The Definitive Unused Fighters List in Smash: Source Translations
This page has a compilation of translated sources for the information used in the Definitive Unused Fighters List. So, if new (Japanese) information is used on that page, this one will be updated accordingly, with the translation of that information. Please give Source Gaming and Brando credit for these translations. Do not repost the entire translation. These translation is for fan use only, and may not accurately reflect the opinions of Masahiro Sakurai.
Note: The questions are paraphrased by us, and are not translations. They are just there to give you an idea of what was asked.
Super Smash Brothers 64:
(The Smash 2 poll webpage already translated as its own post.)
Super Smash Brothers Melee:
(Sakurai’s response to someone asking about including a character from Famicom Tantei Club) [Source]
I think it’s probably best to wish for a sequel to Famicom Tantei Club, but don’t get your hopes up for a character appearing in Smash Bros.
I think that if a character from Famicom Tantei Club were to use Special Attacks and trade blows with Mario, true fans of the series would actually be disappointed, since that doesn’t embody the character.
And I’m deciding everything based on my own personal preference, so please forgive me.
(Sakurai’s response to a reader who writes, “I’m tired of Smash games made by Japanese companies! Next time, have Rare do it!”) [Source]
Uhh, I don’t understand…Rare can’t make Smash games.
Incidentally, including a character from Rare in Smash would be difficult for various reasons.
I know there are some people who think that Banjo & Kazooie are an obvious inclusion, but that’s unlikely for a variety of legal and financial reasons.
(Q: Why isn’t James Bond from Goldeneye 007 in the game?) [Source]
Now this is a case of “adult matters”
- Showing realistic guns = no good!
- Character uses an actor’s likeness = no good!
- Since the original game is based on a movie, getting those rights = no good!
- He’s Rare’s property = no good!
Blocked on all fronts.
(In response to a reader asking about Pokemon and stages) [Source]
Actually, when development began, we talked about including ‘Sprout Tower’.
But in the end, it was dropped.
(In response to a reader asking about the Ice Climbers) [Source]
We planned something for the Ice Climbers. The planned name was “Summit”. Please think about what it might have been, and enjoy.
(“Mr. Sakuraaai, why aren’t there any characters from Joy Mecha Fight in Smash Bros!?”) [Source]
I’ve gotten more than a few of these requests, so I’ll state it plainly here and now (since I think this might clear things up once and for all).
Sukapon’s omission is purely a matter of financial and legal issues. So, you won’t see much of Sukapon from now on. Please give it up.
For this game, we were planning to let characters get on Sukapon and ride around causing havoc, but it was cut.
(Why aren’t there any Fire Emblem stages?) [Source]
As a matter of fact, we did plan to make one, named “Kingdom of Akaneia.” It would have featured a castle under attack by catapults, and dragons and wizards would have appeared.
…But it had to be cut because of development circumstances.
(Wondering which game was developed first – Melee or Luigi’s Mansion?) [Source]
No, it’s not that Smash had been created before development of Luigi’s Mansion started.
I didn’t know about Luigi’s Mansion until it was presented at E3, and by that time, Luigi’s design for Smash had already been finished.
(Since Smash is a game full of Nintendo all-stars, how about putting creatures other than Pokemon in the Poké Balls, like a Dino-Torch from Mario or a Like Like from Zelda?) [Source]
It’s not that we didn’t give that any thought — we considered an item called the “Assist Capsule”, containing various game characters who could assist you (different from the Poké Ball).
But, in the end, circumstances were such that we had to scrap it.
(Regarding Giga Bowser) [Source]
The old Bowser was scary. In the NES era, characters were more symbolic, so you had room to use your imagination. When I looked at the original Bowser, I saw a frenzied, terrifying monster.
But, advancements in technology have allowed designers to convey characters in greater detail, and in recent games his image has steadily become cuter.
Naturally, this is a current game, so it needs to use his current design. And from there, Giga Bowser (unexpectedly?) happened to come into existence.
Bowser and Giga Bowser are definitely separate characters, though.
(Reader: Why does Venusaur use Earthquake? (In Pokemon, Venusaur isn’t supposed to be able to use that move.)) [Source]
During development, we initially planned for Venusaur and the other Pokemon to appear on the Pokemon Stadium stage (just like how Pokemon appeared on Saffron City in Smash 64).
But, even though the models and animations were finished, they had to be cut because of programming issues.
To put it simply, they were removed.
That was extremely disappointing, so I asked the programmers to just make them come out of Poké Balls, and I did all I could in my role to make that happen.
We combined existing effects with an attack that only hits grounded opponents, made the screen shake, and attached a sound effect. We also made everyone’s controllers rumble.
And so that’s how “Earthquake” was made.
Given the circumstances, it wasn’t about saying this Pokémon can or can’t use this move.
(Though we certainly pay attention to that.)
After all, if we hadn’t worked hard at that time, then each of those Pokémon would have been cut, so…
Still, we at least made sure none of the Pokémon’s moves overlapped with each other.
(Regarding Fire Emblem trophies) [Source]
Of course Fire Emblem trophies were part of the initial plan.
But the models would have been complicated, which would have taken a lot of development time, so they were low priority, and in the end the idea was scrapped.
(Reader says that he feels people would rather have characters like Wario, Robin from Golden Sun, or Saki from Sin and Punishment included in the game instead of characters like Doctor Mario or Pichu). [Source]
I’ve talked about this multiple times, but…
Clone characters are for the fans, through and through [literally, “clones are free/service”].
Even if I were to cut them, we still wouldn’t have the time or resources to add a brand new character.
Wario could only have been included if we had given him the exact same figure and moveset as Mario.
(Reader would like to know why Wario wasn’t included in the game) [Source]
If we could have added one or two more characters, then maybe he would have made it. He was certainly high up on the list of characters we considered but ultimately he didn’t make it.
But, I want to stress that even if we had cut the clone characters, he still wouldn’t have gotten in.
Even if we had cut the characters that were in the previous game (Jigglypuff, Luigi), he still wouldn’t have gotten in.
The amount of work it takes to cut a fully-developed character doesn’t equal the amount of work it takes to create a new one from scratch, so it still would have been impossible.
I would have needed to get rid of the Fire Emblem duo (Marth and Roy) or Mewtwo in order for Wario to get in. [Source]
I was also concerned that there were too many characters from the Mario series, so with that in mind, Wario had too many factors working against him.
(Reader: “Please include Slippy as a new character in Melee 2”) [Source]
Peppy’s voice actor said to me, “Gee, I wonder if I’ll make it in?”
Including the whole team would certainly please the fans, wouldn’t it?
Super Smash Brawl:
[Source]Sakurai: Sonic was decided afterwards, but from the start we gave ourselves some leeway when first devising the roster, then trimmed it down from there.
Sakurai: As a matter of fact, we planned to put in Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong as a pair. The duo would use the tag team system [from DKC] to switch between the two instantly. But, there were various difficulties, and they were soon cut.
I chose Diddy Kong because of his overwhelming popularity. Given the amount of supporters he has, it’s almost shocking he hadn’t joined the fray until now. We came up with some really interesting movements for him.
This exhausted our motion designers.
We made him scamper around just like a proper monkey does. He also pulls out banana peels and uses them to trip opponents. He’s quite impish — isn’t it great?
His Final Smash, Barrel Jet Panic, creates this frenzied feeling that you can’t effectively control it. I wanted to bring back the feeling of operating the barrel jet from Donkey Kong 64.
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This really felt like an ask Santa interview, especially during the section on Melee. If it was hard to include Banjo & Kazooie back then, it would have been harder today. He could only do so much, but he cannot do everything.
Sakurai needs to answer questions/fan mail more oftenly so the confusion in the roster/smash discussion can finally dissolve away.
we still don’t know exactly why Waluigi or Dark Samus aren’t playable and why did he threw a spare costume to K.Rool supporters?
Cool! Thanks for making this post, however, it has been said in the past that James Bond, B&Kazooie and Ayumi were considered for Melee, and this interview makes it sound like Sakurai didn’t consider it and instead just thought it would be impossible, so that was a little confusing for me.
“you won’t see much of Sukapon from now on. Please give it up.” lol, that’s harsh… (at least on the translation)
“The old Bowser was scary.” Uh… http://tinyurl.com/hcfh4um –As for the sprite, he just looked derpy in my opinion.
Also, maybe “not being on Sakurai’s personal preference” should be on the list of reasons a character “can’t” join Smash. xD
That’s actually something I’ve been meaning to bring up…somewhere– the word “considered” has different connotations for different people. For example, in the recent interview where Sakurai mentioned that he considered Takamaru for Melee, he says “for a moment.” As in, a very very small period of time, which is different from, say, “we strongly considered him as a playable character,” which might be how some people interpret that. So I need to clear that up.
Yeah, I know how that is… It leads to some confusion. Maybe Sakurai would say he had “planned” the character if he was considering it further.
The Sukapon section is interesting. I wonder what ‘adult matters’ he has to face with Nintendo IPs. The idea to have characters ride around on it is stupid though, so I’m kinda glad it didn’t make it at all in the end.