonic, Toon Link, Wolf.
 * 7: Bowser, Falco, Ganondorf, Ice Climbers, King Dedede, Link, Lucario, Luigi, Mario, Mr Game and Watch, Pit, Pokémon Trainer, Samus, Sheik.
 * 6: Donkey Kong, Fox, Meta Knight, Pikachu, Wario, Zelda.
 * 5: Kirby, Oilmar, ROB, Yoshi.

Defense
This refers to how evasive the characters can take to avoid damage. It's important that the character also has many defensive tools.
 * 10: Jigglypuff.
 * 9: Lucario.
 * 8: Marth, Meta Knight, Peach, Pokémon Trainer, Wolf.
 * 7: Captain Falcon, Diddy Kong, Falco, Ike, King Dedede, Link, Lucas, Ness, ROB, Toon Link, Sheik.
 * 6: Mario, Zero-Suit Samus.
 * 5: Bowser, Donkey Kong, Ice Climbers, Kirby, Pikachu, Samus, Snake, Sonic, Yoshi, Zelda.
 * 4: Fox, Luigi, Mr Game and Watch, Wario.
 * 3: Ganondorf, Olimar, Pit.

Projectile
Compare to close combat, this is worth the need to keep a distance between you and your opponent. You still have the option if your opponent gets too close to you, forcing you to attack at close range.
 * 10: Fox, Link, Toon Link.
 * 9: Lucas, Ness, Pit, Snake.
 * 8: Diddy Kong, Lucario, Samus.
 * 7: Falco, Mario, Olimar, Peach, ROB, Zero-Suit Samus, Wolf, Sheik.
 * 6: King Dedede, Luigi, Pikachu, Yoshi, Zelda.
 * 5: Ice Climbers, Mr Game and Watch, Pokémon Trainer.
 * 3: Bowser.

Final Smash
When you obtain the Smash Ball item, you can unleash the characters most powerful attack. But if your final smash has its limitations, than it's difficult to set it up to be more effective and some final smash has little effect but instead will be helpful to be able to get a breather during the round. This will be important that to turn the tables you need to be able to use the final smash depending on how it's used (with the exception of Zero-Suit Samus which does damage to nearby opponents but the effect is not rated in this Prima Guide). If you don't use it, once you get attacked, the Smash Ball will get out of your character and your opponents will be the next one to use it.
 * 9: Falco, Fox, Olimar, Wolf.
 * 8: Ice Climbers, Jigglypuff, Mario, Marth, Pokémon Trainer, Snake.
 * 7: Bowser, Diddy Kong, Ganondorf, King Dedede, Link, Lucas, Ness, Pit, Samus, Sonic, Toon Link, Yoshi, Zelda, Sheik.
 * 6: Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Peach, Wario.
 * 5: Luigi, Mr Game and Watch.
 * 4: Ike, Lucario, Meta Knight, Pikachu, ROB.

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.
 * 8: Meta Knight, Zero-Suit Samus.
 * 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.
 * 9: Marth.
 * 8: Captain Falcon, Diddy Kong, Peach, Snake, Toon Link, Wolf.
 * 7: Bowser, Falco, Jigglypuff, King Dedede, Link, Lucario, Lucas, Mario, Ness, Pit, Pokémon Trainer, Zero-Suit Samus, Sonic, Sheik.
 * 6: Donkey Kong, Fox, Ganondorf, Ice Climbers, Ike, Luigi, Meta Knight, Mr Game and Watch, ROB, Samus, Zelda.
 * 5: Kirby, Olimar, Pikachu, Wario, Yoshi.