List of Super Smash Bros. Melee pre-release and unused content

This is a list of beta elements for the game Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Early iteration
There were originally only going to be 20 characters (not counting Shiek). At some point during development, it was felt that the roster wasn't large enough, so several "model swap" characters (now known as clones) were created. These characters include Dr. Mario, Falco, Ganondorf, Young Link, Pichu, and Roy. Wario was considered to be a clone of Mario, with lower speed and higher attack power, but the development team felt he deserved better and was replaced by Dr. Mario. Additionally, Masahiro Sakurai has stated that, in the time it took to develop the "clone" characters, he probably would have been able to create King Dedede. However, he is glad that he was able to make a larger roster.

Lucas was originally meant to replace Ness. However, due to a delay of MOTHER 3 in Japan, Ness was kept in.

Sonic the Hedgehog was originally considered by his creator Yuji Naka to be a character in the game, but due to time constraints, the idea was scrapped. Nonetheless, EGM as part of their April Fools Day issue, had claimed that Sonic, alongside Miles "Tails" Prower, were unlockable in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Sonic was later included as an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and returning in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, while Tails appeared as a trophy and a non-playable character on the Green Hill Zone stage in Brawl.

Marth and Roy were originally going to be only in the Japanese version, however they were kept in the final version in other regions. Because of this, they do not talk in English. Rather, they speak in Japanese.

The "Temple" stage originally had an elevator that led to the bottom of the stage, and had a fixed appearance. Players could also walk through the laboratory in Great Bay. Hyrule Temple had two mysterious platforms in the center of the stage. These platforms can also be seen in the game's Special Movie. The stages Yoshi's Story and Mushroom Kingdom I had different designs altogether. Onett's music also sounded different.

Another graphic change was the Topi enemies in the Ice Climber stage - in the Japanese version, they were seals, but this changed to yeti creatures in the international versions due to animal cruelty protests.

Early builds
In one of the character select screens, Zelda seemed to be unlockable, as there is a question mark where her picture would be.

Unused data
Through the use of an Action Replay, many unused/unfinished stages can be found. The first is a large, gray stage with the background appearing to be some kind of pub. The music is the same as used on Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi's stage Corneria. This is assumed to be a test stage because of its name, which on the debug menu is TEST.

There are three other stages, "AKANEIA" (a possible predecessor to Castle Siege from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a home world for Fire Emblem) "10-2", and "Dummy", which will crash the game when loading, but hacking into it shows it is just an empty stage with an invisible platform.

The last stage, named IceTop (a possible precursor to the Summit stage from the sequel, which belongs to the Ice Climbers) which simply loads Icicle Mountain except without music. In addition to these stages, the entire Debug Menu, which was used in pre-release testing, can be used, allowing for complete editing of anything in the game. Giga Bowser, both male and female Fighting Wire Frames, Master Hand, Crazy Hand, and even Sandbag are all playable (to a limited extent) via the Debug Menu.

It can also be seen that, through Melee's Debug menu, it is possible to have a match with six characters instead of four. Also, Ditto was shown to appear as a Poké Ball Pokémon but was removed because of graphical problems, however it still appears in tournament mode as a place holder.

In addition to existing bonuses, there are seven hidden ones that are accessed only by the cheating device. They are not required for obtaining the Diskun trophy.

Miscellaneous
The Japanese version actually had a different Motion-Sensor Bomb; it is actually a Proximity Mine from Perfect Dark rather than the Motion-Sensor Bomb from "TOP SECRET" (actually GoldenEye 007) that appeared in the international version. The Proximity Mine's trophy can be viewed in English due to the language option, and this screenshot shows the text in the Proximity Mine trophy was tampered with only a minor amount (with only a few removals of references to Perfect Dark) for the final Motion-Sensor Bomb trophy. Why the Perfect Dark Proximity Mine was changed to a GoldenEye 007 Motion-Sensor Bomb remains unknown to this day, although Nintendo's hiding the Motion-Sensor Bomb's trophy's debuting game entry with the words "TOP SECRET" in the international versions suggests the item change may very well have had to do with censorship (however light).

An early box art was made, it would've featured Mario getting hurt by Bowser's Fire Breath. This was changed for unknown reasons. Captain Falcon's red color change's back was going to say Hell Hawk, and All - Star Playable Character Introductions were scrapped.