Definitive List of Unused Fighters in Smash

[PushDustIn]

I've been working on this for awhile, but it's finally finished. The definitive list of unused fighters in Smash. Everything is 100% quoted and sourced. Anything that I could not find an original source for, was put under, "Possible Misinformation".

Some new information:
Bowser and Dedede were worked on in 64
Wolf was probably not planned for Melee.
Wario was next in line for Melee
Sukapon was going to be an item in Melee
Additional information on the cut stages in Melee
Blastoise was briefly considered for the Pokemon Trainer in Brawl
My additional thoughts on the data that I found in Smash 4

 

[Vintage Creep]

Good work. Hopefully all the cut content will be added later as DLC.
The biggest disappointment for me is the lack of a Diddy/Dixie duo. It makes perfect sense and it sounds interesting.

 

[PushDustIn]

Good work. Hopefully all the cut content will be added later as DLC.
The biggest disappointment for me is the lack of a Diddy/Dixie duo. It makes perfect sense and it sounds interesting.

Thanks. The way that Sakurai described it makes it sound like it would have worked exactly like how it did in Donkey Kong Country. I can see why that would be difficult to actually implement (syncing with stage edges, jumping and being hit,etc)

 

[Tewks]

Great list. Seeing Nintendog in Brawl would have been hilarious, but I guess an assist trophy would do. It does disappoint me that Excitebike was considered/scrapped from Melee. It sounds like he could be a creative character, I guess one could hope for Sm4sh DLC.

 

[LunarWingCloud]

Great post, thanks for the work you put into making a wonderful read. I have been pretty keen on the scrapped stuff from Brawl since I was obsessed with that game, but learning about the planned and dropped stuff from 64 and Melee was a lot of fun to read. I learned a little bit from that.

 

[Mobes]

Well done, PushDustin. I think I've heard most of these through out the years, but deffo not all of them.

 

[kantoskies]

And here I thought I'd read all of the info on cut stuff in Melee! That Melee Fire Emblem stage would have been really cool (and the FE music wouldn't have been stuck as the alt track for Temple). And oh man that Bell Tower stage (probably was replaced by Poke Floats). Plus Saffron City-style Pokemon on Stadium 1 would have given that stage so much charm.

Dr. Mario and Bell Tower stages for DLC 2k15

 

[Jexulus]

Wow. Takamaru was considered 3 times in a row. Given how much more public Takamaru is now because of his Assist Trophy status and the revelation that he was dropped for the third time, he might make it into whatever Smash 5 ends up being. This is assuming he won't be removed as an Assist Trophy to make room for him and Sakurai somehow gets saddled with Smash 5.

Also, I feel like I'm the only one who thinks adding Blastoise as DLC instead of Squirtle would be a good idea.

 

[Lemon Girl]

If Wario was in Melee he could have had his Wario Land moveset instead of his Wario Ware :/

 

[Nintendotard]

Damn. Takamaru needs to be if its made. I sitll don't believe that 8 Player Smash was made because of the exclusion of Nana and Popo :\

 

[ChikoLad]

Isn't Sonic missing from the Melee list? In an old EDGE Magazine interview with Yuji Naka (creator of Sonic), he claimed that he had discussed including him with Sakurai, but it was too late in development to actually add him.

 

[clydeaker]

Isn't Sonic missing from the Melee list? In an old EDGE Magazine interview with Yuji Naka (creator of Sonic), he claimed that he had discussed including him with Sakurai, but it was too late in development to actually add him.

Ha ha, no, that was an April fools joke
Heres a link for more info: Sonic & Tails in Melee rumor.

 

[ChikoLad]

Ha ha, no, that was an April fools joke
Heres a link for more info: Sonic & Tails in Melee rumor.

I'm not referring to that, they did a legitimate interview with Yuji Naka, and one of the questions they asked was about Sonic appearing in Melee. He answered with something like "it was very close, but due to time constraints, it never happened".

 

[Falcon1991]

Great article!

Anyone remember those fake pics back in the day of Toad in Melee?

I also remember reading a Nintendo mag here in the UK, before the game was out, and they had a picture (Not a Smash render) of Banjo and Kazooie.

 

[PLATINUM7]

I'm not referring to that, they did a legitimate interview with Yuji Naka, and one of the questions they asked was about Sonic appearing in Melee. He answered with something like "it was very close, but due to time constraints, it never happened".

I found the article. The quote is on the right.

Spoiler

 

[clydeaker]

Great article!

Anyone remember those fake pics back in the day of Toad in Melee?

I also remember reading a Nintendo mag here in the UK, before the game was out, and they had a picture (Not a Smash render) of Banjo and Kazooie.

yeah, I remember going on youtube probably back in 2004 or 2005, I was about age 7 or 8 at the time, and finding YouTube videos showing Toad as a hidden unlockable character. Lucky I was smart enough to go back and read the comments to find they were using the invisibility item on peach wile she uses her toad to fake the screen shots.

 

[KokiriKory]

Thanks for sharing!

The hype would have been real if Mewtwo, Bowser and Dedede were all in smash 64

It's a shame characters like Ridley and Takamaru have come close a few times, to end up on the floor repetitively. The games have not suffered without them though...

 

[PushDustIn]

Isn't Sonic missing from the Melee list? In an old EDGE Magazine interview with Yuji Naka (creator of Sonic), he claimed that he had discussed including him with Sakurai, but it was too late in development to actually add him.

It's already in the article. Under possible misinformation. It was only picked up by a fan gaming site at the time, so I'm not sure if the article is actually true.

 

[Dastardly Ridleylash]

It's already in the article. Under possible misinformation. It was only picked up by a fan gaming site at the time, so I'm not sure if the article is actually true.

Yeah, the only third-party fighters that I know were under consideration for Melee's roster were James Bond, Banjo and Kazooie and Snake. Any others are dubious at best, so it's best to leave them off for now.

 

[King K. Rool the great]

I never played Melle

 

[FalKoopa]

I never played Melle

Please don't spam. :/

 

[ChikoLad]

It's already in the article. Under possible misinformation. It was only picked up by a fan gaming site at the time, so I'm not sure if the article is actually true.

But we literally have a scan of the magazine posted in this thread. It's been a well known interview for a long time. Not to mention that everything else in the interview is legitimate, so why wouldn't that part of it be?

 

[LunarWingCloud]

Because Yuji Naka cannot be trusted, that's why!!

Looking back though I really wish that they had the chance to put in Dedede, Bowser and Mewtwo in Smash 64. 15 character roster would have been a nice start. Plus a random option. (seriously there is no random option in 64)

 

[ChikoLad]

Because Yuji Naka cannot be trusted, that's why!!

Looking back though I really wish that they had the chance to put in Dedede, Bowser and Mewtwo in Smash 64. 15 character roster would have been a nice start. Plus a random option. (seriously there is no random option in 64)

One of the creators of Sonic can't be trusted on matters concerning the character he created and when he also stood as the head of Sonic Team for quite some time?

Not to mention his claim that "Mario and Sonic should be meeting up pretty soon either way" held water, and has continued to. I don't see why this is dubious at all, he would have no incentive to lie (especially since he left Sonic Team not long after that interview happened anyway).

I would also like to point out that by the time Yuji Naka asked Sakurai about including him (i.e. too late into development), Nintendo and SEGA were not rivals. SEGA was pretty much wrapping up their run in the hardware business. Sonic Advance released in the same year as Melee, and Sonic Adventure DX and SA2B would probably have been in development by that time, as well as Sonic Heroes (Sonic Heroes started development for the Dreamcast). The claim that Nintendo and SEGA would still be rivals by the time Yuji Naka would have approached Sakurai is completely untrue.

I don't think it would mean anything either way, because they literally advertised for a PS3 exclusive game in Brawl, being MGS4.

 

[Lag Chan]

Kinda funny to finally know what the Akaneia stage would've been and it's pretty much Castle Siege but with stage hazards instead of stage transformations. Still, would've been cool to see in the game.

 

[PushDustIn]

But we literally have a scan of the magazine posted in this thread. It's been a well known interview for a long time. Not to mention that everything else in the interview is legitimate, so why wouldn't that part of it be?

Only because Sonic being in Melee is huge news, and it wasn't covered on other Gaming news sites at the time. I did a targeted Google Search to only include the month after that interview and nothing was found. If you guys find a reputable source that covers the interview, then I'll reconsider Sonic's placement in Melee.

 

[Troykv]

Kinda funny to finally know what the Akaneia stage would've been and it's pretty much Castle Siege but with stage hazards instead of stage transformations. Still, would've been cool to see in the game.

I want a no-generic Fire Emblem stage.

I LOVE that idea.

 

[ChikoLad]

Only because Sonic being in Melee is huge news, and it wasn't covered on other Gaming news sites at the time. I did a targeted Google Search to only include the month after that interview and nothing was found. If you guys find a reputable source that covers the interview, then I'll reconsider Sonic's placement in Melee.

I don't think "other news sites didn't jump on reporting it" should matter because it was seemingly in the Australian Edition of the magazine (which only had a six month print run), and it's not like the internet was the prime source for gaming news at the time. Plus, it's entirely up to the discretion of other news sites to do that. We were also to believe, at the time, that Melee was the last Smash game, so at the time, Sonic being considered for a game in a dead crossover franchise really isn't the biggest piece of news. Even Yuji Naka addresses it as a quick piece of trivia in a much broader interview.

Everything else in that interview has proven to be true, including the claims that Mario and Sonic crossing over would happen, and Edge is a reliable source, having exclusive interviews with lots of developers even today. Whether or not other news sites reported it is irrelevant, as that is entirely at their discretion and up to whether or not they caught wind of the news at the time. The fact that everything else in that interview has been nothing but the truth and the fact that he would have absolutely no reason to lie about such a thing says more than whether or not other news sites reported on it in an age where gaming news sites were not really a huge thing like they are today.

 

[PushDustIn]

Ok, I was wrong. I found the full magazine scan. Proof below:

Edge Magazine (Australia Edition) Issue 04 (January 2005)
Author:Future Publishing
Subject:Edge Magazine (Australia Edition);
Year:2005
Proof:

Will update the article.

 

[Frostwraith]

I want a no-generic Fire Emblem stage.

I LOVE that idea.

Smash 3DS has Arena Ferox from Fire Emblem: Awakening. There's your non-generic Fire Emblem stage.

Anyway, regarding the Akaneia stage, Sakurai mentioned it would involve a dragon and a sorcerer. Likely, they would be the two main antagonists of the first Fire Emblem game, Gharnef (the sorcerer) and Medeus (the titular Dark Dragon).

 

[Marakatu]

I love that article. Everything is properly sourced.

(For you guys who think that Takamaru shouldn't have been scrapped, you can always join our group. )

 

[clydeaker]

Now I'm going to vote every character that was considered, planed, scraped, or were in a previous smash game and didn't make it into smash 4 in the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot. Ha ha!

 

[Purin a.k.a. José]

That's pretty cool. Hopefully uncle Sakurai puts all the scrapped characters in DLC's and future iterations. I wonder how Mach Rider and Ayumi Tachibana would play.