To see Fridge Moments for specific games, check out the following sub-pages:

Fridge Brilliance

Why don't swords just slice everyone up? They're all trophies, which means it's not a real blade.
- Also, they're not made of soft, easily-cuttable flesh.
Why is Crazy Hand the Evil Counterpart to Master Hand? Because he's the left hand, which makes him sinister.
Why does Link have a terrible jump and recovery across a huge chunk of the series? He has tons of equipment. A sword, boomerang, a bomb bag, a quiver with arrows, a bow... yeah, tell me they're not going to weigh you down. As for Young and Toon Link, there's no explanation for them.
- Toon Link is easy enough. Usually, Toon Link looks more fitting than regular Link in top-down Zelda games which usually have Roc's Feather/Cape in them, an item that allows the player to jump. Also, Cartoon Physics.
- As for Young Link, his equipment's just plain lighter. It can be easily assumed that the Kokiri Sword is pretty simple, with a wooden hilt and plain iron, along with his wooden Deku Shield, which is canonically lighter (trying to equip the Hylian Shield while young didn't work out too well in OoT). The Master Sword and Hylian Shield are likely forged all the way through with high-quality metal, which is doubtless going to be a lot heavier.
- Also, he comes from a series with almost no platforming. He's naturally going to be a little inexperienced in the jumping department.
Why did Master Hand's dolls become trophies in Melee? He got older, and wanted collectibles instead of plushies.
Captain Falcon is from a racing game, so why is it he has these incredibly powerful moves? Well, he's a toy; who said that the kid knows where Captain Falcon is from? So he made up all of his moves, and the reason he's so powerful is that he's the kid's favorite toy. It really helps that he's also known as a legendary bounty hunter.
Roy, Dr. Mario, Pichu, and Young Link were removed in Brawl for being clones of Marth, Mario, Pikachu, and Link respectively. Mewtwo wasn't a clone in the Smash Bros. sense... but it is in the literal sense.
Why is Peach's Castle in Melee so unusually small? Are your characters just big? No, they're figures. The castle is a toy, too — and either the toys aren't from the same set as the castle, or the castle is just Off-Model. The same also is true for Luigi's Mansion in Brawl.
Why does Jigglypuff shoot to the sky if you break its shield? Well, what happens when you pop a balloon? Or rather, the balloon Pokémon?
It sounds like it wouldn't be a surprise at first given the position he's in, but notice that for each game, the announcer for that game also performs the laughter and death rattle of Master Hand.
A minor example, but the reason Mario's Fireballs bounce and Luigi's go in a straight line? Look at the position of their hands. Mario's hands point down at an angle, forcing the fireballs down. Luigi points his fingers like a gun, forcing the fireballs to the side.
- Also, it works as a reference to Mario Bros., where the orange fireballs bounced around while the green fireballs went in a straight line.
Mr. Game & Watch's trophy descriptions point out that he has no concept of good or evil. After all, Game & Watch games don't typically have plots or villains,^note do they?
Why does Lucario become stronger as it takes damage? Lucario greatly invokes other shonen series like Dragon Ball Z into its design. In those series, characters often fight at their best and unleash their most powerful attacks when close to defeat. Having the same voice actor as Goku in its debut helps draw further comparisons.
It may just be due to super armor, but the real reason Ike can tank Marth's/Lucina's Critical Hit if he uses Aether? Ike's using the Ragnell, which negates Critical Hits.
As of U/3DS, the characters' trophies have been defictionalized in the form of amiibo, which fully justifies and clarifies the whole "imaginary battles between toy characters" angle of the series.
- You, the player, use inanimate trophies in Real Life to summon living, breathing fighters in an imaginary universe — the Super Smash Bros. universe, which only exists within a video game. To the Smash fighters, summoning an amiibo in-game would look exactly like how the toy fighters come to life in 64 and Melee (doing so even uses the same animation in the amiibo menu).
- The amiibo can be used to summon the Smashverse incarnations of Marth, Ike, Robin and Lucina in Fire Emblem Fates in the exact same manner. We know that Master Hand is a godlike being, so it's not out of the question that he's an outright Reality Warper and is summoning his Fire Emblem heroes in another universe that doesn't follow the laws of his own, to help that universe's Corrin.
Why is The Legendary Air Ride Machine set by default to be the most frequent song played on the Halberd? A certain Kirby game used this same song as the Halberd’s main theme.
Ganondorf's usual playstyle involves being patient and waiting to punish foes' mistakes with his slow, but very powerful, attacks. The Zelda series shows that he isn't a true Mighty Glacier in canon but rather a Lightning Bruiser who often chooses to move slowly; however, his playstyle in Smash is befitting of his nature as a Genius Bruiser, since it requires a lot of patience, attention, and good reflexes rather than simply rushing in and clobbering foes, as Bowser is meant to do in SSB4.
- Along the same lines is a possible explanation why he doesn't use his abilities to the fullest: Ganondorf is practicing the same martial art that Captain Falcon already mastered. Martial arts are one thing he's hardly ever done in canon, so it'd make sense for him not to be very good at it (yet); he's using Smash as an opportunity to practice and get better, trying to learn while fighting rather than finishing his foes off efficiently using the methods he's familiar with. Seeing as Ganondorf is Wicked Cultured and is a good organ player, it'd make sense for him to have interests other than "complete the Triforce and conquer everything". As for his speed, the Hyrule Warriors strategy guide suggested that he often chooses to move slowly so that his foes' suffering lasts longer. This same reasoning implies that there's something he enjoys in fighting with his fists, most likely how it satisfying is to injure/damage his foes with his bare hands (the player's satisfaction in doing the same is one reason his "King of Disrespect" playstyle is so popular).
- Also, the fact that Ganondorf uses Captain Falcon's martial arts style specifically, as well as his late introduction in Melee as an unlockable character, suggests he learned it from him. But why learn from Captain Falcon? Why not, say, Samus, or Peach, or even Donkey Kong? Simple: relative obscurity. Captain Falcon has only a few games to his name, and of those, how he fights isn't exactly well-documented. By immersing himself in an obscure fighting style, Ganondorf can catch his opponents off-guard simply by doing what they don't expect. It also works as a functional Power Limiter; Smash is a friendly tournament with no stakes, so Ganondorf can afford to Do Well, But Not Perfect and enjoy himself in the process (while double-dipping and picking up a mundane skill to enhance his already-powerful abilities).
On a more glum note, Bayonetta has been touted as an overpowered character to the point that some tournaments have banned her from use. How did she end up so strong despite Sakurai sticking so close to the source material? Well, to be blunt, it's because of the source material, and a good example of how Shown Their Work can have an ugly side. Ryu got away with it due to being a Fighting Game character to begin with, and Cloud comes with a notable drawback due to how restrictive his Limit Break mechanic can be, but Bayonetta is a very different beast: both Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 are high-octane Stylish Action games that have a considerably faster pace than Smash 3DS/U, the highest-tier medals in the games require a player of a pretty high caliber to obtain, and the heroine herself brings powerful abilities that, while bread and butter in her own series where most major enemies don't flinch, are just overkill in Smash's combat system — Witch Time and Bat Within are the worst offenders, by far. Bayo players that are adjusted to the playstyle of both series' (and with Bayonetta 2 as a Wii U title, there will be people who have played both) are given a tremendous advantage over every other character simply because the rest of the cast can't keep up. While it's a testament to Sakurai's ingenuity that a character with Bayonetta's abilities (and... raciness) works in the game at all and is perfectly fun to play, in the competitive scene, it ultimately ended up better on paper than in practice.
Why does Marth continue to speak Japanese even though he has shown up with speaking roles in more recent games, and his original game's Updated Re-release was put out in the US? When Melee came out, Shadow Dragon hadn't been released yet. Since the characters are figurines of Nintendo characters, it's likely his didn't get ported with the rest. Marth's figurine was imported and hasn't been replaced with a domestic version.
- And then why does he finally get voiced in English for Ultimate? He was finally a fully voiced main character in English for an official Fire Emblem game with Fire Emblem Warriors.
It might not seem fair for Kirby's copy abilities for Robin and Inkling to have limited uses before they're gone. That is, until you remember that Kirby has some limited-use abilities in his home series such as Mike, Paint, and Crash.
A glance at Mewtwo's special moveset, for someone familiar with its colossal movepool in its home series, can make one wonder why it includes relatively weak moves like Confusion (generally an early-game move not befitting of a legendary Pokémon) and two status moves. However, it's possible that Mewtwo, knowing its level of power, felt that moves like Psychic, Blizzard, Fire Blast, etc. would have been overkill for a friendly Smash and so chose to use lesser moves to even the playing field. It might have also considered its signature Psystrike to be strong enough to be limited as a Final Smash when no such limitation exists in its home series (aside from the normal PP limits) for the same reason.
Sonic’s best fighting style in the game is to charge in, attack, run away, and repeat. Sounds familiar... Oh yeah, that’s how a lot of bosses in the Sonic series are done.
Marth, Roy, Lucina, and Chrom all share a similar moveset, while Ike, Robin, Corrin, and Byleth are a lot more unique. That’s because the former four are all the Lord class! The latter four each have a different starting class (Ranger/Hero, Tactician, Nohr Prince(ss), and Commoner).
Dr. Mario's forward smash being electric element seems an odd choice for a doctor... until you realize that it's the combat equivalent of defibrillation paddles!
Mario and Luigi's Up Special has them hitting the enemies from below. Weird since their main method of attack is to jump on enemies from above. However, attacking from below is something they're familiar with. That's how you attack the enemies in Mario Bros. You strike the path the enemies are currently on to flip them over, leaving them vulnerable to getting kicked off. This is also a valid tactic in later 2D games, where you can punch brick blocks enemies are standing on to get rid of them. As for the coins that pop out of opponents, every time you defeat an enemy in Mario Bros., a coin would come out earning you extra points.
F-Zero and Earthbound don't have stages in 64, so Captain Falcon and Ness have to share a stage with Samus and Kirby respectively in their unlock battles. Both F-Zero and Metroid are games that take place in the future and involve aliens in one way or another, while Dream Land is a stand in for Magicant, which is a literal dream land.
The character page notes how Pittoo seems to go under Adaptational Villainy. He’s one of the villains in Wii U’s Final Battle Co-Op mission and is listed in the evil side of the Smash Splat-fest. Then you remember that the Palutena’s Guidance reveals he is now working for the Forces of Nature, who are still enemies (if slightly more friendly than before) of Palutena’s Army and humanity.

Fridge Horror

As pointed out in the Tearjerker page, one of Marth's victory quotes is "Today I was able to survive again." This along with another one of his victory quotes ("It looks like it is my victory this time.") emphasize the "today" and "now", not to mention how utterly relieved he sounds in said quotes, as if it might be his final day, or as if it's a miracle he came out alive. The other is "I cannot afford to lose", and his rather infamous taunt, "Everyone, please look at me" (or, in Ultimate, when he finally has an English voice, "Keep your eyes open!"), isn't in an arrogant tone like some are led to believe, and if anything, he sounds pretty uncertain in it; if one looks really close, the expression on his face reflects this. One of his idle animations is also placing his hand on his chest and breathing, as if trying to calm himself... He does know that Smash is a friendly tournament, and that he's not fighting in a war anymore... Right? Right?
Despite being around since Brawl, R.O.B. has never had a stage that was specific to him. If he appears on a certain stage, it’s usually from a classic Nintendo game that he had nothing to do with. Why is this? Because his real home, The Isle of the Ancients, was obliterated at the end of The Subspace Emissary. His lack of a stage hammers home that R.O.B. has no place left to call home.

Fridge / Super Smash Bros.

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Fridge Brilliance

Fridge Horror