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 the game Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / 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 the Nintendo 3DS game was originally intended to include a co-op mode, but due to the Nintendo 3DS's processor not being able to handle it the idea was scrapped.

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, the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Awakening, was also considered to be in the game, as he was commonly requested by fans. However, Sakurai thought he'd play too similar to Marth or Ike. Robin was chosen instead due to being a more unique character. Chrom, however, appears 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. 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 playable character, but was later made an alternate costume for Olimar.

Dr. Mario, Dark Pit, and Lucina were originally supposed to be alternate costumes for Mario, Pit, and Marth respectively, but late into development were instead implemented as separate playable characters after it was decided to give them unique characteristics to distinguish them from their original counterparts, and since the team figured it would be insensitive to fans of Dr. Mario in Super Smash Bros. Melee to make him an alternate costume.

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 stage 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 replaced with 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.

Super Smash Bros. Direct
The Pilotwings stage was referred to under the name "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. For the stage shown, Skyloft, there are only five songs, while in the final there are eight by default. 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". Some of the song names are 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 series icon is tilted in the final game, but is straight in this build, and 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 the game, 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 actual release for the game, 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. It's unknown why this trophy was removed, but the reason is probably because her outfit was too revealing for the E-10+ Rating.

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

Miscellaneous
For Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, the Flying Men on the Magicant stage had a full 3D model created in addition to the 2D sprites from EarthBound, though it was decided to use the sprites as they strained the hardware less 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 character or stage based on the series may have been planned at one point.

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.