In Classic Mode, you select your character, number of lives, and difficulty level, and battle your way through a series of 12 battles. Your opponents, allies, and the stage will be randomly chosen; however, each match is based on a different game series, so the characters and stage will be chosen from that series.
- Level 1: The Legend of Zelda
- Level 2: Donkey Kong or Yoshi
- Level 3: Pokémon
- Level 4: Fire Emblem or EarthBound
- Target Smash!!
- Level 5: Kirby
- Level 6: Metroid or Pikmin
- Level 7: Star Fox or F-Zero
- Level 8: Mario
- Level 9: Game and Watch, Kid Icarus, Ice Climber, or R.O.B.
- Level 10: WarioWare, Metal Gear, or Sonic
- Target Smash!!
Any one of these matches may have special conditions applied; these are also randomly chosen. In addition to normal 1-on-1 matches, there will be:
- 2-on-2 matches: You have a CPU-controlled ally and two opponents.
- Giant matches: Your opponent is gigantic. You might have one or more CPU-controlled allies.
- Metal matches: Your opponent is metallic, as if they'd picked up a metal box.
- Team matches: You fight a large number of duplicates of the same character.
There are two rounds of Target Smash between matches. The first corresponds to the chosen difficulty level. The second corresponds to the next highest difficulty level.
Level 11 is a free-for-all with three random opponents on Final Destination.
Finally, Level 12 pits you against Master Hand on Final Destination. If you're playing on Hard mode or higher, or if you reach this level in 9 minutes or less, Crazy Hand shows up too.
When you finish Classic Mode, you get your character's trophy. Mind you, if you play as Zelda/Sheik, Samus/Zero Suit Samus, or Pokémon Trainer, you only get the trophy for the specific character that landed the final blow on Master Hand or Crazy Hand.