The original Super Smash Bros. has something of a storied development. The now iconic fighter didn’t begin as a Nintendo themed brawling, but a generic party brawler. It wouldn’t be until later that Super Smash Bros. brought Nintendo’s all-stars into the fold, and from there the franchise quickly became one of gaming’s most premier.
The original roster of eight was made up of Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus, Link, Yoshi, Fox, Kirby, and Pikachu. The main eight were rounded out by the game’s unlockable four characters: Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, Ness, and Luigi. These 12 fighters have returned for every game since, but Super Smash Bros.’ final roster was meant to be much larger.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has one of the largest rosters in a fighting game, so it can be surprising taking a look back at the Nintendo 64 fighter that started it all. Even for the era, 12 fighters wasn’t a lot, so it makes sense that Sakurai and his team at one point intended for a fuller party. Super Smash Bros.’ original 12 fighters have become franchise staples, but they were almost accompanied by four characters who couldn’t make the cut.
4 Bowser
If there’s one immediate problem plaguing the original Super Smash Bros.’ original roster– other than its small size, that is– it’s a distinct lack of representation in regards to Nintendo’s villains. For as iconic and popular as Nintendo’s heroes are, Super Smash Bros. doesn’t feel like a correct reflection of Nintendo’s iconography of the era. In what world was Captain Falcon more popular than, say, Bowser?
That said, this wasn’t due to a lack of trying. A November 1998 interview with Nintendo Power revealed that Bowser was a character who the development team intended to round out the roster. Miyamoto would clarify that Bowser was actually cut late in development, a specific detail only Bowser can lay claim to in regards to Super Smash Bros.’ cut characters.
Although Bowser would go on to be playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee, one has to wonder why characters like Jigglypuff and Captain Falcon were prioritized over a character as astronomically important to Nintendo’s history as Bowser. If anything, you’d think Bowser would be one of the first characters developed. Interestingly, while Bowser was cut late in development, there’s nothing to indicate he was ever playable. It’s possible Bowser never made it past conceptual stages.
3 King DeDeDe
Helming Super Smash Bros. development, Masahiro Sakurai deserves praise for showing so much restraint when it comes to the roster. Kirby’s creator and more or less the father of modern Kid Icarus, the fact it took until Brawl for the Kirby franchise to gain more than one representative is honestly surprising.
As was the case with Bowser, however, this wasn’t intentional. In fact, King DeDeDe was actually planned as a part of Super Smash Bros.’ roster. King DeDeDe is a charming antagonistic pick that would lend himself to a unique play style while honoring Sakurai’s personal gameography– an honor he arguably deserved as early as SSB64.
Notably, King DeDeDe is known to have been playable at some point in development. Taking this into account, it’s possible King DeDeDe was cut even later in development than Bowser was– which in itself is interesting to note, since if any villain should be cut first, it’s King DeDeDe. That said, just having one of the two fighters in the game would have been better than none.
2 Marth
Marth has had something of a storied history within the Super Smash Bros. universe. Debuting in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Marth (alongside his co-representative Roy) was almost cut from the international release as Fire Emblem hadn’t released a single title outside of Japan. Ultimately, both swordsmen were left in the game, directly leading to Fire Emblem’s growing popularity in the west.
Fire Emblem fans owe the series western presence exclusively to Marth’s appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Consistently one of the best fighters in the franchise, Marth in the context of Super Smash Bros. is almost his own character in & of himself compared to his Fire Emblem counterpart.
Fire Emblem has only grown in popularity over the years, but the series could have had an international presence much earlier if Super Smash Bros. 64 had more development time. Marth was actually planned as a playable fighter. While at that point Fire Emblem wasn’t even five games in yet, Marth was already a video game icon in his homeland.
If Marth hadn’t been cut, it’s possible his presence in Super Smash Bros. 64 would have generated enough interest for Nintendo to localize Roy’s debut game on the Game Boy Advance, Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. Of course, part of what made Marth so popular was the Melee’s aesthetic, and the fact he came with a Roy for comparison.
1 Mewtwo
Mewtwo has always been one of the most popular Pokemon in its respective franchise. Basically the “ultimate” Pokemon in the original set of games, Mewtwo was not only the highest leveled monster in Generation I, but went on to star as the antagonist in the series’ first feature length film. When it comes to choosing Pokemon representatives, Mewtwo only makes sense.
At the same time, Super Smash Bros. 64 already had Pikachu and Jigglypuff, so it makes sense why a character like Mewtwo would be cut. He would go on to formally debut in Super Smash Bros. Melee before suddenly being cut & replaced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Lucario. Mewtwo would come back as DLC in Smash 4 and was in Ultimate’s final roster.
As intimately connected to Super Smash Bros. Melee Mewtwo is, the fighter was supposed to originate in Super Smash Bros. 64. This is almost hard to believe as it would have given the Pokemon series a staggering three representatives, but if all four cut characters had made it into the game, Pokemon would have at least tied with Super Mario Bros.
This makes a considerable amount of sense as Super Smash Bros. 64 released arguably at the height of Pokemon’s popularity. Including Mewtwo alongside Pikachu and Jigglypuff would have been a no-brainer. Not just that, Sakurai has confirmed that Mewtwo was actually worked on, so it’s possible he was cut late in development as well.