The Super Smash Bros franchise began in 1999 on the Nintendo 64, quickly becoming one of Nintendo's most popular series. The fighting game series, developed by Masahiro Sakurai, stars a band of iconic Nintendo characters, and a handful of third-party mascots, in a fighting game that remains one of the most active in the competitive scene.
Although the most recent Super Smash Bros title, Super Smash Bros Ultimate for Nintendo Switch, contains a total of 89 characters, there are some figures who fans are surprised never made it into the game. Mostly thanks to rumors that didn't come true, these characters were widely believed by many fans to be on their way to a past Smash title.
8 Toad
It's surprising that, out of all the representatives from the Super Mario franchise, that Toad is not among them. The character has been playable in the franchise since Super Mario Bros 2 on NES, recently re-appearing as a playable character in Super Mario 3D World. Captain Toad has also found success in his own spin-off series, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
Nonetheless, Toad was the subject of a widely-spread hoax during the days of Super Smash Bros Melee for GameCube. Similarly to a leak involving Sonic and Tails, it was believed that Toad was unlockable in the title by meeting certain difficult criteria. It was unfortunately debunked at the time, but over 20 years later Toad still hasn't debuted as a fighter yet.
7 Chorus Kids
Back in the days prior to the release of Super Smash Bros for 3DS & Wii U, there were many widely-reported rumors about the game's potential roster. One of the more notable ones was the Gematsu leak, which quickly gained credibility after predicting the inclusion of characters like Little Mac, Palutena, and Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles.
Although the Gematsu leak was disproven by Chrom's lack of inclusion, it also meant the Chorus Kids from Rhythm Heaven didn't make the cut. Fans were sure of the characters' inclusion when a Rhythm Heaven enemy was confirmed to be appearing in the mini-game Smash Run, but as of Super Smash Bros Ultimate, the series remains unrepresented.
6 Takamaru
The Mysterious Murasame Castle is an oft-forgotten Famicom game from 1986 that never saw a western release. Nevertheless, its samurai protagonist Takamaru was the subject of an early rumor for Super Smash Bros 4. According to the rumor, Takamaru was included on the roster in an East vs West pairing with the Punch-Out character Little Mac.
Unfortunately, Takamaru's appearance in Super Smash Bros 4 turned out to be misinformation, although the character does appear as an Assist Trophy. The rumor potentially took off among fans due to a mini-game based on the title in the Wii U launch title Nintendo Land, which possibly led credence to Nintendo's coming revival of the series.
5 Dillon
In the same rumor as Takamaru, Dillon from Dillon's Rolling Western was another rumored character for Super Smash Bros 4. Dillon's Rolling Western was a 3DS eShop title first released in 2012, starring the titular cowboy armadillo. It would have been solid representation for Nintendo's 3DS library, although like Takamaru the rumor turned out to be a hoax.
However, Dillon was also included as an Assist Trophy, as were other names in the rumors like Ghirahim from Skyward Sword. It's possible the rumor had mistaken these Assist Trophy inclusions as potential fighters, although given that they also alleged that King K. Rool and Ridley would appear in the game, that didn't come to pass until Ultimate.
4 Geno
After many fan-favorite wish fulfillments in the DLC packs for Super Smash Bros Ultimate, there remains one significant character who has been desired by fans for ages. That would be Geno, a character who appeared in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for the SNES, which was originally released in 1996, predating the very first Smash title.
Rumors of Geno's inclusion in Smash began in the days of Super Smash Bros Brawl, continuing even to Super Smash Bros Ultimate's DLC release window. To date, the character only appears as a Mii Fighter costume in both Super Smash Bros 4 and Super Smash Bros Ultimate, with not even the Fighter Ballot helping its chances of getting in.
3 Ryu Hayabusa
Some legitimate leakers fly too close to the sun, tarnishing their hard-earned credit after making correct predictions. That's certainly the case with one YouTuber, IAmShifty, who correctly leaked the inclusion of characters like Incineroar, Isabelle, and Piranha Plant in Super Smash Bros Ultimate prior to its release in 2018.
In 2019, IAmShifty returned with new predictions about the upcoming Fighters Pass DLC packs, alleging that Ryu from the Ninja Gaiden series would be a playable character. This leak was even corroborated by other legitimate leakers, which raised fans' expectations, although Ryu's inclusion ultimately never came to pass by the final DLC pack in 2021.
2 Doom Slayer
Another character who was a popular suspect for the DLC of Super Smash Bros Ultimate was Doom Slayer, the protagonist of the iconic first-person shooter series Doom. Rumors about the character's inclusion first sprouted up in 2019, when a 4chan hoax showcased Mii Fighters costumes for both Doom and Super Mario RPG side characters.
Nevertheless, the inclusion of Banjo and Kazooie, who are both owned by Microsoft, added to fan speculation that Doom Slayer, another Microsoft-owned character, could feasibly appear in Smash. While this particular fan speculation turned out to be wrong, a Doom Slayer Mii Fighter costume was revealed alongside Sora's inclusion in 2021.
1 Master Chief
In a similar vein to the belief that Doom Slayer would be added to Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Master Chief was another popular fan-favorite addition. The Halo protagonist would make for quite the unlikely inclusion in the family-friendly series, though there was a credible rumor bill behind the character's widely-suspected addition as a DLC Fighter.
The leaker Vergeben on GameFAQs had a long history of accurately leaking game information, including Super Smash Bros Ultimate. In 2018, Vergeben accurately predicted the additions of Ridley, Simon Belmont, and Steve from Minecraft. However, Vergeben was finally proven wrong when his prediction of Master Chief being included was not true.