Did you know? As you can probably tell by the length of
this video, the Super Smash Bros. series has an extensive history of rumours. Let’s start off all the way at the beginning
with Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo 64. It was rumoured that Smash 64 starter as a
Super Nintendo game. This rumor appears to originate from some
Smash Wikis, where it was propagated as the truth. However, Smash 64 was always a Nintendo 64
game. This fact was proven by the series’ director,
Masahiro Sakurai, in an Iwata Asks interview when he commented on the game’s prototype. Sakurai has also published the first page
of the Smash 64 project proposal in his book ‘Think About the Video Games’, which backs
up this point. Sakurai originally envisioned Smash as a concept
with no particular characters in mind. Eventually he decided to use Nintendo characters,
believing that a console fighting game needed a recognizable cast of characters to sell. Although Smash 64 came out in a time where
the internet was available, there was still a lot of confusion and misinformation surrounding
the game. On November 16th, 1998, IGN reported that
Smash 64’s roster would include Wario and Peach, and stated that characters like Diddy
Kong and Bowser were ‘expected’ to appear. On November 19th that same year, NintendoDojo
claimed that eight characters, including Princess Peach, would be in Smash 64. They got the other seven characters right,
but Peach’s inclusion was clearly false. This was before the game had an official title,
simply going by “Smash Bros”. In general, there was a lot of excitement
and confusion around who exactly would appear in this new fighting game. Even Shigeru Miyamoto, the father of Mario,
was confused on exactly who’d be joining Smash. In an interview with Nintendo Power, Miyamoto
stated that Bowser would be appearing in the game, but Bowser wouldn’t enter the series
until Melee. Interestingly, before Melee was even announced,
Sakurai revealed on the Japanese Smash 64 Dojo that Bowser, Mewtwo and Dedede were all
planned to appear in Smash 64, and Mewtwo had actually been worked on in-game. Every other character reported on by a news
outlets either stemmed from miscommunication or misinformation. Before Smash 64 was out in Europe, Sakurai
and a couple of HAL employees had already began planning and prototyping a new Smash
Bros. The title of the game was decided while Sakurai
was at E3 in 1999: Super Smash Bros. Melee. Melee had an intense development cycle, with
a grueling 13 months production period which afforded Sakurai very little time off work. Because of the relatively short and secretive
development cycle, there weren’t many leaks and rumors for Melee. In fact, most misinformation appeared after
the game’s release. Much like Mew under the truck in the original
Pokemon games, these Smash rumors were often touted as truth by various websites and forum
users. The first example of this involves Toad. Many believed Toad could be unlocked either
by shooting all the credits, or in the adventure mode. This was baseless and simply untrue. Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine also contributed
to the rumours. For their April Fools Day issue, EGM stated
that Sonic and Tails were unlockable after getting 20 kills in cruel Melee. They even created a mock unlock screen that
stated, “A Dream Has Been Cast! Sonic and Tails Join the Melee”, fooling
many. One rumor that had some half truths to it
was Master Hand being playable. It is possible -- either through exploiting
a glitch or using devices like action replay -- to play as Master Hand. However, he isn’t accessible on the character
selection screen like a regular character through normal means. Before moving onto Brawl, it’s worth highlighting
a major source of misinformation that existed for quite some time. A NeoGaf user named ‘ccdnym’ posted several
assertions about Smash 64 and Melee’s unused characters, most of which was false. Dedede wasn’t the next character in line
for a spot in Melee -- it was Wario. Wolf also wasn’t considered for a clone
spot in Melee, and Leaf wasn’t considered for a role as a Marth clone. Meowth and Pit were never worked on for Smash
64, either. To combat this, Source Gaming has made “The
Definitive Unused Fighter List in Smash”. The list has all characters that were ever
considered, planned, or scrapped for every Smash game with sources to back up the claims. Unfortunately for Sakurai, Melee’s roster
was leaked slightly before the game’s release. Steve Schardein, who at the time went by his
online handle ‘OtherSteve’, announced that Ganondorf made it into Melee as a Captain
Falcon clone a month before the game came out. N-Sider leaked the full roster, but many fans
were outraged at the line-up. Most fans had no idea who Roy or Mr. Game
and Watch were, and resented Dr. Mario’s inclusion. N-Sider eventually retracted the article,
explaining that they weren’t 100% confident in the story. After Melee’s release however, the roster
was confirmed, leaving many fans shocked. Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s development faced
a number new obstacles for the series, which led to many delays. With the delays, and the Internet being more
social, even more leaks, rumors and misinformation emerged around Brawl than with other Smash
games. With Snake and Sonic revealed to be in the
game, Smash became a much more difficult to predict, and more wild rumors suddenly seemed
plausible. Despite the worldwide nature of the Smash
Dojo -- which was now in several languages -- some parts of it were only available in
Japanese. This included the Brawl Ballot responses,
which led to some confusion. In the ballot, Sakurai said there might be
one or two third party characters after Snake. However, many fans assumed there would be
literally two, which did not happen. Another statement that fans took literally
is a quote that Sakurai didn’t even say, which emerged on the SmashBoards forum as
an alleged translation. Sakurai supposedly replied to a comment about
Muddy Mole from Nintendo's Game Boy puzzle game, Mole Mania, saying "he's so interesting,
he might be in the roster already!" The rumour might have died here, but it was
published by IGN in the run up to Brawl’s release. Another rumor first reported by a number of
French outlets stated that Sakurai was interviewed by an unknown Japanese Radio program. In it, he supposedly stated that Ridley and
Bowser Jr. were planned to appear, and that the Ice Climbers and Mr. Game and Watch were
cut. No other sources corroborated the existence
of this radio program, and the information proved to be false. Several other Brawl-centered rumors proved
to be false. These included a “rival” Pokemon Trainer
character, an alternate costume similar to Wario’s overalls for every character, a
playable MegaMan, and even a fake roster mock-up. Despite the numerous fake leaks regarding
Brawl, some have been legitimate. The Brawl website leaked the inclusion of
Lucario, Jigglypuff, and Ness with one of their ‘Pictures of the Day’. Jigglypuff’s inclusion was later reinforced
during an interview with Snake voice actor David Hayter, who joked that “it would be
fun to wail on Pikachu or Jigglypuff…”. Smash- Boards users MarkMan, Reno, and PORTRAITofRUIN
all posted genuine information about that game’s characters and stages. SmashBoards user NyaseNya also correctly stated
that Sonic, Olimar and Toon Link would be playable, which veteran fighters would return,
and that there’d be a total of 35 playable characters. They also reported a second delay to the game’s
release, and that Brawl would be on a dual-layer disc, a first for a Wii game. Many other users believed NyaseNya to be a
troll, and their posts were even edited by a moderator to state they were lying. GameFAQs user ChaosZero also correctly reported
that Wolf, Lucario, and Sonic were in the game, and that Mewtwo had been cut. They even described the mechanics of the Dragoon
item originally from Kirby Air Ride, and the inclusion of a stage builder function. Like NyaseNya, many assumed that ChaosZero
was just a troll. Brawl also represented a turning point for
investigating video game files. By 2008, the homebrewing scene had made the
the Wii popular amongst hackers. Several of these hackers focused on Brawl,
as many fans were curious about the game’s leftover content. Dataminers discovered evidence for seven characters
potentially cut from Brawl, including Dixie Kong, Dr. Mario, Mewtwo, Roy, Toon Zelda,
Toon Sheik, and a character labeled “pra_mai”. Many believe “pra_mai” could be referring
to the Pokemon Plusle and Minun. Just like with every other Smash game, there
were several fake and legitimate leaks for Smash on 3DS and Wii U. Before E3 2014, a
SmashBoards user named Ninka Kiwi claimed that several characters had new palette swaps,
even posted recreations of them online. Ninka Kiwi also claimed that Lucas, Wolf,
Ice Climbers, and Snake had been cut, while Dr. Mario, Dark Pit, Bowser Jr and the Koopalings,
Shulk, and Duck Hunt would be added. One of the more significant leaks was posted
by Sal Romano from Gematsu. Romano first posted information on the forum
NeoGAF, predicting the inclusion of Little Mac, Pac-Man, MegaMan, Miis, and characters
from Animal Crossing and Wii Fit: characters very few saw coming. Previously, Sakurai had even said that Animal
Crossing characters were unsuited for battle.The announcement of Villager and Wii Fit Trainer
gave credence to the idea that Romano had insider information. Romano later followed up his post with an
article predicting the inclusion of Shulk, Palutena, Chrom, a Pokemon from X and Y, and
the Chorus Men from Rhythm Heaven as playable characters. Almost all of these characters were eventually
confirmed to be in the game, with Sakurai commenting in an interview that Greninja was
written as simply “Pokemon from Pokemon X and Y” in the game’s project planning
documents. Interestingly, Sakurai later confirmed that
Chrom was also in the project plan at one point, and they’d even developed a moveset
for him. The Chorus Men appear to have been planned
at some point too. SourceGaming’s PushDustIn found several
unused entries for characters in Smash 4’s emblem database, all of which are arranged
in the order their franchised debuted in Smash. Additionally, properties that have stages
but no fighters are listed after franchises with playable characters. An entry for “rhythm” appears before “rockman”
in the entries that debuted in Smash 4, implying that a character from Rhythm Heaven was once
planned to be playable -- presumably the Chorus Men. Interestingly, other icons imply there were
once planned Stages related to Brain Age and Swapnote. Perhaps the most significant leak in the history
of the Smash Bros franchise was the ESRB leak of Smash 4. This occured when a Nintendo employee sent
images and short videos of the finished game’s complete roster to their friends before release. Other content shown were images and videos
of potentially violent or risque content that would be of interest to the ESRB. Interestingly, the leak showcased a trophy
for the Fire Emblem character Tharja that is nowhere to be found in the final release,
indicating that it may have been cut due to ratings issues. The ERSB leak was first posted by a 4chan
user who went by the lewd name shown on screen, and quickly spread across the internet. Many debated the legitimacy of the leaks,
with some fans pointing out some inconsistencies in the Character Select Screen and arguing
that Shulk’s model looked like an altered Little Mac. This uncertainty led to rumour and speculation,
but Nintendo had the leaked gameplay taken down from YouTube, which implied the videos
were legitimate. One week after doing this, Nintendo uploaded
an official reveal trailer for Shulk, confirming the ESRB leak to be real. Interestingly, the same 4chan leaker posted
about DLC, almost none of which turned out to be accurate. Shortly before Smash 4 was released, Nintendo
uploaded a video featuring a few seconds of Ganondorf in a small hoop off-screen. This was before Ganondorf was officially announced
for the game, and Nintendo uploaded a new version of the video without Ganondorf after
they realized their mistake. Additionally, the Amazon page for Smash 4
detailed several unannounced features, including stage creation on the Wii U GamePad, challenges,
and the board game themed Smash Tour mode. All of these features were later confirmed
during Nintendo’s “50-Fact Extravaganza” for the game. Although many of Smash 4’s rumours and leaks
were proven to be true, many were inaccurate. While Nintendo was still collecting responses
to the Smash Ballot for DLC characters, video game historian Liam Robertson reported that
Shovel Knight would be coming to Smash Bros as one of the ballot winners. However, this never happened. Years later, industry insider Ryan Brown explained
that he’d passed the information on to Robertson after brown found out about the Shovel Knight
amiibo. At the time, only Smash Bros fighters had
Amiibo, so Brown incorrectly assumed that Shovel Knight was going to be a playable fighter. This is one example of how miscommunication
between insiders led to false rumours. In January of 2014, images of Mario and Palutena
surfaced online, which appeared to be authentic because the character models were new. After Palutena was officially revealed for
the game with a different model, debate over whether or not these images were real intensified. They were later proven to be a hoax. The creator stepped forward in a 4chan thread
about the ESRB leak, showing that the models were created in an external program, and digitally
manipulated to look like Smash 4 screenshots. On Valentine’s Day of 2015, a “leak”
for Rayman DLC appeared on 4chan, and several outlets reported on it as potentially legitimate. However, YouTuber ArtsyOmni revealed the “leak”
to be a mock up that he’d created. He used this Rayman hoax to launch the art
series “Smashified”, which shows what characters might look like in the Smash Bros
art style. ArtsyOmni had previously created mockups of
Kirby with various new character hats during Brawl’s development that some tried to pass
off as leaks. He also made a fake render for Klonoa that
was exposed as a fake, as it used Japanese characters for “Ike” instead of “Klonoa.” Interestingly, before ArtsyOmni’s Rayman
mockup was proven a hoax, Ubisoft acknowledged it and said that they planned to comment on
it, leading to more confusion. Another fake passed off as a legitimate leak
was Nibroc’s and gameonion’s mockup of a Dr. Mario stage, inspired by unused data
for a stage in Smash for Wii U. The pair created several renders of what the
stage might have looked like, but eventually came forward and revealed it to be fake. After the release of Smash 4, YouTube user
Connor Rentz made a mockup for an Arcade Smash Bros game featuring a fake debug menu and
character selection screen. Rentz was also responsible for renders of
Pichu and the Ice Climbers used in some fake leaks. Super Smash Bros Memories was an early rumor
that suggested the Smash 3DS would feature retro characters, while the Wii U version
would be full of characters from newer franchises. This was proven false after Sakurai confirmed
the two versions would have identical rosters. A NeoGaf user with the alias Spainkiller also
claimed that a gaming insider had seen models for Dixie Kong, RIdley, the Chorus Men, and
Mewtwo, and that the characters could be unlocked by linking Smash 3DS and Wii U together. After the release of both games, this too
was proven false. A popular text rumor that originated on 4chan
detailed a mode called “The Tower of Smash”, which also claimed several characters could
be unlocked by linking the 3DS and Wii U games together. The rumor also detailed a mode in the Wii
U version called the “Tower of Smash”. This mode would pit players against other
characters and bosses in a series of 1v1 matches with unique rules. This rumor was proven false after the 50 Fact
Extravaganza. Several hackers leaked information about the
game’s DLC after Smash 4’s release. After looking through the update files for
the 3DS game, dataminer Shiny Quaqsire found several unused audio files. These included fanfares for Roy from Fire
Emblem and Ryu from Street Fighter. A few days later, Shiny Quagsire discovered
evidence that at least 5 DLC characters were planned, and that there could be as many as
7 new stages with both original and omega forms. Later, VG Resource admin RandomTalkingBush
also datamined the update, and discovered various unannounced and unreleased assets,
including footage for Roy, Ryu, and Lucas. Later, GBAtemp user Crediar was actually able
to get the DLC working before release and began to stream it, which was promptly shut
down by Nintendo. After the release of Smash 4 and the expedited
lifespan of the Wii U, many fans began speculating about the next game in the franchise. Even before the Wii U and 3DS games were finished,
a job posting appeared for “Smash 6” in April of 2014. Sakurai has previously stated that he considers
the Wii U and 3DS versions of Smash to be separate games, so he would consider the next
Smash game the sixth entry in the series. Dr. Sergan Toto was the first to report the
existence of a new Smash game in development, stating that it was targeted to launch alongside
the Nintendo Switch, then known as the NX. Later, both Liam Robertson and PushDustIn
would report on this Smash game being be a deluxe port of the Wii U and 3DS games, with
new content and the return of the Ice Climbers. Additionally, since the Miiverse is not featured
on the Switch, the Miiverse stage would likely be cut. In November of 2016, Twitter user Laura Kate
Dale reported that the Amiibo for Corrin, Bayonetta, and Cloud were on hold for a Switch
Smash port in 2017, but those Amiibo were eventually released with sno Smash announcement. A year later, in November of 2017, Nintendo
registered a new trademark for Smash, with a new logo that was used in the March 2018
announcement of the new Switch game. Two weeks earlier, games journalist Emily
Rogers posted that she was unsure whether or not this new game would be a port, but
it would reuse a great deal of content from the Wii U and 3DS games. Even before the existence of the new Smash
game was confirmed, there were a number of fake leaks and rumours. Josh Thomas of the YouTube channel Nintendo
Beyond created some fake screenshots for a Switch Smash Bros that duped many outlets. Another fake video featuring Spring Man and
Decidueye was posted on 4chan, but was eventually revealed to be the creation of YouTube user
VirtualTurtle. Speaking of duping people, Marcus Sellers
was tricked by Twitch streamer, ConnerEatsPants into revealing fake Smash rumors that Conner
had made up. Humorously, in his messages to Sellers, Conner
hid the words “FAKE” and “JEBAITED”. After Conner revealed himself, Marcus deleted
his Smash information tweets. On May 9th, a developer on Twitter revealed
that he worked on the new rendering engine that will be used for Smash Switch before
he left Bandai Namco. His credentials were verified through his
LinkedIn account and various forum posts. Once the tweet began to spread, he deleted
his Twitter account. Did you also know that Smash 64 was nicknamed
“Pepsiman” early on because it used metallic-looking characters that resembled Japan’s Pepsi
mascot, Pepsiman? Or that the game’s stages were made from
around just 150 polygons: 5 times less polygons than Mario's model from Mario 64? For more facts, check out our videos on Smash. You should also check out this video on Smash
Switch Misconceptions by Source Gaming, who wrote and researched for this video.
I helped write this episode. Please enjoy! I thought the Melee roster leak was especially interesting. - PushDustIn
Here is that definite unused character list the video mentioned
https://sourcegaming.info/2016/04/29/duflupdate/
Happy birthday!
The anticipation for the new Smash game is such a fun ride
I still remember checking Smash Dojo daily in the brawl days
Smash 4 was great too with their video revials and the DLC kept us guessing
Such a fun ride I can’t wait for this one
Haven't even watched it yet but I love how the Smash fanbase is so divided between the competitive side and the speculation side.
Well, this seems familiar…
Is this here because Trihex showed it during his E3 stream?