List of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U pre-release and unused content

This is a list of pre-release and unused content for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Gameplay
On the original presentation pitch for the game, Sakurai originally intended to have four custom special moves for each character, though in the final game characters received only three versions of each move.

Smash Run in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS was originally intended to include a co-op mode, but as the Nintendo 3DS's processor was unable to handle it the idea was scrapped.

Sakurai has also stated that he wanted to implement AR in Super Smash Bros.

Characters
During early stages of development, Takamaru from The Mysterious Murasame Castle was originally considered as being a playable character, but it was decided against due to a lack of familiarity. Takamaru was, however, implemented as an Assist Trophy. Chrom, one of the protagonists of Fire Emblem Awakening, was also considered as a fighter, as he was commonly requested by fans. However, Sakurai figured he would play too similarly to Marth or Ike, and chose Robin instead as he was seen as being a more unique character. Chrom, however, does appear in the game as part of Robin's Final Smash, Pair Up, as well as in the form of a paid downloadable costume for the Mii Swordfighter. He was also added as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Heihachi from Bandai Namco's Tekken series was also considered as being a playable character, but was decided against since his moves would have been too difficult to implement into Super Smash Bros.; Heihachi was, however, included in the form of a Mii Fighter costume available as downloadable content. According to design documents for the games, Alph was at one point considered for being a separate playable character, but was later made an alternate costume for Olimar. The Ice Climbers were also considered at one point, but were scrapped due to limitations of the Nintendo 3DS hardware (details below).

Stages
At the beginning of development, a stage based on Kirby's Epic Yarn was planned to be in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. However, with the announcement of Yoshi's Woolly World, the concept was revamped into The Great Cave Offensive. Similarly, a stage based on Super Mario Land was planned for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, but the concept instead became Dream Land.

Ice Climbers
According to Masahiro Sakurai on Famitsu, he was planning on adding the Ice Climbers for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, but despite the characters running without problems on the Wii U version, the team had trouble getting the Ice Climbers working in the Nintendo 3DS version as their presence caused framerate issues.

Clone characters
Dr. Mario, Dark Pit, and Lucina were originally alternate costumes for Mario, Pit, and Marth respectively. Later into development, however, they began to receive balancing differences from their original characters, and as such they were made separate characters to give them distinct records, as well as to not upset fans of Dr. Mario's Super Smash Bros. Melee incarnation.

Super Smash Bros. Direct
The Pilotwings stage was referred to as "Pilot Wings", and Windy Hill Zone was simply "Windy Hill".

During the presentation, the HUD icons for both Diddy Kong and Lucario are taken from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, rather than having new ones based on their new artwork.

The My Music menu shown off for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has several differences from the final game. The Y button prompt says "Default" in the original menu, rather than "Reset", and the music note in the top right corner has a colon next to it before the number. The series icon is titled in the final game, whereas it is straight for the build shown. In addition, non-original music is referred to under the term "Arrangement" rather than "Remix", and the two ends of the slider say "Less Likely" and "More Likely" rather than "Rarely" and "Often". For the stage shown, Skyloft, there are only five songs, while in the final there are eight by default. Some of the song names are also different: "Ballad of the Goddess / Ghirahim's Theme" is simply referred to as "Ballad of the Goddess", "Main Theme / Underworld Theme" is simply "Main Theme", and "Saria's Song" is used instead of "Saria's Song / Middle Boss Battle". Finally, the game logo, seen on the top right rather than the top left, is the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U logo, rather than the logo for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Trophies
Prior to the official Japanese release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, footage and images were leaked of a build closer to the final, including unlockable characters and Trophies. The build for the game in these screenshots showed 686 Trophies total. The released version, however, features 685. Analyzing the leak and the final version of the game, it was discovered that a Trophy for Tharja, a character from Fire Emblem Awakening, was removed, and is not present in the game's files.

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the Trophy for Rayman originally had one eye partly closed. For the final game, both eyes are wide open.

Miscellaneous
An early screenshot of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS shows the Toon Link cameo on Spirit Train stage alongside Link, a situation that cannot occur in the final game since playing as either Link or Toon Link causes Alfonzo to conduct the train instead.

For Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, the Flying Men on the Magicant stage had a full 3D model created. However, as the models caused hardware strain and lag, the team instead chose to use 2D sprites based on their appearance in EarthBound. and because it looked better to the team. The unused model, however, would be used as a base and modified to create the downloadable Flying Man costume for Mii Brawlers.

Icons
In the E3 2014 trailer, during Multi-Man Mode the Mii icons were their faces. In the final version their icon is the weapon of the respective Mii Fighter.

Data for an icon representing the Rhythm Heaven series can be found in the game's files, meaning that a fighter or stage based on the series may have been planned at one point.

There are also two unused stock icons, which are for Ridley and Metal Face respectively. Ridley has two stock icons, but only the variant with the purple head is used in the final game. The presence of Metal Face's stock icon in the game data suggests that players were originally going to receive a KO point if they defeat Metal Face, which, even though it is mentioned in the game's tips, does not happen in the final version of the game.

Sounds
Voice clips for Kirby using all three of Palutena's neutral special moves exist in the game. However, Kirby can only copy her default neutral special, Autoreticle, regardless of which one the opponent is using.

Stages
Alongside data for Ridley and Metal Face, two stage bosses who are faced on the Pyrosphere and Gaur Plain stages, respectively, is data for an unused "Virus" boss enemy. It is possible that a stage was to be included based upon Dr. Mario, and the Viruses from the series were to be hazards.

Wily Castle, Pirate Ship, Jungle Hijinxs, and Miiverse all have proper 8-Player Smash spawn points, indicating that they may have intended for the stages to be compatible with 8-Player Smash at one point.

Animations
Within the files for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U are unused animations for Petey Piranha, possibly indicating that he was going to be a stage boss.

A number of leftover gliding animations from Super Smash Bros. Brawl can be found in the files for Pit, Dark Pit, and Meta Knight. Charizard (the other character from Super Smash Bros. Brawl that could glide), however, has no such animations.

Several unused attack animations can also be found in the game's files. Rosalina has an unused down smash attack animation named "AttackS42". Roy has a second neutral attack animation (named "Attack12" internally), which is identical to Marth and Lucina's animations, indicating that it was directly copied from them during Roy's development. Giga Mac has animations for using the KO Uppercut, which he cannot perform as the Power Meter disappears when Little Mac uses his Final Smash. King Dedede has a pair of animations for when his Final Smash Dedede Burst misses, which do not play during gameplay. Diddy Kong has a pair of laughing animations tied to his Banana Peel move, which were also unused in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Within the files for Zero Suit Samus' plasma whip is her original side smash attack from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Olimar also has leftover animations for Pikmin Chain, his up special attack from the previous game.

Miscellaneous
At one point during development, Sakurai considered having every fighter be available from the start in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. While four characters who were unlockable in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS were made available by default in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the rest of the fighters are still locked by default for the fans who enjoy unlocking characters.