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Bowser Jr. Was Almost Cut From Smash 4

LiteralGrill

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Nintendo Dream is a Japanese video game magazine published monthly by Tokuma Shoten that provide industry coverage and developer interviews about Nintendo. The most recent release was a 250th issue special, including a two page interview with Masahiro Sakurai regarding Super Smash Bros that talks a bit about Greninja, how Bowser Jr. was almost cut, and mentions other characters were proposed that did not make it into the game. The interview was done shortly before the release of the Wii U version in Japan.


Nintendo Dream: 250th Anniversary Interview!

- - - - -

Nintendo Dream: When not you are not developing and there is a new title or character released, you are not thinking about "How about that one in the next Smash Bros?", right?

Sakurai: Absolutely not! I'm always thinking that doing Smash Bros. again will be impossible. Impossible, impossible...is what I always think, but I ended up making it again (laughs). But once I decide to do it, I'm very fast about creating moves and such. For example Greninja, even before his name was decided I received several illustrations. I took them home in the evening and around midnight I had already done all his actions, normal moves, special moves and pose-pictures and sent them around asking "What do you think?".

Nintendo Dream: That's incredible speed! By the way, when deciding on which characters to use, are you looking into unreleased new games?

Sakurai: At the very beginning I did that. This time our project-proposal is dated May 2012, at that time all characters were decided already. Then as production moves on we will say "We won't put that character in" and cut out low-priority-characters.

Nintendo Dream: That means in your project-proposal there are more characters than ended up in the game?

Sakurai: Yes, but I won't tell which of course.

Nintendo Dream: (laughs). We were wondering all the time "Which characters will be in", and then the "long-time heroes" are announced just like that. We were wondering if that was the right way to announce them.

Sakurai: After all we were planning on including so many characters, in the end this pace of announcing them was enough. Each and every character has fans, we wanted to drop as few as possible. About the order of which character has priority, the characters that don't have a new title coming up have an overwhelming disadvantage...even characters that we ended up including could have been left out if development had progressed differently. But even if 1 former character is left out, for the fans this is a huge thing. On our side, we are re-creating characters from the previous title, and keep on adding more, so the word "reduce" is not appropriate. There are cases where we simply couldn't make it in the end, but on the whole we did a good job I think and the people at Bandai Namco Games did a great job. We had discussions on giving up on something many many times, Bowser Jr. was on the brink of being cut but the staff said "We'll do our best!" and we made it.

- - -​

Bowser Jr. mains can thank their lucky stars that their main just barely made the cut! This does, however, lead to some interesting speculation: did Mewtwo make the list and not make the cut, causing his inclusion as DLC? With Isaac from Golden Sun not returning as an assist trophy, was he considered for a character? What about our old friends Lucas and Wolf? What other characters may have been on that list that didn't make it to the final game? There is a lot to think about here, so let the discussion begin!

SmashCapps is a weirdo who wishes Harry from Teleroboxer could have been added to rep the Virtual Boy, but realizes he probably was never on that list. He would have loved to see Lolo and Lala as well. If you're a fan of his writing or quirky taste in character choices, you should follow him on twitter and start a conversation!

Source: Neogaf
 

Bedoop

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:4bowserjr: got to fight that :4mario: again in the end.
Thank you, based Sakurai.
 

CyberHyperPhoenix

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"This time our project-proposal is dated May 2012, at that time all characters were decided already."

And the clone haters have officially lost the war :troll: :troll:

But seriously, its interesting to hear about the development of the game... especially the Greninja and Bowser Jr. stuff.
 
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ChikoLad

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The Mario cast would not be complete without Bowser Jr, so I'm glad he made it.
 

PokÉmblem

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Thanks Sakurai and the team, I always wanted to play as bowser Jr. In smash bros. Looking back at how big golden sun is makes me think Isaac will be in as Dlc, the franchise is sort of like the Portables earthbound(3 games, beloved characters, RPG and underrated)
 

Cactusblah

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Patiently waiting for Isaac, K. Rool, and others. It's a crime that they aren't already in the game over garbage like Wii Fit Trainer, Dark Pit, and other "fan-favorites".
 

cmbsfm

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WHO ARE THESE MYSTERIOUS CHARACTERS THAT DIDN'T MAKE IT IN?!?!
Looks like we'll never know all of them, just like we still don't know how many licks it takes to get to a center of tootsie pop.
 

Megadoomer

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Here's hoping that they hung on to the data for the characters who didn't make the cut, at least. (seeing as, from the sounds of it, they were still working on characters even if they weren't sure if they would make it into the game)

It should mean that they'd have less work for DLC, and hopefully it would mean that we would get fan favourites who were excluded for one reason or another. (for one example, Ice Climbers - we know that they got them working on the Wii U, and with DLC, they'd have time to adjust the character so that they can work on the 3DS)
 

Swiftie_Muggle

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Patiently waiting for Isaac, K. Rool, and others. It's a crime that they aren't already in the game over garbage like Wii Fit Trainer, Dark Pit, and other "fan-favorites".
Those are not the best example thought. Issac is from a niche game , he was even cut as an assist thropy meanwhile even Waluigi returned (lol) and K. Rool is forever in dust , and Nintendo pretty much made this clear after reviving the DK franchise without him. Wii Fit Trainer is Horrible but she comes from a game that literally Everybody and their grandma has played , and Dark Pit is a bonus (a bad one but still a Bonus) , so not really.
 

AustarusIV

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I've always sort of liked Bowser Jr. as the ideal Mario newcomer, moreso than Rosalina, so I'm glad that he just barely got in.

I don't think the Mario series in Smash would be the same without him and the Koopalings.
 
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SuperDS64

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As such the reality of developing a popular video game with deadlines. I'm really happy with the current line-up but this article made me appreciate it that much more.
 

shrooby

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Reading this just makes me all the happier that he got in in the end. As one of the few characters we got who I really wanted before actually seeing them in action, he's one of my favorites.
I wish he got a formal reveal further away from release, though, since the way we found out about him was rather...anticlimactic.
 

MarioMeteor

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As much of a diehard Mario fan as I am, I always though Jr. was kinda unnecessary. I'd rather have Toad. Or Isaac. Or Bandanna Dee. Or Wolf.
 

hotdogturtle

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I definitely wouldn't have cared if he wasn't in. The fact that I currently like playing as him was a huge surprise that didn't come to me until the game was already out. But even as a fan of Super Mario Sunshine, I didn't think of him as a high priority character to add to Smash 4.
 

Rajikaru

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Patiently waiting for Isaac, K. Rool, and others. It's a crime that they aren't already in the game over garbage like Wii Fit Trainer, Dark Pit, and other "fan-favorites".
Ha ha, cute. Ah yes, the fan favorite Wii Fit Trainer, the character Sakurai put in literally because nobody asked for her.
 

Aurane

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Bowser Jr. allowed me to live like :4larry: So respect that he got in by a hair.

Dr. Mario and Mewtwo returning only fuels my hope for Young Link to return. Hopefully, they tinker with him so they can get him to be different than Link, despite the odds. Hell, I'll take him as a Melee clone.

...I'll take Rayman too, but I'll just stop there. :p
 

Smashoperatingbuddy123

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this is cool

but I really really want to know why mewtwo failed for non dlc section

(even though its just most likely the same thing)
 

TheDarkKnightNoivern

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This makes me think there were more characters that were cut, of course mewtwo and most likely a certain leader of a group of mercenaries and a psychic kid from Tazmily Village. Also a DK and Zelda rep

Not including them if they were indeed planned would just be dumb
 
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Yomi's Biggest Fan

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Damn, Luckyman Junior better be lucky he had some of that Lucky Star power to survive the almighty axe and stay in the roster unscathed. :troll:
 

PokÉmblem

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Those are not the best example thought. Issac is from a niche game , he was even cut as an assist thropy meanwhile even Waluigi returned (lol) and K. Rool is forever in dust , and Nintendo pretty much made this clear after reviving the DK franchise without him. Wii Fit Trainer is Horrible but she comes from a game that literally Everybody and their grandma has played , and Dark Pit is a bonus (a bad one but still a Bonus) , so not really.
Isaac is amazing and is actually like the ness of golden sun except that he was in more than 1 game. The only reason why Isaac is not playable is probably because he's 2nd party and not 1st party.
 

AppleCracker

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Kind of off topic but, am I the only one who hates the koopalings using bowser jr.'s model? Seriously! Lemmy looks really tall and Iggy looks extremely short!
 

Tino

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The Mario cast was already complete after Rosalina was revealed so I really didn't care if Junior was gonna make the cut or not, though I honestly would've preferred they brought back Wolf instead.
 
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allison

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Kind of off topic but, am I the only one who hates the koopalings using bowser jr.'s model? Seriously! Lemmy looks really tall and Iggy looks extremely short!
They couldn't have fixed this without doing one of these things:
  • Having costumes change gameplay
  • Having hitboxes be inconsistent with what is visible
  • Having the Koopalings be a bunch of clones that are really similar to each other
  • Ditching the Koopalings entirely
None of these are optimal, so they messed with the heights instead.
 
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Mega Bidoof

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The Mario cast was already complete after Rosalina was revealed so I really didn't care if Junior was gonna make the cut or not, though I honestly would've preferred they brought back Wolf instead.
I'm not sure what you mean by "complete".

If anyone would "complete" the main Mario cast! it would be Toad.
 

ThePenguinGamer0

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I'm pretty sure if Rayman was planned for inclusion, he'll make it in as DLC like Mewtwo. I mean, he IS a third-party character after all.

Also, THANK YOU SAKURAI! As much as I love Rosalina in Smash, Bowser Jr. is the Mario character I wanted in the game the most!
 

Capybara Gaming

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I'm not sure what you mean by "complete".

If anyone would "complete" the main Mario cast! it would be Toad.
This. Bowser Jr. + Toad = Mario main cast done

I'm pretty sure if Rayman was planned for inclusion, he'll make it in as DLC like Mewtwo. I mean, he IS a third-party character after all.

Also, THANK YOU SAKURAI! As much as I love Rosalina in Smash, Bowser Jr. is the Mario character I wanted in the game the most!
Rayman as DLC would be my Christmas

I still have confidence he will be
 

Mega Bidoof

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Kind of off topic but, am I the only one who hates the koopalings using bowser jr.'s model? Seriously! Lemmy looks really tall and Iggy looks extremely short!
I don't think they look bad.
The reason they were able to make them alts is because, despite Bowser Jr. being the guy on the roster, almost everything he does involves the Clown Car, so having someone with a different body type wouldn't mess with it that much.
 

AppleCracker

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They couldn't have fixed this without doing one of these things:
  • Having costumes change gameplay
  • Having hitboxes be inconsistent with what is visible
  • Having the Koopalings be a bunch of clones that are really similar to each other
  • Ditching the Koopalings entirely
None of these are optimal, so they messed with the heights instead.
Im fine with how they look in the cars... It's just the results display screen that I don't like..
 

Sarki Soliloquy

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It appears no other proposed character names have been dropped besides what was known. Shucks, now we don't have an excuse to ride the reins of new support threads!
 

EgeDal

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the characters that don't have a new title coming up have an overwhelming disadvantage

captain falcon
 
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